GRETA
"Where am I?"
A man in a black tunic faces me. His face is hidden behind a veil.
"Safe."
He moves the dark cloth to the side. My heart skips seeing his tender closed-lip smile. He looks very tired.
"Where am I?" I repeat.
"Our home. Don't you remember?"
"No."
I am caught off-guard by his kiss.
"We have returned to Eyu, my Empress. You almost died. Do you remember what happened?"
"Yes...I do. What happened to me? I...I...killed myself."
"You almost were successful."
"I wish I was," I whisper with new fear. What has Brommy been doing with me? Why am I alone with him? "I do not belong here. I belong in Elysium!"
I do not like his new emotionless gaze. He kisses the palm of my hand slowly, I try not to recoil.
"You had no idea you were carrying my child. You almost killed her too-"
"What? No...no!"
"Yes," he answers lightly.
He turns over and lifts up a small child. Silver-skinned and curly silver hair...just like his.
"Do not be sad, Empress."
The baby smiles up at me. I try to ignore Brommy's stare as my heart warms with her in my arms.
Tears drip down the corners of my eyes.
"She's truly mine?"
"Ours."
Brommy isn't Adler. At least, there's that. The god of the sun must have mercy on me somewhat for my return to this horrid place has not brought me to him, but his son.
I blush remembering Brommy bathing with me and our one, and only time, truly alone together. Could this new life be a gift or curse? I am not ready to care for another life.
"I cannot care for myself let alone another soul so fragile," I whisper.
"Your sisters will carry the responsibility, Empress. I am well aware you cannot take care of yourself."
My face burns as he drags his knuckles lightly across my jawline. I search his eyes finding it hard to not think of the true evil that may be hidden behind his stare.
"I am not my father," Brommy says gently. "So do not fear me. I have brought you to this place in secret. Unless, you rather live with Adler and Ren - whose child is also here now, along with Celeste. I will always give you the option to return to the palace with Enoch or whomever you wish."
"So where are we now?"
"In my atrium. There are no rooms here. Only the company of plants to worry about."
And how many plants there are.
This sanctuary is divine despite it's humble space. Tall shrubs reach the collumned walls blocking out the eyes of city-dwellers.
A stream travels along the clean marbeled ground where underwater plants lurk beneath surface drifting slowly against the calm current.
It leads to a large indoor pond in here where a familiar snout drifts on top of the crystal-clear water.
"Rog?"
"Yes, apparently, Zard had snatched him up during the invasion. I believe he planned on selling him."
The beast's shiny scales are a sparkling black as it swims effortlessly from one end of the pond to the other.
Sand and too many shells to count sit at the bottom of the waterbed where seaweed has been planted. The nice tall plants will allow Rog some privacy too.
I don't want to say it out loud, but this reminds me almost exactly of his father's temple back on Ashtium.
"What do you think?"
"It's a lovely space."
"Would you like to stay here until you fully recover?"
"As long as I have no visitors. Who else knows my life has been restored?"
"It is not a thought you should be concerned with," he smoothes over, "I will see to it you are never disturbed here."
"Why? Why are you doing this for me? What's happened to this place, Brommy? You are making me worried. The light...it has not returned."
"You will never see Adler again, Empress. He has lied to me, you, everyone...told us all so many things," he says while watching me, "So many lies. There's no use in keeping track anymore. There's no use in thinking about him. It stopped you from thinking about yourself."
I gulp, folding my arms as I watch Brommy holding...our baby.
Then I look into his silver eyes, and the miscolored one, with new understanding.
How could I forget?
How could I forget everything he's done to his own?
My fingertip traces his cheekbone as I stare into the darkness of his large pupil. The eye is still able to move in a healthy manner, it's just the coloring that's distorted. What should be a silver iris has turned dark gray with splashes of fragmented silvers.
"He did this to you, didn't he?"
"Yes."
"You are more beautiful than him, Brommy."
This must be the first time I've witnessed it. His smile. My heart flutters as his mouth curls up into a wicked grin.
He looks so much like Adler, but younger.
"I am pleased to hear you tell me this. I have often lusted after you, but to be honest, I am unsure of where your desires are. I have seen the way you watch women. It is different than how you watch men."
I blush, but he is wrong. I do not watch others with such a feeling at heart.
"I try to understand other women. I try to understand why my god has given me this body. It only makes me suffer. I wanted to get out of it, Brommy."
"I must report to Enoch, Empress. Excuse me. If you ever need me, my fona is available for you by the pond side."
"Thank you."
***
ENOCH
A foul pungent odor has filled the air of the commune. Street whores clutter the ground. I find Adler laying among them, naked. A bint pipe hangs from his mouth.
I can't count the women in here. Their faces don't matter. He isn't the only one fallen into the illusion.
Wine stains the lips of the whores red. They scatter out of his path as he rises rapidly to his feet seeing me enter.
His exposed quills hit some of the whores, shoving them out his way as he approaches through his drunken stupor.
"You...you took her from me."
"Did he?" Brometheous mocks. For once, taking my side.
"Yes, that was part of the deal," I round out. "You see, you will not have your way here, Adler. I refuse to allow you to make everyone else suffer in this city because of your own pathetic suffering."
With no patience left, I signal my guards to immobilize him.
"You took her from me...guh!"
He is drunk. It is the only state we can afford to engage with him in for his strength is handicapped and his conscious disengaged from reality. The immense pleasure he gets leaves him emptier and emptier. The drinking and the women can never fill the void that encompasses his soul.
"You bring...you bring her back here!"
"Hahaha! You sound like a child, Adler! Who is the child now?" I shout.
Perhaps, I'm enjoying this too much.
Brommy covers his smile as we watch our father curled up on the ground and crying.
"You bring her back here-"
"She's dead!" Brommy barks back with sudden seriousness. His face darkens, a stark contrast from moments before. "And you're never going to see her again."
Adler becomes quiet and still. He looks ridiculous in his nudity curled up like a child on the ground. The ground is filthy covered in whore filth, dirt, and the gods only know what else.
"...my sweet," Adler whimpers in delirium.
"Which one?" Brommy cuts back. "Mirth? Femke? Cephine? Ren? Or are you thinking about the hundreds of whores you've used? What are their names? Can you tell me? Those bodies, just now, that fled you? Their names, Adler... didn't you love what they gave you too? Fuck you! Even when you've had them all it's never enough! Never enough! Imagine that. Imagine Greta's horror." Then, Brommy's voice softens. He looks around the space around us newly empty of whores. "You don't need her body, Adler. Her spirit is still here. Surely, she witnessed all your love...all your attention to these bodies-"
"No...n-no...no...no."
"Yes. She saw you enjoy yourself much more than you ever enjoyed yourself with her. For all your time was always with these things. These are the things you truly love. Wine, whores, wealth, bint, attention...the list goes on. She knew this, Adler. This is old news. You're doing the exact same thing that destroyed her-"
"My sweet's death was her own choice. Not mine."
"What did you want from her, Adler?" I ask out of my own genuine pleasure.
Of course, I already know the answer myself.
Then, Adler's mouth turns into a hard line.
His eyes lose focus on the world. His chest rises and falls rapidly, as though he only now becomes panicked. Then the real tears come streaming down from those black, soulless eyes.
"You know you only wanted sex. You could have saved her the trouble and just told her so," Brommy scoffs. "You could have saved Ashtium if you discarded her instead of watching her rot!"
I fold my arms in complete agreement.
What justice it is to see Adler in such a miserable state.
"Tomorrow, the light is coming back, Adler. You will clean yourself up from all this filth and meet me at the palace first thing come the morrow - which you will be making."
I watch in disgust as he sits up and brushes his lower region off. He wipes his face with a shaky hand. His face remains downcast as he moves like a sluggard to the nearest discarded robe on the ground.
He pulls it on and then rubs his face. Already, anger has returned as he is now sober.
A new heat rises off the ground.
His teeth gnash together as he grabs the sides of his head. The next moment, his physical body disappears. Black stardust in the form of a sphere appears shifting through the air around my guards with a violent tremor. Their short-lived screams are cut off abruptly. Their bodies expand and burst.
Blood and organs scatter all over the source. Him.
The wave of heat grows denser making us both step back. Then Adler returns to his form in the flesh. His disgusting quills slither over their remains as he watches us without remorse.
"I will see you both in the morrow," he complies. "But if you remain, then perhaps I will see neither of you," he says through a smile.
Brommy is better at keeping his wits when Adler does this. He grabs my shoulder, pulling me along with him as we make our escape.
☁️