Eden: The Eighth Day Part 1

Terra Sancta – 200 BC

It was a relentless and self-destructive ritual, yet Minerva lived for hope. One day the saviour would return to the lands and rid them of the demon plague. She just needed to find a way.

Maybe tonight.

A breeze offered its welcome refreshment, causing her ragged skirt to dance across her crooked toes. Her bare feet were shredded with thorns, a gift from the starved earth of the jungle, earth that was once quenched, bright and alive. Eden.

Scents of moss and exotic plants had snaked up her nostrils in those long distant days. The sounds of life had cawed and screeched overhead and she could easily recall the cool kiss of dewy vines upon her ebony flesh. Now lingered a brittle ghost, starved, dry and lifeless; a hunting ground for the damned.

With a sigh, she gazed up to the sky through withered branches; her cataract-frosted eyes an illusion to disguise her perfect sight. Everybody needed an advantage in this world and she had discovered the deception of frailty. The demons sought strong and healthy beings, people whose bodies they wished to possess; this way she stayed invisible to them. A necessity, she concluded, should her gifts be of use to anyone.

Minerva let her eyes rest on a star that shone brighter than the rest, the Seraph Star; a hypnotic blue giant that seemed close enough to touch. She cocked her matted grey head to direct an ear skywards and she listened. Tonight though, the stars remained silent.

‘Stubborn ol’ fools,’ she grumbled, shaking her fist towards the sky. ‘You be sorry when there nothing left.’

She shuffled in her spot, searching for a solid base. Satisfied, she clapped her hands at arm’s length, pushing out her pink tongue through a mischievous, toothless grin. ‘Now you gone and done it. I thought you have learned be now.’ She chuckled. ‘Or… you be testing me? Clever! Clever! But de time for games has passed. I be needing answers. I fear the end is too close.’

She clapped her hands once more, the action reverberating through her body with a vibration of blue energy. She opened her mouth to let it smoke through her lips, curling its way around her like a python. It picked up speed, a whirlwind stirring the hem of her skirt.

Soon enough her skirt flapped like a rag in a storm, lashing at her bare knees, but Minerva failed to notice, too engrossed by her task. The blue fog extended to the nearby branches, ripping the weak ones free with a snap. Minerva raised her head and arms towards the sky and the charged energy followed her lead, lunging for freedom like an electric tornado. There she remained a crooked blue blur in the eye of a storm, eyes trained on the Seraph Star.

She held it there for a few moments, frozen as she narrowed her eyes to focus and then a shriek of her delighted laughter shattered the night. She pulled the energy back inside her, the force knocking her from her feet.

They listened, actually listened this time. Her toothless grin stretched across her entire face. A solution had been offered, but as her mind caught up with the ecstasy in her heart, her smile receded. But at what cost? She sank back on the dirt.

She could not defeat the demons alone; there were too many of the vile creatures and their savage pets. No, only one chance remained. The world needed the saviour to return. An infant, taken to be protected by the stars and only able to return to a human donor. A freshly deceased body.

Despite the thousands of dead taken by sickness and malnourishment, Minerva had never been able to find a match. Soul to match body. The one rule. The star child had only been hours old when she was taken, which left Minerva with two options. Prize a body from his grieving mother, or kill an infant herself. Her lips curled in a snarl. The mere thought of it. She was no demon.

Tonight though, she had been enlightened. An infant’s form, a poor soul who never made it beyond her mother’s womb, was nearby. There her body rested, untouched and pure. She battled with her wills, tightening her lips with worry. Was it too cruel? A mother to give birth to a child that wasn’t her own? But this was the best opportunity yet, a way to bring the star child back without harming another. Surely it would be crueller to let the mother look upon the lifeless form of her newborn? Minerva remembered the pain of losing a child, something no mother should endure.

She nodded. She would do it. The world needed a saviour and the mother deserved a child. As if reading her thoughts, the brittle jungle burst into sound; distant screeches of the demon pack. Hysterical squeals of delight that betrayed the undeads’ motive of massacre. They were headed towards a camp that the mother and infant inhabited. Minerva tensed. She turned and sprinted in to the ruthless undergrowth. The race was on.

Chaos reigned in a nearby clearing as the demons rampaged through a small community. Green mongrels leapt over barbed branches of the surrounding undergrowth, landing on sharp claws beneath sinewy legs. Screeching laughter escaped from their hyena grins, exposing rows of razor-sharp yellowed teeth.

’Tasa reme laris,’ they chanted in unison.

Screams and shouts of terror echoed around the clearing, only to be swallowed by the trees. The pack scurried about the camp on all fours, rounding up the eligible, their red eyes searing through the night as they focused on the hunt. They slowed to stalk their victims, growls rumbling from their bellies before they pounced, their jagged teeth ripping through the throats of anyone foolhardy enough to attempt rescue.

In the face of terror, heroes emerged. Men, women and even children fought the beasts with makeshift weapons. Rocks and sticks, broken fences and fire-lit tinder became swords and missiles in their hopeless war. Failing to find weapons, some souls used their bare hands to grab the demons and rip them apart, but the cursed don’t die. Their damaged bodies healed and the new flesh and bone regrew stronger than before. Panic spread as neighbours, friends and loved ones fell to the pack, which only served to rouse the mongrels’ excitement. Chants and growls turned to yelps of delight as they pinned their captured to a row of trees on the outskirts of the clearing, waiting for their masters. Their claws sunk into the captives’ soft stomachs, causing bloody tears to trickle over their skin.

A mother pulled her baby to her chest and darted for freedom. Her feet pounded the earth, leaping over dead bodies and abandoned possessions, her goal in sight. A triumphant smile spread as she reached the edge of the clearing where she stopped, feeling a sharp pain in her calf.

She turned, triumph turning to fear as she saw the parasite latched on to her. It pulled her from her feet and her arms instinctively spread to stop her fall. She looked on helpless as her poor baby rolled away from her, his frightened screams the last sound she would ever hear as the beast tore into her throat.

Minerva stumbled through the undergrowth and paused to survey the devastation. ‘Noo!’ she screamed. She was too late; there was no chance a heavily pregnant woman could outrun these monsters. She had failed.

The second wave of red eyes charged through the bushes. The masters had arrived to claim their prizes. These were giants, monsters with rotting flesh on their arms that revealed purple muscles as wide as an ox’s neck. Black veins pulsated with excitement and hollow chests exposed their beating tar hearts. Their heads resembled skulls of different beasts, which they wore to disguise their hideous faces. They strode to the line of trees, carrying rope to tie their victims, and threw fleeing bodies to their pets with a flick of their enormous wrists.

Minerva turned in the direction of a piercing scream and her breath caught in her chest. Could it really be so? The scream came from a young woman who clung to her lover as a mongrel demon ripped into his calf. Her face was beautiful, tanned olive by the sun’s light, her lips rosy and eyes a striking green. Her hand rested on her stomach, where beneath a baggy scrap of cloth that posed as a dress, Minerva could just make out a swelling. The woman was with child.

There was no time to lose and Minerva scaled the distance of the clearing to the pair. She leapt over bodies four at a time, kicking aside any beast that dared lunge for her. Demon after demon yelped as they fell, unable to recover from her terrific blows. One of the demons who was descending on the pair turned, hearing its comrade’s fall. It saw her and snarled, holding her gaze for a moment before tearing towards her. It was bigger than the others, the alpha, Minerva reasoned.

It leapt as it breached the distance between them, baring its teeth, which shone with bloody drool. Minerva snarled back at it and extended her arm, ready. It was just inches from her throat now and, without halting her progress, she gripped the beast around its own throat. It howled in surprise and then let out a strangled yelp before its neck snapped in her grip. Its body fell limp and Minerva discarded it behind her.

She had covered the distance in mere seconds and now landed behind the pair, simultaneously ripping the demon from the man’s calf. She roared as she ripped the demon’s jaw in two and the pair spun to her in shock. They stared at the dead demon, now limp on the ground.

‘Who are you?’ the woman asked, awed.

Minerva didn’t respond. She could see the remaining two demons closing in on the pair, circling in a careful and controlled manner.

‘Come,’ Minerva ordered, grabbing the woman’s wrist to pull her away to safety.

The woman resisted, looking down at Minerva with suspicion. ‘Not until you tell me who you are.’

‘Right now I be your baby’s saviour,’ Minerva said, eyeing the woman’s stomach. ‘There is no time to argue you can either trust me or I leave you here to take your chances wi’ the cursed.’ She pulled on the delicate wrist again and this time the pair followed. They sprinted to the trees and Minerva stopped.

‘No,’ she said, holding a hand up to the woman’s lover, ‘you cannot come.’

‘What?’ the woman started. ‘No! No! I won’t leave him. I won’t and you can’t seriously expect that!’

‘Juno,’ he cried, grabbing his lover’s hand and pulling her towards him. He turned on Minerva, ‘Who do you think you are? We’re not your toys to play with! You can’t pretend to save us and then rip us apart yourself, I won’t allow it. Come Juno! We’ll stick to the plan and escape to the forest. We’ll find others there and re-build like we always have.’ They turned to leave.

.

Minerva placed a gentle hand on Chiron’s chest and glanced with sorrow at the man’s leg, which was oozing a dark, foaming liquid from the demon hound’s bite. ‘I understand your pain, Chiron––’

‘How do you know my name?’ the man demanded, eyes suspicious.

‘I know many things, child. But that is not our concern right now. I need to protect Juno and your unborn child. The beast has marked you and your blood would lead them to us. Do you want their deaths on your conscience?’

Understanding dawned on him, ‘No – I.’ his eyes flickered with sadness, pain, loss and fear ‘There has to be another way! You claim you can save our child? We saw what you did to the demons. Surely with power like that you can cover our tracks? Keep us safe somehow? Extract the hounds venom? Something! Anything! If I’m not with Juno, who will protect her and our baby? They need me, can’t you see that? If I’m not there with them then saving them now will be for nought! Who will be there for them when the next attack comes?’

Minerva released an impatient sigh, her eyes darting back over the devastation. There wasn’t time for this, but he was right – she was essentially ripping them apart; destroying a deep and meaningful love. They deserved something at least. ‘Given time, yes I could help you, but time be the crucial ingredient we don’t have. On any other day, the minutes it would take be nothing, but today my friends, every second counts. I am sorry I cannot save you all, but the child is why I am here. The child needs saving. I will stay with them both until the time comes that they not be needing me. I will protect them and keep your memory safe to pass to her when she is ready.’

Chiron’s shoulders slumped, any remaining fight he had gone.

Juno noticed his defeat, ‘Chiron, no! Don’t tell me you’re listening to her? For all we know she could be one of them.’ She looked up into his eyes and saw that he had made his decision. ‘No!’ she said. ‘No! You can’t. Chiron, you can’t leave me.’ Her own tears began to fall over her cheeks.

He took her face in his hands and held her gaze. ‘I will never leave you, Juno, my soul will always stand beside you, but I need to do this, for you and our baby.’ He swallowed down his fear and laid a last kiss on her lips before prizing her hands from around his waist. ‘I love you.’

He nodded and Minerva grabbed Juno by the waist as he turned, returning to the horror of the night.

Juno howled, clawing, kicking and squirming to get to her lover. ‘No!’ she screamed as she watched a pack of green parasites descend on him.

They dragged him to the trees and he let them, closing his eyes to the sight of his distraught lover. It was always supposed to end this way.

‘It be OK now, child. You safe now. Nothing to fear here.’ Minerva spoke softly, lifted the woman like a feather and headed through the undergrowth. She set Juno down by a tree, still holding her squirming body tightly, clutching her arthritic fingers to Juno’s swollen belly. ‘You be calm now. I be protecting you.’

She whispered some intelligible chant to the sky and Juno watched as her captor’s fingers began to glow with a brilliant blue light. She began to feel nauseous and then…

A kick.

A squirm.

A thump.

She gazed down in wonder at her wriggling bump. She smiled, a brilliant smile and then she laughed. Her baby! And then, looking back through the trees at the devastation, she cried.

The fight was over. The few survivors lay injured on the ground. Moans of pain drifted through the air and cries of loss pierced the jungle. A helpless baby lay screaming beside his lifeless mother. Survivors pulled their broken bodies along to try to reach the infant but it was no use, the damage was too severe.

The mongrels were chanting:

’Tasa reme laris daemon!’

’Tasa reme laris daemon!’

’TASA REME LARIS DAEMON!’

They were hysterical now, jumping and screeching towards the men and women tied to the trees. Some of the prisoners cursed while others cried. Some stayed silent, a stubborn look on their faces, but it all came to nothing now. The masters stood guard, silent. One dragon-headed beast separated from the group, dagger in hand, and glided towards the screaming infant. It picked up the tiny boy, Orion, by the legs, his screaming head dangling towards the floor, and raised him towards the pack.

’Sacrificium!’

The others cheered and chanted louder as the dragon sliced the delicate infant’s neck. Orion’s crying ceased.

’Tasa reme laris daemon! TASA REME LARIS DAEMON!’

The dragon strode towards the campfire with Orion’s body swinging at his side and descended, unscathed, into the flames. Remorseless, it threw Orion to the centre with a crackle of sparks, and marched back to the pack. In a swift movement, another rhino-headed demon sliced the first prisoner’s neck. A mass of despair erupted down the line while the demons squealed in elation. They yelped and bounded like puppies, desperate for a reward, while prisoner by screaming prisoner had their neck sliced. The rhino stopped as he reached the last man. His green eyes entranced him.

‘You will burn for this,’ Chiron spat.

The demon grunted in what sounded like a laugh as it raised its dagger to Chiron’s throat. Juno’s lover gulped like a fish, twitching as blood sprayed from the wound. Life began to flow from him in crimson rivers and his emerald eyes faded to grey until, with bitter relief, his head slumped forward, defeated.

The last man dead, the mongrels and their masters raced for the feast. They began to gorge on the dying men’s blood, sucking and licking and rubbing it over their rotten flesh.

Satisfied, they stepped back from the bodies, their full bellies producing a calm silence. The rustle of wind and crackles from the fading fire the only audible sounds, until a deep and distant humming began; a low drone at first, a harmless sound. The volume increased, stones and dirt from the earth beginning to bounce with the vibrations.

Flames jerked and leapt, and abandoned corpses danced with revolting spasms. The smaller demons fell to the ground, unable to maintain their balance, and the lifeless shells of the prisoners convulsed. Those demons who remained stable, raised their arms and they were lifted, heads pulled towards the heavens by invisible strings. The prisoners’ bodies mimicked their action, exposing a line of black gashes on their necks.

The vibrations stopped. The demons collapsed into a heap on the ground, mere corpses already starting to decompose with a toxic fizz. The prisoners’ eyes shot open staring a red, demon glow into the night. The possession had been a success.