2.19 The Lies That Bind

        "Can you remember what happened to your head?" Nulu pried gently from across the breakfast table. "Do you remember how you ended up in that tunnel?"

         Images of the faded sign and flashbacks of that fatal debate returned to haunt Zara the moment Nulu asked about it. "The sign over the tunnel said it led to Hellias" Zara replied as more images returned, images of the cell she had escaped. "I was in the TLS Program…"

         "TLS Program?" Nulu frowned, this was new lingo.

         Zara felt her heart pounding, hard,  just thinking about it. "Yes… I don't know…" Struggling between nightmare and reality, still in shock from the Unicorn dream, she wasn't entirely sure now which parts of the adventure had been a nightmare. "I can't remember everything... I don't remember... I'm really confused... There was a sign saying the tunnel went to Hellias but I thought I was going there anyway." The terrifying encounter with Aquilla returned soon after, with vengeance. "Oh my God..." she felt light headed just thinking about it, it couldn't possibly have been a nightmare, she had been wounded in the fall. "Oh my god... Aquilla almost KILLED me!"

         Nulu could tell the encounter had been traumatic, she squeezed her hand gently, hoping to ease her nerves. "How did you arrive at the tunnel?"

         Then, out of the blue, images of Medena slicing off Orien's head obliterated Zara's mind. The dam burst and she collapsed into sobs, all the stories began to pour out in a slurry jumble. The career, the Breeding Program, the Floggings, the Foreman, Dion's Salon, the Grill, the Garbage Tossers, the Golden Goblet, it all came out in one giant mashup.

         Nulu listened with horror and handed her a clean handkerchief, noticing her voice rising higher and higher in pitch as the stories unleashed from captivity.

         "…They even said that being a Cow Goddess was the Greatest Honor!!! I never even got to MEET Orien" she wailed, blowing into the clean soft cloth. Learning that perhaps Orien’s life didn't have to end came with a whole new sort of agony. "Why? Why didn't I listen to my feelings and GRAB him that day?"

         It was becoming apparent to Nulu that Zara’s Phoenix was alive and well. Perhaps this strong flame explained her timely arrival in Lemuria. "Why didn't you?"

         Rattled, Zara thought about it for a moment only to realize, with aching regret the argument in her mind. "I told myself not to... I told myself I just had to accept it..."

         "Why?"

         "Because that's the right thing to dooo.... Because that's what everyone does!" Now the handkerchief was getting all twisted in her hands, Nulu could see glimpses of a painful history, lurking deep within.

         Now Zara was being side-swiped by flashbacks of the Moha Lab and Lochia. "I was even PAID for him" she broke out in sobs again. "Like my womb was some kind of STORE FRONT!!! I thought it was right, I thought everyone thought it was right. I don't know what's worse. That I let them kill him, or that I accepted gold for his life!"

         Speechless now, Nulu handed her a clean handkerchief. She had heard rumors of slavery, they knew about the practice of blood sacrifice, they knew it still went on, Vikkar and his Nefilim kept them informed, but she never heard anything like this. They were sacrificing children? Buying and selling them? Zara's story was worse than she imagined, much worse than Vikkar or his men had described. It was troubling on many levels. "Had you heard of Anur before you arrived in Lemuria?"

         "No.. never!" Zara replied, calming as she wiped away her tears, determined to find Orien more than ever now. "We learned rubbish about Lemuria, it was on the map, but we were told it was Hellias. We were told the dogons would savage us if we went there, that it was a Barren Wasteland. The thing is, we could all see it in the distance, but no one ever asked why it never looked like barren wasteland!"

         Nulu knew about the Dogon feud with Atalon, it was ancient history, she didn't realize it had morphed into such an absurd reality, however. "Our worlds weren't always this divided" she assured. "Our tribes were torn apart many years ago. Many deceptions have poisoned the people of Gaia, we were once a great civilization, blossoming together, tribes and races alike, we weren't slaves, we worked together. Until the Archon's arrived. That was the beginning of the Great War that divided us."

         "Archons?" Zara echoed. "Who are the Archons?"

         It gave Nulu hope to see Zara wanted to learn; it meant she stood a chance of recovery. "It's a long story. You can learn the whole story at the Crystal Temple if you like."

         Zara had an idea already that there was more to her world than she had been taught in Culloom, she had learned about the Great War, the war against the evil savages that used to roam the land and how it had shaped the Atlan Empire; there was no mention of Archons. It was history, there was nothing anyone could do to change it, however so far, her Architecture education was missing a huge chapter, all those evil stories that had made her fear and dread Lemuria were yet to reveal themselves and Dogons turned out to be dogons; a pack of twisted lies. She wanted to know why.