ANNEXE

  At first, there was light. Crafted to a form with no flesh, no aging.

  Second came the sky, the wind, with wings to move around the atmosphere.

  Third, the earth, for protection, ought to survive.

  Fourth came nature, the trees, the life of everything.

  Fifth was the star of fire, a bird at first growing to the sky, and then the armor was made with harsh scales to be safe to the ground. Unlike their siblings, the star of fire preferred to stay with the true nature rather than looking like creatures of the Spirits.

  Sixth was the day for the waters to emerge, to breathe, to hunt.

  Seventh, was the day for the falling blood.

  AKHET FORTY YEARS AGO.

  Guinevere loved living in Elysium. She had a peaceful life by just flirting, dancing, and eating every sweet her eyes could find.

  That is why she was now sneaking to the garden with a guard, drinking the sweet, bitter wine, Nektar, and laughing all night.

  Whispering sweet nothing to the guard’s ear with a strawberry close enough to her teeth.

  But her eyes were far away from the guard, right to the place where she was more interested.

  His hands wrapped around her waist, he was pulling her closer as her head was on the opposite side, eating two tarts at once.

  ‘’Guinevere’’ A man behind the bushes whispered.

  The guard flinched and looked back at the girl.

  ‘’Wait, you are’’ He said with disgust, watching the man’s kelps, silky and stuck hair, and sweaty flesh. And most important, his gills, his long fish ears. His bluish complexion and his full sea green eyes.

  Guinevere smiled and faced the guard.’’Hush now, the adults are talking.’’

  And the guard’s lips got pressed together to a thin line, making his eyes dart in confusion.

  ‘’What’s the matter? Lancelot?’’ Guinevere returned with a narrowed brow.

  He just arched his eyes and crossed his arms, showing with a simple glare how Guinevere was acting.

  She shrugged and nodded.’’Fine, Fine.’’

  The girl hummed, satisfied, and leaned closer to the guard, whispering into his left earlobe.

  ‘’Die’’

  The guard fell to her like a rotten apple gown within a heartbeat.

  Her green eyes lit up, and she looked at Lancelo,t whose skin was filled with blood.

  ‘’It is in the Ruler’s room’’ He said dryly.

  Guinever stood up and hummed once more, her eyes looking around the night garden. She missed the little moments of escape from the old childhood that she had run from. She missed the scent of flowers that were trapped in a cage.

  Her father did not seem to take out her portrait from the hallway. Or her with her mother. Her slender fingers dressed in emerald gloves with her blue gown wide enough to cover her belly as Guinevere was trying not to cry that day. She could remember her mother judging the painter for painting the filth of her dress, commenting to paint it greener.

  She wanted to stop staring. But Spirits, she wouldn’t let go of the memories of pain and regret. How much she wanted to see her father and little sister.

  But for now, she was the only one who could guide Lancelot to the palace.

  It was dark. Almost no guards around.

  No life.

  Lancelot held Guinever’s hand tightly and looked at her concern. Guinevere knew how well he could read her and it was always terrifying her. How many centuries he lived to see people like her be close to him, being killed and hurt. How easily people knew how to use them. No, he wasn’t like that. He was kind.

  ‘’I will be alright’’ She comforted him and faced the golden door.

  Lancelot moved forward and unlocked the door with the key they stole from a soldier.

  When they opened it, Guinever held her breath and moved inside the dark room. A thick smell of iron filled her nostrils, so she decided to ignore it by rushing inside the room.

  There was a single candle light which was almost ready to fade. Guinevere looked right at her father’s bed, who was sleeping without any sound. It almost concerned her.

  ‘’Guinevere’’ Lancelot whispered as she approached the bed.

  Green heavy thick sheets to hold for a winter. Her father always had a weak body. But he was always snoring loud, so much that it annoyed her even at her quarters. His red hair was almost white from his old age..She grabbed the candle and moved it closer to her father’s body. Sliced throat, dripping blood. The iron smell was even stronger, and his green eyes were looking directly at the ceiling with an expression of terror.

  ‘’It’s a trap’’ Guinevere spoke calmly, restraining her anger.

  Lancelot flinched and took a black stone out of his pocket. Guinver rushed to his side and pushed it to his body, close enough to listen to their heartbeat.

  ‘’What are you doing?’’

  ‘’I have to find the key’’ Guinevere frowned.

  ‘’We can come back, we need to leave. If they catch you.’’

  ‘’They won’t’’ She winced ‘’I will return to Babel’’ Her lips fell to their nose, and then Lancelot vanished into thin air.

  Soldiers entered the room, swords aiming at Guinevere with eyes drunk of hatred.

  ‘’On your knees monster’’One of them yelled.

  Guinever could imagine a million ways to make them die. But it would be of no use. She had to find another way to explain why she was there.

  Getting on her knees and looking away from them, Guinevere could only start thinking about her father. He was once a kind, generous man who was treating her with only love. But her incantation was nothing more than a curse. A reason to be a monster. She ran the moment she found out the truth. Wondering all this time what reaction could have been.

  ‘’Leave us alone’’A familiar brooding voice ordered the guards. The girl did not try to look at the man, not because of fear, but she wouldn’t give him the pleasure or satisfaction of her gaze, meeting hers.

  She was the heir to the throne, so Guinever was always getting visits from the man who was now standing right in front of her with a dark bird mask covering the upper part of his face.

  He made a half bow.’’Your Grace.’’

  ‘’Go away’’ She said with a stutter, feeling her life force fading from her body and attacking the man.

  Instead of walking away, the man grinned with amusement and touched her face, pulling her closer to him, forcing her to look at his dark, hidden face.

  ‘’A puppeteer’’He sighed, shockingly. ‘’You have an interesting gift.’’

  ‘’You make me blush’’ Guinevere grinned with her head jerking to the left and her red, crimson hair falling lower to the floor.

  ‘’Now tell me where the key is’’She growled with narrowed eyes, making her flirt vanish.

  ‘’Pitty,’’ He tilted his head to the left, showing his devious but also disgusted grin. ‘’Your father always said how he missed his little daughter.’’

  Guinevere’s eyes darted left and right as her lips moved away from one another to take deep breaths.

  ‘’Even now, right before you left, his last words were ‘’A long pause, and Guinevere swore she could see him wincing.’’Your own name.’’ Her teeth gritted, and she let out a scream.

  ‘’Where is the key.’’’ Saliva got out of her lips while more and more energy got drained from her body

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  ‘’Seems that the only thing you did not learn was manners.’’He told her dryly with a rasp.

  Guinevere snapped and slapped the man’s hand away from her mouth and stood up on her own feet and looked at her necklace with green emeralds all dressed up, and started counting them. She found ten. Five the size of almonds, five the size of chestnuts.

  ‘’But’’ The man licked his lips and stood up, opening his lips and muttering words that only her dead father and Guinevere were now holding. Her green eyes snapped even bigger.

  The girl tried to look away, feeling in disbelief. Because the key was never there. The key that Lancelot told her was inside, but it was not. The key that Lancelot told her was on Elysium.

  The color faded from her eyes. But not for long, as she told her more about the key, the plan he had for it.

  ‘’Let me ask you, Alchemist?’’ Guinevere asked.

  The man frowned, amused by listening to that word.

  She did not reply to his reaction as she kept feeling the stones in her dress.

  ‘’Are you telling me all of this because I won’t get out alive?’’

  He did not respond either. But there was nothing more to answer as she felt the terror of all of it, of what she had learnt.

  Guinevere lifted her head and smiled, looking at the man with hatred as her hand touched one of the big emeralds, and she was now close to him. The man took a deep breath, noticing her tactic.

  ‘’Now, don’t be coy’’ He said slowly.’’You don’t want to give it to Babel, now do you?’’

  ‘’Why shouldn’t I ?’’ She narrowed her brow. The only place she belonged, the only people that mattered to her were living in that shelter, with all abandon. With everything.

  ‘’Because it will mean that Akhet will fall.’’He let out a deep sigh.

  ‘’And why does it matter?’’ Guinevere spat.

  And a childish voice echoed from behind.

  ‘’Father?’’ A little girl cried.

  Turning her head back, she could see her little sister. She was a spit image of her father. Curly crimson hair down till her nape, round emerald eyes, ready to cry as her stuffed teddy bear fell to the floor, touching her green nightgown. Guinevere;s face cracked. Oh, how much her baby sister had grown?

  ‘’Now, you don’t want your dear sister die, do you?’’

  She faced down and tried to avoid her sister’s crying eyes as she tried to remember how to scream.

  The man’s hand found her shoulder. He was right, she did not want her sister to die. She couldn’t take her to Babel either. She wouldn’t. But the key shouldn’t stay in Babel.

  ‘’Now, surrender’’The man sounded as if he was trying to threaten her. And for a moment, it felt like one of her commands. She was ready to do it, with her knees giving up, her mind going to blur. But no, not yet.

  She then touched the emerald, and she was now outside the room, and her hands clenched into fists. She had been taught by many warlocks and powerful demons how to find the amount of energy someone was possessing. She had seen and felt it right in her veins.

  This key had the most power that she had ever experienced, making her skin and heart break from the pain. She could see the guards rushing to her side.

  ‘’Stop’’ She ordered them, and everyone stopped walking at once. Her eyes looked around with their sharp swords.

  ‘’Drop ‘’ She lifted her hand with her palm showing the floor.

  Everyone obeyed her. Except for one. A dark force stormed from the frozen crowd with a long sword that could cut anything in sight.

  And Guinevere danced around the sharp figure with her clothes being cut and blood falling to the floor. She let out a shout.

  ‘’Stop attacking’’ She ordered the supposed to look like a man. Thick brown hair, short, tied in a ponytail. Eyes silver like the moon. Tall, great height, broad shoulders, and with a silver uniform just like his piercing eyes.An attack that they could not stop, even from her orders.

  ‘’Alright’’ Guinevere licked her tongue and touched the man's sword and pulled him closer, touching one of her emeralds.

  ‘’Let’s dance somewhere else.’’

  Both of them, right up to the wall. The silver eyes one, down to her knees, and sword ready to fight with Guinver’s blood.

  But Guinevere was amused, seeing the man standing at his height, showing his sharp sword. It was silver just like his eyes and just like the one the army were using. But Guinevere could see that the sword and the man had something more to hide as he did not die the minute he stood up to the wall.

  ‘’You are going to be an annoyance to me’’ She frowned and aimed her hand at him.

  ‘’Please die’’ She said softly with a whimper.

  The man growled and jumped at her with the blade, cutting the air in the middle.

  Guinevere was on the ground as the blade caressed her throat coldly and roughly, with the man hissing right at her. But Guinevere the only thing could think of at that moment was the man’s beauty.

  He was twenty, twenty five not older than Guinevere. His complexion clean like crystals and his eyes burning from the passion.Maybe it was how much he wanted her dead. His thick dark freckles looked like stars upon the sky.

  Waking up from the beautiful spell, Guinevere took one step closer to the other side of the cliff. The man did too. And nothing happened. He crossed the border. And nothing happened.

  ‘’You are a warlock’’ Guinevere gasped. The man did not react.

  ‘’And deaf’’

  Guinevere rose her legs and kicked the man to the stomach, pushing her back to the other side of the wall.

  For one second, Guinevere felt relieved. And then she saw that the man was holding her ankle.

  ‘’You ‘’Guinvere screamed as she fell with the man.

  BABEL, 2 WEEKS AGO.

  Enki was described as a woman of few words. The truth was, she did not care about conversations. Even when council members were trying to inform her about current situations, she could always remove the perfect screws that were connecting her ears with the lobe, making it perfect for her not listen to the conversations. A body that was half machine…A masterpiece that she had complete control over. Just like her laboratory.

  Every corner, every inch was designed especially for her, crystals to use, copper to bend with her own mechanical hands. Books that were guarded by her for centuries and…

  The door had no ddoorknob no lock. No crystal could get them in. One of her designs as she had a specific artifact made for herself to let her in. Only two existed by her as Rudra was begging her to share a room sometimes.

  She moved the golden key, which contained twelve different crystals in total, and opened it by being lifted upwards.

  As her mechanical legs stepped on the crystal floor, she was being approached by Nansa. Her small, fluffy dog. Or a gift that was being given by Rudra, telling her it would keep her company. But as long as she had her, Enki could only notice how fat she was getting each day.

  ‘’What’s the matter, pup?’’Enki kneeled down and petted her black fur, and she barked back.

  Her prosthetic eyes narrowed with messages of temperatures that had been sent back to her mind. Everything was in the perfect warm temperature ... except for a small part of Narsas, which was cold.

  Enki lifted herself and scanned around the room for different temperatures.

  ‘’Show yourself,’’Enki ordered as she could see fragments of different temperatures roaming all over the place.

  There was a smirk from her flesh.’’Clever one’’She clapped her hands as she kept walking around. The temperature now changed all around. As if someone could move in the shadows.

  ‘’But stealing from me,’’ She lifted her index finger, and a piece of copper got lifted up and with the command of hers, fell right at the right side of one of her closet doors.’’ It’s rather foolish.’’ She said and walked closer to open the door.

  Nothing. Strange, I thought that it was there.

  That made Enki confused as she moved the piece of copper right back at her…ready to touch her. Not so fast, though, as she moved the copper right back to the exit, piercing it to the wall.

  ‘’Ah’’A voice cracked, and Enki looked to see a very short girl trying to sneak out with a box. Has she ever met her before? Was she around fourteen? Fifteen? Sharp ears, almost red…A hybrid? Looking down, she noticed that she had a long, dark tail, moving left and right. So she was fifteen…long dark hair, bronze skin, and that scar.

  ‘’Oh fine’’The hybrid gasped dramatically, walking left and right, almost stepping on her gray coat.

  ‘’You caught me, I surrender’’She showed both of her hands and tail.

  ‘’Take me, be the big hero’’ The child pouted.

  She looked so familiar, but Enki could not remember where.

  ‘’Who are you again? And how did you break in?’’

  The girl’s jaw fell to the floor.

  ‘’I am…Mara? The wanted criminal?’’

  She shrugged it off. ‘’Doesn’t ring any bell.’’

  The girl lowered her arms, sighing in disappointment. Enki decided to get over with all of it and turn her to Hermes or whoever was in charge nowadays. But how did she get in? And how. Then, her eyes caught that right beneath her coat, there was one of Enki’s keys, a weapon, and…’’

  Her copper brows arched up.

  ‘’Listen now, little girl, this is not….’’

  A drop of sweat fell from her brow as her eyes turned to see something that was hiding right behind Enki.

  ‘’What are you doing?’’ shouted the girl to someone who was standing right behind the inventor.

  Enki looked behind her, but there was nothing to be seen. None was there.

  What the…

  She moved back to the girl’s side only to find that she was gone. Enki was a genius inventor, and she could see every last detail. But now, she has been fooled by the oldest trick in the book.

  No time to run after her. Enki turned on her table to take one of her bracelets with the crystals, and she noticed one of the files Rudra left her to read.

  Wanted posters. Now, looking at Mordred’s face in one of them, she could remember a few people who were with him. That took the artifact…

  And the other poster…

  ‘’Mara of Diyu…’’She thought outloud.’’Her bounty is so low, and she doesn’t seem that dangerous’’Another good look at the poster, and it hit her right to all her cogs. It can’t be…

  Enki cursed between her lips as she held her bracelet up and held the green crystal.

  ‘’Hermes’’She panted.

  ‘’Hermes, call out your stupid birds.’’

  ‘’What’s the matter?’’Hermes voice answered with a sort of laugh.’’Haven’t heard you worry so much..’’

  ‘’They came back’’She said breathlessly.

  ‘’Really?’’ There was joy in his tone. Of course, Enki would cut out his joy instantly.

  ‘’And they took…’’She searched around the room to make sure and then looked her eyes up and then down.’’They took the portal for Camelot.’’

  He didn’t respond for a second, but his voice was calm.

  ‘’Are you sure?’’

  Enki let out a hysterical laughter.’’That hybrid girl came out of nowhere and took it, she…’’

  ‘’I will deal with this,’’ reassured Hermes.

  ‘’Hurry up because…’’Enki panted.’’Hermes, if they go, if she goes there, we are all doomed.’’