Edith Xuluc Ashes, Ashes: A Novel Excerpt

Ashes, Ashes: A Novel Excerpt Edith Xuluc

It was almost as if the air could tell that she carried a deadly weapon with her. It pushed and shoved and pulled at everything it could touch. Her hair, her hands, her clothes, anything to keep her from releasing her weapon. It whispered to her, urged for her to stop walking, to stop breathing.

Stop, it begged in her ear, through her dark hair, you can walk away. I don’t want to be sick. She would have agreed. She would have turned herself around, her eyes downcast, and walked back from where she came.

But she couldn’t. This was her job. She had to do it. She was made for this exact purpose. That didn’t mean the wind and the trees didn’t try to stop her in her tracks. Branches whipped around her, smacking her arms and legs, desperately trying to keep her from walking. Some even sacrificed their own limbs, breaking them and dropping them in her path. Their leaves rustled and trunks groaned in protest.

If they die, who will take care of us? They repeated over and over. She trekked along, even if her heart throbbed with every passing limb that fell in front of her.

Even the animals tried to talk her out of it. Tried to distract her from her duty with cute faces or threatening advances. The deer tried to rip her assignment from her hands, but they were too scared to get close. The eagles tried to distract her with beautiful dances in the bright blue sky. The birds tried to sing her to sleep when she rested.

She couldn’t blame them. She didn’t like bestowing sorrow everywhere she went. Didn’t like the way everyone else treated her. She was one of the Originals; her job was too important to stop what she was doing. She didn’t like the side glances she received from the Luminosities. Even some of the Shadows would grimace in her presence. It wasn’t her appearance that made them uneasy; it was the power she possessed over humanity. Or maybe it was the unsettling shades of her irises, one sickly green while the other a muddy grey.

She paused for a moment, sitting on a nearby stump and looked around. The trees had stopped their protests, the wind had calmed their whispers, the animals had stopped their plans. She was dreading this job. Not even her best friends could help cheer up her mood. The only thing they could do was promise to be there when it started which was a ridiculous promise as one of their orders was to watch and oversee the Spread.

There was a light shiver that traveled down her spine, and the hair on her arms stood on end. There was a shadow that slithered a little past her on the ground, and she heard the familiar sound of Bele the Raven cawing overhead. That meant his owner was not far away.

“You’re hesitating, Lilith.”

She sighed and gave them a reassuring smile, wincing at how it must’ve looked like a grimace, “Dee, what am I supposed to do? I hate doing these things.”

They huffed as they ran their hand through their dark hair as they paced while chewing on their bottom lip. Lilith hung her head as she played with the end of her sleeves. Dee had gone over this reason many times with her. It was routine by now, they were assigned something, she would pout, they’d tried to comfort her. Usually, it didn’t take long for her to finally accept her fate. This time it was different.

“It’s millions of people, Dee. Not just a few thousand.” She pressed on, clutching at her dress with tight fists.

“Lilith, I don’t want to do this as much as the other guy, but we have to. We were made for this exact purpose. We’ve gone through this hundreds of times before, thousands actually. What makes this one so special?” Dee asked, clearly frustrated with her, and yet their voice held no malice.

She stayed quiet for a moment, closing her eyes as flashes of images passed through her mind. Of different people she had the chance of meeting only every century, finally one image settled in her mind, one of a person. This time they were a boy. Dark midnight hair, grey almond shaped eyes, and a crooked smile.

“I met them again. They’re going to be a victim.” She whispered softly, hunching into herself as the wind carried her voice and

magnified it. “Every century, different people but same soul.” Dee settled beside her, clasping her hand lightly,

“Lils, we can’t have Soulmates. Plus you know how reincarnation works. There’s thousands of people that get reincarnated many of times.”

“Who says we can’t have Soulmates?” A different voice chimed in, making Dee stiffen.

Lilith looked over towards where the voice came from and smiled at the familiar face. Sol walked over, a bright smile gracing his soft lips, dark skin glowing like a god of ancient times — one of the reasons he inspired Apollo in Greek and Roman mythology.

“It is physically impossible for us to have Soulmates. We aren’t humans,” Dee ground out, straightening back up and turning to stare blankly at Sol.

Sol rolled his eyes before focusing his attention to Lilith. She shot him a grateful smile all while subtly pinching Dee’s calf through his dark pants. Play nice, he’s my friend too. Dee glanced down at her before relaxing, or at least tried to seem relaxed.

“Sol, what are you doing here? I thought you weren’t supposed to get here for a few more days?” Lilith asked, looking down at her report to double check.

He pursed his lips before talking. “Titi sent me to check on you. Said you were running behind by eleven minutes. You know how Titi is about time.”

Both Lilith and Dee scoffed at that. They knew exactly how Titi could be, especially about schedules.

“Don’t worry, I was just taking a rest.” Lilith stood. “I’m only a mile away from the destination.”

“Will you be able to handle this?” Dee asked softly, concern painted on their pale graceful face.

“Sure. It’s not like he’s the one I’m going to Spread first.”

Dee and Sol winced.

“Oh Lils,” Sol gasped. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. I better get going, or I’ll really be late. I would not hear the end of this if I was late. Titi could temporarily eradicate me.” She chuckled at the thought before shuddering. “I can already see the amount of paperwork I would have to fill up if they do.”

Sol bowed his head as a farewell before disappearing. Dee glared at the spot where Sol had stood. Lilith would’ve laughed at how ridiculous they looked if she wasn’t filled with dread. She stood up, picking off fallen leaves from her dress and a single black feather from Bele.

“This is yours.” She muttered as she lifted her hand towards Dee, who took the feather carefully. Bele cawed from his position on a tree, staring intently at the fallen feather.

“I’ll meet you later.” Dee promised, bowing their head as they too disappeared through a shadow that was cast from a nearby tree.

Lilith blew air out as she continued her trek along the forest. This time there was no distractions or whispers keeping her from her mission. No usual rustle of leaves or undergrowth. Not a single chirp from the colorful birds or eagle calls. The forest was still.

As she neared her destination, she felt the familiar tingle at her fingertips, churning in her stomach, and pull from deep inside her. Then, just a few feet away was the bench she was meant to sit on. The city only half a mile away, perfect for the Spread to gain momentum. There was a rustle of leaves from her East road, the opposite direction from where she had come.

“Who are you? I’ve never seen you before.”

Lilith looked up and locked eyes with grey almond shaped eyes. Though his voice was wary and cautious, his lips were politely spread into his signature crooked little smile. He spoke in his native tongue, making her pause before answering back.

“I am just passing through, but it seems I have lost my way. Could you lead me into town?”

The man hesitated before nodding and offering his hand. Lilith stared at it for a second, knowing that this was the moment. Before the man could take his hand back, she took it gently. There was a

rush of cold through her whole body, traveling towards their connected hands. The man didn’t notice and gently pulled her along.

When they arrived at the edge of the city, the man let go and turned to face her with a kind smile. She shyly returned it, noting the light sheen of sweat on his forehead and how his body shivered lightly.

“I think I’m coming down with something. I will hopefully see you around,” he told her.

“Here, as a thank you for helping me out.”

She unpinned a small bouquet of flowers and herbs from her dress and handed it to him. He gently took it with his nimble hands. His eyes were bright with surprise as he took a small sniff of the bouquet. It was a fairly strong scent compared to normal flowers, strong enough to mask unpleasant odors.

“Thank you,” he whispered, pinning the flowers and herbs to his collar on his coat.

Lilith nodded before walking away, too afraid to look back on what she had Spread onto him. She should spend the next few days with him, for observation, to see if it actually took hold of him. But she couldn’t. It would be too painful to watch a person that she had an interest in die. So she kept walking farther away, repeating his last words to her over and over again to calm her breaking heart.

The Spread of the Bubonic Plague happened quickly. Even with lulls where it seemed to calm its hunger for people, it continued to feed. Lilith could clearly see the struggle Sol faced to help find a cure, but his assignment wasn’t to begin until much later. Instead, he had to watch millions of people suffer in the hands of his best friend. Even Dee seemed to struggle and stretched themselves thin trying to collect the millions of souls that finally caved to eternal Rest.

Dee, Lilith, and Sol always kept to the edge of the crowd, listening to what people said and how they responded. They watched as the high priests announced the terrible disease that was spreading through all of Europe. The Black Death, they called it. They watched as small school children playfully came up with the rather clever rhyme about it, throwing themselves to the ground, laughter leaving their young bodies, as they tried desperately to cling to whatever childhood they had left. 47