The Reaper's Curse

Take My hand As I Lure You to Paradise

Elara tightens her fingers on her scythe. Her hand had been forced. 

The princess is collapsed on her hands and knees, shaking and gasping.

Ophelia's eyes are on the girl, but Elara knows the old crone is aware of her every breath. She wishes for nothing but to put her blade through the princess's throat, but she can't make any moves.

"My child," Ophelia murmurs, lowering herself onto her knees. She extends her hand to brush the hair away from the princess's face, only for the girl to flinch backwards.

"No! Get away from me!" she yells.

Ophelia's lips curve into a sad smile. "I'm not going to hurt you." She drops her hand slowly. "Child, it's in your best interests to obey the reaper. Make the deal with her, and your safety will be guaranteed for the rest of your life."

"Why me? Why must it be me?"

Before Ophelia can open her mouth, Elara cuts in. "Fate. This is your fate. Accept it."

"That's cruel."

"Fate is cruel," Ophelia says, the smile falling from her face. "Accept the deal, child. You have no choice."

"But what's the difference? I'm going to die anyway," the princess whispers, her eyes darkening. "My father's going to die anyway. Everyone's going to die anyway."

"But you could make this world a better place in the last remaining years of your life."

Elara scoffs at the crone's words. "This world has already gone to Hell."

The princess's small shoulders start to tremble. But instead of cries, a soft, chilling laugh escapes her pale lips. Her eyes come up to meet Elara's. The icy darkness dancing in those green orbs startles the reaper. "Fine. I'll just have to love you then."

A breath of disbelief whooshes from Elara's lips. A hazy, distorted image of a memory forms in front of her eyes. A blur of golden and green. 

I'll just have to love you then.

"Love me? You think you can love me?" She yanks the princess's hand into hers. A red, vein-like thread tears from the skin of her wrist and binds together their ring fingers before severing cleanly down the middle. "It would be amusing to see you try and fail, princess. No one can love me."

The princess pulls back her hand quickly, lowering her eyes. "What is this? My father had it too."

Elara drops her hand back to her side. There's a churning in her stomach as she seals their ill-fated relationship. "My scarlet Rings of Fate. They bind us together in an eternal contract even the deities themselves cannot break. There's no running away now."

☾✧

Lilith watches as Ophelia's silhouette slowly fades into the fog.

"Who is she?" The reaper makes to turn away without answering her. "Who is she?" Lilith snaps.

The reaper focuses her piercing eyes back onto her. "She's one of the deities of the underworld. But that's not what's important right now. There are things you need to know about sinners before you can start reaping."

"Are we going back to the...the living realm?"

The reaper nods, extending her hand. "Come."

Gingerly, Lilith places her hand in the reaper's, nearly flinching back at the sudden coldness of her skin. She opens her mouth to ask her about it when suddenly, without warning, the air around them warps and Lilith's stomach turns inside out.

A yelp escapes her lips and she grabs at the reaper's arm with both hands

Not a heartbeat later, she finds herself standing in front of a bustling tavern in the city.