Wizardness

“I hate this.” Tobias said.
“Why? can’t find any names you’re worthy of?” Red sneered.
“No. I just think I’ve been given a name that suits me more.”
“Order Boy?” Giggles asked.
“Tark.” Tobias replied.
Ronlique cleared her throat. “Well, I’ve done some research. Since I don’t get to pick my name-“
“Of course you do. That tyrant shouldn’t get to pick your name.” Dar’kid interrupted. “Besides that’s a name from my people’s gods. I don’t want you to have it.”
“Rose does.”
Dar’kid scowled.
“Well, how about we start with Dar’kid. He offers his name and Ronlique offers her name. Each explains why the name suits the fist member and everyone go say their gut reaction. Whoever gets the most fist votes decides the name.” Tobias said.
“Man, why do I go first?”
“Couldn’t find anything?” Giggles laughed.
“No, I did. I just feel silly.”
“It feels arrogant.” Tobias said.
“Hmm, no. The gods are the reason we live in echos. I do not know if I want their names.” Plain said.
“Yea. That feels right.” Dar’kid said.
Tobias felt a weight settle on the room. He felt it settle on his heart. Plain said it so, plainly. It was why he’d picked Tark.
Tobias pushed himself up from the table. He walked heavily to the buffet table and grabbed as many pitchers as he could. He placed them around the table at each Fist member. He went to make a second trip, he found Giggles and Dar’kid were each grabbing pitchers and mugs.
“Pour yourself a mug. Then let’s have a toast. I want to toast each of you. I’ve grown. I’m not the man I was when I came. I toast to my various names, my birth name, Tark, Order boy, and any other name you may have called me but never said allowed. I toast you, Red,” he raised his mug towards her, “You Raven now Ronlique. You Dar’kid. You Giggles. You Plain. You’re my new family. I will mourn the death of your old name and celebrate your rebirth tonight!”
“Hmm, Plain? Order boy?” Plain asked.
“Yea, I thought your features were plain. Then realized you were plain spoken.” Tobias blushed. “Look my nicknames for you were all terrible. I didn’t know you. I love you all.”
“You aren’t even drunk yet!” Giggles cried.
“On that note.” Ronlique called, mug raised. “Order Boy, Tark, Tobias,” this caused Tobias to rock back in his seat. Ronlique grinned. “I dub you Zoja God of the Abyss, the space between the stars.”
Tobias staggered back. He felt pierced. His soul shuddered. His mug fell from senseless fingers. His mug tumbled slowly. Beer sloshing out. The fire light twinkled, like stars, in the foam. He took deep breaths to control his breathing. He reached out and caught his mug.
Suddenly, sound flooded him. He stood. The Fist was babbling around him, all of them stared at him.
“Why?” Tobias croaked.
“The Stars might be the brightness at night. The abyss is the void that binds. It is the fabric the stars are strewn across. Without the abyss, there could be no stars. No stars to fight against an ever lasting darkness. You, you’re fighting against your own darkness. You’re what binds this Fist together. You don’t dominate the night sky. You’re there.”
“I’m sorry.” Giggles said, “You’re Zoja. I can’t believe we called you anything else.”
“Hmm, Zoja, you felt it, didn’t you?”
Tobias? no, Zoja, nodded. “Yes. It hurt.”
“Dar’kid, you are Foushee, God of Cursed Winds, Bane of sailors.” Dar’kid looked stunned. Zoja felt something click. He could see a dark power manifest in Dar’kid. He seemed to float. “You are the dark cold wind bringing an early winter. That brings tornados into huts. You are, the wind that cuts through our enemies.”
Tears streamed down Dar’kid/Foushee’s cheeks. “My mother was claimed by Foushee. She was on a boat, leaving me for another trip. I begged Foushee to claim her. I think Foushee claimed me then. I think I always knew.”
“Rose, I call you Mane, Goddess of the Inferno. Your fury sweeps through the western forests. Without proper worship, you bring death and destruction to everyone in your path. Even with care and consideration, one poorly managed fire can set you off. Your fire, brings a passion that brightens the darkness of the abyss. You and the abyss are in tension.”
Red/Mane’s hair burst into flame. She grinned. “Pretty on the nose isn’t it?”
Giggles giggled.
“Laughing man, you were a challenge. The various gods and goddesses of mirrors, rivers, and deception seemed obvious. I expect that’s been done in an echo. No, you’re Telon, God of Truth. No one likes Telon, he’s despised because he tells the truths no one wants to hear. The ones that break men. You broke us all. Your truth was a light through the abyss. Through the Tempest of Foushee. Through the past. You are Telon.”
Giggles/Telon was stunned. He stared at his hands, as if seeing them for the first time.
“Big man, Plain Alriq. You are Paaktear, Goddess of Death.” Plain/Paaktear fell from his chair. His chair splintered beneath him. “You are the doom of mankind. You choose when and where to end a man’s life. You can take a man’s life and breath it into another. You hide and lurk, waiting for your chance. Everyone sees you, but never sees you for who you are.
“I am your balance, Ronlique. Fire and Abyss. Storm and Clarity. Life and Death. That is who we are.”
She suddenly shuddered. As if she was channeling some divine reading. Mane reached over to check on her. Her had was still wreathed in fire, so she had to pull back.
Plain/Paaktear reached over and poured her a drink. He quickly dribbled some on her lips. She shook herself and woke.
“Are you sure you aren’t Telon? You certainly channeled a cosmic truth. One that none of the echos saw.” Giggles/Telon said.
“No. That wasn’t Telon. That was the Lord of Stars himself. I hope that never happens again.”
Giggles/Telon roared in laughter, “My, my! I think someone is misnamed. Fire and Death – especially Paaktear’s death, are opposites. Paaktear is an icy cold frigid death. You are not Ronlique. You are Solit, Lord of the Stars. You, Raven, Ronlique, are Solit. He would not have chosen you otherwise. We are truly pairs. Abyss and Starlight. Light of Truth and Fog of War. Life and Death. We are the Godly Sent. The Good God Damn.”
“Shit, you’re gonna have to wear name tags,” Dar’kid/Foushee said.
The Fist laughed and with that laugh, A tension, none of them realized they felt, was released.
Tobias/Zoja poured another round. “Here’s to you, fist Epsilon. The Good God Damn!”
“Enough. Time to get suited up. We leave tonight.” Commander Lee suddenly said.
“Tonight?” Dar’kid/Foushee asked. “Come on. We’ve earned this.”
Lee snorted, “Earned this? Please. These names you’ve picked are the height of arrogance. Solit? You all are committing blaspheme just saying her new ‘name.’ At least call her Ronlique in public.”
“No.” Tobias/Zoja said. “Whoever we were is dead. This is who we are. We’ve transformed. Solit was never Ronlique, she just made a brief stop on her way to who she really is. We will join you outside, tyrant.”
“Whatever. Order Boy.”
In a lightening flash, Dar’kid/Foushee held a knife to Lee’s throat. “His name is Zoja.” Foushee said through clenched teeth. “You say that name in relation to Zoja, again, you’ll be as dead as Leetonio.”
Lee stood on his tip toes. He looked as if he was going to say something. Instead, he vanished.
Foushee wiped his blade clean, before sheathing it.
“Well, let’s get suited up fist. I hear Good God Damn uniforms exaggerate your name AND your sparks.” Zoja said.
“Hmm, it is true.” Plain/Paaktear said. He was holding his uniform up. It was a dark blue, blended with purples, and brightening at the seams and cuffs to an icy blue white. He turned it around and the wings on the back were made of ice and the star resembled a skull when the fire hit it just right.
Foushee’s star and wings were a storm cloud flanked with lightening. Giggles/Telon was a face with an open third eye flanked by light rays. Red/Mane’s was fireball flanked with wings of flame. Raven/Ronlique/Solit’s was a field of stars flanked by the pillars of creation. Zoja’s was empty, or rather there were light absorbent patterns in the shape of a dying star and wings. The rest was a matte black.
“You see, she is -” Lee stopped mid sentence. “What? What are these? By the Leaves and the Damp. I’d heard arrogant names before and the uniforms rebuked the fist, but. But, this. These.” Lee blinked for a moment. “Something really is different this time.”
He seemed to come back to himself. “Let’s go.” Then they were suddenly in a stone building.