Chapter 44: Androgyny
Pain and fear pushed me unwillingly toward consciousness. Imprisoning shackles held me fast to what used to be a soft and lavish bed of comfort. The bedding now lacerated my skin and burned with the most minute of movement. The fibers of the fabric seemed to be made of razors that pressed mercilessly against me, slicing and tearing at my flesh. A fowl, rotting scent seeped into my senses triggering a wave of nausea, something that was completely foreign to me. More than feeling it, I could actually hear the sizzle of my skin burning beneath the sun's golden kiss. I wanted to scream, but actual movement was nearly impossible under the weight of the sun. The monster within me roared in pain and agony as it thrashed angrily inside of me. My blood whipped through my veins seeking shelter in the darkest parts of my body. It burned like a fiery river of lava rolling over the landscape destroying all in its path. The substance that had once saved my life and pulled me into its dark embrace had now turned against me. The grace and divinity of the sun sought to destroy the demon within me who wailed in excruciating pain. The blood that I shared with him scorched me from the inside out and the horrible scent of ash filled my nostrils.
The pain mounted with new intensity as if I was being born out of the comfort of the womb and out into a world of cruelty and suffering. I could endure it no longer. My mind was losing touch, I was dying. The nothingness was returning. This time I knew its familiar embrace, I longed for it. I searched tirelessly for it in the shadows of pain. I raced in mind-fluttering pursuit through a sea of familiar faces locked in my memories, seeking the one that could deliver me from evil and release me from my pain. I called to death, wishing to seduce him and be one with him at last. With a terrible clap of booming thunder, a calmness struck me and all of the torturous burning finally ceased. I was still without my body and lost somewhere in the depths of my own consciousness.
A single voice rang out vibrantly from the vast empty space surrounding me. Waves of light traveled with the vibration of sound. Throaty and deep, it called to me, "Nessie," the voice slithered like a fiery snake illuminating its path in the darkness of my mind. "I have come to save you my child," the faceless voice sang in an ancient lullaby. I did not know the language, but I could understand his soothing words. I felt a stinging tingle as particles of transparent flesh swirled around me loosely shifting into what had been my physical form.
Birthed from the darkness, a face was sculpted in the lightless tunnel before me. The features seemed to twist and wind delicately producing shadows born of no light. The mouth wisped like smoke as it formed the words that danced like stars in the night. "I am Amel, the great spirit that which your existence pays homage. You are my servant of the blood, my empress of the night. I have come to you as the blood within you, the blood that we share, burns within your veins under the light of Ra. These are your final hours and I have come to usher you to the beyond, to join me as a child of the endless night. We are of the same soul, you and I. I have come for you. You will suffer no more." A dark and devious blackness emanated from his hollow eyes, melting into the emptiness surrounding us. The hiss of his voice still lingered in streaking vibrations that beamed liked reflective ripples radiating in a dark pool of water. I felt the particles of my ghostly form shiver as his voice touched them.
A force within me began to stir. The lose form that I had become shook violently and beamed with unparalleled light that seemed to scream with vibrancy and life. The blackness around me was swallowed in one easy gulp by the white blaze that radiated from my flesh. Sweet song filled the air as if someone had poured music into the stillest of nights. Suddenly I was surrounded by the blinding brilliance of diamonds glistening and catching the light and throwing it back at me. My body burst with luminosity. I peered down at my flesh that was now glowing and swirling with golden flecks and appeared to be composed entirely of crystal. I gasped with pleasure and joy as the darkness dissipated into the brightest of all beauty.
"She does not belong solely to you, Amel." The thunderous voiced boomed from all around me causing the diamonds and crystals to bounce with sparkling light. The voice was filled with the unmistakable mark of power and poise and the singing note of femininity. From the depths of the light an eclipsed shadow stepped forth revealing the celestial beauty of a woman's form. Gorgeous arc of foot gave way to lofty legs that swayed into gentle hips. Golden locks of light made up the hair that fell like rays of sunshine over her exposed breasts. The angle of her lovely shoulders reflected her light in every direction and lead to her lengthy neck. Her face stunned. Although she was undeniably female, her countenance marked that of strength and a foreign masculinity. High cheekbones and an arresting jawline stole the fragility from her face.
Blackness swirled in her wake as Amel's full form stepped into the light. "Anryon, she may have been yours by right of her birth, but her soul has been surrendered to the dark blood, my blood. The sun will destroy her," his voice was not unkind, but masterful and sure.
"You may be right, Brother," Anryon's steady voice was thick and luxurious. Her eyes turned to me and for a moment I caught something woefully familiar in her gaze. Although her pupils were composed of honey and liquid gold, they mirrored an image I had seen before. I stared with a furrowed brow searching through my memory to find the paradox. Her sculpted lips arced gracefully, "Yes, she may drown in the light of the sun if she so chooses, but I do not think that will be her choice."
The androgyny before me settled willingly at my feet as if awaiting an answer. Darkness and blinding light swirled together like old friends in the confinements of what was sure to be my final hours. The faces of Anryon and Amel melded together and then shifted back apart again. I stared in witless confusion, something nagged at the back of my mind, the words of expression on the tip of my tongue. Something fought to cover the truth, something was casting shadows purposefully in my thoughts. My eyes found their way back to the wise innocence glowing from Anryon's face. Lifting from concealment the truth broke free on feathered wings.
"Marcus," I whispered. "Your eyes, they are Marcus' eyes!" The somber face before me melted like flamed white wax on a church alter.
"Yes," Amel said as blackness echoed in the light. "Anryon is the spirit that tainted my dark blood. She polluted the line through Marcus." Amel's voice was thick and thudded with the same sound that the human heart creates with the pumping of blood. "Or rather, he through her," Amel sneered cruelly.
Anryon's face shuddered and light forced back Amel's twisting blackness. "Although Amel is cruel in his delivery, he speaks truthfully. Marcus had heard the stories of his ancestors and how the ancient King and Queen had come to be through Amel's jealousy and envy of the flesh. He knew that some spirits were powerful enough to change matter and progress into the living. He came to me seeking comfort. He came to me seeking the light." Her face emptied of all emotion. Her beauty evaporated into a grotesque image of vast loneliness-- somber and unchanging. "He called to me with love," her vibrating voice was but a flutter of insect wings.
"I have seen the change," I said openly. "I witnessed it through the blood of another. I saw Marcus as an ancient species of vampire and then after he had changed into what Marcus refers to as a day walker." My memory jolted through the contrast of Marcus' transformation. Thoughts and theories churned restlessly, "But how?"
Darkness drained the sparkling diamonds from around us as Amel's leathery voice sounded, "He opened himself to her. I felt the strain on my bloodline as I often do when one of my children is being drained of his blood either by force or by choice. Although it pains me, I revel in any emotion, any embodiment of sensation." His dark form twinged at the thought. "Marcus prayed to what he thought to be a goddess of light. He begged for redemption and release from the dark blood. He wanted only to be human for his mortal lover, Didyme."
"He loved me," said Anryon's strong voice. "He begged for me to make him whole again, to give him the light that he had lost. He opened his body and immortal soul to me. He opened his flesh and told me that when the last of his blood had departed I was to enter his body, to take hold to his soul, to save him from the darkness." Anryon's eyes shimmered with glistening golden tears. "But it did not work. I could not save him. I could not return to him his mortal soul. Instead, we fused, just as Amel fused with Akasha."
A hiss surged from the darkness, "How dare you speak her name!" Amel roared. "I sought to avenge my red haired beauties. I wanted to steal her flesh, to steal her life, not to fuse with her!"
"Enough dear Brother," Anryon soothed, allowing the brightness of light to retreat for a moment. "Marcus and I became one. My spirit gave him the power to walk in the light of day, but not as a mortal. The essence of our souls still could not bare the rays of the sun. It cannot consume them as human flesh does. No, it can only repel it, sending it back across the universe to the one who cast it down. That is, until the half-lings came into existence." She smiled lovingly down upon me. Her whole body and the light surrounding it squirmed with delight. "You and the precious few others have been my closest source of success. My spirit is within you, but you still maintain more of your mortal elements. I have watched you closely, Nessie. You have reproduced with another half-ling. Your children are human, but still bare the mark of my light."
The thought of my babies sent me into hysterical panic. "My children," I sobbed, feeling the weakness wash over me.
"But you have taken in the dark blood," Amel interrupted as his heavy voice beat in my head. "You, like Marcus, have combined the line. You have put Anryon and I into the same host, forcing us to share your blood. Marcus has survived because he is the fount. His children could have destroyed him had he not bore the seed. Although he is very powerful, he was weak in the dark blood before fusing with Anryon. You however, are a creature of supreme power," his eyes gleamed with fury. "You possess the strengths of three bloodlines-- the human blood given by your mother, the blood of the day-walker who impregnated her and the dark gift delivered by my child, David." The blackness around us shuttered like an earthquake rumbling from the belly of the mountains. The darkness swelled at Amel's command, "I must posses you, I must have your power!" he thundered.
I shook with a terrible fear and began running furiously, as if I could escape his clutches there in my subconscious. Blackness swept at me from every angle. I felt myself screaming and dodging his flightless attacks, but from somewhere in the spine-chilling darkness came a twinkling smile. Like stars flicking on as the sun sets and the sky blackens, Anryon's chiming words filled my soul, "You have the power to survive the sun, you only need to embrace it, my child."
Child. The word echoed and broke into a thousand pieces. "My children!" I heard myself proclaim. My mind shot to the moments frozen in time when I held them and stared lovingly down into their miniature faces. The love and hope that surrounded their tiny bodies filled me once more and I knew how to escape the darkness of my calling death. I roared in pain and determination and threw the light away from me and just as Anryon's said, I willed the light to reflect from skin and sent it back to the heavens from whence it came.
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