We walked through the swamp, our skin sizzling, sweat dripping from our flesh. Even Omega, who rarely had nothing to say, had stopped talking and started drinking deeply from a water bottle the writer had given him. In fact, the writer had given us all water bottles.
"Be careful with them," he told us. "Don't drop them, don't drink too much. Proportion them. I have more, but not an unlimited supply."
"Why does it matter?" Tulip asked. "I can see a pool of water up ahead anyway."
"I wouldn't drink from that," the writer said. "I wouldn't drink from anything here."
"He's right," Omega said. "The swamp Abzu is where EAT comes from."
"Eat?" Tulip looked at me, but I didn't know what they were talking about either.
It was at this point when we reached the pool, which looked deep and refreshing. Even though I wasn't particularly thirsty, it still looked tempting, and I started to step forward, intent on scooping up some of the clear blue water into my hands.
The writer stopped me. "That's not a good idea," he said.
The water bubbled. A head burst from under it, wet strands of hair flicking upwards. A woman rose up from the pool of water, but the water rose, too. The water clung to her and I realized that she was the pool. Her face was too calm, too serene. Her eyes were the bluest I had ever seen.
"I heard my name being called," she said.
Omega immediately pulled out a knife, but the writer touched him on the shoulder, causing him to slowly lower it. "You have so many names," the writer said. "What do you wish us to call you?"
"Sirara is good for now," she said. "I heard you call this place Abzu. The primordial swamp. That's not its real name either."
"It has no real name," the writer said. "It is Eden. It is Abiogenesis. It is the beginning and end of life."
"True," Sirara said. "And look, my sister walks among us." She gestured behind us and we turned to see another woman climbing up the crook of a tree. She looked exactly like Sirara except instead of water, many vines were wrapped around her, and her eyes were the greenest of greens. "You have attracted the attention of the Lady of Greenery, Ninsar."
"We are merely passing through," the writer said.
"Oh, I know," Sirara said. "But she gets so hungry. Her plants need to feed, after all."
"I thought you hated the Algernon Forest," Omega said raising his knife again.
"Why should I hate her?" Sirara said. "We are two sides of the same coin. Progression, regression. Evolution, stagnation. We feed into each other."
"Well, you won't feed on us," Omega said.
"No, we won't," Sirara said. "Your fate lies forward, beyond the Seven Hells. We just wanted a look, that's all. A look before you go beyond the Wall."
"Have you ever been beyond the Wall?" I asked.
Sirara smiled, her teeth slimy and blue. "Once," she said. "There is an ocean. That is all I can tell you. Now go. Before my sister gets impatient."
We followed Omega and fog began to cover the swamp. Before we left, I heard Sirara say, "The next Hell you visit shall not be so pleasant. Love never is."
No comments:
Post a Comment