#Writing #BloodofSilenceSeries #DanceTillOurEnd #DTOE
"Can you tell from the look in our eyes?
We're going nowhere
We live our lives like we're ready to die
We're going nowhere.
You can run but you'll never escape
Over and over again
Will we ever see the end?
We're going no whereThis is sempiternal
Will we ever see the end?
This is sempiternal
Over and over, again and againRise from the dead you say?
Secrets don't sleep till they're took to the grave
Signal the sirens, rally the troops
Ladies and gentlemen
It's the moment of truth"-- Shadow Moses, Choir Noir
The city of Amaurot was a place free from the bindings of conflict and hate. We lived peacefully amongst like-minded brothers and sisters, and every person's ideas and opinions were considered valuable.
We were too similar to fight each other, and having never truly known loss or tragedy, we had lived our lives in ignorant bliss. The concept of "death" was something that rarely crossed our minds. We simply existed, and then we didn't, but that day would not come for each of us for many thousands of years.
Every problem always had a solution; it was simply a matter of when that solution would come.
There were some problems, though, that we left alone for nature to take its course. We were stewards, and our protocols and way of life ensured that we did not become changers. There were some things we simply had to accept, and so we would move and flow with the star, but rarely change it.
It had been this way for hundreds of thousands--if not millions--of years, across cities and civilisations.
I had not always necessarily agreed with the non-intervention policy, but it existed for a reason, and I would only push it so far. There was a fine line between a steward and a changer. Almost anything could be said to be done for the benefit of the star, or the creatures living on it, but at the end of the day, those things happened for a reason.
To save what the star did not want saved, was to disrupt something else. That was simply how the world worked.
It was incredibly rare that the Convocation of Fourteen made exceptions to a rule. Zodiark was an exception, and he was an exception that I, for once, did not agree with.
To imbue the star with its own will was to go against everything we believed in. It meant interrupting the natural balance, and preventing many of the tragedies that contributed to the circle of life.
If the star did not want to go on, then surely it was in our best interest as stewards to accept our time was up and see it off together with a smile. Thus I had surmised, after countless months of trying to find a solution when time was against us.
The star screamed its protests, but we selfishly chose ourselves over it.
We would only delay the inevitable, but should the summoners of the Other succeed, we would face a fate even worse. This much I knew, for all the little I was told about the rebels' plans.
We were left powerless for our sins. Without the help of the Convocation, we could not stop the summoning. And the twelve summoners of Zodiark themselves would face the worst fate of all for their transgressions.
There was only one thing worse than being alone, and that was being alone for eternity with blood on your hands.
And so it was that I gazed upon the sight with an utterly sick feeling in my stomach, as the newly-formed thing resembling my young friend walked towards me. He wasn't a boy anymore, though; this thing was undoubtably a man.
Its body---bereft of any clothing--dripped with a dark slime-like substance as it dragged its feet like it was learning how to walk again. Wearily, it smiled at me as I stared wide-eyed.
It turned to the others then. "Fear...not... You will make...the right choice. And I will see it through."
I ran as the tears streamed from my eyes. In the sides of my vision, I vaguely registered Hades reaching out for me and calling my name, but I was too distraught to care.
Elidibus was the embodiment of failure. My failure to find another solution, my failure to stop them, and, most importantly, my failure to protect them.
But above all that, knowing what I knew, I resented him for taking my family away when we had already lost him.
Now he was back--a shadow of the boy that once was--and I couldn't find myself to face him. My body shook with the sobs as I crouched behind one of the buildings. What was there left to fight for?
The world was in ruins. The rivers had been poisoned, the ground was black and dead with ash, as the trees withered and died. The animals were gone, and it was only us that remained.
Zodiark had allowed nature to live again, but was it truly still our star if we were the only ones truly left? All there was now was artificial. These were not the star's animals, or plants. These were Zodiark's.
I found myself feeling alien in the only world I'd ever known.
I remembered the days following the summoning, and the utter despair they had brought. The world outside Amaurot had been entirely diminished into a desolate wasteland of ash. I didn't need to confirm it with my eyes to know my parents and brother were gone. I didn't want to, because that would make it feel real.
I had not asked for the names of the sacrifices made to Zodiark. They had been randomly chosen, and I hadn't wanted to know. In the chaos, I had not thought to look for the people closest to me. People were scattered and scared, and others were still being rescued from rubble.
He could have told me. He could have asked me to come home and say goodbye. He could have...but I was on the list too. Family members were grouped together, so that no one was left alone.
Me being away and my husband being ineligible didn't exclude my own family, it seemed. The more I found out about this, the more I felt sick...
"Cynthia..." he started. I had hoped he wouldn't find me, but alas...
"What else is he going to take?" I spat before he could continue. I met his gaze with angry tears. He couldn't see, but I knew he could tell.
"As if losing the rest my family wasn't enough, that thing then had to take my sister away, and now..." I stood up. "Now he's taken my second family from me. He's taken from you the only thing that ever truly belonged to you, and it seems you haven't even noticed! Or maybe you have and you simply don't care. Now it's mocking us by bringing back shadows of the dead."
He looked at me confused.
"Open your eyes, Hades! That thing has corrupted your very soul! Surely...surely you of all people have noticed it."