The Endless Solvent

The Mind had given them the right to name themselves after the runes. One by one, they accepted their new namesake and since then called each other by the precious runes. Brother Ri and Sister Ou nodded in acknowledgment when he arrived. They did not call him by his rune name given to him by the grace of their Part as he had been unnamed. Soon another will take his place.

The whole process of unnaming was uncomfortably close to what happens to Caelisian nobles, although he had not dared to mention this to anyone. Because of this, his mind struggled to come up with reasons for the similarity. He had come to the conclusion that it no longer mattered because Caelis, the kingdom that welcomed tainted blood, was gone. Anything they had stood for, any silly rituals or beliefs they had no longer mattered - the Parts and Gaian beliefs were all that were true. This was shown to him by the Mind.

Not that long ago he had the duty of ensuring the Caelisians were all dead, except for, of course, those impending the Final Solution. They were taught that they were all interconnected, the mixed blood was what was stopping them from ascending to their truest state. The woman he was ordered to give to their Part was old and frail from years being imprisoned. She was perhaps deteriorating with age as she kept screaming how she was the Lunaris and she would bring the power of her kingdom down on them all. Of course, any innate abilities were neutralized and she couldn’t do anything to them. She couldn’t understand that Caelis was gone and that nobody would believe that she was the Lunaris.

They were not sending over who Mind really wanted to devour, and so their sacrifice of this batty old lady was certainly just a way to placate their god. They needed to eliminate all that would sully their blood with those not Gaian. Just looking at her made him sick. She started to beg when their god appeared to take her and he felt nothing but contempt for the old woman.

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this. I’m sorry.”

Viciously, he hoped Mind would make her death long and painful. He voiced these thoughts aloud and watched the old woman grow deathly pale around her disgusting gray eyes. In a rush of fervor for his god, he spat on her before kicking her through the Gate.

It was this display that earned him the right to become unnamed. So even if it disturbed him to lack a name like the Lunaris and Solaris of that cursed kingdom that his god destroyed, he accepted it humbly and awaited for his final duty.

The location would be a specific spot North of the Heart. Previously, they stayed out east where the cursed kingdom lay, granting their god Gate after Gate in order to seek out the obstacles of the Final Solution. They created monsters in the hopes of clearing out half-breeds that stayed there. There was a common hope that perhaps those who would prevent the Final solution from coming to pass would be elsewhere but now Mind has proclaimed that they were indeed the twins.

Of course, half blood monstrosities still needed to be destroyed but getting those who got in Mind’s way was much more important. Which was why those who had given themselves to their god traveled back to the Heart at her bidding to set forth their Final tasks.

For himself, this will be his Final task. He felt no fear.

Long ago he only lived for himself. There was no purpose to his life besides toiling away to make scraps to feed himself. Women scorned him and men never asked for his friendship. He barely remembered his family, he felt nothing when he tried to recall what his parents looked like. Being a Bringer was simply for survival back then.

But he wore a talisman and witnessed the beauty of their god and everything changed. The strange and beautiful black fire that danced in an oval. The floating black tendrils of lips and eyes and hands waving to some wind not felt by mortal men. Above all he heard a voice that spoke to him, as Mind was the Part of voices.

Even if you pressed him, he wouldn’t be able to recall Mind’s words. They spoke to him in pure meaning and he understood without the words to convey to him. She did all this for them, for Gaia, for the wrongs they have committed in the past, she will do what’s right to rectify it. Mind is a Part, a god that knows all and soon all will be right again. No matter the cost.

He felt it that day when she spoke to him. There was sadness. Pain. The feelings left behind from grievous sins that would tear at one’s solute just by hearing about it. He had wept for her that day and he had never wept for anyone before. That day he knew he would serve her for the rest of his life. If she wanted Caelis to fall, it would fall. If she wanted the blood of half breeds delivered to her, she would have it. If she wanted Gates to open to deliver her Final Solution, it would be done.

Many others were just as loyal as he was. He felt no need to compare his faith to others. His love for their god was his to hold. So while some would become smug and even condescending in being chosen to do her bidding, he never felt those things. He believes that it’s why she chose him for this. It’s why he has the honor to do this.

Brother Ri and Sister Ou had everything prepared. The biggest house in the village with its inhabitants cleared out. Blood from those they killed in the house was used for the runes. Tables, chairs, shelves, all shoved aside along the homely decorations carefully picked out by the family that lived here. A lit fireplace cracked in the corner to give light, but the flames danced and the shadows casted by the strewn furniture almost made him dizzy.

“Do I have to do anything else?” he asked.

“No, we’re able to do this as is,” Brother Ri said. He was glancing down at a piece of parchment and the drawn runes, double checking the markings on the floor. “Much easier than it was before.”

Ri launched into an unprompted spiel about rune arrangements and triangles but nobody really paid attention. They all know about the evolution of Gate enchantment summons. The unnamed Bringer stood in the middle of the intricate blood enchantment. A small section in the middle of it awoke like worms, glowing slightly a pink color as it snaked up his foot.

“Now we start,” Sister Ou said. Her eyes glittered in the light cast by the runes. She reached out and handed him a long, sharp dagger.

He grew dizzier. It didn’t register that he was hesitating.

“This will start the end,” Sister Ou whispered. He looked up at her. Her expression and words were strangely comforting. “The end where it all began in the first place. You have the honor of initiating it. Remember her voice, remember her words.”

Sister Ou was right. With renewed resolve, he held the dagger at his throat and felt the edge cut through his skin. He glanced over at Brother Ri who nodded, signaling that he could start.

The unnamed Bringer closed his eyes, keeping Mind’s voice in his head. He thought about her dissonant voice of truth ringing through the darkness as he savagely pressed down the dagger and slit his own throat.