The moon was nearing its first quarter. Mimoza strode into the night with a heavy black cloak shrouding her physique. Her sandals patted into the stone road beneath the dark steps of the Acrocorinth. "What do you want?" She called out.
The Persian man with silky hair and fine wares stood across from her. His smile's teeth shined even in the darkness. "No need to be hostile, I'm only here to ask a question. My name is Neoshad of the Achaemenid dynasty. What is your title, Amazonian?" Neoshad tapped at his own wrist. It was to gesture towards her Amazonian scar on the front of her hand, but it just as easily showed the vast array of dangling crystals wrapped around his wrist.
"I am Mimoza, Amazonian of the Ionian tribes," Mimoza replied with a hiss. "And don't think I can't see your slave behind me."
Keveh, the night deviant with a demonic metal mask, watched her from a distance. He was leaned back against a nearby statue with his arms crossed, standing beneath the feet of a statue philosopher's feet. The black air matched his pitch colored sleeves.
"Keveh isn't hiding," Neoshad said waving a hand. "If he wanted you dead, he wouldn't need to hide."
Mimoza eyed closely at the both of them. She kept her composure firm despite knowing how vulnerable she was. "I've killed many Persians before today. Don't believe you're above any of them."
"I am," Neoshad said nonchalantly. "But that's besides the point. I'm here to seek the truth. What happened to the other deviants in this city? I know the Atenists didn't wipe them out. So what role did you play in this?"
Mimoza clenched at the gauntlet hidden beneath her cloak. With her powers crippled, the gauntlet and golden blade she had sheathed were the only weapons that could match against the both of them. "I don't know," Mimoza answered truthfully. "I came here looking for answers too."
Neoshad looked over to the side whilst stroking his hair. The calm smile on his face was wicked. His lack of concern only proved how much power he had over the situation. "I heard Amazonians went extinct." A cool night wind brushed past them as he spoke. "And yet here you are, defying expectations by being alive with that blood oath."
"We aren't so easy to kill. It comes with being Amazonian."
"I find it odd, though. The Asha order marked Amazonians as extinct, which has always been viewed as a missed opportunity. With how well they fought in the war, we could've made great use to Amazonian talents."
"I'm glad we couldn't give you that satisfaction."
"And yet you're still alive."
Neoshad walked off to the side. He kept his distance while circling around her like a stalking animal. "Tell me Mimoza, do you know how the war ended? Do you know what happened on that final day that caused Miletus city to fall?"
Mimoza clenched her fist, "I'm aware."
"The Amazonians betrayed their king, and brought the decapitated head of the Geek leader as a peace offering."
Mimoza hissed, "The Ionian League had fallen. The choice was to either be enslaved or to die fighting! We weren't going to die for the glory of a mad king, or become some damned Persian concubine!"
"So the rumors were true then, the Amazonians truly betrayed their king, and broke their oath in order to save their own order?"
Mimoza fell quiet. Neoshad stepped upwards the footsteps of the Acorcorinth. His echoing sound of footsteps bounced through the marble walls of the temple. He said to her, "I was there that day. It was the last city to surrender, a city that could have fought to the death. But before the battle could commence, a single soldier came forward for peace. As proof of their word, she dropped the king's head before the gates, proving that there was nothing left to fight for."
Neoshad stepped atop the final footstep of the temple entrance. He pointed towards her, "it was your face I saw. Red hair and grey eyes. You served us Aristagoras' head. The words 'we surrender' came out from your lips. In the end, you're the sole reason we won. Because you backstabbed your own king, and betrayed your own race in the process."
"What do you want from me?" Her voice was hollow. There was shiver in her throat that couldn't shake away. "If you're here to belittle me, I won't have it."
She glanced over at Keveh's direction. He'd disappeared, signaling he was hiding in plain sight.
Neoshad looked down at her from the temple steps. His black sillouette showed from the torches lit within the temple halls. He said to her, "us not enslaving your people was always the biggest regret from that war. Ten years of suffering, and we couldn't even concript your deviants at the end of it. Tell me where the Amazonians went. I want to find them, to right the wrongs of the past."
A cold wind brushed across Mimoza's skin. She couldn't speak a word.
Neoshad said, "tell me where your sisterhood went, and I'll spare you. The same way you were spared after betraying your king."
He thought it would be easy. Since Mimoza had killed her own king, he thought she'd sell out her sisters just as easily. Mimoza sprinted towards him with a yell. Her gauntlet unsheathed as the gemstones glowed before Neoshad's presence. Neoshad only barely managed to dodge before Keveh's power morphed around Mimoza's head.
He turned solid again to kick Mimoza in the knee cap and pull the gauntlet out from her palm. He shot a burst of smoke into Mimoza's face and she tumbled down the temple stairs.
Her body slammed down the steps as Keveh passed the gauntlet to Neoshad. "A deviant with scholar weapons," Neoshad laughed. "How barbaric. You must be truly desperate to rely on aether that isn't your own."
Mimoza stood up and took a defensive stance. Her golden knife was unsheathed. Keveh morphed into smog again and covered Mimoza's face. The smoke plunged into her eyes and nostrils, suffocating her in ways that couldn't be reached. After being blinded by scratching pain, Keveh returned to normal to stab at her pit, and disarm her of her own golden knife.
Keveh spinned to plant the blade into her shoulder blade. "Egyptian," he said while kicking her to the ground. He pulled out a whip and tied Mimoza's hands behind her back. With the golden blade lodged in her shoulder, her powers couldn't activate.
Keveh pointed down at the knife, "I was told Greeks prided themselves in their own ingenuity. Was that a lie? Do Greeks steal tools from other empires and claim it as their own invention?"
Neoshad happily skipped down the temple steps. "My oh my, it appears we have a cripple in our presence." He kicked Mimoza across the face. Her eyes and lungs still scratched in agony. Without her powers to heal or give her strength, she was helpless against the two Persians.
Neoshad said, "do you have any idea how easy it would be for me to mark you with a slave cipher right now?"
Mimoza shouted, "I'd die before I'd serve you!"
"Very poor choice in words," Neoshad commented. "But we aren't savages. Even a barbaric Greek deserves a fighting chance."
Neoshad pulled out unsheathed two golden semicircle blades from Keveh's belt. He handed a blade to Neoshad and tossed the other in front of Mimoza's forehead.
"Three rounds, no aether. If you can't manage to slash Keveh once after three rounds, we'll execute you. Because someone so weak doesn't deserve life at this point, whether you're Amazonian or not. But if you do manage to slice him once, we'll let you be free. You'll still have to tell us where the other Amazonians are, but you'll go on free, as thanks for your treason during the Ionian war. Do we have a deal?"
"No!" Mimoza yelled. She screamed past the pain, trying to shake off the wrapping around her wrists. "I owe you nothing! You aren't deserving of my respect, I wouldn't offer an ounce of dignity to the likes of you!"
Neoshad poked his knife onto Mimoza's forehead, giving her a slight pinch. "Oh my, you're presented with a fair fight and you'd simply refuse? Amazonians really do lack any honor. In that case, should I simply stab your heart here and now, and stop wasting our time then?"
Mimoza stayed quiet this time. With a smile, Neoshad stepped away and drew a circle in the floor around them. The circle reached several paces away from the deviants. It served as a ring for the two of them to fight.
Neoshad etched it into the ground using a silver crystal. The ground markings glowed as he pierced it. Circular and hexagonal polygons were drawn around the edges, to give the symbolic meanings behind the drawings. There was a low hum to the light, like a harp from stroking glasses of half empty water.
Each shape glowed independently on their own, and became brighter as he linked the circle with the final drawing. The surrounding night atmosphere became white, and a glowing wall of light encapsulated the two. It was a battle ring for a duel of two deviants.
Neoshad stood outside while Keveh and Mimoza stayed inside. Neoshad ordered to the two deviants, "begin."
Keveh pulled the blade out from Mimoza's shoulder and used it to cut the restraint. He stepped back and entered a fighting stance while Mimoza reached for the other semicircle golden blade.
Keveh said, "do not lose quickly. Dying in a cage is no way to die."
Mimoza hissed back, "you needn't worry. After this is over, you'll be the only one dead."
"If that were true, you wouldn't need my sword to fight."
Mimoza sprinted forward with her sword pulled behind her back. She swung towards his body, but he deflected it quickly by shifting its weight towards her own face. Keveh swerved again, and this time he cut between her neckline.
Such an attack would've killed any other mortal. But Mimoza didn't even fall down, she clutched her bleeding neck and let her natural healing close up the wound. Keveh seized the moment to slice at her wrists. Mimoza's sword dropped from her palm and Keveh jabbed into her stomach.
If he wanted to, he could've easily pierced her heart instead. With the sword lodged into her abdomen, he left it there and kicked her back into the ground. He took the blade she dropped and walked away, "around one."
"Booo," Neoshad called from outside the walls. "Honestly, I hoped that watching an Amazonian spar would've at least been entertaining."
Mimoza limpingly stood up. She painfully pulled the blade out from her stomach, and waited for the wounds to heal. Light illuminated from her neckline and stomach cuts. She breathed heavily while her healing powers took ahold of her.
I underestimated him, she thought to herself, or did I overestimate myself?
Mimoza's tactics were so reliable during the war, but they only worked when she was at peak power. When she had aether to spare, diving in head first always reaped the best results for her. But with Pandora's curse, she had to face a new reality where her natural sword skills just weren't enough.
She wondered how her opponent could fight so well without powers. Mimoza asked, "you're a slave, correct? Then if you could kill your master, would you do it?"
Mimoza had negotiated with Persian deviants before, and convinced several of them to switch sides. She wondered if Keveh would do the same. Neoshad only grinned from outside the glowing ring, "go ahead Keveh, tell her the truth."
Keveh nodded. He pulled off his mask to reveal his face. He had charcoal skin similar to Imani, but most of it was also covered in burnt scorch marks. His eyes blindfolded with a blood stained bandage wrap, and his lips were sewn loosely with golden threads.
"My master saved me," Keveh explained. "When the Persians conquered Egypt, slaves like me were released from the Aten order. We were given two options after being freed. To either live a life of luxury to help raise deviant families at the capital. Or to serve as Asha arms, as weapons for the Persian empire."
He slipped his mask back on. "I chose the latter."
Mimoza entered a fighting pose, "then you're a proud slave? That makes you a lost cause."
"Make no mistake. Neoshad is a wicked man. If he weren't my master, I'd have killed him for his crimes against humanity."
"I am rather wicked," Neoshad admitted, "I prefer cats over puppies."
Keveh said, "but I'm indebted to Persia, and I will never betray that bond. Justice is not something you forfeit your vows for. If that were true, pacts would be rendered meaningless."
Mimoza said, "then I'll just have to sever your contract by killing you."
Keveh replied, "That wouldn't be a severance, that would be a fulfillment. If you want to live, think less of killing Persians, and more about slashing me once."
Keveh's back foot twisted as he faced his sword towards Mimoza. Mimoza responded by side stepping closer towards his direction. Rather than rush in like she did before, she mixed her foot work left and right to irk closer towards him. Keveh almost mirrored her movements. They circled around each other in a dance-like pattern.
Once they were close enough their swords clashed against the night. Sparks sputtered from the hits. The clinging noise reflected off of each other as the blows mirrored one another in movement. He's going to kick me soon, the clinging sound filled the air as they marched. Just need to wait for the hit, and I'll slash his foot.
Mimoza kept a distance as Keveh fell back against the ring's wall. His back touched against the light, and Neoshad smiled on the other side. "Got you cornered now, does she?"
Keveh lowered his body and smashed his head into her face. Mimoza's head bobbed back with a nose bleed. Keveh kicked her kneecap and then planted the blade intoto her thigh.
Releasing his own blade, Keveh launched a flurry of blows across her torso, until her muscles were weak enough to let go of her own weapon. Keveh caught her sword in midair and chopped towards her face.
Purple blood spilled out on Keveh's clothes. He pulled the lodged blade in her thigh out, and kicked her back to the ground. She tumbled as Keveh stood with both blades in his hand. "Round two," Keveh announced.
He tossed a sword next to her and walked to the center of the ring.
Mimoza was dizzy as her powers once again began its healing process. Last chance, she thought to herself. The ground around them was covered in purple. All of it was her blood. In two rounds, she hadn't even managed to hit him.
Have I always been this weak?
Mimoza swallowed. She'd been in critical situations before, but she always had more power in those crises before. She could always run, hide, or kill herself to take out the enemy. But she had none of that now. She truly was a caged animal fighting for the whims of a slaver.
Keveh hadn't even used his powers on her. If he wanted to, he could've easily attacked her with full force. It wasn't a question of if they could kill her, but only if they were willing to kill her.
Neoshad yawned form outside the ring, "my this is boring. Honestly, with how nimble you are I'm starting to think that looking for Amazonians isn't even worth it. What do you think Keveh?"
Mimoza's palms trembled. Keveh answered, "you're right. I'll kill her in this final round. Make it quick as an act of mercy."
Neoshad laughed aloud, "how kind of you Keveh. Hear that woman? You get to take the location of the Amazonians to the grave with you. Isn't that splendid?"
To the grave. She was the last one left. And no one would know the truth if she died today. All that honor, memories, and legacy of her sisterhood only remained in herself. With her gone, their legacy would be gone too.
She suddenly stopped asking herself if she wanted to live, and began wondering how she wanted to die.
"I killed them all," Mimoza said in a cold tone.
The other two became quiet. "Come again?" Neoshad asked.
"The Amazonians. You wanted to know where they went?... I killed them all."
Neoshad raised an eyebrow, "how?"
"Every city had already fallen. Aristagoras wanted us all to die in his namesake, all solely to defend his kingship. He called upon every man, woman, and child to pick up a piece of metal and fight to the death. He wanted the Amazonians to burn the city once the Persians entered, so that they'd only have ashes left to conquer.
My sisters had agreed to it. If the choice was to either die fighting or become slaves to Persia, they'd quickly choose to death. And so would I.
I would've gone through with it... But then I saw Aristagaras escaping through a tunnel. He wasn't going to stay like the rest of us. He wanted the entire city to die, so that he could live and disappear from the conflict forever. All that suffering, misery, and death was all for him, and he couldn't even die in the name of it....
I did what I had to do. I brought his body to the gates, and cut off his head as a peace offering. It worked."
Mimoza gave a momentary pause. She looked up at the stars and could see the shape of Astraea, goddess of justice and divine innocence. Her life as an Amazonian, was rendered meaningless. All of her decision amounted to nothing, and her final action killed the people that she loved.
"I didn't tell my sisters. I wanted the burden to be on my shoulders alone, so that I would be marked the traitor and not the rest of them."
Mimoza bent down and clutched her heart. "When they found out there would be no final battle, they took their swords to their own hearts and killed themselves. Three hundred Amazonians fought in the Ionian war, and they all died before me.... Because of me."
Neoshad frowned, "we would've conscripted them if they hadn't done that. They chose death over slavery."
Mimoza nodded, "I didn't save anyone. I'm the last Amazonian left."
Keveh shook his head. "No you're not. You broke your own oath, that makes you less than a warrior. If you still call yourself Amazonian, then you're dragging that legendary title through lies and deceit."
Mimoza shook her head, "I tried..."
"It means nothing, oathbreaker."
Neoshad shook his head, "Keveh, you seem to have a strong opinion on the matter."
"I do," he replied. "The only thing a deviant has, is their oath. She's less than nothing in my eyes."
"Well," Neoshad clapped his hands. "What would do then, Keveh?"
He stared into Mimoza. The woman's head was down. The sword in her head was limp with weakness. He said, "final round. Let me kill her. Both to give a warrior's death, and as penance for her not killing herself sooner."
There was nothing Mimoza could say to that. Gaiana's words ringed hard in her head, "now I know why you're not an Amazonian anymore, it's because you're pathetic!"
Those words never felt more true. She clutched down at her heart. Her heart beated hard as she tried drawing the aether inside. I feel nothing. The last remnants of her pride were faded, and all it took was losing a fair sword fight.
Keveh said, "use your aether. It will make no difference."
Mimoza shook her head. "I'll die by a fair fight. I won't use aether."
She entered a fighting stance, finally prepared to die for the wrongful life she'd been living.