Fowlhunter [GL]

More silence.

Then, when Ennanis began to think maybe the other woman was going nuts, a velvety voice boomed from the trees:

You are not in the right mind to see me now, child.

“Don’t be a coward,” Jemi stamped the sodden ground. “Just come on out, or I’ll drag you out here myself!”

You cannot do that.

“...No. But it was you who wanted me to do this, in the first place,” she thundered—but her fuse was short. She buried her face in her hands, her breathing ragged. She was a far cry from the proud, confident Cockatrice that Ennanis had fought on Mount Casca. Here she was a human woman, twenty-eight years old and yet acting like a child still. “An angel could’ve never worked together with a Beast. We tried to, and look what happened.”

She took a shuddering breath.

“When we got hold of the Kraken I thought this was finally going to end, Medusa,” Jemi’s voice quavered. “Why? Why did you send me on this mission? Why did you want me to turn Ennanis to a Beast?”

Ennanis’ eyes widened as she learned of Jemi’s true motive.

A pause hung in the frigid air.

I’m sorry, Jemi.

Ennanis saw Jemi freeze up. “What do you mean?”

I did not tell you the complete truth. Here it is: I did not intend to truly turn Ennanis Zoleil, said Queen Medusa’s voice. I wanted you two to become allies, yes. But I did not want for her to become the Beasts’ ally. The truth is that I wanted you to follow her.

“What?” Jemi echoed, bewildered.

The Den is not a good place for you to be, child, Queen Medusa said. Internal revolt has been building over the past few years, even if you hadn’t noticed it—or didn’t want to. They take advantage of your kindness. Had I not done what I did—sent you away, forced you to use your power on the Beasts—they would’ve assassinated you. It was either kill or be killed for you, Cockatrice. I had no other choice.

Jemi stood there, still. Ennanis tried to comprehend what was happening. A silence stretched on.

“And you just expect me to believe that?” Jemi rasped.

What reason would I have to lie to you? Medusa sounded weary.

Then…

“...What about everything,” Jemi whispered. It was like emotion itself had leached from her voice. “Everything that we’ve worked for up to this point? When I went through six months, summoning the Kraken to work for us? When I grew up for seventeen years, doing everything to fight for us?” She clenched her fists, raising her voice: “Won’t you even look me in the face when you tell me this crap?”

A moment of more silence. Then, there was a rustling in the leaves. Ennanis felt compelled to extinguish Lienna; she did, and the copse fell into proper darkness.

At her feet, the ground shimmered. Like beads of white water were seeping out from the wilted weeds. The beads joined together to form puddles, which joined together to form rippling pools. Ennanis took a step back, her breath catching in her throat as light spread all across the forest floor. Meanwhile, Jemi watched this unfold with a dull look on her face.

Before long, a circular basin of white light stretched before them—the dazzling Moon. It was fainter than normal, owing to it being daytime rather than night, but it was still a spectacular sight. Even more spectacular was the woman who rose from the middle of the drink. A tall and slender woman, skin dark as dusk, coiling hair the shade of moonlight. Ennanis could not help but stare, transfixed.

“Once again, I am sorry,” Queen Medusa said. Her face was completely still, expressionless, as if her features were carved from a tree. As always, her eyes were closed.

“Then what do you want me to do, now?” Jemi murmured. “What do I do?”

“The Beasts will continue to fight Mount Casca. I will take the Kraken. But you—you are to take the exiled angel with you, and leave,” ordered the Queen.

“The Kraken is bound to me,” Jemi insisted. “It won’t serve you without me… you need me.”

“Then I will conquer the sun without it,” Medusa said. “If not now, then in another thousand years. My decision is final, Cockatrice. Walk away from this nonsensical war. You will be happier this way.”

Jemi’s face went pale. She took several moments breathing hard, looking away. Eventually, she sniffed.

“…I’m not some kind of bird you can catch and release whenever you like.” Her voice had turned nasally, petulant. “Don’t try to bluff me, now. You just don’t need me anymore, do you? You have a new leader that’s healthier, fitter, more capable, right? Who is it? Neil?”

“You misunderstand.” The expression on the immortal Queen’s face grew even stranger. “I do this because I- because you’re— to me-”

“Enough!” Jemi shouted before the immortal could finish. “You’re repeating the same mistakes as your father, don’t you see? Didn’t you hate the way Prometheus sat on the top of his mountain as if he were chained there, spewing his angels all over the undercloud, making his decisions on what was best for humanity? Isn’t that why you wanted to take the sun from him in the first place?” She breathed. “Now you sit in your moon, watching everything from a distance, and pretend to know what’s best for others. How are you any different?”

“I am no different,” Queen Medusa said baldly, coldly. “It’s been a long thousand years, and my decisions are mine to make. What has happened has happened, Cockatrice. You cannot go back to the Beasts now, not even if you wanted to, not even if I decreed you to. Things will never be the same.”

“Hahahahahaha,” Jemi quivered. “Hahahahaha! Of course, your Majesty. Your Highness.” She sank to her knees on the bank. Her hands clawed her scalp, as if to rip her golden hair out. “All those times you warned me not to get too attached, because I’m a weak human—stars above, gods are such fucking hypocrites.”

She cackled some more, sounding utterly shattered.

“So it was all for nothing, in the end. And all along I thought… I deceived myself into thinking I had so many people by my side.”

After all, this was the law of nature. Eat or be eaten. Even if temporary alliances could be forged, even if creatures could live in symbiosis—the moment disaster struck, and it became no longer mutualistic to stay together, each organism would protect its own self-interest. Every living thing pursues its basest instinct: to survive. Even the Beasts that had once cheered so warmly for her had been, ultimately, doing it for their own sakes. If their queen bee could no longer fly as she should… it was only natural that they searched for a new hive.

And now…. she had just hammered the final nail in her own casket.

Ennanis stood by her. With molten, slit-gold eyes, she gazed at the Queen who sat in the watery moon. Silently, the Queen stared back at her. For now she had opened her eyes. Ennanis noticed how her her left eyesocket was an empty black hole. While her right eye was a nacreous, milky-white… and shaped like a slit.

Ennanis broke their gaze, turning to look at the woman on her knees.

The angel took a few steps forward. Her long rose hair swept behind her, a pale curtain in the moonlight.

She held her hand out to Jemi.

“I’m on your side,” the angel said.

The woman on the ground went rigid. She dropped her hands from her face. She reached in her cloak.

Then—click.

Jemi Garen pointed the barrel of a gun at her.