Shame

Cassius Caeruleus
"'And He walked into the storm, a wailing, singing myriad of crystallised glass and baking grains of sand, Distantly, He felt, rather than saw the ocean shift in patterns long-forgotten. He opened his mouth, battered shawls shifting, and screamed; a guttering, primal sound. For a split second it felt like every grain, every shard, stood still. It froze, choking, staggering, stifling. Distantly, a great roar was heard- as if in agreement.'"           It was the first time Cassius had heard the No-Eyed ones. The first son of a lineage of first sons, Cassius was the sole heir to The Caeruleus Empire; a kingdom known for bringing destruction. To Cassius, this was simply the other kingdoms faults. If they couldn’t withstand the military might of his family’s kingdom, they deserved whatever was happening to them in the Below; Natural Selection, after all. His fathers increasing paranoia and his mother’s refusal to meet his eyes (so like his fathers) and her halting silences whenever he entered a room was simply another problem to be solved.

One night, when his footsteps left imprints in the azure grass around the courtyard, when his mothers flock of birds released sermons of haunting cries, when he hurried to his parents room…When he saw his father crying (hysteria) over his mothers pale body, he learnt of his family’s madness. His ancestors eyes weren’t the only thing he shared.

There was a reason only one son survived past childbirth.

(The Hollow screamed, and Cassius screamed back)

His father’s increasing zealously, his sought for might- for power- resulted in Cassius being trained to strategize. To grow and experiment, regardless of moral dubiety. His first conquest? The underwater city of Thallasia.

Too easily snuffed out. Eons of technological advancements stolen through siege and large, arching bolts of lightning. Cassius thought it was poetic. The dawn of a new age, brought upon by sheer power, ridding the world of the folly of the Thalassic People. It was their own faults, really.

It was once a beautiful city. A myriad of glass and technology, unfettered life cast through the sea. Small, glimmering figures glided across the streets, each colourful blur an entire life; an entire culture. Cassius supposed it was pretty, in a strange sort of way. His tutors had told him of their slow evolution from seafaring savages, to wonders of technological advancement. In small alcoves, hidden from the surveillance of his father and guards, they had also told him of the rising tensions between the creatures kingdom and his. He should have known it would come to this. The Thallasic People should have known it would come to this.

Moving through the kingdoms castle, ripples being cast from his armour, Cassius spied the hurried glide of a finely-dressed boy. The amalgamation of flesh and machine dubbed it a Thallasin. Following at a steady pace, swimming deeper into the catacombs of the city, he belatedly realised that the boy had dissapeared. The theatrics and open awnings of the city above had been swapped for a closed off chamber; brackish water filled the room, tasting of iron as it passed through his mouthgard. Statues adorned the walls; they made the walls seem clean in comparison. Pausing at the feet of one, Cassius spied a small silver ring. The glint of silver had  caught his eye; a small ring, burnished and unmarred, lay at the feet of one of the statues It wouldn't do to loot what wasn't needed; he was no pirate, but it would serve as a reminder. Small refractions of light were cast throughout the water as he picked it up, blistering heat scalding his hands. Shadows swarmed in the corners of his eyes, great stone hands moving towards him, moving to take him.

There was a reason no other nation had conquered the Thallasic people. There was a reason only one son ever survived.

"So close.”

A snarl.

Cassius drifts, water pressing at his skin, tugging at his hair, creeping through his lips, catching on bubbles.

Weight, pulling him down, pulling him down-

The brackish water tasted of the blood of a nation.

These maligiant beings stare down at humanity.

He is flying

Over a desert. And dotting the wasteland

Are oasis.

A thousand upon a thousand verdant springs

But all

The wretched creatures drink

from a single well.

He falls.

Dropping from the sky like an end.

Into the well,

and watches

The water swirl over and over him, turning

Black.

He drowns.

And they drink, and they drink, and they are poisoned.

Because it is only from the well that they drink.

And not the thousand upon a thousand verdant springs.

Disdain, displeasure, like claws raking over his skull.

The Chains must hold.