Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #21 December 2015 | Page 42

“Wait, you knew this was coming?”
“Well, not the details, but the general idea,
yup. Your premonition power seems to like me.”
Otalian got up, springing lightly on their feet.
“And what is going on now?”
“Well, the amulet didn’t come with us, and
that was the only thing keeping us separate. Well, as
separate as two people in the same body can be.”
“And what does that mean?” Margo was
frozen in one spot.
Otalian moved closer. “You, should be able
to see it if you concentrate, I think. Your knack for
disillusioning yourself will come in handy.”
Margo listened with a raised eyebrow, but
complied. Otalian reached for Margo’s hands and both
closed their eyes. The surrounding burned out forest
faded away. When Margo opened her eyes, grey coils
were merging with apple-green ones, intertwining
between each other all around them. But Margo
could see that in some places the green and grey were
merging completely.
“I think you can figure out what this is.”
Otalian’s happy laugh jingled all around them.
“We’re merg -- umm, becoming one?” Margo
had never seen an essence before. She quickly figured
out that the apple-green one was Otalian’s, it wasn’t
a big leap in judgement. A thought passed through
her head that she was surprised her essence was not
black or brown coloured. It’s surprisingly... pretty and
unscary. Weird.

Otalian thought about the definition of paragon
for a minute, their thin long finger with a long claw
scratching their chin. “Umm, I guess I could be
considered a paragon of neutrality if we really needed
to use the word...”
Margo still thought it was weird the Nexus was
neutral, witches hardly were. By all accounts, it was
good. As long as you considered witches good and
demons bad that is.
“Yes? I’m a balance deity?“ Otalian imitated
scales with their hands. “I balance demonic and witch
magic? Completely neutral?”
“Well, you better tell the Nexus coven that.
They and every person that is not an Immortal demon,
or knows me, consider you the deity of good magic.”
Margo put her hands on her hips.
Otalian thought a bit. “They consider
themselves good so I get it. But I was only helping
them to keep the balance, they were fewer.”
“And now?”
“I got bored and frustrated. They just kill
each other,” Otalian pouted, and sat down on the now
invisible floor. “It keeps the balance, but it’s not the
balance I wanted. So when I found a suitable host, I
jumped at the chance.”
“And that’s another thing,” Margo pointed to
the grey essence. ”Why me? There has to be more than
me being ‘more neutral’ than others at work.”

“We’re not gonna vanish, don’t worry. The
amulet can separate us again. The Huntress is not a
permanent state.”

“Well, you a &R&