A single thread. The thought of it insignificant yet the bind is eternal. I look at it, the golden string in front of me. The lifetime of a single mortal is coursing through the frays. I sense it, the binds slowly ripping, the life embedded in it wrenching away from the body it adorns. I touch her arm, the warmth of her skin slowing ebbing away with each breath. I shouldn’t care. The eons of torture I’ve endured at the hand of mortals plaguing my cranium and rattling my bones. But yet, my soul still yearns. Still yearns for the human praxises. I clasp the adjacent knife, the cold metal of the hilt cooling the warmth of my hand. The ironclad blade gleaming in the light of the moon, the luminosity accentuating the sharp edges.

I press the tip of the knife against my skin, hissing as the crimson beads form from the wound. I raise it above her mouth and the blood drips from the cut. The liquid drips into her open mouth, some drip onto her cracked lips, rehydrating them. Her eyelids flutter open, the reflection of the illumination of the stars reflecting off her green irises. She lifts her hand, examining her nails that are coated in a layer of dirt from the surrounding terra.

“What happened?” She whispers, her brows furrowing at the sight of my face looming above hers. I brush my thumb across her lips, the feel of them dry against my pad.

“Your thread, it was almost cut,” I say, staring into her glassy eyes. The confusion spreads over her face in a huge wave. Her eyes look into mine, searching for answers in the dark tunnels of my pupils. “I haven’t been honest with you” I admit, the action causing me to look away from her. “I’m not what I seem to be. This body, this voice, these hands,” I say, lifting up my left palm, “it’s all a lie.” She opens her mouth, as if she was going to argue with my statement, but she hesitates. She sits up on her elbows, still focused on my face.

“Tell me,” she says, her tone sincere with a hint of curiosity. “If it is all a lie then tell me something that is true.”

I sigh. “I’m not human. This form might convey that but it’s not the case. I was sent here eons ago, from the land above. I was sent to rid the world of the impure and the damned.

“I have lived to see the first man, to see him rise above god’s plans and lived to see him crumble beneath them.” I look at her, her expression coated in shock and disbelief. I hold up my arm, showing her the scar that adorns it from the wound that has healed rapidly. “I gave you some of my blood, to heal you and strengthen the bonds of your thread. I just..I couldn’t let you go. I was not made to harbor human emotions and traits yet the thought of you causes the blood pumping from my heart to pump faster. I hate it, this feeling. I don’t know what it is, it plagues me, searing my arteries and running hot throughout my whole body.” I look down at my hands, a droplet of water splashes on my palm, a tear, a tear of my own. My eyes meet hers. I expect her to be disgusted, disappointed, filled with the regret of letting me crowd her mind with my words. But, they speak not of those words. They glance back at me with sincerity, with the want to understand me more. A shy smile tugs at the corners of her cupids bow.

“I always had a nagging feeling that you were hiding something, that you were not who…or rather what you seem. It is still a lot to take in, but I guess it does release some weight that has been on my shoulders for some time.” She holds out her hand, “why don’t we start over, no secrets. I wish to know the true you not some mask that that conveys a false impression.” I take her hand, nodding as I do. Binds, something that courses through all of us, the threads running free through the veins of our soul. Such fragile things, these golden strings. The thought of them snapping, it is a dark one, but while they don’t yet fray, I will continue to enjoy this body and the mortal my golden binds intertwine with.

AUTHORS NOTE: Tbh this was a PAIN. To conjure up, and ik it isn’t a “superhero” but I mean it’s close enough. It does feel Ike there are more things that need explaining but it’s fineeeeee.