Page 17 of Immortal Sun

Another splash.

“Last time you had wine I had a shit ton of work to do.” I roll my eyes. “And I don’t think the world is ready for that again. The number of earthquakes alone was daunting.”

I swear I hear that damn thing curse.

Smiling, I look up at the giant tree placed in the lawn next to all the normal looking rocks from the cliffs. Everything is aging and growing with me. I tell myself I won’t miss the trees or the forest, that I burn for something else. I lie to myself often these days.

“Old friend,” I whisper and pat the grass next to me while Rat scurries down. “How are the stars tonight?” I blame my conversation with Anubis. “Have any of them chosen to fall?”

Rat sets the nut down and scurries away. I tilt back the glass of wine and shake my head. That’s what I thought. Nothing. There’s nothing anymore for me here. There is no worship, no magic, no communication between humanity and the immortals unless you’re stuck here. It will be as if I never existed, soon people will forget about me and simply stare at the sun and marvel at how it came into being knowing it’s missing the biggest part—the one who created it.

I hang my head. I’m talking to myself, because if I talked to Inti or any of my other friends they’d just tell me one bit of advice.

Do your job because you think you have no choice.

Or, stay with us.

Fall.

From the sky?

From my very existence? And for what? The last one? A woman I barely know?

Ridiculous.

I have one dark purpose which is the only way to be brought into the light.

People wonder how long the world has been broken. All they need to do is take a look into my eyes and see the darkness—watch the world burn, die. Humanity is so fickle. Maybe that’s why we have the challenge set upon us, to understand true suffering so we appreciate our true power.

I finish my wine and watch the sunrise hours later. Staff start to move around the large property, none of them at all surprised that I’m sitting at the base of the tree.

Cleo has two days to explore before it begins.

I watch the sunrise and find myself saying, “I miss it.”

God of the Sun, trapped.

Until I end it.

Until I spill her blood.

Worth it.

CHAPTER 6

CLEO

“Perhaps the greatest myth being purveyed, is that myths are just myths.” —Michael Tsarion

Something wet is hitting my face.

I jolt awake. A gross naked cat jumps up onto me and starts licking down my neck. I’ve never seen a sphynx cat, but I’m thinking I could have gone my entire life without a naked cat body pressed on me paired with unholy hot cat breath. It’s wearing a sweater that says, “With a body like this who needs hair?”

“Ugh!” I point at it and try to scramble away. “No! Gross, stop.”

The weird little cat makes a small circle next to my other pillow and blinks then meows.

“You need to go to the litter box or something?”

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