archimedes

[Moloch]

i'm twelve years old, it is winter.

sir acacio and the better part of the first light travel up north
my last conversation before they depart is with sariel, we have an argument
he insists i become the chosen of eos - i don't want to.

i am ambushed by a former servant of house pelleaux
the reliever ruins me from the hips down,
i cannot walk - he goes at large.

they return, to me in a wheelchair. sariel is dead.
my last memory of him is calling him an imbecile.
i never forgive myself.

i meet a woman named marie,
i tell her about sariel.
we feel.

i'm thirteen years old, it is summer.

a teraphim by the name of endimion draws a knife on me in the middle of the city

armand pins him down, i learn that he's been answering to some demon.

faustus imprisons him, though i continue to visit him

he grows insane in brief captivity, wails that the demon is tearing into his psyche
they're inside, in our walls. they do as they please.

i leave one of my messenger birds with him, order him to free the bird if the whispers return.
they do, i get there late all the same.
i'm worthless in a fight, morus gets ready to eat me alive.
acacio arrives, the spider escapes without any of us to haul.

i'm fourteen years old, it is autumn.
i inherit the keys to the blue unicorn.
endimion kills himself, i am called to the crime scene early.
by him, my messenger bird.

i lock myself in the tower.
i lock myself in the tower.
i lock myself in the tower.

i'm fifteen years old, the season is uncertain. i haven't been outside in weeks.

i've read every last piece of research in the clinic.

i've read andrial's, i've read cerise's, i've read benedict's, and i've read alistair's.

not telling anyone, i perform surgery on myself.

with an implant, i regain conditional control of my legs.

my tendons have disintegrated out of atrophy,

it is not enough.
i make a suit to help it.

i'm sixteen years old, it is winter.
acacio marches upon the ebonblooded, seeking to destroy their obelisk.
nanzonia strikes osrona while they're away, though i am there.

incognito, i fight a girl by the name of nanzopel.
she fights dirty, unpredictably.
i win by cheating, envenom her.

we fend them off.
faustus figures me out immediately,
i don't lie to him.

i'm seventeen years old, it is winter again.
the quarry's under attack, and the owl is there.
he fights kanyzo, nanzopel's mother, and takes her prisoner.

her daughter throws herself at me, desperate.
she's waken to the occult. i sense her resentment grow, yet i say nothing.
though i plea for her mother to be preserved, she takes her life in the cells all the same.

my only gambit to save radiant orsila is worthless, he is killed by nanzonia.
our city is overrun with spies and skinwalkers,
these monsters are more loyal to one another than us.

this world is rotten.

i'm seventeen years old, it is summer.
faustus tries to name me the next heir to the crown,
says there could be no one else.

i realize it'll mean the death of the owl,
i refuse.