Anthology.

And The World Turns Madly On.

Content warning: Gore, implied capture, gods mentioned

A woman ripping out her left eye, claws piercing through the thin flesh of her eyelid, yanking it out of her head and crushing the delicate organ in her fingers. Black pupil, red blood, honeyed iris, all running together. Her claws sever the nerve and her sole scream is this; "Ceaseless Watcher, Gods who turn my mouth into theirs, turn away. Turn away and I might not pluck free and ruin my other eye." Stern face, lip not even quivering. She reaches for her second eye, mouth now twisted into an enraged leer.

Everything ceases.

And she smiles, pleased with what has happened, when she holds herself captive. For, for, for, When you are useful, and care not for what lies behind death and pain, what does it matter to ruin a piece of you, ruin the most sought after part of you, bit by bit, if that's the only way to earn your freedom. Once you're free, what do you do?

The woman steps forward.

There's blood running down her face and it runs into her mouth and she drinks it down even if it burns the back of her throat. She rips up her skirt and stuffs cloth in her eye socket, wanting to scream but she wont let herself scream as she ties the bandage around her head.

She steps forward again.

She's getting out.

Out of a game of gods and men.

Step, by step, by step, by step step ste-

She runs.

She runs and she cannot help but laugh, laugh broadly and loudly because the gods turned away from her long enough for her to taste Freedom again. She wont let herself fall into their grasp again, even if it means tearing out her sight.

Even, even, even, if it means a shard of glass held like a kni-

She puts that out of her mind and runs further, runs faster. Laughs louder, taunting what chained her. Deft footsteps fly over the barren soil.
The Prophet is Free.

The earth turns and the gods search. They listen for laughter over the hills. only one ever notices, tucked away in the mountains- In the mountains lives a woman with a scar over her left eye, still softly laughing at the joke she's made of the gods. He stops in to ask.
He learns better than to speak.
Eye for an eye, the woman never lost her sight.
And the world turns madly on.