Amaurosis

XVIII: Story Time

Thousands of images flashed before my eyes, blotches of vivid color and heart-wrenching emotions clinging to the underbelly of the surface. Stolen memories threatened to rise, memories I hadn't thought of in years, decades even.

I tried to wake myself up, urging my eyes to open before I was once again drowned in my forbidden past. But this time, it played like a movie before me, and I was strapped in for a wild ride.

A tall muscular man, lean and sculpted, with wings so black they glimmered violet and skin so pale he appeared drained of all blood. Conflicted gray eyes hid behind long black wires of hair as he approached a woman sitting on a throne.

She emanated darkness. Incredibly long pitch-black hair clung to her sides and hugged her thin figure. In a way, her body resembled a tree. Dark, soulless eyes filled her sockets, and her irises glowed white. She had no pigment; her skin was a shadow in itself, morphing and changing shape with every movement she made. She was a blurred cloud of blackness. She was the epitome of the dark.

She was night.

"Mother, the child," Thanatos whispered, kneeling with his head down in shame. He gulped and steadied his breath. "Skótos disappeared last night. I don't know where she went she just vanished-"

"Gone?" another voice echoed through the obsidian palace.

Skin so white it glowed light blue matched his snow-white silk hair. Dark circles etched his eyes, and white horns dipped in inky blackness accented the rest of him. Chains clung to his bare bone shoulders.

"You let her get away!" Steam seemingly spilled from his ears, and rage consumed him. He stomped over to our mother, "I will stop at nothing to find her. She will be mine the second she turns seventeen."

"Morpheus, please," our mother spoke, her voice serene yet full of spite. "We will find her. The human world is small. She will come up eventually."

Suddenly, the scene changed to show four titans sitting in thrones in a loose oval.

On one end was, no doubt, Tartarus. Magma spewed from his pores, and molten rock made up his massive body. Black feathered shoulder pads covered his collar and chest, and a blood red skirt hung from his melting hips, spiked feathers dragging against the stone flooring as it swayed.

Beside him was his sister, Nyx, and the woman from the last scene. On the other side, was Erebus, the second half and mate of Nyx, goddess of the night.

He was as dark as she was with bright red beady eyes drilled into his shadowed skull and a spiked crown like steep mountains topped his jet black locks. A dusty aura of shadows surrounded him, marking him the god of darkness.

Before the three siblings was their father, Chaos. Electric pink hair sprawled around his head, floating and swirling in the atmosphere. A grand magenta and gold corset strangled his midriff, and gold and white feathered shoulder pads adorned his collar. Gold cuffs were chained to his wrists, and an ultraviolet crown much like Erebus' rested upon his skull, radiating power.

He was the father of the titans. With him, everything began.

"My children," his powerful voice boomed in the large amphitheater. "It is time we take back what is rightfully ours. What was stolen from us! I summon all and your offspring to assist in our revolution. We must reclaim our thrones upon the earth and rise from the shadows within which our descendants cast us and locked us away!"

Again, the scene switched to show Morpheus and Erebus discussing. "My son, that child will soon be yours. I last heard she was sailing with those wretched demigods to Crete. It is there that you will find her. Seize her, claim her as yours forever."