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as I ascend 153 floors.
Insane
There is nothing to differentiate him from a statue. He doesn’t move, he doesn’t breathe. He’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. It’s like they took the most perfect parts of every ideal man throughout history and legend and combined them into one. He’s Alexander the Great. He is both Achilles and Patroclus. He’s Apollo, beautiful and terrifying. He is the god of love himself.
“Orpheus,” he answers. “My name is Orpheus.”
“There are ways for souls to meet that have nothing to do with distance. I’ve been watching you for years. I’ve been calling out to you. And now, in this place, you can finally hear me.”
“You asked if we knew one another. The answer is yes. You have heard my voice, filtered through the sunlight of your dreams. You have seen my face, hidden in the shadows of your nightmares. And I have watched you for a long time. You are rare. You are perfect.”
Eros was perfect like fireflies on a summer night. But Orpheus… Orpheus is perfect like a ferocious storm, cleansing and terrifying and unavoidable. Orpheus doesn’t just understand what I want — he gives me what I never thought I needed.
“I can make you come in ways you’ve never imagined. You thought you knew pleasure before you met me. You were wrong. I’ll show you what ecstasy truly means.”
“There’s no reason to be afraid. I won’t force you. I’ll follow every order you give me, as long as it brings you closer to rapture.”
“Come for me,” he says. “Tell me I’m yours.”
“Shh,” he soothes, pressing kisses to my temple. “Ian suffers great turmoil. But you don’t need to suffer. Let me kiss you. Let me undo you. Let me quell your pain with untold pleasure.” He touches me slowly, deliberately. He croons incandescent words in my ear, calling me beautiful, perfect, breathtaking. “I’ve been waiting so long to meet you,” he says. “I missed you. I’d never met you, but I missed you.”
“Orpheus? Were you going to eat Ian?” “Yes.” The floor falls out from under me. “You eat… people.” “I consume life,” he says. “Vivacity. Souls.”
“Because you have ruined me,” Orpheus says. “I’m broken beyond repair. In this infinite span of worlds, all I see is you. This body, this soul, all belong to you. If you asked me to, I’d die for you.”
