TER𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓

PROLOGUE

.𖥔 ݁ ˖₊˚✩.𖥔 ݁ ˖๋ ࣭ᰔᩚ.ᰔᩚ ⭑. ݁ ˖₊˚✩.𖥔 ݁ ˖๋ ࣭ ⭑

Cushioned snugly in her grandmother’s lap, eyes gleaming with ardent adoration, the little girl listened to the sweet melody. The older woman’s voice rang clear through the air as she gazed upon her granddaughter with a soft smile. The girl found herself slowly getting lost in her grandmother’s magical voice …

♫ A god and a beautiful woman, by chance, met by the River Judith —

They fell in love with each other like it were a tryst of fate-

Breaking all taboos, they showered their love on one another.

But the time humans have is limited, their life measured …

The woman’s young body turned ill and grew old.

The soft, silken hair started to wither away, the supple skin laced with wrinkles.

The god abandoned the once young beauty as she grew old and frail.

All her youth was devoted to the god,

Alas, all that she was returned was betrayal and the blame for violating taboos.

Pitiful woman!

Foolish woman!

To love a god, was your first mistake!

Oh, but the woman awaited the god unto her last breath.

She waited at the place they met … ‘til she turned into a flower.

After a long time, the god finally came to realize,

She was the only one that he ever loved.

He cried in pain, his heart ached in grief …

His tears of penitence bathed the flower she’d become.

His endless tears turned into a river … a lake … and a sea …

And yet the tears rained from his eyes …

The Goddess of Love felt pity looking at the scene,

And, in the end, she gave the god another chance—

‘Stop being sad, my son! I shall give you a chance. I’ll split your heart in half.

I will send one half to the human world, and on the day you find that half…

Shall be the moment you will love again.’ ♫

“The God of Judith” was an age-old love song that had been sung from generation to generation. The ballad passed from the grandma’s lips to the little girl’s, from her to another, and another … etching a place in time. But this was no tale of admiration and envy, for all whose ears it reached agreed that the God of Judith was foolish.

♛

Standing by the banks, a woman hazed at the River Judith before her …  where the god may have stood thousands of years ago, her hand resting on her heart, a suffocating feeling clutching at her.