Like, I was able to comprehend that there were three-hundred and sixty Gradus in a Cycle, as measured by the relation between two objects, but for some reason the understanding of what those objects were didn’t get through to me. It was like hearing their language all over again, prior to learning it – the meaning of how it worked seemed to elude me.
However, what I did gather was that a Gradus was a little more than half a day in this ‘human world,’ being exactly fifteen hours.
But what was strange, was I understood ‘fifteen hours,’ but didn’t understand ‘human.’ Which didn’t make any sense to me. Because, if the comparison Jericho offered me was from the human world, which indicated my own knowledge of time came from the human world as well, then shouldn’t I get the concept of ‘human?’
Unexpectedly, I shook my head when it started hurting after attempting to grasp what I felt should come easily.
“Are you alright?” Jericho wondered, the frustrated gesture not going unnoticed.
I sighed, only inclining my chin, as I refocused my thoughts.
So then, a day here was fifteen hours?
Not that it mattered, since apparently there was no daytime or nighttime – it was always like this, with the clouds in the sky being bright red, the thick air basked in a crimson hue. So rather, a Gradus was just a way to reference the passage of time and nothing more. And a Cycle would be the equivalent of a year, which was three-hundred and sixty Gradus, or also two-hundred and twenty-five days in the human world.
“Well,” Reuben spoke up. “I’ll take my leave then. We can resume our game later.”
“Where will you go?” Seth wondered.
The bigger guy shrugged. “Probably to the Sea of Gilgamesh to relax. It’s not every Gradus that I get a chance to take a break from Hera.” He grinned for the first time as he spoke, his smile widening as I imagined his linked partner chastised him for his teasing.
Seth nodded in response, smiling too, but I looked away when Jericho got my attention by squeezing her arm around my shoulders. “I assume you don’t know how to fly, so we’ll teach you that first, and then we can show you around the city. Just try not to act like you’re Chrysalis, or else someone might notice and report it to a General.”
“City?” I repeated, looking around at the barren wasteland, before focusing up the volcano, not seeing anything of the sort.
She nodded with another grin. “Yes, Capital Uruk-Verum is on the other side of Mount Enkidu,” she explained while pointing toward the active volcano. “Now,” she continued, unexpectedly moving her arm around my waist and yanking me against her side firmly. “Let’s fly!”
Instantly, her white bony wings shot out underneath mine and we exploded into the sky, with her hanging onto me like I weighed nothing to her. Rather than scream from the shock, my body instead locked up solid as the ground rapidly dropped away below us. Looking up, I saw us fast approaching the turbulent crimson clouds high above, still not feeling even a breeze other than what was being created from our movement.
Glancing back down, I saw Reuben take off, heading toward the sea of lava, before Seth did the same, except pointing in our direction.
However, my thoughts quickly scattered when Jericho unexpectedly let go.
As I began falling, my hand instinctively shot out to grab her white rocky tail wrapped around her hips in an attempt to catch myself, causing her to unwrap it in a flash to avoid me grabbing ahold. Normally, I might have tried for her ankle next, but I felt so embarrassed that I might see something I shouldn’t that I froze solid again, finding her entirely out of my reach before I recovered.
It happened so fast, and yet so slowly at the same time – less than a second hesitation was all it took.
But now, I was dropping like a rock, horrified by the huge, possibly sadistic, smile on her face as she watched me fall. It only then occurred to me for the first time that I might have been naïve in trusting them so easily, feeling like she was trying to kill me now.
Stretching out my membrane-less wings, I was able to turn myself around in the air from the resistance, but found myself incapable of slowing my descent. I even tried flapping them once, attempting anything at this point no matter how stupid, only for nothing meaningful to happen.
How in the world did they fly with them?
And why couldn’t I do it too?
The ground rapidly drew near as my panicked mind attempted to simultaneously process thoughts while facing a certain death. However, just when I was about to give up and accept what was unavoidable, Jericho unexpectedly slipped underneath me faceup, a grin still plastered on her face as we fell together, appearing like she was lying on her back a foot beneath me.
As she began slowing down – her white bony wings spread out wide, her back to the ground below – my hands shot out to grab her tan shoulders, my knees landing on her thighs. Instantly, I realized she must be really strong, because there was nothing underneath her, and her straightened legs supported the majority of my weight like it was nothing.
When we came to a complete stop in midair, I just stared at her with wide eyes, unable to understand what was happening. I realized I could sense something radiating out of her, and when I looked I actually saw distortions in the air, but I had no idea what it was. It felt like this should be impossible, and yet we were now completely stationary midair.
She was laughing now, giggling hysterically beneath me. “Wow, buddy,” she finally managed. “You really don’t waste any time! Straddling me like this, and you haven’t even asked if I’m available! What would my partner think if he saw?”
Mortified by what she was insinuating, I looked away as she continued to chuckle, not about to get off her and fall to my death. I wanted to respond, but discovered I couldn’t bring myself to take a breath, my body locked up like before, my heart pounding in my chest.
She finally spoke up again after a moment. “I never did ask for your name,” she mused. “I suppose I should know the name of the guy being so forward with me.”
I just shook my head, both as an indication that I wasn’t trying to do anything with her, definitely not wanting to cause problems with some other demon, but also to indicate I couldn’t speak.
Honestly, I wasn’t surprised by her confidence. She was exceptionally attractive – all three of them were, but that was the furthest thing from my mind right now, especially when I had the occasional hallucinated whispers, as well as the mystery of what had happened to me, hanging over my head.
“Can’t talk?” she teased. “Or you don’t remember?” Her tone then became more suggestive. “You know, if you’d just open your mind to me, then we could communicate with our thoughts. It would make everything a lot easier.”
I finally sucked in a sharp breath. “I’m sorry,” I managed. “I don’t know how. And I don’t want any trouble with your partner.”
She laughed again. “Oh, so you’re a wimp then?” she wondered, her tone still light-hearted.
“N-No, I’m just not the kind of person who…” My voice trailed off. Who what? Steals another man’s woman? I supposed that was true, because I felt like I wouldn’t wimp out if I was defending my woman…if I had one.
“Aww, that’s sweet,” she said to my unfinished statement. “So then, do you remember your name? Or can I give you one?”
I shook my head again. “It’s Michael. That’s about all I know though.”
She was about to reply, but suddenly a gush of wind appeared as Seth dropped from above and halted right next to us, hovering upright, unlike our horizontal position.
“Jericho,” he began in a lighthearted tone. “Maybe don’t tease him so much. He obviously doesn’t realize he wouldn’t get hurt if he hit the ground.”
She pouted. “Aww, but he’s like a Chrysalis. And that’s when they’re the most fun.”
Seth pursed his lips then, and Jericho’s icy blue eyes narrowed, before she sighed.
“Oh, alright,” she said out loud, as if in respon
se to something he had thought. She then directed her attention up to me again. “I wasn’t trying to scare you,” she apologized sincerely, “but the best way to teach you to fly is to just toss you out of the nest like a mother bird would do.”
“The more amusing way,” Seth corrected her.
She stuck her tongue out at him, before grinning at me, revealing her dimples. “You’ll feel more accomplished if you figure it out yourself, instead of me just giving you all the answers. So, let’s try again,” she added.
And with that, without even moving or changing positions, we were shooting upwards a second time, making me feel like I was on the fastest elevator in the world. Once we were near the turbulent clouds, she finally began positioning herself upright, prompting me to wrap my arms around her neck to keep from falling, feeling awkward about having our mostly bare bodies pressed so closely together.
She was still smiling, but a lot of the amusement had faded as she spoke. “Go ahead and let go,” she encouraged. “If you don’t seem like you’re figuring it out, then I’ll catch you just like before, and we’ll try again.”
I briefly struggled to focus on her words, trying to pin down why the scent of her breath was eliciting such a powerful nostalgic feeling. A small part of me wanted to lean closer and inhale deeply, but I knew that would certainly be inappropriate. Normal people didn’t do weird stuff like that, especially not to strangers they just met.
“Umm…” I delayed, glancing down at the ground so far below.
She rolled her eyes, though I quickly realized it wasn’t at me. “And my brother would like me to emphasize that if you hit the ground, it won’t hurt you. So, there’s really nothing to worry about, even if I didn’t catch you.” She then looked at me more meaningfully, her icy irises a little more intense than I was expecting. “But I will catch you, so don’t worry. Now, let go.”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, trying to prepare myself for this new reality – a reality in which I could fly. Trying also to figure out how they did it, trying to understand, while I was still safe from the terror elicited by freefalling.
“Trust me,” Jericho added in a whisper, her mouth unexpectedly close to my ear. “And trust yourself.”
Instantly, I let go as someone else’s voice filled my mind.
My own.
‘Just…please, can you just trust me? It was an accident. And she did feel bad about it. Can we just leave it as that? It won’t happen again.’
My eyes popped open as I watched Jericho grow further and further away, the world around me slowing down as my mind began racing. Who had I been talking to? And who had I been talking about?
The first voice spoke again, replying to my own words. It was so clear that it felt like she was right there with me.
‘Okay, I’ll trust you. Just…just please be careful. You’re like an anchor in my life. My only anchor. I can’t lose that. I can’t lose you.’
“Who…who are you?” I whispered out loud, the world around me slowing down even more, my eyes unfocusing as a flash of red appeared before them, the second woman’s voice speaking up.
‘Love, trust yourself.’
Unexpectedly, my heart was pounding, flashes of blue crackling in the air around me. I saw Jericho in the distance, dropping toward me now, only for her flying to halt, her icy eyes wide.
‘Let’s go, love.’
Suddenly, panic gripped my chest and my eyes slammed shut, my heart racing even more, feeling like I was about to die even though they had assured me hitting the ground wouldn’t kill me, or even hurt me.
No. It felt like something else was killing me, or something else had killed me. It felt like I had died before…and a pair of red eyes, filled with tears, had greeted me when I came to.
‘Let’s go, love. You’ll be okay now.’
No. I wasn’t okay.
I wasn’t…okay.
Without even fully understanding why, I opened my mouth to yell, despair gripping my chest, only for nothing to come out – I had no air, no breath. No life.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Chapter 3: Eavesdropping
I flinched when a warmth settled underneath me, slowing my descent, a pair of warm hands gently wrapping around my exposed torso. The back of my head rested on her chest, my legs bending at the knee as she supported my thighs. And with that warmth, the agony in my heart began fading again, escaping my grasp like a dream I couldn’t remember after having woken up.
But something was different now.
Suddenly the world around me was significantly larger, and I could feel both Jericho’s and Seth’s minds, surprised when I realized they were talking, and even more surprised when it didn’t seem like they noticed me eavesdropping.
‘I’ve never seen anything like that,’ Jericho had just said nonverbally to her brother. ‘It was like lightning. How could something like that come from a person?’
‘I don’t know. But do you think someone tried killing him?’ Seth wondered, changing subjects slightly. ‘It would explain his amnesia.’
‘I hope not,’ she replied sincerely. ‘And why would anyone even want to kill him?’
‘There was a time when you wanted to kill Darius,’ he reminded her.
Jericho immediately pulled away from his mind in response, a wave of pain washing over her, even though it didn’t touch her exterior at all – her body didn’t even tense underneath me, beyond her rigid posture supporting my weight.
‘But I never actually did,’ she said to herself, something that should have been heard only in her own head – something that someone else shouldn’t have been capable of eavesdropping on.
It took me a moment to realize that, even while Jericho had been sharing thoughts with her brother, she was trying to speak to me verbally. “Hey! Michael!” she said loudly, after having said my name a few times. “Are you okay?”
We weren’t moving anymore, floating in the air like before, except now I was lying on her like a bed. I held up my hand to look at my fingers, the color of my skin reminding me of the pair of red irises I had just seen that I didn’t recognize but felt like I should.
“What color are my eyes?” I blurted out, without thinking.
When she didn’t answer right away, I sat up on her waist and looked down at her, seeing her expression reserved now. At first, I thought I said something wrong. But then, without even really trying, I caught her thoughts, seeing that she was greatly involved now in debating with herself as to whether, or not, my partner had tried killing me for leaving them.
Because that’s what happened to her, an extremely long time ago.
Whatever a human was, that’s what we had all been prior to becoming like this. And the torment of that change occasionally made the person hate the one who caused them such pain. It was unknown why some fell deeply in love with the source of their pain, while others developed an intense hatred, but she had been unlucky enough to experience the latter of the two situations.
I wanted to understand more, trying to gleam as much from her unspoken thoughts as possible, but she quickly decided that any partner I might have had wouldn’t have tried to kill me after all, for several reasons, even if they were hurt by my rejection.
First, if they were going to do it, then it would have happened a long time ago, simply because no new Chrysalis had been created in over a thousand Cycles. And the other reason was more basic – just because the new Chrysalis hated their creator, didn’t mean the creator could so easily hate the Chrysalis.
As angry as she was to have Darius end up loathing her and seek out someone else for a partner, she would have never been capable of trying to end his life. Which meant, in her mind at least, I must have been single from the start, having been created by someone to be their child, rather than a companion.
That still didn’t explain why I lost my memories, or how I might have gotten hurt so badly to gain amnesia, but she figured that at least my situation was unlike hers.
Ironically, I saw her briefly consider that she would have been unwilling to eventually tell me about Darius, if I had caused that pain for someone else, but the fact that my situation was different meant she might share her grief one day.
Not anytime soon though.
“They’re crimson,” she replied out loud with a dimpled grin, not even a hint of her internal turmoil leaking through. “And very pretty, I might add. Why do you ask?”
I shook my head, concerned now that I might accidentally slip up and let her find out that I had spied on her thoughts. I wasn’t sure how it was possible, especially without her knowing, but I felt confident it would make her upset to have such vulnerable aspects of her life revealed without her permission.
Not to mention, since they had said partners were linked mentally all the time, I was concerned that her partner – the one she had referenced earlier – might catch me spying, and I definitely didn’t want someone as big as Reuben hunting me down.
Honestly, I was a little surprised such a person wouldn’t be bothered by all of Jericho’s flirting and suggestive comments, but I supposed her just playing around was harmless enough. The mystery guy’s reaction might be much different though if I did something inappropriate – something sincerely worthy of jealousy.
“Just wondering,” I hedged, before looking down at the barren dirt and rocks still a good distance below. “So I really won’t get hurt if I hit the ground from this height?” I added, in an attempt to switch subjects.
“Nope!” she replied cheerfully. “Want me to toss you from here to find out?”
I gave her a weak smile, knowing her inner self wasn’t nearly as happy. “No need,” I responded, placing my hand on her warm stomach to push myself off.
She flipped around as I plummeted past her, only to zoom after me to fall at my side. “If you want me to catch you, just say so,” she offered.
I shook my head, my heart racing again from having the ground approach so quickly. “No, I’ll either fly or hit the ground trying,” I said, spreading my wings out beneath her. She repositioned herself in response, moving behind my back as if she were ready to grab me at a moment’s notice.
Demon Seer 2 Page 3
