Darksiders: Light In Darkness (Fourth Book)

Chapter 14: M is for Mordacity

The day was out and the sun glistened a pure eggshell white in the shape of a smooth circle. The grey clouds slowly moved across the dark blue night sky, covering the stars that danced and glittered across the dark plains. All of Heaven retired to their chambers...
Except one...
    The Archangel of Harmony lifted her ocean blue eyes from the city laid out before her and up at the skies in longing. It was...beautiful tonight...the gentle cool air kissed her cheeks lovingly like a mother to her child. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, inclining her head up at the vast sky. She felt so confined, but free at the same time. As if agreeing with her, a small faint kick from her medium sized bump made her eyes flash open.
"Oh, you're up." She cooed, looking down at her unborn child.
    The small child kicked again, this time more softly. Muriel smiled weakly and caressed her belly with a slender gloved hand. It was tradition for pregnant angels to never touch their unborn with their hands before they left their wombs. Most angels never made it past delivery, like stars their shimmer died and lived no more. Many thought that if you never touched your unborn with your hands, they would never know you, so if you died...
It wouldn't hurt them....
     Muriel softly chuckled at her kind's innocent incompetence and slowly took her hand from her glove. She smiled and rubbed the small area where her child was kicking. When the soft kicking stopped and a shape the size of a small hand slid towards her hand, Muriel made a shocked sound and instantly loved her child even more, if that was even possible.
"Sister." She heard a familiar voice call from above.
Muriel looked up and a small smirk brightened up her blue eyes when the other archangel, the archangel of War.
"Brother." She answered with a soft voice, watching as Abbadon landed with a soft thud on the stone balcony.
Muriel smiled and held her hand out towards her brother, gently brushing her fingertips against his arm.
"What brings you here?" She asked, raising a blonde eyebrow.
"I just wanted to see how you were doing. It's been 8 months and I just wanted to-" Abbadon started, rubbing his arm.
"You're too caring, my brother." Muriel giggled and patted her belly gingerly.
"Your niece is okay, don't worry," she sang.
"How do you know it's not a nephew?" Abbadon asked, tilting his head to the side.
   Muriel chortled and shrugged her small shoulders, blue eyes glittering back over to her youngest brother.
"I can feel it, it'll be a lovely little girl."
"Well feel for a strong boy." Abbadon fluffed up his wing feathers and crossed his arms stubbornly.
"My oh my, dearest brother, I do not believe that is how it goes." She smiled widely, showing off her gleaming white teeth.
   Abbadon's almost always apparent frown softened at the edges and e reached forward to touch his sister's swollen belly.
"Is Zacrieal proud, or shall I-"
"That's a really intriguing question." Muriel interrupted, turning around absentmindedly to face the darkened doorway.
"He hasn't...said anything to me for the past month."
"He is...ignoring you?" Abbadon raised an eyebrow inquisitively.
"Indeed. When I first told him, he seemed terribly excited." Muriel sighed, laying a hand on the middle of her tummy.
"...I actually have more questions for you. First one, why do you spend so much time with the abominations-"
"The Horsemen."
"Sure."
"They seemed okay to me." She shrugged, glancing at Abbadon from over her shoulder.
"Second. Where have you been going last year all those times? The Gatekeeper informed me that you left for hours at a time, sometimes even days. Why?"
"That's more than two questions."
"Sister. I'm only interested."
    Muriel went to say something, but promptly stopped and grasped the granite balcony. Abbadon took a rushed step towards her and put his arm around her slim waist.
"Sister-"
"I...I need the nurses...right now!" She said through her teeth, already feeling like hell was creeping in her womb.
It was...it felt literally like fire!
'That isn't supposed to happen?? Is it...?' She thought as she slowly sank to her knees.
Before the area around her swirled into darkness, Muriel opened her mouth and screamed into the now soundless night...
The first of many screams to come...
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The room, of course, was cold. Freezing even. But the air, the air was arid, it had been two days since she last had her eyes open. Muriel felt as if the walls slowly closed in on her as she struggled to breathe in and out. Was this it? Was this how she was going to die?
No.
Muriel bit her lip in determination and turned on her side, feeling as if her bones were made of fragile glass. Through her hazy vision, Muriel could see tiny hands reaching up for something. Slowly, another figure surfaced her vision;
Zacrieal.
    He was muttering under his breath and sweat poured from his forehead as he looked around the room. When his eyes tested on Muriel's, Zacrieal snatched the small screaming child from her cradle and shuffled from the room, making little noise.
"Zacrieal?" She mumbled, limping out of her bed.
    Stumbling, Muriel limped towards her beloved, following the sound of her annoyed, new born child.
"Zacrieal, Aloxsunamoon needs me." She whimpered, grabbing on to the sides of the hallways for support.
    Zacrieal turned his head back towards Muriel and smirked widely, brown eyes glittering with a odd energy.
"It'll all be over soon enough, dearest." He cooed, watching as his wife sank to the cold floor in an unconscious heap.
"Shut up!" He hissed at the baby, shaking the howling baby.
He turned on his heels and took off into the dark sky...
Unaware of the bright purple eyes that watched him as he went.
"Don't worry, master, I'll find him." Shadow whispered to Muriel, quickly disappearing into the shadow realm.
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Fury watched the slumbering Damiana soundlessly from across the room, yellow eyes closed to almost a slit in distant interest. Every word she uttered, the female horseman strained her ears to hear her. Damiana mentioned Strife in her dreams, but what alarmed her most was when she mentioned Muriel in her ramblings.
"Do you think she knows?" She mouthed to War, who passed by Damiana's door.
"Shut up!" War hissed, poking his head through the slightly ajar doorway.
"What?? Who can hear us??" Fury growled.
"Let's see, Death, STRIFE, the little runt, Dantè-"
"Okay, fine, but do you think she found out?" Fury rolled her eyes.
Grunting, War walked into the room towards Damiana's bed. Eyes widening, his sister grabbed him by his forearm and glared up at him.
"The hell are you doing?!"
"I'm going to ask. If she doesn't know, she won't understand what I mean, if she does..."
"If she does?? I think she does because why else would she attack us; attack Strife for that matter?"
"She saw what we were capable of and maybe Strife was the worst one in her mind."
"But that makes no sense, she would've made some type of threatening gesture to us. All she was doing was swatting us away as if we were impeding." Fury justified, pulling War back a few steps.
"Besides, if she hears we were the Council's spies on Muriel and Strife-"
"Muriel and Strife?" Came a sullen voice from the outside.
Fury and War both sighed and looked over the looming figure of Death, who seemed as if he were hiding in the shadows of the Hallway.
"What about them?" He asked.
"Nothing, brother, just reminiscing about the past." Fury answered cheekily.
Death stared at the two horsemen distant belief, sizing each one individually in suspicion. Finally, he blinked once and sighed deeply, coming to a simple conclusion.
"Fine, I don't really feel like calling you two out on your lies again. War, check on Ilyea and her progress with the sword. Fury, go outside, Damiana and I will be accompanying you momentarily."He said, turning to leave.
"Outside outside? Outside this room?"
"What do you think?"
"Well then." Fury huffed, stomping past Death.
War shrugged and turned to leave after Fury, stopping once next to Death.
"Don't make her any angrier than before, brother." He muttered to Death.
"Just. Go."
Letting out a curt sigh, Death watched as his two siblings stalked off, deeply thinking about what to say to the previously pissed off Damiana.
"Damiana, wake up."
   When she didn't answer, Death reached out and gently pinched her shoulder.
"What do you want?" She answered after a few moments of silence.
"I want you to get up and listen to me."
"And if I don't want to?"
"Then I'll keep asking for you to listen to me."
     Making a dramatic groan, Damiana sat up and glanced over at Death with unsure eyes.
"Can you explain to me why you attacked your own brother?"
"Can you people stop calling him my brother?! Jesus, he's my-UGH!" She sighed angrily, crossing her arms.
"What is Strife then?"Death asked, tilting his head as he thought about what Fury and War were speaking of earlier.
"Fine...nevermind." He said after Damiana refused to answer him.
"What else do you need?" She mumbled, hugging her knees.
"Well...You've been acting odd ever since we went to the Council. Are you oka-"
"I'm FINE." Damiana hissed, burying her head back in her pillow.
"You're obviously not fine, Dami-"
"Ugh! You people never believe whatever I say!" She growled, voice muffled by her sheets.
The eldest horseman sighed and sat next to Damiana, gently prodding her side.
"Stop!" She giggled, swatting his hand away.
"Since it's the only thing that makes you talk, no." Death laughed softly, smile apparent in his voice.
"Stop, please!" She begged, giggles turning to rapturous laughter.
"I will when you tell me what's wrong."
Forgetting everything for a few moments, Damiana's frown broke to a cheeky, toothy grin when she looked up at Death. Why couldn't Muriel love him, why couldn't she ignore Strife and go to Death? Why did it have to be Strife?
Why couldn't Death be her father?
"No stop, I'm not in the mood." Damiana pushed his hand away and edged away.
"I don't understand," he said.
Damiana could tell that his smile died when his voice faltered.
"Was what happened in the city the cause of your discomfort? Is it me?" He asked.
"No, of course not! It's just...me." Damiana said quickly.
"Oh, are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure..." Damiana nodded once, forcing a half hearted smile.
Death blinked and stared at Damiana for a few moments, trying to seek deception in her deep red eyes. When her gaze did not falter, Death sighed and with the roll of his shoulders, got up from Damiana's bed. Staring at her head, Death gingerly touched Damiana's hair and seemed to go deep into thought.
"I'm going to have to tell you something..."
"What is it, Death."
"You aren't going to fight Lucifer. I'm forbidding you."
Damiana looked up at Death and with wide eyes, sputtered many questions in one breath.
"Wh-Wh-WHAT?!!? YOU'RE WHAT?!"
"I've already lost you once to him-"
"I'M NOT YOURS TO LOSE!"
Death sighed and went to walk away, turning his back on the angry girl.
"Come back here!"
"I've made my decision. I am going to challenge Lucifer in your place."
Remembering what her mother showed her, Damiana snatched Death's hand in anger.
"No you not!!" Damiana yelled up at him,
"Yes, I am." Death shook Damiana off and went to walk off.
"Please Death, he'll kill you, please please, please!" She begged.
"Your 'pleases' are nothing. I refuse to allow you to get hurt again."
"Well I refuse to listen to you."
"You can't do that."
"And you can't just keep telling me what to do! I'm almost two centuries old! I deserve to be able to-"
"To what?! Die and fail again?? To never come back to us?? I think not!" Death bellowed, hushing Damiana up.
"But...I'm-"
"I know what you are; you are going to stay right here and not come out until I say otherwise!"
"No! I'm tired of you keeping me locked up in here!"
"You have no training whatsoever-"
"And WHO'S fault is that?? Hm lets see, who's the culprit? An over protective brother who thinks I'm virtually worthless in combat?"
Death only rolled his eyes and walked out the room.
"WOW, just WALK AWAY!!!" She screamed after him, running up to the doorway.
She glared at Death's disappearing figure and sighed angrily.
"You know," Damiana turned her head and glared at Strife, who lounged with his arms crossed beside her bedroom frame.
"If you want...I can train you to prove Death wrong." He smirked, examining the barrel of Redemption in interest.
"What?"
"I heard bits and pieces of what you and Death were talking about. And what Ilyea was saying to War. It'll take about 4 days, a week tops, to complete Genesis."
"So?"
"So...As much as I would love to see Death get pummeled, I know you won't. I don't fancy seeing you depressed." He mumbled, lightly chucking Damiana's chin.
"Although...seeing you dead isn't really on my agenda...so since I'm the best here," Strife smirked and tilted her head to look up at him.
"I've decided to train you, show Death you're better, and see you surpass Lucifer. Then get on with our lives."
"Well....since I have no choice...fine, teach me." She mumbled, sighing deeply.
"Great...but I'm going to need you to cut your hair."
"....what?"
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Running her hands through her now neck length hair, Damiana looked around the dark clearing for Strife. She followed his instructions to the T, meet him in the farthest clearing from the house, it's at a left from the "M" shaped symbol on a tree trunk, and that's it.
"Hm..."
"So you've made it." She heard Strife mutter.
Damiana took a sharp intake of air and looked up at the yellow eyes that glared down at her from the tallest tree branch.
"Oh! There you are!"
Landing soundlessly next to Damiana, Strife smirked widely behind his mask and ushered her to the middle of the clearing.
"Here." He pushed the hilt of a rapier sword into her hands.
"Show me your stance, now."
Nodding once, Damiana brought the sword up and tilted the blade downward to the ground.
"You think you can attack me? Try that again."
Blinking, Damiana tried again, spreading her feet a bit farther than before to balance herself better. Grunting in slight annoyance, Strife easily knocked the sword from Damiana's hands and tripped her. Pointing the sword at Damiana's forehead, Strife mumbled;
"Dead"
"That's not fair!"
"Life isn't fair and Lucifer sure as hell isn't gonna be fair to you. So stand up, and try again." Strife hissed, watching as Damiana stumbled up to her feet.
When Damiana glared at Strife, Strife's eyes turned to slits.
"This will take a while, won't it?"