The Gods' War

Today we have a fantasy story by a promising young writer named Kate Hawkins:

Shortly after time began, and earth became inhabited by life, the guardian of time created the gods. He created the goddess of music, the god of war, and many many others. He put the goddess of life, Midnight, to rule above all of the other gods. She was kind and just, yet she demanded respect and loyalty. Seeking a refuge for her underlings, Midnight created Kaira, a small dimension that allowed the gods to cross over to earth, putting them in the middle of Central Park.

The gods and goddesses in Kaira lived together in peace for many millennium. Eventually, however, one decided to try and kill Midnight: the god of death, William. Of course, William failed, and was exiled from Kaira. He set out to take over Kaira, and began turning gods and goddesses to his ways. Being that those gods had only been living one way, they began to question Midnight. The guardian of time’s words were no longer enough to keep them as they were, so they began turning to William for a new experience, and to test his ways.

Midnight declared war on William. She wanted to wipe him and the people who had betrayed her out. However, instead of winning the war, Midnight started a cycle. During the summer, Midnight and her followers were winning the war. During the winter, William was. The spring and fall were turning points for them, and no one knew why it was impossible for one side to win.

Both sides had been trying to figure out what made them unable to beat their enemy into surrender; Midnight more so than William, and it had been taking its toll on her. She’d been up for several days straight, again, when her younger sister and heir, Rin, came into her study. “Midnight, you look tired. Go get some rest.” she said, leaning against the arm of a chair. Normally, Rin was shaky and insecure, but when it was only Midnight around, she was much more relaxed. Her rival was Deidra, William’s son and heir.

Midnight smiled warmly at Rin. “Don’t worry, Squirt,” she said, using Rin’s nickname. “I’m not anywhere near as tired as I look. Hell, you’re worse off than I am.”

“Midnight,” Rin groaned, rolling her eyes. “Just take a break, even if it’s just for a few hours.”

Midnight shook her head. “Go take the next few days off. I’m fine.”

“But--”

“That’s an order, Rin.” Midnight said, more stern than usual. Rin sighed, knowing better than to argue with an exhausted Midnight. Moments after Rin left, the guardian of time appeared in the room. “Guardian,” Midnight nodded respectfully. The guardian was part of a clan which was known for its power and ability to manipulate time.

“You shouldn’t worry about this war, Midnight,” he said, taking a seat. “It’s going to continue whether you’re in charge or not. Go get some rest.”

“I’m fine, Guardian,” Midnight smiled. “Besides, I want to make history here.”

The guardian sighed, “Alright. I’m going to check on Rin.” he said, leaving the room.

Maybe I should listen to them. I am a little tired. Midnight thought, and after a few minutes, she retired to her room.

Midnight woke the next morning to the smell of poinsettias at the foot of her bed, again. Every time she’d slept the past few months, she’d had poinsettias at the foot of her bed when she woke. Midnight sat up groggily. “Whoever is sending these must know a thing or two about me,” she mumbled, moving the flowers to a vase and padding to the kitchen in the Kaira estate. Outside of the estate, there were sparring grounds, and past that lay hundreds of miles of woods, which were used for testing the gods’ survival skills when needed.

When Midnight reached the kitchen, everything was chaos. People who didn’t know the first thing about cooking were running around, and the kitchen looked like a tornado had just passed through it. Rin was standing on a counter, trying to calm the gods, but failing due to her inability to get loud and actually get people to pay attention to her. Midnight joined her on the counter. “What’s going on?”

“William’s launched an attack on us. Most of the gods that left us for him, as well as a lot of his toughest demons are attacking earth. We’ve managed to get them off of earth and swept into another dimension, but they’re getting to the point where they can open up tunnels back.” Rin said, panicked.

Midnight sighed, irritated with William. “I’ll handle him, Rin. Work on damage control.” she said, vanishing in a pillar of leaves before Rin could say a word.

William was easy to find, being that he was always at the center of the problem. New York City seemed to be the center of this problem, so Midnight started there, at the Statue of Liberty, one of the most iconic places there. He stood still, arrogantly grinning at the fight going on below them. “Hello, Midnight.” he said as she shot an arrow at him. Wind blew it off course, and it missed by several feet. “Don’t play games with me. You’re here to stop this, right?”

“That should be obvious, William.” Midnight shot back venomously, drawing her sword and heading cautiously towards him. “You’re going to pay for the lives you took today.”

“Is that so? How do you intend to make me pay?” William questioned, turning to face Midnight. She glared, taking a swing at William. He vanished just before she could graze him, landing his own gash on her shoulder from behind. Midnight gasped in pain, realizing he’d used some sort of poison on her; she knew he experimented with things like that. She sank to her knees, dropping her sword as the poison was pumped through her body. William kicked the sword across the roof, kneeling in front of Midnight. “I asked how you were going to make me pay, Midnight. Are you going to answer?” he asked, smirking.

Midnight glared up at him, quickly loosing strength. Using the small amount of energy she had left, Midnight sent a blast of raw energy barreling at him. William, who was shocked by the fact that she still had that much power left, took the full blast and was thrown across the roof. Midnight stood and made her way to her rival, kneeling beside him. “That’s how,” she smirked tiredly. As she studied him, she noticed his unnaturally lonely eyes, and couldn’t help pity him. So, she put a hand on his cheek, causing him to wince. “I’m sorry if you didn’t want to end up like you did,” she said. “You’ve been alone since you left us, haven’t you?”

When no reply came from William, Midnight sighed and began to draw energy from the people who were barely hanging on; those who were in immense pain. As she took their life, she eased William’s pain, regretting that she was taking life to help her enemy. “This cycle’s been set already; even the guardians say it’s going to continue. We can’t go against fate, William.” she said as William winced, then sighed. “Call off you demons.” she demanded.

William sighed, mumbling something that sounded vaguely like profanity under his breath, then looked at Midnight. “Fine,” he said, slowly clambering to his feet as his demons filed back to their own dimension. William smirked down at Midnight. “Let’s finish our fight.”

Midnight stood, slightly weak on her feet. As she tried to summon her energy, she quickly realized that she was unable to. She tried again, but a searing pain flared in her head. Cursing, she whirled towards William. “You blocked my powers off!”

William smirked at Midnight, again, which only infuriated her more. “What did you think I was going to do?” he asked rhetorically. Suddenly, William pinned Midnight to the ground with his boot. “Listen, Midnight, I’ve been sending those poinsettias.” he said, watching the goddess he’d been trying to overthrow his whole life squirm under his foot.

“Why?” Midnight choked out, trying to break free of the pressure from William’s foot.

He froze when he heard Midnight’s question. After a moment, he sighed. “I suppose you deserve to know, being that I’m about to kill you.” he said. Midnight glared weakly at him. “I’m quite fond of you, Midnight, and if we weren’t enemies, I’d make you my queen. The demons were sent to lure you out. How did you expect me to get that message to you if you attacked me on sight, hm?”

William released Midnight and stepped back. The pair remained silent for quite some time, and Midnight was the one to break the silence. “You sacrificed thousands of human lives to tell me that? Not to mention all of the gods and demons lives that were under us?” she growled, attempting to get to her feet. “You’re so lucky my powers are gone right now.”

Without warning, Midnight collapsed again, curled up in a ball and her arms crossed over her stomach in pain, as was William. Moments later, the two of them were in a deserted field, miles away from the nearest human. The only thing Midnight remembered was William’s declaration of love, and he somehow knew that. “Who are you?” she asked, standing now that her strength had returned. “How can you say that when we don’t even know each other?”

William smiled slightly, holding a hand out to the former goddess. “I can help you, Midnight. All you have to do is trust me.” he said.

Midnight eyed William warily, and, after a few moments, she took his hand, allowing him to take her to a small shack he’d discovered before being chosen to become a god.

William never did return Midnight to her home. Instead, he left her position to Rin, and handed his own to Deidra. The war continued, but Midnight and William lived blissfully ignorant to the gods’ war, and later had a daughter named Kira.