The Undying God by Nathan Wilson Page B

asked. Rafael nodded in acquiescence. “Then
retreat to the perimeter of the arena.” The ambassador didn’t
delay, flanked by his bodyguards. When he reached his destination,
he looked for Venexa. She smiled and signaled someone in the
obscurity of the shadows.
    A rumble coursed through the sand. The
surface of the amphitheater shifted and slowly lowered like a
tiered platform. Rafael waited patiently, his eyes watching the
churning sands gushing into the darkness like a
waterfall.
    Metal tiers submerged below the earth’s
surface to a place where the ruins lurked. He couldn’t begin to
fathom what had ended the reign of the southern empire. He surmised
that an earthquake had destroyed the city, for how else could so
many artifacts end up below the surface?
    He longed to return to the site where
he discovered the stone tablets. However, the caverns below
Azia-Nocti were structurally weak and prone to collapse. Nor did he
suspect that he was entirely alone as he wandered through the ruins
in search of knowledge.
    He tensed as the colossal platform rose
toward the surface. Rafael cried out when he saw what had emerged
from the arena.
    A gargantuan spider loomed in the
sands. It did not move, eyeing its prey insidiously. His bodyguards
brandished their weapons. Their blades were futile against a
creature so massive, a beast nearly forty feet tall. Rafael was
afraid to move, and his blood now ran cold with fright. At last, he
shouted to dispatch his guards.
    “Slay it! Kill the monster—”
    Battlemaster Venexa laughed
malevolently. As his guards took a step forward, they
faltered.
    The siege machine was arachnoid in
form, nothing like Rafael had imagined when he discovered the
schematics.
    “It is beautiful,” Venexa fawned. “I
need only find a way to imbue it with life.” The ambassador looked
on with silent awe. He wondered if he made a grave mistake in
recovering this abomination.
    “How does it operate?” croaked the
shaken ambassador.
    “Based on the schematics you provided,
a chamber within the abdomen burns massive amounts of oil. The
steam it produces provides it with energy... Yet, I haven’t made
the connection between this steam and how to control its
movements.” Rafael had never seen or heard of such an
apparatus.
    Venexa smiled and placed a slender hand
on its abdomen.
    “But I am determined to control it.
There must be a way to manipulate this device. It would be an
unstoppable weapon in war... or a coup. Once the siege machine
bursts through the walls that divide the slums and the royal
district, it will be far too late. Everything in its path will be
decimated. The city itself will bow before the destruction I
wield.”
    Rafael expressly noticed her use of the
word “I” and shuddered.
    He apprehensively approved of the work
she had accomplished. Nonetheless, he couldn’t control the way he
was shaking. He nodded at Venexa and began to slink away without
another word.
     
    * * *
     
    “What about this one?” Nishka
asked.
    Arxu shook his head.
    “What’s wrong with it?”
    “It doesn’t look healthy.”
    “Okay… What about this?” She indicated
a young donkey. Arxu bent down and vigilantly studied its
hooves.
    “Its hooves are split.”
    “It’s not like we’re picking out a wife
for you,” Nishka said with frustration.
    “I have no need for a wife,” he
replied, catching her off guard.
    “Well… This mule looks relatively
healthy…” Every once in a while, a merchant would try to entice
Nishka with silk or jewelry, but she would wave him away. She
pretended to observe the pack mules for a while longer.
    “So you don’t feel lonely?”
    “No. Is that why you would marry? To be
rid of loneliness?”
    “There’s a huge difference between
being lonely and not wanting to marry into second class
citizenship. Cooking, washing, and obeying without question sound
spectacular and everything, but I’d rather hold onto my
dignity.”
    “Marriage doesn’t sound