Ashtium: City of Sun

GRETA

The very next morning, after the stranger came, I woke up with a woman kneeling down beside me. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my entire life. A simple “hello” was all she had said, but it was not what she said that was so frightening, but the way she said it.

It was a breathy word, sputtered out in a low growl. She clearly was not happy to find me napping here. I know she was the queen too because as unhappy as she sounded to find me, I still thought it was similar to the voice I heard call out to Enoch here.

I had hollered out in surprise, waking up with the strange woman tapping my shoulder like the flying creatures do to the soil of the plants. In fact, when I woke, I thought it was simply one of the creatures. When she heard me wake up startled, she jumped away from me and walked away like nothing had happened. Of course, I followed her to make sure she left.

I don’t know why she was back here, but I hope she doesn’t tell the evil false god.

She had a whip like him too.

Days ago, the same peculiar man that ate all my bugs had a whip too. I have not eaten since. I think I am being watched here. I’m afraid at any moment the false god will come in here and beat me. I found a new pile of urkmink the day after Enoch’s mother was here. It was the biggest pile of urkmink the creature had dug up so far.

I nearly fainted seeing the gigantic pile. It’s up to my knees and nestled against the base of the water fountain. Still is. There’s no way I’m leaving my hiding place to fetch the food for myself. I’m not certain about the strange man, but Enoch’s mother may be waiting with the false god to beat me the moment I come out. My stomach growls in protest, but I crumple up into a tighter ball hoping to silence it.

Four long days have passed since I tasted the fatty goodness of an urkmink.

Hunger makes me sit up a little and reconsider my decision to remain starved.

The area around the fountain gets a little less dim and I narrow my eyes clutching my knife at my side. Soon after, I hear the fall footsteps. A silver shape comes into my view. At first, I think it’s Enoch, but the whip on their waist reminds they are not. They set the lamp down right next to the urkmink pile and enter the darkness shrouded around me.

They go right around the bend of the bush I hide in.

Weak, I cower back away from them when they bend down to peer under the thick bush I hide beneath. Can they truly see me? They do not even carry their lantern and in this darkness even I have to squint to make out their silvery shape.

“Leave me alone,” I whisper with warning.

They lurk only a foot from me with an offered urkmink in the silver of their palm. I can only see it because of the dull grey oval shape marked in their hand.

“Take...take it,” they whisper.

A soft coaxing voice. Nothing like the false god or Enoch’s creepy mother. I do not move much because my stomach keeps me from moving.

I pluck it from the ground and chew on it not caring they have yet to move away. They are within lashing distance if I wished to defend myself. They can’t even see my knife in this darkness. I munch on the urkmink’s shell feeling its tender fatty body break down beneath my teeth. The noise fills the silence between the stranger and I.

It’s not uncomfortable, but I don’t know why my stomach has settled already when the urmink has yet to greet it. Maybe it’s just more relieving to be around a human who is not afraid of me. They lay down beside me and I grip my knife tighter. Their big hand covers it and I quiver feeling the heat over their body radiate onto mine.

If only Enoch were here instead of this annoying man. These people are so much different than me though. Enoch is different. I don’t even truly know he feels about me.

They remove their hand from my own and bring it flat onto the ground between us. I spit out the newly empty urkmink shell on their hand hoping they get the hint. I want to be alone. I do not want to be near another person who may bring the false god to find me here.

They pick up the empty shell and put it in their own mouth. I hear it crunch sharply between their teeth right before they swallow it whole. They make a deep humming noise while inching closer to me. Revolted, I scoot backward knowing the sensation of swallowing the hard shell is unpleasant.

Not to mention, it was just in my mouth. Gross.

Their laugh is just audible, my heart skips pleasantly like the flying creature that lands between us.

It makes me wonder if this is real or if I’m just crazy like Enoch said. Could they be a hallucination? In the desert I had many. Most of them were simply reoccurring nightmares of me eating the flesh of my parents.

Tentative, I reach out in the dark to feel if they are real or not. My hand meets the side of their face - which feels very real and smooth. I quickly go to withdraw it, but their heavy hand lands over it and I go rigid.

“Why haven’t you been eating your food?” their voice is deep and sort of serene. It washes over me as their arms envelope around me bringing me flush against their radiating warmth. “It’s okay, I know what you are. It’s why I’ve been taking care of you, little pearl.”

I push away from their chest, but they don’t let go. The muscles in their arms are like the stone of the statues Enoch tells me not to touch. I’m kept locked beneath the firm bump of their chin.

They smell weird.

It’s a strong scent like they took a bath in whatever it is, but it sort of is pleasant in an odd way. I sit up straight with a wince feeling him stroke my right arm and rub over the big healing sore cut on it.

“What’s this?” his voice rumbles behind me. I squirm feeling him trace over the cut again with a finger. His tone turns void of emotion, I shiver hearing the emergence of withheld anger, “Look at me.”

Frantic to avoid getting whipped by the instrument on their waist, I look up into their face. Tears fall freely down the corners of my face as I search endlessly for the invisible place their eyes could be. They move my hands away from my face speaking in a whisper too close for comfort. I nod my head sensing their silvery face hovering close to mine.

“Open your eyes.”

When I obey, my face heats up seeing his perfectly symmetrical one staring back at me. Still colorless, but I can see his facial features. His pupils dilate against the grey irises of his eyes as he looks into my own. For the first time, I can make out my appearance somewhat in the reflection of his eyes.

“H-how...” I whisper with uncertainty.

He cannot be the god of the sun. I look back up to the top of his head still not seeing the shining crown the god of the sun is said to have. When I look back to his face, it’s a silver blur again. With a frustrated pout, I lean back.

“Don’t look away. Find my eyes again, can you do that?”

“Yes,” I whisper.

Desperate, I tug his head down to mine again feeling the soft short tendrils of his curly hair. I search for his eyes. I giggle with joy catching the lightly shadowed outline of his hairline as his face clears again. His eyes dilate as I catch his smile grow in my peripheral vision. The moment I look away from his unfaltering gaze everything returns to a blurry smudge of greys and silver.

“It is the way of our race. We can only see each other because our eyes emit the same type of light and refract it off one another’s retinas. Isn’t it amazing? You couldn’t see me earlier because you were not looking directly in my eyes.”

His hand leaves my arm, but I remain on his lap. When did I decide to get so close to him? I don’t remember crawling onto him. I can’t stop myself from staring into his eyes. It’s oddly addicting, but I force myself to look away catching myself probably looking too long. It’s kind of awkward.

A strange feeling flutters within my stomach hearing him laughing again at me.

“I’m just like you,” he says.

I smile watching his pretty eyes and the strange patterns circled within his irises. I am close enough to bump into his head, but I don’t care. I have never seen anything in such great detail even though color is still absent. He doesn’t seem like a very old man. He must be a young father.

My face heats up and I pull away after catching sight of his falling smile. “Will you answer my question now? You have not been eating. Did someone else come here?”

I don’t like the new nonchalant tone he gives off so I remain quiet unsure of who he is. He could be someone just like the false god for all I know. He could make Enoch suffer for helping me. Why has this man been bringing me the urkmink anyway? How did he know I would eat them? How did he even know I was here?!

I crawl away from him and return to the protection of my bush.

“N-no...” I lie.

The man rubs over my exposed ankle where the false god whipped me. “It’s okay. No one’s going to hurt you.”

“How do you know so much? My parents never told me as much about my eyes.”

“Much of what I know I learned on my own. My eyes have healed significantly, but I still have yet to see color. Your eyes need some adjustment to reach their full potential. I can fix them somewhat so you can at least make out shapes better.”

“You can?” I breathe out in awe.

“Yes.”

“How?”

“I work for the empirical family as an astronomer. There is a place I have designed to heal my own vision there, so I am able to observe the skies beyond our star. Otherwise, I would be out of work,” he explains sounding sad. “I’ve seen colors, but only at a distance so far away. Someday, I hope to bring them here...for people just like you and me.”

“How did you find this place? Weren’t people afraid of you?”

“They still are,” he begins, “But I think people aren’t just afraid of you and me. I think we all fear each other. Some more than others. Don’t you think?”

I don’t know about that. I’m not afraid of Enoch. I don’t think I was afraid of the slaves. The god of the sun though...

My breathing catches when they look up, breaking eye contact with me. Hearing footsteps, I roll over in panic seeing three silver figures emerge from the opposite side of the fountain. I clutch my knife tightly and watch in relief as the person stands up and approaches them.

Even if they are like me, they are keeping their own secrets too and I still don’t know if they are just as wicked as the false god. After all, they carry his weapon.