Young Writers Society

At first there was nothing, just a feeling of utter emptiness as if the slate of life had been wiped clean erasing everything that she ever was and knew. She felt light and somewhat warm, she saw something familiar on a stone floor beneath her in a crumpled position but before she could determine what it was she became engulfed in a bright all consuming light. For a moment she felt scared, fearful of the light and what it meant for her but the fear slowly melted away and she began to feel at peace. She wanted to stretch out her arms and welcome the light; she wanted to be embraced by the comforting warmth that it offered. As all feeling and sense left her consciousness she felt a gut wrenching tug. Now there was pain and a feeling of bitter cold. All her senses came crashing back toward her at once as she was pulled from the warm light and into the seemingly never ending dark coldness that was coming at her fast from behind. She felt like she was falling from the sky and its vast reaches beyond the knowledge of man. Everything was coming back to her all her senses and memories and her soul screamed with an ear piercing roar that she could have sworn breached the very gates of Heaven for all the Gods to hear.

She felt her soul crash into the stone floor and she was wrapped in massive layers of body breaking pain. She shot upwards and gasped for air like she never had before. The cold black stone beneath was colder than anything she had ever felt, it reminded her of the strange phenomena that her father told her about he said that it only existed in the places where the Gods refuse to give their warmth causing a strange freezing stone that sparkled like diamonds to grow in the form of sharp flesh piercing thorns. According to her father all of the travelers that he had come across in his fifty six years of life had called this strange freezing stone Ice. They that it was so cold that one’s hand would render immovable upon touching and some even said that it burned their skin upon contact.

She felt all of energy rush out of her just as quickly as it had returned and she collapsed onto the icy black stone with its biting coldness seeping through her torn garments. She could hear a faint dripping noise of water far off in the dark cavern where she lay with her arms stretched outward and her legs were twisted underneath her. The cavern in which she laid was light with candle light though she could not see anything yet, her other senses had returned by Sight had yet to be. She scratched her long clean nails across the stone chipping some of it away while leaving thin white lines in their wake. She tried to sit up but she was too weak to move the rest of her body. She released a heavy breath and sucked back in so much air that she thought she would pop. She felt the small of her back touch something thick and liquidly. With great struggle she managed to move an arm beneath her the small of her back, there she definitely touched something strange and not belonging. When she pulled her arm back she found herself incapable of lifting it so she resolved to use just her fingers to identify the liquid. It was thick and heavy and for a brief moment she thought that it was mud or clay but when it started to run down her fingertips like water she realized that it was blood, panicked now at not knowing the origin of the wound if she even had one or if the blood belonged to another human or even an animal.

It was then that she felt an overwhelming presence that was so evil it made every part of her innards twist and curl in unnatural ways. A crushing sense of fear and foreboding chewed at her heart and mind, she wanted to leave but her lack of movement kept her from doing just that. The presence drew closer and closer and at last a dark figure stood before she sightless eyes. She couldn’t tell if it was male or female but the lack of height led her to believe that it was female. The figure simply stood where it was just beyond the now evident pool of blood that surrounded her. After what seemed like a lifetime of silence and utter unexplainable fear the figure spoke with a rough haggard voice that would make anyone cringe upon hearing it. It sounded like a thousand different voices all speaking at once.

“You had us worried Kahlizii… we thought we reached you too late,” she that is Kahlizii must have given the figure a strange look now that her sight had returned. The figure ducked down low bringing its faceless self at level with Kahlizii’s.

“You were dead child.”

You were dead child. The words that the figure had spoken to her still rang through her head like a maddening echo that never faded into black. Kahlizii pounded her head with a slightly bandaged wrist in an attempt to rid her of the horrid echoing that disturbed her even while she slept. A couple of the Priestess of Light that was currently tending to her wounds gave her strange looks. They were looks of fear, discomfort, and some of them even hate looks of hate and distain painted onto their skin. Kahlizii could understand the fear and discomfort well enough it is not every day that one of your own is dumped on the front step of home after having been missing for a whole month and a half. Kahlizii’s father – Marduk-bel-zeri the High Priest of the Temple had been furious when she crawled her way through the front door weak and pale beyond description. Kahlizii had been hoisted upright onto her feet and the men standing guard at the temple and was more or less dragged to her father’s feet were he then demanded to know of her whereabouts. When Kahlizii had responded she didn’t speak in the Common Tongue of the temple she spoke in Gods Tongue which only her father knew how to speak. The only way to learn the Gods Tongue without being a High Priest or Priestess was through death itself, it was then that her father demanded that all her injuries be tended to immediately.

And now here she was being crudely wrapped in torn white linens as the newly initiated priestess fretted about around her whispering to each other for help and gossiping. Honestly Kahlizii wanted to box all their ears for their foolish words that were spilling from their mouths like water. No matter the simple pleasures of gossiping and the whispering of lies would be beat from their flesh and bones soon enough if they didn’t learn to stop quickly. Kahlizii was pulled out of her annoyance as a very little girl tripped over one of the thick plush red rugs that were scattered across the entire floor of the room like paper does a desk. Kahlizii heard the other girls in the room begin to giggle and turn away their mocking faces as it they hadn’t tripped on the rugs themselves and few of them had. Kahlizii pulled herself away from the fretting priestess that were actually trying to tend to her and went to the little girl. Kahlizii asked if she was alright and if she needed help, the little girl didn’t respond out of embarrassment but the other girls in the room did. They gasped in what seemed like fear or just plain surprise and stepped back from Kahlizii only a few girls who knew Kahlizii didn’t shy away. Kahlizii sighed in frustration for she was still speaking in Gods Tongue as opposed to the Common Tongue – once a person learns Gods Tongue through death they cannot speak another Tongue. Kahlizii saw the tripped little girl before her turn and look at her with big brown childish eyes, the girl had a confused expression on her face and Kahlizii wondered if she had spoken loud enough. But before Kahlizii could speak the little girl responded in Common Tongue.

“I am alright, just wasn’t paying attention,” there were more gasps and the little girl rolled her eyes. In all honesty Kahlizii herself was surprised that the girl responded but she knew that some people could understand Gods Tongue without ever hearing the language. The little girl stood and cast a judgmental look across the stunned faces of all the others. “What are you looking at? We still have a patient that needs tending and the High Priest is not a patient man.” It was then that all of the other girls began to hustle and bustle around them again.

Kahlizii stood all too slowly for the frantically moving priestesses liking and she was thrown back onto the stone table where she was sitting prior to the incident. Kahlizii gazed at the little girl in an observant manner, despite the girl size and child like face she presented a very womanly air and sang of authority and power. Kahlizii was sure that she knew the name of every Priest and Priestess that could power over others just with their voice and attitude herself and her father included.

“What’s your name and where do you call home,” it was more of a demand than a question. The little girl looked at Kahlizii with an analytical eye taking in everything she saw or so Kahlizii had thought. Instead of answering the little girl just stared at Kahlizii blankly. Kahlizii snapped her fingers twice in front herself trying to get the other girls attention. The little girl made a confused noise and finally actually looked at Kahlizii.

“What did you say?” Her voice made her sound like she was a thousand miles away it made Kahlizii wonder if she was just easily distracted or was heroically absent minded. Kahlizii spoke her demands again this time she held the authority of her father’s voice within her words. The little girl blushed significantly and Kahlizii could have sworn that she saw the little girls sweat drop. The little girl laughed before she responded with an uneasy and goofy tone.

“Sorry… my name is Tin and I come from…” Tin paused and put her hand to her chin, she began to mutter to herself something about ‘where did I come from again’. Another voice sounded before Tin could figure it out the voice had an old edge to it and it roared with authority, holy authority.

“Tin here hails from Uruk. Now that you know it no longer matters,” Kahlizii turned to gaze upward at her father who stood atop the stone steps leading into the healing room. Despite his hunched and curved back the man stood taller than any of the girls in the room in fact he practically dwarfed them. A long white scraggly beard hung from his chin like a ghost torn rags and his eyes were place so far into his skull that unless you put a candle right up to his eyes you would never see his dark eyes. Kahlizii made a soft sound of annoyance and stood yanking herself away from the girls who had finished the last of her needed dressings. She approached the bottom of the steps with her back straight and her head held high but she dared not ascend the steps until told otherwise. Her father turned on his twisted branch of a cane and began to sluggishly move his way across the main temple hall. Kahlizii followed behind at a reasonable distance not wanting to provoke any unnecessary dialogue with him.

Once they had made their way through the Sanctuary doors her father locked them into the inner sanctuary. The moment the doors were lock Kahlizii felt and overwhelming sense of pain and disgust. She collapsed onto the floor in utter agony and she clutched the place where her heart sat in her chest. Kahlizii could sense her father watching her twitch and struggle there on the grassy floor. She didn’t notice that her father had moved until he poured sacred water onto her head. It seemed to burn her skin like fire Kahlizii screamed and thrashed about like a demon. She somehow managed to get up onto her feet as she clawed away at her head, tearing her skin and ripping out her hair as she went. She moved closer and closer to the altar and the pain doubled making her fall to her knees struggling just to remain upright even in that position.

“Just as I feared,” her father’s voice was cold and filled with something Kahlizii had never heard in his voice before… sadness maybe or was it just plain disappointment Kahlizii’s mind could focus on it long enough the pain shooting through her was too great.

“What is it that you fear?” Kahlizii’s voice was filled with darkness and it sounded like the figures voice from when she awoke on the icy stone, like a thousand different forms of her were speaking all at once Kahlizii could have sworn that she would go mad from it. She watched her father through a veil of black as he approached her calm and steady. He placed an old wrinkled hand on top of her head and the pain began to subside, she felt was if water was rushing over her skin carrying the impurities as it went. Kahlizii sighed with relief.

After a moment had passed Kahlizii opened her eyes and saw her father clearly. His face was wrinkled and droopy making him look much older than he actually was and his twisted hunched back only helped to further prove that fact. The man looked like he was in his eighties rather than his fifties. His dark ornate cloak practically engulfed him bearing down on him like a rock.

“You are Tainted,” was all he said. Kahlizii became confused for a moment pondering at what he said. To Kahlizii the word tainted meant dirty, unclean, impure, but when had this happened when had she become dirty or unclean or impure sure she was covered in blood, dirt, and sand but that wasn’t what her old coot of a father had said or meant. She turned at looked upward at her father; he was staring at her with empty eyes that looked as if they would never fill with any sort of emotion. That alone frightened Kahlizii for the briefest of moments. She asked the silent question that her father was waiting for pleading for an answer.

“You are no longer of the Gods Light, child.”

Kahlizii let the words sink into her flesh and soul for a moment completely ignoring the fact that he called her ‘child’ – he never called her by her name unlike all the others.

“A Dark Seed has been planted inside your heart and it has begun to take root. The forgotten god of darkness has made you his and because of this I cannot allow you to stay here where you corruption might spread to the others Tainting them as well.” His voice was cold and a black hearted edge almost as if he were cursing her. He took his hand from her head and the pain immediately came crashing back down onto her. “You see you cannot even be near and altar without doubling over in pain,” a part of Kahlizii broke and she screamed so loudly that bother Heaven and Earth could hear it at their very cores. Kahlizii roared as she threw herself backward onto the grass, she managed to catch herself on her hands before her face collided with the ground. She felt something bend and crack beneath her palms and when she opened her eyes she saw dead grass through the black veil that clouded her eyes. Kahlizii shot upright in fear clutching her hands to her chest.

“Not even the life of mere grass is safe from you it dies on contact. For this you must leave this place and never return.” Kahlizii could fear tears welling in the back of her eyes but she dare not let them fall not in front of her father. She heard him sigh from across the room but the next words that came out of his mouth surprised her beyond description. “I am sorry.” Never in Kahlizii’s time of knowing the Great Marduk-bel-zeri has she ever heard the words ‘I’ and ‘sorry’ go together in the same sentence. She turned to face him with her eyes wide; his voice had been filled with the slightest hint of sorrow as if he knew this day would come as if he dreaded the words he had spoken. “It is just as I was told many years ago by the High Priest of my time. A child would appear in the world with the potential to take the Dark Seed and have it rooted in their heart thus making it the key to unlock the seal that holds all of worlds Corruption and the Black God himself. Never in my life would I ever have thought that the child would be you, you are too sweet and gentle to those who are in need of it and you are completely pure of all physical sin, but now I see that threw your resurrection you have become Tainted beyond cleansing and must now leave the safety of this place.” Kahlizii felt the tears she had tried so hard to hold back fall from beneath her lashes. “Even your tears are as dark as the Black Gods corruption,” Kahlizii could barely hear him through her sudden despair. The thought of leaving the only place she had ever called home frightened her and the prospect of never being able to return only furthered her fear. She heard the door into the opened and there was some slight whispering. When the door had shut once again Kahlizii felt her father approach her once more he placed his hand on her head once again, the pain retreated once again. Kahlizii opened her eyes and watched him kneel down to her level, he struggled and shook as he did so but Kahlizii made no move to help him. He said nothing as he placed a strange necklace into one of her hands.

The necklace was rather large for her liking, it made of thirteen large blue stones that sparkled even in the dimness of the inner sanctum, the stones were tied together with a thing piece of dark leather and smaller and smooth white and blue stones sat in-between the large ones. Her father took his hand from her head but the pain did not return like it did last time instead the large stones of the necklace began to darken. Kahlizii squinted at it in confusion it seemed like the stones were absorbing whatever this unbearable was pain was. Her father told her just that. The stones were blessed by the gods for the purpose of cleansing away the corruption of the Black God and that they needed to be placed in water at least once a week to keep the magic of the stones working. Kahlizii tied the necklace around her neck were it sat on her tan skin loosely.

“I’ll never be clean of this will I?” Kahlizii’s voice was soft and uncertain she didn’t like the idea of being Tainted for the rest of her life nor did the idea of not being around people appeal to her either. Her father merely shook his head in response. “What must I do then?”

“You must travel to the old mountain temple that lies in the western mountains near the Great Water. That is the only place where you will be safe from the world and the corruption of the Black God. Know this that temples hallowed ground became Tainted by the Black God over a thousand years ago and since then the Gods have refused to shine their light down onto it, despite that fact though the Corruption of the Black God has been burned and cleanse hence his corruption can no longer enter that place.” Kahlizii nodded and stood accepting her fate. She helped her old father to his feet and to her own surprise hugged him. She knew that he was right the High Priest of incapable of telling lies or even stretching the truth. She stepped away from him without looking at his face and she strode out the Inner Sanctum door with black tears spilling down her cheeks.

When she reached the main entry hall with its tall grand spires twisting their way up into the air and with large colorless tapestries hanging from the curved ceiling she saw her traveling pack sitting by the front door waiting for her. She also saw the small girl, Tin, standing next to it dressed in a priestesses white traveling robes just like Kahlizii was.

“Our camels are waiting outside for us… or at least I think they are,” Kahlizii shook her head and pressed her lips together.

“Why are you hear Tin?”

This time Tin answered right away. “I was told by the High Priest to accompany you for my empty-headedness is bound to keep me safe from the Corruption,” Kahlizii almost burst out in laughter no doubt her father had cast a spell on the girl in order to make her say that.

“Well then empty-headed one shall we be off. It is a long journey from here to the Abandoned Temple of the Mountains.” Tin gave her a confused and empty look before nodding slightly she had already forgotten why she was there and what she has just said.

Kahlizii opened the large wooden door of the temple and stepped out into the light of the burning sun. She pulled her white hood over her head and lifted her matched mask over her nose she saw Tin do the same. The sand surrounded the temple like a sea it was all a person could see, never ending. Kahlizii walked over to the two saddled camels that stood next to the small fountain drinking from it. Kahlizii walked over to her white camel named Yunkai and pet his soft head silently telling him that it was time to depart. Kahlizii mounted Yunkai and turned him away from the water stubborn as he was he always did as Kahlizii told him. She heard Tin mount her camel as well. Once they were set Kahlizii and Tin set off into the rolling sand sea of Sumerian desert.