Ashtium: City of Sun

GRETA

I remain hidden under the smelly tunnel of water. I didn’t mean to lose track of Enoch, but I was too afraid to come out when he and the other men passed over my hidden position down in this stinky area.

I climb out of the mushy stream of water and wave my hand in front of my face trying not to smell the foul odor. I start to walk by a row of buildings still smelling the odor around me. My legs are covered in it and I realize too late it must have been the feces of the people living here.

With a grunt, I wipe my legs off on the smooth surface of a nearby building. I did not run very far from the stairs leading to the temple. If I go to the courtyard, Enoch will be able to find me. It may be the first place he looks, but I hope he hasn’t returned to there to look already.

I’m not even sure I want to be found. He must be of the ruling family here. I do not know what that means for me, but I am starting to think he was right about not being a messenger. Feeling lost, I trudge up the steps.

Something moves right behind me.

Strong hands grab both my shoulders. My feet leave the ground as the air abandons my lungs. I look down seeing my feet dangle beneath me in mid-air as I’m carried far from the place I was lost. I’ve never felt so vulnerable because no one has ever gotten so near to me.

“It’s me,” Enoch says.

“W-what are you doing?” I stammer.

“I’m taking you to a reflective pool. I think it may help you see. It won’t heal you though.”

I know I am a couple feet off the ground. I remain frozen, too afraid to move thinking I’ll be dropped, but his hands gripping my shoulders do not feel so weak.

Enoch’s head shifts lower to my neck as he bends down to get a better grip wrapping an arm around my waist. His warm breath tickles the side of neck and a shiver races down my spine as I’m set back on my feet.

I do not meet the firm earth, but deep water, my legs submerge under the liquid surface. His hands leave my shoulders leaving helpless to find my way out of the water.

“Ah!” I yelp while feeling the floor of the water pool I stand.

It reaches my hips. My arms feel around the water’s still surface blindly as I search for something to balance on.

Has he brought me here to drown?

The water parts behind me in subtle waves. I twist my body around in fear hearing the water splash around as the person steps in behind me. Dread seeps into me feeling him move in the water closer behind me. I can feel my tunic raise around me exposing my body. Hastily, I shove it back down.

I grow still feeling Enoch’s hands return to my shoulders. He sits down and I shudder feeling his arms circle around me pulling me down with him.

“You need to wash the grime off yourself. You smell horrific,” he chuckles. “Welcome to the bathing pool!” he laughs.

I can feel his muscled chest flush against my skin for the cloth separating our skin is reduced to a thin fiber in its wet state. The upper portion of my body is out of the water completely, but my legs are still submerged.

My breathing catches in my throat feeling one of his hands leave my waist. The water sloshes below my legs from the movement. He grips the nape of my neck. Automatically, I look upward jolting in shock from the touch.

A gasp escapes me seeing the strange patterns on the ceiling. Big circles loop around one another in an expanding pattern covering the ceiling of the room we must be in. It reminds me of the sky in the desert, but I know it is fake.

Scattered across the multitude of shining circles are little glowing grey orbs twinkling like the stars I saw in the desert. Miraculously, my vision begins to adjust as things become less dim. I can see the dozens of torches lining each wall of the huge room and the shine of the water.

The circles start to move and I don’t mean to, but my hand grips the material of his tunic in fear and confusion as my head pounds painfully. If I could see in color, I think the room would be blindingly bright. The pool of water must be reflecting the light of the torches onto the ceiling. Somehow, the design in the ceiling shines the light even brighter for the strange symbols are the lightest grey things in the room besides the shiny silver of our skin.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so clearly.

I can’t stop looking up at the ceiling. I’m starting to see patterns in the glowing lines and orbs. I start to make out shapes and try to memorize their order because I’ve never been able to see anything in such great detail before.

“How...” I whisper in awe seeing the grey lights slowly brighten into a pure white.

I’m lifted out of the water and I grunt in protest wanting to witness the lights longer. For a second, I thought I was about to see in color. I’ve never seen such bright light. It was so beautiful. Desperate, I step back down into the pool of water.

“Greta, you may damage your eyes if you stare any longer. It’s very bright in here. You shouldn’t stare too long at the ceiling.”

“Oh.”

“Please don’t hide from me again. It took me a long time to find you. I hadn’t thought to search the sewers for you.”

He sounds tired and I cross my arms. “As long as you don’t carry me again or drop me in water,” I counter.

“Fair enough.”

I follow Enoch’s silver form as he exits the pool room. I’ve never seen so much water all in one place. My family and I could have lived off that water probably for the rest of our lives. We would have never gone thirsty, but it’s too late now. They’re already dead and sometimes I considered myself dead too.

This place just doesn’t feel real.

Enoch walks along the street until we reach the steps leading up to the temple.

He doesn’t seem interested at all in the beauty of the temple. He always rushes when we walk by it and I don’t know why. I want to tell him about the stranger who I found in there, but he seems put off by something and I already know he didn’t want me to go in there.

“Enoch, I can’t go back to the courtyard. What if the fake god comes for me again when I am sleeping?”

“No one will find you back in here Greta,” he tells me as we enter the large space. He tugs my arm, “That man is not a false god, he is Urdmin. My father’s advisor. Both are awful and terrible people who wish for your death. That is why you must stay away from the temple and hide in here. You’re lucky it was night when Urdmin found you. He couldn’t see your skin or teeth. I didn’t mean to make you wait a whole day though down in the sewage. I suppose that is the only reason no one found you. I can’t believe you hid in there that long.”

We continue walking again, but in silence. When we reach the fountain, we sit down and he hands me a pile of food from a pouch he carries. I don’t know how it stayed dry after our dip in the pool. I watch as the food spills out onto the ground because there’s so much it won’t all stay in my lap.

This is a lot of food, but he doesn’t know it makes me sick. Luckily, some animal around here has been forging for the urkmink still. I still have yet to find the creature.

“This is a lot of food.”

“I know.”

He stands up while picking up the pouch and slinging it over his shoulder. “You must save it.”

“You are leaving again, aren’t you?”

He doesn’t answer right away. Feeling uncomfortable in his prolonged silence, I look into the fountain water trying to find the creature I saw the other day in it.

“It’s gone!” I say in shock.

“What is?” he asks while walking over to me.

I poke the surface of the water and he gingerly pulls my hand away from it.

“A creature was living in it...”

I don’t think he heard me because he’s still looking down at my hand.

“How is your wrist? I see you took the bandage off.”

“It was itchy,” I admit in shame.

Enoch sighs. “My family rules this empire and this city is the capital. I’m a prince...I can’t keep coming up here because they think you’re a spy now. You will be killed if you are found again. I have to return to work for a little bit until things die down. Each time I come up here, someone sees me.”

“Why do they think I’m a spy?”

“It was an accident. I had to come up with some excuse for being away from the palace and I had to cover up the attention you drew entering our city,” he explains while holding my injured wrist carefully between his hands.

My stomach flutters, but sadness swells within me. I had thought things would be different. He made it sound like he was just a citizen here and now he tells me he is a prince. Could he really be a messenger from my god? He showed me that beautiful light. He must be. That means I can’t be far from the god of the sun.

“How long will you be gone for?”

“A month.”

“I cannot hide in here in for a month, Enoch. I need to find the god of the-”

Enoch pulls me into his chest and my face flames feeling him rub my back as he lowers his voice, “There is no god, Greta. Please promise me you won’t leave here. Time will go by quickly, you’ll see. There’s plenty for you to do here. When I come back, I will find you a new place to stay. I promise.”

“Don’t go,” I say frantically when he pulls away abruptly and stands up.

I squeeze the edge of the fountain tightly feeling my lip tremble as he turns his back. “I don’t want to live here. I will go crazy.”

“You kind of already are crazy,” he jokes.

At least, I hope it is a joke. I can’t really tell because his voice is so quiet now. “I didn’t mean that, but you must stay here.” If he doesn’t want to leave for a month, then he simply shouldn’t. Why is he doing this? I’m used to greater dangers. The false god isn’t as terrifying as being alone in a sea of black for ten years.

“I’m not crazy,” I whisper feeling tears fall down my face.

“Then stay here. It’s for your own good. I may come back sooner, but in the case that I don’t you need to be careful how much you eat.”

I run after him not wanting to be alone. Can’t he see I still need help? He is to guide me, why is he pretending to not care? He must be testing me again.

“You are to take me to the god of the sun! I am not crazy for thinking that. I was alone for ten years and starved wondering the point of my existence. You do not know how I feel or anything about me! For years, I prayed to find my god. Then I was brought here by his will. I am leaving with you!” I shout stubbornly while grabbing onto his arm like it’s my anchor.

I’m not prepared when he pushes me away. I fall onto my butt, and scream, tensing up as if expecting him to turn into the false god and whip me while I’m down.

“You are crazy, but I don’t blame you. Anyone stuck out in the desert as long as you were would have gone mad,” he explains lightly and it makes my skin crawl. He keeps walking away. “I will be back.”

I cover my ears crying so I don’t have to hear his footsteps fading away.

All too soon, the courtyard becomes quiet again. Goosebumps creep up the damp skin of my arms when I can’t see his silver form anymore. My mood darkens when I remember being in the pool with him. He had held me so close like he didn’t intend to let go. The moment he brought me out of the water, he released me and I willingly followed him all the way back here.

He doesn’t know what it’s like to be left in the dark. Something cold trickles into my heart at the thought. It hardens, weighing me down as I crawl on my hands and knees to my hiding position back behind the picky bush.

The desert took something from me. My sanity eroded out there somewhere in the sand. Enoch is right, I am crazy to him, but I’m still a person. I clutch the sides of my head feeling my body sway. My head hits the paved ground and lands near a pile of dead urkmink I’ve already picked clean. I sift through their empty shells with my fingers feeling their delicate exoskeletons crunch beneath my fist as I smash my hand over the pile.

I scream, loud enough until I can’t anymore. The noise eventually is reduced to a whimper and then nothing as I go silent for a long time staring numbly at the crushed urkmink shells by my face. I don’t know how long I remain silent for, but my eyes have been clamped shut for a while. I pick up my last urkmink that I have yet to eat. I chew it in my mouth not caring that it will make my teeth black again.

Instead of spitting out the shell like I should, I swallow it whole wondering if it will clear up the new lump in my throat.