Maiden of Midnight
Tatiana

I watched as the last of Karmonas’ citizens, a man named Balme, his wife and their son, boarded the last boat with several hundred other people and pushed off into the waves. The son waved to me and his parents carefully led him into the boat as it rocked wildly before settling. Their family reminded me of my own and I sighed, sinking into the sand as I wrapped my arms around my trembling body. Lucifer, my Connected, was dead and my dreams of a family with him were buried alongside him. I rubbed my thumb over the ring he gave me, having proposed to me only two weeks before. I had said yes without any hesitation, without a doubt. And now… I rubbed at my stinging eyes and felt a calming hand on my shoulder. I flinched, spinning around and came face-to-face with my mother, who pulled me into her arms and rocked me like I was a child. I had not been a child for a very, very long time.

“It’s okay, baby…” she crooned, stroking my hair and I only wailed harder, practically throttling her as I clung to her.

“Lucifer is dead!” I sobbed and she nodded without a word.

“He’s dead! He’s dead! He’s dead!”

“I know. But Destiny will right it. She’s a Warrior.” How could she right it?!

“She can’t bring back the dead, mama!” I yelled, trying to pull from her arms and she held me tighter, stroking along my wings until I calmed again.

“No, she can’t. But Lucifer wouldn’t want you to cry honey.” She wiped away my tears and then helped me to stand.

“Now then, you go and help your friends.”

“What about you?” I asked, wiping away the rest of my tears. I hadn’t cried like that in a long time.

“I have to get back to Tarragon,” she said and gave me one, final hug before disappearing again. I rallied my power and tried to cling to where I could feel Destiny’s aura. I moved to them and the ruined streets of Ordeallan came into view. I was standing atop a ruined house.

“Destiny?” I called out, looking around for where she might have been crouched in the shadows and saw a pale hand poking motionlessly from the rubble below me. I shrieked, stepping back, kneeling and digging frantically, before eventually using my magic to lift the stones and wood and glass from Seth and Destiny, wrenching them from the pile and dumping them onto the street below.

I stumbled from the pile, shaking Destiny first and she groaned slightly.

’By Lilith’s beauty! could I NOT be crushed for once?” she sat up, her eyes moving to Seth’s unconscious form. She shook him awake and he groaned, sitting up and rubbing at his head.

“Are we alive?”

“I don’t see any Demons roasting wailing souls over a spit, so I think we’re fine,” Destiny said, her ears pricking up slightly.

“Dark Angel a hundred metres to the left. Tatiana, deal with it.” I spun on my heel and pointed a finger at the ground, where huge creeper vines rose from the cobblestone and wrapped the Dark Angel up, a Venus Flytrap growing to crush and digest it between its leafy jaws. The Dark Angel let out a single scream before it died and I helped Destiny and Seth to their feet. Seth was wincing at the noise.

“We need to get to the town square now!” I yelled as there was an explosion towards the center of the city, and we were running then, Destiny and Seth still slightly unsteady on their feet, but as we skidded to a stop in the town square and the faces of about thirty children came into view, there was one in particular that caught my attention in the crowd. It was an unknown, but familiar aura - as if I had met the child before. She was barely a teenager, but as Zeella fired a single arrow at Destiny, she leapt forward, caught it in her palm and disappeared into mist, her deep blue eyes the last thing to disappear.

“Who the Hell was that?!” Destiny shrieked as we ducked for cover and children began crying and screaming in the square.

“I have no idea. The aura was familiar, but I’ve never seen an aura like -” I froze, my eyes drifting from Seth to Destiny and back again- my mouth dropped open in shock.

“That was your -”

A second explosion rocked the foundations and a fine crack began beneath us.

“That’s the tunnels collapsing!” Destiny said, her face pale and she grabbed two daggers from my belt as a Dark Angel dove towards us, his own blades raised and we moved in unison again. My vines wrapped around his wings, preventing him from flying away and as Destiny pinned the creature down, Seth leapt atop its chest and plunged his dagger in. The town square was in chaos again, with children screaming and running in all directions. And plunging through them, pushing them easily aside as he ran, was Zeella. He was running from Destiny, I realized, as she phased, her Demon form far larger than anything else in the square, and it took one, smooth leap for her to tackle Zeella to the ground and tear him into shreds. More children screamed on the other side of the square, running towards us in a wave and Seth was shouting and pointing to where hundreds of Demons - more than what had been present in Tarvenia, descended upon the city. Destiny bounded back to us, her eyes red and she phased back, grabbing a stray vine and tying it around one of my arrows before firing it up onto the roof of an intact building.

“Grab a kid and climb!” she screamed to us and I grabbed two - a brother and sister, and flew upwards, my wings straining under the effort. Destiny had pushed passed the kids, who were now crowded around us and to where the Demons were now entering the square. She had phased again, her claws and teeth shredding into them, and Seth was herding children up to the make-shift rope. Any who couldn’t climb, I flew up to the roof, which was thankfully sturdy enough to support their weight and when only a handful of children were left, Seth yelled to me to take care of the rest of them and went to join Destiny where she fought. His blades glinted as sharply as her talons and I grabbed the rest of the children, flying them up, before cutting the vine down. Destiny and Seth were still fighting and I turned away from them as I fought off a Dark Angel. It was then that a loud scream of help shattered the square and Destiny’s ears pricked again. She turned to where a tiny girl, her brown hair pulled into pigtails, was being herded down a side-street, passed Zeella’s dead body, by a group of Stethna. Destiny roared in pain as a Demon took advantage of her distraction and its teeth scraped her middle, cutting through that armor. Seth doubled over, coughing as blood soaked into his shirt - the mirror image to her wound. She threw it off, snapping its neck with a swift movement and phased back, sprinting across the square.

“DESTINY!” Seth screamed in panic as she threw herself into those Demons, her arms wrapping around the child and a red shield went up around the two of them. The Demons were clawing at it and I saw black blood pooling at her feet from where it ran from her waist. She hadn’t given herself enough time to heal and now, the wound was open. The girl was still screaming, but as Destiny’s shield grew thick spikes that impaled the Demons, she scaled the building, pulling the girl in tow. The girl fell quiet and watched her intently as she fell back to the ground and ran back to join us.

“We can’t keep fighting them off! We need more help!” I yelled to her. She threw up the rest of her power around the town square, which now glowed like Hell itself and the children whimpered, shifting away from the glowing red wall. The Demons slithered around the barriers, looking for weaknesses and we fell back to the centre as the ground beneath us trembled.

“Could it be Burrower Demons?” they could tunnel through stone like it was butter and Destiny’s shield did not extend to the ground. Before any of us could reply, Seraphina rose upwards and surveyed the scene. With a click of her fingers, the Demons froze.

“They won’t stay frozen for long,” she told us and Destiny stepped forward, her eyes narrowed with suspicion. Seth stuck to her side, limping from his wound.

“Why are you helping us?”

“I heard your cry for help,” she said to me, completely ignoring Destiny for a moment and then declared “I know how you can stop this. But it won’t be easy.”

“How?” Seth asked. He had not lowered his dagger, which dripped with black blood and Seraphina surveyed it with a wrinkled nose.

“You must do something for me. A favor. Once you do it, all will be righted.”

“And why should we trust you?”

“I do not wish to exist in a world ruled by Lilith or her brothers. Zeella will not remain dead for long - the immortals never do.”

“How do I make sure he stays six-feet-under?”

“By completing my task,” Seraphina said cryptically and Destiny snarled.

“Which is WHAT?”

“You must go back in time, to where man and Super-Natural once dwelled together, although they did not know it at the time. You must go back to a place that has long since been destroyed. A place called the Garden of Eden. You must stop Lilith from spilling her blood on the garden’s dirt.”

“And how will that stop the Demons?”

“Demons were created when Lilith spilt her blood upon the earth. By stopping this, Demons will not come to pass and neither will the Lords of Hell. Zeella will remain forever dead.”

“But… If Demons are destroyed, then…” Destiny said and Seth paled, looking to his Connected. He shook his head.

“No! You can’t do that! I won’t let you! Please, Des, you can’t!”

“What? What can’t she do?!” I demanded and Destiny gulped as Seth started crying.

“If Demons don’t exist, then neither will I.”

“The ultimate sacrifice. You once told yourself that you would not sacrifice everything for the game of life, but would you if it meant saving the entire Dimension?”

“How do I know this isn’t a trick of some sort? How do I know that the Dimension won’t be fine? Won’t survive this attack?”

“I can show you,” Seraphina offered, raising a hand. Destiny held up her own.

“Show all of us. Show us what it would be like if I didn’t stop Lilith.”

Magic popped around us and suddenly, we were standing in a barren, dead field, where workers toiled in the dirt, digging for any scrap of food they could find. In the distance, in the crumbling remains of a village, a huge Palace stood and I could see Super-Natural remains on spikes around its walls.

“This is what remains of Ordeallan in twenty-five years. Anybody who survives, including the children you saved, will be slaves.”

“And Karmona?”

A new scene came into view, revealing a sea that was brown with mud and human waste. The Port had been transformed into prison cells, holding all that remained in the city and I could see Balme and his family begging for food through the bars, as a Dark Angel whipped people who were outside the jail to move faster as they pulled a cart. Children were being forced to carry heavy loads from the crumbling boats and if they stopped or dropped a box, they were whipped.

“Lamia?” Destiny asked, her voice trembling. A third scene, one of Vampires toiling and an execution post like the one in Ordeallan stood, a dozen Vampires chained to it.

“Their crime was draining a rat they found in the garbage. They will burn beneath the sun for it,” Seraphina said, waving a hand at the prisoners. Other Vampires toiled around them, some of them begging and a Dark Angel walked passed, a necklace made from Vampire’s fangs around his neck.

“And what of my home?” I pleaded and Seraphina took us to the final city, where Tarvenia was nothing more than dead earth and a few Fae left, working for Agron, who punished them by ripping their wings out. With a final pop, that magic fell away, revealing us back in the town square.

“In a hundred years from then, the Super-Naturals of this island will be extinct.”

“And other islands?” Destiny asked.

“Facing a war against Zeella and Lilith - a war which they will lose.”

“I will stop Lilith. But on a few conditions.”

Seraphina’s eyes lit up with hope and something darker that I could not name.

“Which are?” she purred sweetly.

“When I die, Seth remains alive.”

“That is your only asking price?” Even I was surprised. I had expected a grander final request from the Night-Hunter Princess.

“It is one of them.”

“No! You can’t do this! There has to be another way! Destiny, please! I can’t live without you!” Seth bellowed, tears streaming down his face as Seraphina waved her hand. A portal not unlike the Divider rose. Its surface was nothing but swirls of silver and blue. Beyond it, I could sense the aura of a world long since forgotten, its soils untouched for thousands of years.

“This will take you to the Garden of Eden, the Sacred Garden. You cannot change anything else you see there. You can only stop Lilith and prevent Eve from biting the apple of Eden!”

“And how do I do that?” Destiny asked bravely.

“That I do not know. You will have to use your wits. You only get once chance at this, don’t screw it up. I am placing the life of the Dimension in your hands.”

“I won’t fail you,” Destiny turned back to Seth, who barreled forward and pulled her away from the portal.

“You can’t do this!”

“I have to Seth!” she gently spun him around, tugging his shirt down and pressed her palm against his right shoulder. When she removed it, a tattoo was burnt into his skin. The Night-Hunter symbol.

“You are the new leader of the Night-Hunters. You may recruit who you wish.”

“Please don’t!” Seth begged and even Destiny was crying as she kissed him fiercely.

“I love you! ” she whispered against his lips and he shook his head.

“I love you too, please don’t do this!”

“Seth…” she sighed and pulled her locket from her neck, tucking it around his own. She emptied the contents of it and with a claw, cut off a section of her own hair, placing it into the locket.

“I have another request,” Destiny said without looking away from Seth. Seraphina raised an eyebrow but said “What is your second request?”

“That Seth’s sister will be cured of Enaria and that the memory of Demons will forever be wiped from the minds of the Super-Natural and Korathian. Lucy will not remember being injected with Demon blood, or the sickness that followed.”

“Destiny! Please!” Seth called and Destiny pressed another kiss to his lips, brushing his tears away as her own fell to the pavement. I found myself brushing my own tears away, but just before she stepped into the portal, she motioned to Seraphina, who leant close as Destiny whispered something in her ear. Seraphina nodded and said “It shall be done. All of your requests will be completed upon your completion of the quest.”

“I love you Seth! Don’t forget that! Even when you forget me!”

“DESTINY!” Seth screamed as she stepped into the portal and it disappeared behind her. Her wall of power remained however and Seth was yelling. Seraphina only just managed to avoid the daggers that flew at her. With a shudder, Destiny’s power collapsed, disappearing and Seraphina sighed. A sly smile that appeared on her face, only to be wiped away a moment later.

“I am truly sorry that it had to be this way, but there was no other way. Destiny was meant to have this end. It is why her father called her what he did. She was destined to fall from the moment she was born.”

“No! I won’t accept that!”

Seth rushed at Seraphina again, who, with a flick of her wrist, bound him to the path.

“Calm yourself.”

I only stared at the space where the portal had been, my dread morphing into something else as I remembered the girl I had seen in the square. If that girl had been there, then it meant Destiny stood a chance at surviving…

I could only cling to my hope as those Demons slowly began to move again. It was only an inch every few minutes, but it was enough…

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