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

  600

  ____________________

  [Because you can always depend on that man to choose himself!]

  Solvanel could no longer remember where he had heard that the first time.

  He was drowning in blood inside a shallow pit. His entire body, coated red. Shallow breaths filling his lungs—[An infant bawling in the candlelight, alone.]

  Suffocating in his juices...

  His golden eyes, dimming, as he stared through the bloody stone walls—far and off into some distant horizon.

  ____________________

  That day, Jonah pulled him into a corner and stuffed his face full of bread. “It’s nice, right?”

  “Mhm! Mhm! Ish still warm, too!”

  “Good. Now swallow it.”

  ...

  “Lemme see.”

  “Aaah…” He opened his mouth to show that he did.

  “Good. Now we’re in this shit together. We can’t let your grandmother find out we stole that bread.”

  “We stole what?!”

  “Ah-Ah-Ah. Those who share the spoils share the crime. And you put half of my spoils in your belly. I don’t want to hear a word unless you give it back.”

  “Boys!”

  “Go! Go! Go!”

  Solvanel swallowed as he was pushed out of the cottage, stumbling downhill.

  “Good evening, grandmother!” He awkwardly announced. “I have come down this hill to help you t- take your things… up the hill.”

  “Mhm…” She said dismissively, walking right past him. “There are crumbs all over your face. Surely, this has nothing to do with the baker’s missing loaf.”

  “I-… I don’t know.”

  Jonah stared over her shoulder, mouthing encouragement. Two thumbs up while stuffing his face.

  “I-…”

  What exactly would have been the right thing to do?

  Jonah would have been angry if he had told her the truth.

  She would be angry if he told a lie.

  Solvanel stuttered through his guilt until something else came entirely. “I’m the one who stole the bread, not Jonah.”

  The woman’s neck snapped in the other direction.

  Seriously? The damn troublemaker was nibbling like a rat on her front porch.

  Jonah froze mid-bite.

  Huh? Why is she looking over here?

  What the hell did Solly say?

  Behind her, his stupid idiot brother was giving two thumbs up.

  ____________________

  Solvanel chuckled weakly.

  All these years later, there were still echoes of the sound of his family.

  [And even worse! Why! The Hell! Would you trust! That dumbass! To sell someone a lie!]

  [I’m sorry!]

  [Apologise for being so damn stupid!]

  His hearing was the only thing that remained.

  ? Going so far as to insult my eyes with this pitiful thing. You’ve stricken the boy with delusion even worse than your own. But at least you once held the power to make them come true. ? The being’s voice was cold with rage. ? The eyes, the crook, and you want me to give him something as well? Don’t you think it’s a bit late for you to overturn the heavens when everything on earth is already lost? ?

  Boom!

  The crater sank in alongside the crack of Solvanel’s bones.

  ? Now, men are holed up in these ‘villages’ because the shades infest the earth. Abilities, rare because their flames are snuffed out prematurely. Calling themselves wolves as they rip apart the innocent flock. Others calling themselves shepherd are well on the way to doing the same. ?

  Boom!

  ? I tried changing the earth when it was in far better condition. While you were out frolicking with the gales, I was nurturing heroes thousands of times his match. Men who failed, not because this world was too far gone, but because you were nowhere to be found. ?

  Boom!

  ? The balance has been broken for millennia. What will he do against the creatures who killed his predecessors with ease? What will he do against his predecessors who have turned against me? Against his friends, who will surely turn against him? ?

  Boom!

  ? And the Vermeille which has already encroached upon a seventh of the earth—who knows how much more since the last time I heard of the outside? What will he do against a plague that has rendered even the two of us ill? Even worse, he’s already infected…?

  The thorns flashed again as she prepared for another impact.

  However, her arms fell limp by her side. Rather than satisfaction for what she’d accomplished here, grinding a hopeful youth to dust, it was a show of utter defeat.

  There was no answer to come from all this.

  There would be no more gentle chiming to soothe her wrath. Hers was simply a tantrum befitting the rebellious children she hated so. And it was no manner fit for a queen.

  Even if that had been left in the past, too…

  Solvanel was all but a puddle inside the crater.

  His organs skimmed the surface of the soup that once kept them alive.

  Deep down, he acknowledged he’d been waiting for the demon to come save him, too.

  The entire ordeal was an echo of his own anguish.

  [But from the heavens, I expect more than just the empty silence.]

  If there were a time for ‘Not’ to make his presence known, this was none other than the time to do so.

  He was sure it would have changed her life for the better.

  However, it was the same silence he’d come to associate with the heavens.

  One not borne from nonexistence, as was believed by his late grandfather. Nor appraisal, like his father said. Not from disappointment in their numerous failings. And not even to test her belief.

  In the end, it is the nothingness spoken only by eyes that watched with indifference.

  No longer was she enraged by what she’d done to him.

  But there was a voice inside his heart that wanted to speak.

  It was only a pity that his tongue was drifting about inside the crater, soaking up the waters of his approaching demise.

  As he was about to close his eyes for the very last time, his words then came from somewhere else, filling the room with a patient remorse.

  [He will try.]

  The being flushed an almost bashful red, as though the notion that a demon had come to witness her performance was too fantastical to entertain. Colour seeped back into her eyes, unveiling the full splendour of her otherworldly form. Yet the scowl she wore did not soften; it ran like a scar carved beneath the skin, ancient and unrepaired.

  By that time, he was gone without leaving a chance.

  The demoness kissed her teeth, mumbling while kicking dirt. ? Yes… I suppose that’s always been enough for you. Hasn’t it? ?

  She sighed before fixing her attention on the bloody puddle.

  It seemed like an eternity before she spoke again.

  This time, calmly, with an air of unshakeable refinement.

  ? The danger of my keepsake—it is far greater than I expect you to understand. In exchange for the power you seek, you will be sought by enemies you never knew. Should you not simply burst into flames, there is still no guarantee you won’t burn yourself from the inside out. It was never meant for our conception, much less your consumption. ?

  ? I don’t believe in a shepherd who lives for the sheep. Tell me what exactly your goal is apart from being the light. ?

  It might have been too late, however.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  His eyes dimmed slowly as the last of his flame went out.

  ____________________

  In the end, everyone was disappointed.

  This led to a rare occasion where nobody was speaking around the dinner table.

  Jonah and his grandmother were usually the loudest, bickering across the table about their favourite cut of meat.

  “Take it, granny. I don’t really feel like stuffing my face.”

  “You’d better not be after all that damn bread,” she mumbled, playing with the fork. “But I had a heavy breakfast today, so whoever isn’t a criminal can have it.”

  His father, who would often share stories about the latest hunt, was trying to read his mother’s palms off his little boy’s swollen face. He was so focused on the art that he’d completely forgotten about the meal. “I sense a deep misfortune in your near past, son.”

  His grandfather didn’t have much to say, but that was normal. His appetite was more than enough to handle tonight’s meal.

  All at once, they sighed, pushing away their plates. “May I be excused?”

  Awkward glances went around the tiny room. “Excuse me.”

  Grandfather raised his hand. “Hold on a minute. I didn’t risk my life hunting this damn deer for y’all to go to bed on an empty stomach.”

  “Now, tell me what’s going on before I excuse you all from tomorrow’s dinner in advance.”

  Solvanel sighed before explaining today’s ordeal.

  “You serious? That’s what’s got you lot wasting food? Let me solve this one real quick before it gets cold. Jonah, you’re a fucking idiot. Don’t steal shit from our neighbours and don’t ever take this one as an accomplice. Wifey. How many times do I have to tell you that if you’re gonna beat Jonah, you’ve gotta swing with your right hand instead of your left? Use a damn brick if you have to. The kid’s tough as shit.”

  With that, he went right back to eating.

  The others finished their meal while glaring daggers at him instead.

  It wasn’t long before it was just Solvanel and the old man sitting around the dinner table.

  Just when he was about to leave, his grandfather grabbed him by the wrist and held him in place. “I’m proud of you, kid. Execution was off, but yer heart was in the right place.”

  A sheepish blush swelling in his cheeks, the young man finally broke down, crying. “I'm sorry, grandfather. I didn't want to lie to grandma... I just had to.”

  “Yer selling yerself short, kid. There ain't a thing in this world that we have to do: you wanted to protect yer older brother, so you chose to lie for his sake. Don't kill yerself over it, kiddo. Those two'll come back around to ya by morning.”

  ____________________

  Solvanel never did tell his family the truth.

  His grandmother, his grandfather, his father—everyone died thinking he was an accomplice in Jonah’s petty theft.

  Why was he thinking such a foolish thing anyway? And why did she think it necessary to bring up that minor event?

  Oh, right.

  Later that night, he woke up during a storm and saw a figure on top of the fence.

  It jumped into the abyss without ever saying goodbye.

  Solvanel’s eyes fluttered open to a red and golden abyss.

  “I have to save the world, and I’ll never stop trying.” He told her, hearing the frailty of his own voice. “But somewhere along the way, I know I’m going to see that man’s smiling face. And it's gonna piss me off to high heavens. I want to beat the ever-living shit out of Jonah.”

  ? Good, ? admitted the woman. ? Now, this is a humanity worth believing in. ?

  He then tasted the sweetness of her tongue.

  Solvanel’s flame, which had shrunk to the size of a furnace’s stray spark, reignited with the forbidden fruit’s ash and coal savour.

  His dying breath found it tasteless and unforgettable—bitter and sweet all the same.

  An inferno of swirling wrath and lust as her wetness found the gaps between his teeth, and her tongue pressed gently against the bloody remnant of his own, every flick and swallow burning him from the inside out.

  All the while maintaining the distant grace of an unattainable demoness… or even…

  How shameful… the young man’s racing heart was this close to calling her the opposite.

  And it wasn’t long before he could feel it, too—the enclosed warmth nurturing his fragility, like the bath of a mother’s womb.

  Feeling into scent—flesh and bone afire in a bath of boiling blood.

  Scent right into taste—love and loss and passion in the words left on her tongue.

  Solvanel regained his sight.

  Face come to face—eyes meeting somewhere in the middle.

  Her gentle browns, still and staring through frantic myriad windows.

  She was of ruinous dusk and renewal dawn—phoenixing his everything after leaving nothing intact. The world felt like a heaven, though he was burning all the same.

  Pausing, allowing him breath, she reached for the golden fruit. ? Alas, I’d gone a bit overboard in my earlier spanking. So this is the only way for me to ensure that you take it all in. ?

  She bit into the apple and pulled him close.

  The contents melted on his tongue.

  His divine breath obliged in ravenous hunger.

  More! More! More! It demanded.

  His fingers reached into the midnight falls of her silken hair, wanting the same.

  Instead, it left a mark on his cheek.

  The demoness gasped softly before wiping her lip. ? It is said that a sword hands over the character for tolerance. By accepting my keepsake, you have forfeited your right to hold that sword over my head. ?

  More! More! More! More! More!

  Smack!

  ? I’ve imposed a set of rules to prevent you from walking the path that suits you best. Follow them, and you will stray from the path of future history. But should you disregard these rules for even a moment, that sword will drive through your heart posthaste.

  ? There are thirteen of these forbidden things scattered throughout creation, ? she said, reaching into the pool of blood and pulling him out by his hair. ? Some undiscovered, others claimed long before you had your name. Seek them, and you shall receive, but for every breakthrough, your limits will be adjusted accordingly.

  ? Make no mistake, little shepherd, all things come back to the beginning. This was never the power of your dreams. ?