>>5987684Kosyt's eyes of coal measure you up and down, “Tontonret, is true? [If] true, your head downward bend. No fear, when here I am, fool Yamir-Hys you [and] your men hurt will not.” A voice screams out within you, stop this madness, but you cannot, you're already too far gone. As you nod, the murmurs climb a few pitches. You kick the shirt laying on the floor aside. No need for it where you are going.
Pahan stands motionless, but he could not quell his antennae. Behind you, a soldier in the front row scurries off, no doubt to fetch the nearest expert on hairless anatomy. Kosyt's shimmering wings unfurl again. “Prisoner her wish freely make known: a red offering. Blood-soaked, renewed/ revived, the Hys cycles spin forever. No stop!” Your whole body tremble with the chorus, “To the Hys cycles/ years!”
With a spindly finger, you trace a straight line across your bare breasts. Miraculously, your voice does not crack under the weight of fear, “Don't stop until you feel my rib bones.” Pahan won't understand your words, nor does he need to. He raises his right claws with inhuman speed. Before your eyes recognise it, roses bloom from your chest.
Your hands instinctively clutch the wound, as if it will help. Wherever the spreading vines touch, belly, thigh, calf, foot, the nerves there recoil in pain. You would stagger, but your leg muscles are petrified, turned to plant stakes. Yamir is yelling something, but you can only make out a few words, “Licking... stop... where... fabric.” With every second, the winds howling out from the vents grow stronger. Eventually, the hanging garden topples over.
"Kesmir, won't you come with me?" The proud commander could not help responding, “Quinh, fourth time already. My answer will not change.” Pouting, you sat on the overfull luggage's top lid, pretending to ignore him as you struggled to close the zipper. “You must understand, my people is all Î have" So many years, and still he could not get rid of the occasional errant tones. Yet that's precisely what made his speech so unique.
<span class="mu-i">“Me? Am I to you nothing?”</span> You made sure to vibrate your voice box at just the right frequency to indicate frustration. He hissed in return, <span class="mu-i">“You are much, but blood before water.”</span> How it hurt to hear him admit his own cowardice. You bore your chest before him, <span class="mu-i">“Cut me, and blood will see.”</span>
Kesmir turned his head aside, “It cannot be helped. Soon, I will be exiled, made to suffer much. My own name stripped, wings torn off my back. Alone I can survive anything, but if I must see you suffer too, I will die from heartbreak.” His spindly claw pleadingly scratched his own thorax. <span class="mu-i">“To your people return must.”</span> Finally the mouth of the luggage shut tight. Your eyes met together for the last time, “Farewell, then. May God hasten the day of our reunion.”
