Page 36 of The Hunchback

“Take this to Kwazeem. I’ll see you all again either tomorrow night, or the day after the Chakra Ceremony,” I said, carrying the imp to my window before kissing his little forehead between his horns. “Be careful and don’t get caught.”

Victus chirped, kissed my chin, and took flight after carefully looking outside for prying eyes.

The day dragged on interminably. In between failed attempts at summoning my Divine Light, I made sure to be seen by the locals, looking happy and healthy walking around the plaza and a few busy streets of Paris. Guilt gnawed at me as the people hailed me like a goddess as I passed them by. The atmosphere in the city was electric, no pun intended. Since the use of any type of nuclear or fossil fuel had been banned on most planets of our solar system, energy had become an even more precious resource. This made Vestals, especially high-ranking ones, national treasures that every Circle fought over. Now that I’d been here on Eden, I understood the extent of the First Circle’s needs. They would be devastated. Their fury to have been given such hope of a brighter future only two days ago and have it already ripped away from them was inevitable.

I wanted to be their Vestal. I would without hesitation, but not at the cost of a life with Kwazeem. If only I could make them accept him...

Assuming your powers come back, and that he isn’t indeed draining you.

Dwelling over such depressing thoughts was moot, though. However terrified I felt at the thought that I may no longer be a Vestal, there was nothing I could do about it but wait and see. To my shame, I had to admit that my bigger fear was that, should I indeed be ‘ruined,’ with time, I might grow to resent Kwazeem for it. He hadn’t known the risks, but I had. Old Nan had warned me, but I’d stubbornly denied that possibility because how could the man I love be bad for me?

I returned to the temple to do a bit more research on which Circle might be most accepting of a human-Fallen couple, and then what other nearby planets might welcome us. For a brief instant, I considered approaching the Fallen tribes, first here on Eden, or maybe on one of the surrounding moons. Speaking to Old Nan, it had sounded like Kwazeem’s mother had only been isolated for her child’s sake and not because they’d rejected a hybrid. Now that he was an adult, would he still be so vulnerable to the Fallen’s presence?

In the following hours, I put together an extensive list of questions to validate, and possible new places for us to call home. Thankfully, despite the embarrassment and maybe even shame that could befall my family once I’d left, the Temple of Vesta couldn’t take back the dowries it had paid to them. Since I couldn’t pack much of my belongings yet as it might raise the cleaning lady’s suspicion, I spent the rest of the evening iterating on my farewell holographic message.

That night, I went to bed mentally exhausted but physically too tense to relax. Nevertheless, I managed to fall into a fitful slumber. Morning found me with a headache and a large gaping void inside me where my Divine Light had once been burning bright. This time, it finally sank in. I hadn’t burnt out. I’d been stripped of my Light, of the tremendous blessing Vesta had bestowed upon me, making me unique, powerful, the light in the darkness that constantly threatened to engulf her children.

I was no longer a Vestal.

A first tear trickled down my cheek, soon followed by a second, then a third. A strangled cry escaped me before the dam burst open. I bawled helplessly, my body wracked with violent sobs as I mourned the loss of everything I’d ever been. My Vestal status had defined me as a person and shaped my entire life. Who was I now? What was I? Would Kwazeem even still want me anymore? My Light had drawn him just like his had drawn me. Would he still be attracted to what was left of me?

I don’t know how long I remained prostrate on my bed, my wailing having abated to a weak whimper interspersed with sniffling. A single hard knock on my door startled me. Without waiting for an invitation to come in, the intruder bypassed the lock and opened the door. I didn’t need to ask who it was. Lifting my head, I looked at Frollo standing in the doorway. He held a stunning white staff in his hand that I instantly recognized as Kwazeem’s work.

One look at my face drenched in tears sufficed for Frollo to get the answer he’d no doubt come seeking. A strange mix of pity, contempt, and anger flashed over his noble features. That cut deep and reopened the floodgates.

“Ever the optimist, Kwazeem gave me this as a gift for you to use in tomorrow’s Chakra Ceremony,” he said, showing me the staff before leaning it again the wall inside my room. “I told him you wouldn’t get to use it,” he added with a heavy dose of sarcasm. His gaze roamed around the room before once more settling on me. “Pack your things. Only bring the indispensable. The rest will be forwarded to you at a later date. I want you gone before noon,” the Praetor said in a cold and emotionless voice. “My personal guards will meet you outside to fly you out. Do not forget to leave your holographic message in the Great Hall.”

He pushed in the hovercart of food Malina had left outside my room, then left, closing the door behind him. Wiping my face with the back of my hands, I forced myself out of bed and gathered what few items I wanted to keep or might need on the new journey lying ahead. The sight of the trunk which had contained my ceremonial dresses triggered another wave of tears.

It felt too unfair, too steep a price to pay to be with the man I loved. Had following the desires of my heart been worth such a loss? As the question popped in my head, Kwazeem beautiful face appeared in my mind’s eye, and a strange sense of peace settled over me.

Yes. A thousand times yes.

I wiped my face almost angrily with the back of my hand before completing my packing with renewed purpose. Any future without Kwazeem would be meaningless for me. So it was time to stop wailing over spilled milk. What was done was done. In time, I would recover from the loss of my Divine Light, but I could never recover from losing my soulmate.

After piling by the door the items I intended to keep, I finally gave into curiosity and picked up the staff. It was beyond exquisite. The white wood polished to look almost like ivory. Solid and well balanced, the intricate, woven patterns of the wood at each end of the staff were truly the work of a master artisan. Small glow stones had been embedded in a slanted circle around the staff near both ends. Covering the pattern with my hand, I gave it a twist and, as suspected, a sharp blade appear at the matching end of the staff.

But this was no regular blade.

Looking at it up-close, I marveled at the glowing veins streaking the dark metal. They appeared to writhe and heave like a living thing.

Divine Light. Kwazeem’s Divine Light.

How in the world had he managed to infuse the metal with his very essence?

The sound of the trumpets resounding in the distance startled me, snapping me out of my mesmerized daze. As they continued to sound outside, it took me a moment to figure out they didn’t come from the public entertainers that often cheered the crowd on the plaza. And then my stomach dropped at the realization they were heralding the Elohim.

Why the fuck are they coming now? The ceremony is only tomorrow!

Nearly choking with panic, I twisted the staff’s pattern to hide the blade, grabbed the holographic disk containing my farewell and rushed to the elevator. As the lift raced down towards the ground floor, I prayed Frollo would meet up with the Elohim and keep them from coming anywhere near here while I made a run for it. But then I remembered he had magistrate engagements outside the city today. That meeting was also intended to serve him as an alibi as to why he hadn’t kept me from running away once my disappearance would become public knowledge.

I tapped on the glass door of the lift, willing it to open the minute it reached its destination. The trumpets having gone silent outside meant the Elohim had landed. Going out the front door was no longer an option. I rushed towards the back exit, dropping the holographic disk with my farewell message on the altar near one of the two entrances to the chapel.

But I never made it to the back exit. The heavy doors of the main entrance opened and the divine aura of the High Seraph slapped me with the strength of my impending doom. It drew me like a moth to a flame, the deep void that now gaped inside me hungry to be once more filled with Divine Light.

“Esmeralda!” Phoebus called out, his booming voice echoing through the empty hall of the temple.

For a split second, trembling with fear, I considered ignoring him and rushing out the building. But he’d already seen me. Even if I tried, there would be no way to outrun or lose him. He was the High Seraph, the military leader of the Elohim army. He always caught his prey.

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