Damian's Oracle Read Free Page B

whose first war
created the universe.
    Their second war almost destroyed the
universe and ended in the Schism, the divorcing of the divine world
from the physical one and stranded the White and Black Gods on
earth, preordained to be at each other’s throats for all eternity.
The Watchers relegated themselves to the role of audience in the
basketball game that was Damian’s war.
    “Forgive me, ikir,” the Watcher said with a
bow of his head.
    “You’re here to fuck up my life, aren’t you?”
Damian challenged.
    He crossed his arms to display roped forearms
and sat on the edge of his desk. The Watcher smiled, genuine mirth
in his unblinking gaze.
    “I’ve always enjoyed this era of the White
God,” he admitted. “You have a spark your forefathers didn’t.”
    “I’m glad I entertain you,” Damian said
flatly.
    “No disrespect meant, ikir.”
    The Watcher’s eyes went around his study, as
if this was his first visit in a great while. Damian didn’t trust
the beings that saw all, knew all, and yet spoke in riddles - if
they chose to speak at all.
    “You here just to visit?” he prodded at the
Watcher’s silence.
    “No, ikir. I will be in your territory for
some time.”
    The words were the first sign of something
very, very wrong. Damian’s unease grew.
    “There is a disturbance in the uh, basketball
game, as you call it,” the Watcher continued. “One of the teams is
cheating.”
    “Czerno. How bad is it?”
    “Bad enough to change the final score.”
    Damian mulled his words, waiting for
more.
    “There are Watchers who have left the crowd
for Czerno’s team. They’re coaching him,” the Watcher said
softly.
    “Fuck,” Damian breathed. “The last time you
all got into a war, you nearly destroyed the universe.”
    “Our war has again spread to yours,” the
Watcher continued. “I am bound by the oath of non-interference I
took at the Schism. I, too, can only … coach, though I will choose
when and where.”
    “So I shouldn’t be surprised to see you in my
territory, and I shouldn’t expect shit from you.”
    “Yes, ikir.”
    “How long will you be coaching in my
territory?”
    “It may be awhile by earth standards. Those
coaching Czerno are shifting the future daily.”
    Damian hadn’t expected his day to be so
eventful. If the Watchers were once again bringing their battle to
earth, it meant the Original Beings imprisoned by the Schism were
stirring up old divisions again. He was too young to know much
about those beings or much about the Watchers. Jule, his other BFF
and the oldest of the three of them by far, had come from the same
world as the Watchers but refused to talk about it.
    “That is all I will say, ikir, except to
remind you that the White and Black gods cannot kill one another
directly. To do so would release the Original Beings, and then
things would really be bad.”
    His jaw clenched. He didn’t often feel
helpless, not when he held the powers of a god among humans. But
Watchers played on a different level. He was restricted to the
physical world by the Schism despite his god-powers. By and large,
the Watchers did whatever the hell they wanted. That this one had
come to him with a warning was the most he could expect. And he
didn’t like it.
    “By your leave, ikir,” the Watcher said and
bowed his head again.
    “Try not to screw up too much of my shit,” he
returned.
    The Watcher nodded and disappeared in a wink
of light.
    First a possible oracle, then a Watcher. He
had a feeling the war was just starting to get interesting.
     
    * * *
    She awoke stiff and cold on the bathroom
floor. Sunlight streaming through the blinds, making her head pound
harder.
    “Oh god, Sofia!” Jake’s voice came from the
doorway. “I’ve been trying to call …”
    His voice trailed off as he took in the pills
scattered all over the bathroom floor and her bloodied hands.
    “You tried to kill yourself,” he
whispered.
    “No, Jake,” she mumbled and pushed herself
up.
    She sat