The Bane of Light

Cell

Trigger Warning:
mentions of suicide and self-harm

∞

When my awareness fluttered back to me, I felt nothing, if not the lightness of my own limbs.  I faintly realized that I was floating, and I was somewhere that reminded me of the shadow realm, though it was not quite it, the energy differing from it. The air was lest static, less alive than my shadow realm. In this place, it fell dull and flat, no longer a sentient space—one that no longer existed solely to heed my every inclination. My thoughts sharpened, as the shadow of a presence fell across me. A glowing figure floated before me, reaching out to cup my face in their not-quite solid hand. I felt the fuzzy brush of magic against my cheek, making my skin tingle.

"Come back to me, my daughter" The voice hummed to me, and my eyes snapped open in awarenesses, jolting forward as a rush of electricity ran through me. The figure remained before me, shrouded in comforting darkness, as I had sensed while my eyes were shut. It was a figure of shadow, lined by a halo of silver light. It hurt my eyes to stare out at the radiance, my breath snatched from my lungs. I gasped out, my lips parting. The figure towered over me, my chin tilted up as I floated on my knees before her.

"My Mother" I whispered out in a drunken haze, my entire body numb. I would not have even known if I had actually moved my lips to utter the words, had the glowing figure not beamed brighter. I could almost swear I saw a curve of a smile within the endless shadow. Whatever had overcome me to say those words, was something beyond my comprehension. My eyes strained to see within the darkness, desperate to lay eyes on her true form.

"Come back to me, my daughter. Come home" She said gently, her hand of shadow still cusping my cheek. The power behind the touch made my skin tingle with a pleasant pain, making me want to press harder into her touch. Home. I tried to imagine home, but my mind came up blank. What was home? The image of a golden boy flickered briefly in my mind, before dying out, like a flame snuffed out. My mind was blank again. This brought on a wave of devastation for me, though I could not understand why.

"I don't know how" I admitted in a whimper, my voice breaking, "I am lost, Dark Mother. I do not know how to find my way home"

"Find your way back to me, my daughter. Come home. You are not done with this world yet" She whispered out to me once more, repeating herself. I was not done with this world yet. I was not supposed to leave it behind. Again, an image of a golden boy, surrounded by a halo made of sun came to mind. This time, it was bright enough not to fade away. I was not supposed leave him behind. The boy. Paris. I twitched, my limbs suddenly gaining an influx of weight. I sunk, my limbs being dragged down by the weight.

"Come back to me, Eulalia" The voice repeated, this time sterner, but I was aware now. The delirium had worn off, and my mind had sharpened. Paris. Paris needed me. I was slammed back to the ground, back into something heavy, as my limbs became unbearable burdensome. I was returned to my prison of flesh, my movements leaden and burdensome. My new-found physicality made me painfully aware of myself.

"Paris" I gasped awake. My entire body jerked upwards, and pain slammed into me, as though I had truly fallen from the heavens, crashing into earth and shattering all my bones. I was too afraid to open my eyes and see if my skin had bruised purple from the fall, bones splitting open.

My entire body was lit aflame, though I recognized the pain as more of a sting than the dull ache of my soul falling back into my body, which was fading by the second. With each passing moment, my mind became less addled. I groggily recognized that the venomous sting sizzling through my body belonged to Beastly's demon bite. I realized it was not as intense as it was when I first was bitten, because now I could move again. Still, the pain was unignorable.