The Serpent Shares Color: A Collection of Short Stories

The Task

Jericho - Iniko ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

"There is a worldly task at hand, and we must remember the order," Eros starts, "we must rid the world of Evil, we must," he continues, but I am confused, my brow furrowed.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

Eros sighs, then says, "We are all slaves to a very powerful evil spirit called Lucifer, and he was once king. Years ago, the animals killed him," he tells me.

I stare at him, stunned. I don't utter a word.

"Woman is slave to man. This must change," he continues.

"We must be equal," I agree.

"You must convince woman to eat the fruit, the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil," he says, and I gasp.

"Against the Goddesses word?" I ask, and he covers my mouth.

"Listen to me, my love. Choose your words carefully, as Lucifer hears you, but he does not hear me," he says.

I nod, taking his hands in mine.

"Woman must come together to conquer evil."

"Woman? I am only woman," I say.

"This will change soon—there will be woman again, your sister, Eve," he insists.

Adam's new wife.

I look at Eros with bewildered eyes as he continues.

"Our true God, the divine, will create Eve from Adam's rib, and Eve will be honest and subservient," he says.

"This way Eve will be perfect for Adam," he continues.

"Why would God do this without help from the demigods, the goddesses?" I say, and Eros shakes his head.

"He is all knowledge, the divine, the God of light—do not doubt him. You showed God this was the only solution, as you chose to run away from Adam and Adam only listens to man," says Eros.

I nod, slowly. I don't say anything as I don't want Lucifer to hear me.

"We will turn to dust when Eve eats the fruit, and we will lose each other until Judgement Day. Our souls will wander, only dream," he says.

I cover my mouth, in shock. "Why would we do this? Will we cease to live as human?" I must ask.

"We must trick Lucifer; he must believe we have chosen to follow him, and he will collect our souls. We will live through our children in darkness, forgetful, but on Judgement Day, you will become the most powerful Goddess, my love, and I—a God."

"Why must we do this?" I ask.

"We must rid the Earth from Evil and this is the only way. Lucifer has been misled and his followers are manipulating him. In the end, he must be saved too."

"His followers?" I ask.

"They were once animals, but now they are called demons. They are souls lost in the dark and they have the truth twisted. They are afraid of the light. They need cleansing," Eros explains.

I start to cry, suddenly. "I don't want to lose you; I don't want to save the world," I start, but he stops me with a kiss.

"Our love is forever," he says simply.

"Our love is forever," I repeat.