"Open your book, Lilith."
"Read Page 6."
"'The Dutiful Firefly Guides with Light.'" Spoke a young girl, already bored out of her wits.
"That's right. You...are going to be a Firefly, and guide the future leader of our race to achieve greater things."
I already knew at a young age what utter nonsense that was.
My role in life was decided from birth...To be a mere stepping stone for some other fool's greatness.
"Lilith, why are you neglecting your studies?"
"If our leader is so great, then why do I need to put in any effort? I care more for my own needs." Spoke a young girl, the sole voice of reason in a world of insanity.
"It is not becoming of a Sage to be led astray by personal vices. You perform a very righteous duty. None are more fit for the task than thee." Spoke the fool, disguised as a 'mother'.
"You perform this 'great' task. Others before us have done the same. So why must I?" A young girl pounded against the walls for answers the world refused to give.
"Because you are a Sage," Spoke the fool, locked into an irreversible state of repetition, "You will come to understand the importance of your role in time. Observe, and let the world teach you."
"What does it say on Page 6?" The fool demanded, hiding her demands behind a soft, sultry voice.
"The Dutiful Firefly Guides with Light." The child uttered back, simply wishing to be done with this trite, circular conversation.
I knew I was right, and that all others were wrong. Yet the world continued to demand my silence, for my tongue slew the chains of obedience locked tight around my neck.
I wandered through the droll days casting shade at the adults dead set in their ways. My voice would be heard, but my age left me ignored.
Does but a few years make one wiser? Utter foolishness...My eyes were wide open, theirs merely half-shut, secluding themselves off from any questions that would disrupt the comfiness their positions of power brought.
I was alone in this world. My brother stood at my side, but he was but a stooge of our bloodline, proving loyal only because he was indoctrined to act as such.
My heart cried out for power to cast the chains off entirely, but fate had cursed me to keep being weak.
Per the nature of my role, I was born with little strength compared to my peers.
I only became aware of just how much of an anchor that was upon me when I was faced with the great sea of strength that sprung from HIM.
Borealis Aurora...
My soul curled and vomited with hate at the sight of him.
Blessed with favor from the adults, cherished by fate with strength and wisdom beyond compare.
But still, he used such great gifts to adhere to a broken status quo.
He was destined to be born great.
I was destined to be born in his shadow.
My anger swelled like the embers of a growing inferno. I had to sever these chains or I would never know peace of mind!
Shhhhhhnk...!
I tried to impale him while his eyes wandered amidst the starry sky. Furiously I drove my knife into his body countless times, but his flesh suffered nary a wound.
And all throughout, he did not curse my resolve...but pitied it, insulting me with a gaze of confusion even as the adults pulled me free from his body.
The idea that someone would despise their lot in life was incomprehensible to any of them.
"You should be happy being submissive to the will of another."
"You should be happy because someone else is happy."
They did not say this. But I was smarter than them all, translating the true meaning of their reprehension towards me.
But what did all this talent matter if it would just go to waste?
I tried to defy fate...but swimming against the sea of Borealis' power, I crashed against the stone that was his body and became humbled.
And yet, so too, did my fury boil inside me.
"Lilith, read Page 6 again for me." Spoke the fool attached to me by blood.
"...The Dutiful Firefly Guides with Light." I muttered with disdain.
"Light is warm and welcoming. To become Death, destroyer of lives, is not befitting of your role."
...What a useless waste of air, spouting empty platitudes to one who did not care.
Arguing with her was pointless. She was just a worthless bitch who spewed me out into this world, already bound in chains.
I dared not raised a hand against Borealis again.
And at some point, I had lost the sharpness of my voice.
The chains were suffocating me, applying more and more pressure so that I would submit to their wish.
Just the thought of imagining myself in a state of submission makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it.
I continued to be groomed in the ways of being a Sage of Light. By the eve of my 18th birthday and not a day later, I would be made to supplant that blabbering fool.
I would not submit.
How dare the world try to make me into something I was not.
I KNEW I could be great...greater than all of them. I just lacked the opportunity to ascend...
That began to change when I met Glade.
We resonated on the spot.
There was this...melody playing in his soul.
A call to chaos, to upheave the disgraceful society that chose to reject our individuality.
He was the first soul that I could share my voice with in quite some time.
He was a quiet soul, but I could tell that he was listening...That he knew I was right.
Oooooh, the bliss I felt at having company in this insane world was beyond compare.
We began to hold frequent meetings together while the adults pampered their cherished child, and others were born ready to be subjugated.
I could unleash all my frustrations at this corrupt world upon him and he would just go along.
My view point was agreeable! Yet so many were blind to it!
Having my opinions confirmed opened my eyes to what I was meant to be.
A guiding light, yes, but not for some pampered, destined child...But for the whole of the world that had lost it's ways.
Yes. Yes...
I am salvation, the guiding truth.
My light would shepherd the blind, and under my dominion would they be unified.
It was time to do away with a society where people were guided by predestined bloodlines.
I knew best. I have always been right.
It is my voice that deserves to tell the people what is best for them.
But I could not wipe the slate clean while it was dirty with parasites, clinging desperately to the old ways.
I would be patient. Pretending to wear their clothes and act in accordance with their rules, while using that very same pedigree to plot their demise.
As a Sage, we were destined to go our separate ways eventually and observe the other Tribes.
I had made some glances at the place I would be stationed. Caimanabal. A Titan named Luminesca.
It was a sanctuary for the lost little lambs from other Tribes who sought to escape the cycle of war.
I'd have objected to going there were it not for that fact...
But I would have regretted it for the rest of my days, had I known what I do now.
Wearing the guise of a loyal priestess, I made my way to the temple of the Titan and went about with introductions.
And once more, I was humbled upon the shore of insurmountable power...
Luminesca was infintismal to one such as I, resting upon a soft, pillowy perch, a body as elongated and divine as the starry night.
I was unable to fathom an end, as the beast stretched through a rift of the purest white light, and greeted me with a voice that rang like holy church bells.
"You are my new disciple? Ahhh..."
Their luminosity approached me like gravity, drawing my knees to the ground.
But my composure withstood the assault, as I greeted them in a soothing tone of my own, the one thing I was grateful to inherit from that foolish bitch.
"I am indeed."
The Titan rested on her scaly laurels and cast a curious gaze upon me that instantly filled my heart with utter contempt.
"Your heart, dear child. It shivers."
"Rage...contempt...A lost voice, crying out for chaos and discord."
I rose ever slightly and my facade began to break, "E-Excuse me?"
The beast crossed their claws and rested upon them, telling me in a thinly veiled attempt to nurture me like I was some pathetic child...
"Fate has brought you here before me with reason. I will help you, to repay what thy ancestors have done for me countless times before."
Fate. Fate. FATE. The blathering fools, to be drunk on that word...!
It's so easy to preach about such concepts when you've received all the boons of it!
Borealis Aurora...Luminesca. Seated high upon their thrones, casting their shadows over me.
The Arbiters of Fate...of corruption's grand design.
But I was never going to be pigeonholed into their status quo. Never. EVER.
My existence defied everything they built becaise it was corrupt, and I was righteousness!
I would RISE, higher than any throne...!
To ascend from the shadows as SALVATION...As a GODDESS...!
But how...?
I came to find the answer when browsing my study material.
The Wellsprings...the source of every Titan's power.
If I could just TAKE IT for myself...
No, why stop at one? I deserved them all!
A Goddess has no need for an equal. I had to leave nothing to chance, lest the corruption of the world close back in on me, and attempt to bind me in it's chains.
The later years of adolescent closed out on me, and the dreaded day of my subjugation into Sagehood drew ever closer.
Nimus joined our ranks around that time, his soul having already known victory in rebellion against a tired system of oppression.
It was easy to guide his motivation towards helping our cause.
If we were to eliminate those foolish enforcers of corruption, it would have to be all at once.
The perfect opportunity had aligned itself for us.
The day I had come to curse became the day of my rebirth.
Yes, when Borealis was to be coronated as the new head Sage, and I his "guiding light", all the Sages would be gathered into one room and drink from their gauntlets.
Their senses were so unrefined, their egos massaged with the fingertips of pride, it would be far too easy for Glade to introduce a toxin into their brews.
But I was no fool.
I had to secure at least one Wellspring for my power on the off-chance that one of the Sages catch wise to my plans.
And Luminesca was the obvious choice.
Judgment would come.
And in it's everlasting twilight I would take reign over the lost and confused.
I was RIGHT. And now, I would prove it.
Glade concocted two different toxins. A liquid one with a scent indistinguishable from ripe wine, and a powdered one that could be rubbed on the olive leaves around Luminesca's cushioned throne.
Glade surprised me with his initiative. While I put an end to Luminesca, he and my brother would target the Titan of Tanglefae and steal it's Wellspring, Luminesca's death being just the distraction we needed to achieve this goal.
Nimus chose to stay behind in the palace to confirm that the Sage's deaths would be final.
...And I was drawn to that same desire.
Luminesca was a higher peak to topple, but Borealis' existence had always been the most damning to my life.
So I obeyed this simple whim, watching from the unseen shadows as the Sages gathered and raised their gauntlets to drink the moist taste of death.
The effects were instant upon entering their mouth.
Gone were their infantile lectures and empty platitudes.
I watched them writhe and scream, spewing the corruption out of their systems within their blood.
I felt alive.
And for once, in complete control.
The room soon filled with spilled blood as they all rolled around top each other, floundering for air and the gasp of life.
That foolish bitch was struggling the longest, clawing at the floor and tearing her fingernails off.
I appeared from out of the shadows, the most wide and sensual smile crossing my face.
She lay at my feet, forced to look up upon ME.
No words from her, just the slow, haunting realization that she had lived a life of redundancy.
I leaned in closer, my cheeks rosy and my gaze lucid, and tore a page from a certain book, crumbling it up and force-feeding it into her mouth.
Then I whispered into her ear, "What does it say on Page 6?"
Her pupils shrank, her body trembling.
As her suffocation took out her heart, I felt my own quivering with untapped joy.
"The Dutiful Firefly Guides with Light..." Would be the words that would echo through her as she passed, "Don't worry, foolish 'mother'...I will guide all to salvation."
Unfortunately, there was a snag.
Borealis survived. Once more, the biases of fate swung in his favor.
But he was too busy mourning to notice my involvement, and thus, it was a simple task to feign my own sadness.
I had bigger things to take care of.
Higher heights to reach...
I returned to Caimanabal to see if my trap had snared the snake.
And upon reaching the palace, I was graced with a positively sublime sight.
The mighty, holy serpent, once bathed in gold and white, was left coiled on it's throne, shivering as deep purple spread between it's scales.
"M-My disciple...!" The creature begged, "Come hither...my body...has been afflicted with a horrible...poison...!"
"I know." I whispered, wanting to absorb the beast's response as I strolled closer to it.
Once towering and omnipotent, the beast now lay feeble before me.
My body was experiencing an incredible rush of emotion on top of the earlier high.
In just a mere few hours, I had removed many longstanding obstacles in my path, and now could seize my righteous purpose in my bare hands.
The beast could do nothing but tremble and gaze upon me with white, ghastly eyes as it's feathered blinds wilted away.
"You...why...?" The creature begged to know.
"Why?" My soul cried out in delight, my eyes moist and illuminated by intoxicating pleasure, "Because you tried to control my destiny."
"C-Control...?" The beast whimpered, and as it continued to breath it's last gasps it continued to speak to me in it's soft, lecturous tone, "I...I had merely wished to SAVE you...but I see now...the truth..."
"You are inhuman. Rotten to the core. There is NO salvation...for you...You will walk your path of chaos and destruction...into your own oblivion...! Khhh...!"
The beast choked into silence, a silence I inflicted upon it with my own hands.
I stood before it, and my gaze lay higher.
The beast started breathing heavily, able only to cross me with utmost scorn.
My smile continued to grow.
I alone stood on this plateau of pleasure.
I was finally free.
I was finally in control.
All my assertions were confirmed.
I could do...whatever I want.
"A-Aaah...!" My body quaked with a moan, and I reached down with two fingers as I fell upon my knees.
This impure beast would spend it's final moments being cleansed in holy water.
"Mmm...! MMM...!" I was so happy I was crying.
My heart punched my chest so hard I felt I was dying.
These heavy, labored breaths...were the proof that I was righteous.
"I..."
"I...!"
"I AM A GODDESS...!" Came my purest release of ecstasy, echoing throughout the palace walls.
From there I subjugated the beast's Wellspring into a tome I had created, and immediately used it's power to make my appearance more divine...
I waltzed out the front doors, basking in a rosy afterglow, as thousands look up upon me for guidance.
"I have been reborn...!" I shouted to the high, golden heavens, "Your Titan has annointed me to guide you all to salvation! Rejoice, oh children of mine! For my way is virtue divine, the righteousness upon which a better world shall be founded!"
And they cheered at the chance to be shepherded.
I was living the dream.
The greatest high that anyone could ever ask for...
But eventually I had to return to the ground and force myself back into the role of "Sage".
Glade and my brother only claimed part of the Wellspring due to Luminesca's demise in combination with Ophelia's rampage spooking the Titan into being aware.
And Borealis was still alive.
Minor roadblocks, ultimately, that I could still use to my advantage.
Borealis turned out to be a paranoid man behind all that great wisdom, and he would set his sights on spreading the teachings of the past throughout the other Tribes.
Thus it was easy to use this to guide him into collecting the Wellsprings for me.
And as for the younger generation, left behind?
They were free from outdated teachings. I could groom them into something better.
I had nothing to worry about, after all.
A god fell at my feet.
There was nothing I feared anymore…
Alone in the long abandoned palace of the fell Titan, Lilith sat, hunched over and left mulling over the road she walked to get here.
Her face was scrunched up with irritation and old, gray strands of hair hung over her eyes.
Her body began trembling with her hands resting atop her downward pointed blade.
In this dead silence, Atrax wandered out into view, gesturing with a courteous bow, "How does this day find you, Lilith?"
"How many years…" She mumbled.
"Hmm?" Hummed the spider.
Lilith raised her head and punctuated ever worried with greater frustration, "How. Many. Years…since I began my crusade?"
"...42," She dropped plainly, making for an unnerving atmosphere, "And how many Wellsprings are in my possession?"
She twisted her head at her brother with an unhinged grin, "One. Still…just…one."
She stabilized herself upright and began marching towards him, "I have been patient…I have been careful. All potential threats were dealt with or bent to my will and YET…My hands are empty."
She then her sword at his chest and glared, her tone sharp and demented, "Explain…How could I have possibly erred in my goals…"
Atrax brushed his hand out and chuckled, "You already know the answer. My input is…redundant."
"And yet, here you are, loitering around instead of finding a solution."
Atrax reached out alongside the length of her sword and remarked, "Perhaps this is merely fate at play again."
"Fate…?!" She shrieked through gritted teeth, "So what if it is?! Have I not brought a god to their knees in defiance of fate?! Is it's pampered child not been made docile and feeble by my acts?!"
"Higher, higher and higher still have I rose to push back against the chains of fate! One. Mere. Savage…should be of little consequence!"
"And yet…" She grabbed the side of her face and her smile cracked as she shivered, "He and his lot continue to deny me! My righteousness…!"
Her voice became a quivering whisper of insanity, "I…am salvation…!"
She then lashed her arm out with a roar, "NOT HIM!"
The sword fell from her hand and she spread them both before her face, "One after another I'm being defied…! They all refuse my guidance…! I need to get rid of him…the false saint…!"
Atrax remarked, "You fear what he has become, don't you?"
Her grip tightened, her eyes inflamed with disdain, "No…"
"I…will NEVER cower before anyone who skirts through life, suckling off the teat of fate!"
"I earned this power by myself…! I DID! And if none of you can do the job right…then I will simply take his BY. MYSELF."
Atrax wondered, "And how do you plan to accomplish that?"
Lilith's smile twisted in confidence, "All messiahs still fear the Devil."
She marched a one way road out of the palace, her mind vacating any pretenses of giving a shit about consequences, "It's time He awakened…Nothing is beyond my control."
Atrax remained motionless with a mildly disconcerted mumble, "Your greatest test awaits…Sarajin. After tomorrow…a piece shall be removed from play."
He sunk into the shadows, waiting with bated breath…
Chapter -17: I Am Radiant
Next Time: Howl of the Rotten