Ananke

I cannot believe that the world is ending. I have to save it. I have to protect it. It cannot end like this.

.........................................................................................................................

The heart-shaped locket, that’s how I recognise the woman I had decided to spend my whole life with. I still remember the day I had told her, years ago. There were no wedding rings. Ours wasn’t a conventional relationship after all. Just the heart-shaped locket, a thing of beauty I had clutched in my hand to give to her. A feeble attempt at making someone mine in an ever-fleeting world. But then, maybe, that’s what being human is. Trying to claim things, people, as if there is no transience to take into account… She took a look at the locket and realised that that was the most human thing I had ever done. There was no need for words then. In my own way, I had told her I wanted us to be together as long as we lived.

~

As long as we lived. A laughable phrase now as I look across the stream that separates me and the love of my life. Beyond, I know, are the hunters ready to try and destroy me. They have taken it all, everything I have ever cherished, everything beautiful. I am hungry for the blood of humans, of her species. I am so familiar with her scent that my mouth waters. I lick the air again. Her scent isn’t the usual today. It is mixed with fear. Her eyes, the ones that used to look at me as if I was an ethereal being, something beautiful rather than the monster that I am, now stare at me in horror, and I see how other human beings must have seen me. A feral, an abhorrence. It makes me sad, this look in her eyes. In other human beings, I don’t mind it, I enjoy it even, flicking my tail as I bare my teeth and make them run away in fear. But her look hurts me. I shake my head, I am not supposed to have these thoughts. I am a goddess, and goddesses are meant to be feared. These puny human beings have brought it on themselves, after all. This is my choice and their price to pay. And yet, after all these years, painfully, she has the same eyes...

~

As I stare in her eyes, I realise she is different from the ones who have come before her. Her eyes are beautiful. Funny that I should have this thought. What do I care for human beings? They are not beautiful. They are ordinary. Human. And yet this child has ventured here. It is not for conquest, I can see. She is not even here to beg me to save humanity. I realise, almost chuckling, that she has come here out of curiosity. Well, that’s a first for sure. And now she is sitting in front of me, looking at me as if I am the most marvelous thing she has ever seen. Interesting. Unusual. I try to shoo her away, but she doesn’t budge. She is fascinated even, to see me turn from a stone- statue into what most would consider a nightmare. Appearances do matter, and I am living proof. They see me and decide that I am evil, and that I must be conquered, and for centuries this has been my plaything, seeing humans who call themselves bold march to my temple, to no avail, to the point that I have become bored. Until now. Now I watch in fascination this creature, so ordinary-looking, looking at me as if she sees my kind every day. And I see… beauty.

.........................................................................................................................

Maybe, there is still hope. Maybe, things aren’t that bad. Maybe, it can all be saved. Just like this locket. Time and again, she has saved me. She has saved a human, the species she claims to hate. And yet, here we are again, confronting each other. I will not deny I am scared. I am scared of her because I know the depth of her pain. And, precisely because of that, I know what she is capable of. Our kind has taken everything from her. My goddess. My pure, sweet goddess. They have made her believe she is the monster when, in fact, we have been the monsters for a long long time. I have seen people scrambling and pushing each other as the creatures of vengeance have risen from her temple. I have seen neighbours betraying neighbours in the hope that they will be spared. I have seen people getting raped even at a time when the world is ending, its dying embers clutching at some ways to still live, to be beautiful again. I have seen children left starving while others feast in greed of their flesh. When we should have been kinder to each other, we have been violent, cruel, and selfish at best. I have seen lootings, killings, horrors unimaginable, and none of it has come from the woman I love, the “monster” they blame for their own vices. As I look across the stream, I can still sense the pain behind her violent eyes. As she licks her lizard-like tongue, I can still see her heart break as she sees the chaos about her. My beautiful goddess. Oh, how I wish to take you away from everything.

But she chooses to stay, to wreak vengeance on those who have wronged and hurt others. And now I face her at last. Our final battle of love.

.........................................................................................................................

What can a human do? What can an ordinary human do in the face of a calamity? Yes, she is one of the best, one of the most beautiful of her kind I have ever met. But she cannot stand against me. She cannot stop me. She is a woman, just a human. But, then, she isn’t ordinary…

.........................................................................................................................

I am not here to stop you. I am here to come with you. I am only human still. You have seen me as a child, you have witnessed me grow into a teenager madly in love with you, and now you see me as a woman. Remember when you gave me this locket, years ago? Remember our promise of eternity to each other? We didn’t need words. Just this locket. The most human thing a goddess had ever done. What do ordinary things mean to you and me? Yes, I am not here to stop you. We will still save the world, you and I. A human and a goddess. To eternity.

Liked what you read? Contribute to my next adventure by sending a gift! :)