ONC 2024 Shortlister
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Just one week before his marriage with a chief bloodshaman of the Kurat's army, young surgeon Genul sees his wife, Kenit, die under his care after a terrorist attack launched by the neighboring nation.
As o...
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"Surig ApKelari!"
The voice was familiar to Genul but it shouldn't address him by his honorific title. Still, Genul found comfort in its sound.
"Wake up, Surig."
Genul opened his eyes. "Don't call me like that, Kenit," he said.
She was standing in front of him, in her military uniform, her garment all leathered and thick from boots to neck. Her wooly hair caught the reflection of the blue dawn light coming through the round window. With her arms tucked behind her back, she looked at Genul like she despised him.
He raised his head from the pillow and stared around. He was lying on a bed; inside the room of the hostel where he had been staying in the periphery of the city of Lomu since passing the border. Looking past Kenit, he realized that the window didn't give a view of the city, it was blueish-white with a glaring light, as if it was a door straight to the moon. By now Genul was so used to these dreams that he knew that it wasn't Kenit standing in front of him. But another demon. Again.
Four days after his fleshpaths had been re-opened, the scent they let off was still strong enough to attract nightmare demons willing to feed on his misery. Genul could attack the demon and end this right away. But he found himself wanting to remain in this dream, watch Kenit's face, its shapes and contours, and wishing she spoke again.
Kenit's expression shifted and her severe look now gave place to a smirk. "Are you sure?" she asked, pacing across the room to sit by Genul's side at the edge of the bed. While Genul watched the line of her waist and the tight uniform embracing her spine, she looked at him like she had fire in her eyes, and for a moment Genul thought her face shifted into the shape of something undetermined, as though the demon had lost grasp on the illusion for less than a second to give view to the shadows of the underworld.
Then Kenit's features regained her face again. "Are you certain you shouldn't fear me more than any demon?" she asked. "Four days...four days you have been here in Lomu, I see no regent's heads rolling. Your Oluva pouch is empty still, with not a single drop of human blood in it. And I'm lost in the underworld. My soul is dissolving. Soon enough I'm going to be part of the sand of the infinite dunes."
Genul knew he wasn't talking to Kenit. This demon was feeding off his fear and he was paying with his agony to see Kenit's face; the symbiosis suited him enough. Still, the words cut deep.
"But I see right through you," she continued. "All this is a sham. It has always been. The point, your real aim, was to flee Kurat, right?" Kenit said. "While your parents and I sacrificed ourselves for a greater cause by giving our lives to the army and the State, all you have ever done is flee. Your parents died, and your response? Running away from the army, and hiding behind the title of a Surig. Now Kenit died and you ran away from Kurat. Took money from your darling Dayali and have been living on her allowances ever since. A real parasite."
