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The Pilgrimage to Kasvatigagaten, Part 2 |
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Bre clung to Aramis' arm so tightly, it went numb.
Their footsteps echoed down the immaculate white hallway, their sides flanked with impossibly high white marble pillars. Every twenty feet or so, another priest stood watch, their flowing crimson robes falling softly to the gleaming, polished floor beneath them. As Aramis and Bre finally made it down the hallway and to a pair of brilliant golden doors, another pair of red-robed priests came forth and pulled the doors open for them.
Aramis put an arm up in front of his eyes to sheild them from the radiant white light that washed over him from the opened doors. Squinting, he took a cautious step forward into the blinding unknown. Although he couldn't see anything, he heard the doors behind him close and lock, and instantly decided he was quite uncomfortable with being here. Immediately, Aramis began planning his escape.
"Welcome." The voice was a wonderful derivative from the eerie silence of the hallway. Slowly, Aramis lowered his arm from in front of his eyes and blinked a few times, letting his vision adjust to the indescribable brightness of the room. Bre, who had buried her face into Aramis' shoulder and refused to even bat an eye during their walk down the hallway, slowly turned her head towards the sound of the voice. "Come on, now, don't be shy," the voice spoke again. "Tell me your name."
"Aramis," Aramis replied, gently taking his arm from Bre's vice-like grip. "My name is Aramis. And this is Bre." He motioned towards the scared young lady beside him.
"Come closer," the voice spoke. "Not until you tell me who you are," Aramis demanded. He suddenly realized just what a stupid thing he'd said.
"Me?" the voice inquired. "You want to know who I am? You come to my country, into my city, were chosen by my oracle and shown in by my priests and you want to know who I am? I am Kasvatigagaten! I'd think that if you set foot into my temple, you'd at least know who I am."
Aramis tilted his head to the right a little as he took a few more steps forward. "That's quite a name," he said, his eyes finally taking in the form of a seated silhouette which, as he watched, slowly got to his feet. "Don't... move," Kasvatigagaten commanded. "You've come far enough. Stay there and let me examine you a little." Aramis felt a tug at his sleeve as Bre demanded his attention. "This is him, right?" she asked. "The living god?" Aramis nodded, keeping his eyes fixed at the figure which approached him slowly. And then, he saw the face of the living god.
The very first thing that caught his attention were Kasvatigagaten's eyes. Sharp, glaring, glacial pale-blue eyes seemed to pierce through the very core of who he was. They were both horrifically cold and deliciously inviting, hidden beneath thick, beautiful full lashes and thin, delicately arching eyebrows. Just below his strong, sloping nose sat a pair of lush, sensually pouting lips that seemed able to curse your mother's grave one moment and seduce you into complete submission the next. His hair was a brilliant platinum blonde accented with streaks of the most perfect shade of blue, remeniscent of a cloud-lined afternoon sky in summer. His smooth, flawless pale skin seemed to resonate a soft, ethereal light from within. Everything about him, every subtle curve of his face, every slight nuance of his body, from the way his curl of his teasing smile to the sparkle in his eyes, was just too exquisite to happen by accident. It was as if he had been carved from the purest of marble by a collective consciousness far outside the grasp of human comprehension and brought to life through devine will. And yet, there he was, sitting upon a gleaming white throne that only amplified the seemingly impossible perfection that lay before his eyes. He couldn't believe it. The rumors were true. Kasvatigagaten was singularly the most beautiful being to ever have graced the world with his presence.
"You're quiet," Kasvatigagaten said with a knowing smile. "That isn't surprising. Everyone gets dumbstruck when the first see me. Let's hope you're not one of the ones who stays that way for the entire time you're here." Aramis narrowed his eyes a little and nodded towards the god. "How many people have you let in to see you?" he asked. The god seemed surprised at such a quick response. "I've lost count over the years," he answered truthfully. "They come and they go. They walk in, they walk out. You have no idea just how very boring it gets sometimes."
"Well, I guess... So, Kasvatigagaten."
"Call me Kaz, please, the name is such an earful. And most don't pronounce it correctly."
"All right... Kaz. What is it, exactly, that you do here all day?"
"I do whatever I want. If I want to stay here and be pampered to my heart's content, I can do that. I have my priests waiting on me hand and feet, bending to my every whim as they very well should. Sometimes, I let people such as yourself in to see with your very own eyes just how beautiful I am."
"But why? Do you get some sort of kick out of letting people see you?"
"Aramis, I don't think you understand just how dull things can get around here... Most of the time, the shock on these people's faces is just barely enough to keep me looking forward to the next fortunate slug to stumble through my doors."
Suddenly, Bre stepped forward and between Aramis and Kaz, looking first to her friend, then to the living god. "So.. That's what you do all day?" she asked, tilting her head to the right a little. "Just sit on your big white chair and let people look at you? Some 'god' you are! Do you even have any kind of idea what goes on outside of these walls? Can you even understand how people like me or Aramis must feel, living day-to-day on our own wits or some stranger's generosity? With all the power you must have, all you do with it is sit around and let people gawk at you like some animal in a cage!?"
Aramis snatched Bre's arm and tugged her behind him just as Kaz rose to his feet and stormed down towards them. Even in his absolute fury, he seemed to emanate some sort of quiet grace that could have hypnotized him, had his instincts to protect Bre not been so very strong. Kaz reached an arm forward, darting it past Aramis' shoulder like a torpedo straight for Bre's neck, but Aramis reacted quickly, stepping between them and shoving Kaz's hand away. In an instantm, the crimson-robed priests rushed forward, but with a simple gesture of his hand, the priests froze in place, motionless as statues once more. Kaz's eyes blazed with a bitter arctic rage that only brought out his heavenly features that much more.
"You," he said, pointing an accusatory finger at Bre, "have no idea what I have seen. I am a god. I have seen war. I have seen famine and pestilence and death as far as the eye can see. I've smelled the stench of thousands of botties rotting in mass graves. I have seen limbs strewn across fields and rivers running red with the blood of children, killed indescriminately by those who swear alliegance to a god that demands their eradication. And, contrary to what you may believe, I have walked those fields. I've heard the screams of the war orphans and I have been there to wipe their tears away. While fitlhy, judgemental tourists like you come to drool over my palace, you never see the homes I've built for those war orphans, or the servants I've sent to those amputees to help make their lives a little easier. My people don't love me because of how beautiful I am on the outside... they love me because of a deeper beauty they're able to find inside of me. I never demanded this temple or these clothes, these priests or the chants, the hymns, the worshipping. They were gifts from the people I have sworn to protect. I dare you to look anywhere within the walls of my city and find a starving child, a wartime widow, or even a tear-streaked face. My people are wanting for nothing in this world, nothing. So don't you dare ever preach to me about what you think I do while I'm 'sitting here' on my throne... You have no idea what goes on in my life. You're just a passerby, a leaf in the wind en route to some other land, far away from here. You can't ever know... the things I've seen. The ugliness, the absolute horror of humanity that exists in the hearts of everyone in this world... Nor can you ever know just how hard I've worked to bring an end to it. Even if I can't do it everwyhere, I was at least able to change the lives of the people here and I dare you to look into their eyes and find a hint of bitterness towards me."
Taking his eyes off of bre, he turned to the young man before him. Kaz held up his hand to Aramis' face, wiggling his fingers in front of the blonde's eyes.
"This skin... this is the world you live in," he said. "This is the world you inhabit, a physical world you experience with your five senses. And because you can see things, because you can feel, taste, hear, and smell it, it's undoubtedly real to you." The god then reached for the knife at Aramis' waist and brought the blade across the palm of his hand smoothly, opening a near surgically-precise wound in the skin. He replaced the blade with barely a blink of the eye, and held his bleeding hand up for Aramis to see. "But there is a world under this one," he continued. "A world under the skin that isn't solid. It's blood, always moving, shifting, pulsing. And even though you can't see it when you first look at a person, it is most definitely there. This underworld, this world made of blood, is the one that keeps the world of the skin alive and bearable to everyone else. Remember that, Aramis. Things are always far more than skin deep."
Aramis turned his face away slowly, lowering his eyes to the ground. It was more than obvious that they had worn out their welcome. "...Thank you for having us here," he half-whispered, taking a step back, still holding tightly onto Bre. "We may as well get going." Kaz nodded somewhat, and the priests instantly moved to open the large golden doors that no doubt finalized their exit. Still walking backwards, Aramis waited until they were at a comfortable distance before turning around and holding Bre close to him, protecting her from the hard glare of Kaz's eyes. Just as they had come to the threshold, the living god spoke out again.
"Aramis," he called. Instantly, Aramis stopped in his tracks and turned around to face him uneasily. "Take care of yourself." Aramis could feel a smile starting to twich onto his lips, and decided not to fight it. With a subdued grin and a wave, he and Bre exited the temple and, ultimately, the walls to Kasvatigagatan's city. Above them, the skies were still a brilliant blue and the sun shone as if it rose every day only for them. Kaz, Aramis thought to himself. Something tells me I haven't seen the last of him...
The End.
Dedicated to Kasvatigagaten, A.K.A Akkie
 Bleeding Apocalypse · Tue Jul 26, 2005 @ 06:51am · 2 Comments |
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