Luster

Altar of Inquisition

"That was fun, right? I enjoyed the majority of the show." The lights turned back on. "What's wrong, Darling? Why are you not responding?" Her delicate fingers brushed against the thin line of crimson leaking from his eyes. "Don't you think it was fun too? I thought you loved these kinds of things. It even had your favorite actress. Honestly, she was one of my favorites, too. Lizzie is certainly something else—The show would be much more boring if she wasn't there!"

"..."

"Oh dear..." She touched his ear to find blood there as well. "You really pushed yourself hard, didn't you?" She sighed. "Let's fix you up before going on with the epilogue."

Cathedral

The soft fabric of Her couch refused to awaken me. I resisted the temptation of an eternal sleep and triumphed in waking up. On the table next to the couch stood a glass of red wine and my favorite salted dark chocolate. I held my temples as a groan of pain escaped me. My hand slid down my cheek, sliding across what appeared to be blood. I washed it off and exited the smoking room with a wet beard.

She was in the main hall, under the dome and behind the stained glass. There lied Her game board. She was waiting for me with closed eyes. She knew I had entered the room even without Her vision.

"Took you a while to come back."

"For how long this time?"

"Around three months," Her incredibly irresistible white eyes showed themselves, "I was starting to get worried."

"Why? Didn't You know I'd be back eventually?"

"Of course I knew. Yet, you are outside my possession. I therefore cannot comprehend your fate fully."

"Precisely..." I slowly took my place across Her. "And this is the very reason I cannot understand You."

She united her fingers and put Her chin on them, "I cannot understand you either. Perhaps that is why we are the only ones left."

"Because we were the only questions unsolved?"

She didn't answer.

The game board opened in front of us without waiting anymore. She smiled. Her happy expression was contagious to me; I am sure anyone would find it that way. The white candles around us slowly lost their light as the pieces of the game board came to life–I was one of them. So I placed my elbows on the altar and held my head in my hands.

"So? What did you think of the first chapter?"

I dared looking at Her. "What do You think?"

"Ah, I know how you feel about this. But we talked in the past, didn't we?"

"Yes, we talked. We only talked."

"And during that talk, I expressed myself quite clearly."

"So did I. That's why You should know what I think."

She sighed. "This is really annoying, you know? You expect me to know everything because of my identity only!"

"Is my expectation really that absurd?"

"I guess not... Never mind." She played with Her hair. "Instead, tell me who you want to hear about, then."

"You're doing that again?"

"Of course! The pieces do different things every time: It is only natural to think that their stories change, too. Don't you think so?"

"Stop asking me what I think."