Fever

Time lost its meaning after the revelation.

Days became cycles of the lamps being lit and extinguished. Mercy stopped counting.

The Tabernacle, once a palace, became a tomb. The air grew stale. The vents Elias spoke of were small, high up in the cavern roof, and they were often choked with snow.

Mercy developed a persistent, throbbing headache. Hypoxia. The oxygen levels were slowly dropping.

Elias, however, seemed to thrive in the thin air. His mania deepened. He stopped sleeping. He stopped bathing.

He began to gild everything.

He melted down the coins and nuggets in a crucible over the forge fire. He painted the table legs. He painted the rocks.

Then, he began to paint himself.

Mercy sat on the velvet couch, too weak to move, watching as Elias dipped a brush into molten gold leaf and applied it to his arms, his chest, his face.

"The flesh is weak," Elias muttered, his skin glittering in the low light. "It rots. It ages. But gold... gold is eternal. We must become the gold, Mercy."

He turned to her. half his face was covered in a golden mask.

"It is your turn, my Queen."

"No," Mercy whispered. She was huddled under the silk sheets, shivering violently. "Eat something, Elias. Please."

"Food is for the mortal," Elias said. He hadn't eaten in days. He gave all his rations to her. It was a twisted act of love. He wanted her to survive longer than him, to be the last thing standing.

"I am becoming a God," Elias declared. "And you are my idol. You must be beautiful for the darkness."

He approached her with the brush. The gold paint was warm.

Mercy didn't fight him. She didn't have the strength. He painted a line of gold down her nose, over her lips.

"Beautiful," he crooned.

The lamps flickered.

"The oil is low," Mercy said dully. "We're running out."

"We don't need the oil," Elias said. "We carry the light within us."

He loomed over her, a glittering scarecrow of a man. The smell of him was distinct now—sweat, metallic paint, and something sweet and rotting.

"The Ascension is coming," he whispered.

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