Cursed [Book 1] ✔

Chapter 13.2: Lost in Limbo

Another Paradise Lost....

For the longest time, all I could make out was darkness in the gloom.

Gradually, my eyes adjusted, and two huge sacks materialized at my feet, struggling to open. Something poked through the thin film, and four creatures flooded out. They flailed like babes, four humans drawing in their first few breaths.

From one sack, a blonde man and woman blinked open their blue eyes. The other sack yielded a brunette man and woman with green eyes.

The scene shifted, and I stood in the most beautiful Garden I had ever seen. Every animal imaginable strolled in harmony with one another. Flowers of all colors and sizes bloomed, a cascading waterfall in a clear blue grotto serving as the centerpiece to this little corner of Paradise.

The blonde couple frolicked in the water, completely natural in their nakedness.

Off in the distance, the dark-haired doppelgangers observed with envious green eyes. They couldn't find solace in the arms of one another, only in the idea of the unobtainable. They wished to lay with their blonde counterparts, but it was forbidden.

Night after night, the brunettes coupled, but it wasn't passion that drove them together. Dark seeds had taken root inside them, an emotion they couldn't name. They conspired for millenia, finally perfecting a plan.

The scene shifted again, focusing on the blonde woman lounging beneath a fruit tree, her male companion nowhere to be seen. A large serpent slithered in the limbs above, engaging her in idle conversation. Normally, such a thing would raise alarms, but in the Garden, conversing with animals was quite an accepted, if not a highly sought-after practice.

Though they spoke an unfamiliar language, I followed their words easily. The woman mentioned that she was hungry. In response, the serpent plucked a ripe, red apple from the bough. He offered it to her, and how could she resist? Yes, it was forbidden, but a wise serpent had deemed her worthy.

After the first bite settled, it was as if a veil had lifted. The hazy, warm glow of the Garden was suddenly a glare of unforgiving sunlight. The sound of the birds was annoying chatter, while the song of the waterfall could not be heard at all.

Disconcerted, the woman wiped at her eyes, alarmed when her fingers came away wet.

Recognizing his opportunity, the dark-haired man rushed to her side. The magic of the safe-haven was broken, that much they agreed upon. She wept against his naked chest, oblivious to his hands running up and down her back.

A caress here, a kiss there, a stroke inside, and soon, the woman clung to the tree as he violated her from behind. She began to whimper, and over the howling wind, I heard a faint moan, "Samael."

At the culmination of his ecstasy, Samael threw his head back, howling in triumph. Red clouded his vision,
and in attaining the forbidden, in causing the object of his sin to sin as well, he transcended beyond his mortal status.

Before, when he had metamorphasized into the serpent, it had not been a true change. He had merely ingested the animal, meditated, and willed himself to change. But this was a true reversal of himself, the ultimate rebellion. As he reached a new status, his eyes glazed over, and he found that he was looking through silver pools....

His feral grunts and violent movements scared the woman. She tore away from him, meeting his silver eyes for a moment before fleeing.

Nearby in the grotto, the blonde man bathed alone. When the blonde woman's veil had lifted, so had his. Instinctively, he knew there was something wrong happening to his love, that there something wrong with this place now, but he couldn't name it.