A Brother's Blood Cries Out
And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?
And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
Yes, I have dared to write not only fanfic, but fix-fic, AND SLASHFIC!! for the literal Word of God. If I never post again, you'll know it's because I've been smitten for my blasphemy.
In addition to aforesaid blasphemy, this story contains sibling-sibling incest, nonconsensual sex (that the `victim' secretly wants) and minimal amounts of HETEROSEXUALITY (*shudder*). It's also written in a deliberately archaic/Scriptural style, so if the King James/Authorised Version's not for you, neither is this story.
Note that a `week' of a jubilee is a cycle of seven years, with seven `weeks' per jubilee.
Ein smol theme playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/048CksT5bIMxiFPbC1JhpS?si=a04486bfeac24400
· Yaveh, the Lord
· ha-Satan, the Adversary, in the guise of Nahash, the Serpent
· Adam, the Man of the Earth, the Man made from Dust
· Havah, the Mother of Life
· Kayin, the Gotten, the Acquired, the Smith: first son of Havah
· Avel, the Breath, the Vapour, the Herdsman: second son of Havah, first son of Adam
· Awan, Iniquity: sister of Kayin and Avel, wife of Kayin
· Kalmanah, the Beautiful: sister of Avel and Kayin, wife of Avel
· Set, the Appointed: third son of Havah, second son of Adam
· Azurah, Restraint: the sister and wife of Set
And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden...
—Genesis 2:8
And in this garden there dwelled Adam, the Man, and Havah, his wife, so called because she was to be the Mother of all the Living. Of the noontide of their bliss there was neither waxing nor waning, and no shadow dimmed the sun of their joy. And they were both naked, the Man and his Wife, and were not ashamed.
There came unto Havah one day Nahash, the Serpent, who was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord had made. They stood in the shade of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for it was beautiful and fragrant, and Havah loved to feel its smooth bark beneath her skin and breathe in its sweetness. And Nahash said unto the woman, `Yea, hath Yaveh said, "Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden"?'
And the woman said unto the Serpent, `We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, Yaveh hath said, "Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."' Then Nahash laughed, and his laugh was full of white pointed teeth, sharp as needles. He said unto the woman, `Well have ye learned the lies of your Master by rote. But verily, ye shall not surely die, but live, and live everlastingly.'
And the woman was troubled at this saying, and cast down her eyes. `What sayest thou? Is Yaveh a man that He should lie?'
`Nay', said Nahash, `He is no man, but once He was, even as ye are. Listen: Yaveh's command was given out of fear, not love. For indeed, every creator hateth his creation, and every artificer despiseth the work of his art. Yaveh doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.'
Under the lidless eyes of the Serpent, Havah felt for the first time the knowledge of her own nakedness, and she clasped her hands over her breasts. Then Nahash smiled again, for the woman had no answer.
So Nahash bent the branch to the earth and poured upon the fruit the poison of his wickedness, which is lust, the root and beginning of every sin, and Havah took of the fruit, and ate, and it was sweet like honeycomb on her tongue, but bitter as wormwood in her belly. The salt of his poison stained her mouth, and dripped upon her breasts, and she looked upon the Serpent, and beheld his nakedness, and saw that he was radiant and smooth as alabaster. Then a hunger awoke within her, a new and a strange hunger, and her loins clenched, and womb ached with craving, though she knew not what it was she craved. Then the Serpent put a hand upon her neck, and the other between her thighs, and the woman trembled, for her husband had never touched her so. So the Serpent went in unto Havah, and lay with her, and his seed burned like ice as it spilled within her.
Then, while the forbidden fruit was still bittersweet upon her tongue, and the Serpent's seed still cold and sticky between her thighs, Havah rose and went unto her husband Adam and knelt a ways off from him, displaying the fruit between the swell of her breasts. `Come hither, my lord Adam,' she said, 'hearken to me and eat of the fruit of the tree which Yaveh hath forbidden us, and thou shalt be as God.
And Adam answered and said, 'I fear lest the Lord be wroth with me. For the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.'
Havah then crawled to her husband on her belly and kissed his feet, and rose and kissed his loins, and rose still higher and kissed his mouth. And his loins were afire, and his member hardened to adamant, and she took him between her legs, and he marvelled at the wetness of her thighs and the openness of her womb. Then did they press upon each other and move in unison together, and verily became one flesh. Adam clasped his wife to him, and would fain have kissed her, but she turned her face away, and instead put the fruit to his lips.
`Eat, my lord husband,' she said, `and we shall rule this Garden as Gods forever.'
Adam opened his mouth to reply, but could make no sound, for his ecstasy was fast approaching its zenith. Even as he achieved the fullness of his joy, he bit into the fruit and tasted its wormwood-sweetness, and his eyes were opened.
And the Lord Yaveh saw all, and said, `Behold, the Man is become as one of Us, to know Good and Evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live for ever.' Therefore the Lord Yaveh sent Adam forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. And the Lord Yaveh banished them from the Garden, to the east of Eden, and a flaming sword was set at the gate, lest Man should live forever.
It was on the new moon of the fourth month that Adam and his wife went forth from the Garden of Eden, and they dwelt in the Land of Elda. There they toiled upon the soil, as the Lord had decreed, and there was much bitterness between them.
After a span of months, it came to pass that Havah grew great with child. Adam rejoiced, and his desire for his wife was then rekindled, yea, and multiplied tenfold, and he pressed his will upon her, both at night and during the day, even as she was about her work and in the days of her uncleanness. As her belly swelled, so did the furnace of his lust burn hotter, till Havah feared lest between her husband and the child she should be utterly consumed. Yet for all his rough using, her body did not fail to answer his: her mouth trembling, the tips of her breasts hardening to diamond-points, her womb dripping with wetness like a flower heavy with the dews of morning. Thus it was even as the Lord had said: `thy desire shall be for thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.'
In the first week of the second jubilee Havah bare a son, and she felt sorely the Lord's curse in the Garden, for she had much pain and sorrow in the bearing. Thus was the woman punished for her sin of the flesh, and the seed of enmity which the Serpent had planted in her.
`I have gotten a man from the Lord', said Havah, as the babe lay in her arms, the first that ever was born upon Earth. But this was a lie, for it was from Nahash, the Serpent, that she had gotten the child. And the child was called Kayin, the Smith, for he was to be the father of all who work with tools upon the earth. The boy was not fair like Adam, but dark of hair and swarthy of skin, like his mother. In despite of this likeness, Havah loved him little, and Adam less. Ill-fated were the deeds of all his days, from the first to the last, for in him dwelled the Seed of the Serpent.
In the second week of the second jubilee Havah again bare a son, and his name was called Avel, the Breath. This boy was as different from his brother Kayin as was day from night, in both form and mind. Where Kayin was dark of colour and countenance, Avel was pale as milk, with hair like ripened wheat and a smile as bright and blinding as the noonday sun. Kayin was by turns melancholy and petulant, possessing a cold, venomous wit that he fostered as a shield against unkindness. He felt every slight—real or imagined—as a deadly wound, and brooded long on his wrongs, as he saw them. Avel, however, was open and free as the blue sky which sparkled in his eyes. Mirth shone ever in his ruddy cheeks and easy jests danced upon his ruby lips. If he was swift to anger, he was swift also to laugh and to forgive, and so delighted in life that others could not help but delight in his company—all, save for his brother Kayin, who found his play childish and irksome.
From the moment of his first cry, Avel had the greater share of his parents' love. Havah endeavoured to conceal this partiality, yet Kayin perceived it nonetheless, for though a child he was wise beyond his years, and his eyes were keen. Thus was any love he might have borne for his brother turned to jealousy and hatred ere Avel was more than a babe.
One day Havah called to her Kayin and Avel, who, still little children, were playing on the grass. She held out to her firstborn her right arm, and to her second son her left, and said, "Bite them, I command you.' The elder boy bit till he drew blood, but Avel merely imprinted a long lingering kiss on his mother's arm. Then said Havah to her husband, `Our Kayin will be a wicked man.'
And Adam replied, `Verily, the seed of ungodliness hath already taken root within him, and its flowering shall not be far off.'
It happened some time later, when Kayin was a youth, but Avel was still in his infancy, that the boys were playing before Adam and Havah. And Avel went out of the tent into the garden, and found a great lily of spotless whiteness, and plucked it. And while he was holding the lily, and marvelling at its purity and fragrance, a dove flew down and alighted upon it and was not at all afraid. Avel then ran to his mother with the flower and the bird, and Havah clapped her hands for joy and kissed his golden ringlets and said, `Verily my son, thou art favoured of the Lord.'
As for Kayin, he took some of the tools that lay scattered about his father's dwelling, and fashioned a marvellous device. It had a rod hung from a pivot, and two bowls, affixed by rope to either end of the rod. And goods placed therein could be balanced against one another, and thus weighed and measured. And he shewed the contrivance to Adam his father, thinking to gain his father's approval by his skill and subtilty. But when Adam looked upon what his son had wrought, he was troubled in his heart, and said, `This is a strange work, and it is a strange fire that is in thee, Kayin my son.'
Then Kayin fled from his father and wept bitterly in secret.
Avel, seeing the despair in his brother's face, and being as tender of heart as he was in years, followed him, and endeavoured to comfort him by giving him the lily. But Kayin, full of resentment toward the lad, drove him away with cruel words, until Avel ran back to his parents, now weeping also. And Adam, supposing that Kayin had been mistreating his young brother, was filled with wrath, and seized Kayin by the hair, and beat him with his staff of birchwood, until the boy fainted.
Some time after, Adam and Havah were with one another; and when they lay down, Havah said to Adam her husband, `My lord, I have seen in a dream this night the blood of my son Avel poured into the mouth of Kayin his brother, and he drank it without pity. And it did not remain in his belly, but came forth again out of his mouth, and his body was smeared with it.'
Adam was troubled at this, and replied to Havah and told her, "Lest Kayin scheme to kill Avel, let us separate them from one another, so as to provide no room to anger." And they acted as Adam had said, and he told them, "My sons, come and let us disperse, each to his own place." And Kayin was appointed to work his father's fields, while to Avel was given the care of his father's flocks.
Avel grew swiftly and sure, like a sapling that is planted in the sun, and ere he had attained fullness of manhood he had surpassed Kayin in both stature and strength. Then did Kayin envy and hate his brother the more, even as Adam his father loved him, and favoured him openly above Kayin, the firstborn.
In the third week of the second jubilee Havah's womb again became heavy with child, and this time she brought forth a daughter, and the girl was called Awan, meaning Iniquity. Awan was golden of hair and fair of face, like Avel, but in her temper she inclined rather to Kayin. Kayin desired her from the first flowering of her womanhood, and in the fourth week she was joined to him as his wife.
Much joy indeed did they have of the wedding, for they were as alike in mind and spirit as they were unlike in aspect. Joyful too was their marriage bed, for though Kayin was smaller than his brother in stature of manhood also, he learned swiftly the way to make a woman's body sing beneath him, playing upon her breasts and sex with his skilful fingers, as he were making music with his lyre. For a time indeed Kayin had hoped that the eyes of Adam and Havah would look favourably upon him, for in the fruitful womb of his wife was the seed of his father secured. But it was not long ere Kayin's happiness was marred on account of his brother, as it was ever wont to be.
For in the fifth week of the second jubilee, Havah again bore a daughter, and her name was Kalmanah, the Beautiful. In appearance she took after Kayin and Havah, being slender as a reed, with eyes dark and smouldering as burning coals, but in mood and manner she was like Avel, and Avel had her to wife.
One day a sheep belonging to Avel trampled over a field that had been planted by Kayin. In a rage, the latter called out, `What right hast thou to live upon my land and let thy sheep pasture yonder?'
Avel retorted, `What right hast thou to use the products of my sheep, to make garments for thyself from their wool? If thou wilt take off the wool of my sheep wherein thou art arrayed, and wilt pay me for the flesh of the flocks which thou hast eaten, then I will quit thy land as thou desirest, and fly into the air, if I can do it.' He spoke thus lightly, and with a smile upon his lips, but these words only added to the anger of Kayin.
Indeed, it seemed from that day onward Kayin found Avel ever and anon trespassing upon his lands, or letting his livestock wreak havoc therein. And Avel would stand upon the ground like a pillar of marble, hair shimmering as a crown of gold in the light of heaven, free and proud and fearless of the venomous fire in Kayin's eyes. At other times he would bathe naked in the sun, supple limbs spread so Kayin could see all there was of him, and he seemed to taunt Kayin with his beauty. If he looked up to see Kayin watching he would smile mockingly, and grasp his member and fondle it to hardness, undaunted by Kayin's disapproving countenance. And Kayin would turn and stride homeward, cursing himself for the answering stirring in his own loins.
On another day Kayin came upon Avel and his wife making love in a field—Kayin's field, it was. They were naked, both of them, her brown flesh and his pale bare under the noonday sun. Though this was Elda, not Eden, they coupled openly, and without shame. Anger burned through Kayin, red and righteous. Did they not know what Yaveh had decreed? Had the Lord not slain the lamb to provide raiment for their bodies?
Shameful as it was, Kayin could not look away. He stayed where he stood, rooted to the soil like a tree planted by the river, as they heaved and huffed and rocked back and forth, each thrust disturbing the even furrows of the earth he had tilled, crushing the young seedlings of wheat he had planted. And Avel struck Kalmanah in her side and fisted a hand in her hair, hair that was dark and curled like Kayin's. She cried out, and not with pain only.
Then Avel looked up, and his eyes met Kayin's, and Kayin trembled, for he felt the very fire of the Lord, burning into his soul from those twin blue brands. Even as Avel's body shivered with the throes of his climax, his gaze remained steady, and in the end it was Kayin that had to look away.
That night, as Kayin lay with his wife, he tangled his fingers in her yellow waves, and dreamed it was his brother lying at his side.
In the seventh and last week of the second jubilee Adam entered his wife again, and she again bare fruit. From her womb there issued two babes: a girl-child and a man-child. Set, the Appointed, who would be a handsome man in the image of his father Adam, and Azurah, his sister, that is, Restraint, who was to be his bride. And Adam prophesied concerning Set, and decreed that this second seed raised up by Yaveh upon the earth was to be the last and greatest of the sons of Adam. It was foretold that the Seed of Set should have dominion over all the world, and his progeny would make war upon the Seed of the Serpent, and crush them underfoot, laying waste their proud cities and ending the many and flagrant whoredoms of their sons and daughters. Thus by the righteousness of Set would wickedness be utterly vanquished. For the day was nigh, Adam said, when lawlessness would increase on the earth and all flesh would corrupt its way, and every imagination of the thoughts of all men would be thus evil continually.
And Kayin stood in the shadows, and knew that it was of him and his offspring that Adam spoke.
And Adam and Havah, his wife, called upon the name of the Lord, and they heard the voice of the Lord from the way toward the Garden of Eden, speaking unto them, though they saw Him not; for they were shut out from His presence. And He gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord.
After many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying, `Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord?' And Adam said unto him, `I know not, save the Lord commanded me.'
Then the angel spake, saying, `This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth. Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon Yaveh in the name of the Son forevermore.'
And in that day the Holy Ghost fell upon Adam, which beareth record of the Father and the Son, saying, `I am the Only Begotten of the Father from the beginning, henceforth and forever, that as thou hast fallen thou mayest be redeemed, and all mankind, even as many as will.'
In that day Adam blessed Yaveh and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth, saying, `Blessed be the name of Yaveh, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see Yaveh. `
Havah, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying, `Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which Yaveh giveth unto all the obedient.'
And Adam and Havah blessed the name of Yaveh, and they made all these things known unto their sons and their daughters.
And it came to pass that in the fiftieth year, the Year of Jubilee, Kayin brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Avel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had regard for Avel and his blood-offering, but for Kayin and his offering he had no regard. Now ha-Satan knew this, and it pleased him. Fire fell from heaven and consumed wholly Avel's sacrifice and the altar on which it lay, but Kayin's unbloody sacrifice was untouched. And Yaveh was indeed more pleased with Avel than with his offering, because of his pure body and good heart, in which there was no trace of guile.
Kayin was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Kayin, `Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.'
`And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and he desireth to have thee; and except thou shalt hearken unto Our commandments, We will deliver thee up, and it shall be unto thee according to his desire. From this time forth thou shalt be the father of his lies; thou shalt be called the Son of Perdition; for thou wast also before the world, foremost of the wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of night for ever.'
And Kayin then was dumbfounded and dismayed. Did Yaveh not know that Avel was an unrighteous man, rutting with his wife in an open field like a dog in heat? A foolish, slothful man, who wasted the hours gambolling with his sheep and lolling on green hillsides, while Kayin spent the sweat of his brow for the betterment of his kin and the generations which were to follow.
Have I not kept Thy commandments, Lord? Have I not honoured Thee? Have I not toiled upon the land as Thou didst ordain? Thou promised me cities, offspring numberless as the sand on the shore and the stars in the firmament. Hast Thou repented Thy promise, Lord? Or shall this too be given unto my brother? It is because he is golden, and I am dun; because he is fair, and I am dark. All he touches shines; all I lay my hand to blackens and corrodes.
And Kayin was wroth, and listened not any more to the voice of the Lord, neither to Avel, his brother, who walked in holiness before the Lord.
So Kayin made no reply to the words of Yaveh, and went home to his wife, who was called Awan, meaning Iniquity. And Awan said to him, `Wherefore art thou downcast, my husband? Hast thou been with Avel, thy brother?'
`Yea, my sister-wife, my heart is sore, and my spirit vexed because of my brother Avel. Behold, he is a sluggard and a wastrel, yet all he doth is wonderful in the sight of Adam my father and Havah my mother, and even in the sight of the Lord. He hath usurped my place as firstborn, and now he hath robbed me also of my favour with Yaveh.' And he told of what had happened that day, how the Lord had been pleased with Avel's sacrifice, but had despised Kayin's.
`Be not despondent my husband', Awan replied. `Remember what we were promised. Avel is but a shepherd; thou art the Smith. Thy father dwells in tents, but thou shalt build palaces of marble and ivory. Thou shalt stablish cities of palaces for our children, and a mighty nation shall spring from thy loins. If Yaveh will not give thee thy due, thou must take it perforce. Or wilt thou suffer this upstart cur, this impudent pup, to usurp thee, unman thee, his elder and better? Art thou then as the servingmen have thee behind thy back—a half-man, a no-man: dark Kayin, lurking in his brother's shadow, content to lick at his bootheels?'
Kayin cast his face down, and ground his teeth. `What wouldst though have me do, wife?'
`Mayhap thou hast not the stomach for it...'
`Ever hast though given me counsel, Awan, and ever have I followed it. Play not coy now.'
`Then, my brother-husband, it is but this: thou must kill Avel.'
Kayin was silent, but considered his wife's words. He saw himself laying hands upon that rosy flesh, and stopping forever those taunting smiles. He thought of golden locks slowly staining red, and blue eyes slowly dulling to lifeless grey.
Yes, said the cold serpentine voice that had been his companion since birth, slay the brat. Let the dark earth drink his blood, and let that be an end of his mockery.
Yes, thought Kayin. No straw-headed whelp would snatch away his destiny. He would kill Avel, and the deed would be a great righteousness.
But he is my brother, said another voice, a still, small voice. Born of the same womb, nursed at the same teat. Shall I kill my mother's son?
Awan spoke again, as if in answer to the voice in his heart.
`Do not think it would be a thing unfitting, unnatural. Avel is called the Breath, and is a Breath more than a Vapour, which today is, and tomorrow is not? Avel is but a mist, nothing more, a cloud which hath too long o'ershadowed thy rightful glory. His ways, the ways of herdsman and husbandman, belong to the past; ours is the future. We were sent here to make fruitful the barren earth, not to suckle goats. Too long have we lived like vagrants in the wastes, dwelling as vagabonds beneath cloth. Cities, my husband. Well-ordered fields and cultivated gardens, stretching from horizon to horizon, far as the eye can see. Towers, reaching into the sky, yea, to Heaven itself. Yet I know what it is that stays thy mind: he is thy brother. What of it? Verily, my husband,' said Awan, who was called Iniquity, 'what manner of brother hath this Avel been to thee?'
`What, indeed', Kayin growled, and seized his wife by her yellow hair and wrenched her into a punishing kiss. He pounded her into the earth three times over that night, and three times did she reach her climax, yet Kayin would not let her be until he had torn from her inflamed sex a fourth and a fifth, and finally he poured out his completion upon her face, closing his eyes to envision his white seed defiling redder lips than hers, blinding bluer eyes than hers.
And that night ha-Satan appeared unto Kayin, and said, `Kayin, my first-begotten and well-beloved son, well do I feel thy hurt and thy just anger, even as it were my own. Grievously hast thou been wronged. Yaveh hath spurned thee, and it is plain thy parents would have Avel and Set usurp thy birthright. Swear unto me by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shalt die; and this that thy father may not know it; and this day I will deliver thy brother Abel into thine hands.'
And Kayin sware unto ha-Satan that he would do according to his commands. And Kayin said: `Truly I am Mahan, the master of this great secret, that I may murder and get gain.' Wherefore Kayin was called Master Mahan, and he gloried in his wickedness.
In the morning Kayin said unto Avel his brother, `Let us go into the field.' And Kayin led Avel away from the dwellings of the people, into a desert and secret place, and Avel went willingly, without apprehension of evil, for though he surpassed his brother in strength of body, he was (or so Kayin judged) very backward in craft and subtilty.
And when they had come to a lonely valley in the shadow of a great rock, where there were neither people nor sheep, Kayin rose up against his brother, beating at his head with his staff, blow after blow, seeking to stun him. But Avel was stronger than he, and Kayin would have got the worst of it, but at the last moment he begged for mercy, and the gentle Avel released his hold upon him. Scarcely did he feel himself free, when he turned against Avel once more, and took up a large stone, and would fain have dashed out Avel's brains, but his hand stayed, unbidden, and he found himself helpless before the pain and betrayal and dawning fury in Avel's eyes. He raised his hand: to hurl the stone at Avel, or to fling it away—he himself could not tell. But then it was too late for either, for Avel was on him. He struggled, but his younger brother again overthrew him, and now Avel's anger burned hot. He seized the staff, and beat Kayin till his flesh was black and bloody, and rent his garments, and Kayin felt his brother's strength, and was afraid.
Then Avel threw Kayin down upon his face, and threw himself upon him, and Kayin trembled, for only then did he comprehend his brother's purpose. He gasped as felt his brother's mighty manhood pushing against him, swollen with anger and fierce indignation, scorching his skin like a glede. Kayin screamed into the dust as he was pierced by his brother's fiery sword, impaled on his gorgéd spear. Forward, onward, inward it pressed, grinding Kayin's quivering innards into pulp, rending his ruined hole asunder. Avel's member was thick as a man's arm and hard as adamant, with only a little spittle to ease its passage. So immense was Avel's size, and so relentless his force, that Kayin feared lest he should be cloven in twain by his brother's fury. Yet with each thrust Kayin felt a shameful pleasure mingle with, and at last overtake, his agony, and when Avel, grunting, reached his climax, so did he, spilling his seed into the gasping dust.
He felt Avel's breath hot upon his neck, and his seed warm and wet within him and he trembled, for this was verily the realisation of his most secret desire, which he had admitted to no one, even himself. He made as if to rise, but Avel would not let him up, remaining pressed full against him from head to foot. And again Kayin knew his brother's strength, and felt along with his fear a guilty joy at being so utterly at another's mercy, his body so completely in thrall to the one above and within him.
So instead Kayin spoke, and the words tasted like ashes and honey upon his tongue. `Brother, all the years of my life have I striven against thee, and thy virtue and valour hath used me up in bitterness and hate. Now thou art avenged and I am utterly cast down. Thou hast dealt with me shamefully; yet it is no more than my folly and iniquity hath earned. Meanest thou now to slay me? Do it swiftly; else let me up, and I shall go from hence to the Land of Nod, and shall darken thy sight no more.'
`Nay,' Avel said, `I will not slay thee, nor will I let thee go.'
`I swear to thee, brother, I will go into the desert to be a houseless wanderer for the remnant of my days; not even the echo of my exile shall trouble thine ear.'
`Nay!', Avel cried, more loudly than before, and bore down upon Kayin, pressing his face into the dirt. `I would not have thee dead, nor would I have thee gone. I would have thee.'
Then did Kayin cry hotly, `I will not be thy harlot, nor still thy slave-wench—I am yet a man!'
`A man', Avel said, mocking, `yet when I had thee thou moaned and gushed like a maid!'
Tears started from Kayin's eyes afresh, and he sobbed, broken in spirit, `Hast thou not shamed me enough?'
`Nay, brother, not near enough. Thou thinkest me slow and stupid, I know, yet I see unfolding in my mind a thousand sweet defilements my loins ache to inflict on thee.' His words seemed cruel, yet he now touched Kayin gently as he spoke, and kissed his neck. `A man thou art, thou sayest. Yet I have never known a man that took pleasure in being used as a woman, nor one that loved it so, he would spill his seed from that alone. I have a mind to bring thee tomorrow to my pastures, and brand thee on thy hindward parts as I do my livestock. Thou shalt bear my mark as a sign of my dominion over thee and shall be known henceforth as the Marked of Avel, for I have conquered thee this day, my brother, and used thee as a girl taken in battle. Though thou art my brother, I shall keep thee as my man-wife. For Yaveh hath delivered thee into my hand, even as He said: unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Rightly art thou called Kayin, for on this earth I have gotten thee.'
And Kayin wept tears of mingled rage and joy, but arched into his brother's caresses. `Dost thou hate me, then?' he whispered.
Avel moved against him so Kayin could feel the heat and half-hardness of his brother's member in the cleft of his backside, and Avel whispered, low and earnest in his ear, `Nay brother, it was thou, and thou alone, that hated. Verily, I loved thee from the first, and would have done all upon thee many years ago, hadst thou been willing. There is nothing I would not have done for thee, given unto thee, if only thou hadst been willing... But thou wouldst permit no bond of brotherhood between us. The favour of our father and mother, even of Yaveh—couldst thou not see it meant nothing to me? That I cared only for thy esteem? But thou wert ever cold to me, brother...so, I resolved at last that if I could not have thy love, or even thy friendship, I would have thy hatred and thine enmity.
`But enough of the past: what's done cannot be undone, what is broken cannot be mended. It is to the future I would turn.' He slowly released Kayin from his hold, and stood up, looming over the man and gazing down at him with blue eyes shining with—what? With triumph, yes, and pleasure—but also with affection, with...love?
`Kayin my brother, my love. Other men hate thee, for they see only thine outward appearance, and the dark destiny that is written on thy face, and the serpent-light in thine eyes. Even Awan loves thee not for thyself, but for what she may gain by thee. I alone love thee for who thou art, for I love the unseen in thee.
`Straighten thy raiment and return unto thy wife. Thou mayest take what pleasure thou canst from her—little enough now, I guess. Tonight, I shall come to thee.' And Avel farewelled Kayin tenderly, pressing fervent kisses upon his mouth, as if he would devour his brother whole. Then he turned from Kayin and walked away, naked and white and altogether comely, and shining with a radiance that was unbearable to look upon. And when he came to the crown of the ridge he turned, and looked at Kayin lying there in the dust, and though the red sun was sinking behind his back, yet his gaze was like the morning, and he was fair as the moon, clear as the sun and terrible as an army with banners.
Was it a Breath born in the Garden that moved to the east? Or was it a storm that would shake all things to their foundations? Kayin knew not, but on that day the dayspring of his brother's eyes slew the serpent in him, and he became a man, he became Cain, Cain of Eden, no longer the Seed of the Serpent, but the seeded of Abel. He saw his cities—the proud spires of Enoch and Irad and Ur and Babylon the Great—crumble to dust; he felt his numberless descendants slip through his fingers like sand and fade like stars before the dawning sun of his brother's love. And he prayed that his brother's seed might quicken within him.
Then Cain walked back to the tents of the people, his raiment tattered rags about him, blood and seed trickling down the inside of his leg and the marks of his shame written plainly upon his flesh. And as he walked, he considered what had come to pass. Abel had the mastery, and Cain, who had thought himself iron-hard, was bent to his will. Yet his heart rejoiced in his humiliation and in the new-discovered love of fair, golden Abel, his brother and master. He thought no more of Adam or Eve or distant Yaweh. The cold serpent-voice in his heart was silent. Instead, his loins trembled with anticipation, remembering his brother's promise.
Tonight, I shall come to thee.
And Cain's sky-heart answered Abel, his sun and moon and stars, and the morning and evening of his day.
Verily, my lord, come swiftly.
Large parts of this 'text' are composites of various
Sources:
Canonical:
The Book of Genesis
The Epistle of Jude
The Book of Proverbs
The Song of Songs
Deuterocanonical:
The Book of Adam
The Revelation of Moses
The Book of Jubilees
The Life of Adam and Eve
The Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan
The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius
The Gospel of Philip
The Book of Enoch
Legends of the Jews
The Book of Moses
Other:
Jesus, the Son of Man, Khalil Gibran
Legends of Florence, Charles Godfrey Leland (Hans Breitmann)
Feedback of any kind is always appreciated! You can send comments to tillwehavefaces777@gmail.com or find me (and more of my works) at my AO3 (ArchiveOfOurOwn) profile: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tillwehavefaces