The Eternal

I grit my teeth as air was squeezed from my lungs. My worn out, black leather boots dug into the crook of the tree branch, my legs burning as I hoisted myself up on the very, very top branch. Sure, I was supposed to be down in the caverns, taking lessons from Madam Kerine, but it was a nice night tonight-- something that doesn’t happen often-- and I wanted to enjoy it. Today was also one of the rare days where the air wasn’t full of smoke, steam, fog, or any unnatural pollutant. “Abby! Get down from there!” I grinned, and looked down at the enraged face of Madan Kerine. She found me. I quickly clambered down the tree, my boots and clothes stained brown with the mud from the puddle I landed in. She rolled her eyes at me, before she stalked back toward the cavern entrance. I trailed behind her, not caring about my appearance as the sisters and brothers of the temple rushed around us, whispering prayers for me as they did so. I wanted to give them something to actually pray about, but I refrained from such action, knowing damn well Madam Kerine wouldn’t be pleased by it. She stood at the doorway, and I sighed, pausing as I took in the dingy, moldy and mossy cavern. Standing on a carpet so as to not get their precious shoes dirty on a ‘commoners floor’, there was the House Master, Merid. “You’re tremendously late, boy.” Was the first thing to leave his mouth. I bowed my head to hide the massive eye roll I couldn’t stop from happening. “Our apologies, Clan Master; He was busy running laps and fell in the mud on the hill. It won’t happen again.” Madan Kerine explained, lying through her teeth as she glared at me through the corner of her eye. I grinned, and I swear steam was leaving her ears. “Besides your lack of punctuality, are you aware of why you are here, at this moment, before me?” Merid asked me, acting as if I should actually know whatever he was implying. I scratched the back of my head, messing up my hair further than it already was, and mockingly thought for a moment. “Am I supposed to?” I narrowly missed Madam Kerines elbow jab to my ribs. “What? I didn’t do anything!” I whined, scowling at her as she harshly shushed me, muttering a string of curses. “Will you pay attention?! Thank you.” Merid had yelled in the beginning, and then talked in a calm, quiet voice when me and Madam Kerine shut our mouths. “The Trials of the Eternal are in 3 weeks, and you have the honor of representing our House! Congratulations, Abaddon Meir!” I blinked once, and then again, and then for a third time, my brain not yet registering what it had heard. Madam Kerine’s face turned stern as she said, “I will be attending with the Clan Master to watch your performance. In the meantime, you will train to be the best Eternal candidate we can muster out of you; one that is a sad, sorry excuse for one, but one nonetheless.” And that snapped my brain to action; an insult to my skill. I scoffed, and Madam Kerine rolled her eyes. “I beg your pardon?” My voice was sharp, holding an offended aftertone to it. “Don’t start, and get to training!” Madam Kerine cut me off from an overdramatic rant, shoving me to the floor to force me to start my push ups. She grabbed my shirt as I attempted to make a break for it, and I smacked into the floor with a thump, thanking the gods that I busted my chin instead of cracking my skull open. I slowly got onto my hands and toes, my back straight and my core strong. Merid left after assurance that madam Kerine would spare no moment to train me for the Trails, and I groaned as she added stone after stone to my back, complaining about how weak I had gotten from sleeping last night instead of training through exhaustion. *** I hovered my forehead above the stone floor of the cavern a hair away, my eyelashes brushing at the wet, sticky dirt and grim covering the ground. My right leg was extended so only my toes were touching the floor, and my left leg was crossed under my right leg, my left foot’s toes being the only part of my bottom appendage touching the floor, too. My arms were holding up my top half, bending completely in half, my palms one each side of my head. It was incredibly difficult to do, but Madam Kerine didn’t seem to care. “This is our House's royal bow. When presented in front of the king, this is the bow you will use. Do not bow too early or too late. When the other Eternal’s begin to bow, you will know it is time.” I scoffed. “This is our royal bow? It’s a f*****g torture device!” I grunted, only for her to add another stone. One day I should just throw each of these damn stones into the Cursed Lagoon behind the temple. “Yes. It is. And you will stay like this until Dinner, so get comfortable, Abby.” She answered bluntly, with no hint of remorse or sympathy. I sighed at my fate, and relaxed my mind, closing my eyes and opening my ears. To my right, about 10 paces away, Madam Kerine’s rusted, old and chipping away armor had clunked against a stone as she took a seat, monitoring me. There was water trickling into the cavern from the crack in the wall, no doubt from the water the farms above us didn’t soak up. A few paces to my left-- 30, I believe-- I heard the whine of the rusted hinges of the metal doors that I had entered through 3 weeks ago, and have been unable to leave for anything but food since; If I had to use the bathroom, I had to go while I was out for food. And to put into perspective, I either had to eat, use the bathroom, or take a shower in the span of 20 minutes of the day. I haven’t had a shower in 3 weeks. “Can I quit and hang myself?” “Only if you hang yourself correctly this time.” I made a noise from deep in my throat, before Madam Kerine took the stones off, which is weird-- she never goes against her words-- and hauled me up harshly by my shirt. I planted my feet on the ground to stop myself from toppling over, and quickly followed Madam Kerine as she left the cavern. “Where are we going?” I matched her pace after I got beside her, walking as if I had nothing that could possibly be of concern to me, skipping next to a warrior of our House as I swung my arms back and forth like a child on their birthday. “You must be blessed by the highest elder and swear the oath of Eternalism before we are off to the Trials.” She explained blandly, with a slight, small, miniscule tone of worry in her voice. I looked at her in surprise. “What? Worried I’ll come back in pieces?” I mocked, laughing. I stopped when she didn’t answer, but kept skipping, whistling a happy, off-key tune that I was making up as I went. We entered the elders’ temple, and I immediately shut up. Not because I was told to; If I was I would’ve whistled so hard my lungs bled. I stopped, because the elders are experts in everything. Everything. They know everything. And hear everything. And see everything. And-- you get the idea. I am permanently petrified of these women; they can raise an entire grave-town on a different planet and not even have to stop playing chess to do it. We entered the judgment room, where each elder was sitting around an arched table, Merid sitting in the middle of the table, watching me intensely. The highest elder stood up as tall as she could with her hunched back, and motioned for me to come forward. I stopped when I was a foot away, and kneeled, my head hung between my shoulders. “Such a good boy. Stand up, dear, stand up.” Oh, how I love the high elder; me and her played chess every night before training had started, and I haven’t lost a game yet. I stood up, and grinned at her sheepishly, looking at her warm, smiling face. Yes, I’m very afraid of this woman, but is she the only person I care about and is my only friend? Absolutely. I kicked at the ground, and scratched my head, finally giving in and tugging the leather strap from my hair, unwilling to be delicate with my scalp. She smiled at me again, and I smiled back at her my most charmingly, making her chuckle. “You keep doing that and I’ll make you farm until midday tomorrow.” She warned under her breath, making sure nobody heard her. I smirked smugly. “Why? Afraid I’ll win at chess again?” I shot back, making her scowl at me with a teasing glint in her eyes, along with amusement swimming around in them. But of course, we were cut short when Merid started to complain about this taking too long and to “just get on with it.” “Abaddon Meir, do you swear on your blood and honor as a member of the House of Fatality to serve the Gods of Death and Darkness, and use your power bestowed upon you to become the Eternal?” Her words were like a knife, cutting through the air and striking me dead in the heart. My mouth, at the worst possible time, went dry, and I ran my tongue over my teeth, before I sucked air through them. My eyes said everything I wanted to say; No, no, no, and no. I wanted to terrorize the sisters and brothers of the temple with my vocabulary, manners, and general appearance. She knew my answer, and held her hands out for me to take. “Yes.” She paused at my word, and motioned for me to give her my hands. “You swear on our house that you will represent us with the most utter respect and highest regard? Until the flame of your Fatality is blown out into the underworld?” She asked, holding the back of my forearm up and she held a knife against it, but not pushing to cut me open just yet. It’s not like none of the people in this room knew why she was clarifying for me; it’s no secret to anyone of our clan that I have tried to leave on multiple occasions, and that I have hated being here every millisecond. I would be just as skeptical. Who knows, I could turn on our clan and try to flee during whatever f*****g ‘trails’ they want me to complete, or I could decide instead to just destroy the reputation of the clan. I could even decide to have the psychotic break everyones been waiting for me to have and perform a m******e. “One question.” I gently pulled my arm back, and looked at Merid, who groaned loudly in dramatic protest. “What does this do for me? Surely you didn’t think I’d do this bullshit for free.” I ignored Madam Kerine’s warning for me to not ask questions, and asked anyway. Merid answered bluntly, with a bored and lazy tone. “You’re doing this because if you don’t, you serve no purpose to this clan, and therefore must be eliminated. Who knows, if you don’t do this, we may just dissect you to figure out how you became such an abomination. Or we’ll sell your body to the Clan of life; they love peculiar things to take apart and hang on their walls.” I made a face to suggest that that sounded better than doing the oath, and Merid stood up harshly, the legs of his chair making a horrible, unholy screeching noise against the floor. “You listen to me, you pathetic excuse for a life form,” he hissed, lurching toward me as I backed up, knowing I wouldn’t hear-- or live to-- the end of it if I hit him first. “I have worked too hard for you to come here and decide to throw it all away. You will swear to this oath and you will go to the trials and you will represent our clan correctly, and you will become the King's Eternal. Because if you don’t, I will personally make sure you freeze to death outside the planet’s exosphere!!” I put my hands up, and kept my calm, looking at him with worry, as if he was absolutely insane and I was the only clear-thinking person in the room, which is absurd; everyone in this room is well aware I have been mentally f****d since I exited the womb. “Woah, woah woah. Calm down there, sweetheart. I just wanted to make sure I had all the facts here, that’s all. Slow your roll a little, and remember to give people personal space, ya know? Some room to breathe? We talked about this last week, honey. Let’s calm down, take deep breaths, in and out, and not be rude to the people who are supposed to help you, okay? Because if you’re mean, then they won’t want to help you.” I spoke with a sympathetic and understanding tone as I looked at Merid like a parent who was teaching their child a life lesson, with a look on my face that probably made me look like a giant ‘punch me’ sign. His jaw turned completely locked shut. It was locked so tight, I thought he’d shatter his teeth. Madam Kerine didn't scold me; she was too busy trying to not smile at what I just said. Merid inhaled through his nose roughly, and exhaled through his mouth at the same intensity, as if he was getting his anger out through breathing so hard he’d hope to break the ground beneath him. “Abaddon Meir--” “Yes?” Merid paused, his face showing he was contemplating just knocking me out and swearing the oath for me. “Would you be so kind as to please swear the oath. It would mean greatly to me and the members of this house. If you wish to decline, then you are free to choose so.” Every single ‘polite’ word or mention of freewill was spoken with venom, letting me know he wasn’t giving me a choice or trying to be polite. I drummed my fingers against my thighs, weighing out my options carefully. If I swear the oath, and go to the Trials of the Eternal, then I’ll surely die a gruesome, painful death. If I decline, then Merid would get out the old, rusty guillotine that hasn’t been used since medieval times. To be fair, both options lead to the same outcome, which makes this decision all that more difficult. And frankly, just to add on top of it, I couldn’t care less about how I died. Well, ok, that’s a lie; I cared, but it was the type of care one would have when choosing what to eat first from your plate of dinner. It all ends up in the same place, so why does it matter? Well, it matters when you think about it. Because-- as an example-- if you eat the most boring thing on your plate first, then everything after it will be that more appetizing. But if you eat the most interesting thing first, then everything else won’t even feel worth eating. For perspective, the worst way to die-- at the Trials-- is eating the most boring thing first. The second option is the best way to die; the guillotine. I stroked my chin, not even caring that I have been thinking about this for far too long, and c****d my head to the side as I looked at nothing, my face angled to the ceiling. I picked at a pimple, digging my non-existent nails into the bump to try and pop it, making an indent in my skin. It popped after I managed to scratch the layer of skin covering it off, and I let the white insides of it slip down my chin and neck with the blood I had just produced. I didn’t wipe it away, and ignored Merid, whose eye was now twitching from rage at my disgusting behavior. I hummed, and the highest elder raised an eyebrow, a toothy grin on her face, making the wrinkles at the corners of her mouth prominent. “Abaddon Mier, do you swear?” She asked again, holding the blade handle-side-out to me. “Only if you promise to love me forever.” I reasoned, wiggling my eyebrows at her. She scoffed, and took my hand, flipping it palm side up, and held the blade farther out to me. I took the worn down, old, bloody leather handle, and made a cut down from just below my elbow, all the way down to the heel of my palm. She had then taken the knife, and turned my arm back over and held it over a circle of bones, everyone watching as my blood, oxidized and dark, slid down my arm, over my palm, wind around my second finger, and drip from the tip of it into the circle. As soon as the blood hit the middle of the circle, it started smoking, as water would steam from hitting a hot pan. I watched as my blood dried into a red dot in the circle, and everything was deafeningly silent. Everyone, everything; it was all too quiet. I looked around, only for me to see the brilliantly blue eyes of Madam Kerine. She stared into my eyes with such intensity that I was too weak to look away from, and before I could speak, her hands snapped to my shoulders and pulled me as far away from the bone circle as possible. The high elder sat down, Merid peering over the table with an unimpressed look on his face. “Are we sure he is the one we needed?” He broke the silence, and Madam Kerine glanced at me before she answered, “As sure as I am alive.” After what felt like an eternity, but was really only ten minutes, two things started happening. One, the circle of bones started to rattle and shake. Two, my arm where I had cut myself was burning. Not like on fire burning, but the type of burning I would feel if I was being branded. I looked at my arm, and let my face twist in surprise. “Hmm. That’s odd.” Every head snapped to my arm. The high elder smiled massively, the smile so large it covered nearly the entire bottom half of her face. "We have our Warrior!"