Page 20 of The Monsters We Are
Seth nodded, his face solemn. “Many children were slaughtered when the Aeons sprung an attack on us all those years ago.”
Eve’s gaze turned unfocused. “I could hear them screaming, but I couldn’t get them help. Adam had confined me to my room after I told him that I wouldn’t fight against my son.” Her eyes sharpened as she looked from Seth to Cain. “Do you really believe you can wake Abaddon?”
“If the Ancients act as one when we attempt it, yes,” replied Seth.
“Will his contribution truly be enough to cause some sort of crevice in the prison?” asked Eve.
Seth tugged at the collar of his shirt. “I’d like to think so. We won’t know until we try. Which we plan to do on All Hallows’ Eve with or without him, but hopefully with him. Do you have no idea at all why Adam proclaims that Aeon cannot afford to fall?”
Eve shook her head.
“Maybe he just hasn’t given up hope that Eden will one day use Aeon as her Resting place again,” Noah suggested. “If Aeon is gone, so is that hope. I personally cannot envision God ever entrusting us with the safety of his consort again. For some, it is too painful a pill to swallow.”
“If Aeon continues to rot, no one can use it for anything. Do you intend to undo the curse after Adam is dead?” Rima asked Wynter.
“I would if Cain asked it of me,” Wynter replied.
“Which I won’t.” Cain took one last sip of his wine and then set down his glass. “Hundreds of my kind were butchered there, including my father and an uncle who gave his life to save mine. Their blood stains that ground.” It needed to be razed.
“So does the blood of many Aeons,” Rima reminded him.
“Only those who chose to join Adam in unjustly attempting to wipe out my race.” Every single one of those Aeons deserved what they got.
“I don’t dispute that. My concern is that there are other Aeons there. Ones who were not part of the war. They will be without a home. They won’t understand this world.”
Cain gave a delicate shrug. “I doubt they will need to learn, since it is highly unlikely that they will survive the upcoming battle.”
“Most of the Aeons who wronged you a millennia ago died in the war. Others fell recently, and Adam will soon meet that same fate. Why punish the last living Aeons?”
Cain felt his face harden. “Not all died in those wars. Many survived. Don’t try to tell me differently. It would be a lie, and you know it.”
Rima allowed that with a slight incline of her head. “Some are still alive, yes, but they don’t make up the majority of the population.”
“Perhaps. But none of that population will be spared because they will notaskto be spared. They have been raised to loathe the Ancients and consider us evil. Raised to believe that this cage is necessary; that we can’t be allowed to live unless confined this way. Why? Because Adam needed to be sure that no one would be tempted to free us. He needed to be sure that we would be eliminated if we ever managed to escape.”
Rima looked down at the table, biting her lip.
“And when we appear at Aeon, every one of them will fight to defend their home from the bogeymen they believe us to be.” They’d do it fervently. “None will wave a white flag. None will choose not to join the battle. None will care about our plight. Am I wrong?”
Noah exhaled heavily, making the flame on one of the candles dance to the side. “No. No, you’re not. It would be pointless to even consider the possibility that you could form a treaty with any survivors. As you say, they will unite against you for certain. They fear and loathe you in equal measures.”
Seth sat back in his seat. “Which is another reason why we will not go to Aeon offering a truce to any who would consider sitting out the battle. We can’t—won’t—take the chance that their true plan is to later mount an attack on us. We cannot chance that they would attempt to shove us into yet another prison.”
“I understand that,” said Rima, raising one hand in a placatory gesture. “I do. But what if they were to agree to be confined to Aeon?”
Seth slanted his head. “Tell me, Rima, how did you fare when being confined to my Keep for a few months?”
Her shoulders sagged. “I hated it.”
“So did I,” mumbled Noah. “Likewise, our fellow Aeons would hate being caged in their own town.”
“It would not truly be an act of mercy,” said Seth. “A cage is still a cage, no matter how comfortable and spacious it is.”
Rima sighed. “You’re right. I just wish things could be different.”
Eve again took in both Cain and Seth. “Would you allow me to help you attempt to break your prison? The power of four Aeons are woven into it. I am not one of them, but perhaps my power could nonetheless aid you all in unraveling it.”
Cain hadn’t expected the offer. It shocked even his creature. She might care for him and Seth, might even love them, but she wasn’t a mother in the typical sense of the word. They didn’t have the sort of bond that would pull at her to protect them.