THE FORSAKEN LAND OF GENèSE | LOST KINGDOM | TOWER | BASEMENT

  600

  Solvanel knelt by the foot of the mound, cradling the head of a dead man who’d rolled into his lap.

  Dixon stood alone atop the covenant. Blood dripped from the gold bar onto the forehead of one of many others who once made the climb.

  A low hum pulsed through the space, echoing in its bark like a whisper of sorrow.

  The escapee laughed. “It was my right to kill you anyway. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have lived this long in the first place.” Without further pause, his hand stretched out. “Don’t worry, though. I’ll savour this taste for the both of—”

  He spun, gold bar raised.

  Solvanel hadn’t made a sound.

  The escapee’s grin widened, something unhinged creeping into his expression. “What’s the matter? This is what you wanted, right?”

  He gestured wildly at the tree, at the bodies, at the fruit hanging pristine above them. All of which Solvanel could not see. “Pushing that idiot onto the locust mound, so we’d change paths. I brought us here because you asked me to. You spoke to me when my wrists were burning. Now it’s time for you to give me what’s mine.”

  Another silence.

  Solvanel, once again bearing witness to a dying flame.

  “He betrayed me first!” Corrected the escapee to no-one. His laughter came in broken bursts and a final manic wheeze. “Standing up there, judging me, but look at what you did! None of them deserved to drink your juices, so you poisoned an entire city and turned this place into this hell! Is that it?”

  Having pieced together the imagery painted with medium of gold-touched flames, this unsound rambling, and one man’s dying breath, the shepherd’s stomach had grown weary of turning.

  There were bodies hanging from the ceiling, he was sure of it now.

  All about and surrounding what rested on top of the mound. His cursed vision can’t see through the dead, therein, he was incapable of finding the source of the glow.

  Solvanel spared the killer an empty glance, reflexively spitting up a mouthful of bile. The stench of decay coming from within the lunatic was far worse than that of the bloody covenant.

  His crook pulsed stronger than ever.

  “Well, I forgive you,” continued the madman. “I know what it’s like to be trapped in. After this, we’ll both be free.”

  Dixon’s bloody fingers wrapped around the base of the fruit. “When you go your entire life eating trash, you learn to appreciate forbidden fruits, even the bitter ones.”

  The fruit came free in his hand—warm as living flesh.

  Gold and bright and burning—he brought it to his lips and bit deep.

  Silence fell across the covenant. Even the humming ceased.

  Dixon chewed. Swallowed.

  His expression shifted from triumph to confusion. The fruit’s taste was ash and copper, nothing like the honey and wine he had expected.

  The voice came again. This time, from everywhere. From the stones beneath their feet. From the thirteen branches above. From the bodies piled below. And clearest of all, from within.

  ?Tes mains sont souillées. Ton c?ur est un ab?me. Ton corps ne conna?t que la faim et ton esprit ne désire rien d'autre que du pain.

  Tu oses toucher ce qui m'appartient? Lécher mon oreille avec ta douce langue comme si je n'avais pas go?té à de nombreux mots de ce genre au cours de mon éternité ? Je n'ai besoin ni de liberté, ni de salut, ni de pardon, espèce de chose. Car ma détresse, en soi, est une gloire sans fin.

  Cependant, je vais exaucer ton souhait pour tromper mon ennui. Réjouis-toi, ? créature pitoyable. Car moi, qui suis depuis le commencement, je vais t'accorder le go?t que tu mérites. ?

  The bodies below began to move.

  Dixon stumbled backward. “Y- you bitch! This is what you wanted all along. It’s your fault. Everything is your fault! You-”

  Chris rose first, breaking free of Solvanel’s solace.

  His neck hung at an angle that spoke of breaking, but still he stood. His hands reached upward. Others joined him, the fallen climbers dragging themselves toward the covenant’s peak with fingers scraping stone.

  Solvanel took the needle and crook in a hasty retreat as thousands of flames ignited. Both trembled in his grip. Every instinct screamed to run, to flee back up the stairs and leave this cursed summit behind.

  Dixon screamed.

  He swung the gold bar at the nearest corpse, but the dead were already upon him.

  Chris’s hands closed around his ankle, crawling on all fours. Cold spread from the touch, colder than winter, colder than death itself. Other hands followed, gripping, pulling, dragging him into their embrace.

  “Solvanel!” Dixon’s voice cracked. “Help me, please!”

  But Solvanel stood frozen, watching justice unfold in a form he had never imagined.

  “Don’t just stand there! I’m sorry for lying to you. But you’re the shepherd, remember? You can’t just leave me!” The corpses pulled Dixon down, down into the heap of bodies where he belonged. “Save me!” His screams faded beneath the sound of shifting flesh and bone. The gold bar clattered away, forgotten.

  Then silence returned.

  The fruit reappeared on the lowest branch, unblemished, as if it had never been touched.

  Solvanel’s limbs had turned to stone, his breath trapped somewhere between his lungs and throat. The needle and crook hung useless in his hands. He had watched a man be dragged into death itself by the same thing he’d expected to be their salvation.

  His mind screamed at his body to move, but his back remained pressed against the wall.

  A voice cut through the stillness, its regality surpassed only by its languid tone of utter boredom. ? Toi, là-bas. ?

  Solvanel’s head snapped up, searching for the speaker. “Who addresses me?”

  ? N'essaie pas de jouer avec mes émotions, petit ami. Il reste encore beaucoup à faire pour réparer le gachis que nous avons causé. Je croyais t'avoir dit de ne plus me faire perdre ton temps… Mais peu importe, puisque tu es déjà là, tu peux tout aussi bien t'approcher de moi pour que je puisse voir ton visage. ?

  Solvanel stepped out of the shadows.

  Under the watchful empty sockets of the dead, he steeled his spine and approached the foot of the mound.

  ?Oh. ? As he came into the light, his golden crown and bloody white robes illuminated by a countless sacred treasures, this silken voice came came brief, seemingly impacted her own disappointment. ?Si tu pensais vraiment ce que tu es venu dire, tu serais resté dans l'ombre, là où est ta place. Après toutes ces années loin de chez nous, ma réponse reste la même. Je n'ai qu'un seul regret concernant le passé que nous avons choisi. C'est que j'aurais préféré ne jamais t'avoir connu. ?

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “Forgive me, madame,” Solvanel bowed politely. “My serpentine leaves much to be desired. So, while I can not follow your words to the exact, I can assure you that the two of us have never crossed paths.”

  A hollow chuckle opened up inside the room, threatening to swallow him whole. ?C'est vrai? Tu n'es pas lui? ?

  He shook his head.

  ? Quelle absurdité ! Eh bien, tu as certainement hérité de sa langue si tu peux mentir aussi facilement. Et ce regard innocent qui rend son histoire crédible. Alors, s'il te pla?t, répète-nous que tu n'es pas notre image. Et donne-moi une autre excuse pour te tuer sur-le-champ. ?

  Solvanel tightened his grip on the needle and crook while going over the possibilities in his head. Was she some kind of consommer living inside the fruit? Or perhaps a laissé-soi spawned from the combined misery of the dead. That would explain her control over the corpses—although not the golden flame she divided among them.

  These people, while escaping from a tragedy above, fell victim to a massacre below. The grievances cultured upon the mound of the bloody covenant were sure to be comparable to the tragedy itself. Would he stand a chance against this many corpses? Would he stand a chance against just one?

  Having made a deal with the devil, he knew there would be times of such moral turmoil. If ‘Not’ asked him to kill an innocent, would he do it? The answer was no—unquestionably. He was still human. The values his family taught him hadn’t changed.

  And one of those values was truth.

  His grandmother’s confession only served to reinforce the importance of transparency. Therein, even while shaking hands with the devil, Solvanel had never changed his mind about wanting to live an honest life.

  So lying here was… “My name is Solvanel, The Light That Came From The Heavens. And I’m here to save the world.”

  The being went silent.

  Laughter then rang out inside the closed space. This stinging melody, sweet and enchanting as a wind chime in the sunset, yet condescending all the same. ? Un commencement dans le suivant, hein ? Je vous assure, cela ne s'arrête jamais! Sauver le monde…? Laughing, still. ? C'est pour ?a que celui-ci t'a appelé le shepherd ? ?

  Solvanel did his best to raise his head, regrettably showing off his red cheeks. “That’s correct. I am the shepherd responsible for leading the sheep.”

  ? Ahhh…? The being’s laughter finally came to an end, her voice once again filled with boredom. ? And how do you suppose this dream of yours will come to light, dear shepherd? ?

  “I don’t know.”

  She made a noise like being submerged in cold water. Then again, he had no choice but to suffer through her laughter. ? Tu ne sais pas? ? Laughter. ? He doesn’t know!? And even more laughter. ? Don’t you have any shame, boy? How can you say that with such a straight face? ?

  Laughter. Laughter. Laughter.

  ? If you had any idea the masses of heroes whom have come to our feet, kissed my flawless toes, while spouting the same such heroic nonsense. Hell, We even married the very first one. We were never dumb enough to believe them after that one, but at least they came with a lie! Comment tu t'appelles déjà? Simpleton? ?

  “Solvanel,” he corrected.

  ? SIMPLETON!?

  Her voice boomed inside the treasury, sending piles of gold flying across the room.

  Solvanel’s eyes rolled back as his inner flame flickered out.

  It was only for a moment, but he knew his heart failed a beat. The world was ringing around him. He barely maintained consciousness, staggering back.

  The lady(???) cleared her throat.

  ? Very well, then, Simpleton,? she said, back with her pristine, innocent, do-no harm sweetness like it’d never been gone before. ? So, we suppose you’re here for my keepsake? ?

  Solvanel was on all fours, wheezing and gasping while throwing up mouthfuls of blood.

  The being sighed tiredly. ? J'attendrai que tu reprennes tes esprits. ?

  “You… b-!” Solvanel groaned, interrupting himself. The crook hummed even louder beside him, just asking for him to snap this damn thing in two. He stood no chance against this tyrant! What the hell was it thinking, leading him here?

  ? What was that? ?

  “Nothing!” He exclaimed, still fighting his body’s desire to fall asleep. “I know nothing of your keepsake! My people—They are weary, injured, and defenseless. Freshly escaped from a group of slavers. I only wished to find something to aid in our escape! I will give you my life if you desire it, but you must promise not to hurt the ones above. You must promise me that my sheep will be fine!”

  ? Euh? ? The being’s haughty atmosphere disappeared entirely. ? Have you been made such a vow before? ?

  “If I tell you, will you let them go?”

  ? If you don’t, I will possess the big red one and kill them now. ?

  Solvanel pursed his lips. Left without a choice, he told her everything.

  ? So this ‘demon’ of which you speak, it wanted you to come here? ?

  The young man nodded. “It does.”

  ? You already possess quite a formidable weapon, so they wouldn’t have led you here for that,? she said thoughtfully. ? Humph! Well, the only thing down here is my keepsake. And they know better than to ask ourselves to depart from my treasures. Not even if they did show their face!?

  Solvanel, of course, had no room to argue.

  The piles of gold and weaponry were a testament to her greed. If she were to somehow decide he belonged to her, she wouldn’t even give him a hair off his own damn head.

  Instead, it was she who broke the silence. ? Eugh! If they have something to ask of me, the least they can do is show their face! The nerve of them! Leading one of their playthings down to me and expecting me to just… hand it over!? After all these years apart, it’s still the same old story! You haven’t been thinking of me at all... ?

  ? Fine, then, ‘Not’, Since that is your latest escape, Let’s see if you’ll show your face after I kill your new toy. ?