The Apple From Eve

The Beginning

   "What is this? And why are there so many candles?" Evelyn asked her lover, Alahadam. He smiled sweetly at her.

    "It's something special. I need you to close your eyes" He said and she frowned.

    "I do not wish to close my eyes. I want to see what you have hidden beneath that cloth" She insisted and reached for it but he lifted it beyond her reach. She frowned.

    "Alright, I will tell you what is in there and why you need to close those hawkish eyes of yours" He teased.

    "Stop teasing and tell me what is in there" She whined and he sighed.

    "Fine. It's a blade...." He started and she gasped. "Relax, it's not what you're thinking. You know we are to get married in a few days.." 

     "Are blades involved?" She frowned and he chuckled.

     "No, silly. Immortals have a record of breaking up after a few years of marriage. I do not wish that to happen to us. I want us to be together forever" He said quietly.

    "But I do not plan to leave you after a few years. I want to spend forever with you too" She reassured him. 

    "That is why I want us to take an oath. I want us binded forever" He said taking her hand.

    "I do not like pain. I already assured you...."

    "Do this for love, Eve. Please..." He pleaded, kissing her lips. She melted into the kiss and when he pulled away, she was ready to bend to his will.

     "How does it work?" She asked and his eyes lit up. 

    "It's easy. We both close our eyes and exchange vows then stab ea....."

    "Stab?" Her eyes went wide as she gasped.

    "Come on, Eve. You're immortal so you can't die. Besides, you'll barely feel the pain" He assured her. She stared skeptically at the cloth.

  "You are sure it would not hurt?".

    "I promise. Close your eyes, beautiful" He urged and she shut her eyes. He carefully unwrapped the dagger.

    "Can't we slit a finger?" She asked worriedly with shut eyes. He smiled.

   "Should I go first? If it hurt then we'll consider our fingers" He said and she quickly nodded.

   "Do not open your eyes, no matter what" He instructed, before guiding her hand to the dagger.

    "What type of blade is this?" She frowned.

     "Shush! I'm about to say my oath" He said and she kept mute.

    "On this day, I, Alahadam Queen, promise to love no other than my heartbeat, the only woman who keeps me awake at night, Evelyn Reigns. I promise to spend my forever with this rare gem and ask that my life be taken as appeasement if this vow is broken" He spoke and Evelyn blushed.

His hand wrapped round hers and in a swift, he directed a powerful thrust right into his chest.

The dagger glowed and Evelyn felt a burn. He gasped suddenly and her eyes flew open.

She couldn't believe it. Her eyes widened in horror as she stared at the dagger.

She knew what the sacred blade represented and it wasn't for oath taking. She couldn't understand. She didn't want to understand.

Blood soaked his attire as he sank to his knees, snapping her out of her trance. She ran to him in panic.

    "Help! Help somebody please..." She screamed as she held him in her hands. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

She should have known. She should have smelt the deceit. She should have known he would never ask for an oath out of nowhere.

   "Why? Why?" She sobbed. 

    "I'm sorry....I had to" He coughed out. 

The sacred blade was the key to end an immortal's life. It couldn't just be done by anyone either. 

A woman who had never known any man could do it. It came with a price many would never agree to pay.

Everything suddenly made sense now. The full moon, the candles, everything. He had tricked her into performing an evil ritual.

    "What is going on?" She heard voices, accompanied by gasps. She barely paid attention as they analyze the situation.

All she could think of was her loss. For she had not only lost a lover but her womb as well. For in ending a life, she had replaced it with a new one.

Her heart ached. She would never have children. She would never get married. 

    "What happened, Evelyn? What have you done?" A voice cried but she was barely paying attention.

Alahadam had tricked her into ending his immortal life so he could get into the afterlife or be reborn.

Her eyes returned to the dying man. He was slowly loosing life.

"No...you can't leave...please...You can't die on me. This was not the life you promised me.... please...." She sobbed. He kept coughing and spitting out blood. The dagger glowed with golden beauty, buried deep into his chest. The sight made her burn in fury.

    "How could you! How dare you manipulate my love like this? Was this your plan all along?" She screamed at the dying man in her arms.  He was so pale and beautiful.

    "You cannot teach a dead heart to beat, Eve. I've lived....for centuries... watching generations come and go. I-It was a burden I couldn't b-bear any longer" He coughed out blood. Her heart broke.

     "Did you even think of me once?" She sniffed. "I hate you. I hate you for doing this to me. Did you even love me?".

    "I did, Evelyn. Heavens know I did love you...."

    "Then why...? Why did you do this to me?" .

     "I guess my will to die was way greater than the love. I was selfish, Eve. I couldn't even do it for love" His voice was dry and croaked.

    "And your best way of doing that was tricking me? I will never forgive you for this, I swear" She sobbed.

    "I wish for nothing from you. Hate and love are two strong e-emotions that m-must not be handled at the same time. D-Do not weep for me, Evelyn for I do not deserve it. I wish to remain nothing but d-dust. I only seek eternal p-peace..." He managed to speak. 

His body was now going old and wrinkled. Her heart burned with pain and hate. She held the handle of the dagger, staring bitterly into his panicked eyes.

    "And that peace you seek, you shall never get. Upon this life sucking blade, I curse you....."

    "Evelyn don't...." Someone yelled but she wasn't listening. She had the right to bless or curse his spirit as the sacrificial lamb and she wasn't going to give up that opportunity.

She would punish him just the way he decided to punish her.

    "You shall roam that earth which you desire to see no more. You shall seek peace but you will never find it. May the afterlife reject your soul and ban it entrance from it's glorious realm. You betrayed our love so you could taste death right?. Now you have tasted it, you shall eat of it no more. The humans which you seek so much to be like, shall be your daily bread. You shall be their greatest enemy and they shall be yours. You...."

 "That's enough, Evelyn! Do you know the gravity of what you have just done?" The Queen mother yelled.

Evelyn looked at the dying man in her arms.  His eyes had gone so soft and vulnerable as a newborn's.

    "I-I accept my punishment" He spoke softly and his eyes went cold as life left them.

    "No! No! Please...wake up.. don't leave me  please...." She screamed in agony.

200 CENTURIES LATER

    "After two hundred centuries of tolling tirelessly, we finally find our place. A place where the scorch of the sun does not burn our skins. A place where the heavens have no control over. A place where we can control the earth. Welcome to EDEN, my brothers. Welcome to the GARDEN OF EDEN".

Cheers erupted.