Morons and Monarchs

Chapter Twenty-Four: Ahmya🏇

𝕴 𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖊 𝖔𝖚𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕷𝖆𝖗𝖎𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓𝖊 𝖛𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖆𝖌𝖊, 𝖒𝖞 𝖈𝖑𝖔𝖆𝖐 𝖉𝖗𝖎𝖋𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖆𝖜𝖆𝖞 𝖋𝖗𝖔𝖒 𝖒𝖊 𝖆𝖘 𝖒𝖞 𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖉 𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖊𝖘 𝖆𝖈𝖗𝖔𝖘𝖘 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌.

It is not every day I get called down to participate in a Grand Revolt meeting.

Thanatos races next to me in his shadowy form. The light seers our skin like pelts. We want to remain hidden- in the safe cover of darkness- but with this meeting being at first light... well we don't really get to choose.

Thanatos's shadows seem to be scattering,hiding. They prefer the darkness, where the true drama is. But Thanatos is his own darkness, so they fly to him. Like he is in the middle of a magnetic vortex.

There is a new recruit, Thanatos said, one I think you will rather enjoy.

How would you know what I would enjoy and not? I asked foolishly.

I don't, Thanatos replied. But this one is our only chance at freedom.

Freedom, my mind echoes.

Freedom, so sweet yet so far away. Loved yet not in your embrace.

Bayou greets us at the gates. I kick the bones scattering the road to the side, motioning for Thanatos to warn the ancient shadows in this grove to scatter as well.

We are in the heart of Imbolc Island: there is a grove where only deadly shadows and hungry cast-aways stay. The perfect place to have confidential meetings. You have the Ancient Waters, in which the shadows from Emain Ablach hide... then you have Archaic Lands. Which is the second deadliest place, and a place we never dare speak of in our minds in case some Laritione overhears.

Monsters with maws the size of castles and teeth as sharp as a million needles back away from Thanatos's shadows. Listening to the soothing words and promises he twists.

Fae with skin a pure black with stars twinkling over their chests and constellations aligning themselves sing a joyous, luring song as they step back into their pitch black cages.

It is a kind of macabre yet beautiful sight. One I didn't realise I missed.

Thanatos materializes in front of me, leering me out of my thoughts.

Two guards with spindly legs and what seems to be bark for flesh, nods at us as we all enter. They owe us after the first time we came here.

"Okay," Bayou starts. "First, I want Ahmya to meet our newest recruit. If she will join..." A hooded figure steps out from behind Bayou, her face disclosed even as she flips her hood back. But I can clearly see the long red hair glint in the pale sunlight.

I push my black hood back as well, my crystal mask reflecting onto the stones before us.

"What do we have here?" I ask as I begin to circle the mystery recruit. I sniff the air. "Half by the hair, and clearly nobility by the smell of the soap she is using."

The girl steps back, deathly close to the water, and I leap forward to pull her away from its depths.

"And clearly not smart enough to stay away from green water, girl, do you even know what is in there?" I ask. She shakes her head, her scarf slipping down her face. "Of course you don't," I catechise.

"It is called a Qalupalik." Bayou interjects, twisting the girl away from my lingering hand on her shoulder.

"W-" The girl blinks. "What is that?" Her voice seems stronger than I thought.

"They are devouring creatures who live in the seas in this forgotten place," I nod at the water she almost fell into. The ice coating the top is not much of a barrier. "They will tap on the ice and lure you into the water with their song, much like a siren, but much more dangerous."

Thanatos comes behind me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "They have a face much like a Fae woman's, only it is blue and hazy. While it is also bloated and scary."

"Like they were decomposing down there." Bayou interrupts Thanatos's story.

"They have great big pouches on their backs in which they jam the Fae or humans into," I continue.

"Oh." The girl's lips thin. "Shouldn't all these creatures be living in Odio?"

Bayou laughs. "Odio wants all of their citizens to feel welcome, these creatures would make them feel the opposite."

"So we are stuck with them," Thanatos says, smiling.

"I smell a half..." A silken voice says and I beam. Already making to turn around.

"I am here," Bayou says.

The voice laughs, "Not you."

"Araceli?" I ask, searching for the ancient. A figure steps out of a black cage, her hair flairs around her face in a dozen long, white stars. My smile broadens. I step out from under Thanatos's hand and run.

Araceli practically falls over at the force of my hug. She touches my cheek. "Hello, Ahmya." I step away reluctantly. Taking her in.

"I haven't seen you in years," I sniffle.

"I can't say the same, I see everybody every day." She smiles. "You look very different, friend."

I chuckle. "You look the same, friend."

Araceli has a dress of pure gold and silver. Each plait in the long gown accentuated with a different constellation stolen from the sky. Her heels are made of different moons.

Araceli is not human, nor is she Fae. She is made by the universe itself. Planets that crashed into another and exploded. Extra bits of matter from space erupt... and those pieces are what made Araceli.

The color of her flesh is not one color, instead it is a million. All colors of different planets. For example, her left arm is a rusty red, orange, and a few specks of gray. Mars, no doubt.

Her right arm is much harder to distinguish, although I believe it is Jupiter. It changes frequently, but right now it is an orange and white swirl.

She once told me her abdomen was an azure blue. Neptune.

Her left leg is a deep yet light gray. I thought it was a moon at first, with all the craters, but Araceli told me it was Mercury.

Her right leg is a pale yellow, yet sometimes it changes colors with complex layers. It almost looks like she has scales on her leg. But the band twisting around her leg is unmistakable. Saturn.

Left foot, visible through her heels, is covered in a deep blue hue. With greenish stripes mixed in. She once told me that it was Uranus, even though I thought it was Earth.

While her right foot, on the other hand, is clearly Venus. Gray and pristine white cover her flesh.

But her face... well, her face is Earth. A deep blue hue that circles her face with specks of green, the shape of different islands and continents.

She was a truly beautiful creature that was birthed from the stars themselves.

"I never change," Araceli says.

"Clearly, I think it would be only fair if you grew old like the rest of us." I flash a smile at her. Her brows furrow.

"Then the universe would have to wither away. Do you want the universe to wither away?"

I shake my head, pivoting on my foot to turn around and face the girl again. "As long as you don't try to kill me, girl, you can stay here. Alive." I warn.

"My name is Viviendel, not 'girl'."

"Okay, girl."

A raven swoops down from the heavens and I roll my eyes theoretically as Viviendel shrieks out of the way.

"Hello, Branwen." I greet the Raven.

The bird clucks its beak, "Hello, Ahmya."

My hound runs to hide behind me at the sight of our enemy.