The Darkest Sacrifice

Part Three

In the beginning...the earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters.

Now I see the end and it is the same. How could I have known a tiny pawn like myself would play such a vital role in the balance of light and darkness? I am like a grain of sand buried in the desert compared to my insignificance in the universe, and yet all this destruction is my doing. Selfish desire steered me away from the light, stole my last breath and left me loveless. Left me with nothing.

If I had more time, I would have run to him and held tight before the fade. Stygian said we would die but I didn't know it would happen so soon. I remember walking up to him, claiming my prize and need for contact. Searching for warmth from his cheek, my hands felt nothing but cold skin. Even the glow from my own had diminished, my nails reflecting a pale blue. I barely got to touch his lips as I leaned in to take the one thing I wanted more than anything.

My mouth crashed against brittle wood, splinters lasting longer than he did. Stygian was an extension of the decaying land, and before I could whisper his name, he dispersed in the air. I stood alone for what felt like a thousand moon cycles until the taste of ash consumed my mouth. Caught in the wind, I became dust with the rest of the souls I damned with my greed.

I hover wingless and without shape, I am but a floating thought. Watching the planet devour itself and regurgitate powder, this is my curse to witness. Black planets align, pulling towards the bottomless pit, waiting to be swallowed one by one. Every breathing thing is gone, erased from existence. Not even a memory lives.

What's left of a dying star floats around like broken jewels and embers. Time is a lost concept now. An invisible current starts to pull me with great speed. Space rocks and wandering stars all aim towards that insatiable mouth. The motion doesn't stop, making it impossible to tell where beginning meets the end.

I believe this is the tunnel of transition, where I vanish for good. Stuck in a black cylinder of constant travel, I know at any moment I'll reach the destination. A light emerges from nothing and grows bigger while I have yet to slow down. It is only ivory smoke with images of worlds in orbit. At first I think it's mirroring the present, but as they rotate, they change colors.

The vision expands, now close enough to touch. I see home before the kiss of destruction. Willow and my parents fade in and out, then the darkest night plays in vivid details. The land turns from green to grey and evaporates to pitch black. The images start over, black spheres become light then perish. Willow stares me in the eyes and leaves with blood on my hands.

Though I have no form, I feel pain as though the memory of my limbs are being torn from my body. More images appear, more faces. Different homes and buildings. Mountains and seas. People. Animals. Eyes of every shade. The confusion is agonizing. Voices are calling out names, but none I recognize. I wish it would end.

I'm drowning in infinite deaths. A sword. A dagger. Flames. A push off the ledge. A deep bite. Poison. Drugs. Birth. Guns. Pollution. A car crash. Needles. Glass. Water. Suffocation. Heart stroke. Disease. Sleep and so on. I don't understand this loophole. Death to light, light to death. Over and over without rest. I wish I would end.

I am trapped, facing the eternal punishment of reliving the wrong I've done. Brightness can't exist in this vacuum.  This black hole is my hell now. There's no rebirth, no life, only gloom. It's one or the other, for darkness and light can never coexist. Isn't that what I've been told.

Awake.

You've served your purpose as Lycoris, culminating our work here. Daughter of darkness, your faithfulness in abolishing planet after planet has honored me greatly. It is time to move on to the next. This universe has more galaxies to conquer and greater evils to unleash.