I have never seen clouds as thick as these or grounds as barren as these. What death must have done to the lands of Archarin to make it so hideous. A land once prosperous by my own hands.
The very fingers that held the pen of creation and wrote life on the planet. I look at it now from this holy mountain and all is lost.
For the people war and the seas bleed. Everlasting perjury reigns like hail from the mouth of a furious dragon. The people once called to serve now twisting the truth to their hearts content. What am I a god for? Who gave these ones the life they live? Who made them see the day and enjoy the night? Who raised the mountains from nothing and crushed the planes to make valleys? Who pulled the sun and spoke to the moon? Who controls the thread that is fate?
Damon, my second in command has proved unfaithful by taking what is not his. Even he was not safe from the plague of evil. I raised Nature with these two hands to be my wife. I adorned her with luscious jewels and bountiful fruits. I gifted her the finest mosses and made her the envy of all I created. With these hands, in the book of life, I crowned her the queen of all living things.
Yes. These clouds signify my mood and the dead land symbolizes my pain. For I am life itself. I am the crown overall.
“You should learn to stable in your mood, Ziyon. For a little pain and you threaten to wipe off all you made.”
“I should have never made them. I regret that I ever gave life to the likes of you.”
“Ah. Tch! That is not the tone of a true god. You might just be committing the sin of wrath.” He spoke.
“Sin wouldn’t exist hadn’t it been for me. Sin came to life because of my creation. The rules have never applied to me Damon. Even now, where you stand is marked with your name on it.”
He laughed at me but I could see through him. He was a sore loser. A poor excuse of a brother, he was. Nothing but ordinary ash and clay molded by these very hands of mine.
“You do anything to me and risk being hated by your beloved forever. She was never yours to begin with. You gave her life but you also gave her a choice. And she chose me.”
“Only because you have fooled her, Damon. Does she perhaps know of the treachery you both committed?”
He slowly lost the smile on his face. I had struck a nerve. It was my turn to smirk. Nature had always been naïve. Maybe I let them spend too much time together.
“No? Does your beloved know of the curse? Does she have any idea what you signify? Tell me Damon. Does your beloved know that you are the reason she lays bedridden?”
“Shut up!” He bellowed. “You don’t get to go there.”
“Oh, but I do. For you knew what the consequences would be should your union be solidified and yet, your selfishness and greed let you march on. You owned her. Your very sister!”
My nerves trembled in fury. I look at his face now and hatred courses through my veins.
“You knew it was abominable. Downright incestuous. Yet, your desires were stronger than your morals. I told you. You both are one, taken from the same root and dipped in the same ocean. You couldn’t be together.”
“So what?! What? You expected me to sit and let you have all the glory? Again? No Ziyon. If there is anyone selfish here, it is you.”
“I gave you life!”
“And you took it too!” He yelled back
I stared at him and he stared right back. His eyes were dark whirlpools of incredulous desires and philosophies. I wonder if I missed a trait when I created him. I wanted him to accompany her, be a guardian to her. That is what brothers are supposed to be for. Alas, fate had a different plan. I never saw this coming.
Nature slowly looses her essence because she is now under a curse. A curse that can only be lifted by my very hands. These hands…
“I did not come to fight. I just want you to heal her. She’ll die. We…”
If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was about to cry. But Damon is pure evil. He has no heart and can have no tears. But if that were so, why then? Why was he going on his knees? Damon is prideful. A whole world of ego. I made them polar opposites. Nature is gracious and covered in beauty, Damon is supposed to be a repeller.
With both knees on the floor, he looked up at me and truly, tears had formed.
“She is all we both have. She can’t die. Please Ziyon. If you want me away after that, I will go far away. I just need her safe. I want her to live again.”
Conflicted emotions and thoughts plague my mind. All these could have been avoided but perhaps I was never a true god after all for fate still wields the ultimate power.
“Where is she?”
Like a light, she appears in front of me; emaciated and handicapped. Not at all the queen she once was. Her eyes were closed and I wonder if I’d ever get to see those vibrant greens again. With my mind made up – I was tired of fighting without her anyway – I untuck the leather-covered tome from within my gird. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion when I stretched it towards him.
“Give it to her.”
His eyes meet mine, “why?” he asked.
“Because I won’t be around to.”
I throw the volume at him and give my whole attention to the woman before me. Suspended by dark magic, it’s no wonder she is experiencing such pain. Light and darkness can never go well together. Yet, as my eyes meet Damon for the last time, I realize that I may have been wrong all along. Perhaps they always belonged together, but I just never saw it.
“I pronounced you both brother and sister because I felt that was how it should be. But maybe…”
I trailed off as my fingers brushed against her scrawny neck. I lowered my head – my mouth to her nostrils – and whispered my fate,
“Toeis mena sacralentis”
Only for a few seconds, I got to watch her live for I exchanged my life with hers.
