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Noctuart — Goddess
by-nc-nd
Published: 2013-12-11 11:32:06 +0000 UTC; Views: 840; Favourites: 26; Downloads: 0
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Description
Y'all have been begging asking me to write some of my story, 'The Black Stag.' Well, while the webcomic still isn't ready yet, I have heard the cries of my people and decided to grace y'all with a Enki-centric short story set 12 years before the events of TBS. Enjoy!On a side note I spent way too much time drawing this.
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“D-damnit…” He couldn’t walk another step. Everything hurt. His vision blurred and he rubbed his eyes trying to rid himself of the white mist. He felt hot; his head swam and he staggered into a pile of crates and barrels, cutting his forehead on the corner of one. He felt the blood flow down his face and cursed before dropping to his knees.
“Damnit I’ve come too far to let it end here…” He swore and tried to stand. He leaned heavily on the wall of the narrow alley he had crawled through, he cursed again as his legs refused to do what he wanted them to. He dropped to the ground again and glanced up at the end of the alley, where the street was crowded with people walking in the hot afternoon sunlight.
He considered calling for help, but quickly dismissed the idea. No one would bother to help the likes of him and no one would care. It was a miracle he’d survived this long and he knew it. “I guess 13 years was a good run… longer than I thought it’d be…” He coughed. His head felt like it was on fire – maybe it was, he wouldn’t be surprised. He’d made enough enemies of the local gangs that he wouldn’t put it past them to have lit him on fire.
Of all the ways he’d imagined he’d die, it wasn’t by sickness. He’d lived through stabbings, sandstorms, hunger, thirst – anything. Yet it was a little fever that had him lying in an alleyway wishing it would just end. It was just toying with him now, making him suffer before entering Hilael. He felt comforted by the thought that he’d finally have a place to belong, “The Goddess wouldn’t turn me from her embrace, would she?” He was afraid she would.
Blackness teased the edges of his vision, he struggled to breathe. He made one more attempt to rise, but his body refused to move – he was spent. The coolness of the stone on his face was a blessing at least. He closed his eyes and welcomed the slight relief from the heat. He had given up.
“This way! Hurry!” A small voice, a girl.
“Quiet.”
“Over here, Papa!”
“I just want to sleep.”
“Are you sure this is-“ A man could be heard from the street.
“Yes! Come on!”
He opened his eyes and saw a girl tugging her father by the hand into the alley – “Oh, I get it. I must be hallucinating.”
“This is the boy?” The man asked.
The girl nodded fervently, “Yes, Papa, we need to help him.”
“Now I know I’m hallucinating.”
“He could have the plague…” The man eyed the boy, reluctant to help.
“He does not!” The girl stamped her foot.
“Are you sur-”
“Have I ever been wrong?” The girl challenged and crossed her arms, daring him to challenge her.
He heard a heavy sigh and felt himself being lifted. He tried to open his eyes but saw only darkness, then everything went numb and he felt nothing.
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He saw light – It hurt his eyes. He blinked to clear his vision before looking around. He was in a warmly lit room, though the sun was shining through the window. It was comfortable, the room was furnished with a bed, desk, and dresser, and the walls were decorated with various colored rugs and tapestries. He could never have imagined he’d ever wake up in a place as fine as the room he was in.
He tried to remember how he got there. He wracked his memories looking for an answer, but hard as he tried, the last thing he remembered was stumbling into an alley, then-
A movement to his right caught his eye. Next to him, her head face down in her arms on the side of the bed, was a girl. Her golden curls caught the sunlight from the windows, hurting his eyes again. For a moment he panicked, thinking he was with the Goddess, Iamar. She stirred and then stiffened, realizing she had fallen asleep.
She raised her head and saw him sitting up, “Oh! You’re awake!” Her face lit up with a bright, happy smile. “I was wondering when you would.”
“Wha- who-” He tried to ask and found his throat dry.
“Oh, you must be thirsty, wait here,” The girl dashed toward some stairs and went down. He realized he must be in a loft. After some noise and a few shouts of dismay, she reappeared bearing a blue vase, which she offered to him. “Drink this.”
He eyed it suspiciously.
“What?” She sounded offended, “It’s not like it’s poisoned.”
He smelled the water cautiously before taking a sip, he must have been more parched than he thought and quickly drank. Some of the water spilled down his chin. He used his sleeve to wipe his face and only then realized he was wearing clean clothes.
She took the vase back, apparently satisfied, “So how do you feel? Papa told me the doctor said it was a miracle you survived.”
“That’s right, I was sick, right?” He remembered out loud, finally finding his voice which still cracked.
She nodded, “Papa and I found you in an alleyway half dead.”
“…..I remember…. But I was- you were- This isn’t Hilael is it?” he asked, feeling a bit foolish.
“No, you’re not dead, silly,” She laughed.
“But I hallucinated you…” He thought out loud.
“No you didn’t,” She smiled and held out her hand to him, “here.”
He tentatively reached out and brushed the tips of her fingers with his own.
“See, I’m real.” She smiled.
“Why would you help me?” He demanded incredulously.
“What do you mean, ‘Why?’” She asked.
“Why save me?” He asked again, “No one cares if a street urchin like me dies, so why bother? You could have gotten sick yourself.”
“You didn’t have the plague,” She answered, “I couldn’t have gotten sick."
“That’s not the point-“
“I’d been waiting for you,” she put her finger on his lips, cutting him off, “For a long time.”
“Waiting?” He asked.
She nodded, “I saw you in a dream a long time ago when I was little, and I knew I would have to save you on day.”
“A dream?”
She nodded again, still smiling.
“You’re a seer?” He asked, slightly in awe of the girl, who looked even younger than him. Even he knew that seers were revered for their ability to see the past and future through dreams. An ability only the women of Eremus possessed.
“Yes,” She smiled.
“and you saw me in a dream?” He eyed her suspiciously.
“Yes.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
“Your name is Enki.”
He stared at her in shock, “How did you know that?”
“I told you, I saw it in a dream long ago.” She laughed, then stood. “You’ve been sick for days; Papa says you can stay here with us for a while, so you should get some sleep.” She walked over to the stairs.
Enki stared after her in a mix of shock, awe, and – gratitude? No one had ever helped him before; a part of him was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. “W-wait!”
“Yes?” She paused at the top of the stairs with her hand on the banister.
“You never told me your name.”
She laughed, then smiled warmly, “It’s Bishara.”
FIN
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Was it worth the wait?
Story and art ©2013 =Keikilani
