Author Games: Ragnarok

Quarterfinals Entries: Yemeya

Day 10.  Has it really only been that long??
The texture of the morning was different.  It was eerily quiet and suspense was hanging in the air, swaying in the breeze like a warning.  Something is going to happen… Yemeya could feel her pulse resonating in her temples, throbbing in her tense throat.  Her heartbeat ricocheted off the gray buildings and bellowed down the dusty streets of the city, trying to bring it back to life, but losing itself in the consuming vastness.
No announcement.
No fighting.
No running.
Nothing.
Then, the darkness came.  It wasn't a lack of light, it was a force in and of itself.  It fed on the chalky air, poured itself over the faces of the buildings, and swarmed around the confused tributes.  Night had come.
Camazotz! His sickening laugh was woven into the suffocating darkness.  “Ladies and gentlemen!”  His voice hissed and whirled and echoed through the thick air.  “We interrupt your regular dose of bullshit to spice things up a bit! These games are under new management by yours truly, and I challenge any one of you pathetic excuses of divinity.  Every god for himself.  Winner takes all.”  The tributes huddled under Camazotz's overwhelming embrace.  “May the odds be…ever…in your favor.” A sarcastic sneer introduced yet another silence.  A different silence.  A terrifying silence.
Nyx!! Where's Nyx?! Yemeya was barely becoming aware of how frantically she was searching for her when she found Nyx, trying to muffle Persephone's girlish sobs.  “Thank the gods!” Yemeya sighed, louder than she had hoped for.  “He's gone crazy!” She quickly over rid her relief.
“Everyone's gone crazy.” The three of them took a second to glance around them.  Mortals reduced to frantic insects, squirming and shoving each other down the cluttered streets, trying to avoid Camazotz's fatal glare, hoping to turn it towards another tribute.  Among the chorus of screams, they could pick out those of Balder and Jade…the last sound they would ever make, no doubt.  “We need to get out of here.  Let them kill themselves off.  We'll be smart.  And wait.  Wait until we have a plan…” Nyx multitasked, comforting Persephone, looking for an escape route, and already starting on the “plan” they needed.  Why does she feel the need to be in charge all the time.  I'm capable of thought myself.  Yemeya tried desperately to be genuinely annoyed, but she couldn't conceal the undeniable respect and admiration she held for Nyx.
The distant sounds of the desperate battle were unsettling.  The whole thing felt surreal.  The three goddesses just sat there, staring at each other, trying to absorb what had happened…and what was still happening as they sat safely on the sidelines.  This isn't right, just waiting for them to die off like…like animals… Then she remembered the ugly truth that kept trying to hide itself in her optimism: Only one of us is going to make it out of here alive.  Unknowingly, she had taken up staring at Nyx.  She was beautiful, in such a unique way… “Yemeya…?”
A sound half way between a ‘yes’ and a primitive grunt was all she could muster.
“Camazotz is out of control.  He needs to be stopped.”
“How did he manage this, anyways?”
“He must have killed the Fates.  Taken their power.  There's a lunar eclipse…I can feel it.  Now, whether he just timed this carefully, or he somehow has the power to create it…I'm not sure.”
“I really hope he just has good timing…”  Persephonne was recovering from her breakdown.
“What do you think we should do?”
Really?! You want advice from little old me…?  Again, she could only be irked for a split second.  “There's only one thing we can do.  Wait for things to quiet down.  Find Camazotz's weakness.  Send him straight back to whatever hell I was he came from.”
“Wow! Is that all?  Well, why didn't you say so?!” Persephonne had transformed into her more likable personality.  No sobbing.  Just sarcasm.  They could handle sarcasm.
Yemeya ignored her.  She was thinking… “Well…we know Camazotz is a god of darkness, so it goes without saying he can't be a fan of sunlight…”
“Okay, but in case you haven't noticed…we're a little low on sunshine right now!!”  Persephonne was somewhere between her whiney self and her sarcastic self.
Again, Yemeya didn't pause her train of thought.  “There's a lunar eclipse?”
“I'm certain…”
“Could you undo it…even if it's just for a second?”
“Possibly, but…”
“Would exposure to the sunlight kill him?”
“Most likely.”
“Now…what if his exposure went instantly from 0-100…or if it was more concentrated…”
Nyx jumped up with excitement.  “Yes!  Yes!  If we get him in just the right position and move the moon away from the sun just enough for a concentrated dose of sunlight to hit him…it would have to kill him!!”
“Come on!” The three of them fled their safe haven and headed for the tallest building they could find.  “Do you know where it is?”
Nyx closed her eyes and Yemeya was overcome by the sight of her silver hair dancing in the dangerous breeze.  She felt for the moon.  Yemeya could see her body calling out, begging for the moonlight.  She found it.  “Right there.  How do we get the clouds out of the way?”
“Clouds are made of water aren't they.”  Proud of Nyx, and even more proud of herself, Yemeya coaxed the black clouds away from the moon.  Never before had the moon, even if it was only a silhouette, seemed so comforting, so welcoming.  They just stood there, bathing in it's shadow for a few moments.  “It's beautiful.” She wasn't looking at the moon.
“Yes…it is, isn't it.” Nyx wasn't looking at the moon either.  Well, in a way she way.  She was looking at its reflection in Yemeya's eyes.
“Nyx…I…”
“Well, well, well!”  Camazotz had crept up on them.  “Three little goddesses up to no good!”
Nyx gave Yemeya an odd look, one she couldn't interpret.  Suddenly, she ran to Yemeya and wrapped her arms around her.  Even amongst all the chaos and death…Nyx's arms were heaven.  Then.  A kiss.  It was simple, sweet, surprisingly innocent.  It washed away the mold of Yemeya's long, lonely existence.  With that kiss, that perfect, vulnerable kiss, she was born anew.  Nyx's lips met Yemeya's ear “Take Persephonne.  You two make sure he's right where I need him to be.  Good luck…Yemeya…”
And just like that, Yemeya was plucked from paradise and thrown back into the cruel reality.  Camazotz.  Nyx…
You may not be my favorite goddess in the world…but I give you one thing Persephonne…you make a marvelous distraction.  Suddenly brave and bold, Persephonne was enticing Camazotz down alley after alley, street after street, allowing him to gain on her just long enough to keep his attention, then darting out of reach at the last second.  Yemeya spotted where Nyx told her to lead him, and joined Persephonne in taunting him down the street.  You disappoint me bat-face.  I thought you were smarter than this…
Wait…
I'm almost certain you're smarter than this.  Anyone should be able to tell this is a trick…how is this working?  After lots of running and dodging, Camazotz was in his rightful trap.  He wasn't nervous.  He wasn't tired.  He was…laughing.
“I'm appalled!” This was fun for him.  “What do you take me for?  I mean, come on Yemeya! You weren't even trying to be convincing.”
“I don't understand.”  Yemeya and Persephonne circled him cautiously.  “We got you here, didn't we?”
“No…you don't understand…do you?” His voice was sickeningly, mockingly sweet.  “Poor, poor Yemeya.  What were you thinking?  That Nyx would come save the day and the three of you would win and live happily ever after?  Come now!  You've been around long enough to know better!”
Yemeya glared at him.  What is he getting at?
“Weak, tired, burnt-out little Nyx is going to move the very moon and save you all?  I don't think so.  The thing about Nyx is…she's smart.  She realizes something that you seem to keep forgetting.  ONLY ON MAKES IT OUT ALIVE!”
His voice sent ripples throughout her being.
“Did you honestly think that she would share her spoils with you? Of course not!! Even if she did, she doesn't have it in her to pull off a stunt like that.  Moving the moon from its rightful place in the sky would be an accomplishment in her heyday…she can barely lift a moonbeam today!! You want to know what your precious little Nyx is doing right now?”
No…
“She's waiting!”
Stop…
“She's sitting there with a bag of popcorn waiting for me to tear your guts out.  Then she'll challenge me. Mono-a-mono!”
Please…
“But, of course…she's wrong about one thing.  She can't beat me.  So I'll just have to tear her guts out too, I suppose.  Then I win.  Make sense?”
His words had shoved Yemeya against a wall.  Nyx…
“Now…where was I?  Oh yes! Persephonne gets to watch as I disembowel you and drink your blood.  Then I do the same to her.  Then I…”
Light!
Light like a miracle shot down from the darkness above.  Camazotz was on his knees, filling the empty world with agonizing screams.  The screams withered along with the god himself, and he was reduced to a smoldering corpse, forever frozen into a grotesque statue.
Another scream echoed through the city.  Nyx!
Yemeya ran to her.  She ran faster than she ever had in her life.  Nyx…Nyx…No!  She was laying on the roof, gasping for air with raspy lungs…still beautiful.   She was burned badly, and very weak.  “Come on, come on!”  Yemeya pleaded with her gently “you're okay, let's just get you somewhere where you can rest.  You'll be fine, come on now.”
Nyx wearily shook her head.  “I've got somewhere I can rest, Yemeya…don't worry.  I knew this would happen.  I didn't…didn't want to…worry…you…”
“Don't talk like that!  Come one, you're going to be okay.  Please, just let me help you!”
“You have helped me.  More that you will ever know.”
“But I…”
“I'm so glad to have met you, Yemeya.”
“Nyx I…”
“So…”
“Nyx?!”
“Glad…”
“Nyx please! I…”
“Thank you.”  The words rode shakily on her last, weary breath.
“But…I…I love you…” Yemeya cradled her delicate body.  She had only known her for ten days, but she felt as though she had lost her purpose, her hope.
Persephonne approached the scene timidly and wrapped her arms around Yemeya.
They stayed with her for a very long time.
The moon escaped from the overpowering glare of the sun and trickled down the pale sky and into the horizon.