2.45 The Golden Life

        As the flames which brought the great statue of Medel's hollowed eyes to life, burned out, the Opening Ceremony wrapped up and the VIP's returned to the Villa on the hill in their golden litters, leaving the invites to celebrate the night away in the comforts of the festive tent city. Torches blazed brightly along the courtyard walls illuminating the night life with a sense of security, helping to propagate exciting visions of a brighter future on the horizon. The drummers stayed behind, eager to drum their favorite beats from the Green Serpent in the acoustical grandeur of the courtyard, juicy hamburgers were served from the BBQ stands, food and libations were on the house. Soon enough, the dance floor of the Grand Courtyard had become a sea of warm, happy, sweaty bodies, the finest DNA of the Atlan Empire. 

        Full of optimism, Josh wove through the crowd with his new recruit. "Watch and learn. Just follow and don't ask any questions."

         Eager to please, the new recruit followed attentively as Josh demonstrated how the deal was done. They hadn't travelled very far before a merchant intercepted them with a low voice and suggestive body language. Josh returned the gestures with a nod, followed by his own subtle gesture to follow him, and kept walking. Few words were needed, both parties understood the nature of the sale, disappearing in and out the crowds was a cover act. The recruit followed as best he could, watching for the exchange maneuvers as they dodged sweaty dancers, swinging to the beat. It took only seconds for the deal to be made, it happened so quick the new recruit would never have spotted it had he not been following and watching and learning. The merchant then darted into the crowd and Josh continued to lead his apprentice through the sweaty sea.

         "You can you handle that, right? Just keep moving and you'll be fine. let them come to you, you'll only have to offer it once or twice, word of mouth will do the advertising for you." Josh handed him a pouch of portioned foil packs. "Meet me at the Skin Club after wrap. If your numbers add up we'll let you sell twice as much tomorrow."

        

         Zara tossed around in her bed, unable to sleep, her mind spinning round and round, trying to imagine the planets at war... She reached for the emerald tile laying on the table beside her and studied it's ominous image, playing with the facets reflecting the candle light almost brought it to life. It was a magical tile, as was the last one. But what did it mean?

         'You will understand what the image means as you discover the journey it speaks of…' Mina's cryptic words didn't help at all, nothing in the image seemed like a positive sort of journey to discover. A burning tower? She didn’t know of any towers except the bell tower of the Temple of Medel! The truth about Medel was on fire?

         Feeling lost, she clutched the tile tight, pulled the blanket up over her shoulders and tried to sleep. She thought about the strange story they were selling her, the elaborate presentation, the big deal they made over telling it. The entire storytelling ceremony was bizarre, the black cup was so odd and she didn't really believe it was magic water… And she certainly wasn’t going to buy their moon story.

         Waves of sleep began to lap her thoughts as they rested on the story once again. Absurdity aside, she liked it, she liked them, regardless of her doubts and fears. And there were some things about the story that seemed to ring true, that even gave her answers, even if only mythical ones. Like the gold. There was something about gold... Gold was the most important commodity in Atlan for a reason...

         A smile broke out across her face as she thought about the Golden life she had left behind... It was all about gold and she only could see that now. The gold beads... Her golden wardrobe... She chuckled, now she could laugh at the tragedy that befell her that day... Then she thought about the golden wig... She couldn't laugh about that. Was it really just a coincidence? What about her gold medal?

         Thoughts of medals were followed by images of Orien's blood pouring into the Golden Goblet again. Tormented so deeply inside, Zara tossed in her bed, wide awake again, forcing the images out of her head. Some of the Golden memories were just too hard to think about.

         She watched the candle light flickering across the crystal walls, they seemed to help in distracting her from these thoughts that haunted her mind…

2. 44 Sacrificial Blood

        That morning, across the water in Atlan, energy in the Grand Courtyard was electric, the excitement was contagious, never before had citizens of the Atlan Empire waved their flags with such enthusiasm as they did at the Opening Ceremony of the Farewell Celebration. And this time, it wasn't only the Firmary gods seated on the royal stage. This time Atalon's VIP guests had been invited to take part in the Sacrificial Ceremony, a taste of the way things would change in the New Empire. No longer would the gods keep this empowerment ritual exclusively to themselves, in the New Empire, everyone could be empowered with Sacrificial Blood; BloodWine was to become a public offering at last.

         Tonight, Cow Goddesses from the Moha lab were being sacrificed to the great Creator God, Medel. Eyes blazing, He watched them all from above as the sacred pyre was lit below. The courtyard roared with cheers as each soul was offered in exchange for Health, Wealth and Happiness in the New Empire. Flags waved wildly as Medena filled the Golden Goblet with their blood. One by one the heads were placed on golden platters and presented to the cheering crowds.

         Dena stood tall, proud of her honored position on the royal stage with the gods, nervous about drinking blood for the first time, the notion of drinking raw blood made her feel uneasy, but she wasn't going to admit it. She did her best not to let her nerves show as the moment drew near but it was difficult. Heart pounding, she was conscious of her sweaty palms and tried to wipe them discreetly, all too aware of the hundreds of eyes studying her every move, hundreds of eyes wishing they could be her. She reminded herself how honored she was, how special she was to have been selected for the most exclusive party in town, now she just had to prove she had the chops for the role. It was harder being on stage than it appeared to be.

         ‘Hold your hand up and just rotate it gently…’ Medena’s words of instruction barely helped. Her arm ached, she was beginning to realize how hard it was to be a god. They had to wave hour after hour to the crowds. Then she began to realize why they drank the blood. The blood made them strong, it was the blood that empowered their godly forces, and it was this power that had brought them the success and fortune she so badly desired, this was what the New Empire was all for. Empowerment.

         Giddy from adrenaline, she eyed the goblet approaching from the corner of her eye, it was in Nolan’s hands now. He didn't seem to be bothered by the sacrificial blood-drinking, surely it wouldn't be so bad… She would need to get used to it if she wanted to marry him… Perhaps she might like it?

         The Golden Goblet was warm in her hands. Dena closed her eyes and lifted the magic potion to her lips, pausing to inhale the delicate aroma of fresh, warm blood for the first time. She took a sip, with a deep breath took a bigger sip, she didn’t have to sip very much before a strange sensation raced through her veins. The cheering crowds roaring with applause seemed to amplify the sensation, too, followed by the greatest rush.

         As she passed the goblet on she felt like a new goddess already, a higher goddess... BloodWine? It was nothing compared to this. Now she understood why the gods drank the raw blood.

         The hike to Fina through the old Aquillan tunnel was cold, dark and long. Neter would have perhaps turned back but the smells were getting worse and the voices were growing louder as he neared the neighboring isle, vibes here didn't feel good at all. The sounds and odors barely prepared him for shocking scene he discovered in Fina as he rounded the final bend. Breathless, he clutched his heart in agony. In the dimly lit shadows he could see gates spanning across the tracks ahead, as he drew closer he could see it was holding back a wall of bloody corpses, the pileup spanned the entire width of the tunnel!

         "Ugh!" He could hardly look but to look was exactly why he was here. There was movement and voices amongst them… There were some who were still alive... They were devouring each other?

         Winded from the subsequent tumble, Neter rolled over gasping for the odorous air as he returned to face reality. After a few moments he summoned the strength to face the wall, crawled up off his knees and took a moment to study the scene... It was almost as if he had been sent...  He had been sent to do something about this. What was this? This scene was so bad, this scene was pure hell...

         Karen spotted the blonde hair in the darkness, she recognized him from her text book, it was the God of Death! He was real!

         "HELP ME" she screamed, unafraid to face him from where she crawled over the squirming pile of undead decaying flesh.

         A desperate cry for help was all it took to motivate Neter. He scanned the wall of death, searching for a solution, terrified himself of the wild and rabid looking bodies still fighting for their lives.

         "HELP ME, PLEE-EE-EEASE" Karen cried, inching closer to the bars, desperate.

         Neter studied the construction, the gate was bolted into place...

         "HELP ME, PLEE-EE-EEASE!"

         Agonized by empathy, Neter pondered the implications of doing such a thing, what would happen if he did? What if he let them out? Why were they rabid like this? Was it a virus? Why would his Phoenix send him to do something if it endangered others?

         "HEE-E-E-E-ELP!"

         Suddenly a crazed merchant threw himself at the pleading student. With violent rage he began tearing at her limbs, mauling her to death in front of Neter's weeping eyes. There was nothing he could do. Agonized, he stumbled backwards into the tunnel, aching with grief, horrified by what he saw here tonight. 

        What the hell just happened? He had no choice but to return to Atlan to find out, unable to help them from here, apparently he was too late. Thoughts spun wild with speculation as he followed the ill-fated track back to the Hub. Was this perhaps the same 'savage beasts' that Zara had spoken of in Culloom? She was right. Something was slaughtering all the people, but the people weren't being slaughtered by savage beasts, the people were slaughtering themselves!