The Darkest Sacrifice

Part Two

I keep the secret from Willow and everyone else. Escaping towards the divide when the sun is at its highest, Stygian and I speak till the star burns out. He keeps to his side and I promise to stay on mine, hidden between the hedges. Back at the bungalow, I hide the black necklace beneath a floral one, and every night the visions get stronger and my destiny clearer.

The sun remains hidden this morning, blocked by the canopy of grey clouds. Rain falls without mercy, flooding the grounds and tunnels. All faeries are warned to stay inside, but I want to see Stygian. My parents forbid me to leave, so I slam the door and gripe in my room. My anger grows and the necklace gets heavier. The weight is beginning to bother me as it scratches and cuts against my skin. When I try to pull it off with all my strength, a sharp edge cuts my finger. At the first sight of blood, my vision blurs and once again I fall to the floor.

Hissing. The sound rattles between my ears as I drown in black fog. A voice calls out to me but it is not Stygian. Lycoris...it is time.

"Time for what?" I whisper faintly.

To make the sacrifice... don't you want to be with your one true love?

"Yes. I cannot bear being apart from him."

Then you will never be apart...if you do this one thing.

"Who are you? How do I know you are telling me the truth, that we will be together?"

I am Darkness... my vision is greater than your own. I have seen the end before the beginning. I have seen the dark universe yawning, where the black planets roll without aim; where they roll in their horror unheeded, without knowledge or lustre or name. You are the key. Behold the final sacrifice. Be brave chosen one, if you truly wish to be with him forever.

Once the smoke fades I crash to the floor, unaware of my levitation. The scariest thing about secrets is when they consume you and bury you alive deep within your own mind. I feel my light weakening and I don't know how much good is left in me.

I reach into my pouch and pull out a palm size stone. Searching through my father's tool box, I find what's needed to sharpen the edge into a spear. When everyone is fast asleep, I make a quiet escape to Willow's tree and creep in through her window.

"Willow, hurry, I found something!" I whisper with urgency.

"Lycoris? It's late..."

"Hurry! You have to see this!" I shake her out of bed and she fumbles around, then follows me as I move swiftly above the wet grass.

"Wait up!" She cries.

It's so dark we can barely see a thing. Even the moon goddess has disappeared tonight. Yet somehow, somewhere inside me knows exactly what's about to take place. The necklace cuts deeper the closer we get to our destination, my light no longer dwells inside. Flying up to an empty nest, far from any faerie in sight, we sit and catch our breaths.

"What is this? Where is this great thing you had to show me?"

"Shhh! Quiet or it won't come out!" I warn her.

While she gazes up, searching for an object that doesn't exist, I open my pouch and remove the sharp weapon. The target is clear as I grip tight and stab Willow's neck, gliding it across in rapid motion. Blood streams down her body and drips through the twigs of the abandoned nest. Her figure shrinks the higher I fly, and with the first taste of murder, the light from the land blows out like a candle.

From the distance which I stand everything appears minuscule. Trees appear as plants and my home a spec of dust. Our sky connects with the grey twilight of the death lands and in moments, the darkness spreads killing everything in it's path. In a blink of an eye, all is black sand and desert. Any signs of life have withered away to ashes and rocks.

I twirl around in my midnight dress and onyx diadem, admiring the kingdom I've inherited with my love. What have you done? There he is in his true form, a man with black feathered wings. Skipping over to him, I spin around and hope I'm every bit as pleasing to his sight.

"I did what I had to do for us. See, our lands are one. Darkness and light can coexist."

"No! I spoke against this and you did not listen!" He laments with his head low.

"Won't you look at me? I'm human now, we can be together!"

"Who has poisoned your mind?"

"But-but I love you."

"And I loved you... from afar. I accepted that, because I knew we were never meant to be together. I loved your pure heart."

"Loved?"

"Lycoris, you've committed the darkest sacrifice by spilling innocent blood over the only land the sun had not yet abandoned. Now the balance is broken!"

"Now we don't have to wait anymore, we can be together!"

"Are you blind? Everything is destroyed! Now we wait to die!"