27. Ankou

27

Ankou

T he hall of mirrors showed Ankou all that had passed through his gates. Every memory from every being, from every world, from every point in time.

And time was not what so many thought it was. Time was an ocean. Its currents many and varied. All who were born within Danu were its subjects.

But Ankou, and his brothers, were not born from Danu. They took refuge within her, and abided by her rules, yes, but they had not come from her originally. They came from without.

So they saw time differently, the four of them. And the other one, the one they all feared.

That one lived in a way none could understand.

And so, Ankou lived both in and out of time. He could shape it. He could see its folds and creases in ways none but some of the most gifted seers could glimpse. Primarily, he saw the connecting threads which linked all things, one into the next, and how they all interplayed with one another to make the most incredible of tapestries.

It was despite and because of his ability to see so much that this scheme of his brothers so eluded him.

The mirrors showed sorrows and joys, tragedies and conquests. All the little moments which made up a life. Ankou sifted through them and it was as great a task as sifting through every grain of sand on the beach. Yet, little by little, he found parts.

And those were the pieces he gave to his daughter, before leaving her on Earth. Again.

Ninack had been clever. The clues were hidden in the smallest of places, under knots and between weaves, so it was the lack, more than anything, that made the puzzle take shape.

A long figure on a wind and rainswept road, appearing so suddenly before a vehicle that the driver swerved, their car rolling and rolling.

A distracted cleric, stamping a file. Maeve's fate going from private hands, those of the Almeida family, to the system that so abused her.

Further back, still, a promise whispered in the dark to a young, new Fae lord. Glory, riches, and power, if he served the darkness. His brother had seen the Fae's growing abilities and knew he needed them on his side.

An illusionist thrown from her country, banished after she went too far in one of her storytelling's about the royal court. A tall, pale Fae offering her a glass of mead at a travelers inn. "I have a proposition for you."

That was the one that got to Ankou the most. The interaction had been witnessed by several parties who had since passed into his lands, and as such he had access to the words multiple times. It was only he had not realized how powerful the illusionist was.

Looking further back into that woman's history was its own rabbit hole of links and nudges from Ninack, all slated to make the most powerful, yet morally neutral creature he had seen in centuries.

She was not yet dead, the one known as Lesanna, though it had been a close thing. One of the facts he wished to ensure his daughter knew well and truly. Maeve and her bondmate would need to be on their guard.

Rodan had dispatched Lesanna's guards. His was the last face they saw as he made their blood into pure iron, bursting every vessel and shredding their bodies. It was a gruesome but effective method of death, and the Fae had been most of the way out of his mind from long years of torture, grief, and hopelessness.

It was the result of Icarus' crude attempts to shape a formidable weapon to gift Ninack. A token, an offering to his patron god. Ankou could not yet see into the mind of the Fae lord, but he had known his ilk. They would do anything for power.

Even warp the mind of their only child. Allow him to be abused.

Ankou was still mostly ambivalent toward Rodan, but as a father he could not understand this inclination, and so he hurt for his daughter's bondmate.

These were small pieces, but the god of death knew them to be important. He wished Maeve to understand, he would never have intentionally put her in harm's way, not as a child. Not ever, if he could help it, and he could not. Maeve had been a piece in a larger game since before she was born. Not only that, but she was also her own person, and he had to respect she was going to lead a planet which had proven to be dangerous.

But she was the daughter of a High Fae, the first among them all, and the daughter of one of the most powerful gods to walk the worlds.

Her life was never meant to be small.

Ankou also gave Maeve memories that would explain much about her past, her life on Earth, and the creatures that, if she were to remain there, she had to avoid at all cost. Vampires were fine in the singular, but the ones who ruled Earth were united. Where there was one, there were many more waiting in shadows. They rarely worked alone.

Unless, that was, she encountered the truly deadly species. Those, he gave her images of them so she knew when to hide and start praying for him.

That's the only way you will remain safe in their presence , he assured her as part of the knowing. They will see you as too much a threat.

There was so much she had to understand, and he could not overwhelm her mind. He gifted her with more information regarding the investigation he had undergone to find out Ninack's plan.

He showed her that Rizor and Tegal's children had been similarly targeted, only there were so many of both it had never been noticed. The two giant stone statues guarding the River Onagala's approach to Cresna were the remains of those two demigods.

Ankou had realized there were still living souls trapped within the rock, and had freed them when he knew, allowing them entry into his kingdom. Those memories had been most helpful. Seeing exactly the methods Ninack took to steal a godhead.

But Ankou had taken so long to have Maeve, and it had stalled Ninack's plans. Rodan would have been gifted him long before, but there was… something. Some measure of a pressure Ankou could sense but not understand which stayed his brother's hand. Rodan had his own measure of protection, it seemed, and to take him would have triggered enough alarms that the god of darkness did not risk it.

There were ties that had existed between the Fae lord and Titania, and she was all knotted up with Ankou.

During that time when Ninack had been waiting, he had lured the remnants of the true Nyx horde into his domain. Twisted them from what Ankou had originally made them to be: sentinels to guard the realms of the dead, and soldiers to bring down planets that were dying the slow death.

The Nyx as they had survived to be were but warped abominations of the pure creatures the god of the dead had originally shaped for his purposes. Those Nyx were brilliant, human-like creatures, massive and terrifying, yes, but still beautiful. Shaped out of pure void, they had their flaws. Enough that Ankou had wished to try again. Destroyed without considering the consequences, and that his creations might fight back.

Another mistake. An error for which he would never stop atoning.

Ninack had taken the two who had escaped Ankou's purge and taught them how to create more of themselves, how to warp the spirit and body of a creature so that they all had a singular purpose. A colony mind.

The Nyx had been promised something in exchange for being Ninack's new army. What that was, Ankou could only guess at, but it must have something to do with his daughter. There must be a reason they kept coming for her.

There was another, he knew, aside from the one who had been on the Realms. Where this one kept its cavern, its stronghold, Ankou was unsure, only that it would assuredly show up before all this came to an end.

He gave Maeve a rough mapping of the worlds, their places and positions, and which were a Nexus. What that meant. That events in those places reverberated through time and space, casting ripples. Pathways fed through those worlds in a bundle, and this hub of connection could create great good, but also had the potential for evil.

Earth had never been destined to be one, and that it was still confounded him. In fact there was something about Earth in general made it difficult for him to manifest, though of course the dead still flowed through his gates from that sector.

He gave Maeve knowledge of Danu, helped her understand the balance that must be restored.

And all that was at stake.