TOXIC BLOODLINES: PARADISE - BOOK 2/4

A GIFT TO YOU

KIMBERLY

"What are you talking about?"

"There are other worlds," Andras answered. "You are in one of them. The wrong one."

It was difficult to process. Other worlds? A part of me hoped he was lying, but what I had seen in Ian's memories proved otherwise. "So how did I end up here, in this world then?"

"When your mother ran away, she wanted to disappear entirely. She knew the risks that came with crossing over, but your life was more important," Andras answered. "Your bloodline, the human part, it came from a realm called 'The Anchor'. It was the original universe from which all the others were split." Andras projected Andromeda, my galaxy.

I held it in my hands. "So where am I now?"

"Yaldabaoth, the realm of chaos," Andras projected an ominous burning symbol that was associated with it.

"...How many universes are there?"

"In total, one billion, held together by five points," Andras conjured up the light and shaped it into an intricate web of universes shaped into a star.

The gears in my head began to turn. "You said the other realms split from the anchor. What caused them to break away?" I studied the web.

"When Lilith destroyed Lucifer, she did not destroy all of him." Andras pulled the light back into him. "You cannot simply kill a celestial, lower-level ones like me, yes but not the princes. They are made from the fabric that holds reality together. Killing one of them would be the equivalent of blowing up a million stars. Nothing would survive it. And Lucifer is one of the Primordials. He was the first being to come from the great silence. So, Lilith had to be creative."

~~~

THE KINGDOM JAHIM 4026 BCE

ANDRAS

"When the boy is of age, I will turn the moon red. That is how you will know that the time has come," Lilith told me.

"Surely, there has to be another way." I pleaded.

"There is no other way, Andras. Is that not why you came to me? Is that not why you did not do it yourself?... Yes, the blood of my sister's child is too high a price, but it is one I am willing to pay." She wiped a tear from her face. "... Make it quick, painless like a gentle breeze. I do not want him to suffer." She gave me her dagger. "Do it with this. Bring me his brain and run. Run as far as you can. I will not protect you from their wrath once it is done."

Taking a life was not something I gave much thought to. It was easy, like stepping on an ant. Once a soul had been marked for death, I reaped them. Men, women, children. They all fell to my sword, but this was the first time I was conflicted about it.

I knew Lilith enough to know that her sister's child being the sacrificial lamb was not a coincidence. The boy was Lucifer's child. Lilith kept her sister's secret, but it did not mean she forgave the betrayal. Lilith chose the child to kill two birds.

For days, I watched the boy from the trees. It was hard to believe this child came from Lucifer himself. The boy radiated with the same light his father once had, he was pure. And as the days turned to years, Lucifer sired more children, they were all monsters. I watched them ravage the young world leaving a path of death and destruction wherever they went.

For thirteen years, I hunted Lucifer's beasts and brought their brains to Lilith as a substitute for the boy whom I had been watching over, but she wanted the boy. She would not sway her decision.