We have to create.
It is the only thing louder than destruction
—Andrea Gibson
The light erected up towards the sky as a beacon of light for all to see.
Death screeched.
They screeched an inhuman agonizing sound that made the ground tremor. It threw its head back and Death's skeletal white bone-like limbs twisted and angled in all directions.
The light faded from the Goddess' eyes. She gasped for air as an unseen pressure pushed her down to the white marble floor. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her hand—the complexion was an unnatural blue color. She took a sharp intake of breath and saw that the blue was thrumming with power.
But, what power?
"W-what—?" She flinched as the twisted skeletal monster let out a guttural snarl, its crimson eyes disguised as beams stared straight into her soul.
Death's skeletal limbs snapped back into place—twisting and cracking. The reincarnated Goddess let out a breath of relief as the tension that was pushing down on her was gone. Her Divine Form faded, wisping like smoke as it was swept away by the wind like flower petals.
"Eht erut uf sa hneeb tes nien ots," The garble of nonsense made her face scrunch up in confusion. She didn't understand the jumbled mess it had crooned, but it made her insides twist.
The earth trembled beneath her. The flowers began to wilt, and the lily pond glowed vibrantly. The thunder in the background seemed to grow louder as lightning struck a flower bed near her.
Suddenly, Death was right in front of her, close to her face. Her eyes widen as she stared into the crimson red dots that were the eyes piercing her very being.
A large gust of wind penetrated her senses. She yelped as she was violently yanked far away from the entity. A gigantic purple dragon hovered above the Domain. The soft blue complexion took over once more.
Death cocked its head, tilting at the sight, "Ereht sin o erom gninn ur." The once fully bloomed lilies wilted as the Goddess' eyes dilated. The dragon roared, whose tattered wings whipped ferociously.
Death ignored the outraged dragon, but it understood it perfectly.
(... "Outworldly One! You dare enter this world without the approval of the Gods of this plane!"
"...And you taint one of my creations?" Death wanted to laugh at the youngest brother's words.
Humanity, or this beloved Goddess? Which was worth more?
In godly terms, mortals were seen as a disgrace.
The emotions coming off of the middle youngest sibling made Death excited.
Anger. Arrogance. Genocide. Destruction.
Death hummed ...)
Death goes back to its usual place, floating above the Sister. She was still, stiff as a twig. Her silver eyes dimmed, the deep violet shine reflecting her brother's divine power. A sound escaped her utterly devoid face, her eyes prepared to brighten a pillar of light once again.
"Out!"
Death's ghostly figure bled into the ground in retreat. Not in cowardice, but in favor of not having an unpleasant confrontation with unique individuals. Individuals who live amongst their own creations.
A foolish mistake.
She's whisked away to a dead man's land
The revelations of some truths are revealed, but make no sense at all
From above her rocky perch, her eyes wandered ever so slightly to the armored creatures that seemed to be in all terrifying shapes and sizes. A red and purple sky hung above the jagged terrain. Dark and gloomy, crumbling and frayed. It made her eyes itch.
"Sister,"
She let out a silent huff of breath and intertwined her hands together, looking up to meet the form that was looming over her. Slowly, her eyes blinked.
After Death had retreated, the next thing she knew was the heavy breathing of something behind her. Her mind went blank once she had fully turned around. The sight of a giant purple dragon with its humongous jaw opened up suddenly.
Holy shit
Her somewhat enhanced ears picked up the noise of yelling and the loud marching of feet. The cogs in her mind restricted any thought process of what was happening. Her silver eyes wandered to the bony purple fingers of the dragon as it plucked her off the ground.
Holy fucking shit.
She was left to her own devices once she was literally dropped off on the rocky dark marble with eerily glowing crystals and it was definitely fine.
Now going back to her previous thought, she made no move to jump off the eerily beautiful rock she sat on. The sense of familiarity radiated off of the looming figure in front of her as if the aura was telling her there was no harm.
No harm in transforming into a dragon and possibly devouring her if she made a wrong move
"Discontentment and turmoil. Your uncontrollable emotions are causing outside of your Domain despite being here."
"I don't understand." said the silver-eyed Goddess. Her eyes narrowed to slits and dilated. Any emotions on the Dark Brother's utterly devoid facial expression was undecipherable but the faint lift above of where his eyes were supposed to, did.
She bit her cheek, mentally smacking herself for making such a stupid mistake. She berated herself for a few moments, the looming man who claimed to be her brother was silent.
(... She didn't even want to think about the brother and sister part …)
Instead, she hopped off her beautiful dark perch. She kept her head down, eyes on the ground and walked off to who knows where. Her body bumped into something hard making her fall on her butt. Her mouth opened to reply with an instinctively given apology but it died quickly on her lips.
A loud squeak of terror escaped from her lips as crimson red eyes stared down at her. The beast had a bone like armor covering half of its body, especially its skull. It distinctly resembled a giant black furred wolf with a few bony features.
(... Inside her mind, she was contemplating on why such a specimen seem so… familiar. …)
"N—nice doggy…" The wolf monster suddenly jerked its head and lifted its snout towards her, sniffing her face. She couldn't help the slight twitch of disgust as wet drool landed on her cheeks and bled through her silk gown.
It opened its mouth—Are you going to eat my face?—to howl unexpectedly. Its howls resonated within the area as other howls alerted their presence. The beast then stopped, tilting its head, and puppy whined.
Disbelief was seen on her face when it ran off, returning to wherever it came from.
"There is many more of them around here." The unsaid offer was in there but she made no indication of answering to it. She got up with no difficulties, confused about what had just happened.
This time, she didn't reply. Keeping her mouth shut on whatever stupid thing that may anger this being that called her 'sister'.
Turning into a dragon is not normal
Then again, her skin can bleed into a clear blue coloring and that itself isn't normal either.
"Why?" She shut her eyes. The cycle of waking up constantly is suddenly over, but now a literal stranger comes into this second life of mine proclaims to be my brother and can turn into a dragon! Death once again turns my life down a second time, and the incredulous powers I suddenly have are out of this world, and it feels like it's normal life but it really isn't.
Her inner turmoil didn't speak out, so she instead changed the subject.
"What did you mean by 'uncontrollable emotions'?"
As if like jelly, the dark brother's body twisted in all angles and crawled towards her. She shuddered at the display. He regained his original stature and folded his hands behind him as if nothing had happened. "Despite being created a decade ago, there is nothing surprising on how difficult you control your emotions. You hadn't the time to take command of it, causing death and annihilation amongst mortals; as they had taken advantage of such a thing."
He then added, softly, "My creatures of darkness know of the power we both share. Its pack was concerned so it was called back." At this rate this made her mind whirl into whatever state of conscience that made her consciously pinch herself. She wondered what kind of life she had been put into.
What kind of person refers to another as a mortal?
A mortal is a contrast to an all-powerful and divine being. Humans.
Wait a minute he said we.
"And," She sighed this time, so many thoughts and her unanswered questions being pent up in her head all at once. "What is the kind of power that both of us share?" The word 'us' was emphasized.
He was quiet for a few moments, tilting his head. "We are two different entities but share levels of power in our aspects. A recently born God of your being is birthed from the knowledge and magic from your... brothers." The Dark Brother had drawled out.
God, huh? A recently born God...dess. Ahuh. She licked her lips, trying to distract her mentally loud screaming.
Needless to say, she was rather terrified of the recent revelations.
The blackened pools of annihilation bubbled, monsters of darkness watching with their crimson eyes at the comparable powers of Gods.
A voice in the back of her mind soothed her nerves—telling her there was nothing to be concerned about.
The voice inside her head shrunk back as agitation took over.
She simply inclined her head, staying quiet. The faint whiff of rusted metal and earthy soil made her nose crinkle. The dark barren land held no life—only the walking monstrosities and its Creator. The skeletal remains of man wither as time passes, and the land's inhabitants roam freely while destroying everything in their path.
A young, brave beast tilted its head as it came over, wary of its Creator that was nearby, watching. The dog-like whine emitting from its throat, the wolf's snout nudging her hand comfortably as if sensing her profound terrifying train of thought of the unknown power she held.
A small smile graced her features, relenting her touch to scratch the furry beast that wanted to comfort her.
In contrast to the field of flower beds and the lake of lilies as she remembered the vibrancy of the variety of differently colored flowers. The fresh scent of flowers that would flood her sense of smell once she woke up from the Other World. To where she was presently standing, the stench surrounding the place made her gag. It stank of rotten meat and the metallic scent of blood.
And the dead men told no lies.
"You said there were more of them." Later—later she will deal with this.
As there was no indication of a change of facial features, she thought she saw the God smile.
"Of course, my dear."
A hero watches as the pages unfold
Iridescent magic surrounded an island far off in the darkness of the void, trapping whatever was inside of the shimmering orb.
Specters moan and vanish, black cloaks reaching from head to toe, their faces shrouded in darkness.
All spirits of the Underworld bore the same appearance. They wander around aimlessly, constantly. However, there was one peculiar spirit that did no such thing. One that stood out from the many dead spectating foes.
"If I may ask, what is your obsession with the lorelei?" The once revered warrior asked the tattered being staring into a crystal ball that emitted magical residue. Though indistinct, the three figures that are seen by his own eyes were the sibling gods.
The lorelei referred to the Sister Goddess that was created years ago. Whispers of reverence and devotion were heard everywhere he went. However, he had heard that most of her blessings come from her divine magic in her skin, granting mostly men and women on whatever they had lacked.
Unfortunately dying days after receiving such a miracle.
A curse disguised as a blessing.
It made the hero wonder, was this truly what Death did in his domain? Was it the amounts of specters piling up in masses that had caught Death's interest in the lorelei?
Abruptly, Death straightened—if that was even possible for only a being of bones—and clenched his bony fingers. Dark scepters ascended on Ozma, the respected warrior of Light, and keeping him in place.
"You will watch," Death rasped, opening his jaw as blackened breath hit Ozma straight in the face. His eyes lost its color, dulling to a color reminiscent of dirt. "Until your time here is over."
"Salem." was the only thing that came out, his full conscious fading as only his eyes watching as everything unfolded in front of him.
All was silent in the nonexistent ears of Death. The moans of the apparitions quieted, floating about. Muttering nonsense as they pass.
"I am haunted by humans," Death says quietly, leaving behind the frozen apparition.
A princess makes up her mind
"So, where do we go now?"
"Anywhere you'd like."
Salem often replays the words she and Ozma had exchanged last they got out of her imprisonment. The first time she had experienced freedom when this righteous hero had freed her. But he was gone, far from her grasps and into death's dance.
Her hands gripped her lover's scepter lovingly, as it was the last thing that held the fragments of his magic.
"You'll come back to me, I promise."
His voice wavers in her mind like the dissolving legibility of a note folded and unfolded many times. Months have passed and she is determined.
Salem's old maid, a royal maid that had taken care of her since she was a babe and once her only access to life outside her tower, watched her leave to the door.
"Aloette, I will take my leave. Goodbye."
In the middle of writing this at about 900+ words, I had realized: "Oh, this is gonna take awhile." It did, with breaks in between of course.
The OC has (un)officially been given a name. A title.
The gibberish Death says, in the beginning, is kind of how JK Rowling went with the Mirror of Erised. The words are backward, and foreshadow future chapters.
I am not so proud of this chapter, but lets see.