Someone brought water and food in an earthenware bowl, but they didn't talk to her. The servants of the Temple of Hero, seemed to look at her with complete rudeness. She was isolated, alone, feeling very hot during the day and cold at night. Nobody offered comfort. They didn't even talk about why she had to be treated like a prisoner.
She wanted to know where she was and what was going on while they kept her trapped in that room.
Amanda had no idea how much time had passed that day, she heard a high-pitched creak above her head and flinched, swallowing hard. Aiy walked back to her cell, entering with the pompous grin of a tradesman. And right beside him, she saw the entrance of a strange creature walking towards her.
Involuntarily, she let out a scream. She cringed, terrified by the presence of the thing that looked like a monster.
"Hum, are you sure she was called by the gates of Tathra?" the thing questioned. Him voice came out as if he had devoured a whistle that had gotten stuck in his throat.
Amanda's heart sped up as he approached.
"May the Sun of Pram bathe you in blessings on this most fortunate day, ankham," the creature said, as she tilted her head, showing a glimpse of crooked teeth. "She is a vision, Sinistre, a beautiful vision," exclaimed, heading towards Aiy.
Amanda noted his odd appearance, with his wide mouth and muscular arms. Her skin tone was red, with pale patches around her eyes; and above the head, they seemed to descend striped tentacles to the great fat belly. He wore strange clothes that resembled an ancient Egyptian culture with slight dissimilarities.
"Yet she seems to me weak", said Aiy. "I do not believe there will be any problem for you, Airames".
Airames, the strange creature, put his big, heavy hand to his chin, watching Amanda's body, dirty from the days trapped in that room.
"She's a zophet [1]." Airames tilted his big mouth to the side. "The most desirable of the Lotus Continent."
Aiy looked impatient.
"Do we have a deal?" he asked, shifting restlessly. "You guaranteed me interest in this zophet."
"Don't be so hasty, Aiy," Airames laughed. "But I don't have the eyes of a zoph, but I think she's pretty. She is more than perfect for me to serve in my house. Even more, leaving the hero's gate… Ah, I believe so: we have an agreement."
With an impertinent smile, Aiy looked at Amanda and laughed.
"Great, then, we have a deal." He sighed like he was getting rid of an unwanted animal. "And remember to invite me to the party."
Airames' cheeks becomes bluish.
"Of course, buddy." He ran a big hand behind his head, rubbing his neck. "I've been looking for a wife for a long time. She's not like a Partner of the Stars, but she looks spectacular."
"What?" Amanda finally managed to express herself. "What the hell is going on here?
Aiy looked at her, an irritating smirk infiltrating the corner of his pale mouth.
"Airames is a great nomark of Tathra," he explained, pointing to the ugly creature beside her. "We have an agreement that your fate will not be death. A wedding. Despite being a heretic, is still a holy being. It would be too bad to arouse the wrath of the gods behind the Gates."
Amanda swallowed, becoming irritated. Having a different reaction after days of crying or cringing. Her eyes were so swollen the first few days, she could barely open them as she whispered prayers for even her virtual boyfriend, Rafael, to come to her rescue.
"Fuck you, I will not marry anyone!" Amanda almost yelled, balling her hands into fists.
Airames uttered a despicable little laugh as she glimpsed a photograph of Rafael. Thinking how terrible it would be to get married and never get to know him.
"I have my heart belonging to someone, if you force me to marry, I promise he will come…" She thought about what to say. "He'll come from the bottom of these gates, and he'll chop you up!"
She thought better of it and added:
"If he doesn't come, I'll end up mashed you myself!"
She knew she was smarter than that, but for days she hadn't been able to put her mind to work.
"An impetuous woman, as I see," Airames observed, his strange eyes glaring at the girl. "I love to tame ardent women!"
Amanda backed away feeling disgusted.
"To hell if you think you're going to touch me, or that you're going to decide my life." She lifted an ugly finger toward Airames, who looked confused by her gesture. "I didn't commit any crime!"
He wondered why this was happening to her. Really, she hadn't committed any crime.
"The more she talks, the more I want her burning at my nuptials, Aiy." Airames laughed, biting his lip in her direction.
Feeling completely disgusted, Amanda wanted to run and hide, looking for a way out of that place as peeked through the door behind these inhuman creatures. However, before could move, the priest Aiy was watching her, and she knew that if she tried anything would probably be beaten.
Anxiously, turned and looked at the man he'd hoped would marry her before it became a real problem.
She couldn't accept that as her fate, she wanted to scream, to do something. She had never once reacted, as her father had taught her that violence begets violence. Not only that, but she sighed, hoping she could settle it all into a conversation.
"Look here." She held up her hand, waving it in the air. "I just want to go back to my house, right? Can somebody open this portal and send me back? All problems would be…"
Airames and Aiy chuckled, making her feel stupid before finishing her sentence.
"As I said, dumb girl", Aiy let his roughest, roughest voice flow through his laughter, "you died in your original world. So, it's impossible to go back. Once the gates open for nat wa shenu [2], there is no way back. Can a dead person return to live in a world where his body no longer exists?"
For a second, Amanda felt such despair, her strength nearly drained from her bones. She felt the tears trickle down her cheeks, shivering at the truth. He'd barely processed how she'd been taken to that place, knowing she couldn't go back made her shaken mental state much worse.
Aiy dismissed that reaction, snorting disdainfully in the back of his throat.
"We must go and make the introductions, Airames," said the priest. "But if you want, you can enjoy the "fruit" before the nuptials."
Amanda took a frightened step back, tears flowing more fervently from her eyes.
"Oh, no, I like things to be right." Airames laughed excitedly. "We'll say she's my Partner to the Stars, then we'll do the rituals correctly."
"As you wish, Airames," Aiy nodded, his face composed. "As long as it means she'll be far and close enough at the same time to keep her under the Temple's control..."
"She is one of the weak, like ankham Khutasha, the Weak. Even her reactions are mild." Airames spoke in a weak, high-pitched tone. "I assure you, Dynasta Annastha will never know of the existence of this zophet. Once we have a marriage, like one of the Stars, I doubt she will have the strength for anything."
"Are you going to Shisa, or will the wedding take place in Tathra?" replied Aiy.
"Shisa. We'll be leaving in a few days, as I'll need to let someone else run the county."
"That will be very fitting," Amanda saw Aiy's lips curl into an expression of derision. "She will be your sixth wife, perfect as the first, Airames." There was an impatient tone in his voice that would normally end the conversation.
"Well, I can't wait to have her live in my house anyway. Eating my food or releasing her juices on my bed," Airames said excitedly.
Enthusing with that idea, it fell like poison into Amanda's stomach at a frightening speed.
"I will have her name," the creature had a dark look in her eyes, "and full dominion over her."
By Amanda, that thing would never touch her.
For herself, she would run away or die trying.
She felt something grow inside her body, an urge to fight back, however, she didn't know how, when she noticed a sword in its scabbard, tucked into Airames' belt and two other guards waiting in the hallway outside.
Amanda decided that if she was going to leave that place, when she would have the opportunity to flee.
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Footnote
[1] Zophet ---> is the feminine of zoph. To refer to a subset, without conjugating gender, the masculine zoph is used.
[2] Nat wa shenu ---> It's a made-up term, and it would be something like "World of the living"