From Mortal To Divinity

Setanta is dead, and so is Ferdiad. All because they refused to wear their rune suits. They knew the suit's functions and decided against wearing them when they found a worthy way to die. Ferdiad at the hands of the Ulster Cycle's greatest hero, and Setanta against an army while in a weakened and vulnerable state from breaking all of his geas. A good death for them, and honestly if I were the one to die in a similar fashion as those two, then I would be satisfied. Although my death would not come about because I was too stubborn to use everything in my arsenal. Still I can respect their decisions. I am not even mad at them for it.

However, one person has pissed me off this day, Medb. She has the audacity to orchestrate his death through traps and plots, yet where is she. She is nowhere to be seen on this battlefield even though she had to plot and scheme to kill him. Medb is a person that believes that she is the center of the world and that the world revolves around her. For her to be absent here, during this time, it is almost as if she is saying 'I know that through my plots and traps you will die this day, yet this is not an important enough event to require my presence.'

She is looking down on him. The warrior who held her army off and forced them to retreat single handedly. The warrior who captured her, yet despite all she has done, especially pitting him against his best friend, still treated her like a queen and escorted her back to her kingdom safely. The warrior that she had to plot and scheme against, and yet still require an army to kill. She has the audacity to look down on him.

"I can feel your murderous rage through the link. Who are you planning to kill?." says Scathach, breaking me from my thoughts.

"No one. While I am furious at the way she treated his death, I do not plan to kill her. At least not yet. Right now we must bring Setanta back to Ulster for his burial." I reply

With a nod of her head, Scathach picks Setanta up, like a mother carrying her son, and together we return to the woods and make our way to Ulster.

The run is a quiet and somber affair, and I have no idea how long it takes before we finally make it out of the woods and see the main city of Ulster.

Constructed behind a woodlands, the city is home to the king of Ulster and their army, the Knights of the Red Branch. This city wasn't built by the woodlands by accident, as it provides great defenses from an invading army. According to Setanta, the city itself looks normal. With its wooden houses and rooftops, protective walls of average height and dirty roads, the city looks like a standard city of that time. The main attraction is the Knights of the Red Branch and their program of apprentice warriors for children wishing to eventually join the ill.u.s.trious group.

Approaching the walls, we are met with a squad of knights from the Red Branch, who upon seeing Setanta's bloody body being carried by Scathach are immediately on guard.

"Who are you strangers? And why do you carry a bloodied Cu Chulainn?" demands one knight as he approaches us with his sword drawn.

"I am Scathach, Queen of the Land of Shadows, Witch of Dun Scaith, and teacher of Setanta. I come here simply to return him to his wife." Scathach answers.

Setanta must have told them many things about her, for as soon as the knight hears her words his face pales and apprehension shows across his features. That is until he processes the rest of Scathach's words and drops his sword in shock.

"Lead me to his wife." orders Scathach before the knight can say anything else.

I can tell that she laced her voice with a small amount of charmspeak, for the knight's eyes slightly glaze over and he nods before he hurriedly nods and begins to lead the way. The other knights, similarly dumbfounded simply watch as Scathach and I follow the knight.

As we enter the city, I activate a minor bounded field that wraps around the four of us. It causes everyone to overlook us and to subconsciously stay away from us.

Eventually the knight leads us to a wooden house. Having done his duty, Scathach orders him to return to his post. Walking up to the door of the house, I knock on the door and wait. Soon enough the door is opened by a beautiful woman.

"Hello." she says with a gentle smile voice and a smile on her face. "How may I help you?"

Before I can answer her however, her eyes move towards Scathach and she finally notices Setanta's body. With wide eyes and tears streaming down her face, Emer leads us into the guest room of her house where Scathach gently lays Setanta down on the bed.

For a few hours we stay by Emer's side as she cries over her husband's dead body. Eventually she stops crying and wipes her tears.

"Forgive my lack of manners. I---"

"None of that now child. We understand and do not hold it against you." says Scathach as she interrupts Emer.

"Forgive my ignorance, but who are you two?" asks Emer.

"I am Ambrosius, and my companion is Scathach. We were Setanta's teachers for a while." I answer.

"Oh. He spoke of you two. Although, I did not expect you to be so young. He always referred to you as a 'stupid old man' that made his life harder than it had to be." she tells me with a wistful smile.

Hearing this I can't help but feel a little annoyed, especially with Scathach standing next to me giggling.

"Yes. He did have a habit of calling me that, particularly when I was the one training him. Although I like to believe that we had an amicable relationship despite the banter." I answer with a smile of my own.

"He told me once that you are perhaps the only man he looks up to, as both a warrior and a man. Although he did say that you worry too much." she answers.

"And if you ask me I would say that he was too carefree sometimes." I reply.

She simply nods in response and we sit there in silence.

"I was going to tell him after he came back." Emer says after a few minutes of silence.

"Tell him what?" asks Scathach.

Emer looks at us, and just from her expression I am already dreading what it is she is about to say.

"I am with child." she tells us with a sad smile. "He was finally going to be a father. Something he has wished for ever since his return from the Land of Shadows."

It's funny how no matter how powerful one is, words and emotions can still affect them. Unless one completely closes themselves off from their humanity, emotions will always affect them. And I am no different, for with that simply sentence Emer has sentenced Medb to death.

Why? Because I have come to care for Setanta almost to the point of him being my son. Medb killed him through her scheme, and honestly if it was just that I would not be going after her head. Then she disrespected him by not being present at his death. Once again that is not enough for me to seek her death. Does it anger me to see how she treated his death as something inconsequential? Yes it does, but not to the point of killing her. If it were just that then I would not be currently planning to kill her..

Unfortunately for Medb however, Setanta has a child and I would bet my partial immortality on the fact that it is a son. Once he is born he will have to worry about Medb not only for vengeance, but also because there is no way that she will leave the son of the only man to ever spurn her advances to live in peace.

As a son of Setanta he will have expectations placed upon him to be a great warrior and to seek vengeance for his father's death, especially after it is found out that Medb tricked Setanta into breaking his geas before attacking him with an army. Confucius said "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." A truer statement on vengeance has never been spoken. Living for vengeance is not a way to live, it can be called existing at the most. Not only is it self destructive, but even if you survive getting your vengeance, what is the next step when all you have known your life is vengeance. Most people do not survive getting revenge, and even those who do so end up living meaningless lives afterwards.

Then there is the other problem he will face when he is born, Medb. She will not let him live in peace if she ever finds out about his existence, and I have no plan of hiding his heritage from him or anybody. That is not a compromise I am willing to make. The child will grow up knowing their father with pride.

With a sigh, I turn to make my way out of the house.

"Scathach, stay with her. I will be back." I tell her before I leave.

Once outside I activate the runic array on my suit that has the same effect as my previously used bounded field and make my way out of the city.

Activating all of the physical enhancement runes tattooed on my body along with the ones on my rune suit. While I do not know the exact location of Medb's castle, I do know that Connacht, her kingdom, is south east of Ulster and that he castle is somewhere in the middle of her kingdom.

It takes me a few hours, but eventually I find it. The castle itself is situated a few miles away from a farming town. It has eleven massive, round towers guarding the weakest points of the castle and are connected by large, thick walls made of light green stone. Tall windows are scattered thinly around the walls in seemingly perfect symmetry, along with huge crenelations for archers and artillery. A moderate gate with great wooden doors and various artillery equipment offers more protection.

Arriving in front of the castle, I turn myself invisible with my biotics and completely erase any other trace of my presence with runes inscribed in my suit. It takes me a while, but eventually I find her room.

Walking inside, I erect a bounded field around the room with runes. The bounded field will keep any sounds from exiting the room, and it will make anyone who approaches the room stay away from it.

Due to the lack of moonlight tonight, the room is completely dark. However, I can easily see as if it were daytime.

The room looks like your typical bedroom for royalty with lavish decorations and furniture. However that is not why I am here. There lying on a large bed with her husband is Queen Medb herself. Without making a sound, I walk over to her husband's side and snap his neck. Like anticipated, the sound wakes her up and she immediately launches herself at me. With a minimal amount of effort I grab her by the neck and slam her into the ground.

"Who are you!? How did you get past my guards!?" she screams.

Without answering her I turn to the candle on the nightstand and light it.

"I will at least give you the courtesy of seeing your killer before you die. That is more than you deserve, especially after you failed to extend the same courtesy to Setanta." I tell her as the light from the candle illuminates the room.

"You know Setanta? Who are you to him to come seek revenge?" she asks.

"That is none of your business, all you need to know is that this is not for revenge. Rather it is for the protection of Setanta's unborn child." I answer.

"WHAT?!" she exclaims. "Who!? No. It does not matter, I will rip that child from the w.o.m.b."

Hearing her I cannot help but raise an eyebrow in amus.e.m.e.nt.

"That is interesting. How do you plan from escaping your current predicament?" I ask her.

"You will let me go of course. Tell me, what is it that I must give for you to let me go? Riches? Land? Or perhaps it is something far more… precious." she says as she traces her hands down her body.

"What the heck are you doing?" I cannot help but ask.

I know that it is supposed to come off as s.e.xy or seductive, but it just does not work. Especially since she is lacking in certain areas.

She must know what I am thinking for her expression darkens and she begins to rant.

"You know---" she says. "---I don't hate being antagonized. However, I cannot tolerate the fact that, among the men of Ulster, there is one man - and one alone - who did not become mine even though I thought "I want him". Even though I called out to him, tempted him. That attitude in which, let alone be swayed, simply said "what the heck are you doing?" I won't forgive him. Won't forgive, won't forgive, won't forgive, won't forgive, won't forgive! Absolutely, not him!Cú Chulainn of Ulster! So I plotted and eventually managed to get him killed. Of course I won't be present when he dies, I wanted him to know that he is beneath me now. And then you came along, powerful, handsome, and better than any other man. I offered myself to you, gave you the same chance as him, and you had the audacity to say the same thing as CU CHULAINN! "What the heck are you doing!?". Just for this I wi---"

Before she can finish her rant I place my hand over her mouth and tighten my hold around her neck, suffocating her. Panicking, she tries to release my grip with one hand while punching me on the chest with the other. Unfortunately her efforts are futile, and she eventually releases her last breath as strength leaves her body and she dies.

After making sure that she is in fact dead, I gently pick her up and place her back on her bed next to her husband before once again sneaking my way out of the castle.