Page 52 of Earth Girls are Easy… To Dominate
“Four days?” Olivia asked, forgetting to sign.
Emil rolled his eyes and snorted. “If you want it to work, you have to give me time.” He answered in sign.
“Okay,” Olivia sighed. She thought about the critical dinner and felt a sick feeling in her stomach. The language spoken in Helix was an intricate language with sounds that were difficult for her to pronounce. She was confident enough in her skills to communicate, but in a diplomatic setting, the translator had been a lifesaver.
“Okay,” Olivia sighed in reticence, “I'll have to make do. Are you going to dinner?”
Emil’s laugh was loud and bawdy. He shook his head and indicated the room.
“And leave all of this behind?” He signed, “It would mean another day or two for the translator if I did that.”
“You just want to get out of the party, admit it,” Olivia snorted.
Emil gave her a shit eating grin and then turned his attention back to what he was doing. Olivia sighed. She wasn't going to get him to speed up his work, and he was free from the obligations Brian had placed on the rest of the team.
“Lucky, bastard,” she snorted and reluctantly left the room.
Olivia traveled down the hall and exited the dormitory pod. It opened onto an outdoor hallway bordered by white stone columns. The sun shone down, stretching its shadows to astronomical lengths. Curtains of pale blue silk cascaded from between the columns. They moved like ocean waves, slowly lapping onto shore.
Olivia passed three of the curtains before dipping into one. On the other side of the fabric wall was a large room. Muralsof Vrex’s history decorated the walls. A sculpture of the city’s namesake, their god Vrex, stood in naked glory in the center.
Vrex stood tall on his dais, commanding the space with his hoarded glare. In his hands was his war spear. For an alien race, there weren’t many differences between the inhabitants of Helix and humans. Their anatomies led to theories suggesting genetic ties between the two peoples. There was one stark difference between them.
Stone-like bones grew outside the skin in some regions of the body.
A crown of rock-hard bone protected the back of Vrex’s head. It sprouted upwards, making him look like a horned king. More bone grew from his knuckles. They were sharpened to a point, acting as an additional layer of defense on the battlefield.
Olivia stared at the statue, thinking of how the statue of Vrex made her feel about Joseph Geef’s famous sculptures of Lucifer. There was a sense of understated power in the art piece.
”There you are,” Eun-Ji called from the other end of the room, “Brian is driving me insane. I need you.”
Olivia smiled. Eun-Ji was like an older sister to her, tall and thin with a magnetic presence. There was a time Olivia thought Eun-Ji belonged more in a K-pop group than on an alien planet. But after one drunken night that ended in karaoke, Olivia knew otherwise. The two were inseparable since.
“This is what you get for telling him about Koureshtka’s Heart,” Olivia noted.
”How could I not?” Eun-Ji asked, walking to Olivia, “It’s a beautiful story.”
Olivia sighed. Eun-Ji was right, the story was beautiful.
Possessed by the demons of the Abyss, Vrex waged war against his fellow Gods. One by one, each god was slaughtered by his spear. Only Koureshtka, the Goddess of Life, remained. In the climax of the battle, Vrex drove his spear into the Goddess’schest, piercing her heart. A bright light burst out of the wound, claiming Vrex’s darkness. It flowed out of Koureshtka, bringing breath back into the dead and cleansing the land.
Sanctified by Koureshtka’s heart, Vrex realized what he had done. As she was dying in his arms, he opened his own chest and pulled out half of his heart. He placed it in her chest and sealed the wound with a kiss. The two hearts became one, and she became his bride.
“They’re coming!” Brian called from another room.
Olivia swallowed the lump that appeared in her throat. She replayed the importance of the holiday for the people of Vrex. Koureshtka’s Heart was a commemoration of the union of their most valued Gods. They celebrated with songs, stories, and food. She couldn’t help but think of the most vital part of the holiday and wondered what Eun-Ji had done as a form of symbolism for it.
Marriages were made on this day.
CHAPTER TWO
Kaias pulled the reins of his steed. Torque huffed in annoyance, clapping one of six hooves on the cobblestone road. Kaias snorted and shook his head. Though he agreed with the creature, it was his duty as the Lord of the Abyss to meet with all his subjects—even the ones from off-world.
Koureshtka's temple stood in the distance, a beautiful and grand structure. The columns, adorned with curtains of pale blue silk, were a welcoming sight. Despite this, Kaias frowned. The strange dome-like structures adjoining the temple were an eyesore. Metallic and reflective, they were otherworldly in comparison to the stone and mortar of Vrex. The creatures that built the structures didn't understand the wild beauty of nature and its connection to everyday life.
“Can’t wait to see this disaster,” Auryn, Kaias’ cousin, commented.
His grin was wide and sharp, with some of his teeth filed to points. Everything about Auryn was deadly, from his serrated knuckle points to the crest of his bone crown. He was Kaias' fiercest warrior and took everything he wanted. It made him a great ally on the battlefield.
