Thirty-Six:

There were more pests in this place that Erebus had originally thought. They had all crawled out from their nests and swarmed the central plaza of the town.

The entire day had been spent with the humans outside bustling and putting up decorations for the festival, it started before the sun even rose. Just as Fate had said, it was a huge deal to them. Erebus had spent his time looking outside of the window and watching them run around everywhere. It was entertaining in its own right. The other time he had spent sleeping.

Fate had gone out to help the humans too though she did spend a substantial amount of time trying to convince him to come with her.

When Fate had finally come back near noon, she came storm. “Why are you still in bed? Did you ever get up?”

“Mm? Was there a reason to?”

Fate threw open the curtains that Erebus had closed so that he could sleep peacefully. “Get up, it’s finally starting soon!” she cried out gleefully, unwrapping the package she was carrying. “A woman gave this to me to wear.” She held up a dress that was a myriad of festive colors. “Isn’t it lovely?”

To Erebus, it was an eyesore. “Sure,” he responded.

She sighed heavily, deciding that she didn’t want to argue with him or deal with his apathy at the moment. She was happy! He would be soon, too. If he learned to live a little, that is. Erebus was like a shadow in the room, his clothing was dark and morose and he never seemed to be in a good mood.

Fate would fix that, though.

“What are you smirking about?” Erebus asked her as she changed into the dress. She had this annoying arrogant smile on her face, it made him want to punch her in the throat.

“Nothing.” Fate turned her back to him. “Tie this for me?” She brushed her hair over her shoulder, revealing her bare back and a large burn that marred the otherwise smooth skin.

“What happened to your back?” Erebus questioned her, making no move to tie the dress for her. Fate wasn’t weak by any means, her physical strength may not have been comparable to Erebus’ but her magic made up that difference. For someone to injure her that badly... that was certainly interesting.

Fate didn’t respond for a while. If he could have seen her face, he would have seen the emotions that flashed across it all in a split second. “Nothing,” she repeated. “It happened when I was young. A mistake. Can you just tie it?”

He sighed and obeyed, tying the fabric around her neck tighter than it should be. It would be nice if she choked a little, he thought. She didn’t, though. Fate walked to the mirror and spun a few times, the light fabric of the dress cascading with her. “How do I look?” Fate curtsied.

He ignored her. “Now what?” Erebus stepped back and fell onto the bed. “Am I supposed to attend the festival with you?”

“Yes.”

He smiled, but it was cold. “Don’t they hate me, though? I did kill someone like you said.” Erebus’ smile chilled a few more degrees. “If they try something, I’ll kill them, you know?”

She stilled for a moment then clenched her hands into fists at her sides. “I’ll stop you if it comes that.”

“Can you?” Erebus questioned.

“Will I stop you?”

“No, can you stop me?” Erebus winked at her then stood up. “Now, let’s go.” He held out his hand expectantly. “I’ll escort you.”

Fate stared down at it suspiciously, her eyebrows furrowing. “I can stop you,” she finally settled on the words and placed her hand in Erebus’.

Erebus’ laugh reverberated off of the walls. “Is that so? I look forward to it, then.”

...

Music swelled in the air accompanied by the sound of swishing fabric and dancing feet as the villagers all frolicked in the central plaza.

In the center of the mass of people was a swinging couple that drew everyone’s attention.

Needless to say, it was Fate and Erebus. The two who surpassed the standards of beauty seemed to pull of the light towards them. It was like the angels from the Pure Continent had blessed these mundane beings with their existences.

Erebus, for one, was in an uncharacteristically good mood. He was even smiling at Fate, not rudely like he normally would, but a genuine one.

It was scarier than his usual smile.

To the others watching, though, they were enchanted. They felt an immense amount of joy and pride that these two had come to their humble village! For them to come to this harvest festival, their town was truly blessed!

“Why are you so happy?” Fate found herself asking him as they moved to the music.

“Hmm... I tell you in a little bit.” It wasn’t time yet, but he had taught of something magnificent. It was so entertaining that he hadn’t been able to stop smiling for quite some time now. He couldn’t wait to see her face... just a little longer now.

She furrowed her eyebrows, trying to figure out what he was hiding from her. Fate gave up eventually, deciding to ignore his quirkiness. “Well, that means that you’re enjoying yourself, right?”

Erebus chuckled. “Indeed.”

Fate brightened immediately. “That’s great. See, they aren’t that bad, are they?” She found herself smiling now. She had broken through his shell, it wasn’t that hard, after all! “Humans aren’t good-for-nothings, see? They can do wonderful things, they can make you happy!”

"I suppose," Erebus consented.

Her eyes lit up even more. "You understand now?"

"I understand."

Fate's smile grew broader. "Exce--"

"That’s why you should kill them.”

The world slowed for a moment, everyone moved through the air as if it was a thick molasses before time smoothed back out.“Eh?” Fate blinked in bemusement. What he just said... That didn’t match the mood, did it?

“You wanted to know why I was so happy, right?”

Fate nodded her head slowly, still not processing his words. He was happy because this was a joyous occasion... because he was having fun... because...

“Because you’re going to kill all these nuisances for me. You said you would stop me from killing them--kill them yourself, that’s the only way.”

“That’s not what I meant--”

“Ah, and didn’t you promise that you’d owe me anything?” Erebus continued, the happy smile he wore started to become cruel in Fate’s eyes.

Fate’s mouth dried and she swallowed nonexistent saliva. “Erebus, I can’t--”

“But you will,” he said while clucking his tongue. Erebus stopped dancing and Fate stopped with him. He grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around so that she was facing everyone. All of them wearing confused expressions as to why Erebus and Fate had ceased their dancing. “You’re going to take their lives.”

Fate’s hands shook, she couldn’t understand.

“You made an agreement, you’re bound to it,” Erebus sing-songed. “I upheld my part of it, now it’s your turn.”

She felt the ground underneath her feet, but it didn’t feel real. Nothing felt real. How could she have been so dumb? So preoccupied with convincing him to stay, she didn’t even think about the words she said? At the most, she thought that he would ask for her body. Now that she thought about it, her body wasn’t something that he had shown any interest in.

Of course, of course, he would do something like this!

“Are you incapable of holding your part of the deal?”

“That’s...” Fate stared out, her eyes unseeing.

“If you won’t, then I will. But don’t think that you can escape, I’ll just keep on taking and taking until you do.”

A whimper escaped through Fate’s mouth, she couldn’t...

“You have a choice: this one village or hundreds, pick. You’re lucky I’m even giving you a choice. You made a deal with me, Fate.”

She didn’t move. It was too much. It was all too much. How could she choose? Whose life was more important than the other? How much did one life weigh? It was such a simple decision, wasn’t it? One was less than a hundred. Fate’s vision blurred, she couldn’t think properly.

Erebus raised his hand. “Then I’ll make the decision for you.”

“Wait,” Fate pleaded.

“Aren’t you going to stop me? Then stop me!” Erebus roared, a black vortex appearing in the sky that began to suck everything towards it.

A mad frenzy ensued.

“What are you going to do, Fate?” he said softly yet his voice was louder than the chaos of people running and screaming as everything was yanked into the hole. “Are you going to stop me?”

Fate screamed, clutching her hands over her ears. “Stop it, stop it, stop!”

“Stop me.”

And she did.

In a flash, she stopped the time of those running around her, they fell to the ground all at once. They wouldn’t suffer anymore, he wouldn’t be able to hurt them anymore. Erebus was someone that Fate couldn’t defeat, she was weak so this was the only way... this was the only way to save them.

She collapsed to the ground, her eyes beholding the chaos spread out before her. Their corpses littered the ground, buildings had been ripped out from their foundations but hadn’t made to the vortex so they just fell back down everywhere.“How could you...” She choked on the words.

“How could I what?” Erebus responded innocently as he moved to stand in front of her.

Fate stared up at him, at this emotionless being. “I killed them.”

“You did,” he agreed with her easily.

“Why? How? You--” she stumbled to find the appropriate words. “How could you do this?”

Erebus laughed lightly. “That’s simple: because I wanted to.”

“How could you just kill an entire village?” she whispered, her voice cracking as the words passed her lips.

“First--you killed them, not me. Disclaimer.” Erebus laughed as if he found this to be humorous. “Second, I’m teaching you a lesson. Okay?” He grabbed her roughly by the arm and yanked her up so she could see properly. “If you want something, take it.” Erebus’ grip grew tighter on her thin arm. “Who cares about the consequences? Your self-righteous preaching was getting on my nerves, so I decided to shut you up.”

Fate stared at him, that was all she could do--she couldn’t formulate any words. He forced her, he made her do it! She hadn’t wanted to, she didn’t want to hurt these people. “I’m sure that Rolut wi--”

“Ah, here’s the thing... Rolut doesn’t care.” Erebus laughed at her. “A village or two... It doesn’t really matter much in the long run. You’re important to this world, that’s the only reason Rolut cares.”

“You... Then why did you agree to my wishes if it doesn’t matter to you?”

Erebus’ eyes lit up. “Because even though your mouth is annoying... I thought it’d be fun to toy with you.” He took her face in his hands so she was forced to look him in the eye. “Don’t you want to destroy? Don’t you want to kill? It’s okay if you let loose every so often, it’s fun, after all.”

“How can you--” Fate choked on the words. His eyes were bottomless pits with no shimmer of light in their depths. Was all of her work pointless? He had just been messing with her to make her believe that he was changing... That smile he wore, he had thought that he was truly enjoying himself! Well, he was, just not the way that she was expecting him to.

Erebus frowned and clucked his tongue again. “You still don’t get it, do you? This world is my precious playground and its inhabitants are my toys. If anyone was to ruin that, I’d be very upset.” Erebus smiled broadly. “Ah, don’t worry--you’re one of my dearest toys, so don’t worry.”

“You’re a monster. You’re a murderer!”

“Mm, I am.” Erebus patted her head mockingly. “But now, you are too.”