ADLER

"Good morning, sweet pearl."

Her head lifts from my arm. I am uncertain how she feels after our wonderful kissing last night. My anxieties settle as her plump lips land on my mouth giving me a fleeting kiss.

Her voice is gentle, "Good morning. Brommy went to retrieve my friend."

I join her below the clout over near a large potted plant.

"Then, that means we have some time to ourselves."

"It would seem so."

"What if we had sex but I did not put a baby in you?"

"What would be the point?"

"My sweet, it feels very good. When was the last time you felt very good?"

She glares at me through tears.

"It is not about feeling good. It is about finding someone like me."

"Yes, you are lonely. Perhaps, you may think I feel otherwise with Cephine. May I remind you the purpose of my union with her is to keep you safe. I love only you."

"I am not interested in sex," she states flatly. "I think it is grotesque. Filthy. What do you think I feel when I know you are addicted to it? Your stare repulses me for it is all you think about!"

"You are wrong to say that is all I think about. I do feel alone in this world. Women make me feel loved, I love them."

"You love sex," she corrects, "You love how it makes you feel. Everything is always about you men. It makes me wish no longer to be one or see one. It makes me want to go far away, for even women, they do not understand. No one understands. The cloud you carry has settled over my heart, and my heart is tired Adler, very tired. I want to laugh and be happy like you are during sex, but I do not want sex."

I don't intend to growl, but the gods let me.

"You think I am happy now?" My pearl shrinks away. I feel possessed by something other. "Happiness is fleeting! You don't know a thing about love, but whether you like it or not, sex is a big part of it! The gods created you for men for one thing only. It is why you are looking for a female god, isn't it? The greatest atrocity would be for a woman to sleep with a woman! I do not think your soul is female or male. You are something else far more disgusting and useless! You are not needed here."

I'm waiting for my sweet to cry or get angry.

Instead, she sits on the ground and begins playing with the tiny bugs crawling through the cracks on the glass floor.

She speaks so calm as if having envisioned it many times, "That's why I want to die, Adler. I have been telling you this for some time now. One day, you will wake up and I will be gone forever. It will be the happiest day of my life."

I cover my face. A creeping feeling. It builds within my chest as I watch her stand up, spinning in a circle while cupping the bug in her hands. Her tunic bubbles around her. It makes my heart race like never before as I watch her run off to greet Brommy and her friend.

I become an outsider looking in on some other bastard's life.

This sinking feeling brings me to my knees. Screaming like an incubator in labor. I cover my face, trembling in heavy silence.

I know I cannot fix myself.

Warm arms circle around me. The soft chest of a woman cushions my head as I continue shivering.

"You are not responsible for my happiness, Adler. You are only responsible for yourself. Today is a new day. I am smiling now. If you smile, you may feel better too."

I relax completely against her. She strokes my back.

"Come meet Hida. I would like you to meet her," she says. I close my eyes, kissing her breast through the fabric of her tunic like a newborn begging for nourishment. Finally, I stand up, holding my pearl close. "Adler, please let go of me," she giggles. The noise makes me swell with a joy that she has yet to allow me to share with her. "Cephine will let her live with me, won't she?"

"Yes, my pearl," I say while getting myself together. I have never felt this warmth. It must be forgiveness that makes her wipe my tears away with her own tunic sleeve. "I love you," I remind her.

***

GRETA

Tonight, Adler returned to Cephine's room. It was the right thing to do. Even if I do not believe he truly loves her. For Celeste's sake, it's best.

Hida snores loudly on the other end of my cloud.

I don't know where Brommy went. He has been sleeping in my chamber too.

I wander out of my room, exploring the wide halls of glass. A few rooms down, I enter the chamber of mirrors. There are many rows I walk between while taking in the many strange shapes of mirrors. I suppose they are art pieces.

Eventually, I end up as far back in the chamber as I can go. I have never had the time to really look at my true appearance.

I step out of my tunic letting it fall to the ground.

My eyes do look yellow in the lighting in here and my skin a shade mixed between grey and purple.

I do not know what came over me yester-evening. What was I thinking acting like a whore? I suppose nothing happened but never before did I just walk around in my nudity.

I'm not certain living in this luxurious establishment is good.

Long ago, I should have run off on my own.

So why am I here?

My long black nails scratch the perfectly clean mirror. I can feel the grit of the shiny rock scraping against my sharp knife-like nails. A long uneven trail of scratches remains as I pull my hand away and put on my tunic.

Hida mistook me for a man. I must remain focused on myself. I do not bother tying my tunic around my flat chest.

Let them all see my scars.

On my way back to my chamber, I stop in front of Cephine's room.

I blush finding her and my distorted god fast asleep in each other's embrace. Baby Celeste watches me from the depths of her noyk.

"Hello, little one."

I know I shouldn't snoop, but I am curious about Adler's wife. I continue walking around her chamber and looking over her belongings.

My heart hammers seeing a shadow move behind me.

"My sweet?"

"Good evening, Adler."

He sounds hopeful, "Would you like to go on a walk with me?"

Little Celeste is tucked in his arms. So tiny. It reminds me when I shrunk and he held me so.

I nod, watching him lower the child into the babalop.

His smile makes me warm as we walk side by side out of the chamber leaving his sleeping wife behind.

The bugs outside are loud. I laugh watching them cluster around his glowing spyrt.

We enter the shade of a gazebo. It is behind the great commune building and surrounded by a lake of shallow water. Triangular pieces of glass hang above us.

"How are things?" I ask.

"Wonderful."

His eyes shine as I sit down on the glass bench beside him.

If I admit it I may be able to get over myself.

"I am very attracted to your physique. It is comforting to have someone else in this city who looks like me."

"My son could use a companion. We look alike, don't we?"

"He is your brother. I do not understand why you speak as though I am unaware still-"

"I'm sorry I did not tell you that little detail sooner, my sweet. You see, there's something about just one of me that frightened our empire enough. Imagine, if there were two. He is younger by a few moons, but we look identical. We were not raised in the same home." Adler peers across the water. "You are the only woman of our race here. The only woman who can see through the shade...besides myself and that brother of mine. Do you know how dark the cosmos are, little pearl? Do you know what terror the mongrels feel-"

"Adler, you are making me uncomfortable. Can we talk about something else? Like your new child, perhaps?'

"Am I making you nervous? I sincerely apologize."

He does not look sorry at all. In fact, that shine in his eyes is unspoken amusement if I knew any better. 

"She is so warm," I whisper while rocking Celeste in my arms. At least, the baby is a good distraction from Adler at the moment. She is a heavy sleeper. I adjust her in my arms while watching the little smile on her face. "You are going to be as beautiful as your mother."

A tranquil voice reaches us, "Our daughter is precious."

Cephine watches Adler with love.

Her stance is stiff as she walks around the outside of the structure we sit beneath. She just wears a thin slip like the whores on my home star. She was not always like this.

I dust off my tunic, standing up to greet her properly. 

"Good evening, Cephine." My limpnut she carries by the tail. It remains unmoving, spinning in a slow circle. "My Fluff!" I cry out as she tosses its dead body into the lake. Its bones crunch as it hits the glass plating the shallow waters.

Adler ignores me and takes Celeste away.

"It is dead, Greta. I found your pet that way, I promise. I suppose I should call you by a man if you dress as one. Your new name is Keon, isn't it?" 

"Yes, it is her name. She does not know what she wants to be. One day Greta, the next, Keon," Adler answers like a completely different person. He greets his wife with a kiss and then glances back at me only to return his attention back to Cephine with an apologetic smile. "Keon, pull up your tunic. You should not dress so improperly in public."

Water splashes at my feet until I find my pet. I scream seeing little fish nibbling on it. I swat the fish away and pull its dead body out of the water.

I was not expecting Cephine to come out here with me.

"Stay away from my husband."

Her hand grasps the bottom of my tunic and tears it off as though to humiliate me.

She looks down at my womanhood with a pasty, thin smile. Her eyes are wide though as if she is both surprised and happy by what she sees.

I did not live in luxury. As I tried to eat the bugs the bugs tried to eat me too. Many lumps and scars cover the area but it is not my fault.

Her laugh reminds me of Femke. My tunic leaves her hand. My heart thuds slowly watching her return to land where Adler stands. I watch her hand come up and slap him across the face.

I cradle my dead pet to my chest, slumping down into the cold shallow water.

"It's okay, baby," a deep voice coos. A familiar touch scoops me out of the water. "I'll buy you two new ones."

I step into my wet tunic. Adler lifts me up.

"You need to say goodbye to your pet."

"Cephine killed it!"

"I know."

"Don't touch me," I hiss through my teeth. I drag my pet through the water in a hurry to get away from him.

"Greta," he says sounding sad. "Come out of this filthy water. The mongrels throw their waste and such in here."

He rests his hands on his waist. Cephine looks down at me with what must be her best sad smile. Her hand remains on my god's chest as she whispers secrets.

Just watching them makes me sick.

No one understands me.

No one could love me.

Not even my god.

I'm not supposed to be here.

I turn away from them and go back inside the gazebo where they cannot see me. My hands are eager as I unsheathe my sword.

"Greta?" I watch his silhouette until it reaches in front of me. "No!"

My heart is already dead. I plunge the knife into the most painful area of my chest so I can finally remove it and free my soul from this hell.

My body falls into his arms. His face twitches as he gnashes his teeth watching Cephine approach.

"Bring...m-me my heart," I whisper through warm blood.

Maybe I am horrible. Adler lays me down gently. He turns away.

Cephine screams are annoying to me. I watch Adler uncoil his whip from around her throat. The crescent above his head lifts off its antenna. Abruptly, she goes silent, it lands on her forehead and cuts downward sending blood everywhere. It keeps moving down, cutting her body in half until it is able to burrow into her rib cage and remove her heart.

The crescent travels over to me as if to deliver the item.

Instinct makes me open my mouth and swallow the organ.

My new heart.

My injuries begin to heal on their own as I stand to my feet.

"This is why our race is hated, my sweet. Please don't ever forget I love you again."

***

ENOCH

I move faster. A strange fog has settled over the lake of our city. Two shapes stand beneath the gazebo.

I walk closer.

"Oh, Adler."

My heart stops as I spot Greta straddling my father. She's leaned up against one of the columns moaning like a whore.

"You feel so good," Adler coos gently while moving in and out of her. "So perfect. The gods made you just for me. Her heart was delicious, wasn't it, my sweet?"

The mist on the ground clears.

Right by Adler's feet lays a bloody carcass. Cephine's mouth is twisted open in horror. Her eyes still wide-even in death. Bones and blood spill over her cut-open body.

What an atrocious sight.

They hear my cry of disgust.

"Don't take a step further," Brommy speaks behind me. I flinch feeling his sword poke into my back. "She tried to murder Greta once before. You know that."

"Monsters," I whisper feeling light headed.

"Ah, Enoch," my father breathes heavily. Disgusting. He grunts while detaching himself from Greta having poisoned her womb. Their lips are smeared in Cephine's blood. Adler's eyes are a complete sliver. He blinks hard and they return to normal. "So kind of you to join us on this beautiful night."

Greta looks humiliated standing naked beside him. She hides her face in his arm.

"You think Zard won't find out?"

"You're going to kill Zard. I know you want to," Adler chuckles while approaching me. "Take your war advisor and put an end to his rule. This planet is in good health. It's no dying star. Make it yours, Enoch."

I can't respond to him. I tried my best to protect Greta from him. Now, the worst has happened.

☁️