anhedonia

" 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧, 𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮, 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙥 𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙨 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧- 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚, 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙡 𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙮 𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙙𝙤 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧. "

I remember a tale Mother had told me before she had grown uncaring.

"Gods are more like mischievous spirits than sentinel, grand beings. They don't rule, but they play."
"Ma, isn't magic fake?"
"Listen, Kinsley.
Once upon a time, there were beings of terror- what we now call goddesses and gods, but they aren't as human as we believe them to be. They're manisfestions made from humankind greed, lust, fear, spirits bourne of jealousy and hate and love. The strongest of all of them was fear, Kins. Fear changes things, even over hope. His name, was Fade. Legend has it that humankind eventually imprisoned them all in Death, and this is why people fear dying. These spirits still lurk down there, they say, and once they think you're worth toying with, there's no getting out. If you're lucky, maybe you'll die peacefully without meeting any of them; but if you're not.."
"Ma, that sounds just like some old horror story."
"Oh? Well, I think you should sleep- maybe you'll meet some of them yourself."