“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

--Frank Herbert, Dune, “Litany Against Fear”, 1965

************************

A stream of power fell against the animal, its screech crying out and its head turning back quickly after the shot of a bullet. Gene stared blankly, not to mention he was hardly conscious now with the blood loss. The creature was bleeding as well, though he couldn’t necessarily tell why until a piece of its skin pulled open again, a second bullet crossing out of its arm. A figure stood further behind the feline, gun held up still. “I can’t leave you to yourself for even five minutes, can I?”

Michael, the thought passed through his mind and he dizzily drifted into a second state of confusion. “You…came after me?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, kid. You have my capsules.”

Gene mumbled, wincing when he shot again and the creature turned to face him. “Throw me a capsule, now.” Gene scrambled and slipped a hand into a pocket, fishing out the case and throwing the whole thing towards the other, stopping it with a foot and slowly picked it up. “Good boy,” Michael praised mockingly, keeping an eye on the animal that was slowly trying to regenerate itself. He popped open the case, taking out one of the capsules and loading it into the gun. “Now, maybe you’ll understand,” he held the gun up again with a scarred hand, firing so the cyan material shot into the animal’s back.

“Damn you hunterrrs!” it shrieked, trying to claw the capsule out of its back, pulling at the muscle savagely, but by the time it got remotely close to the location of the capsule, the effects began to take effect. Its body began to tremble, arms sinking down limply to its sides, a slit in its flesh forming down its chest. Energy leaked out and it groaned, falling forward roughly, twitching as it began to shrink before reverting to a normal looking house cat. It hissed and leapt at Gene, but was easily pushed away into a wall.

Michael loaded a normal bullet and shot, the being dropping in place. He glanced over to where his “comrade” had been sitting, though now he was in more of a state of laying down against a wall of the alleyway, bloodied hand in his lap as the shoulder clotted. He sighed and looked down at the boy carefully, “Looks like we have to get you bandaged. You’re more trouble than you’re worth.”

************************

“I fear the inevitable. It’s true, I do. I also fear myself, does that make sense? I suppose not. You’re just a simple hunter, am I right? It’s in your eyes…I can tell. Your young, sharp eyes. Don’t you dare look away from me! First you start as if I’m insane, and then you won’t even look? It’s because you know I’m right. And I am. Damn you hunters, thinking you’re so great. When in reality you’re just a smidgen to this world. I could crush you if I was truly hungry, but I’m not. I only feed on your ashes when the flames beckon for their meal.”

“Fuck you.”

“Hm? Touchy little hunter now, aren’t we?” a female voice cooed out in pure amusement, snickering at the angered face the human before her held. He growled and she only gave another laugh, hand reaching out and plucking a cigarette from the sanctuary of his lips. He went to grab it back, but recoiled when a flame in the shape of a snake coiled around it, hissing pleasantly. “Ah, ah, ah. Smoking is bad for humans.”

“And just perfectly great for demons?”

“But of course,” she chuckled again, waving her hand into the air as the snake constricted against the cigarette and blistered it into ashes. The woman made a smug gesture as the ashes pulled up in a light gust, she waved her hand again and they puffed back towards the man, only in his late teens. “Demons of my sort simply adore smoke, and ashes, and fire.”

“Damn you to hell,” he went for a back pocket of his trousers and the woman’s gaze, normally hidden by shadow, flickered with a deep orange light. He cringed in a sudden pain, just barely catching sight of a line of fire hitting against the back of his palm, causing him to immediately pull his hand away from the pocket.

“Going to kill me now, hunter? I don’t think so!” not that he could have seen her true form from the start, now definitely made it worse. Fire pulled up in a gust around the shadowed corner and he backed away in shock, never expecting a demon had such power…never…well, he was a basic fool. When the flames finally died away, he knew the woman was gone. With a growl he forced an angered punch into a nearby wall, the burnt hand already scarring from where he had been attacked by her. “I hate demons,” he spat darkly, eyes flashing over to look at his hand. “I’ll see her again.”

************************

“Nice scar you have there,” Gene pointed out as he tried to regain the attention of the zoned out other. He cringed when a cloth tightened more against his shoulder as the knot was tied off. He quickly snapped his fingers before Michael, who straightened and stood away from him, seemingly “back to this world” and starting to examine the scar.

“An interesting gift from a demon while I was a stupid teen such as yourself.”

“Thanks for the credit,” he mumbled back dejectedly.

“Everyone has to start somewhere.”

“I still don’t believe any of this.”

“Of course you don’t.”

************************

“What can I get for you?” Nan eyed a silent and stout man sitting at a far table as he pointed towards he choice of a meal. He gave a quick nod, “I’ll get that right away,” and turned towards the back. “Sen, ask that woman over there what she wants.”

“But I don’t know how,” Sen blinked before spinning for the seventy-second time that afternoon in one of the stools by the bar counter.

“Sure you do. Just ask her what she wants, remember it, and come and tell me, ok?”

“Um…ok…” she mumbled and slid off the stool, walking over to the woman who sat at a table by the fireplace. Sen sent a glance at it and nervously perked as the flames gave a lively flicker. Her eyes fell back to the customer. “What do you…want?”

The woman looked at her uncertain, but let it pass and spoke out her order, “Just the Garden Salad and a Nacar Brew.”

“Ok,” Sen smiled, finding this job rather easy as she moved aside and went into the back where Nan had gone, slightly surprised to see him…cooking.

“It’s a living,” he shrugged at the odd expression she gave him.

“That woman said she wanted a Garden Salad and a…Nacar…Brew…” she spoke carefully, eying the ceiling as she slowly let her memory give her the information. “Oh! And I think Rin is feeling better now than before.”

“Ah, very good. See? That’s not too hard,” he leant to the side of the stovetop he was working with and wrote down what Sen had said, returning to the meal shortly afterwards. “Can you go check on Rin?”

“I guess…” the girl sighed, already missing the stool she had spun on earlier. But she supposed helping out was all right, after all, it was better than being trapped and unable to move in another being. She skipped out of the room and glanced around for the hidden stairway, checking out the layout of the tavern to see that a few more groups of people had filtered in for lunch, then headed up the stairs.

************************

“The sky is always gray when I look into my heart, the window never opens up to lead me from the dark, the door that seems too stuck to care for is hiding from my soul, and if I could make it to that sky then all would be foretold…”

Sen stood in the open doorway to the room where Rin had been carried to only slightly more than a half-hour ago. Rin had taken to a chair by one of the windows now, an odd film of orange haze surrounding her body. Sen took another step forward, hearing the other continue to sing.

“But I can never escape, I’m always trapped here, my mind will melt and my body will burn while I try to break free. It’s hopeless to even bother when there’s no chance to get away. Survival is irrelevant, I fear what I cannot see, yet always in my life the inevitable is a part of me…”

“Rin…?” Sen cut in uneasily, jumping when the said person turned her gaze in her direction and Sen was able to see a crow sitting in her lap, formed out of a controlled fire. “What is that?!” Sen nearly screamed with eyes wide.

“I got lonely…” Rin whispered, stroking the fiery head of the bird, the flames obviously not injuring her. “So I…made a friend.”

“You’re not a god! You aren’t allowed to create things at your own whim! You can’t kill stuff either!”

“Why not?” there was a sudden flash that crossed Rin’s eyes that caused Sen to fall silent, frozen in place as a cold feeling dripped down her spine and spread across her nervous system. It told her to not move. Rin’s seeking gaze watched the very young girl carefully before her eyes returned to the soft and sad pupils Sen had begun to familiarize herself with.

“…Everyone has the…right to live…” Sen forced out when it seemed safe enough.

“You’re right,” Rin smiled, gathering the crow onto her arm and tossing it up into the air, the being momentarily flying about the room before the flames spread apart and disappeared. The film around Rin was gone. “But everyone always has a right for this thing…and that thing…and when you think about it, if one has the right to live, another has the right to kill.”

Sen decided the other still hadn’t regained her original senses. “That’s not how it is!”

Rin abruptly stood, “You know it’s true, stop clutching to petty ideals.”

“No! You’re wrong, you’re always, always wrong!” Sen yelled, turning on her heels and rushing down the stairs, crashing against Nan once she got there.

“I heard yelling, everything ok?” he held out and hand to straighten the upset child.

“No, everything is not ok,” she snapped and went around Nan. “She’s a psycho! I swear, she’s insane! It’s not safe to have her here!”

“Maybe you’re just overreacting a little…” he paused and glanced back at the people eating in the tavern-like area. “Look, I made that woman’s salad in the back, go bring it to her while I make a second check on the ‘psycho’ upstairs.”

Sen pouted, though her eyes were still wildly dancing with the upset feeling against Rin. Nan patted her head, much to her displeasure, and moved upstairs.

************************

Rin still stood where she had when Sen had left, though was facing towards the window once again. “You freaked out Sen,” the man had spoken once he made it up to the doorway of the room.

“Sen?”

“Name that I gave the kid.”

“Nice.”

He shrugged and went on, “She thinks you’re a psycho.”

“Perhaps I am,” Rin spoke back, voice bordering the line of cold and soft. “She has her beliefs, I have mine. For all I know you could be sharing her idealistic thoughts.”

“Would that be a problem?”

Rin gave a snort and rounded her head along her shoulder to send him a glance. He could see what Sen was so shaken up over. “I don’t think it would be,” he continued, “to have something to believe in is always nice, don’t you think? Could be different from others, but it’s still something to keep you going, y’know?”

She seemed to be thinking over his words before whispering unemotionally, “I suppose.” There was another moment of silence, cautious actions working through both their minds, but it was Rin who spoke again after moving towards him. “I’m going out.”

“No, you’re not. Too dangerous.”

“Are you going to stop me?” she clicked her tongue, eyes daring him to even try.

“Are you going out to set people on fire?” Nan gave an even reply, not quite meeting her challenge; but testing more of it.

“No, I’m not. I’m not hungry enough to do such a thing.”

“Fine, then go,” he shrugged, “but watch it.”

“You aren’t my guardian,” she warned him. Through his eyes she looked like some drunk that wanted just one more glass, thinking that she could handle just one more and yet knew not to go that far. She was very careful like this, very observant.

He didn’t like her like this. It scared him.

************************

A pale hand grazed each streetlamp that she passed, keeping her body easily supported, moving in a partial limp. Most ignored her, some gave her a long and confused glance before continuing on their business. That’s what the desolate city was like; everyone keeping to themselves and ignoring the most out of place person. Keeps me safe enough, she thought to herself, though kept her head down nevertheless. In a way Rin figured that the gesture would make her stand out even more, hiding her face. Who really cares? she chuckled darkly before stopping to lean against one of the streetlamps, groaning.

“Not again,” Rin whispered at the air, eyes staring up as the light began to flicker on as many of the others did. In her person opinion it was still too early for that…or in any other city it would be. The time, she supposed, was approximately three o’clock, yet the air’s atmosphere was like five. Rin raised a hand and placed it over her face, closing her eyes. “Stop it,” she muttered, her vision flashing with the sight of wings and returning again. That had been occurring every so often since she left the tavern.

After Sen’s eyes turned to her and glared hotly.

She wasn’t sure why it hadn’t bothered her at the time. The dark gaze that followed her until she left the tavern. And even then Rin believe that the child must have stared at the door for moments after. It was like a dare. Just as I was daring Nan. She lightly shook her head, unsure of what had come over her then either. A flash across her gaze again as she saw the wings, moving with a flap, the rest of the “body” unable to be seen, but then with a crisp clap they fell to ashes and her sight cleared freely again only for her to jump, startled.

“Miss? Are you all right?”

Hazel eyes snapped to the figure and she watched the boy, seemingly at least ten years younger than herself, looking at her worriedly.

“You’re not from here, are you?” she questioned, not bothering to answer him.

“Excuse me?” he blinked, confused. “No, I’m from here.”

She gave a small nod and thought his words over and replied again, “But you weren’t…born here, were you?”

“Uh…yeah…I was born in a town a few miles east. Why do you ask?”

“Because,” she straightened away from lamppost, hands sliding into the pockets of a black trench coat (which was what she chose to wear over her earlier cloak). She gave a small smile, “No one who was born here would go out of their way to speak to a stranger.”

“That’s kind of odd, don’t you think? How would anyone make friends?”

She chuckled lightly, taking a step forward once she noticed a bandage wrapped a few times around his shoulder and breast area. “Your shoulder,” Rin spoke out as she gently touched the knot of the material, “what happened?”

“Ah…just ran into a little mess. Got it bandaged by a friend,” he stopped after that word and she carefully noted that his eyes became distant, as if there was a large amount of uncertainty in the word. But he shook himself back to reality and forced a smile, correcting himself. “Someone I know fixed it up. Doesn’t hurt so much now.”

Distantly in the back of her mind, she wanted to know what sort of mess he had got into. She didn’t know what the urge was there for, but she held it back as another part of her mind told her not to go there. She shouldn’t know, just as someone shouldn’t know the taste of poison.

“With that kind of wound, don’t you think you should be resting?”

He laughed, “That’s what he said too. But I needed some air.”

“Oh…well, I know the feeling,” she stepped back to stay a distance from him again. “What’s your name?”

“Gene.”

“Interesting name,” she hummed, starting to walk by him now.

“What about you?” he turned around, staring at her back. Her response was given after she moved only her head back in his direction. She’s a weird one, Gene mused silently.

“My name really isn’t that important,” her feet stopped walking and she felt sickened for a short time, vision flickering again, but this time it was just darkness. “Don’t go talking to strangers very often, Gene. You could get hurt here,” she finished talking to him when she could see straight again and then continued onward.

************************

Michael scoffed to himself as he fumbled a moment around a small apartment, seating himself on a half-scraped couch. “Idiotic boy,” he spat, shuffling around some more as he continue to spout words darkly. “He’s going to get himself killed.” The boy really was useless to him, the only thing he needed Gene around for was to keep Michael aware that humans still existed in this world. For all he knew, himself and Gene were the only humans still around!

But that was his only use. The boy didn’t even believe demons were real, “And he was almost slaughtered by one. Would have become its next meal,” he growled, hands digging beneath a cushion before he pulled back and sighed. I swore I had a picture of that wretched abomination, he thought carefully, trying to remember where he had put it. Maybe he simply hadn’t taken one…or he had and the demon had melted his camera…I can’t remember, he thought in annoyance. He should have taped the recent news story on her, then at least Gene could know what she looked like as a human. “I don’t even know where to start searching for her now.”

“Wow, I’m impressed, you can admit to things like that.”

Michael glanced up to see Gene half standing in the doorway and half slouched against its frame.

“You already tired yourself out?”

“Shut up,” Gene mumbled and came inside, closing the door behind him. Though the other was right, he didn’t want to admit to having gotten tired so easily. His body, after all, was still trying to function fully with the blood loss; and of course he was pushing it by going for a stroll.

“I warned you that you should’ve rest.”

“Thanks for the reminder,” he grumbled, dragging his body to a chair and sitting so his whole body was up on it. With a cringe he muffled back a yelp, eyes shut as he shifted his body onto an armrest, staring at a part of the chair before glaring over at Michael, “Can’t this place have any furniture in it that doesn’t have springs sticking out?!”

“I take it you sat on one?” Michael seemed very amused.

“No, I’m just yelling because I feel like it!”

“Oh, all right then,” was the calm response as the thirty-three year old man stood and walked across to meet a kitchen, proceeding to grab a glass of water.

“Damn you to hell!” Gene spat back, suddenly in a very bad mood. He moved a hand down to the cushion, feeling around to make sure there was only one spring, and went back to sitting as best he could to avoid it. “You can’t even live in a normal place…”

“Normal?” Michael rose a brow as he took his seat back on the couch. “You mean living in an alleyway like a lost rat?”

“No…”

“So what poor dump did you live in then?”

“Shut up!” he yelled again, eyes burning angrily. “Where I lived was just fine,” there was still malice in his voice, but it had sunk down to a quiet level.

“Mmm…right, of course. No furniture to worry about pricking you.”

Gene found it better to just keep quiet himself, then the other didn’t have anything to mock him about. He curled around his injured area, having felt its pain start to flare again, but he said nothing about it. He wouldn’t talk. There was a pain also arising in the back of his skull and he shrunk more into the chair.

************************

Rin came back into the tavern very silently and slowly. More people had arrived and had filled the tables since she was last there, all chatting and eating. Pete had returned as well, leaning over a glass from his stool at the bar counter. She glanced around longer, watching the gentle flicker of the fireplace, Sen flitting around tables as if she worked there, and Nan coming from the back with a tray of food. He seemed to be conversing lightly with Pete when she spoke out to him softly, “I can help.”

He blinked, eyes still on Pete as he took a moment to register her voice. Rin didn’t move, even when he did finally look up at her.

Oddly, it startled her. There was hesitation in his gaze, looking over her to make sure she was a safe fuse. Sen now was staring at her as well…no, that’s wrong. Sen was glaring at her again. I must’ve left with a bad mark on my back, she thought to herself and sighed, walking over to where Nan still stood with the tray. “I didn’t burn anything,” she whispered to him and felt slightly saddened by the rush of relief that crossed his face. Did he doubt her? “I’m sorry for anything I may have said before I left. I…wasn’t feeling well…” she tapped the side of her head, “but I’m better now. Let me help.”

He paused before nodding, “All right. I haven’t heard anyone speak of the recent…events, but if you hear anyone -”

“Then I’ll scamper upstairs or in the back,” she cut in, her words spoken with amusement. He blinked once more before shaking his head, slowly smiling. “So, I’m waiting on people, am I right?”

“Yeah…will give less for Sen to handle.”

Rin gave a nod and turned towards the tables, taking a small breath in and moving to ask a man in the back what he needed, nodding again once she took it in. I need Nan to show me around a bit…she thought to herself as she passed the order to him. Then I can be a bit more help. Sen brushed passed her without a word and she couldn’t help but blink when the child stood by the fire.

Most everyone had food now and had been checked on once or twice, giving everyone a bit of a break until someone left or someone new entered.

“…Sen?” Rin came up to the girl nervously, glancing towards the fire as well. “I…apologize for whatever I may have said earlier, I really don’t know what I did say…but…I’m sorry.”

“You can’t control it.”

“What?”

“I can tell,” Sen whispered, closing the small hazel eyes sadly. “I can see it in this fire. You can’t control your own.”

“Sen, keep it down,” Rin said quickly, hoping no one heard the child.

“Oh, what do you care about everyone else? It never stopped you before.”

“Sen, please, for Nan’s sake!”

“You can’t control it,” she repeated again. Rin just stared at her, then to the fire which made a flicker of warning. I can too control it, Rin thought frantically, I can! I always have been able to! She has no idea what she’s talking about! “Rin…” Sen’s voice began to waver and she backed away from the fireplace.

“You don’t know anything about me!” Rin yelled, slowly turning towards Sen, a change of color rolling over her eyes. There was a throb momentarily in her mind and distantly her ears recognized the pitch of a scream from the back of the tavern. Rin’s vision faltered and her eyes returned to hazel when she fully faced Sen, breath heavy as she sent her gaze to where the scream had come from.

A woman had ducked away from her table, higher above her the seam where the wall and ceiling met had a line of flame eating away at the wood. Rin’s mouth fell open and she looked back at a scared Sen, back at the flames, and then to Nan. “I…I didn’t…” Nan was ignoring her though; he moved to work on extinguishing her mess.

A figure dressed in black stood, placing the money for his meal onto the table and walked by, staring up at the fire with a smirk. His body stopped behind Sen and he tipped a wide-rimmed hat in greeting towards Rin, “I knew you were still alive somewhere. Interesting body, Rin, didn’t think human was your style,” he chuckled at her horrified expression and made his way for the door without another word. The flames at the wall were mere spurts of smoke, but by Nan’s confused look, it seemed it was not his doing to put them out.

Whispering passed between tables, glances in her general direction, suspicious glares, and scolding gestures all pointedly focused on her. Rin wanted to move; she wanted to hide in the back or go upstairs like she said she would if this sort of thing were to happen.

But she just stood there, trying to take in what she just did and who the person that left was. He knew my name. But the fire…

Sen looked away, “I told you…”

“You little…” Rin growled out, but quickly shook her head, upset. “I didn’t do it, I swear…I mean…I didn’t want that to happen…” He knew my name… “It just slipped, it wasn’t on purpose, Sen… Nan, I’m sorry…I…”

“Is that the murderer from the news?”

Rin fell silent, feeling as if the whispering suddenly became louder.

“Looks like the same hair as her…”

“If there’s a murderer here, I’m leaving!”

“She doesn’t look like she’s capable of killing…”

He knew my name… Rin finally shut out everyone’s talking and pushed by Sen, opening the door roughly and moving out into the alleyway, not bothering with the door again. She stepped out onto the main sidewalk and searched the area where the streetlamps lit with their flickering light. He knew who I was, as if he’s known me for awhile… “Hello?” Rin called out, voice hitting the air like a weight. All the rest of the shops on the street were already closed, though she had once heard there was a place to get tea or coffee this late further down the road.

“What? Have you gotten scared of the flames?”

She jumped at the familiar voice, glancing around for him, but couldn’t find his form. “I…”

“It’s not like you, Rin. If you don’t use them - then you’re going to eventually lose control. Why are you suddenly holding back?”

“I’m….not…” she whispered, head lowering, “I don’t know. I feel like there’s so much to remember and I can’t,” she felt something cold in the air and turned to face it, only to see the man in black, smiling beneath that tipped hat of his. “Who are you?”

“So you don’t remember that much either, hm? Oh, that’s a real shame…is that what being human so long does to you?” he looked like he shivered at his words. “Damn, glad I didn’t do what you did…”

“You’re…not human…?”

“Nope! All illusions here, pretty good if I managed to fool the Great Thief Rin.”

“I don’t understand…”

“Eh? Oh, that’s right, memory problems. Come, let me treat you to a cup of tea and try to refresh some of your mind,” he reached out and took her wrist, and even through the thin, black gloves she pulled away in shock.

“You’re freezing!”

He smiled again and held up the hand, curling it back so his wrist was facing skywards. Rin’s eyes widened when a soft aura fell around it, a crystal slowly building a mere centimeter off of the same aura, glimmering for her to see until he made a fist and it shattered, shards falling to the ground. “Ice, a friend to me like fire is to you.”

************************

“Fire isn’t my friend,” Rin murmured, hands wrapped around a small cup of tea, her hazel eyes watching the liquid where the steam pooled up from it. At least there was no one else occupying the café, it kept everything she said more confidential - and less of a worry. It’s smaller than Nan’s place…

“You didn’t use to think that,” he chuckled, stirring some sugar into the dark coffee he had bought. “Back then you used it all the time, like most demons to their energy.”

“What? Demons?”

“Rin…you don’t…” he stared up at her, eyes suddenly nervous with what he was saying. “What I mean is, you don’t really think…you’re human, do you?”

“Of course I am…”

“Rin, the last time I saw you some…seventy years ago…some freak Demon Hunter was after you. You mentioned a few quick words of ‘I have an idea’ and were gone. I killed the guy’s partner, but the main one was nowhere to be seen and neither were you. Everyone thought he really killed you.”

Her mind wondered and she shifted to rest her head into her palm, staring towards a wall. “I hid,” she whispered, unsure where the thought came from. “I hid from him for years…I think I was shocked by my own decision…it was so…unlike me. I suppressed the flames as best I could…so he wouldn’t find me…I think I stayed in hiding for at least fifty years, everything around me changed…and then…I don’t remember…” her memory was blurry even with speaking out that bit. She still couldn’t actually remember her appearance back then.

“Well, it shows that part of your brain is awake still…sort of. That hunter shouldn’t even be alive right now, unless he’s made up of more than human blood, which is possible in these times. Someone is in this city too, hunting. Tried to shoot me down a few days ago. You better watch it,” he said the last part as he stood, “I’ll keep in touch, ok? Tchet,” he held his hand out to her, the introduction coming rather belatedly. She slowly shook it. “Don’t forget me again.”

Rin slowly nodded, head looking towards his back as she quickly fumbled out quiet words, “I don’t think I want to remember my past.”

He forced a smile, despite the fact she couldn’t see it, and left.

************************

Note to self: Stop skim-editing. Oh well…I did again anyway -.- I think the only part I liked of this chapter were the parts between Gene and Michael, and also the scene were Rin and Sen were upstairs. Yeah…so Rin is having some trouble, as you could probably tell. Heh. And this… “Tchet” randomly showed. Bah. I don’t know. Well, I do. I know about the characters and kind of where this story is going and how it will come to an end.

But of course, nothing really makes sense now. Ha, whoops.

Thank you to my two reviewers, I like reviews, heh. Then again…with original things…I don’t care so much for them. Ah well. And no, the name ‘Michael’ was not pulled from Abrahamic mythology…though it does sound interesting. Does fit in with his character…