A Song That Echoes by Cully Mack

Author:Cully Mack [Mack, Cully]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

❊　21　❊

The twinkling stars were familiar. Except Mastema had never seen their tangible existence until entering this world. It had taken a while to reorientate himself from his years of study. Not an easy feat, considering he’d only received second hand information from his allies, who with physical form had crossed through Ditallu’s portal, traversed this realm, and copied their likeness onto clay tablets. A tablet was missing. He suspected Buzur had stolen it before he left. Destinies and reading them had always fascinated his brother.

As he weaved through the city, heading for the ruins of Mammentum’s temple, he estimated only a few hours of darkness remained.

The shadows, as if they could withstand the coming day, hid in the mud-brick buildings’ crevices. Inside the pathetic constructions which Shemyaza had taught mankind to make, Shemyaza’s slaves were stirring, though they made no sound. Unaware of Shemyaza’s glamour making them blind to his control and to the slavery in which he’d bound them, they still sensed peril approaching.

From his observations, most never ventured outside, unless to gather essential items. Insight from Gabe verified how their attitude had once been different. The clay bricks and stone cut paving testified to the years they’d spent building Shemyaza’s empire. The gleaming lapis lazuli boundary wall encircling the mountain alone must have taken generations of men to build.

Pathetic. Pathetic men building pathetic walls to protect themselves and a pathetic god. From what? Him! Fools, the lot of them, as if they thought they could hide from him.

As soon as he defeated his siblings, he planned to annihilate every single one of them. Going forward, he’d create men from his loins, in his image, and in his likeness. His gift to a new beginning.

He was reluctant, but he admired the elevated canals running through the city. He recognised what Shemyaza had done with the largest canal, recreating the river from which Elyon had banished them. Maybe when this ended and his empire grew, he’d extend it from the crushed bones of humanity. A memorial. A vein of remembrance for Elyon to gaze upon.

The temple, which no longer existed except for a stone plateau, under which Shemyaza imprisoned Usemi, proclaimed another of his siblings, Mammentum. Long ago, the so-called maker of fates fell from men’s favour and had returned to his world. Men were such fickle creatures, another reason to erase them.

The stairway, as he descended, was as chilled and damp as the Abzu’s upper canopy and he considered, if, like the Abzu, fire and lava consumed the foundations. Shemyaza’s vindictive nature was enough to make it so. Torches, made from swaddling and drenched in oil, hung on the walls. Evidence that someone still came here. He wondered who, as he traversed the tunnel. Shemyaza needed no illuminations.

Usemi, detained behind bars of anbar, was a pitiful sight. His reptilian likeness—dehydrated and shrivelled, his golden eyes dulled and without their usual lustre. As he suspected, the lack of recognition from Usemi confirmed Gabe had never met this foe, though Usemi recognised Mastema’s essence in an instant.

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