I Will Be Your Sun No More
Sep. 29th, 2024 03:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eatthepenMisc mecha short story originally written for Cohost for the prompt 'Mech Pilot who has something in their heart that is not in the world'.
I Will Be Your Sun No More
I Will Be Your Sun No More
Tam slid down the river of hot ambrosia, clutching at their chest. They barely felt the clinging fluid against their skin, the sweetness overwhelming their nose, the sticky nightmare of their hair. There was just the pinpoint burning under their breastbone, dizzying, driving spots across their vision.
Above them towered the gutted cocoon of Alpha Vessel, sliced open from right shoulder to left hip, radiance fading as her sacred blood drained to the floor far below. The great head of gold and pearl was thrown back, frozen in a final rictus of agony. The Imitant Vessel's sword had bound against Alpha's pelvic frame at the end of its stroke, and now the Imitant, too, had frozen in place.
Hands seized Tam and pulled them from the stream of ambrosia before they were pitched off to drop to the paving. They fetched up on something hard, uneven, red. The palm of the Imitant's hand? Arms around them, and a warm, triumphant voice in their ear. The pain was like tinnitus, half-drowning the words.
But the voice was familiar.
Tam reared back, flailing their arms until their father released them. The pain in their chest surged as they got free, and they let out a noise more like a growl than a scream, hugging themselves. Then they looked up into Verandino's face. "Father… what are you… doing?"
"As was foretold, my boy." Even gloating, there was a kind of kindness in the old man's voice. It was more sickening than the ambrosia scent. He looked up to the Vessels and the dark sky above them. "That profanation is not the true vessel. You are, Tammarevin. It is in your heart that my new world is born."
The pain. Again Tam's eyes went blurry, spots dancing inside their eyelids as they squeezed them closed. "No…"
"We did it! We did it, my son," Verandino said, reaching down to lay a hand on Tam's hair. "Thank you. You have suffered much, and I am proud of you."
The knife. It was as if Diedra's voice was in Tam's ear, the thinness of her vowels, the harshness of her tone. Tears mingled with the syrupy blood on Tam's cheeks. Their arm trembled with internal tensions as they reached around to the small of their back. The nylon outer layer of their plugsuit was slippery, and it was hard to get the pouch open, their fingers fumbling at the handle inside.
They pulled it out, fist clenched, and the blade came to life, a barely-visible shimmer in the air. The hurt in their chest was spreading, a spiderweb of nerves lighting up slowly, end-to-end. It was hard even to raise the knife.
Verandino straightened up, taking half a step back from Tam. "What are you doing, boy? Do you still believe you can stop me? My new world is born, it is the pain you feel in your heart at this very moment! The seed of it will grow from you. Are you afraid? You will become the whole of its Mundus, and I, its Pantheurge! We will be gods, boy!"
"You… will never… have… this world…" Tam hissed, forcing their way up to a bowed half-crouch. The posture felt feral, a beast's walk rather than a man's. "And I am… neither boy… nor son."
"What? You cannot think to cut the seed out," Verandino said, and there was almost laughter in his voice. "You would die, give up even your soul, to stop me? Even now?"
"We both… have hearts… you bastard!" Tam lunged forward, bringing Dierdra's knife up in a ragged thrust. Carmine blood sprayed across their chest and face, mixing with the tears, the ambrosia, as they gave Verandino the opposite of the wound that had slain Alpha Vessel. The old man's eyes had just time to go wide with the shock before he died. The knife fell bladeless from Tam's hand and they sagged to their knees on the Imitant's palm, toppling forward against Verandino's corpse as their pain became the whole of the world.
Above them towered the gutted cocoon of Alpha Vessel, sliced open from right shoulder to left hip, radiance fading as her sacred blood drained to the floor far below. The great head of gold and pearl was thrown back, frozen in a final rictus of agony. The Imitant Vessel's sword had bound against Alpha's pelvic frame at the end of its stroke, and now the Imitant, too, had frozen in place.
Hands seized Tam and pulled them from the stream of ambrosia before they were pitched off to drop to the paving. They fetched up on something hard, uneven, red. The palm of the Imitant's hand? Arms around them, and a warm, triumphant voice in their ear. The pain was like tinnitus, half-drowning the words.
But the voice was familiar.
Tam reared back, flailing their arms until their father released them. The pain in their chest surged as they got free, and they let out a noise more like a growl than a scream, hugging themselves. Then they looked up into Verandino's face. "Father… what are you… doing?"
Verandino stood, his robe smeared and smirched with divine blood, and spread his arms.
"You did it, my son. The new world is born."
"As was foretold, my boy." Even gloating, there was a kind of kindness in the old man's voice. It was more sickening than the ambrosia scent. He looked up to the Vessels and the dark sky above them. "That profanation is not the true vessel. You are, Tammarevin. It is in your heart that my new world is born."
The pain. Again Tam's eyes went blurry, spots dancing inside their eyelids as they squeezed them closed. "No…"
"We did it! We did it, my son," Verandino said, reaching down to lay a hand on Tam's hair. "Thank you. You have suffered much, and I am proud of you."
The knife. It was as if Diedra's voice was in Tam's ear, the thinness of her vowels, the harshness of her tone. Tears mingled with the syrupy blood on Tam's cheeks. Their arm trembled with internal tensions as they reached around to the small of their back. The nylon outer layer of their plugsuit was slippery, and it was hard to get the pouch open, their fingers fumbling at the handle inside.
They pulled it out, fist clenched, and the blade came to life, a barely-visible shimmer in the air. The hurt in their chest was spreading, a spiderweb of nerves lighting up slowly, end-to-end. It was hard even to raise the knife.
Verandino straightened up, taking half a step back from Tam. "What are you doing, boy? Do you still believe you can stop me? My new world is born, it is the pain you feel in your heart at this very moment! The seed of it will grow from you. Are you afraid? You will become the whole of its Mundus, and I, its Pantheurge! We will be gods, boy!"
"You… will never… have… this world…" Tam hissed, forcing their way up to a bowed half-crouch. The posture felt feral, a beast's walk rather than a man's. "And I am… neither boy… nor son."
"What? You cannot think to cut the seed out," Verandino said, and there was almost laughter in his voice. "You would die, give up even your soul, to stop me? Even now?"
"We both… have hearts… you bastard!" Tam lunged forward, bringing Dierdra's knife up in a ragged thrust. Carmine blood sprayed across their chest and face, mixing with the tears, the ambrosia, as they gave Verandino the opposite of the wound that had slain Alpha Vessel. The old man's eyes had just time to go wide with the shock before he died. The knife fell bladeless from Tam's hand and they sagged to their knees on the Imitant's palm, toppling forward against Verandino's corpse as their pain became the whole of the world.