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His eyes flicked between the disappearing digit in the fire and how it slowly reshaped around the bleeding stump of my knuckle. “I am… fascinated.”
And I was starting to get angry. “Ah, yes, such is the simplicity of your mortal mind. Eternity in my service shall broaden it.”
His green eyes narrowed. “You are quite arrogant for an immortal chained in a dungeon, stinking up its walls.”
What could he do that had not been done before? “And you are quite bold for a dying man who will soon relinquish his bones to my keep. Mmm, what a fine adornment that polished head of yours will bring to my throne.”
He lifted the blade to my face, taking his time as he carved a slash across my cheek. “Does this not pain you? It ought to… if old scriptures are to be believed.”
As if I would confess such a thing to a mere mortal. “Pain and I are old acquaintances.”
I held his poisonous stare, gathering bone from wherever my tired mind reached. It crushed into the finest powder, drifting on the wind along dark corridors. It passed torches, armed guards, hushed over the filthy stone, down several steps, up others, and through the gaps of the oaken door locking me here.
“All the scrolls, books, and stories kept at the High Temple… no simple tale after all. For two hundred years, the high priests of the realm have prepared to capture you, should you ever emerge.” A smug grin tugged the corners of his mouth. “Still, even charred and pitiful as you are at this moment, I am… humbled to stand in your presence.”
“Oh, I shall teach you true humble—”
“Turn him!” Dekalon leaned into me, his voice dripping with venom. “Turn himtwice.”
Fire engulfed me.
Agony scraped over my mind one degree at a time until I returned from the flames with a growl. “Oh, you foolish mortal. I shall—”
“Keep turning him!”
Blazing, burning, biting flames peeled away barely mended skin, chewing down to flesh still raw and sore. Spin after spin, the torment continued, and death passed me with each one. The air bittered further until, with a nauseating whiff, the mind-numbing stench of ash infiltrated the disfigured leftovers of my nose.
My mind shriveled, collapsing into madness as I gagged and choked on the stench of my charred flesh. I dug my teeth into my tongue until blood seasoned my gums and the organ severed between my clenching bite.
Oh, I would kill him.
I would kill them all!
Many turns later, when my taste of smell had long abandoned me, along with my vision, the wheel stalled once more. Slow footsteps tapped here and there, followed by the high priest’s voice.
“By Helfa, he bit off his tongue. Say something, King of Flesh and Bone. Threaten me while the blood slobbers from the gaps between your teeth.” A chuckle. “Oh… you no longer have much of a tongue for threats. You cannot fathom my hatred for you and the chaos you left in this world after you abandoned us.” His blurred outline appeared in front of me. “People had nobody to pray to; nothing to hope for but endless wandering. Only with the help of Helfa were the temples able to save us from falling into a darkest age.”
I strained my neck, lifting my new eyes to his as I tried curling my reshaped tongue. “Your gosh’a lie.”
His imperious laugh fanned the rage in my blood. “True enough for the people since it got you captured, as the high priests had hoped we would someday. They built a prison strong enough to keep you contained until we burned the last tree, the last dried piece of pig shit.” Lifting the hem of his robes, he squatted before me. “This world only has room for one god.”
“Agreed.”
He scoffed. “You think yourself so superior, yet you’ve failed to escape the soldier’s ambush.”
To save my wife.
I could have overwhelmed them, but not without putting her at risk of getting injured or worse. Pain, torture, cuts… I would suffer a million flames to ensure her safety—I had vowed as much. Ada had vowed to return to my side should we get separated, offering me a source of strength. I would escape this.
Dekalon scrunched up his nose. “An immortal charred black.”
“A temporary predicament,” I said, letting powdered bone rise and settle between the stones where the mortar had crumbled. “Unlike your punishment. That will be eternal. Let your mind think of my words, mortal. I shall offer up corpses to have your soul bound once the time comes.”
His brow lifted. “You speak in riddles.”
“I leave the riddles to my brother.”
Now his brows knitted in all their mortal ignorance, his mind so unassuming about things far greater than he could possibly comprehend. Oh, how blessed my brothers were in being ignored by mortals, for I was the physical embodiment and its ability to suffer pain.
