Cult of The Moon (Completed)

Chapter 9

Eden held her torch high, moving lower and deeper into the cave system, deeper underground. When she had reached the lowest cave Eden dropped her torch at the entrance and dropped to her knees. She hung her head in shame, regretting the past few days. She had lost two of the people she cared most about within weeks. Eden lost count of the hours, time didn't pass in the caves. She only lifted her head when a blue light started to fill the cavern slowly at first but then growing stronger. Edens' face was ghostly in the strange blue light. She stood up, scared. Her hands were shaking, she clenched them to try to stop it.

"Hello darling." a voice spoke from behind her. Eden whipped his head and body around to the now obvious source of the blue light. She was... Well the only way he could describe her was a goddess. She was beautiful and looked almost exactly like Eden; but older, more powerful, ancient. She was entirely made of a deep blue light that illuminated the cavern.

"You know who I am, don't you." The voice asked. Eden nodded slowly.

"Hecate." Eden breathed. She knew better than to question why she was there, her mentor had never revealed her motives before and Eden doubted that fading would have changed anything. Hecate's stone face revealed nothing of her intentions, so Eden couldn't help but be curious. Eden breathed out loudly. Within a second Hecate was inches away from her face.

"I missed you..." Hecate whispered, moving closer and running her ghostly blue hands around Eden's face. Then she did the unthinkable, she leaned down and kissed Eden. Eden's mind erupted with incomprehensible emotions as she shoved Hecate away.

"No. You aren't her, the real Hecate never felt that way about me. I was. A pet to her, never an equal." Eden spat out with tears forming in her eyes.

"But you felt that way about her," Hecate said with a smirk. The light started to get stronger and when it faded back the spirit had taken its true form.

"Circe. I should have guessed" Eden hissed. Circe smiled then let out a small laugh.

"You, my dear, are pathetic. I always wondered why you were so obsessed with my mother; why you always seemed to be competing with me for her approval. Now it all seems so clear." Circe sighed and shook her head in disappointment.

"You were in love with Hecate." She whispered the venom in her tone hinting that she was out for blood. Circe tossed her tight black curls over her should and looked into Eden's eyes. Circe's nature didn't surprise her, when they had been training together Circe had always been cruel. Eden let a tear fall to her cheek before wiping it away.

"Why do you care Circe? Why are you even here?" Eden choked out.

"I don't, and to see you of course!" She perkily said as she batted her eyelashes. Eden rolled her eyes and coughed.

"Give me the real reason," Eden demanded.

"Connor," Circe said simply as of that answer her question completely.

"What about him?" Eden asked.

"Do you love him?" Circe asked in response.

"No," Eden whispered as she cold harsh truth began to set in.

"I only wanted Aaliyah to be happy," Eden said softly.

"Now you start to see the truth," Circe said with almost a twinge of regret in her voice.

"You could have had her. And yet you chose him for her, instead of you. You made a decision for her, one that she probably never wanted." Circe shook her head. Then the cavern started to fill with more spirits, their blue light joining with Circe's. The ghosts of those who were no longer in the compound.

"They all died so that you could carry on my mother's work and complete the mission," Circe said.

"Don't let our deaths be in vain." They spoke with in unison. Eden fell to her knees, the pain as her flesh ripped open with the impact. The only sign that she was still alive and human.

"I can't. I'm just not strong enough." she cried out.

"Then you have failed us, you must sacrifice yourself so another may take your place." The spirits called. They began chanting, draining all the life from Eden, rendering her in immense pain and unable to move.

"I'm not smart or talented enough..." she whispered again, the tears falling faster as she made no attempt to wipe them away. She looked around her, she could name every spirit there, all of them. Not a day went by that she didn't regret that they had passed. They were all waiting for her to complete the goal that they had given their life for. But she couldn't. She wasn't Hecate, and she could never be. She couldn't discover the secret of life. What Hecate had done to immortalize her. Eden wasn't a goddess, just an eternal sorceresses. Maybe Aaliyah could. Maybe she could discover the secrets that Eden could not. Aaliyah. If I could have found it, I would have. For you. For us. We could have been happy, so you could have been happy. Us. Together. If that's what you wanted I would have done it. I would have given anything to make you happy.

But she was not content with this being her last moments on the earth. Was this the way the great and powerful Eden was to die? After millenniums alive was she to die without accomplishing the reason why she was granted immortality in the first place? With Aaliyah thinking that Eden hated her? With no clear successor picked? Without love? Aaliyah. In her last moments, will her seemingly infinite memories, all Eden could think about was the young upstart sorceresses. Why her?

Aaliyah. Eden called out with her mind, already knowing that she was too far underground for anyone to hear her.

I love you. Eden called with her voice and mind right before she toppled to the ground, her body regaining control of itself. The spell was almost finished, she was almost dead. Surprisingly it didn't scare her. Aaliyah I'm so sorry. Eden thought to herself.

Eden! The warm response came. Eden felt warmth blossom in her chest as her sight began to fade; Aaliyah had heard her.