The night started normally, and the bells rang when customers came and left. But there was an abnormal customer who was casting their gaze upon Aylin who was chatting with the brothel workers. The old lady had already assigned him someone yet he kept staring at Aylin. He then asked the old lady if that girl was available for tonight and pointed at Aylin. The old hag raised her eyebrows and said that Aylin wasn't taking customers.
The man, luxuriously dressed, slammed down 200 Livis onto her reception desk.
Not even looking at the money the old woman told the man to either get lost or get another lady. The man groaned a bit before picking a girl from the list and angrily stomping off with her.
The glittering constellations were scattered across the night sky. The image of Aylin's pink flower kept flashing inside my mind and tore at my sanity. I checked the time to see how much longer I had to sleep and saw it was already 2 AM.
Feeling insomniac, the door squeaked as I opened it and left my room. As per usual I heard the typical service that was happening in the rooms. But Aylin's room which was always locked during nighttime was unexpectedly slightly open.
A slight discomfort filled me and I went to check up on Aylin but she was nowhere to be found in her room. Pillows and blankets lay scattered across the floor, and cold air brushed up at my feet as I saw the open window.
I avoided the pillows on the floor and tiptoed towards the window and looked down to see if she could have possibly jumped down. But it was obviously too far down and no one would survive a fall from this height. Then why was her window open for no reason?
My head searched around and when I turned my head a bit to the right I saw her flowing pink hair swaying in the chilling night air. She had her crescent moon necklace around her neck and was observing the moon with immense affection in her eyes.
The moon was no longer full, yet it continued to hold its beauty. Aylin was too distracted to even notice me standing there staring at her. That is when it clicked, if she was standing here then there would have been no reason for her door to be unlocked, especially at night….
Suspiciously I scrutinise Aylin's room for any hiding spots anyone could hide. The closet door was forcefully opened with a loud thud and I looked at the man who had tried asking for her earlier standing in the closet with eyes full of contempt and rage.
He was one of the customers who entered a few hours ago. Did the other women not please him enough that he had to pray on someone who didn't even work at this brothel?
Had Aylin been inside here when he got in… my eyes filled with disgust as I observed him and I grabbed him by the throat before slamming him down onto the ground. The mark of Freedom burned onto my cheek as pure anger and protectiveness filled my being.
I felt an overwhelming power flowing through my veins as I pinned him to the ground. He was groaning and struggling to breathe. The loud noise from the impact alerted Aylin and she climbed back through the window.
Her eyes widened in shock as she saw me pinning down the lecherous man who wanted to prey on her.
"You, you… you… are… an…Aeon…"
She pointed at the black flower on my cheek that sprouted roots down my arm with a shaking finger.
"Aylin, this man was hiding in your closet! I caught him waiting for you!"
She turned her head towards the closet before looking at me again. Not a single word left her mouth and before she could say anything, the old lady came running into the room complaining about who was causing all the ruckus.
The mark of Freedom vanished and I let go of the grip on the man's neck and told the old lady what had happened.
She looked suspiciously at Aylin and asked her if what I said was true.
Aylin nodded slightly after a few seconds of delay and looked down at the floor. The old woman grabbed the unconscious guy by the collar and started to drag him out of the room.
The awkward silence was broken by Aylin who quietly asked me if I was actually an Aeon. Her whispering was so quiet that I could barely hear her question.
"I don't know myself…" I said shrugging my shoulders.
I continued:
"All that I know about the Aeons are the stories told to me by my mother. That they were mythological beings with a colorful flower on their cheeks."
Aylin rubbed her shoulder with a strained face. Doubt and hesitation were written in her expression but she asked me to sit down anyway.
"Did your mom ever tell you about the story about the Princess of the Moon and the Prince of Guilt?"
I shook my head after thinking for a bit. Aylin curled up with her arms around her legs and rested her head on her knees on the blankets.
She slightly tilted her head towards me before telling me the story about the Princess and the Prince. It was a story about a Princess who was granted a disastrous wish by the moon goddess, Celestia.
It was a tale of forbidden love and curses. Once finally told Aylin for the first time smiled a little at me. She told me that it was her favorite story from the epics of the Aeons.
That night, connected by our interest and love for Aeons, the tense animosity was thawed between us.
Aylin told me stories that my mom didn't get to tell me and I told her stories that she had never heard of.
A story that stood out was the story of the pallid whale. It was a myth about a gigantic whale that swam around in the vast seas. The legend has it that the whale swallowed ships and seamen alike. Fishermen and sailors would pray to the Gods for a safe voyage when out in the deep sea. Others believed that an Aeon had created the pallid whale to keep us humans from venturing out into the world. But people haven't seen the whale in hundreds of years, because all those ships that set sail to uncover its secrets, never came back.
Accounts from sailors who somehow managed to escape its terror described it as an ashy white Island, its size so incomprehensible, its eye the size of a ship, and its movement alone causing tremors in the water. A few days after viewing the whale the witnesses died, their eyes had been removed from their sockets and their body was shrivelled up like raisins. Reports say that they were completely normal and sane in the beginning but after a few days, paranoia sets in, hallucinations and visions of the whale appear in their heads. Until the final day of the week, their bodies dry up and their eyes completely vanish from their heads.
Many brave sailors in history have tried to kill the pallid whale but to this day, no one has succeeded.
I asked Aylin where she had heard this story from and she told me that the old lady was the one who had told her this tale.
"The pallid whale… what do you think Aylin? Do you believe it exists?"
She nodded and said that it had for sure been real, she had told this story to her friends here but none of them actually believed such a creature could exist.
"But all those sailors who came back, describing the same creature and having the same fate, it gotta be real, right…?" She asked me enthusiastically.
I told her that I also believed that the pallid whale existed and was waiting for its next challenger. Once she heard my words she ecstatically sat up pacing back and forth thinking about what other story she had.
This went on until we ran out of stories to tell each other and by that time the both of us were out cold on the floor at 5 AM. I heard some creaking by the door and my eyes were barely open but I could make out the old woman's face and she was smiling. The door then closed and so did my eyes.