Carmine

The travel out of Tiam refreshed me as much as it nauseated me because I got flown out of it and into the nation of Ulyia.

My shoes crushed into the thin snow yet moistened the cloth. The oversized coat, and thick cotton robe Corona gave me hugged me and suppressed the horrid wind's might. I shivered and grabbed either arm with the other to ease the chill.

A fifteen-foot white bird stood before me on his hillside with streaks of blue and cried bountiful screeches of joy. If I told Para about this, she would have called me mad. I got tired of trying to ponder if I was dreaming a long time ago. Large birds that carried you for miles, spears that struck like lightning when thrown, of course, all those things existed!

My eyes caught Corona’s back. Her hands rolling rope connected to the bird’s neck. She got back her spear. I always took that spear for granted. Who knew that it contained such power?

The thought of what happened incensed me. Janilla, Valor, Five, and Sandream, especially Sandream, I could not even protect her.

Corona said Sandream ported out of her body, so she was not dead. Uncertainty plagued me, and weighed my heart as time flowed by.

"You sure the others are okay?" I asked.

She sighed. "I am not repeating myself."

"You could be lying to me."

Her jaw clenched when she glared at me. "The toxin will recede, so you haven't nothing to worry about."

Why would you worry?

That was not the same for me, for those were my people. I growled low. "You left a hole in Sandream's chest."

Corona's eyes went up and down my body before she cut her gaze in contempt. She laid her bony fingers on her bosom with a smile. "Better she than me." Corona laid the last of the rope around the stump and walked off.

I stared at her with as much might as the coming storm but begrudgingly followed.

Ulyia was a small rather insignificant nation. It settled in a territory that cut through the republic of Eathen. Eathen would have usurped this nation a long time ago if not for the fact that this nation was built on a mountainous hellscape. Part of the mountainous range traveled into the east of Tiam.

Tiam was barren, but Ulyia was literal hell. The hills and mountains had spear-like peaks, heavily jagged faces. I walked the cracked and fissure-ridden earth, yet an impossible feat laid before us. Ahead of us was the city which held the truth I sought.

What that truth had in store for me, peaked fearful thoughts.

This had been my first time here. Ulyia had a small population. The Ulyia King was a secretive one. My father said he could never be trusted. The Eathen King loved the idea of destroying this nation if only to rid him of those Terisons. Yes, Terisons hid out here if not far north. They raided and disappeared into the desolate mountains of Ulyia if not the cold maze of the forested north.

Still, was there a real desire for me to meet my mother? Also, why was it, that my future desire involved killing her? All of this confused me. Best to get those answers, the problem was would I live after that?

I asked, “Why are you doing this? Helping me meet my mother?”

Corona turned and said flatly, “Ask her yourself.”

“I order you to tell me.”

She stared at me, while her hair whipped about with wild grasps at the fleeing wind.

I continued, “I am her daughter, you should afford me some allowance as you—”

“You forget your place way too quickly. You are a Shyia to me, a drop of Elamnite blood does not allow you to curry favor with me. A cockroach is what you are and what you will always be, Carmine.”

I frowned. “What if I try to escape?”

She smirked, a first in a long time. “Go ahead, I will find you. That I can assure you.”

Yes, that was true. We walked for a good distance through the thinning snow and down towards the sloping hillside, so it made me wonder why we never flew in. Soon that reason became clear, the city was nestled under the guise of terrible rocky arms that cut out the sunlight.

On either side of us were houses cut into the rock, but the insides were dressed with curtains to block the view. Animal pelt carpets laid at the doorsteps, while shell-lined jewels hung from the rafters and plants on the window sill. I never thought I would see a window of surrounding rock cut out smooth and flat.

The people though, there was the dark Shyia skin tones, a skin tone closer to mine, and the lesser seen, but supremely light sandy skin tone similar to Sandream. There was nothing remotely pale as a Valor's original body.

The castle had not been that big, while the way leading to it had not been that glamorous, so I did not realize I walked into it. Here, all I saw were pale faces, Valor's kind, such was the pecking order I guessed. Still, the black shiny columns, silvery floor, and stone roof painted with some obscure fresco of a cloudless sky made me desire more.

I looked around emphatically. The small room we stopped in looked like a throne room. The stone throne with a thick red fabric draped over the middle being a perfect entry into that consciousness.

Corona looked to the right, her index finger touching the bottom of her chin. I asked, “What cometh?”

She groaned low and flexed her face in annoyance. Corona walked off, and I followed. We came into a corridor and swiftly cut down the variety of corridors in this confusing web until I saw Corona stepping inside a room.

A scream, so I ran up behind Corona and saw a man, with blue eyes, and pale skin, naked, well, at least the important bits were covered by the sheets. He sat there rather undeterred by us intruding, the women, Shyias, already jumped out of the bed and were gathering up their clothing.

I turned away after a moment of shock. Corona's voice echoed, "Excular, pardon my interruption. I am here with the package. Call Mother."

Package?

Excular stared, tilted his head, and then his eyes widened. "Hey, you got her. Good sister." A slithering grin appeared on his face.

"I will excuse myself to the throne room." Corona nodded and pulled me out of the room.

She took me back to the throne room. We did not wait long, a short stout Shyia man came to us. He had a thick gray beard and dark somber eyes. Dressed in swiping robes that gathered on the ground, we found out his name was Yallin.

That name sounded familiar and it was, as the King stood before us. Quite unremarkable in his stature, I admitted. Excular had no such problem, for he was tall, compactly muscular. He became a sight to behold indeed.

Excular stepped in with a crystal ball. I had one similar, but his was a deep purple, deep etchings sliced in and around the ball. He laid the ball in the middle of the room. Yallin asked, “Well met, dear Corona.”

Corona said, “Likewise.”

“Who is your friend?” Yallin asked, his smile widening, and his eyes directly at my chest. I nudged the collar of the coat closer to my neck. Blushing, I kept looking away from his penetrating eyes.

“You will find out when Mother speaks,” Corona said.

Excular waved his palm over the ball as it shuddered. I saw a mix of colors raised from the top of the ball into shards of semi-transparent glass. Excular used his fingers and pressed on parts of it.

The ball shuddered. Excular pressed again and stepped back. A light beam gushed out into the roof. The cascading colors rushed outward and fell into polygons that spun and gathered into a face.

I stopped myself from stepping back. A face expanded out on a huge canvas, but it moved like living art. This round head of a woman with high cheekbones and a chiseled jawline tightened, shaking the gold earrings with red perfect round rocks to her pouting lips.

She radiated a sunny color, a bountiful head of black hair, and auburn eyes hovered before me. Those eyes looked around slowly, Excular and Yallin were stiff in their stance, even Corona shifted from side to side and twiddled her fingers.

Something told me this was no normal woman, but if they called her Mother that meant she surpassed being normal. Here, levitated the head of the leader. It must be Erot, those eyes fell on me. They narrowed, then her lips widened with a smile.

She said, “Corona, you did well—” The eyes shifted at Corona, and a scowl developed on that beautiful face. “After so much failure, you did one good thing.”

Corona sighed in relief.

Mother continued, "Though, I asked you for multiple things. Where is Aconm?"

Corona straightened her stance and her fingers crunched into a tight fist. "I was unable to retrieve him."

Mother growled low. "Of course you failed, you've been failing me for a while now, wasting the shells offered to you. No matter, he would have only been a minor consolation prize."

Corona lowered her head with a brief fidget of her shoulders.

Mother looked back at me, and the smile returned. “Here is the true prize. My daughter—”

“Why have you been trying to kill me, Erot?” I cut in with a fierce glower.

Her lips opened, but they closed slowly as her eyes narrowed. “I see so much of myself in you,” she said. Her face contorted, then broke into various blaring lights that collected again into a long slim figure.

Was this my mother? She, a reasonably tall woman stepped out from the top of the ball. She seemed so lifelike, but yet so hollowed and empty. I saw the light shifting in behind her, following her short strides. Her smile, seductive, almost malicious or was I mad? “I am not trying to kill you. You are important to me.”

I turned to Corona. “Why now, why not years ago?”

“The situation had not allowed for that. There are others trying to kill you because you are my daughter.” She strolled around Corona and I. Her hand came to her chest. “They desire hurting me.”

“Would my death hurt you?”

“You are my daughter, do you truly believe otherwise?”

“I have to wonder,” I said.

Her hand dropped and came behind her. “Do not let that man poison your mind. Do not look so surprised. Valor is his name, no?”

I hesitated. She continued, “Beautiful man, also a liar.”

“What do you want from me?” I cut in.

“I want you to return to my side. To return to Elam—Corona must prepare you for the trip. Getting into Elam is not easy, it is a—hostile place.”

Corona said, “That is what I was trying to do back at the temple. There are diseases there you have never encountered before. You must be given anti-toxin. So I need to complete the process I was doing previously.”

I stared at Corona. She smiled at me and then my memory jogged perfectly reminding me clearly of my treatment at her hands. Trusting Corona, I resolved to not do. Something irked me about this.

This was too cordial, too nice, too tender, too kind.

Part of me craved asking what would happen when I reached Elam. I knew it was not death. If they wanted me dead, I would have already been under the earth.

Asking about my father was one thing, yes, that question lingered. “My father, what happened, why were you not there? Is a God so busy?”

Erot looked at Corona then at me, “You really are my daughter. For a girl who knew nothing, in a short time, you have gained much deduction.”

“Would you stop dancing around the truth?”

“Him and I were never in love. Children are not born out of love, they are born out of utility, legacy—power. You were a strategic piece that we had much hope in. He hid you by declaring you dead. You remember?”

The death part, worried me that my people thought I was truly dead. “I remember being banished. He is now dead. Who was he hiding me from?”

“Ashfire, but you know him as Ashuor.”

“Our patron God?”

“Don’t seem so surprised. I am sure you know fully well the conflicts that happen behind the scenes. We Gods seem quiet, but much blood is shed in the shadows. Your death would have been one of many. Ashuor never liked the fact that I birthed a child in her country, she tolerated it—for a while.”

Right, I had a claim to the throne.

Erot said, “You are a smart woman. I told Corona to put you at ease. You would have forgotten your past and we could have started over again. As mother and daughter.”

At ease… “What changed?” I asked.

“You constantly surviving. I chalked it up to having those fools around, but for Corona to have difficulties did pique my interest. Maybe I birthed a talented child, I thought. Talent mixed with experience is very valuable.” She chuckled. “Talent is hard to come by.”

Her smile and my frown conflicted. I asked, “Or it could be that I am destined to kill you?”

She laughed out aloud. I looked around at the others, they all smiled. She continued, “The art of Seermetry. It promises to predict the future, one of their most treasured concepts is the concept of the Singularity. It is a load of bull. Many learned sages have disproved its existence.

“Valor, San Rosa were working for Amishcor, a bitter enemy of mine. They were grooming you into an antagonist of mine. They have done well so far. I see the hatred in your eyes. I understand, your journey has been long.” She came closer.

“Hard.” She breathed next to me. “Arduous…” She grabbed my shoulders and a bolt shivered through my body. This energy thrilled me.

This comforting elation relaxed my body into surrender, then the hug came after.

My arms smelted their hardened defenses and swung into my mother’s lower back. A tingle that lulled me into her soft cold body. “You are safe now,” she said softly.