SURVIVE (THRIVE: Book Two)

Chapter 91- Heresy

As we step into a new memory, the area is dark, and I recognize the area as the dungeons beneath the temple. I hear a desperate whimpering nearby, and Lucius seems uneasy as we follow the sound. Soon, we arrive at an open cell, seeing an unfamiliar man hunched over a girl on the ground. There's blood all over the floor, and the girl looks to be falling unconscious.

    "Is that you?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

    "My third body," he explains sadly as he watches the grotesque display. Suddenly, I hear the sound of footsteps behind us, and I turn to see a regal-looking woman walking toward us briskly.

    "Luci, are you still down here-" she suddenly stops, gasping as she sees what is happening before her eyes "Lucius! Get off of her!" She screams, blasting her energy at him, and slamming him against the wall. Now that I can see his face, his chin is covered in blood and his eyes are solid black.

    "Oh my god," I gasp, taking a step back as I cover my mouth.

    "I told you it wasn't pretty." he sighs.

    "What the fuck has gotten into you?" the woman shouts, rushing to the girl's side and grabbing her wrist, her eyes growing wide as she tries to find her pulse "You told me you had this under control," she growls, crawling over and slapping him across his face.

    "Gaia, I can explain-"

    "She's dead!" she screams, standing up "What the hell do you have to say for yourself?" she asks, looking at him in disgust. He looks at the girl's body, his eyes returning to normal as he starts to breathe deeply.

    "I tried, okay." he sighs, looking up at Gaia.

    "...that's it? That's your explanation?" she asks irritatedly.

    "What else do you want from me?" he asks defensively.

    "You can't just- you can't eat people to satisfy your cravings!" she exclaims, holding her wrist.

    "Does it honestly matter?" he asks, carefully standing up "It's not like you're any better." he scoffs, wiping the blood from his mouth.

    "Excuse me?" she asks offendedly "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

    "Oh please, you've been sacrificing people to grow stronger for decades, don't pretend this is any different," he explains irritatedly.

    "They volunteer!" she shouts.

    "Because they think they're helping the greater good, we both know you're just using them for your own selfish reasons." he states bluntly, stepping closer to her "You can kid yourself into thinking you're above it all, but let's face it, you're in just as deep as I am," he explains, pinning her against the wall.

    "You're wrong," she says, her voice trembling.

    "Really?" he says softly, leaning into her ear "Then why is your heart pounding right now, my dear?" he asks, and she shoves him off of her.

    "That's it," she shakes her head, backing away "I can't do this with you anymore."

    "So, that's just it then? You can yell at me for being a monster but can't handle being called a hypocrite?" he asks, watching her walk away "We've all become heathens, it's not my fault that I'm the only one who can see it."

    As the memory begins to fade away, I watch Lucius walk away, looking down at the ground. I can tell how heavily his past must weigh on him, but in my mind, I know that it can't change the way that I feel.

    "I was never the same after that," he sighs turning back to look at me "I still cared about my family, but love was a foreign concept, and it became something I feared more than something I desired to have. Gaia fell into the same darkness I did, and thanks to that, our people began to see us for what we were. Eventually, they rebelled against us, and after a last stand, our reign was brought to an end." he explains sadly.

    "I don't understand, they knew you were able to resurrect yourselves, so what made them think they wiped you out?" I ask curiously.

    "They believed that we needed Gaia or one of her disciples to perform the ritual, so they slaughtered her students before cornering us in the temple. What they didn't realize, was that Gaia could reincarnate without anyone's help, so she devised a plan," he explains, opening another gateway into a memory.

    We step into the throne room of the temple, and I see the five thrones just as they have always been, as well as our empire's insignia on the ceiling.

    "Wait, if there were six of you, why were there five thrones?" I ask, confused.

    "Calista never liked being worshipped, so she didn't want to be in the spotlight," Lucius states as we look around. Suddenly, the six of them in this generation of bodies rush in, out of breath.

    "Where the hell are we supposed to go now, we can't hold them off forever," one of the girl's pants, and based on her revealing outfit, I figure it was Ember.

    "The cove?" One of the men suggests, scratching his head.

    "That's not a bad idea, take the catacombs," one of the women states, brandishing a knife from the garter on her thigh.

    "Gaia, what the hell are you doing?" the other man asks frantically.

    "They aren't going to stop unless they think they've won, we all know it," Gaia states nervously "If they think we can't be resurrected again, they'll stop hunting us."

    "The only way they'll think that is if..." one of the other two women begins, suddenly realizing the truth "Are you sure about this?"

    "We don't have time," Gaia says, and they hear shouting growing closer "I'll find a new body soon, until then, you need to disappear until I can make you unrecognizable again," she explains frantically "Now go!" she shouts, and the others look at each other hesitantly before rushing out. One of the two men stops and looks back at her solemnly, and I realize that it's Lucius. As we see him run down the hall, we see him turn back as Gaia is surrounded, and suddenly, she holds the blade to her own throat. At that moment, the memory disappears.

    I feel uneasy absorbing all of this information, watching them change over the centuries shows how heavily our choices can affect who we become.

    "Looking back, it was for the best that your grandparents inherited the rule from us. We didn't deserve it," he states honestly, and I look over to see he's trembling.

    "You're right, you didn't deserve it." I agree, taking a deep breath "but that didn't stop you from trying to take it back."

    "No, it certainly didn't," he sighs "Your spiritual father was the perfect visionary, and he fit in well with us; almost too well."