The Undying God (10 page)

His fingers were not quick
enough.

The igliuh lunged forward and its
corpse landed on Arxu. Acting purely on instinct, he wriggled out
from under the smoldering body. The creature had succumbed to its
burns, extinguishing its last breath in the midst of a killing
blow. None of its brethren survived.

“Arxu!” Nishka cried out, running
toward him. “What did you do to it?!”

“The creature died of its
wounds.”

“A second longer and you would have
been killed!” she said, relieved he was alive. Hrioshango looked at
the igliuh’s scorching blade and again at Arxu.

“I am disappointed with the results,”
he said. The darkling shrugged in defeat and resumed searching the
campsite.

Nishka spotted a crossbow neglected on
the ground and she scooped it up.

Meanwhile, Arxu studied the cart, more
specifically the wheel that had snapped off the axle. Nishka’s
heart sank when she saw the destruction. It looked as though the
igliuhs tried hacking up the cart for tinder.

“We have to retrieve the weapons
somehow,” she said miserably. She knelt down and gingerly gathered
the food they had brought for the journey. Arxu quietly assisted
her, scavenging the provisions that had not been devoured by
igliuhs. When they gathered the last morsel of bread, they
considered the forlorn weapons and armor.

Nishka beseeched Arxu with her blue
eyes.

“We shall figure something out in the
morning,” he said. Nishka nodded. Perhaps it was for the best they
rest and recover their strength.

Hrioshango slinked away from the
bonfire and lay down with a heavy sigh.

“I don’t want that thing sleeping near
us,” Nishka whispered.

“I would prefer to keep an eye on
it.”

“What if he tries to hurt
us?”

“I only rest for a few hours at night.
If you wish, you can sleep and I will stay awake for the
night.”

“Okay.” Nishka wasnt surprised that he
required less sleep than the average man. “Arxu?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for helping me.”

“I played a minor role in your healing.
Hrioshango used his energy to resuscitate you.” Nishka looked
perplexed. She glanced at the darkling snoring in the distance. She
didn’t know what to say. It was strange to owe a debt of gratitude
to the darkling. She winced as a twinge of pain shot through her
head.

“You should rest,” Arxu said, resting
his hand on her shoulder. She nodded and lay down, but sleep would
not come.

Chapter 10

The forest outstretched around Margzor
like a universe awaiting discovery. Ancient trees towered
arrogantly above him, swelling with pride and casting their
blackest shadows on the man. Margzor did not at all mind the
darkness. In fact, he preferred the company of shadow to
light.

Something within him indicated that
there was a large population of disciples toward the south. The
presence inside him desired their deaths. They would fall before
him as they did in Sepulzer. He needed to take approximately one
hundred lives; that number would be sufficient. If he could meet
his objective, everything would fall into place. He couldn’t let
this opportunity slip through his fingers now. Only one hundred
more and…

He walked slowly through the shadow
strewn forest and his eyes settled on a deer. Its body lay on the
forest floor, the wound beneath its brown fur leaving a crimson
trail. Margzor inched closer toward the body. The delicate and
graceful creature reposed there in peace. The sobering sight
triggered something within him. He had feasted on many deer in his
feral isolation, and he could not remember the last time he ate. He
realized he no longer had the will to feed. He knelt down on the
earth where he could see the terror in the deer’s eyes.

What a familiar expression.

He grimaced as he thought about the
women who beheld him with loathing and disgust. They had shown more
aversion than they did terror. He would not soon forget it. How
strange that even their disgust overwhelmed their fear of death. He
knew why they felt such visceral dislike looking upon him; they
knew what he was. Something he had accepted as a part of himself
long ago.

Still, it was
him
they viewed in
utmost revulsion, not the thing growing inside him.

Every woman he encountered seemed to
think he was a loathsome excuse for a man—if they would even give
him the dignity of calling him human. Margzor was convinced he
would never find a woman who treated him as a human with feelings.
They would only regard him with…

Hatred consumed him.

* * *

“We have to leave the cart,” Arxu said
the next morning. “We must travel to Azia-Nocti and acquire a beast
of burden.” Nishka began to protest but she couldn’t utter a
reply.

“I’m taking this with me at least—” She
picked up an iron breastplate. Arxu watched her struggle as she
tried to don it over her woolen shirt. He reached out to assist her
but she turned to him with pleading eyes.

“I can do it.” Her tone was less
defiant. In fact, she sounded like she was pleading with him.
Nishka awkwardly equipped the armor, fumbling with the straps and
plates. At last, she managed a triumphant and sheepish smile.
“Okay…” she breathed. “On to Azia-Nocti to get a mule?” Arxu
nodded.

Again, Nishka looked at the armor and
crafts assembled by their campsite. She vowed to return as soon as
possible once they purchased a pack mule. Hrioshango yawned and
woke to find them preparing for the journey.

“Where are you going?”

“Azia-Nocti.”

“Arxu!
” Nishka cried.

The darkling cheerfully pounced to his
feet and adjusted the three or four cloaks around his
shoulders.

“It just so happens Hrioshango is going
the same way!” he chimed gleefully. He ambled along the road with a
spry step, his eyes gleaming mischievously. Nishka couldn’t imagine
why this creature wanted to follow them. Perhaps he had nowhere to
go and he desired company. She shuddered at the thought and kept
close to Arxu.

Their stay in Azia-Nocti would be much
longer than the brief interlude in Sepulzer. The flourishing
markets of Azia-Nocti would welcome them graciously. Nishka
periodically looked over her shoulder and saw the darkling
shuffling along behind.

“I think he’s stalking us,” she
whispered.

Chapter 11

Nishka winced as a dull pain set in
behind her ears. A week had passed since encountering the igliuhs
in the forest, but the ache endured. Her pain was arguably less
intense, but it remained a persistent reminder of the danger she
had evaded. She couldn’t even remember the attack that nearly
delivered her to the realm of the dead. It was inconceivable that
she had escaped death only seven days ago.

Others had not been so fortunate.
Nishka couldn’t take her mind off the crimes the merchant had
reported in Sepulzer.

“Those people in the temple... were
slaughtered?” she said.

“According to the merchant, yes.”
Nishka couldn’t even imagine a crime as horrendous as mass murder.
Admittedly, she lived in a quiet village for most of her life.
Nonetheless, she was unsettled by the atrocity.

“It’s despicable,” Nishka said. “Why in
the world would someone hurt so many people?”

“It is possible a religious sect seeks
to—”

“Kill them? What sick person would use
religion to justify the murder of someone who believes differently?
It’s inhuman.”

“This killer may have radical beliefs.”
Arxu suspiciously glanced over his shoulder to the north. “Perhaps
this man seeks to punish the religion because it has wronged
him.”

“What I don’t understand is why someone
would hold a vendetta against people who consider virginity
sacred.”

“Virginity and spiritual purity,” Arxu
clarified. “The motives of killers are notoriously complex. Neither
did the merchant explicitly say it was a man. It may have been a
woman.”

“Or several people,” Nishka speculated.
“A group of people could coordinate the attack much easier than an
individual. A cult or religious organization may be behind this
conflict. After all, the murders occurred in Sepulzer.”

“Why are you concerned?” Arxu asked.
“You didn’t know anyone in the temple, did you?”

“No, but the fact that people are
capable of doing this is disturbing. It shouldn’t
happen.”

“There is nothing you can do about it
now.”

“You should be concerned,” Nishka said.
“Ideological people are very dangerous… If this is an attack in
support of something much bigger than we can see…”

“A moral revolution attacking
virginity? That seems unlikely. It may be nothing more than a
deranged individual hearing voices in his head.” Nishka watched as
Azia-Nocti reared its head in the distance, a colossal city that
nearly obscured the sun.

“I hope you’re right.”

* * *

Twilight glazed Azia-Nocti in its
celestial grace, scintillating across garrisons, mansions, and
statues. Nishka’s eyes glimmered and her jubilant face alit with a
smile. She could hear a great body of water beyond the cliffs, its
roaring melody fusing with the voices of several thousand people.
Water bridges stretched across an immense gulf into the
city-state.

A surge of excitement swept through
Nishka as Arxu joined her to survey the spectacle. She admired a
vibrant dome garnished with mosaics and a minaret blushing in the
embers of the sunset.

The metropolis teemed with courtyards
host to alluring gardens, painting panoramas of luscious beauty.
Nishka could see a flowering cliff jutting from the edge of
Azia-Nocti. Stairs carved into the terrain led to a quiet oasis,
where several officials surveyed the ships ferrying
spices.

“Azia-Nocti is said to be a city of
surprises,” Nishka revealed. “By night, it looks very different
from its appearance during the day.”

“How?”

“You’ll see.” Her heart skipped with
excitement as she led him on. Not even her vivid imagination could
grasp all of the wonders and enigmas of Azia-Nocti.

When Nishka thought she couldn’t walk
any longer, Azia-Nocti reared above her like a humbling goliath.
Hrioshango gleefully followed his newly acquired companions toward
a vast water bridge. It guided them over an ancient abyss into the
jaws of a soaring garrison. As Arxu traversed the water bridge, he
witnessed merchant ships below navigating through aqueducts. Some
professed that the ships have been used to transport strange
animals to Azia-Nocti, but no one could confirm such
sightings.

Arxu’s eyes met the aqueducts and he
paused in his voyage across. Murmuring waters from the mountains
flowed into the valleys below. The watercourse stretched as far as
his eyes could see, melting into the foothills of the surrounding
mountains.

Nishka smiled at the man’s awe. She
figured they both needed each other, for he couldn’t traverse the
cities alone. She realized with amusement that the thought of
traveling with him did not bother her as much as before.

Long before Azia-Nocti reigned over the
mountain pass, an empire flourished here and explored new forms of
technology. Without warning, their empire was annihilated in a
cataclysm. According to lore, a combination of science, mysticism,
and divine intervention eradicated every last resident of the city.
Some professed the clerics were studying the human soul and trying
to recreate heaven. The city ruins remained, however, providing the
foundation for Azia-Nocti.

Viewed from above, one could see the
city had been conceived in a strange pattern of geometric shapes.
Historians speculated that its design served a mystical
purpose.

A great amphitheater for blood sports
lay northwest of the plaza. It had been assembled over the course
of twenty years by the labor of prisoners. Often, these same
prisoners were executed for their crimes in this arena. Warriors
and creatures were herded from across the realms to indulge the
citizens’ voyeuristic tendencies.

Azia-Nocti also boasted cryptic
technology the likes of which were unsurpassed. During the arena
excavation, slaves harvested numerous artifacts from the ruins
below. Many concerned citizens speculated the city officials were
trying to rebuild the empire or at least adapt their
designs.

The ironic parallel between Azia-Nocti
and the former empire was chilling: the city was developed to
simulate a civilization that attempted to recreate the
afterlife.

Nishka strolled past several shops
selling imports from lands she never knew existed.

She took note of a shop selling arms
and armor, and she instinctively regarded it as competition.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t sell anything in Azia-Nocti until she
acquired another pack animal.