Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 123

The coming day's drug on in a slow, death march. It was time to say goodbye to Tucci and leave him here to continue work on our Nashville sector, put more distance between us and our children, and continue on this tour that would hopefully provide us with a platform to stand on. 

With a barrage of medical testing, more pokes, and prods than Verando was willing to tolerate, it would appear the side effects of harboring the god were short-lived as this body truly was made to be a vessel. Just as he had held Whitewind inside of him, now Fenrir was there to fill that space, and the human side of him seemed to crack but not break. 

Where Caspian shrank away, losing himself to the might of a God, Verando seemed to be adapting. 

His organs were functioning, his body was healing- though slower than we were used to. The chain and brand would help hold in the creature, but the additional studs probably could have been placed anywhere and held a similar effect save for the tongue stud. 

A stud made of holy silver, to purify the words of the beast. It was an interesting concept pushed forward by the lore that Tiberius had delved into. The idea would be that it was 'holy' ground, if Fenrir were to find a way to speak, it would be the truth. Effectively, a silencer for unwanted commentary, but testing it out would be out of the question. 

I was reluctant to believe that it would do much for our cause, it felt like a way to mark up my warlord rather than prevent untruths but Verando must be feeling desperate for control to try something so drastic. If one thing was certain, it was that our time at Elena's party had frightened him. 

Fenrir had effectively used his ability to give him a sort of 'god sight'. Difficult to explain, or fathom, Verando had only been able to communicate that it was like seeing the very souls of those around us. An ether plane of blackness, mixed with swirls of white smokey outlines. Every being had their own essence, and there in that, stood the falcon-headed god. 

Horus. 

But the intention behind the reveal was even more difficult to delve into. Why had Fenrir shown us that we were in the presence of an Eygptian? Horus was the god of healing, the sun, and the sky. His right eye was the sun, and his left eye held the moon, we could only assume that Fenrir had felt some sort of malicious intent towards him considering his own children were doomed to chase the morning. 

We were torn, those of us who believed that the God's were trying to be helpful and those of us who were convinced otherwise. Verando and I fell on two different sides of that argument, and with the exhaustion that harboring Fenrir brought, I kept my opinions to myself while he recovered from Elena's party. 

Days turned into a week, we flew to a new hotel across the country in Seattle, Washington. Home of the raining skies and dewy forests, it was one of the least affected by the planet's shift for its forests were still rich with life. Flying to multiple airports, shifting planes, and being in the air for so long, it gave us a disturbing perspective on what was left of this country. 

A television could only explain so much, flying over what used to be lush farmland and seeing that it was now open expanses of desert made my skin crawl. The planet was still trying to heal, it was a constant reminder of why we were doing this, that Darrius needed to bring back balance once he was old enough. 

I was happy that Verando slept for the majority of our trip, too exhausted to be anxious, I let him sleep and kept my thoughts to myself for I cried more on those flights than I cared to admit. I would be giving our son up to this life, I would be surrendering him to a life of constant servitude, a life I was almost destined to live myself in some ways. 

It was unreasonable, I knew this going into it, and I didn't need him to see me so upset. This couldn't be fixed, couldn't be helped, but the reality hit me harshly each time I allowed myself to steal a glimpse of his future.