The Ruby Empire

Ermolai the Gorgon & Gergo the Mimic

You knew before they took you away that you were never coming back. Their voices were too sweet, and their manner was far too trite. They liked to believe that you were slow and stupid but that could not have been farther from the truth. You could read them from a mile away. You knew this had been coming for a long time. Ever since you were dropped off at the orphanage when you were little. The Sisters that ran the orphanage had been trying to find a way to get rid of you for far too many years now. They were always looking for a way that would abscond them from guilt.

You used to sit near the pillars in the market when the Sisters would go shopping because God forbid you were left alone for even a moment. You would sit there and listen to the Harpies that had made the old stone pantheons there home. They would often sit above you. Their whispering and singing always provided the best education you could hope for when you were waiting for the Sisters to get done with their shopping. They somehow knew everything about anyone, and so you learned to listen to the Harpies above anyone else in the world. The Harpies knew you were smarter than the Sisters gave you credit, so they always whispered close to you.

They didn't sugarcoat things like the Sisters either. They told you every gory detail of things. It was through this that you learned there were some creatures that hid in the shadows. Creatures the world feared and did things to placate. There was a Manticore in the east who ate women in exchange for gold. There was a ghostly hell knight who only appeared as armor in the south who took souls for gems. There were dragons all over who took lives for nothing at all. There was also a Lich King who absconded with slaves to end their wretched existence. Those were all stories, of course, the Harpies laughed how dragons were more likely to take brides than lives. How the Lich King kept cute girls because it made him happy to dote on them. How the Manticore now has a family of his own to worry about.

You knew too that not all monsters were as they seemed. Sometimes it was man who were the monsters. That was something you didn't need the Harpies for. You had known that since you were a small child.

The Sisters had been whispering for weeks now, so you had expected something like this to happen for a while. When their voices were sweet that morning, you knew. They claimed to be going to market but when they took a different buggy than usual, you knew then too. The journey was long and the sun was blazing hot. But when the buggy stopped it was cold out.

The Sisters helped you down from the buggy and with their obviously forced voices they told you to sit down and they would be right back for you. You smiled and waved, telling them to be safe. You sat there and put your head down, listening as the buggy pulled away.

Once you were sure that they were gone you got up and listened. You held your breath, hoping to hear something. You heard whispers in the distance, you could smell smoke. You stretched out your hand, placing it before you. You shuffled your feet so as not to trip and soon you touched a wall. It was rough cut stone, and ice cold to the touch. You placed your hand upon it and followed it. A moment later you slipped and fell, nearly crashing down a set of stairs. You were able to catch yourself on the corner that turned down to an unknown. You inched down each step, quietly, cautiously and carefully.

"Don't you hear that?" A steely cold voice asks.

"No," another huffs. "What are you talking about?"

"Steps," the first voice whispers. "They're slow."

It's quiet and you stay still on the stairs. A moment later you hear breathing and something dragging towards the foot of the stairs. Whatever it is its long. Your heart begins to hammer as you hear it come closer. The dragging stops and you stand at attention.

"What are you doing here?" It's the steely voice again.

You swallow back the lump in your throat. "I was left here," you answer. No point in trying to hide anything now, you think. You point back behind you. "Above the stairs on a rock. I was told to wait there."