Coretta
My group of priestesses looked at me like I'd gone mad.
Which I definitely considered myself right now.
"Chryseis, you know that lying is a sin for us!" Eula whispered, terrified.
"But the priestess told us not to tell anyone our location!" I bit my lip, my heart racing. "So I told the first name that came to me."
Zina did a quick scan around, then neared me. "Does it mean they know us all to be from Memphis as well?" she asked inquisitively, motioning with her hand.
"No," I shook my head. "Just me."
She smirked. "Well, I figured out earlier that they aren't looking for any verification that we belong from a certain region." She toyed with her braid. "During my younger years, I've been in the cult service of Memphis. So that should make me eligible too, for the priestess of the Eye of Ra. No?"
"Will you accompany me?" I asked almost immediately. I needed someone familiar to go with, while she must be aiming to climb higher on the status ladder. Seemed like a win-win situation.
"Priestesses from Memphis!" the savage man roared again.
My group jumped at the thundering voice, looking anything but thrilled as Zina did. They all wanted to go hide somewhere.
"Of course." Zina smiled. "Let's go." And she led me to the front where a few more women from Memphis stood. I watched in bitter silence as the other priestesses started entering the banquet.
With my head lowered, I followed the group out of the underground arena into a narrower passage, dark as ever. Whiff of cold dry rocks permeated the path. The priests walked ahead, guiding us with their fire torches. Their heavy steps were a scary thud on the stony path.
Hiding behind Zina and the much taller priestesses, I made sure to walk farthest from that one man, but to my deteriorating luck, he began searching left and right. His face, a sculpted demon in disguise. Glancing back, he waved wildly at his fire torch as the priestesses continued to walk, not even daring to peer at his actions.
"I'll guide the back!" he announced and soon shifted to the end of the group.
Right beside me.
I gave a little distressed sigh and continued to walk with my hands tightly clasped to my front, trying not to get affected by his weird behaviour.
But then he snatched one of my hands, holding it in a grasp.
The ringing of my heart went into my ears.
Without a word, I tried to yank my hand out of his grip, but I hadn't expected him to shout.
"Behave, woman!" he roared, and the walking priestesses stopped, but none dared glance back to see my frightful face.
My heart stilled. This was abnormal. Priests definitely didn't hold a priestess's hand. Even if she was his wife.
I wanted to, but couldn't retort. Talking back had way worse consequences.
With him beside me, the surrounding air became oppressive as the group continued to walk ahead. The sudden turmoil had moved me farther from them, leaving me alone with the sinister man.
He continued to walk as if nothing had happened, the fire torch high in his hand and my palm in his other one. Face dead set to the front.
There was no way to escape. Not any that I could see. I bit my lip, lowering my head to ask a harmless question.
"My apologies..." I spoke in the softest, most feeble voice I could muster, and he momentarily stopped. Now holding my hand so hard that I knew it was going white.
"May I know why... you're holding my hand?" I asked, my head still lowered.
His heavy breathing was like a time bomb about to tick off. I didn't know a single thing about this man.
But the possibility that he might know me, that too, as a writer from Romanos, disturbed me to no bounds.
Lazily, he hung his fire torch over the narrow wall of the cave, right beside my head to see my face in clear sight. I kept my eyes levelled to his neck, refusing to look frightened as he wished.
My eyes fluttered in pain, but I silently gritted my teeth behind my closed lips as he pressed my shoulders against the cave's walls. The uneven rocks pierced my back, but I stayed still.
He had metal piercings on his face. A similar face that I'd seen before, just not him, someone else. And then he brought his eyes to my level. Something that a well-respected priest may never do.
I could slither a hand around his neck, offer him a shy smile, then twist his face, give a hard kick to his back, right where the lung was located, and he would fall face front. It would be so good that he won't be able to breathe normally after that.
Then he'd be so angry that he'd try to bring me to the ground by my leg. I would fall. He would punch me, but my elbow would take the hit, and so would his nose, his jaw, his eyes. Until I'd crawled on top of him and smothered his face in the mud below our feet.
Until he had lost consciousness as I acupuncture the point behind his neck that controlled the central nervous system.
He was nothing. I was trained to handle way worse men.
But the thing was, this cave echoed. Which meant that if he shouted, it was going to reverberate the entire passage, alerting the others. I could fight one man, not a group of them.
"When I am here..." he whispered, "forget that you even have a voice," he growled, grey eyes seeping into mine. His nails were sinking into my arms, but I didn't show that it affected me. When I knew it was going to leave marks.
My gaze went to his hands on my shoulders, then back at him, my face neutral. "My Goddess is watching over me, priest," I whispered, without fear. "Get your hands off a married priestess."
I thought my marital status would turn him off, and he'd finally leave me, but his lips turned into a grin; face almost dancing in excitement. I was still a fiance to priest Remun Ra, but he didn't need to know. But what unnerved me, even more, was that nothing seemed to deter him.
"Clearly, your husband didn't teach you what a woman needs to do and what not." he tched, and increased the distance between us. "No worries." he stared down at me and grabbed his fire torch back before starting to walk again. As if nothing happened.
I stood still at my spot. What the heck does he want?
And he sounded awfully similar to some nasty person I've met before.
"Get moving, woman!" I jolted when he roared again from a few feet ahead of me.
The passage gave way to a large underground chamber made of some shiny golden stone that was illuminating the area, probably like Zeus' palace. Statues of Gods I never knew about were stationed at the corners, adorned by offerings of fruits and flowers at their feet. Thankfully, I couldn't find the malicious priest from earlier, and quietly joined the group of priestesses, relieved to see Zina there.
But she acted like she didn't even know me, quickly distancing herself.
"How awful, isn't it?" I heard one of the priestess whisper. "God knows what she must be doing with that priest."
"I've heard she's Aphrodite's priestess. Aren't they like... involved in seducing men who are captivated by their beauty?"
I felt like banging these misogynistic women's heads against a wall. It was clear now that I won't get any help here. Even Zina had turned her back on me in view of the rumours because of that nasty priest's behaviour. I couldn't handle all of this alone.
'Activating 06T02-BCE-Group Call-messaging'
'Cors, don't tell me you got into a weird ritual.' Dunkin messaged immediately.
'What? You two aren't together?' Followed Aarmen's question.
'Geez, I thought you guys were already married and on some priestly honeymoon shit.' That was Lorenzo's message.
"Can you stop being horny for once?" Dunkin snorted.
"Yup, I've stopped being horny ever since Cheryl went away. Yup. I'll restart my horniness once I reach 21st cen though." He sounded mildly drunk. I sighed.
"Coretta, are you in some problem? Describe the situation." Aarmen prompted.
'Currently in an underground chamber of a temple.' I started messaging as I stood awkwardly with the group of priestesses from Memphis. They were giving me disgusted looks, but I was over it. Right now, I had to protect myself as I discreetly scanned the vast hall. Guards patrolled the area.
I continued. 'They're selecting some priestesses for the Eye of Ra. Chose me, too. This one beast-like priest with long, dark hair is a creep. Can't escape as there are lots of people around. Any advice?'
"What is that mf saying?" Dunkin demanded. "Do you know him? What does he want?"
'No idea about that. Though he once outright said about me being from Romanos. Was super pissed about that kingdom. Backed me against a wall, held my hand and all. Dunkin?' I gulped when a dark probability occurred to me. 'Is it possible that priests in a higher position make newer priestesses their slaves?'
'Coretta, where the heck have you stuck yourself into?! I'll kill that piece of shit! Because lemme tell you, no sane priest ever touches a priestess! How dare he back you against a wall! I'll drive his fucking head into the wal-'
'Dunkin, Lord, calm down. I too can very well drive his head against a wall, lol. Just answer my question.' I wanted to ease the situation but my heart plummeted when that priest entered the hall from some secret wall-like door. The senior priestesses immediately bowed. But his eyes, now lined in thick kohl, were staring at mine from a distance. The priestesses nearby increased their cursing on me.
"Oh, look at priestess Chryseis. Don't even have a shame seducing the head priest right in front of us!" They whisper-shouted.
"What a filth!"
"Cors, you're honestly scaring me." Dunkin exhaled. "I've never witnessed a priest-slave relation in the years I've spent being a priest. But if the institution you are at currently, is corrupted, then it can be a possibility."
"Donut, les go castrate that mf priest and save baby Cors." Lorenzo slurred. "Othe- Otherwise Cheryl's gon drive a stake thru ma heart. Yeah, nothing shud happen to baby Corsss..."
"Lorenzo Swarwoski, this is serious. Go sober up, please." Aarmen pleaded.
"Cors, what's the eye colours of the priestesses?" Dunkin inquired. Just then, the group in which Miria was selected came out, trailing behind the nasty priest, who seated himself in a throne-like chair. The colour of their eyes became starkly clear under the lights, which I hadn't been able to see in the dark underground cave near the banquet.
Unique. So unique that they looked like... gems.
"What? What are you saying? Gems?!" Dunkin panicked. Oh no, did I message what I was thinking? "Cors, damn, answer me?! ARE YOU WEARING THE CONTACTS?!"
'Yes. Yes, I am.' I gulped as I moistened my lips, gaze trained on the shiny floor. I could see my reflection in it.
They gouge the eyes out and make beautiful gems...
Oh sweet Althea, would you ever be able to see anything after tonight?
My entire face was heating and thudding like my heart. Fear. A fear like never before was grappling me.
'Aarmen.' I questioned him this time. 'If they take my eyes out, will I lose my sight forever or... will I get them back in my world? Because a copy of our bodies will be left here, right?'
His voice turned grim. "If you die during the eye removal, you'll retain them in your world. But if you somehow survive it, then I'm not sure, Coretta."
"What the fuck do you mean?! No one's taking her eyes out! Coretta, just listen. You have the most normal eye colour right now. Even if someone thinks of making a gem outta it, they'll know it would just look like a fuckin piece of rock! No one will take your eyes out!" Dunkin screamed.
"Dunkin, it's not time to be emotional. We're just discussing the rational thing because we can't go and save her right now. I've tracked her location, and that's really far from here." Aarmen explained.
"So Coretta, as I was saying. We cut up Cheryl's skin when she died. Remember? But the department notified no damage to her original body back in our world. Which means, if you die during the eye removal, you'll be instantly transported to our world, thanks to the electric compulsion. Then, even if they take your eyes completely out of your dead body, or anything, it won't affect your body in our world."
I took in a shuddering breath as Aarmen's quick thinking gave me some hope. But the situation right now has a lot of loopholes. What Aarmen explained was just case 1.
'Case 2: Is taking the eyes out a near death situation?' I messaged. The group in which Miria stood was now one-by-one, kneeling in front of the nasty priest, as he... as he checked their eyes. Or eye colour?
No please, no. I wasn't able to imagine a knife going into my eyes.
"Oh, goodness..." Aarmen exhaled. "I've never thought of this creepy possibility. But I guess eye removal would cause a lot of blood loss, also there's a bunch of nerves near the eyes so infection chances are high too. It really depends on the precision they'll use to remove the eyes and the sensitivity of electric compulsion to act on a near-death situation."
"I rarely curse, you know that right, Cors?" Dunkin snarled. "But Fuck You, Aarmen! Man, you're talking about eye removal like you telling which fuckin tea leaf you want to be added in your goddamn tea! How can you be so calm?!"
"Dunkin, FYI, I was trained separately on how to behave like a leader at times like these. One such training involved the department telling me that my granddad died, and not to shed a single tear. They made me watch his funeral on a screen, my entire family crying while I stayed locked in the lab, cameras on me. Cause apparently, a leader drowning in emotions equated fatality and impulsive decision making. So stop and just listen. I welcome any suggestions from you as well."
Silence enveloped my head. I wouldn't deny that the department was semi-cruel to us at times. But it was necessary. That experience of cruelty. Because what was going to happen right here would be beyond cruel.
"Sorry leader." Dunkin huffed. "Okay, so Coretta, since you talked about the creep's behaviour, I don't think he'll be interested in making you blind. If he makes you a slave, think about what you'll do then."
'If I'm alone with him outside of this area, I can make him unconscious and flee. Then you guys can come save me. But Dunkin, blind slaves also exist.' I sighed. And that was so much more horrific.
"Three possibilities then: you die and transport to our world, you don't die and go blind or you become a slave." Aarmen pointed out. "Second case is most risky, because we don't know if you'll have your eyes intact in our world in case you die of some other cause long after the eye removal."
"Dudes, Cheryl sucked water and died. Why won't Cors die of heavy blood loss? The eye area is damn sensitive. Even if people do survive after eyes are taken out, Cors simply won't, thanks to the automatic electric compulsion." Lorenzo gave his point. All sobered up now.
"And don't miss case 4 Coretta." Aarmen sounded a little hopeful. "That they might be selecting genuine priestesses for the Eye of Ra. I'd say, it won't be bad to have 10% hope."
'Yes, thank you.' I exhaled. 'I'll keep you all updated.'
"Just keep yourself connected. Then we can hear what's going around you." Lorenzo suggested.
Miria's group was done having their eyes checked and now they were being subdivided further. The women with exotic eyes stood at one corner of the hall, which included poor Miria, and the other group, having more experienced looking priestesses, were sent elsewhere.
And then, another priest came in with a snake in his hands.
'Shit, guys, I'll have to disconnect. They brought in an animal sensitive to the AI chip's frequency range. Okay, talk to you soon.'
I deliberately didn't mention it being a snake because that'd further tense Dunkin. It was the same thing that Alexander's mom did to me with her snake. Maybe these reptiles were the detection dogs of this century.
The priest came forward to our group, letting the black snake sniff around the priestesses. It hissed out a two-forked tongue, crawling up her hair. The priestess showed no expression, probably because snakes weren't a big deal for Egyptian priestesses.
I stood unmoving. Even then, I could feel his gaze. Stuck on my face. Coming near the third priestess from me, the snake backed out as soon as it advanced, quickly wrapping itself around its master. The priest sneered.
"Evil woman! Take her out immediately!"
My heart jumped as the priestess started thrashing around for help, but none listened. Maybe it was too soon for me to pity her because she began screaming like some possessed witch. Everyone turned on to discuss how she was from a cult of black magic and slithered her way in here with ulterior motives. Her voice echoed as if a dying ghost was escaping her.
I clamped a hand to my mouth when something... unbearable began to spread in the air. As if my lungs were closing in on me. The others, too, were coughing, heaving.
My eyes watered. I couldn't breathe in this air anymore. Just when I knew I'd pass out, a priest took a fire torch and made an unknown pattern in the air with it. The fire of the torch went poof. Just like that, the atmosphere became normal again.
"The evil energy from that woman is gone." He declared. "We'll make sure to sacrifice her in our annual offerings." He stated as if it was an everyday thing. The others, too, weren't so bothered.
All this seemed hella interesting, only in the movies I used to watch back in my world. Not now, happening right before my eyes. I wanted to cry at the reality of it.
This time, the snake came to me and hissed near my hands. I tried calming my heart. The AI chip was disconnected. Zero signals. Stay cool Coretta. I repeated in my head. The nasty priest continued to watch me intently from his throne.
"Lift your hand, woman."
My hands trembled as I lifted them to open my palm, as the snake priest asked. But then, a cry escaped me as the snake advanced my palm, and I hid my hands.
"I said stay still!"
Sucking in a deep breath, I lifted my hands back as the snake rested its head on my palm, slithering forward. Bile rose in my throat at the feel of its smooth dry body slithering on my hand.
And then it began advancing on my arm.
I wanted to scream, but suppressed it as I bit my lip, shaking like a leaf on a windy day. If I made a scene, they might believe I wasn't an Egyptian woman and the consequences would be way worse.
"The snake's interested in her. Isn't it?" The wicked priest leaned an arm against his throne, amused as he exclaimed in mock laughter. That monstrous laugh echoed around the hall. I think I've heard that laugh before.
"Yes, it is." The priest nodded. "Should I take her out as well, for the sacrifices?"
My heart dropped.
No, no. Having my eyes out was better than being prepared for a sacrifice.
"No." The priest denied, staring at me like the brick wall he was. "That's not needed."
It was obvious he wanted me as a slave. If I had even half the guts of Cheryl, I would've seduced him, tricked him emotionally and then fled. But seduction started from flirtation which I had no clue about when I was shaking like a damn rabbit.
I took some time to recollect myself and prepare for what was to come. The woman in my group lined up to get their eyes checked. Something about having a particular eye type to serve the Eye of Ra was being explained, but I knew better. I didn't protest when the snake priest shifted me to the end of the queue, on someone's order.
Taking in even breaths, I focussed on the options. Staying quiet and going with the flow seemed better than anything else. Intelligence lay in appearing stupid.
When the women of my group were done and sent elsewhere, I kneeled before him, my eyes stationed at his feet. Even Miria, standing with her group, was sent out of some other doorway leading to a different room. The hall became empty except the patrolling guards.
Resting his arms over his knees, he lowered his head to my level. Face so close, but I couldn't do a thing other than avert my gaze.
He felt my resistance and snickered. "Even the snake couldn't resist you, huh?" he moved a finger over my temple, till my chin, entranced. His laugh was a dark voice reverberating around me like death. "And you have expectations from me?" My eyes shut close as he leaned closer, taking in a deep breath from the side of my face. How I wanted to land a punch to his cerebellum, then embed my nails into the main nerve of his neck and strangulate him.
"Who in Hades..." he breathed out, right next to my ear as he moved a hand into my hair, gripping the back of my neck, nuzzling. "Is this Persephone kneeling before me?"
"What are you doing?" I seethed. "Do you not fear Aphrodite?"
He chuckled, face still buried at the side of my neck. "Priestess of the Goddess of love..." he inhaled. "I've heard you kind women show their mercy on men... like me."
"You heard wrong."
"Ah, a married woman I remember you to be." his grip tightened. But what he said next sickened me to the core.
"Have you ever pleased your husband?" He whispered.
Fear crackled through my body, making my eyes waver in tears, but I held myself. I am trained. I am trained to face all this. Yes. I can. I didn't want my heart to betray my voice so I gulped through my dry throat.
"Our temple doesn't permit us to welcome children into this world."
He brought his face to the front, grey eyes hooded on me.
"Such a misery," he tsked, withdrawing his hands, finally so I could breathe again. "My mother told me about a beautiful woman..." he whispered. "So beautiful that... she was actually crying... describing her beauty." I didn't move an inch as he pressed a thumb at the corner of my lips.
"She was crying because I couldn't marry her. That king protecting her would never allow that."
Those words struck an alarm of dread. I prayed and prayed for my thoughts to be untrue, wanting to retort, but he looked so enraged that I feared if I even said a word, he'd hit me.
"That King of Romanos," he uttered. "He's obsessed with that blue-eyed woman. Isn't he?" he tilted his head, eyes boring into mine.
Blood drained off my face.
NO. I can't... can't slip right now. This man, no, he doesn't know me. But... what did he say? His mother... saw me?
"I can't understand what you're saying," I mumbled. When on the inside, I was dying of terror.
He cracked his neck in amusement, holding my throat to bring me even closer to see my eyes. Of all the priestesses he inspected, he didn't even lay a finger on them. And here was me, the unluckiest of them all.
"Is that so?" He grinned. "Maybe if you had blue eyes, like the skies... you would've looked like her..."
This was some cruel twist of fate. Where have I landed? I was living in an oyster, like a pearl, shielded by Julian, not knowing about the endless sea filled with sharks outside.
He gripped my chin, forcing me to look into his deathly grey eyes. "My mother would have approved of you, if she was here," the metal pierced over his eyebrow glinted under the golden light. "The great mistress Ionna. Oh, how she bragged about bringing Althea Rosemary to me. The definition of a mystical woman..." he laughed cruelly. "So much that I couldn't sleep at night. Dreaming of her... over and over and over again..."
I stopped breathing altogether. M- Mistress Ionna. That demonic woman who- who threw me in the menstrual hut in the chilly night. For four torturous days.
"Ah!" Tears blurred my eyes when he gripped a fistful of my hair, murderous gaze seething over me.
"I wish it was her, not you, kneeling in front of me." he gritted out, shoving me against the floor as my head struck against the surface.
I couldn't even feel the physical pain, because the mental injury was too much for me to take in when I remembered what mistress Ionna said that day.
I will have her married to my youngest son! He will show her what a woman ought to do, and what, not!
The man in front of me, haunting me for the past few hours, was her son. And the woman he was fantasising about was right before him.