BROMMY
"Why are you lying to her?"
"Because it is the only way. I do not want her to be upset with me-"
"She is already in shock...her body cannot take much more, Adler. Let me take her to the surface while your eyes heal down here. There is no sense in keeping her in the dark. Enoch is asking where she is. You should both return now. She is still Empress."
"I want to earn her trust-"
The natural salts of the sea have healed most scars on her skin. She has regained her height as well as her hair.
Only a thin layer of seaweed covers her waist down to her knees leaving her breasts on display. What marvelous silver skin.
"She has changed," I say in wonder.
"Physically, yes." His eyes harden. "And so...I found something interesting." His crescent antenna lowers as he kneels beside Greta's sleeping form. Small but significant, a shadow lays resting beneath the veil of her transulscent skin. Where in her lower abdomen, a new lifeform lays cradled. "I advised you to not ink in her. Please explain to me why you have done this. I promised I would not place this burden on her," he says in an eerily still voice.
"P-perhaps...perhaps we can remove it."
"Remove it?" my brother sneers. He straightens, facing me head on. "There would be nothing to remove if you didn't ink in her!"
"Silence!" I huff.
Greta stirs in her sleep. I scoff watching Adler return to her side.
"We will resolve the issue when we return to Eyu, tonight."
"Adler, I was sent here to-"
I become silent seeing his quills thicken and unroll from the hem of his makeshift tunic. Black, oozing with toxic chemicals as they rapidly stretch in my direction.
His voice claps across the void of the cavern, "My sweet will not be giving birth in this hell-hole!"
"Silence! Yes, we will depart. I am not taking you to the city though. You know that is too dangerous. Now, can you be quiet? Or is your intention to wake her up and make this trip back to the surface more miserable than it needs to be?"
He finally speaks quietly, "Right, where then shall we go?"
***
GRETA
I can hear water running. I sit up quickly no longer hearing the roar of sea waves but a much quieter trickling. The shade is not so dark here.
A large figure stands under a strange contraption in this chamber. Who brought me here?
A man steps out from beneath the contraption where water falls from. It is Brommy I know from his short curly hair and mismatched eyes, one black and one grey.
Water runs down his broad sculpted chest. Serious as always he ignores my stare as he puts on his tunic. He looks so much like Adler.
"Good morning. Yester-evening, I was sent by Enoch's will to bring you here. We are outside the city of Eyu. Adler has agreed to help return the light. Soon, you will be able to see in color. He needs a new observatory built. Enoch and him are working together."
"What? I'm confused. This makes no sense. Enoch has forgiven Adler?"
"Well, uh, no...but the civilians are desperate, and unlike us, Enoch and the mongrels cannot live in this darkness."
Adler must have took his clout with him. I miss it. This bed is stiff and made of hay. The same hay from the wheat fields I can see beyond this chamber.
"I do not recognize this material," I murmur while running my hand over the bumpy wall.
"That's because it's made of clay. We are not royalty anymore, Greta. We cannot afford luxuries. You, I and Adler have been exiled. We are not to live under the privileges of the city." His voice hardens, "The mongrels live better than us now."
"Why bother sending us underground?"
"Enoch needed somewhere to put you both until a decision was made. Luckily, I was able to leverage a better future for us."
This is much nicer than the caves. Brommy is right. This space is meager. The entire 'home' merely the size of one small chamber. The floor is dirty and it smells strange in here. There is not even a roof.
Only one bed, a table, washbasin and basket. And unfortunately, there is a square mirror on one of the walls.
"Thank you, Brommy. I...I did not want to be trapped down there forever with Adler."
"Who would?"
I share his laugh but tears still fall.
My heart races as I hug him tightly.
"You saved me," I whisper.
Abruptly, he steps backward as though I've said something wrong. His expression hardens on me when only a moment ago he seemed happy.
"Why are you watching me like that? I'm not a god, Greta. I only did what was right."
I don't like how he is talking to me like I'm a dumb child.
"You think I'm slow, don't you?"
"No."
I wish I wasn't a woman. I hate crying. I hate this feeling. My moods are only getting worse. Brommy runs his hand through his pretty hair. He must see me crying. He decides on walking out of the chamber to outside where tall wheat reaches his head.
For a long time, I remain sitting on the uncomfortable bed. My eyes feel glassy as I stare blankly at his back understanding who he is watching for.
"I don't like it here," I murmur to any god that is bothering to listen.
"What a horrible day! Enoch and his lousy ways. No light will ever come for this damned planet if I have anything to do with it," I hear Adler chuckle outside.
"...she's inside."
"Good!" I hear Adler answer loudly.
A moment later, he walks in.
My breath catches even though I wish it didn't. Chainmail coats his arms beneath a shiny black studded suit of armor. The armor on his legs and waist is just as strange and pointy looking.
He pulls his helmet from his head, looking me over slowly as he runs his hand through tufts of pale curls.
In his hand is a set of robes.
"It's good to see you smile."
I look away, forcing myself to bite my lip.
"Shy now?"
He approaches with a soft gaze, but I have not forgotten anything.
"Brommy says you are working with Enoch to bring back the light-"
"Well, of course I will, if it means you could live in a better place. I am sorry this is all we can afford. Enoch will not allow your being in the city."
"He doesn't know anything!" I cry out.
"No," Adler pretends to pout. He removes the armor from his chest. "Make room for me and Brommy, little pearl."
"W-why? Sleep somewhere else!"
Adler's chuckle makes me blush when it really should make me run. Brommy stands beside him and moves toward me first.
"I'll lay by the wall," Brommy says while already crawling over me to reach the area. "Here," he adds, "Lay closer so we can all be together."
"I do not want to be together," I rebuke with frustrated tears. "I want to be alone! You are horrible."
"Maybe so," Adler says while somehow managing to lay down on my other side. They are both so tall. "But I will always try my best to please you. I'm sorry for hurting you and scaring you. I do not want you to cry, my beautiful wife."
My face burns when Brommy begins stroking my leg from behind. He never touches me like this.
Adler's eyes drill into my own.
"Are you enjoying it?"
His skin is so smooth. So many other women have touched it. Touched him.
I'm not this woman they try to make me. I'm not a man either.
"I don't want this, Adler."
"Do you want just one of us then? Hmmm?"
"I want neither," I grit back as he puts his arm around me and begins playing with the few strands of ugly hair I have left. "Why are you talking to me like this? I...I want to leave. Adler, let me leave, please."
"I'm sorry, my sweet. I cannot resist touching something so delicate. I treasure your eyes and how much I can get lost looking for the truth in them-"
"Be silent!" Brommy huffs behind me. "She needs her sleep."
Truth? What could he mean by that? I shiver getting a strange sensation as Adler watches me silently.
Does he know I wonder the same as I watch him now?
He knows so much more truth than me.
We are still watching each other. Brommy has fallen asleep.
"I'm sorry. I wish I...could be who you need. I really do wish it. Then I look at you, how afraid and angry you are. I don't want you to die before me. Is it still on your mind?"
"Don't worry about me, Adler. I am not afraid of death. Somewhere, someone waits for me. I've come to think they are not here. Not in this life. How could such a person love me here? I'm just one soul, Adler. Maybe I am slow as you say. I just do not want the things you and others do. I...I still do not think I like men or women. I like being alone. I was...I was happier in the desert-"
"No, little pearl," his voice shakes, "N-no you were barely living. Why, you were deformed and starved. Uncivilized! You were abandoned, my sweet. It's the horrid truth."
No it is not the truth.
"I ate them!"
"You were starving. You only had a taste, didn't you?"
"I couldn't stomach it," I cry. "I tried to though. Adler, I did not want to do it."
"Of course, you did not wish to do it. You are a good soul," he says in a soft voice. "So fragile has your fear made you. There is nothing to be afraid of now. You know...I accept you completely. No matter how worthless you feel, you know I love you, don't you?"
His tunic is warm, familiar. He wraps it around my shoulders and then drapes his arm over me.
"Nothing matters. I cannot feel anything anymore. I want to be alone."
"There is happiness in this world-"
"For you there certainly is!" I shout while sitting up. "I hate you! I hate you! I hate...you!"
My throat feels dry as I hurry out of bed. Hiccupping through tears, I run to the other side of the room watching the two men as they watch me.
How did my life become like this? With a grunt, I turn the lever watching the water fall above my head and soak my body, rinsing me from their filth. With an empty stare, I watch the dirty wall until I am so chilled I can no longer feel anything at all.
I'm just a shell. My soul still trapped inside.
When I turn around, I find Adler standing right behind me.
"Hello, my little pearl. I'm afraid I've broken your heart. Have I broken your mind as well?"
I narrow my eyes at his naked body. With reproach, I look into his steely gaze.
"You are a beautiful man. But you have done horrible things to me. Why did you go to Ren, Adler?"
"Because I am addicted to it. It was my choice, little pearl. It had nothing to do with you-"
"I cannot forgive you. I want to find true love! I want someone. Just one person. You are not it," I proclaim, firm.
He turns his face to the side, but I can feel his unspoken anger. His chest tenses as he folds his arms.
Icy cold tendrils tickle my feet. I look down seeing strange tentacles uncurl around him. His moon runes sparkle in the night as a malevolent humidity fills the air and dries up the water on the ground. On our skin.
"You will always be mine," he articulates in a low voice. His scowl makes my heart race. "You are the most beautiful specimen I have ever seen. There is nothing that can keep you from me."
I shiver as he strokes my waist.
"Don't be afraid of the depth of my feelings, sweet pearl. You are the only soul I wish to...devour."
"Devour?"
***
ADLER
The shade has cooled the morning air. I find my tunic unraveled, empty. My son is still sleeping.
Like a drunken mongrel, I stagger out of the bed following the sheet of my tunic to the outside.
The air leaves my throat.
"My baby!"
Her delicate features are still as she lays on the dirty ground of the wheat field. Bugs drift around the few strands of her hair.
"My baby!"
She lays naked having used her own robes to strangle herself.
"Fuck!" I shout. "My baby!"
My body trembles like never before as I fall to my knees and undo the twisted material around her throat.
Her lips chapped, black.
Her body still as stone.
Cold.
"Greta?"
No...she isn't dead.
Not my little pearl.
"Greta?" I sit her upright, watching her face. So delicate. So still. "Can you hear me? Greta? Where have you gone? Why didn't you take me with you?"
Why didn't my words reach her?
Why didn't she believe me?
"You had your way." I jump, startled by my brother's voice. "You knew this was coming. Did you not?"
"No..."
"No?" Brometheous scoffs. I look up at him while petting my pearl's head. Thunder makes the ground rumble. I frown as the air condenses around us drawing a violent wind up from the floor of this shack. His withheld, but rightful, rage is leaking through that usual unbreakable stoic temper. "You are the greatest fool! You knew death was her true wish!"
☁️