A few minutes ago, Anku made his way back to his new home crying, and naked from the torso and up.
Now, he feels so cold.
The coldness permeates into his very heart and bones, and no amount of wool blankets would ever warm him up again.
"Auntie..." Anku's face is completely red, and snot is dripping down from his nostrils.
"You can't have children, but does that mean you should end the lives of those who can, and have their children live in misery?"
'What?' Anku doesn't understand anything, he doesn't understand why he has to hide, why he can't be with his friends.
Inside the hut, tension is rising up very quickly.
"C-come ag-gain?" Melem responds to her as her eyes reduce to venomous, menacing slits.
"The night of the spring equinox, are you telling me you don't remember anything? You just mentioned it."
Melem takes on a defensive posture and backs away, her back coming in contact with the hard wall.
"We only sacrificed those two for the common good of the village, don't you recall?"
"It rained that very night, and ever since then, we haven't had any droughts!"
Enheduanna bites her lips in frustration. That night was a tragedy, they were in a long drought, and only during the murders, as if it was a prank of the heavens, did it start raining.
As she is thinking of ways to retort, the two suddenly hear a juvenile scream from the outside.
Melem looks stupefied by the sudden screaming, but before she even blinked, she sees Enheduanna bolting out of the house.
"Don't move," The latter ordered her before she left.
The latter immediately jumps onto the ladder and slides down in a quick, anxious manner.
She recognized that scream.
'Anku...what's wrong...?' The moment she heard the scream, she felt an overwhelmingly ominous sensation.
And now, as she stands on the sharp grass of the clearing, time pauses, and she finally sees what is going on.
The boy she took in a few months ago is sprawled on the ground, his torso naked and flaming red.
His face, meanwhile, is a mess.
"I'M SORRY, MOM AND DAD..."
"I AM A BAD KID, I KNOW, BUT...ARGHH..."
His little fists are going up and down on the grass, and every time they do so, they leave a shallow mark on the ground.
Tears blur his vision entirely, and he feels an uncontrollable urge to destroy everything in his passage. Today, he finally realizes why his parents withered that day.
It was all because of him. He is not good enough, and he lost his parents due to that.
He feels so cold in this place, this living nightmare that he never woke up from.
"I DON'T HAVE ANYONE...NOT MOM, NOT DAD, NOT URA, NOT GILJE, NOT HAMM, N-
An immense force suddenly presses his body from all sides.
With it, he suddenly smells roses and a slight hint of lavender.
With it, a warmth he has not experienced for months fills his heart, his body, which was previously stiff and tight, went limp.
"Don't say that, child."
Anku raises his head, and his blurry vision is slowly gaining back lucidity and the figure holding him becomes clearer and clearer.
"Mom."
Enheduanna shakes her head, yet she doesn't say anything. When she held him at first, she was shocked at how stiff he was, and how loud and anxiously he breathed.
Now, he is calming down.
"Mom?"
"...Yes...?"
"I want to make those who sacrificed my mom and dad wither."
Enheduanna stares at him blankly.
"There's a word for that."
"What is it, mom?"
"Vengeance."
Anku feels chills in his bones when he hears the word and resonating sensation sprouts towards it.
"How do I write it?" Enheduanna taught him how to read and write occasionally, so he always asks this question about any new word he learns.
*ROAAAAAR*
"I'll show you later."
She turns around to the source of the roar, and there, she catches sight of a terrifying sight.
An orange monster with black stripes is terrorizing a minuscule brown rabbit, and its saliva drips down on the prey as it readies itself for a meal.
Anku also sees the tiger, and below it, his eyes turn big and round when he recognizes the brown rabbit as the one he met in the forest earlier.
However, despite the beast, Enheduanna is not afraid at all.
"Now that I think about it, I know you because of a tiger." Her mind drifts back to the past, but she has to stay in the present this time.
Her attention immediately drifts to her herb garden, where she sees a toolset in the corner.
One of the tools is a familiar one.
A big, bronze sword.
Enheduanna goes by to grab it and comes back.
Then, she states, "Anku, let's kill the tiger."
This is the first time she uses the word 'kill' with Anku.
Yet, the child somehow understands, but then, he shakes his head and says, "No, I am a coward."
"Do you even know what that means?"
Anku giggles and says, "No, but I know how to write it-
A warm, big hand takes his own, and suddenly, the two of them are holding the bronze sword.
Enheduanna was behind him, her tall frame providing him with warmth and comfort.
Then, he hears a whisper, "Cowards can't hold swords, you can."
Anku doesn't understand why, but he bursts into tears, and he turns around, facing his aunt, and says, "Auntie, I want to save the rabbit."
"Yes, let's do it."
The two take a step forward. The sword in their hands is shaking profusely.
"Anku, you are a strong boy, but you don't need to be strong at all times."
"YES!"
The two take another step forward.
His hands gripping the sword shake a bit less.
At this step, the tiger catches sight of them, and seeing the threatening reflection on the metallic edge of the sword, the tiger feels an existential threat towards its life, and takes a step backward, building momentum.
Enheduanna breathes in and out.
"Let's take another step, Anku."
Anku nods, and the two take a step forward.
The tiger was fully ready to charge at them.
This was the moment of truth.
"Raise your sword, Anku."
Anku nods and raises the sword until the thin edge was parallel to his face.
"When I say...GO...swing the sword forward."
They take another step forward.
*BAM*
The tiger bolts in their direction.
The beast is reaching them at breakneck velocity.
Enheduanna hesitates for a millisecond.
'Am I too late? Are we both going to die? Am I going to be responsible for the death of someone, instead of saving lives-
However, she looks at Anku, and in that instant, distinguishes a great determination that could cut down anything, ANYTHING.
"NO."
"Anku."
"GO!"
They swung the sword with the most force they could.
It is the deciding moment of life and death.
Suddenly, they feel a soft surface upon the sword, and very slowly, the sword sinks into that surface.
*BOOM*
A red, thick liquid splatters in all directions.
Enheduanna immediately grabs Anku and steps back towards safety.
In the spot where they previously stood, the tiger purs in pain on the ground as blood spills from its skull.
Anku looks towards the steady sword in his hands.
The blood on it had trickled down from the sharp blade to his hands.
"You have to remember one thing, Anku."
The comforting voice of Enheduanna whispers into his ear.
For a short moment of time, it merged into the voice of his deceased mother.
"In vengeance, you will live, a dead man."