Chapter 3
Datu
“I have come to water you, my brother.”
Sateva parts the cascading stems of my verdant prison. My sight is long-gone, but I can hear my sister moving around. The leaves do not rustle, they crackle, drier than ever. She has brought water with her like every other day.
I am in pain, but nothing comes out of my mouth like hers. My arms move to readjust themselves in my shackles. The metal that used to burn me has now embedded into my flesh that I cannot feel where I start, where it ends. I feel disgusting, being a part of this unnatural human-made thing.
She bows her head, proceeding to climb up the boost so she can reach me. She pours buckets of water over my head and it soaks quickly into my body. The relief is short-lived. I am needing much more than what she gives…and water is not it.
Something is vibrating in my belly. Thrumming an irregular rhythm. Sometimes it churns loud, sometimes it just shivers.
“Will you not speak to me?” Her voice trembles.
I lock my knees and stand. I feel myself towering over her. I see her shadow, barely, below me. With one last bit of my energy, I snarl at her. She knows I am not jesting. I am angry at her, but I am also humiliated at what I have become.
My arms are spread apart while human-made chains hold my weight.
These damning reflective glasses face me, catching sunlight that’s burning me.
I can survive much longer if not for these…
things. I used to see my own failing form on those mirrors before my vision wasted away.
It had been hard to watch, and for this, I try to be thankful for my lack of sight.
The fury in me is ugly, but there is nothing else to feel when all these humans have done is destroy what we have.
What once was the glorious Esoterra has now become an infested wasteland.
I know Sateva is only trying to help. There’s no malice in her intent, and even if she had not done what she did—chain me to keep me “safe”—I might have done the same to myself. I should not be so hard on her.
I am in pain, parched, I do not owe anyone my kindness, I convince myself.
I feel her prodding at the thing the humans had crammed into my slit. A suction to collect seed, they had told us.
“You do not have much anymore.”
It is a punch to my gut—being emasculated so unintentionally. So easily. It is much worse that she does not say it to slight me. It’s the simple truth. The humans have wrung me dry.
“I have sought help from outside.”
I do not like this. Fear grips me once more.
“What help, Sateva?”
“You only speak to berate me, Datu?”
“What help?” The ground shakes when I ask again. “Did you lead more humans to me?”
“You are unwell. You have been muttering nonsense.” Her eyes shine with worry. “Every male is gone while you are in constant pain. I must do something.” I hear her crying, and I want to hold her, to apologize.
It is an awful situation. I never meant for our relationship to be so strained. “I have no choice, you are going to die if we do not seek help.” She reasons.
“This help is the death of us!” The winds wail my torment. I am…devastated. More humans to trample on my land.
“Calm, Datu! I beg of you. We cannot have any more earthquakes.” She raises her voice and the grip I have on my emotions falters.
My dais shakes, and I feel the wood around us creaking, groaning with my rage.
“We were never meant to be seen by them.” The wind roars.
“It does not matter. I have sought help from Ingar…he is good, Datu. He is not like the others. I trust him.”
“You cannot trust humans.” I am weak from my burst of emotion that my knees buckle. My flesh stretches like rubber, pulling the chains to keep me upright. “You have been tainted, Sateva.”
“He has voyaged Dreigg’s passage for her. For you. He will help us. All I need you to do is open the island’s jaws and let them in.”
Her. I am unsure who speaks of. “You ask too much of me.”
“I do not want you to die, Datu.” I feel her kneeling in front of me, and she clutches my ankles, pressing her face to my shins. Her tears sink into my skin. “You are all we have left.”
The stone in my heart cracks and I fold into her. I cannot reach her, but she knows what I need. She embraces me as she sobs. The wind whispers words of reassurance, but I feel it…change is coming, but not the one I want.
“Everyone is gone. It is just us females, and we starve. I have learned much from Ingar. It helps stave off the hunger.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and back away from her hold.
“I will open the gates for a condition.” I am resigned. I cannot live like I am right now. This is not how it should be.
“Name it, and you shall have it.”
“The humans will be sacrificed to the Cinder Tree after I am well.”
She gasps in horror. “Absolutely not! Datu, not all of them are bad. They are much like us. There are cruel ones, there are good ones.” She is defending the humans.
Sateva had always been so sympathetic from the start. It is the reason why she has lost herself before I did. I cannot trust her in this.
“Any other condition but this.” She pleads.
“The land demands an offering.” I demand an offering.
“You can always change your mind! You are not a stagnant thing! You do not have to be so set in your ways.”
“You mistake me for someone who cares for humans.”
I know she’s glaring at the heaviness I feel. I despise how I am antagonizing her, but she needs to learn her place. She cannot overrule my decisions on my island.
“I will prove to you they are not the same.”
My lips tug into a dry smile. She is stubborn, much like I am. “You can try.”
“I will prove you wrong.”
“And if I am right?”
“You can offer them to the land.”
I should feel relieved, but uneasiness stirs in me. She is so determined in this that I cannot help but feel a twinge of doubt in me.
No, humans are evil. They only bring destruction upon everything they touch. I know this.
With her promise, I force myself to open my jaws, welcoming the disease.