The Afflicted Zodiac Complete Series

by M J Marstens

I stop and look down, cursing. The carpet matches the drapes. . . literally.

  I try to envision myself as Venus to change me back. . . but I realize I don’t know what I look like- besides pink with long pale, blond hair.

  So I visualize what I know: Zahra. Hopefully, I will turn myself back into my familiar and comforting human form. My concentration is interrupted when I hear Mio ask Nyam if he is going to explain or would he need to do an extraction. . . WTF?

  Extraction?

  Sounds painful or potentially dangerous and I don’t think Mio has the qualifications to pull off a procedure of that nature.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Nyam spits vehemently. “That’s a terrible thing to threaten.”

  “More terrible than telling Zahra Lina’s most desired sexual fantasies which nearly drove our friendship apart when we wouldn’t give in to her demands?” Mio asks hotly in return.

  “Zahra is nothing like Lina!”

  “I didn’t fucking say she was! And you are purposely baiting me into arguing. I won’t be swayed so easily. We vowed to one another to never let anything ever come between us again. Don’t let this turn into that because you are too proud.”

  “I’m not too fucking proud. You already know what I did. And you’re the god of critical thinking, I’m sure you can figure out why I did it.”

  “Enlighten me anyway, Sunny.”

  There’s a pause, and I take that moment to stealthily try to inch back to where the boys are talking.

  “You know she is the answer. She’s the key to breaking our curse. The only way she would be able to fully go up against Lina is if she had the same powers. I merely evened the playing field.”

  Same powers. . .

  I think back to the burning pain I had felt when entering this realm. In truth, I had forgotten that I was not supposed to cross realms. Before hearing Nyam just now, I might have assumed it had to do with me being the Maiden of Light. . . but then I recall the excruciating pain when we crossed.

  I genuinely thought I was being scorched to death.

  I had been burning. . . but with light. Because Nyam had been transferring the power of his internal flame .

  And now. . . I was a luminary.

  R

  SUN

  I wait for Merc to drop the subject. Why it’s so damn important to him for me to say the words, I don’t know. In truth, I’m still trying to puzzle out my actions. . . On some level, I acted instinctively. I couldn’t leave Zahra in that dimension alone and she needed more strength if she even wanted a prayer at going against Lina.

  The only way had been to give her my power of luminescence. I had made sure the transfer happened while going through the portal to ensure both of us could cross. A two-for-one price I cheated the Universe out of. . . but nothing is free and even though I try to hide it from Merc, I can feel myself fading.

  I know he can sense it or else he would never have tried to push power into me in his weakened state. He weaseled into my head when Zahra caught me off guard. Thankfully, I shielded him from seeing the full extent of the damage the transfer caused. But he knows I gave Zahra my power.

  The one thing I swore I would never gift to another being. . . especially another woman.

  But Zahra has proven different at every turn. Even though we have given her no reason to trust us. . . to even like us, she still has stuck around. She gives of herself selflessly, body and soul. The truth is. . . she’s worth giving up my powers for. . .

  Because I love her.

  Somehow that outrageous woman managed to worm her way into my heart. Honestly, until I just made that revelation, you couldn’t have convinced me I had a heart anymore. Lina had ripped it from me eons ago. In reality, it had been waiting for someone like Zahra to set it free so I could love again.

  I chuckle to myself, heady on the realization I’m in love again.

  In. love.

  To the most beautiful, most sensuous, most nonsensical, kindest-

  “YOU MADE ME A FUCKING LUMINARY?!”

  Clearly, being in love addles the chemical balance of your brain which you need to mentally rationalize. Obviously, considering my previous stupidity with Lina. Hopefully, I didn’t make the same imprudent decision this time. If the look on Zahra’s face is any indication, she does not look power hungry though. . . just really pissed at my duplicity.

  Of course, she was eavesdropping.

  At least she no longer has a horse’s mane covering her vagina. Apparently, she decided to simply forgo the hair altogether. Instead, it’s bare, pink, succulent skin. She’s trying to kill Merc and me.

  “My thoughts exactly,” Merc says to me mentally.

  “WELL?!” she screeches in rage when I do not answer her.

  To be fair, her luscious body is fully exposed and on display. . . it’s a bit distracting. . . especially thinking of our time together in the fourth dimension.

  “Focus!” Merc reprimands.

  I clear my throat, “It was the only way to get you safely to the fifth dimension with me.”

  “At what cost, Nyam?” she asks coldly.

  “At the cost of my power,” I respond just as icily.

  I hope she leaves it at that.

  She doesn’t.

  Obnoxious and tenacious- I forgot to add that to her list of traits when I was waxing poetic about our Venus.

  No wonder she and Merc get along so well.

  “Liar, liar, pants on fire!” she taunts.

  “God, that is even worse than when you are trying to think of new swear words,” I remark.

  “That’s not even the full saying. It’s ‘liar, liar, pants on fire; rub your butt on a telephone wire’.”

  Merc bursts out laughing. The lovely goddess of beauty is standing in all her naked glory, throwing up a finger in sassy reprimand to go along with her ludicrous words. I wish the others were here to see it. Saturn would be ready to strangle her.

  Thinking of Saturn brings me up short.

  “I did what I thought was best. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, you are our blessing- our Part of Fortune to break the curse. And besides, it was my gift to give.”

  “Did it occur to you that I never wanted it? That you just painted a bigger target on me?!”

  “You are a fool if think there wasn-”

  I stop speaking. Across her chest, something red is blooming from the center.

  CHAPTER 18

  MERCURY

  Before my eyes, I watch a scarlet stain burst from the center of Zahra’s chest, over her heart.

  Sunny and I watch in horror as it spreads. . .

  And then. . .

  White appears.

  Then red again.

  Then white again.

  In concentric circles. . .

  “Did she just paint an actual target on her chest?” Sunny asks incredulously.

  Zahra looks down in bewilderment, and then throws her head back laughing.

  “It’s the Target brand sign!” She cackles. “God, I wish the 5th dimension had a Target. . . get me some stuff from the one dollar bins and a hot chocolate from the Starbucks.”

  Then she swipes her arm through the air and throws her hands up, yelling in a strange voice, “Approved!”

  She looks expectantly at us. I look at Sunny, confused. As usual, in any conversation with her, I have no idea what the fuck is going on. Her face drops.

  “I’m the Target Lady,” she explains. . . which really is no explanation at all.

  “Are you two kidding me?! You know Ferris Bueller, but not SNL? Ugh, I need Google.”

  I roll my eyes. What did this woman do before Google?

  “Would you put some clothes on her?!” I demand on my mental link with Sunny.

  “I can’t,” comes his abrupt answer.

  Fuck, Sunny can do almost anything. . . if he says he can’t. . . then he is weaker than he is letting on.

  “We never finished telling Zahra about the dimensions,” he brusquely announces.
<
br />   A diversion tactic for both Zahra and me to stop asking questions. He knows it will only work on one of us.

  “Good idea, Sun. Let’s tell Zahra the rest of our tale. But first, carina, could you manifest some clothes for yourself? Sunny here is too weak,” I say with just enough sincerity to invoke concern from Zahra, but scorn from Sunny.

  “What’s wrong?” she asks the sun god in alarm.

  “Nothing,” he grits out, tossing me a glare. “Just get dressed before I fuck you again.”

  Zahra doesn’t move, as if she is pondering letting Sunny do just that. Finally, she gives a curt nod and closes her eyes in concentration. A pastel teal jumpsuit fits itself over her body, and even I’m impressed at the craftsmanship, considering the girl can barely walk and breathe at the same time.

  “Ok, explain away. But we are coming back to you gifting me your powers and then being weak,” she says, with saccharine sweetness.

  Huh, maybe she is less easily distracted than we give her credit for. . .

  “Before Lina flung us to opposing domiciles, I was explaining how we recreated the third dimension to hold a planetary representative of our individual realms,” Sunny begins, picking up exactly where he had been before being interrupted by the crazy lunar goddess. “Again, mine was the Sun, Mio’s was Mercury, Lina’s was the Moon, and so forth.”

  Zahra nods that she is caught up, “You last mentioned creating something together?”

  “Yes, Earth actually.”

  “What?” She asks in confusion.

  “Our collaborative creation was Earth,” Sunny repeats.

  “Each of us contributed something to Earth’s creation,” I clarify. “Uranus made the sky and Neptune the waters. Jupiter made the land- mountains, valleys, and all plant life. Mars created the animals of the sea, sky, and land. I made the atmosphere, including the weather, the clouds, and the winds. Sunny created the horizon points and the four directions. Saturn created hierarchy and Pluto made fungus-”

  “I still can’t believe no one laughed at my fungi joke. . . I mean, without laughing about it, it’s kind of depressing. Arawn’s only contribution to the third dimension is a pseudo-planet and some mold. . .” Zahra cuts in.

  “For the last time, he is the god of death and transformation-”

  “Yeah, yeah, and from rot comes new life, blah, blah, blah. You conveniently left out Lina’s contribution,” she snarks.

  “I thought it was obvious,” I shrug.

  “Mio,” she reproves.

  “Humans. Lina created humans,” Sunny says quietly.

  Zahra’s mouth opens and closes, as she takes in the full implications of that statement.

  “So that’s what Mrs. Gerty meant about Lina’s obsession with humans,” Zahra thinks out loud.

  “Yes. When we made Earth together, we all imparted a piece of our essence to give some sentience to our individual creations. But Lina pushed more power into hers. Humans became the apex beings on the planet. And instead of watching and nurturing her creation from afar, Lina became directly involved. She reveled in her power and beauty and how the humans worshipped her,” I say.

  “We tried to curb her infatuation. . . but that led to. . .” Sunny doesn’t finish his sentence,

  “It led to you finding out the truth of how she had played you all along?” Zahra finishes.

  “Yep. Pretty much. When we all stepped in and created a united front against her, she lost her shit and basically spilled her own guts just to spite us,” Sunny concurs.

  “To be honest, it was probably the only time we saw the true Lina,” I comment, thinking back on that moment.

  “Probably,” Sunny agrees. “And then she cursed us; trapping us in the very things we had tried to separate her from. . .”

  “Wow. I-ron-y!” Zahra sings.

  Sunny gives a little smile, and even I have to chuckle a bit at her silliness. I love how she gets it and is trying to make us feel better.

  “Definitely ironic. . .I think Lina was jealous of all of us working together and not focusing our attention on her. I think her human creation was equal parts to recreate that adoration and to get back at us,” I supply thoughtfully, really reflecting on it for the first time in centuries.

  “What a petty cuntcushion,” Zahra asserts.

  Sunny looks to the glowing ceiling of the underwater caves.

  “Zahra?”

  “Yes,” she asks him.

  “Please quit making up swear words!”

  CHAPTER 19

  ZAHRA

  I huff at Nyam’s tone. He says he doesn’t want me to make up any more cuss words, but I’m pretty sure he would be devastated if I really did. . . and I have some whoppers brewing in the back of my mind. . . dickburger, pussyfalafel, ass-salad. . . breakfast items shouldn’t have the monopoly on profanity. Those other meals are just as important.

  “What about the Minor gods?” I ask, getting the conversation back on track. It’s a difficult thing to do with dickburgers on the brain.

  “Remember how the third dimension was mostly empty space except for a couple of planets and some asteroids?” Mio questions.

  “Yep. Great job at filling it up with your shit,” I commend a little sarcastically.

  The boys ignore me. We haven’t even known each other a week and they know to ignore me already. . . that’s sad, my friends. Thank all the gods you don’t do that. Trust Tree besties for life!

  “Well, this is only speculation, but the guys and I think that both our presence in the third realm and our various creations created a disruption in the universe, and the Minor gods formed of those things originally in the third dimension. It was the Universe’s attempt at balance,” Sunny supplies.

  “Just as Vesta assumes you were created by the Universe, to preserve that balance, out of the only true planet that existed in the third realm,” Mio adds.

  Goddammit. Conclusions like these only solidify their thinking of me as the ‘curse breaker’. Not cool.

  “Yes, well. . . that’s just an inference. . . I might just have been created to bring more sex into the world because the Universe was horny A.F.”

  “What’s a horny A.F.?” Mio asks.

  “I think she means ‘as fuck’, but it doesn’t work since we are not talking via text bubbles,” Nyam responds.

  “Right,” Mio says in understanding.

  “Guys, don’t be a bag of dildos right now. Let’s circle back to me being a luminary and Nyam being sick, shall we?”

  Mio raises a brow and looks in amusement at Nyam, who just looks frustrated. Good. If he thought I wouldn’t come back to this, then he’s an idiot. It might be a jumbled path, but I still know how to get to the bottom of things when necessary.

  “Zahra, I’m sorry if you felt I did something without regard for your thoughts or feelings-”

  “That’s exactly what you did,” I affirm, cutting Nyam off.

  He growls at me. Actually growls at me. . . which is in no way sexy A.F. (That’s my thing now- A.F.)

  “Here, let me help you,” Mio suddenly chimes in.

  I look at him in confusion. What’s he helping with? But he is looking at Nyam, smirking outrageously. Nyam in return is nodding his head, as if they can hear each other’s thoughts. . . and the whole thing seems sheisty A.F. (Ok, ok! I’m done using it. . . for now.)

  Before I can comment further, I feel my hands and feet coming together. Whatever is happening unbalances me, and I fall on my ass. I go to shout out a protest and find my mouth. . . gagged.

  Those fuckers bound and gagged me!

  “Perfect, now I can continue talking without interruption,” Nyam remarks. “Thank you, Merc.”

  I shoot deadly glares at the communication god. . . the evil traitor, using what little of his powers he still has, to do something like this.

  “So this is what’s going to happen, my Venus,” Nyam continues, while I glower at Mio. “You are going to carry on to the other realms and tell the others to prepare to go di
rect and to meet-up on Earth. When you reach the twelfth dimension, you will be at your strongest. Use this strength to make us all go direct so we can reunite together in the third dimension.”

  I howl a protest that is swallowed by the freaking gag shoved in my mouth. I scowl so hard at them, my eyes cross.

  “There are no rules, Zahra. Just don’t overthink it. When you get to my domicile, meet up with Arawn. He can guide you, but truly, making us go direct is as simple as concentrating on it. We will know when you are doing it because we will feel the snap of power.”

  “It’s easy-peasy lemon-squeezy,” Mio jokes.

  Easy-peasy, my pink ass.

  “There’s just one thing,” Nyam tacks on.

  Of course there is.

  “I want you to block Lina from knowing what we are doing.”

  It’s probably best I’m gagged because I would be a spluttering, irate mess right now. These dickbags think I can just “block” Queen Coo Coo?! Now who’s talking crazy. . . (hint: it’s them, they are talking like insane people.)

  Well, one of us should be the voice of reason. . . and it’s super sad that it’s going to have to be me. I guess life is funny like that. . .

  I envision the scrap of fabric muffling my mouth falling away. . . unfortunately, I simultaneously think of ball gags, because that’s a logical line of thought when focusing on ‘gag’s. . . then I’m shrieking around a solid, sphere of rubber stretching my mouth to its limits.

  “Did you do that?” Nyam asks Mio.

  Mio just laughs because the Devil incarnate seems to innately know I did it to myself.

  Nyam catches on and laughs while I flop around, trying to dislodge the offensive sex toy.

  They think it’s so funny, eh?

  Well, both of them could just choke on a dick.

  I direct all my attention and energy to this thought and feel a zing hum through my body. . . and then I’m free- unbound and sans ball-gag! I surge to my feet, triumphant. Take that, boys! I look over at them to rub it in their faces, but stop when I see they are both. . . ah. . . choking on what I pray are fake dicks.

  “Oh my god, hold on!” I shout, running towards them.

  I stop in front of Mio, who has both hands wrapped around the rather, er, large appendage (I must have a ‘go big or go home’ mentality about penises now), and tug at the base, trying to help dislodge the thing.