For the damned | ✓

36

CENTURIES AGO - PART IX

OUT OF ALL THE places she could be, Delilah hadn't expected to be in the human world on her birthday. She hadn't been planning to, but she'd woken up at midnight with the knowledge that something was happening to the souls down below and she couldn't sleep until she found out what. Whatever was happening, it was pulling the threads loose on souls which had already been spun with difficulty, causing chaos as they slowly lost both their minds and themselves.

Which god was messing with her? The thought was sharp in her head as she walked through the cobblestone streets, only the moon shining it's silver glow on her, no stars to be seen. They always hid when she got angry. Honestly, she was simply glad she hadn't woken up Helio on her way down, because in the rare occasions he slept she didn't want to wake him up. She'd resolve this quickly, so she could get back to him.

When she had waken up, she had seen one extra present beside the one she had already spotted, a small box which was colored golden. She hadn't worn a necklace in a long time now, but if it came from Helio, she would love whatever it was. Her thoughts flicked to Niccolo then. Yesterday was the first time she had ever seen him cry in all the centuries she had known him. She wasn't sure whether to wait or visit him at once to see if he was feeling better now. The toll those visions were taking on him was one which grew heavier every time. It was enough. She'd make it her personal mission to find a way to help him, even if that meant demolishing the whole temple and his followers.

"I can help you with that, Delilah."

Her blood ran cold as she stopped in her tracks at once. She could feel the souls unraveling all around her, not even her presence managing to work stabilizing anymore. Soon they'd all vanish into nothing, but all she could focus on was the woman standing behind her, who was the cause of the magic running wild.

"Mother," Delilah said.

Even now, years later, she looked the same. It was a strange thought, Delilah knew, considering that they were immortal, but a part of her had believed her mother would be the exception. The woman who had always been the picture of power and elegance, she wouldn't be like that anymore years after losing everything, after losing her daughter. Yet here she was, smiling like none of that had happened, like she was still keeping the key to Delilah's prison in her hands.

She lazily waved a hand then and Delilah felt the souls around her vanish in the wind, all of them gone at once.

"It isn't your place to touch those humans," Delilah snarled, her fury making the wind around them whirl around in the beginning of a storm," you've doomed them to nothingness."

"What does it matter?" her mother chuckled," they're just humans, there are millions of others to replace them with. What happened to you, Delilah? Since when did you get so angry, so tainted? What did they do to my delicate daughter?"

"No one did anything to me," Delilah said as she stopped right in front of her mother," no one but you. Don't you dare put the blame on someone else. I can't believe you have the gall to even be standing here in front of me right now. What makes you believe I won't kill you?"

Her mother's face was warm, as if none of the words Delilah said could ever hurt her. Was it love or possessiveness? The line between the two had become thin a long time ago. When her mother reached out to place a hand on her cheek, it was crossed again. Her mind was screaming to slap her away, but there was still that small part of her, the one who remembered holding her mother's hand as the goddess sang her lullabies, which wasn't able to let go just yet. First, she needed to see what she was going to say.

"You won't," she said," you're my daughter, Delilah, you couldn't hurt me. Besides, I'm the one who has been there for you your whole life, I'm the one who will never abandon you, no matter what happens. Ever since your father died, you have been my whole life. What do I have left without you?"