Lovers’ Quarrel

xxx

‘I don’t mind improvising from time to time, but the anxiety almost made me release his disguise mid assault,’ Cuma thought.

He walked up to the last spot his brave soldier stood.

‘I’m glad he gave you a swift death, but I’d have loved to cherish a memento of your heroism, Uzi. I guess it’ll only be the memories.’

He crouched to pick up the baby. ‘Look at all the trouble we go through to have the privilege of fathering you.’

He only held him for a second, though, for two balls of fire blazed from his back, exiting out of his chest, filling his insides with heat not only from the fire itself.

He turned around only for another to blow his leg off, making him drop to the floor.

‘I see even you can be harmed when caught off guard,’ she said, climbing out of a hole in the ground. ‘You’re clever, but cheap tricks can’t help your frail body!’

‘Viera,’ he said, lying on the ground, with his inside leaking out of his mouth in a gray gas.

‘The day of retribution has finally come,’ she said.

‘How did I not notice her..? She’s shouldn’t be able to fool me like this, damn it!’ Cuma thought as his vision began to blur.

Seeing her charge a last blast to end him, he began pleading.

‘Wait, V… Viera, we both know murder doesn’t suit you!’ thinking: ‘This is bad. I can’t die here, not now!’

‘Shut your mouth! You can’t manipulate me any longer. I’ll get my revenge, right here, right now!’

Out of a primal urge to escape, Cuma dug his hands in the sand and tried to crawl away from her.

‘Please… someone, Cek, Yaş, help me… You were right, Yaş, I should’ve brought you with me. I was careless,’ He thought

‘It’s time!’ she shouted.

‘Anyone, please, isn’t there anybody! Any… body…’

A wave of flames closed in on his back. With a final prayer, Cuma closed his eyes, his soul leaving his body before he could feel the pain of being torched alive.

xxx

‘I did it, dad. I finally did it!’ Viera said with a smile. She let her shoulders hang down and exhaled a breath of relief.

After betraying her trust and causing the death of her father, Viera swore to kill the man responsible. Years she tried, but her clever attempts, although admirable, were never enough to put him down. However, her strength didn’t lie in her power or intelligence, but in her tenacity.

Victorious, she stepped over the smoldering remains of her once lover turned mortal enemy, and took a seat next to the baby, caressing the blonde hair on his yellow hued white skin.

‘I always wanted to raise a child,’ she whispered. ‘It seems I had to take a life to make that dream come true. Oh, how beautiful you are. I’ll take care of you and keep you far away from men like Cuma. I promise.’

She jolted at a sudden sting of pain in her ankle.

‘Ah! What, oh, a snake?’ she thought as the snake slithered a short distance away, just to stop and stare at her.

Patting her wound, she noticed the hole the snake had come out of. When looking closer, however, a chill of terror rushed through every inch of her body. The tunnel the snake took was visible by a thin line of sunken sand, leading straight to the ashes of Cuma.

Her body started to tingle and before she knew it, her torso fell on top of the baby’s belly.

The snake came carefully closer.

‘No-no-no-no-no,’ Viera thought.

The snake coiled around the baby’s chest and began dragging his feet out from under Viera’s breasts.

‘No-no-no-no-no!’ she thought once more.

The snake took the baby further and further from the paralyzed woman, tears rising from the sides of her eyes, with an expression unable to portray her genuine feelings.

‘God, why?’ she asked, watching the newborn go. Her vision turning black as she uttered; ‘Cuma.’

xxx

‘Shame on me,’ the snake thought. ‘A simple stepping stone towards my goal took quite a toll. It’ll be at least a year before my body grows back. Oh well, a minor setback in the grand scheme of things, eh, kiddo?’

‘I shouldn’t say that… I’m sorry. Tiger, you served me well these past hours, you also deserved better.’

Cuma looked at the newborn. ‘I’ll try to get us to Ryut as soon as possible, but unfortunately, your bum is going to suffer some major scratches, nonetheless. I’m happy snakes can’t hear that well. I haven’t gotten used to the low volume at all, so now I don’t have to endure the hellish cries you must be letting loose, seeing from the sight of your face.’

‘If you were the son of anyone but Kali, I might’ve given you something similar to my name. Not only do I want to honor my late friend, but you look and act exactly like a Culus already. Since I’ll be the one raising you, I guess I do have the right to name you… Hmm. When Viera and I were still together, we talked about having children. We agreed that I’d get to name the boys and she the girls. We planned a lot about our future, actually. Who could’ve known it was going to end up like this, right? Anyway, I remember the disappointment on her father’s face when he heard about our agreement. He probably thought there was not a single chance for his grandson to carry the same name he has. To be honest, I liked his name the moment I heard it: Igni.’

‘I think I’ll go with that, Igniculus (Eegneecooloos), a name I’m sure will fit you well.’

xxx

After days of pulling, Cuma saw Yaş flying in from the distance.

‘Final-fucking-ly, someone heard the siren,’ Cuma thought, exhausted out of his mind.

‘My man! Hey, can you carry us both to Ryut, I’m super tired,’ Cuma said when Yaş landed near him.

‘God fucking damn it, that’s loud! Who the fuck does this brat belong to!’ Yaş shouted, but looking around, couldn’t see a single soul.

‘Oh wow, he seems mad, I wonder what he’s saying,’ Cuma thought. Yaş looked down at Cuma. ‘Yo, missed m-‘ Cuma tried to say before Yaş stomped him in the face.

‘Huh?’ Yaş thought, surprised the snake didn’t leave already. ‘Come on now, let the baby go.’

‘Ouch, ah, ouch! Stop it, what the hell are you doing!?’

‘I said let go!’ Yaş shouted with another stomp.

Cuma let go and slithered a couple of feet away. ‘I-I almost died! Again!’ he shouted, but then he realized that even though he has a mouth, he couldn’t speak in a way his friend could understand.

‘Holy crap, your back’s bleeding!’ Yaş said, ‘no wonder you’re crying.’

He examined the child. After taking a close look at the child’s hair and eyes, he realized who he was holding. ‘Wait a minute! You must be him! Kali’s brat!’

‘Cuma! Cuma! Where are you?’ he started shouting, flying high in the air with his dark blue wings.

‘Oh shit, I probably shouldn’t draw so much attention, since if the baby’s here, the Conqueror might be close,’ Yaş thought.

Seeing Yaş lowering himself to ground level again, Cuma made his way to him and began bumping his ankle. ‘I’m Cuma. Come on, figure it out!’

‘Fuck off!’ Yaş said, kicking him away. He sighed. ‘I hope he’s safe. I should probably take you to Ryut. Knowing Cuma, he’ll probably show up some way or another…’

‘Yaş, you’re dead to me!’ Cuma said, flying away, crying.