Lilith's Blessing 5

5.

The world spun around him, gasping for air as water filled his lungs. Trevor flailed and kicked, trying to reach the surface. But the churning mass of muddy water and debris pushed him deeper into its depths. He jolted awake, drenched in sweat and disoriented.

The room was blurry, and his head pounded from a migraine. He massaged his throbbing temples, but the headache persisted. He hoped to wake up in a hospital or his apartment, but the pain from the headache proved this to be his reality. Either way, he preferred his old life to this uncertain one.

A slight gust of wind swept in from the open window. Trevor’s eyes followed the flowing curtains; a sweet scent lingered. It was subtle but pleasant and familiar, unlike the mold infested Simone City.

Trevor stumbled to the window to close it, noticing the three empty bottles. He picked one up and smelled the contents. His stomach churned as he gagged. Another reason he hated drinking.

John howled up the stairs, asking if he was awake. Trevor opened the door and John greeted him with a healthy laugh, inviting him down for breakfast.

Meredith moved with intent as she finished breakfast and transitioned for the lunch crowd. But when Trevor sat at the table, she stopped. She smiled from ear to ear.

"What?"

“Did you have fun last night?” Meredith inquired. Trevor had a dumb face. Their eyes and shit grinning faces reminded Trevor of his friends when they had gossip. A nervous chill washed over him.

“I went to bed early.”

Meredith shook her head. "No, you came back down."

Trevor palmed himself, worried, as alcohol brings out a side he did not like. John’s eyes narrowed on Trevor. “You told us everything.”

“Everything, Everything?”

That was something you didn’t do. Never reveal yourself to anyone. “Not even your wife. She’ll use it against you,” Trevor’s father told him once. Meredith assured, he did no wrong. In fact, they all had a good time listening to his stories. “Especially Kira.”

John concurred and mentioned Kira’s cheerful demeanor. It was unusual for her to be so chipper. John proclaimed, wondering what Trevor did. His eyes enlarged, as it was news to him.

Mere probed into Trevor’s relationship history and his thoughts on Kira. It never crossed his mind to stop looking a long time ago. John wondered why. Trevor thought about it, as his reasons in the past did not matter here. Money? He had seen no one use any form of money. And Kira was only three years younger.

Meredith poked and prodded Trevor until he dismissed the idea because he never believed in love. His parents married and divorced multiple times, as well as his older siblings. All he knew was loveless marriages that ended without closure.

John reminded him that his mother loved him. “She had to. She gave birth to me.” John and Meredith were stunned at Trevor’s morbid look on life. “Kira loves you….”

Trevor put up his hand and cut Meredith off. He was terse in the nonexistence of love. “If you stop looking, you will find it.” Trevor scoffed. It only works for material items. “Women don’t approach men.”

“But Kira…” Mere tried to interject. Trevor scrunched his face and shut out any more questions. He built an invisible, hard shell exterior that would take time to break. Whether it was on purpose, she could not tell.

Trevor sat the mug on the table and looked at John straight-faced. He wanted a job, or something useful, since they’d been so nice to him. John slammed his fist against the table, shocking Trevor with his youthful outburst. He knew he liked Trevor for a reason, expecting great things from him. “Tomorrow I will show you around the city.”

“Aight, bet.” Trevor, excited at the prospect, wanted to do something. But John probed the “bet.” and chastised Trevor for gambling. Trevor smirked. John sounded like his mom and informed it was an expression. “I got it.” John wondered why he didn’t just say that. Trevor shrugged his shoulders and stuck out his bottom lip.

John left, and Meredith completed her prep for lunch. Trevor looked around the room at the paintings. He had to double take when he saw what looked like a swastika above the door. The symbol, engraved into the wall but backwards from the image that flooded the history channel in the early 2000s. It took years, but one day Trevor found out the nazi’s perverted an ancient demon warding symbol.

Meredith used the opportunity to ask questions. She offered him water as she sat. “Please.” She manifested steam from her palm, filling the mug. After the fog vanished, she filled it with water, similar to John, but looked effortless for her.

He tried to act cool, but it was another thing he’d never seen. Trevor tilted his head and Meredith sensed his interest. She described the spell and her mana’s affinity for water. But his mouth blurted out. He remembered when John used a similar spell on their journey. Meredith smirked, “It's not a spell. John's affinity is for earth mana, but he practiced and gained the ability to draw water from the atmosphere.”

Meredith watched the light bulb lit up in Trevor’s eyes. She used the moment to inquire about Trevor’s dreams. He remembered little, only drowning. He had questions of his own.

“If there was an asteroid strike, how did people survive?”

“The government called people into bunkers before impact.”

Trevor shut down. He heard rumors but played it off as conspiracy. Meredith loved mystery and thought aloud. Trevor missed the asteroid strike, the wars before the exploration of a melted Antarctic continent, and the mass exodus to Alkebulan. Trevor’s heart sank. How did he miss all that?

Meredith reminded him. Mana kept him alive as the tree grew around him. But all he remembered before Simone City was going to work. That got his mind turning as he recanted his most present dream to Mere.

“Dreams and memories are interchangeable. Do you have any other dreams?”

Meredith already knew the answer. When she looked into his mind, the memories overwhelmed her. Trevor had centuries of memories locked inside his soul. But accessing them was up to him. He had to want to open the door.

Mere seemed like a concerned aunt trying to understand her nephew’s problems. Trevor kept his thoughts and feelings to himself as when he expressed them, people used it against him.

Mere sensed Trevor’s apprehension and opted to change the subject to mana and its history. He perked up at the change in topic as Mere explained the origins of mana. It was omnipresent, and depending on affinity, but anyone could master it.

Trevor pictured a school where students studied the arts and dedicated themselves to the practice. Mere squinted her eyes as the concept of colleges died long ago. In favor of mandatory conscription at age 12. Arithmetic, literature, and history are all taught by the parents until the child enters training.

Trev stroked the red hairs on his chin. He felt his beard getting scruffy and wanted to trim it down. He inquired about a bath and how he could trim his beard.

Meredith showed him to the bath on the third floor. He smelled the sweet aroma of lavender when he reached the top step. It was unlike any bathroom he had seen before, as it was more akin to a large sauna. He looked at himself in the mirror, ashamed he let himself go. Below the mirror, shaving cream, a razor, and scissors, sat ready for use. He trimmed his beard, then washed his body. He felt clean, but still lost.

The afternoon sun peered into the room as the door burst open. The sudden change in light blinded Trevor. “Kira!” Meredith expressed her joy in her arrival and embraced her.

“Wow, you're beautiful.” No filter. The words vomited from his mouth. Her dark brown eyes shimmered in the dim light and gazed back into his. Meredith leaned toward Trevor.

“You do like her.”

Trevor denied it. He didn’t know how he felt about her. Plus, never trust a big butt and a smile. Although she was on the thin side, she had a well-toned body. HIs thoughts spewed from his mouth, digging him deeper.

“You only like my body?”

It's a trap. Sirens blared in his mind. No matter what he said, he lost. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but also didn’t know how he felt. In the past, he mistook lust for love and didn’t want to confuse it again. But Kira and Mere pressured him to decide, and the situation overloaded his senses.

“Jesus.” Trevor invoked an ancient name, to the dismay of Mere and Kira. They gasped and dumped on him for saying it. The name to them seemed like a screeching chalkboard with how they cringed upon hearing it.

Meredith continued to chastise him about it as she poured information into his ear about their goddess, Ishtar. Trevor rolled his eyes and realized he made a mistake when he asked about Ishtar. Meredith’s eyes lit up as she preached the word of their goddess to Trevor.

Trevor lost his faith as a child when elders neglected his questions. The picture books they forced him to read filled him with questions. But when he pondered, “where do they store the food to feed all the animals?” They “advised” him, God provided it and to have faith in him.

He never understood faith, but the brightness people exuded when they talked about it made him envious.

Kira watched Trevor as Mere info dumped on him, the goddess and her role in their society. She wondered about his origins and how he did not know this simple information. Everyone knew about the goddess. Mere smirked when she noticed Kira looking at Trevor. She changed the subject after she lept behind the taller Kira. “So, Trevor, tell us about Alexia.”

Kira's eyes changed. She wanted to know who Alexia was. Trevor's eyes widened. When did he tell her about Alexia? Kira’s gaze turned to a glare as he searched for the words.

“She helped me escape Simone City. Where John found me.”

He left out a few details, but Meredith filled in the gaps. “They fell asleep together.”

Meredith grinned like she watched a television drama get to the climax. Trevor dug himself into a hole when he remarked about Kassia, Olivia, and Monique, the clone.

"Did you have moments with those women?"

“Moments?” Trevor was confused. What did she mean?

"Like the one we had last night?" Trevor's head twitched. Last night? What did she mean last night? His blank expression enraged Kira, and she stormed out. The quick motion left a floral scent that graced Trevor's nose. Then it hit him, the same smell from this morning.

Meredith laughed at the outcome and proclaimed she would be back. Trevor sat at the table and tried to make sense of everything. It jumbled his mind as it jumped from a relationship to going back home.

Trevor tried to settle in, but his mind ran a million miles an hour. Possibilities and problems plagued him until a loud bang rattled the glass behind the bar. Then a slight vibration tore through his feet from the ground. He looked up at Meredith behind the bar. Her face filled with confusion as well.

The booms grew louder as the shaking followed. Glasses fell from the wall, crashing onto the hard floor. Paintings vibrated themselves off the walls and clanged against the ground.

“Earthquake?”

Mere shook her head as she opened the door. Smoke and debris blocked her view. She manifested water to extinguish the fire. Trevor jumped out of the chair toward the door. A faint whistle grew louder.