Visitant Visions

I watched as he dressed me, carried me outside and set me atop the tharlarion. I could see the grief on his face. I knew then how true it was, that he did love me, even though I knew he would never be faithful to me. It was a price I was willing to pay. He took me back to the inn, never realizing how hard I was warring against the current of an endlessly dark sea. I could feel the pulling of my body, the fight for survival, then suddenly the boundlessness of a beautiful horizon. One that slowly waned into blood.

“A storm of wings will fall upon the city, a swarm so dark it will block out the light of lar torvis. The streets will fill with seekers and children will cry in their mother’s arms. The great man locks himself within walls of stone, a fortified city in its own right, and from there he shall rule.”

Lashes fluttered and quiet whispers filled the room, I grabbing his hand with an unusual strength.

“He tricked you. Even now he plots, for you have gone against him too many times. You are a man who is quickly running out of options. But you should know that others are plotting against him, for his friends.. those that he can trust, become fewer with each passing day. And you should also know that there is another man that waits in the wings of his defeat, to take over where he leaves off. It does not stop, and the next man to sit on his debauched throne will be.. worse. It is not your Phelps that is the darkness. It is his new blood, one he has been training in secret, where there are no eyes to disapprove."

“You speak of these things as facts.. I will not allow them.. I love you. We will be happy together. I want to think of nothing but you Astraea..."

The birthmark on the inner recess of my wrist was burning, as if someone had laid a brand to flesh. Only now did the full force of it hit me, as well as its odd shape. The number seven.

And the voices were back.

I took him like a starved lover, hungry for the warmth of flesh, wanting to devour the man whose very heart and soul I had seen into. "I will always love you."

Words that were riddled with familiar farewells, even though saying goodbye was the last thing I wanted. I could feel the end. It was nearing. My end, but how or why or when, I did not know. I kissed him as if it would be our last and I clung to him like a woman that would melt away with the early coming of dawn. But I would not. With Kane it was truth, all pouring into an empty soul and he would be the only man that could ever fill me as such. "I love you so much." The rhythm of sexual faith continued and quickened, I breaking the kiss to arch backwards, the curve of my back crescenting like a Taharian's scimitar, the rain falling and pelting across my body like a hundred small stinging bees. We made love in the midst of a storm, the balcony doors left open. I convulsed against him, wrapped in his embrace, as he was my own. While worlds raged around us, we were safe in our own little haven. At least safe for now. Kisses collided over his face, his cheek, his chin and down his neck. And when we were both spent in our passions, I collapsed against him, warm with the knowledge that he would, when the time came, make the right choice.

I would soon bear the bastard of Kane.