Carmine

I followed Corona blindly through those narrow corridors.

We reached inside a small room, lit by torch fire on the walls. The walls were unremarkable, while the floor had a picturesque bluish-green tile.

I saw a huge dais at the farthest end, and I hoped that would not be my final resting place. A table with pots, small clear vials of liquids, and metal instruments sitting on a black cloth settled close by. My resolve to keep walking confused me, although it came frequently. Was this path the one I desired?

I never figured I would have asked such a question. Corona said, “We will be inserting the anti-toxins now. Lay on the altar.”

I looked at the tools laid on a small table close by. “What are you really doing to me?”

Corona flexed her face at me and said through grit teeth, “Lay on the altar.”

I went over and Corona came up to me frowning. Nothing sinister, yet, but the tools looked eerily familiar. They planned to take my body, my mind drifted into the possibilities. Here I thought the process of losing my body would be more dramatic and spectacular.

My back resonated to the chill of the stone dais. I was not restrained. Guess there was no need to, I was a willing participant. I hoped that those two interfered, that I would not perish.

Corona took the cylinder with its needle at one end and snapped the side of it. She pierced my arm with the needle and pushed the liquid into me. Corona said, “Let us see you beat the sedative now.”

I rolled my eyes at the comment. “If you want, you can smack me in the face, to reminisce the good old times.”

Corona looked at me. “No—Not necessary.”

I waved my arms up. “I am used to you calling me a cockroach and smacking me around half the time.”

Corona said nothing and moved some vials as she took one of the copper pots to the side. I looked around and saw no other entry points other than the already open front entrance.

Where are those guys? I continued, “I am not used to this new person. This new Corona.”

Corona said flatly, “New things are good for the soul. Hold still.” She took another cylinder to my neck and pushed the liquid into my body. She retraced the cylinder’s needle and moved over to the copper pot.

“I liked the old Corona better.”

“You really should be sleeping right now.” For a second, I felt that flatness in her voice eroding.

“What can I say, I am quite special.”

She slid a short metal rod into the copper pot. “Unfortunately.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “You do not seem too happy to be doing this.”

“I do as I am told.” She laid the coated rods on each side of me. Corona flexed her hand, and a glyph glowed on her wrist, so she used the same method of power as Five.

I never saw her abilities until now. A bright strand of light came out and spiked into each rod. The rods glowed brightly before a translucent wall phased over my body.

The white light fizzled and surged like a wave. My nose wrinkled to the scent of burnt air. I caught my breath, watching it fluctuate over me. My confidence faded as I laid there. Where were those two? “Can I order you around? I mean I am the daughter of your God, I should have some authority.”

“That is not how the hierarchy is in Elam.”

“We are not in Elam,” I replied.

Corona got another cylinder and I almost groaned in displeasure. She knocked this one at the top and said, “Soon you will be.”

“What is Elam like?”

“Wonderful.”

“Oh, you were born there?”

“Nope, I was invited. Now hold still.”

All those short answers, she talked more when she hated me. She probably still does, but her directive right now did not fit her true desire. “I still miss the old you,” I said.

She frowned and stuck this cylinder into my head. I winced and gawked in reaction to the sharp pain and dull uncomfortable pressure. “You seem to love violence.”

“What can I say, it is all I ever known.”

“Now you will find peace.”

Would I?

She pushed the top, and the liquid flowed into my head. The cylinder got drawn out, releasing the pressure.

The next task was to apply that burning balm to my stomach. I groaned to its aching touch, Corona applied with care, with no hint of haste like the last time.

I needed to get her talking, so I received knowledge, especially on their motives. "I read Ada's book, the book you had."

She glanced at me then returned to rub my skin.

I continued, "That book, biology, yes, biology, it's been teaching Janilla and me a lot about Elam. I wish I could return it to you, but that is in the hands of Janilla now."

"I don't need it back. I got that seventy years ago when I was a mere acolyte under the tutelage of Billasoia." Corona's hand went to my sides.

Wasn't Billasoia my step-sister and Five's old master?

"You look like—" I almost said as young as me, but of course she wasn't, it was another shell allowing her the privilege of looking beautiful, and living beyond my forsaken lifespan.

If I joined my mother I would get the same benefits, and that was only if I joined her.

Maybe even meet my sister... That tried to kill me... I have terrible family members.

"What is Billasoia, my sister like?" I asked.

Corona squinted her eyes, yet continued rubbed around my hip. "When you meet her, ask her yourself."

Corona gave me nothing with each question. There were other options. "Yallin came to see me yesterday."

Corona stopped moving, then her head turned to me, even though her face indicated nothing untoward about how she felt. Corona asked, "What for?"

That got her attention, so I had to take advantage of this. "He wanted to marry me."

Corona stared for a long time then she rocked her head away, and said, "Your answer?"

I replied, “I declined. People are difficult for me to trust nowadays.”

“I see.”

Had she expected he would do it, or had she cared about my answer? I pried further. “Can you believe he would do that?” I said with disgust.

“You have a beautiful face,” she said.

“So do you,” I sent back to her. Corona turned, but a flick of her eyes captured me before I saw her back. A terrible game played between us.

“Beauty—” Corona shifted around some things on the table, either that or she looked for something. “Beauty is worth nothing in this world. Only thing that matters is power.” She straightened, turning with another cylinder in hand.

"Kind of reminds me of Aconm, he is now the King of Tiam, I wonder why my mother wanted an audience with him."

Corona looked over a copper pot, ignoring me.

I continued, "Do you know—"

"Do not ask me about him." That was when she took out the cylinder again, this time filled with a brown liquid. "Focus on yourself."

I groaned in displeasure. “How many times do you need to do that?”

Corona smirked. “The last one,” She done it, this time in my waist, and for some reason, this one hurt the most. “Almost done.”

“Do you want power?”

“I already have it.”

“Funny, how can you have power and be under my mother’s fiddling fingers?”

Corona produced a sheet, and a slim coat of powder settled on the top. “Be mindful of your words cockroach.”

She hated it when I reminded her of lower status. I smiled at breaking through those walls of pleasantries to her hatred of me. “It is you and I talking here. My mother need not know.”

Corona carefully laid the sheet on top of my stomach. “You say this after carrying herald on Yallin.”

“I trust you, not him,” I replied.

Corona paused briefly then continued laying the sheet. Her hand extended and pressed down hard on my stomach. Corona’s head turned towards me at a tilt. “Let me give you some advice, trust no one, ever.” She gave me a half-hearted smile and returned to her task.

A relieving sensation rested in my stomach and made me whirl my eyes in ecstasy. I relished it, but it was short-lived. The sheet was removed, leaving the dried specks of balm on my stomach.

She waved her hand and the bright wall flickered before melting away giving back the room’s dull color.

“We’re done,” Corona said, turning. That was it? I twitched, afraid to move. Uncertainty stilled my bones and stalled the happier thoughts I was entitled to.

Well, if they wanted to kill me, I would be dead and if I was in danger, those two would have jumped out by now I guessed.

“I am done, you can get up now,” she said.

My head turned to watch Corona’s still gaze upon me. I breathed out and leaned up.

Corona turned and walked off.

“Wait!” I called.

Corona stopped and looked back, a hint of annoyance on her face. I said, “Thanks.”

Her face flattened, emphasizing the gentle parting of her lips, yet no words exited. She spun back around and left me on the dais, alone.