Embry gave me a curious look. By now she had a better grasp of who and what I was, from my human origins to my vampiric nature. She also understood more about Unending and the differences between us, and she was fascinated. “Fireworks,” I said. “With special powders and explosive materials. We shoot them into the sky, and they explode into a myriad of sparkles and colors.”
“Oh, I can only imagine what that looks like,” she murmured, eyes wide with wonder.
“They’re loud, and there’s a lot of smoke afterward. Personally, I like your approach better,” I told her, smiling. “It’s simpler and sweeter.”
“Have you ever seen Shezin yourself?” Unending asked.
Around us, Dainians walked in small groups in the same direction. The entire city was converging on the temple, the streets littered with people eager to come together and celebrate another year gone and another year come. Yet the closer we got to the temple, the heavier my stomach felt. Embry’s stories were nice and all, but I had begun to see those fleeting glances my wife had spotted first. The young Dainians were cheerful and optimistic, but the elders seemed tense whenever they heard their leader’s name. To me, that suggested some people had different impressions of Shezin. They all worshipped him—though I had yet to fully understand what said worship meant—but not everyone loved him like Embry did.
“Every year, yes. At least a couple of times,” the Dainian girl said. “Once for the Festival of Lights, when he preaches his sermon before the lanterns are launched, and again for the Festival of Spring, when he blesses the lands with his scythe. I saw him three times last year because my mother took my brother and me for a special visit.” Her joy faded as she seemed to remember something unpleasant. “Only my mother and I came back.”
“What happened to your brother?” Unending replied, her brow furrowed.
Embry shrugged. “I… I don’t know. Mother had me waiting on the steps of the temple. There were people inside. I could hear them. When she came back, she was crying, saying that Dyon had run off. A few of our uncles and cousins helped me look for him. The priestesses searched the temple, as well, but there was no sign of him. We were told to accept that he may never return.”
“Your mother lost sight of him,” I presumed. “She must’ve felt horrible…”
“She withered away and died a few months later,” Embry replied. “I told her it wasn’t her fault. Dyon had gotten lost before because he couldn’t sit still and never listened. Besides, children disappear here and in other cities all the time, and it’s said that the mountain giants sing to them and only them…”
“Wait, you think the stone giants of the mountains draw children away from your city?” I asked, my heart stopping for a second. Perhaps this was the reason for all those fleeting, fearful glances.
“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Embry said. “The issue has been brought to Shezin before, but he said that he cannot punish the stone giants after they built our bridges and helped our kingdom thrive. It wouldn’t be right.”
That sounded so wrong…
“Hold on. Is that what Shezin, your almighty leader, told you?” Unending replied incredulously. She looked ahead at the temple rising before us. It was a breathtakingly beautiful structure with white stone pillars covered in blue and bronze paintings, each scene depicting one of his so-called miracles. There were fifty steps to the temple itself. One had to ascend in order to touch the hallowed ground, Embry had explained earlier. Each step represented one of the fifty stages of enlightenment, according to the Book of Shezin.
It was all a bunch of nicely written crap, no doubt about it. But the Dainians had been raised to wholeheartedly believe in his words, and we had no reason to change their minds. Not yet, anyway. Unending and I believed in maintaining minimal interference, though this situation was exceptional in more than one way, especially since we’d been tasked with investigating and killing Shezin—a thought I still had trouble stomaching.
“He argues against violence. The stone giants belong to the land, and if the land deems such sacrifices necessary, we must accept its judgment,” Embry said, though she didn’t sound like she truly believed this particularly sickening tenet. “We don’t know if that is what happened to Dyon. I’ve heard rumors he might have been found and adopted by another family in another city. I’ve tried looking for him beyond, but I was given the names of too many families who might’ve taken my brother, and I am alone. As time passed, the rest of our extended family forgot about Dyon. I’ve learned to accept things as they are.”
“Surely Dyon would have written, at least?” I wondered, but Embry’s sad eyes told me that never happened. The boy simply vanished, never to be seen again.
As the temple loomed before us, I came to see it as the source of evil. He allowed the abduction of children? Maybe Anunit was onto something, after all. This warranted further study, for sure.
By the time the ceremony began, we were gathered outside the temple. Lights shone from within—thousands of candles covering every inch of the temple’s grand staircase except for the path that Shezin walked, Embry had said. There were thousands of Dainians present. Men and women, children and elders alike. They all carried paper lanterns, some gazing toward the temple with admiration and reverence. Others had stern looks, sullen stares and lips faintly twisted with resentment. I was willing to bet every piece of gold in my pouch that these were the people who’d lost sons and daughters of their own—to the stone giants, or perhaps to something else entirely.
Shezin had built his religion on a foundation of lies. It was hard for me to trust anything he supposedly said at this point.
“Oh, he’s about to come out and preach,” Embry said as the crowd murmured around us. The night sky was riddled with stars. At the very center, three moons had emerged, perfect round pearls that shone in unison like silent sisters.
Silence settled over the city as the priestesses came out first. I counted fifty, the same number of steps it took to reach the temple. They stood before the columns, their tall and slender bodies clad in layers of fine blue silk with delicate, bronze-embroidered hems that caught my eye whenever they moved. The priestesses had shaved heads that were covered in ritualistic black tattoos, though I couldn’t quite make out what the designs entailed. A blue strip was painted over their eyes and temples, and their lips were colored bronze.
They held lanterns in their hands, ceremoniously lined up and waiting for Shezin to come out. I saw the light moving as he stepped toward the priestesses. He was tall, but still about two heads beneath them, much like Unending and I were. The sight was almost comical—a man with such power, yet so small as he walked among the people.
He wore a white robe in the style of ancient togas, with blue leaves embroidered over his chest and up his shoulder. His skin was pale, almost pearlescent. His eyes were big and green. A deceitful green, I thought to myself. He was a handsome man, even Unending agreed through our telepathic connection. “I can see why Death fancied him,” she murmured.
“He is wonderful, isn’t he?” Embry said, a broad smile taking over her lips. Love glowed in her eyes, and I felt sorry for her and her departed family. They’d fallen into the hands of a charlatan of the worst kind. I made it my mission to expose this bastard, and Unending was right there with me.