“One more time,” Mona said from her place seated next to me at the table. Our half-eaten lunch, some shelled creature that appeared suspiciously like a lobster with extra eyes and limbs, sat there waiting to be collected, now forgotten. I had asked for us not to be disturbed until it was time. “Now, what do you do after I say the blessing?”
“I…” I paused momentarily, my brain trying to remember every bit of what she’d been teaching me for the past couple of hours. We had slightly over an hour until the Feast of Return began, and I felt only marginally prepared.
“Think, Greg,” she said. I realized she only used my real name when she was upset with me. I wondered if I would be hearing it more frequently.
“I rise, take your cup from you, then take a drink. I pass by you on your left side and take your place at the podium. Then I give the sermon.”
She nodded. “Good. And the sermon, you’re prepared for it?”
“You did write it for me,” I said. “Or at least, you copied it from those other pages—” Mona’s face took on a guilty expression, and I wondered if she had given me recycled material. At this point, it hardly mattered. “I’m not judging you, Mona. But we’ve gone through it ten times.” After repeating it over and over, the words swam in my head. My brothers and sisters of the Void…
“I know,” she said, sounding annoyed with me. Whatever flirtation I’d felt from her this morning had faded by now. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the bad news I’d given her or because all afternoon, it felt like she was helping me cram for a test in a subject I’d never studied. I couldn’t afford to flub the rituals of the demons in front of such a massive audience.
“Mona?” I asked.
She raised an eyebrow, perhaps at the calm way I’d said it. I tried to rid myself of the exhaustion and frustration I felt within me. In truth, none of it was even her fault. She was trying her best to teach me what I needed to know, and it shouldn’t have surprised me that she was upset at the prospect of abandoning everyone and everything she had ever known. “Speak,” she said.
“I just wanted to say that I understand if you’ve changed your mind about any—”
She rolled her eyes. “What?” she said angrily. “Our path is set, Master. It is too late to turn back now.”
“Yes,” I said. “But I can tell you’re not pleased.”
She stared at me icily for a moment, then pushed herself away from the table, rose to her feet, and began to pace a few feet away. She raised her hands to her head as if she wanted to break off her horns, then stopped and looked at me.
“Of course I’m not,” she said. “What do you think will happen when Sun-Domia gets here? Everyone in this tower will be put to the sword.”
“I don’t know what else—”
“Nor do I,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean I have to act happy about it. Until this morning, I had still entertained some hope that we might not be entirely doomed.”
“If what they said is true,” I said, “we won’t need to make our escape until just before Spring, or Thaw, or whatever you want to call it. We’ll be stuck here until then. Maybe we’ll come up with something?”
“How reassuring,” she said sarcastically, then shook her head. “Maybe we’ll devise a plan, otherwise, tens of thousands will be butchered. You…” She pointed her finger at me, poking me in the chest. “You’re one of us now, no matter who you were before. These are your people, too, who are going to die if we just fuck off somewhere during a time of war.”
“This is all just a mistake,” I said.
She stepped forward at once and slapped me. I felt the sting against my cheek and rubbed it with my other hand. “How dare—” Desdemona’s eyes glowed with fire. “You speak ill of the magnificent form with which you have been given a new life? You insult us. You insult me as well. Are you humans always this ungrateful?”
I sighed. “I didn’t mean it like that. I know you’d much rather have this, uh, magnificent form inhabited by an actual god rather than me. That’s all I meant.”
“Still, you call this, your second chance at life, a mistake? You are the mistake.” She narrowed her eyes. “Uncouth, undeserving, and ungrateful.” Mona walked past the desk and bookshelves in the corner of the room, and stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows, her hand against the glass, her claws tapping, her eyes gazing down at the city where she’d lived all her life, as far as I knew. It was no wonder she had gotten so upset when I’d said we needed to run, even if some part of her had already known it was true.
I walked to meet her, saying nothing at first, and looked over her shoulder, out the window. The distant mountains were already capped in white. It wouldn’t be long before the passes were filled with snow.
“If I’m going to be here until Spring, I’ll do everything I can to prepare. I still want to learn magic, you know,” I said.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
She shrugged. “Go ahead. I can’t stop you.”
“I mean, I want you to keep teaching me, Mona.”
She looked over at me. “I never said I wouldn’t.”
“But I…” I sighed. “This Winter, I’ll do everything I can to prepare. I’m going to learn as much as I can. I promise you that. I’m trying to be realistic about our prospects, but I’m not giving up.”
She smirked, then shook her head. “It’s too late for that now, Master. What can you do in a few months? What can either of us do?”
I’ll show you what I can do, I thought, but said nothing. I tried to think of something impressive I’d done in my past life, something I could say to inspire us both, but nothing came to mind. I couldn’t seem to remember much of who I had been, or what I had done, besides fragments.
I closed my eyes and tried to think of anything that might be relevant now. For a brief flash, I saw myself talking to a small group of people, maybe ten or twelve, under a massive dome. They all watched me expectantly. I blinked my eyes, and the vision vanished. Of course. I had worked in the museum’s planetarium. It hadn’t just been the fossils. But while it was interesting, such expertise did little to help me now.
I stood next to Mona at the window, looking out at the desolate lands that surrounded us, the desolate lands I technically ruled. The demons were relying on me to win the war, to defeat the goddess. And meanwhile, I was planning to abandon them the first chance I got. I wasn’t the god they needed, and I certainly wouldn’t become one in three months. Mona’s disappointment was understandable, but if she’d wanted things to go differently, perhaps she should have summoned the right person. None of this was my fault, after all.
I heard a knock at the door and turned to see Ilmatar standing there. I nodded at him, he clapped, and a line of attendants began to file in. As I walked over to them, I could feel Mona seething, or perhaps grieving, in silence behind me. But Ilmatar didn’t seem to notice—if he did, he paid her no mind.
I saw some of the attendants were carrying a change of clothes, including what appeared to be a midnight blue, not entirely black, suit. I supposed my current military uniform was ill-suited to a celebration. Ilmatar followed my gaze with his own, then nodded. “Ah, yes, my Lord, I see you have a keen eye. This formal wear was tailored to your precise measurements from the finest Arachnian silk.”
I assumed this was supposed to impress me, so I gave Ilmatar a cold yet not altogether displeased nod of approval. Inwardly, I wondered how much this had cost and whether Dreadthorn’s treasury could handle such expenses considering we were preparing for war. I wasn’t sure if I should even be concerned about things. Though I had become the ruler in name, there was still a massive demonic bureaucracy beneath me I neither understood or felt able to steer without revealing myself as totally clueless and inept.
“And for the High Priestess,” Ilmatar said as another attendant walked in carrying a set of large boxes, “we have a matching Arachnian silk dress.”
I looked over at Mona and saw the scowl hadn’t left her face. “Ah,” she said, and her eye twitched. “How lovely.” She returned my gaze, forcing a smile while her eyes still smoldered. “After all, Master, we simply have so much to celebrate, don’t we?”
----------------------------------------
The Feast would be held outdoors, in the gardens around the tower’s base. It would be my first time outside since my arrival. My first time enjoying the chilly, vaporous air of Dreadthorn. I had to admit I was looking forward to it—anything to be out of that stuffy tower. Unfortunately, I would have to put on quite a performance tonight.
As Mona and I rode the elevator down in silence, I tried not to gawk at her. I thought she had noticed me staring in our bedroom when she’d first put on the dress. She had walked behind a screen with two of the attendants, and a minute later, a radiant vision had emerged.
Her form-fitting, floor length gown was the same color as my suit—a deep, midnight blue. Looking at it, I realized it must have been the color of the Void, or at least, the closest to it I had ever seen with my eyes. The dress fit her perfectly, and they’d given her a set of gold earrings with teardrop gemstones that changed color from blue to green in the light.
I felt my eyes wandering over her alluring profile. Her dark red eyes, smooth, pink skin, and her long, graceful neck which led down towards her bust. Her bodice had tastefully restrained her, without hiding her natural curves. I had only ever seen her in priestess robes before, so seeing a piece of clothing tailored to flatter her physique—I must admit, I grew lost when I looked at her.
I must have stared too long, for she started to give me the side eye as the elevator bumped and jostled us. I wondered if she’d tie me up tonight in retaliation for my leering or if things were different now that I’d delivered the news of our impending doom. Part of me wondered if I shouldn’t have told her, if I should have tried to stay more upbeat regarding our prospects rather than immediately pushing to leave. But there was no point in hiding it from her. She would have learned the truth sooner or later.
I hadn’t realized how long the elevator took to reach the ground, how incredibly tall the tower actually was, until I looked out the window and saw that we’d only just now passed below the top of the tower’s curtain wall. I could see the gardens now below us, full of alien-looking trees and shrubs in all manner of shapes, sizes, and colors. Dark purple leaves and vines. Trees with roots that burst from the ground in what appeared to be large pods that looked like acorns. Pale white trees with tendrils hanging from their branches, swaying as if alive. Glowing mushrooms, some taller than I was, filled the far end of the garden and were scattered throughout.
At the center of the garden, in a large clearing around a decorative fountain, tables and chairs had been arranged with places set for hundreds of people. It was going to be a magnificent party, I thought. I just wished I could have attended under less dangerous circumstances.
As I looked at the marble statue perched atop the fountain, I realized it looked much like myself, though it was larger than life-size.
Or perhaps I’d gotten smaller over the centuries.
The elevator reached the ground floor with a lurch. I reached out to steady myself, and Mona did too—except her hand reached for me, grasping the sleeve of my suit jacket. I hadn’t expected that, but her hand released me as soon as we stopped. I wished she’d held onto me longer. I had a vision of the elevator falling as she clung to me, burying her face in my chest, my failures forgiven by our imminent demise.
The doors opened with a whine of machinery, snapping me from my reverie.
“After you,” Mona said, as she beckoned me forward, raising an eyebrow at my slowness.
Hey, I thought, isn’t that supposed to be my line?