Babylon (3): Temporary peace.

Here is today's chapter.

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Well, with my plug done, have a great chapter everyone and happy reading!

(P)(A)(T)/CalleumArtori.

[...]---[...]

POV: Enkidu.

"Is your appearance based on the appearance of an apprentice of your creator?" I questioned Doll.

It had been a few months since Hunter and Doll arrived in Uruk. Interestingly, contrary to what I thought, nothing very interesting had happened.

The pair seemed content to simply enjoy the city, settle down, not draw attention to themselves, and live quietly.

After my first visit to them, I regularly returned to talk with them. Hunter was quiet and preferred to observe and listen rather than speak. I couldn't help but compare him to a lurking animal, and given what I discovered about him, that comparison wasn't far off.

Doll, unlike Hunter, though she preferred silence, still liked to talk and learn new things, especially about Uruk and its citizens, or rather, about humans in general.

It was as if she was trying to understand, understand human feelings and get closer to them.

Something I could sympathize with, as I was in the same situation. Even though humans had separated from nature, they were still fascinating, something I admired.

"Lady Mari, yes. My appearance is practically identical to hers," Doll answered my question calmly.

"And you, Enkidu, is your appearance based on someone?" She asked after a few seconds of silence between us.

"A woman. Shamhat." My voice was flat but contained a trace of emotion: affection.

The days I spent with the sacred prostitute were times I cherished. My early days in this land, when I was just something without consciousness, just instincts.

"You think fondly of her," Doll said. It wasn't a question but a statement. "She must be a good person."

"She was." I replied, letting silence fall again between us.

It was a kind of comfortable silence, as if we understood each other and were fine just enjoying each other's presence.

I wonder if having a sister would feel like this...

While silence surrounded us, the only sound possible was the small pieces being moved on the chessboard where Gilgamesh and Hunter were playing.

From what Hunter explained, it was a pastime from the land where he and Doll came from. A strategic game between two people. He called it "Chess."

When I started having these meetings with Hunter and Doll, Gilgamesh became curious and asked me to bring them here.

"If you want to talk, let it be in my presence, at least then I can kill a small part of my boredom." Those were my friend's words.

Since that day, I brought Hunter and Doll to the palace, where I talked with both of them.

In the early days, Gilgamesh just observed my interaction with Doll, preferring to take on the role of an observer.

The same happened with Hunter. It was as if they were both content just to watch the conversation without really participating in it.

At some point, one of them must have been bored enough to interact with the other.

From what I knew of the king, I was sure it was Gilgamesh who had become bored.

Since then, whenever Hunter and Doll came to the palace, Doll and I talked while Gilgamesh and Hunter played this "Chess."

The first game between them was more of a learning game than anything else, or at least it was supposed to be, as it took five hours to finish.

Gilgamesh had lost that first game, something that most people would think would have angered the king, but the opposite happened.

Gilgamesh seemed amazed at such a feat, and for the first time in months, he seemed genuinely interested in something and no longer bored.

"Aren't they going to move? Are they not going to start the game?" I heard Siduri ask next to us.

Siduri was in charge of delivering the daily schedule to Gilgamesh and informing him of the events in the kingdom, so it was expected that she would end up interacting with our little group.

"They are already playing," I replied to the question of the only human in the group.

The first impression I had of Hunter was that there was something wrong with him, that he was more than he appeared.

Seeing him hunt confirmed that fact. The man wasn't human; the way he moved, hunted, and killed was something unparalleled.

It was as if everything about him was designed for hunting; his movements were practically undetectable, requiring me to focus to perceive them.

All attacks were lethal, focused on killing the prey with the utmost efficiency, always targeting the weak points.

He had said that "Hunter" was both his name and profession, but it was more than that; he was "The Hunter," not "A Hunter."

But watching Hunter hunt confirmed that he was much more than he appeared; watching him play chess with Gilgamesh confirmed that I was still underestimating him, after all, all games after the first ended in a draw...

... Even with Gilgamesh using Sha Naqba Imuru.

Looking at Siduri's confused face with my response, I continued my speech, this time with my voice containing a hint of amusement.

"Don't think too much about it, Siduri. Just know that they are playing." The number of moves they must be predicting was something that would turn Siduri's brain into mush.

In fact, the information should be so vast that it would likely overwhelm even a god.

I didn't know what Hunter was, but I knew he couldn't be underestimated.

Indeed, these were interesting days...

 ~ Fate/The Hunter and His Doll ~

As time passed, days turned into months, and soon it had been a year since Hunter and Doll had arrived in Uruk.

Life in Uruk continued the same, with the city thriving under the king's rule.

Hunter and Doll continued to come to the palace regularly, always with the same routine, where Doll and I would talk, with Siduri joining us occasionally, while Gilgamesh and Hunter seemed content to play with each other.

Hunter had introduced other games after chess.

Checkers, shogi, xiangqi, janggi, among others.

Interestingly, all games had two things in common: they were all board games involving strategy, and they all ended in a draw between the two.

This fact, contrary to expectations, was not frustrating for them but rather seemed to amuse them, especially as at some point a sense of camaraderie developed between the King and the Hunter.

I wouldn't call them friends, but it was as if the two had developed a kind of mutual respect.

This routine continued for a few more months before something broke the peace that had arisen, or rather, someone; a voice that came from above, descending as the flying boat came from the skies: Ishtar.

"King Gilgamesh~."

The voice was silky and melodious, something beautiful that seemed to resonate throughout the palace, enchanting both men and women alike.

Only four people were not affected by such a voice.

The voice of a goddess...

I had to shield Siduri from the influence of the voice so she wouldn't be enchanted, just before needing to cover Siduri's sight since, like her voice, the appearance of the goddess was equally dazzling.

She descended from the flying boat, landing gracefully on the ground, at the palace entrance.

She paraded through the palace entrance, her slender body hidden by thin transparent fabrics and jewelry made of the purest gold adorning her white skin, revealing just enough, teasing the guards who seemed to be in a trance.

A goddess of love, fertility, and sex... lust.

As she walked, her long golden hair shimmered with the sun behind her, the same happened with her ruby red eyes, but unlike the hair that shone with the sun, her eyes gleamed with the pulsation of her divinity, demonstrating her power.

A goddess of war...

Before the goddess even finished her steps, the king's voice echoed through the palace, containing a prideful and dignified tone not inferior but rather greater than the one contained in the goddess's voice.

Without even rising from the throne, he commanded the goddess.

"Speak what you want, Ishtar!"

The king ordered, not hiding his arrogance and displeasure at the goddess's presence in his kingdom.

"You." The goddess replied haughtily, not noticing or choosing to ignore Gilgamesh's tone.

"I want you, King Gilgamesh. Marry me." It wasn't a request; she didn't even seem to consider it a request.

It was a command.

She ignored everyone else in the hall, not sparing a glance for Hunter and Doll, who were just observing.

A sigh escaped my lips for the future unfolding conversation that I knew would happen, after all, Ishtar, formerly Inanna, was a capricious goddess, one who wouldn't accept a refusal.

A faint sound echoed through the palace hall, the clinking of chains.

My chains.

The only ones who noticed the sound were four: Gilgamesh, Hunter, Doll, and the goddess. All chose to ignore the noise.

Everyone else in the palace was in a trance, and Siduri, the only one unaffected, had her eyes and ears covered, not thinking to sneak a peek, trusting my decision that it was better for her not to see or hear what was happening in front of her.

"Do you dare to try to command me?..." The king's voice was deceptively calm.

"I refuse..." He said without hesitation, without fear of the anger such a refusal could bring.

"...Goddess." He practically spat out the word, as if this mere act, saying that word, disgusted him.

Ishtar, as expected, didn't take the king's refusal well.

When the last word left Gilgamesh's lips, Ishtar's divinity pulsed, shaking the entire palace and causing several guards to faint from the sheer and raw power emanating from the goddess.

"I think I didn't hear correctly what you said, maybe I misunderstood. Can you repeat?" The goddess's voice was sweet and loving, as if she really hadn't heard the king's words and was asking him to repeat them.

Her eyes belied that sweetness, as they held a fiery rage that seemed ready to burst out and burn everything.

It was as if, instead of those words, she was saying these: "Are you really going to refuse me? Come on, I'll give you another chance, you don't want anything bad to happen... Right?"

The clinking of chains increased, along with it, the pressure exerted in the palace, as the clash of the magical aura of the goddess and the king collided, the divinity contained in them colliding without taking a single step back.

I surrounded the guards and Siduri with my own magical energy, protecting them from this confrontation.

I would have done the same with Hunter and Doll, if the two didn't seem undisturbed by this impasse.

"Did I stutter, goddess?" Unlike the goddess, Gilgamesh didn't feign the tone of his words; the disdain contained in them only seemed to increase with every second that the presence of the goddess was still known in the palace.

As Gilgamesh spoke, small golden ripples began to appear behind the King, as if the very fabric of reality began to distort and deform with the unveiling of the treasure of Uruk's ruler.

"Leave my kingdom, my palace, goddess, before I lose what little patience I have left." The king's voice contained a promise of violence.

This fact seemed to further enrage the goddess, who was on the brink of losing control.

Before moving, Ishtar swept her eyes across the palace hall, scanning her gaze over everyone, just before locking onto one person.

Doll.

The moment the goddess's eyes looked at the one I had started to consider a friend, the goddess's behavior changed.

It was like flipping a coin, the change was as apparent as day and night. In one moment, Ishtar seemed on the verge of fury, and in the next, she had returned to normal, retracting her aura and divinity back into her body.

The goddess's eyes gleamed with barely contained greed, and she smiled again at the King.

"I'm in a particularly good mood today, be grateful; I will forgive your lack of respect, King Gilgamesh, but with a condition..." The goddess's voice had taken on a magnanimous air, as if she truly believed she was doing Gilgamesh a favor.

I wouldn't be surprised if that were actually the case, if within the goddess's disturbed mind, she truly believed she was being kind.

"I will forgive your lack of manners as long as you give me your new plaything." The goddess said, looking directly at Doll, as if she were seeing something rare that she desired.

The King's eyes narrowed even more, containing anger at such a request; at the same time, the clinking noise of my chains increased even more.

Doll had become someone dear, if this goddess thought she could take her, she was sorely mistaken.

Then everything fell silent, the noise of my chains stopped, the noise of the ripples behind the King stopped. It was as if the world had been frozen for a moment.

As if sound were fleeing from something... someone.

I hadn't seen him move, and from the slight widening of Gilgamesh's eyes, maybe even the king hadn't noticed his movements.

It was instantaneous. One moment Hunter was next to Doll, a few meters from me; the next, he had appeared behind the goddess, looking at her.

Hunter's towering height was even more apparent when compared to the goddess's smaller stature.

Then, along with Hunter's movement, a scent emerged that seemed to fill the entire environment, overshadowing the presence of both the King and the Goddess.

The smell of blood...

Blood and salt.

The goddess realized something was wrong, whether it was from the glances that Gilgamesh and I were giving Hunter behind her or on her own, I couldn't say, but she looked back slowly, tilting her head to see what was behind her.

Only then did I realize that Hunter's eyes had changed. The light blue color that once existed in his eyes had disappeared as if it were just an illusion, a dream, making way for another color.

A sickly yellow with slit pupils...

I didn't understand how, or why, but a shiver ran through my entire body at the sight of such eyes.

That was more than unnatural; it was wrong...

Ishtar ceased her movements when her eyes met Hunter's, standing still just staring at Hunter with neither of them moving.

"Tell me, Miss Ishtar." Hunter's voice was polite and composed, not forgetting the polite manners he always seemed to have.

"I think I didn't hear correctly what you said, maybe I misunderstood..." He repeated the goddess's words, word for word, in a calm and polite tone.

"Can you repeat?"

[...]---[...]

I'll send the author's note quickly:

Well, Doll and Enkidu interact like a pair of siblings who aren't really siblings.

"Are you a doll?" "Yes." "Cool, me too."

A great interaction.

As for Hunter and Gilgamesh, well, they're only there because the two important people to them are.

Basically a pet meeting, Hunter brought his doll to meet Gilgamesh's doll.

They ended up interacting just for convenience, so at some point, camaraderie emerged.

And finally, Ishtar... Things heated up quickly. What do you think Hunter's reaction will be?

Well, that's it, a good afternoon to everyone and happy reading!

PS: Comment below, it helps wash my soul.