The unlikely union of light and darkness.
"My soul is ruined; made of dead stars, and darkness. And yet, you managed to find light in my hollow heart. Beauty in my unholiness. You mended the fissures of my being. And for that, I shall worship you fo...
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Note to readers: From this chapter on, everything will be raw, with little to no editing. I do this in the hopes of finishing the story as soon as possible, for it has been in the works for almost three years now. I hope you can look past the grammar mistakes and weird syntax and truly enjoy this for what it is. Do not worry, however, I am aware that a good book must have almost no errors, so as soon as this is published, I will go back and spend all my energy and time on perfecting this.
Furthermore, this will be the last chapter I post before The Stars that Bind Us is published completely.
Until then!
☽
Fear was deeply embedded into every fiber of her being. Her ligaments and tendons were entwined with the purest form of it as the ephialtes plunged her mind and soul into complete darkness.
This darkness- as Lilith came to realize after months of much endurance- was always the beginning. It was the premonition before tragedy; the cold, sinking feeling that something was coming for her. Something terrible, something terrifying; a creature formed and fueled by the darkness. Imperceptible, yet undeniably there, for its presence loomed everywhere. Lilith felt its heartbeat in every pulse of the darkness, and breath in every caress of the stale atmosphere. The intensity of its presence oppressed her senses and stifled her reason, leaving her vulnerable against the darkness...against the monster that resided within.
Teeth violently sank into her scalp, stripping the skin away and exposing the scarlet mass of her brain. The monster razed Lilith's mind; damaging her, destroying her - slowly and gradually- until her most intimate memory spurted from her skull like blood. And thus, like a thread unraveled, the memory she had kept buried in the deepest recesses of her mind expelled into the darkness.
Stark and utterly irresistible, the monster latched onto her fear, lapsed its tongue on her distant sweat and tears. Each lick and bite brought a certain rawness, a certain acturness that turned the distant and the ghostly, real. The fear she had felt that May night echoed back to her. Fear so pure and unadulterated, it was the very essence that made up the monster's being.
As such, every night the monster emerged and extracted her darkest memory. It was entirely raptured by the screams, the tears, and the stench of death that came with it; entirely raptured by her fear. In essence, the darkness had clung to her, had consumed her, and ultimately, had become part of her. Lilith was forced to accept a reality in which the nightmare, the darkness, would always be with her.
But this night, there was a shift in darkness. It felt darker. Malevolent.
The change startled Lilith awake. The witch shot up, her eyes frantically looking, searching; her hands touching, feeling for everything- anything- that assured her she was alive. As her hands drifted from her skull to her chest, the adrenaline in her nerves began to wane. Yet, the fear persisted and lingered and haunted- regardless of the steady rhythm under her fingertips.
