The curse of gods

Ezekiel had gathered his things, what little he had that was, and put them in a small bag Galen had provided for him along with some provision. No one was going to say that the priests were not trying to help anyone, even though the person was impure in the eyes of the priesthood. He took one last look around his small room, where he had lived his entire life since he was born. He had no idea where he was going to go, but he knew one thing it was not the village. People would recognize him for what he had been and they would know something was not right. Therefore he would never be able to settle down there and live a normal life, people would question him, ask him what the priests were doing when they weren’t allowed up there. He would not be able to answer any of their question, as he had been sworn to secrecy a little over a year ago.

«You are leaving now, yes?»

Ezekiel did not have to turn to see who it was, «Yes, I see no point in being here when I’m not wanted, Galen, even if I still have two days until the full moon.»

«You know why you have to leave,» Galen said, not for the first time.

Ezekiel turned around and glared at Galen, «I was raped and you are all blaming me for it!»

«That’s not true.»

«No? Because it seems that way too me. I’m fourteen, Galen, I’ve never been outside the temple gates and now I’m being chased away from the only home I have ever known! Ophiuchus raped me!»

Ezekiel gasped when Galen’s hand connected to his cheek, he cradled his injured cheek and looked at Galen with hurt eyes. The priests were not exactly forbidden to exercise violence, but it was very much frowned upon and would require serious praying by the priests who did the deed. To have the high priest hit him was very serious and Ezekiel knew he was not winning any points with his mentor by continuing to stick to his story of Ophiuchus raping him.

«That is blasphemy, Ezekiel. Our gods would never do something like that, they are our protectors and our guiders in life. To say one of them have transcended and violated you is sacrilege and you will do vice in not uttering such words again.»

«Why not? It’s true! Ophiuchus came down from the heavens and he raped me, defiled me and now I’m no longer welcome at the only place I have ever known,» Ezekiel cried.

«There is no other option, Ezekiel, you have to leave for the sake of everyone here in the temple and in the village. They depend on us, depend on our purity and devotion to our gods. You no longer possess purity and your ridicules stories are so disrespectful to our gods we are lucky we haven’t been struck down by them for keeping you here this long.»

Ezekiel huffed, and turned away from Galen, hefted his bag over his shoulder winching as he did so. He was still in much pain and knew he had to take it ease on his travel to the next village. He walked past Galen, eyes fixed on the floor and left without saying anything more to him.

It did not take Ezekiel long before he was standing outside the temple gates, the sun was high on the sky seemingly brighter than it had ever been before. He bit his lip and headed down to the village, knowing it was the only way out of this place. Even though it was midday and most people were having their siesta he put his hood up and trudged down the pathway, determined to not be noticed and keep to the side ways of the small village.

He knew there was a well in the middle of the town, but the two bottles he had in his bag should be enough to keep him going until he got to a river. There was too big of a chance that one of them would recognize him, even though they only got to see him once a year and that was amongst many other priests. He trudged through the village, keeping to the shadows of the houses he passed.

It surprised him the state of the village. It was not overly bad, but there were definitely room for improvement especially the further out he got. He was glad that the village was not an overly large one, it did not take him long to get to the last house. He could not help himself but look back at his one and only home, it stood majestically on top of the hill the sun setting behind it. Ezekiel tried to hold back the tears, but there was not he could do. That had been his only home and family, and they had thrown him out in his time of need without even thinking about the consequences.



***

Cosmo was on his way back to his and Damian’s place after a rather unsuccessful hunt. He was tired, dirty and pissed that he had not been able to take down the elk he had been hunting for three days. He knew Damian would not mind being on a meat ration another few days, but he himself had been looking forward to eat fresh meat. Maybe Damian had been luckier with his fishing trip, either way he would find out within an hour.

He stopped at the large oak three, dumped his hunting gear and sat down waiting for his brother to come and join him. It was only him and Damian left now, of their whole family. They had buried their mother and sister last year and their father the year before that. Cosmo was rather glad when their father died, however, the man was a mean drunk and he and his baby sister always got the brunt of his anger. Their father had always thought that Cosmo was too girly for his own good, but Cosmo could not help that his features were finer than his brother’s. A twig snapped close by and Cosmo was brought out of his thoughts. He turned to his left and saw Damian come out from behind a three.

«I was wondering when you would notice me, Cos,» Damian teased.

Cosmo snorted, «You have only just gotten here, brother. I know my surroundings well enough to know when they are being trampled all over by you.»

Damian laughed and dumped the fish he had caught, before sitting down next to Cosmo, «You get anything?»

Cosmo shook his head, «No, I was on the scent of a huge elk, but it got away. Didn’t have time to find anything else by the time I realized I wouldn’t be able to get him, it had already been two days. We have to live on the dried meat or get into that pious village to get something fresh.»

«I was really looking forward to some fresh meat today,» Damian mused, «Lets just head home and salt the fish before deciding anything, okay?»

«Okay.»

Cosmo got up first, helped his brother up and then picked up his things. He could not wait until he got home, was able to take a bath and a bit to eat. There was truly nothing he wanted more at the moment, though he knew he would have to fight Damian tooth and nail for the bath first. They had not been walking very long before they heard a small crash and someone groaning in pain. Cosmo looked over at Damian and pointed to their left.

«It came from over there.»

Cosmo handed over his things to Damian and crept over to where they had heard the sound. It did not take him long before he saw what had cause it. There was a boy lying on the ground close to a tree, curled into himself still groaning in pain. Cosmo walked a bit closer, treating the boy like an animal that was hurt but could still lash out. He crunched down, still being far enough away so that he could not be harmed if the boy did indeed lash out.

«Are you okay?» he asked.

All he got was a groan that ended in a whimper.

«I’m not going to hurt you, okay? Are you injured?» He crept closer and reached out to touch the boy’s shoulder.

«Don’t touch me!» The boy screamed and curled even tighter into himself.

Cosmo was shocked, the boy had been whimpering, still was in fact, yet he still had the energy to scream at him. He instantly knew something bad had happened to the boy and he wanted to help, but what could he do when the help was unwanted.

«You can’t just lie here. If you are in pain, me and my brother have a house not far from here, an hour’s walk. You can stay there until you feel better, there’s plenty of room for the three of us.»

The boy seemed to be listening, he had at least stopped whimpering as much.

«Promise you won’t touch me?» his voice was timid and barely audible.

«Yeah, I promise I won’t touch you unless you ask for help. Is that okay?»

The boy nodded, uncurled from his position and ever so slowly rose to a sitting position. Cosmo gasped when he saw the boy’s eyes. They were like nothing he had ever seen before. A startling green, with just a hit of brown that seemed to shot out right from the middle of the iris. The boy looked at him with scared eyes, obviously having heard Cosmo’s gasp.

«I’m sorry, I’ve just never seen anyone with eyes like yours, they are truly special. My name is Cosmo, what’s yours?»

«Ezekiel.»

«Nice to meet you, Ezekiel. Do you need help getting up?» Cosmo asked, moving closer but not touching Ezekiel.

«No, I think I’m fine, thank you.»

«Okay, then lets get moving, we don’t want to stay here for too long.»

«Why not?» Ezekiel asked, standing up whilst leaning on the tree. His hand was curled around his stomach, much like it had been earlier, Cosmo filed it away in his memory for another time.

«Sometimes wolves comes down from the mountains to hunt for food, not often but it does happen,» Cosmo explained.

Ezekiel nodded and Cosmo started to walk back to Damian, who was standing right where he left him, making sure Ezekiel was following him.

«What did you find?» Damian asked when he saw Cosmo.

«Damian meet Ezekiel, Ezekiel this is my brother Damian,» Cosmo introduced them.

Ezekiel lifted his head and gave a small smile to Damian, «Hi.»

Damian reached out his hand, «Hello.»

Cosmo watched as Ezekiel merely stared at Damian’s hand. Taking pity on his brother, Cosmo whispered in his ear, «He doesn’t want to be touched, something happened to him but I’m not sure what.»

Damian lowered his hand and smiled to Ezekiel, «That’s okay. We going back home right?»

«Yeah, Ezekiel has agreed to stay with us for awhile, until he gets better or sick of our company, whichever comes first.»

***

Ezekiel followed the two brothers back to their place. He was not sure if he could trust them, but he had been walking for more than a day and his water and food had run out the night before. He knew that he could be too trusting, however he was desperate for some decent sleep and food. He stomach was cramping again and he knew something was not right. It had been well over a week since he had been defiled by Ophiuchus and three days since he woke up from the ordeal.

Whilst he had been in the temple, he had been allowed to visit the library every once in awhile. He had once read a few files about how the gods sometimes walked amongst their subjects, it was not that which had surprised him. It was the corresponding files where women had become pregnant and given birth to beautiful and healthy children that grew up to have unearthly abilities within different areas. What was even more curious was how every female had lived a life in celibacy prior to their pregnancy. At least he could count himself lucky for being male and not able to become pregnant.

TBC

Thank you to everyone who reviewed and rated the first chapter, it means a lot to me. As for the new characters Damian and Cosmo they are twin brothers but not identical. I chose their name because there was a Saint Damian that was martyred with his twin Cosmo in Syria in the early 4th century, no other reason really. I hope you liked the chapter and please review and rate if you have the time. Thank you.