Dhena had worked tirelessly to make sure that Caeli could sleep, even using herbology and incantations. Mere was stuck to the sides of the room, however. He watched tentatively as she worked until he was eventually required to leave. Dhena, watching Caeli fall back into a fitful sleep, was at a loss for what to do.
She needed to return to heaven, but she was in no state to even sleep without having visions. She could barely hold her bladder when such visions came. Dhena shuddered at the thought of something scaring the headstrong Caeli. She took up some ointment and rubbed it onto the half-dead skin of her hand and face. Ava’s handiwork was something that only a few could ever really see and survive. To see the damage, the state of undeath, was something akin to looking into the eyes of death itself. It was a poetic tapestry of how life and death became woven together.
Mere had received a note of thanks from Sala, which he could only stare at for a moment before sitting back in his chair. Dhena had not gotten any sleep, not that she needed it. There was something about his wife that outdid him at every turn. Most traced it to her being the emanation of an Elder Deity. Still, even she had to admit that this was something strange. He feared Ava. All generative forces did, at some point, fear the deity who represented their end. He remembered some alchemical sects that honored Ava as some hypostasis of unity. Despite Ava's position as the Supreme Destruction, he never thought her power would be like this. Seeing how Caeli’s skin began to die and fall away, and how she had convulsed repeatedly in her sleep.
There were whispers amongst the courtiers that Ava had ‘eaten’ a part of Caeli. He was pulled from his thoughts when Dhena stumbled into the room. His wife fell onto a chair in front of him, staring distantly. Her fingers massaged her temples.
“She’s going to be dealing with it for the rest of her life.”
“What?”
“Putrefactio, unless we find a way for her to manage the visions while waking.”
“This is what I hate.” Mere sighed, leaning back.
“Pardon?”
“You Elder Deities always know more than you let on,” he said. “We didn’t have a name for this, and now it's ‘putrefactio’.”
“Mere, not tonight,”
“Then when, Dhena?"
“Fine, just ask and get it over and done with,” Dhena sighed, gesturing dismissively to the air around her.
“What is Putrefactio? Everyone mentions it, but it’s like there’s this whole other world behind the word.”
“It’s a state; a form or idea is broken down so that its original state can appear.”
“And what’s this original state?”
“Who knows, Mere?” she huffed. "It’s on the other side of a locked door.”
----------------------------------------
Caeli was back in the sanctum. She could hear this time, which was a partially welcome change. The water was still all over the floor, but the figure that had horrified her was no longer there. She started walking around the fountain, finally seeing a set of footprints going out. Her head fell forward with a silent chuckle when she turned and left in the opposite direction. There was at least some lucidity in this dream, and Caeli was going to use it and avoid whatever ‘that’ was.
The figure had other plans as it watched her from the corner of the room. It took in the details of her leathery, half-dead skin and her limp. If it had discernible features, it would’ve been smiling, yet its face did not show a single bit. Rather, it stumbled from the shadows after Caeli, imitating her limp playfully. She heard it and turned to see that the figure was now just an arm away from her. Screeching, Caeli fell back. She slipped on the water and tried to stop herself with her arm.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
It collapsed on itself, as though it were just a very thin peel. Her crying only grew as her arm collapsed. The forearm folded in on itself before disintegrating. The creature looked on curiously, stepping forward.
“What are you?” Caeli screamed, using her other hand to claw her way backward. The figure didn’t answer, but got on all fours and started to crawl towards Caeli in turn. Eventually, it straddled her hips, and the goddess stared at its eyes. Her cries turned into strangled whimpers, her other hand giving way to death as it faded.
Tears spilled from Caeli’s eyes, and the figure crooked its head in curiosity. It reached out to wipe away the tear, and its thumb grazed her eyelashes. It flicked them with childlike amusement before it stopped. Reaching up, it felt around its face for the same features. Not finding any, it looked back down at the goddess. The latter's body was flattening and fading under its ignorant play.
“What…” Caeli whimpered, unable to finish her question. It reached down and cupped both sides of her face, its thumbs inching closer to her eyes. It gently traced the skin of her lower eyelid, moving down the contours of her nose. It pulled the skin down, trying to see her eyeball itself.
Despite her fear, Caeli could only see it as a child, curious about the world around her. She wanted to struggle, and she would, had her body not been in this state. Its thumbs went back up her nose towards her eyes and stopped.
Its head crooked again as it pondered something that she could only imagine. Finally, it seemed to decide. It pressed its thumbs down on Caeli’s eyes, then bent them so the nail went in. Caeli screamed as its thumbs wiggled around in her eyes. They pushed out the jelly-like substance with sickening squelches. Weeping, she thrust her hips upwards in an attempt to throw the creature off of her, but to no avail.
She saw it then. It was small at first. The pain subsided, and she could begin to see small flickers of light. Those lights then coalesced into a pearl of light. Thereafter, it burst, and it was like lightning shooting through her body. She could feel her hands and feet again. Everything came flooding back. One thing that stuck, however, was a sense of power that threatened to break through her skin. She grabbed the creature’s wrist and let out a roar that shook the sanctum.
“Get the fuck off!” she screamed, crushing the wrists of the creature. It gave way like liquid, and the creature fell away. She could not see, yet she could. Her eyes were gone, but she still knew where the creature was crawling.
She jumped to her feet, throwing her foot back to find the wall. When she found it, the mental image of her space grew.
“Can you feel it?” The creature chuckled, crawling around the fountain. “The Heartbeat of Creation, the Lifeblood?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“How does it feel to be the limb, the finger of a deity? How does it feel to know that this war, the great Putrefactio, is just another limb of your creator?”
“Shut up, demon!”
“If I am a demon, then this is hell. Since this is your dream, Caeli, you are Hell, and I am yours. I am that which exists within Solaris, Noctifer, Sala, and Ava.”
Dhena rushed into the room after hearing the scream. Mere came rushing towards her but stopped short. He fell from the threshold, crying aloud as he saw it. The bedcovers were smeared with blood and urine. Her face, Caeli’s face, was covered in the same red, dripping from her eyes and her blood-stained fingers.
“Send for help!” Dhena shouted at Mere as she pressed down on the screaming goddess. Her eyes widened when she saw the veins on Caeli’s arms and face begin to pulse. They turned brighter, glowing faintly under the skin. She arched her back and let out another scream that shook the room. The glass shattered. Shards of it scratched against Dhena’s face, and she hissed. Fearful, she smacked Caeli’s face in an attempt to wake her up.
Caeli’s eyes opened. Dhena withdrew her hands immediately, gasping at the sight.
“Caeli,” she whispered. Caeli did not answer. Her eyes were no longer the same but were now like small suns that glowed brightly. When the goddess laughed, it reverberated through the walls and Dhena’s body. She shivered at the cold, distant sound.
“You saw it, didn’t you?”
The goddess smiled before her body slackened, and she collapsed back onto the bed. Her eyes shut, but the glowing veins and the reverberating laughter remained. Mere came back with two guards and a train of maids who had followed. He stopped at the threshold.
“Is she dead?”
“She’s…” Dhena trailed off.
“She saw the other side of the door.”
Dhena steeled herself, turning around to look at her husband. Blood dripped down her face from where the glass cut through.
“Send a message to Sala,” she said. Mere was stuck, watching Dhena with a fearful expression.
“Are you deaf or stupid?” Dhena barked. Mere saw the fear in her eyes and nodded quickly before running off.