Mad God – Reborn

It was a peaceful night, and the sky was cloudless, filled to the brim with stars. Athos was lying in the green grass, watching them twinkle, and nobody knew what he was thinking about, and if someone asked him, he wouldn't answer their question. He couldn't, because even after so many years, it was still just a feeling… a constant nagging, a tugging at his soul.

It has been countless years since he first came to Nilier's realm, and... in the end, he began calling it his home.

“What’s on your mind?” Her quiet voice asked as she walked out of their home, sitting down next to him. "You have the same look on your face when I first met you."

"So... I'm charming and sexy?"

"Shut it." She rolled her eyes, wanting to kick him, but... still allowing him to stare.

She wore only a thin, green dress, barely covering anything on her perfectly shaped body at the moment, as she only loosely pulled it close. Her figure oozed a kind of maturity and the aura of motherhood that had been missing from her when they first met, and... it was Athos's main achievement, if anyone asked them about it. The way her hips shook as she walked forward, the way her breasts followed the rules of gravity as she sat down next to him… everything was simply enchanting.

And she knew it. Otherwise, nobody would be able to force her to do anything, dress in any other way she wanted... but, deep down, she liked the change Athos had brought into her life. Until meeting him, she only knew her siblings. Talking to Skoorn was like... talking to an angry wall. It didn't listen, but it heard when you said something it didn't like, and it threw bricks back at you as a response.

The twins? Well, they were nasty like Athos, but... They didn't have his charm, Nilier thought. They were nasty... While Athos was... well... rougish. When he wasn't fooling around, he could be super serious, and his ideas were always something she admired, so much so that he was often reminded of... Of... Someone. But she refused to think about it, because that scared her. She didn't want him to be like that person because... it would mean he... will die.

“Nothing much, my little muffin~!” Athos said, looking at her, changing his posture, placing his head into her lap, and letting Nilier stroke his white hair, missing the sudden worry in her eyes. “Mmmhm~ Your fingers know the best how to please me...”

“Idiot...” She chuckled, pinching his nose, shaking her thoughts away, “I woke up when you came out here. What is it...? Bad dreams?” She asked again, in a much lower voice, because for the past ten years, there had been moments when Athos looked like someone lost in a different world.

“Nope. I just feel filled with energy after our nightly exercise!” He grinned, flashing his white teeth at her, “Have you ever thought about it?”

“About the exercises we do or about how I ended up with a bad boy like you?” She asked back, taking on much of his demeanor since they have been stuck like this.

“Neither.” Athos laughed, turning his red eyes towards the star-filled canopy again. “About what is out there...”

“Out there?” Nilier flinched ever so slightly, but Athos noticed it this time. But... He just let it go without saying anything, because it wasn't the first time either. He knew she held something back, but... he thought it was her fear, that the other three had implanted in her. He had realized quickly enough that, especially the God named Skoorn, was their so-called ringleader. Whatever he said, it went... But, since he appeared, and he began standing up to him, and, to his delight, Nilier began doing the same, gaining courage from him. So, he knew he just had to do a little more, and she would be able to stand up to Skoorn without him having to be there. “There is nothing out there, Athos." She said in the end, repeating what she had already told him many times, "The stars are just souls, twinkling in the river of the Reincarnation Cycle. Why don't you believe me? You yourself have flown up there and seen it! Alfina and Oynega had shown it to you. There is nothing beyond it.”

“Then why do I get the feeling that there is?” He sighed, blinking his eyes ever so slowly. “Since the day I managed to become a member of your exclusive little group, I've had this nagging feeling in me... The first time I came here, I felt it... That I am stuck in here… and I should be… out there. Don't tell me you don't feel it?”

“I don't." She said firmly, but then began smiling, "And you only do it because you are borderline mad.” She added, rolling her eyes. “Why do you think Skoorn and the twins started to call you the Mad God, huh?” She grumbled. “They say that your insanity is slowly infecting me, too!”

“Pft! Yeah, I know that.” He grinned, sitting up, leaning in, and kissing her while he started to knead her ample breasts with one hand. “And why don't you ever stop me doing so? That reminds me! Can you get pregnant? Would our child be a God since birth?”

“See? This is why I agree with them…!” She said, gasping for air as she was clinging to his neck, yet she never pushed him away. “You are always asking stupid questions...”

“I think it is a completely honest and logical question.” He hummed, shrugging. “Anyway, I forgot that I got you something.”

“Huh?” She tilted her head, curious, as he produced a silver necklace with a huge sapphire hanging from it.

“I thought it was like your eyes and would complement you greatly.” He grinned as he put it on her.

“Athos! This… This is beautiful!” She exclaimed happily, and although gems meant nothing to her... somehow this one did. Even she couldn't say why.

“See? It's just like you... Pretty...”

“Hehehe~!” She blushed innocently. “Where did you get it? I feel some soothing fluctuations coming from it... Huh. This is not a normal gem?”

“Stole it from Baldy.”

“Pft…!” Nilier stifled a laugh. “I will pretend I did not hear that!”

“Good.” He nodded, spreading his arms. “Fucking ballsack-face is feeding his rusty dick with these rare artifacts, you see. I think he is fully impotent, and only his sword remains for the bastard... It is the only thing that reminds him of how it feels to grab onto something hard!”

“Stop it!” She laughed, nudging him. “He is my eldest brother! Even if he is a jerk, don’t badmouth him too badly.” But... deep down, she felt her heart suddenly flutter and not in a good way. That sword was... No. Skoorn wouldn't do it, and he couldn't. She knew, because she saw them fight multiple times, and Athos was strong enough to stay away from the nasty edge of that sword. Skoorn could only hurt him if all of them ganged up on him at once.

“So what if he is?" Athos continued, pursing his lips, "By the way, where did his baldness originate from? He always attacks me when I ask him about it... If he is so bothered by being bald… just regrow his hair! And you call me mad? You also have a pair of siblings who fuck like bunnies, yet I am the weird one among you?” Athos asked, rolling his eyes again and again.

Nilier opened her mouth to speak, but she was troubled. Her expression was changing rapidly, but in the end, she said nothing. Athos ignored it again, knowing it had to be a touchy subject, not to mention that he was too immersed in berating the other Gods. Just as he was going on a rant about Skoorn, the whole pocket realm shook again.

“Right on cue!” Athos scoffed, already teleporting away, gone from Nilier’s lap. She was looking at the cracking sky as a black hole opened, and at how her elder brother, Skoorn, walked out of it looking incesed.

He was already wearing a tight-fitting black uniform, his rusty sword in hand. He scanned the land with a cold gaze, only stopping at Nilier for a second, noticing her necklace as he snorted, looking for Athos. When he found him, it was because he appeared behind him, kicking him in the butt, sending Skoorn skidding forward in the air.

“Can’t you knock, you raisin-faced bastard?!” Athos spat, provoking him immediately.

“Give it back.” He said, turning towards him, raising his empty hand with his palm open.

“Okay!” He shrugged, giving him a ‘high five’. “You are it!” He laughed, flying away in the next moment.

Skoorn immediately blew his top, brandishing his sword and slashing at the fleeing figure of Athos, causing cracks all around the pocket realm.

“Don’t you dare ruin my home!” Nilier shouted from the ground, watching the black arc streaking through her sky. It was a deadly and destructive blow... If it were cast in the outside world, thousands of mortals would be killed, even if they just stood under it, watching it pass above them.

“Whoa, man, you are some gloomy little prick, aren’t you?!” Athos laughed as his body, when hit by Skoorn’s attack, was blasted apart. He blew up like fireworks, spewing fire everywhere.

“ATHOS!” Nilier screamed as a rain of fire rained down on her favorite flower garden, setting it ablaze. She was not worried about him… she was angry that his stupid clone was ruining her garden!

“I will fix it, dear; don’t worry!” Athos’s reply came quickly, and Skoorn was already turning around, raising his rusty sword to block.

He was materializing right there, wielding a two-handed saber made out of pure orange flames as he attacked. His hands were encased in glittering, blue ice, right up to his shoulders, slashing downwards. Skoorn’s eyes enlarged as he felt and saw how the Mad God’s blade simply phased through his rusty sword... It was... not something he expected to see. The body of the flames simply opened up, letting it pass through each other so he could slash through his defenses.

“You are mad…” Skoorn whispered because the results were already apparent. He would be hit by Athos’s flame, slashed across his chest, while he would also strike him in the head with his sword.

“Maybe~!” He grinned as his face turned blue and a layer of ice covered him completely, preparing for the inevitable impact.

When they clashed, it resulted in a deep roar and another explosion that had cracked the sky itself, driving Nilier’s realm to the brink of destruction.

“FUCK OFF, YOU TWO!” She screamed again, this time for real, joining the battle.

Her black hair was transforming as she flew upwards. At first, they braided themselves into two pigtails before ‘falling off’ and landing in her hands as whips. She was quickly below them, snapping her whips at the two. Skoorn was hit straight in the back, flinging him away as he was moaning because of the still-burning scar on his chest, turning towards Athos with a seething anger burning in his eyes. At the same time, Nilier’s other whip landed on Athos’s ankles, pulling him downwards like a rag doll.

“Whoa, whoa, my dear!” He flailed his hands as his ice armor fell off his body, revealing his uninjured head. It was clear that he was the one who came out on top in the previous brief clash of theirs.

“Shut it!” She snapped at him. “Skoorn! Leave! Or I am going to go to your own realm and wreck it to shreds, too!”

“...” Skoorn said nothing, just turned his eyes towards her, watching the gem hanging from her necklace.

“Hey…” Athos whispered to her, letting Nilier bind his body with her whips. “If you keep him here, I can go and snatch some fine stuff... Let’s do that right now!”

“...” Nilier just ignored him, trying not to laugh, but Skoorn simply harrumphed, raising one hand, tearing a hole into the air, and leaving without any other words.

“Sore. Fucking. Loser.” Athos chuckled, seeing his retreating figure.

“Athos…” Nilier turned to her with a deadpan look on her face.

“Yep, my lovely little bunny mommy?” He asked back with a kind voice, leaning forward for a smooch.

“Nah-a!” She pulled on her whip, squeezing his body.

“Oh my! If you want to play it rough, I’m in.” He blinked his red eyes with a playful light in them, turning Nilier’s cold expression into a… cold expression with a completely flushed face.

“Khm!” She cleared her throat in the end, shaking his influence off. “Fix my realm, and then you can… kiss me. Our garden is also messed up!" She pointed down at the flower field, being overturned by the unbridled impact of two Gods clashing. Even if it was just for a brief moment. "Fix that first!"

“I see…” He smiled, freeing himself from his whips, gently caressing her face. “Come, let us do it together~ As always...”

“Um…” She nodded automatically, letting her hair reattach itself as she lovingly hugged him, snuggling up to his body while they descended. They started gardening without any words between them, and Athos just chuckled, watching the truly happy expression on Nilier’s face as they tended to the flowers like their own little children.

...

....

......

“They fought again...” A sigh echoed amidst the falling snow. It came from the mouth of a young girl standing on the porch of a wooden house, watching the big, white flakes slowly covering up the pine forest before her.

“Yeah!” A similar-sounding voice agreed as a young boy, identical in looks, walked next to her.

They were the twin gods, Alfina and Oynega. Looking at them, it was impossible to tell which was which. Not without checking them naked… even then… they sometimes switched.

“Did their clash have an effect on it?” Oynega asked, gently holding Aflina’s hand, intertwining their fingers.

“No.” She replied. “But I really hate when they start fighting. Every time they do it, it could affect our cycle… I fucking hate the idea of getting a setback because that unpredictable bastard can’t keep himself in check!”

“Skoorn or Athos?”

“Both!” At that, both of them laughed, not because it was funny but because they were frustrated.

“Whatever! He can’t do that much damage to it if it is just about them fighting...” Oynega patted her hands, calming Alfina down. “It is not like he wants to tear the Sky open.”

“I hope not...” She muttered. “That would set us back a lot…”

“He doesn’t have the strength for it.” Oynega mused, but he was genuinely considering the possibility. “He only became a God at... what? A millennium ago? Even if he managed to woo Nilier, she was going to be the perfect pawn to keep him in check. Isn't that what we agreed on? With Skoorn? He may have humped our naive sister a lot, but she will still stand with us; she did so against... You know who."

"Don't bring him up!" Alfina warned him, "We can't risk anything with the seal. He is gone. That's it."

"I know, I know!" He shrugged, "Anyway, lucky for us that Skoorn doesn't realize we are so close..."

“Because he was born dumb! No wonder that Master punished him seriously once." Alfina said, clicking her tongue.

“Don’t bring him up!” Oynega flinched, now that she was the one warning her sibling.

“Sorry.”

“Anyway…” Oynega changed the topic. “We need a backup plan for the unpredictable one. Let’s start with what… You know who... told us about… faith.”

“STOP BRINGING HIM UP!” Alfina elbowed him but then nodded. “This is exactly why we can't speak of him, the last thing we need is to give a chance for coming back! Haaah... But you are right... accumulating faith is a long process. But we can start spreading it covertly. It is good to have something in our sleeves. If the worst comes to pass, we won’t be helpless. Let’s do it in a way that the idiot doesn’t realize it.”

“Which idiot, again?”

“Hehehe, all of them~!” Alfina grinned as their eyes flashed with wicked ambition.