KINGSLAYER

♕ 2 | 7 ♕

Was it considered greedy if you knew no other way of life? I did not know. But it felt leagues away from anything I experienced out here. Before now, it had been so long since I walked through a normal-sized town. The thought that any of those citizens back in Stenska could likely be moved to tears by being gifted a single pheasant's egg was strange. Instead of making them seem foreign as it would to a younger me, I felt like the foreign one. If she saw me now, she would have scoffed and turned up her nose at my bony figure and dark rings bruised under my eyes.

It was fitting. I did not like to think of her either.

"There is an old Oceanic story of hunger," I said softly after debating whether to share it aloud. "Hunger, and how it holds the power to twist the mind into quite a depraved thing."

Alexander said nothing for a beat or two. Then he sighed. "I know you want to tell the story. Just do it."

Glad for a distraction, I took a breath. "Back when the world was young and the Gods lived and breathed, a girl named Lamia was looking at her reflection in a pool of water, admiring her own ethereal beauty in the rippling surface. Her friends were nearby, singing the praises that were so common for her to hear now."

"At last a character I can relate to."

"Silence." I waited. "The townspeople's constant stream of compliments built her up on a pedestal too high for her to see the world below—not that she tried. No matter how many men fell in love upon first laying eyes on her, Lamia hungered to garner more attention, more beauty."

"The mountain city was filled with beautiful women, as any place is. Many rivals sought the gazes of the men besotted with Lamia's eye-catching looks. Struck with a possessiveness bordering on jealousy, Lamia's heart hardened. She tore the girls to shreds with her words, telling them, 'Not even Colanee has a chance against my constantly growing radiance; the sun Herself dims in my presence. What will you do to me?' Years of people falling at her feet made her a cruel thing indeed.

"But the Goddess of Light heard Lamia's boasting and became vengeful both for Lamia's lack of respect for the other women and for insulting Her own power. So that night, as Lamia slept, Colanee cursed her for her grave sins. When Lamia awoke, she was thrown into a terrible fit as she beheld herself in a looking-glass. Her loveliness was gone. Not a single shred of it remained. Colanee took all of Lamia's glamour and replaced it with an emptiness inside her so great she felt as though she could eat ten feasts and still want for more.

"Ashamed to show her now-unsightly face to the world, Lamia fashioned a beautiful mask of shining porcelain. The only original feature that was allowed to show through were her eyes, black as coal. No one would have to know her shame.

"But as it has a manner of doing, her shortcomings showed through in the cracks of her facade. She hungered still.

"Lamia's stomach soon began to ache, even after she manically ate through all the food in her home. It was not quite a normal stomachache, as ones brought about by severe hunger tend to be. Rather, it was tearing her apart with its force; Lamia needed more, more, more of something she was not even aware existed.

"When sweet fruits, fresh bread sold by street vendors, and even the most expensive meats money could buy were not enough, the desperation began to sink in. The hole in Lamia's stomach seemed to be prepared to swallow her alive."

Alexander gave a breathy scoff. "If only we could empathize with such a situation."

"Instead, one night as she saw a pale-haired woman collecting water by the riverside under the moonlight, she salivated at the mouth. Instead, as Lamia snuck up behind the unassuming girl with hunger-sharpened instincts, she swallowed her alive.

"As the woman's blood touched her tongue, Lamia felt its iron-tinged warmth and tasted effortless grace and youth and beauty. Just as she remembered it when it belonged to her. For a split second, she was satisfied.

"Then reality returned and Lamia remembered what she was now. It was not enough."

Alexander was quiet as a mouse now, seemingly entrapped in the story. A minuscule part of me felt pleased at capturing the attention of someone so full of distain.

"The next evening on a curious walk around the town, Lamia stumbled across a small group of girls. They smiled at her and bid her goodnight. Was that mockery she detected behind their perfect white smiles? Their black hair fell in such perfect waves it nearly made her sick. Had her stolen beauty been given to these women in the city?

"They were on their way in no time, giggling amongst each other without a care in the world. Watching them go, Lamia longed to snuff it out, to take back what was once hers. Tonight, she hungered for a new thing: vengeance.

"With footsteps as soft as rainfall, Lamia followed the girls until they ventured closer to their homes. The more she walked, the hungrier she grew.

"None of them even managed a scream. The scene may have been messy, but Lamia downed them all in the end. Their flesh tasted especially sweet. As the stars twinkled above, she licked her lips. Vengeance was delicious.

"From that night on began a pattern of Lamia's following beautiful women until they were most vulnerable, attacking them with animalistic swiftness, tearing them apart with her bare hands, and attempting to sate the dark thing inside her with their flesh. Lamia ate every piece, bones and all. Nothing could go to waste; she needed every ounce of their light energy to fill her own empty chest.

"The process continued until one night in which the townsfolk gathered outside as the sun set. They were going to watch the stars fall, as they did once a year. Fallen stars were the Gods' dreams given physical form, Their blessings falling to earth to take root. At first, Lamia became desperately agitated at the thought of not having a bite to eat due to the sheer amount of watching eyes. However, when she saw the first stars begin to fall, her ambitions shifted.

"For what could be as sweet as the dreams of Gods?

"With this sudden new idea gripping her mind, Lamia left the crowds behind to climb the many stairs up to the city's temple, which was on the highest point of a peak. At the top, Lamia felt as if she was on the peak of the world with everyone else below. Stars fell all around her. For a moment, all she did was watch in awe. But the hunger was infinite. So she reached out and swallowed a star.

"The effects were instant. This was not the soft flesh of a beautiful maiden. This was fire, ancient and searing. She had committed a grave mistake.

"It seemed the emptiness within her could only be truly filled with flame. Lamia burned. No one even noticed as she suffered for her sins. Soon, there was nothing left of her. Nothing but an empty space."

As the last note of the story hung in the air, Alexander was quiet. Then he said, "Finally a twisted story. The last was a bit virtuous for me."

"The tale of the rabbit-boy is also a classic."

"Yes, stories of cannibalism would be considered classics to bloodthirsty Oceanics." He tilted his head to me. "You know, you really shouldn't be putting ideas in my head."

"It is not really about cannibalism. The underlying message is one of selfishness and how rapidly greed can drive one to corruption, and eventually, one's own ruin."

As I said it, I remembered the way I felt when my mother first told it. It was meant to be a cautionary tale to young children, but I understood. I emphasized with Lamia's fatal hunger for power because I felt it too.