Aftermath [malexmale]

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

"Xenon, please, we can't stay here."

Anexius's voice was a call on deaf ears. I ignored him, sitting in the wet set with my knees drawn to my chest and arms wrapped around them tightly as I stared out at the endless sea, hoping and praying that each time I was done blinking, the island would be back, but each time my eyes opened again, there was only miles of blue ocean water.

Grief held fast in my throat like a rock. I didn't want to move. I didn't care to do so.

All of my people were dead. All the worshippers I had come to love and adore. The men who made offerings to my alter in my sacred temple. The women who danced and wrote songs in my honor. The children who would laugh and chase each other around the temple. The birds who perched on the statue, the insects that would stop to rest.

And my family. All my brothers and sisters. My father, my uncles, aunts, all of them. They had all ceased to exist. There was an empty air. It was cold and dark. I reached out with my powers, hoping that at least one of them survived, but the only Atlantean life force aside from mine was Anexius's, and he stood right behind me, trying to urge me to leave.

And he was right. Staying here was suicide.

If the Greeks discovered us on their land, they would see it as an act of war. A challenge to the great gods, but I couldn't bring myself to leave. I couldn't bring myself to care if the Greeks destroyed me.

"Xenon, my brother." Anexius said gently, touching my shoulder. I flinched away from him and he grimaced, moving after me, but I scrambled through the sand and onto my feet, glaring hatefully at him. I went to hit him, but he dodged and caught my wrist, jerking me against his chest as I writhed to try and hit him.

"Get off me!" I snarled, voice hoarse from screaming earlier. My knuckles still hurt from hitting Anexius in the face, and even more annoying was how quickly his face had healed. He tried to pin my wrists to my chest.

"Xenon, please, stop this. No matter how much you hit me or hate me or cry, they won't come back. They're gone. And I didn't just sell my soul for you to die at the hands of those Greek pigs," Anexius spat, clenching his teeth, "We need to go somewhere safe."

"Where is safe," I shouted angrily, squirming in his grasp, "There is no safe! Were you not listening to me?! The Greeks hate us and the Egyptians couldn't care less! You've damned us!" Anexius said nothing, but he didn't let go of me as he started to drag me across the sand down along the beach. I went kicking and squirming half way until I gave up and just reluctantly followed. The entire time, I could only watch Anexius's back, contemplating all the ways I could kill him quickly, but each time the thought flashed across my mind, guilt and pain stamped it back down.

I loathed Anexius to the core of my soul. He'd taken everything from me. My family, my worshippers, my home. Everything. And yet, for all the evil he'd committed, he was still my brother and I couldn't bring myself to actually sink a dagger into his treacherous back.

And I think that's what hurt worse.

I woke up with a sharp gasp, a cold tingle racing up and down my spine. I clenched my teeth and fisted the blankets before rolling over, propping myself up on an elbow to check the clock. It was six in the morning. Who the hell summons me at six in the goddamn morning? I blinked a few times, looking around my room, which was still dark with only the faint glow of the sunlight outside. I sighed wearily and pushed myself out of bed, going through the events last night.

Dorean and I had spent nearly three hours watching television and debating politics. I never thought I'd see the day that Dorean, an imp, would know more about politics than me. I made a mental note to send Adrian a thank you card for making his imp more intelligent than a god... And to make sure Adrian doesn't respond with a poisoned dagger to my throat.