Lilith's Blessing 14

14. There was a time.

Trevor studied his reflection in the mirror. The bags under his eyes deepened as every time closed his eyes, varying dreams plagued him. Random years he didn’t remember living. Thousands of years here, thousands there.

At first, he welcomed the dreams as he never remembered them before. Some pleasant, with good times and nights where he laid under the stars. A mysterious yet familiar figure obscured by time always remained at his side. She, always there, fought with him and against him. She, being someone other than Kira, died alongside him.

It followed him when awake, ravaging his body with phantom pain. One night, fire engulfed his body. Another water filled his lungs. He’d wake up gasping for air. He could not count the lives, only recanting her aura. Flowers. Her aura smelled of the spring. Honeysuckles in the summer. He wanted to punch the glass, holding back his anger and frustration.

Maybe a blunt? It helped before. He never remembered those dreams. Trevor's ADHD took over. His mind ran through frantic questions, worrying about the future. He looked at Kira. Will I be a good husband? Father? Can I protect them? Why am I here? How did I get here? Is this home? His face scrunched, disgusted it popped up as a question. Kira, John, and Meredith. They welcomed him, showed him love, making him feel welcome.

“Why am I here? What is my purpose?”

The answers eluded him. His purpose eluding him, he thought he found it. People proved him wrong. They wanted favors, not friendships. He stepped away, watching/ recording humanity’s actions, waiting for the day he could change it. Because his goals and ambitions contrasted the time he lived.

The Pacific Northwest wasn’t home. Their hypocrisy found its stride before the cataclysm. He felt like a stranger in the south, although it was his birthplace. Blacks made fun of him. Whites did the same. He was never black enough. Only a few people accepted him. Kira, Mere and John; they cared. How could he repay their kindness?

Trevor's jumping thoughts got the best of him. He wanted to tell Kira everything. But how could he? Explain the woman infesting his dreams? The lifetimes he experienced with her when he closed his eyes? He shook his head, “Brain. Shut the fuck up.” They were just dreams, although he remembered her scent. Almost as if he could smell it now.

Trevor closed his eyes, drifting to sleep. He visioned the moon; full and blue in its nighttime glory: gazing at it until clouds converged, washing out its light. Once concealed, flickering lights at the base of a mountain caught his eye. A small village illuminated the area as guards patrolled the perimeter.

Fisa. Bulala. Fisa. Bulala. The urge to taste iron washed over him. His body salivated as intrusive thoughts took over. His body moved, his mind against the actions, but it moved on its own, dashing toward the village. He plunged into the gate with full force, blowing it open.

Trevor screamed, trying to gain control. But his body moved on its own, slicing everyone within reach. His gut churned, but his body sizzled, perking up amongst the blood. He tried to close his eyes, forcing himself to wake, but the slaughter continued.

The cycle repeated. Over and over. The destructive tornado devastating cities, ravaging them in the night. Vanished in the morning, leaving death and chaos in his wake. Trevor felt a smile across his face as he appeared before another city.

His body swung his sword, dispatching defenders. He felt a build up of mana nearby, catching his attention. A volley of arrows scorched through the air toward him. Trevor recognized her aura while his body contorted, dodging the arrows. “Xia!” He wanted to stop, but his body kept attacking. He smelled flowers, the same scent he dreamed of. Whenever he got close to her. She left it behind. Her dark-skin, toned Amazonian body, her aura refined but her scent. The same floral smell. What was it?

Her dark brown eyes, intense and angry, mixed with sympathy, tore a hole in his heart. Anger and rage destroyed the palpitations, forcing adrenaline throughout his body. “Fisa. Bulala. Fisa. Bulala.”

He readied himself for battle as a giant jet black woman appeared behind his prey. Her golden, piercing eyes made his body pause. Trevor thought he had control again, trying to force himself awake. He looked at the giant. Her aura distorted his vision of her. Her outline was clear, but he had no vision of her features.

“Fisa, Bulala, Fisa, Bulala.” He turned his attention back to his initial opponent. Wait. Stop!! Trevor trained for months to control the urges. They lingered in the back of his mind, like an unreachable itch. Much like last summer's attack, he had no control of his body. He never wanted to hear them aloud again. He screamed for the ride to stop, went unheard. His body moved of its own volition.

She released another volley. He swerved, allowing one to pass. Dodged another while trying to close the distance. She kept up the attack, forcing him back. She predicted his movements, sending arrows toward his landing zone, keeping him defensive.

The massive blob of aura behind her leaned over her shoulder. She released her bow, morphing it into a flared triangular tip sword. Its light blinded him as she readied herself. He matched her posture, squinting his eyes, trying to get a full view of her movements. He became lightheaded, watching his body release his weapons as his head fell to the ground. In the last milliseconds, his sword clanged against the ground. Darkness.

Trevor tried to move. He tried to speak. Nothing. Like he was in a soundproof box. He couldn’t move or feel anything around him. A dim light appeared, growing bigger. He clamored for the light, swinging what he could to get there. The door opened, he stepped through it.

The sun hung in the sky, shining upon the city below. A bustling adobe city filled with three-sided pyramids and water flowing around it. High walls protected it from the chaotic world beyond. He covered his eyes, squinting to see a single black dot fall from the sky.

A speck of light spread from the center of the city, growing into a semi-circle brighter than the sun. The light ejected a wave of scorching hot air, swallowing up everything in its path.

Trevor covered his eyes, the light too intense to look at. The heat bubbled his skin, scorched his lungs, sucked all the oxygen from the area, before debris lifted him from his perch.

Darkness.

He pushed debris, trees, rocks, pieces of the earthen wall that protected his home from his body. The lacerations on his body leaked as he pulled himself from the sediment. He stood atop the sediment, looking in every direction. Nothing. The landscape altered in ways he never thought possible.

Home. Where was home? His black eyes darkened as the light faded from them.

He felt weightless. He opened his eyes. An attacker hovered over him. Her face, obscured by time, seemed familiar. She stroked his head; with his head in her lap. He thanked the gods as his wish for death came true. She pinched his cheeks, pulling on their fat. “You’re not dead.”

“Akor.”

His ears perked up.

“Do you remember where you are from?”

He wanted to lie there forever. But she asked again. Who is Akor? Is she talking to me? Her kind, dark eyes did not lie. She spoke. His mouth spoke for him. “Akaana.” Akaana? The fuck is that?

“Do you know why you are here?”

His head moved. He knew nothing. It was like a first person view movie, but his avatar interacted with the surrounding people. They asked questions. He had answers.

The larger being, her blackened aura distorting her figure, knelt down, placing her hand atop his head. Why did she feel familiar? Why did he know who she was before her name slipped from his lips? He bowed, prostrating himself before her.

“Lilith.”

Everything went black. Trevor couldn’t move, nor speak. Like the void reached out, grabbing him. It took his voice. It took his autonomy, holding him down. His breath became shallow, sweat dripped from his forehead down his cheeks.

Trevor opened his eyes. He looked to his left. The room was dark. A faint headache hid the voices in his head as chills ran down his spine. His arm hairs stood on end. This presence felt familiar. One he never wanted to see again.

He stood up as a small ball of light formed in front of him. He swiped at it, pushing it out of the way, but it attached itself to his hand. “The Fu..” Trevor fell to the floor as the ball burst, electrocuting him with lightning. His clothes clung to his skin as it melded together. Every nerve exploded as he tried to yell for Kira, making his voice crack and go hoarse. He tried to move as the sound of angry giants ready to stamp out the world grew closer.

The door burst as lightning filled the corridor. It bounced off walls, dancing into the room. Trevor tried but struggled; every muscle burst from the attack, shattering his nervous system. He glared at Olivia like a wounded wolf, waiting for her to get close. “Why the fuck are you here?”

Olivia sighed, looking at the window. She walked to it, exposing the room to the frosty morning air. She poked her torso out, looking up at the Amun Airen hovering over the spire. Its cannons exposed devastating hard points as her army rampaged through the city defense.

Trevor clutched his hands together, trying to will his body to grasp her throat and tear it out. His body failed him, he couldn’t move. Am I dreaming again? The lines between reality blurred. Maybe it was a good thing he never remembered his dreams.

Footsteps shook the room. They stomped toward him as he looked up. She raised her boot. The flash came first; his eyes rolled into the back of his head. The ringing in his ears brought the light back to his eyes. It drowned out everything. Another two flashes as his face implanted into the hardwood floor.

The combo knocked him out. When he came to, his hands and feet were bound. His surroundings were hazy. But he heard Kira arguing, her words jumbled as he tried to escape. He thought of how to save her, but nothing. He panicked as he looked at Kira; swearing he saw blood on her. “Fisa! Bulala! Fisa! Bulala!” Trevor forced the words out. But he could not gather any mana.

Olivia turned to him. “Get over it.”

Someone grabbed the back of Trevor’s head, lifting him from the floor. The impact shattered his left orbital. His right eye, blurry, rolled from Olivia to Kira, just as her body lumped to the floor.

“Kira? Kira, baby girl, look at me.”

“She’s dead Trevor.”

Olivia stood over Trevor, raising her mana, looking down with a smirk. “I wanted to keep you, but Memet wants you dead. He even told me to burn your body. But that would be a waste. I’m going to study every inch of your body.”

Trevor ignored her threats, gritting his teeth. Every bad word he wanted to call her, but he wanted to do something. Anything. Why has his body failed him? He smiled at Olivia, hoping to break free somehow. She ordered the clone to press his head against the floor. She stepped on it, pushing her boot into the back of it. He turned his head. “Red this time, huh?”

She dug her heel into his head, almost crushing it beneath it. “Want to know how we found out how much pressure it takes to crush a human skull?” She snapped her fingers. Trevor’s world shattered into bursting pain. He couldn't scream, every nerve in his body ceased to function, his muscles fluctuated between flexing and relaxing. The sudden movements tore every ligament and fiber connecting the bones to his flesh.

His body slumped over. He gasped, mouthing Kira’s name. “I’ll see you soon.”

Clones surrounded Trevor, picking out his charred, lump body. Kaylia raised a short knife to his neck. With the other hand, she grasped the right side of his head. He did not feel any pain as the light faded from his eyes.

Kaylia held the head up, letting the rest of the blood to drain. Once the last of it dripped out, she placed the head in a box, giving it to Olivia.

“Ew, I don't want it. Give it to the prince. Father can have it. I got what I wanted.”

Olivia smiled, satisfied with her actions. She marveled at the clones. The result of thousands of hours of science, buck breaking, research, and torture. They were vicious, tireless, menacing, teetering on the verge of control. A twisted monstrosity formed from the vision of the Emperor, Simone, herself, and she hated to admit it, Alexia. She shook her head. If not for Alexia, who knows how far they would be? That contribution, Alexia’s only saving grace right now. But Olivia thought. If she had the chance. She’d kill her. Choke the life out of her with her bare hands.

Olivia felt a chill wash over her as a lone ship descended to the ground. She smiled when the insignia became visible.