Fantasy, short story

Kilig

july-1

She watched the carnival of souls parade past wearing ghastly masks. Or were those their real faces captured in the act of taking their last gasping breath? She tossed an apple into the air; its red skin contrasted with the tattered gray of the souls processing past. Then she saw him and butterflies erupted from their cocoons in her stomach. Their fluttering wings made her pause.

He wore no mask; his smooth features had been carved out of the blushing stone of the desert. White strokes outlined the curve of wings that were a divine gift and he wore them well but not proudly. No never that, her angel who shined with a light so pure it hurt her eyes and stabbed her heart.

He turned his head in her direction and redemption’s price glittered in his eyes. And it was more than she, a remnant of a fallen pantheon, could pay. So she turned away and her body melted from all woman to half snake from the waist down. Those butterflies died in her belly as he walked on, holding the keys to that pearlescent gate–one she could never cross. And she slithered away, her green and black scales shining in the elysian light that she had to turn from and follow the river Acheron home.

Thanks @MadQueenStorm for the prompt. This is my #MadVerse and my first submission to Maria of Doodles and Scribbles and Rosema of A Reading Writer‘s Word High July #FilipinoWords #Prompt. Thank you Rosema & Maria! Sorry it got so dark. My imagination wandered off. I blame cold meds for this.

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