"Precisely!" Moireth claps. "That's the spirit!"
"What about after that?" I ask. "Someone here has grand plans for world domination, is that what everyone else is on?"
Chronomir and Rose look at each other, before Chronomir speaks. He reaches out his hand and cups Rose's face lovingly."I promised Rose she would see the realms, we will do that."
Delilah shrugs."I'm happy doing what I am now. Luciara and I hunt men. That is my duty to her, protect the wild spaces and the life that women give."
"What she means is that Delilah here is the most prolific female serial killer the world has ever heard of." He winks at her. "I wouldn't want to be on your bad side."
I'm sorry, what the fuck did he just say? As I look at Delilah with shock, she smiles widely at me. "They deserve it, Ione, I am sure you know men who have earned my fangs."
"We can get into that later," I shake my head. "I cannot sit idly and watch as Athanasius bathes the world in blood."
Moireth chuckles. "He won't." She wags her finger at her brother. "Is that what you've been telling her?"
Athanasius shrugs.
"This isn't time for you to be all nonchalant," I hiss at him. "Tell them what you told me!"
I didn’t mean for it to go this far.
His siblings look at him in confusion, and it’s now—only now—that I realize I pushed his hand too soon.
“You didn’t tell them,” I scoff, trying to mask the tremble rising in my chest. The other avatars are staring at me, and I realize perhaps they never speak like this to their Primordials.
Luciara’s lime eyes narrow, the glow in them dimming like a dying star. “Twin?” she echoes. “What are you hiding?”
Athanasius clenches his jaw. I feel the shift in the room, the way the shadows writhe like snakes beneath our feet. He growls low, a sound so old it feels like the first thunder. “They deserve more.”
“Who?” Chronomir’s voice is cool and patient, but his expression is unreadable. “Be specific.”
“Humanity!” Athanasius throws his hands in the air, shadows trailing his every movement like living ink. “They stole from us, locked us away, and we have to fight—fight—to get back to where we were!”
“No,” Luciara says firmly, stepping forward with grace, light curling around her like a second skin. “Punish those who are deserving. But no more. I am the guardian of life, and I will not see it snuffed out like a candle because of your vendetta.”
Moireth sighs, shaking her head. “I knew something was wrong,” she murmurs. “The moment I felt your destiny shifting. Going off its rails.”
Chronomir tilts his head, the cane in his hand tapping the floor. “Humans view time as linear,” he says softly. “They will remember the pain you cause for centuries. It will set us back—again.”
Athanasius doesn’t flinch. “I don’t care,” he spits. “I am the oldest. I came first. You will obey me.”
Luciara scoffs. “You forget. Light and dark exist in the same arena. There is no one without the other. You do not reign alone, brother.”
“You kill men!” he shouts, voice rising. “You say you protect life, but you’ve culled them—those who take, those who destroy. So what’s the difference between you and me?”
“The difference,” Luciara says, stepping closer now, voice trembling with fury and grief, “is that I do not kill blindly. I choose. Iweigh. I spare the innocent.”
“You think we’re different,” he snarls. “But we’re the same.”
“Then let’s start now.” Her voice rings like a bell of judgment. She snaps her fingers.
Delilah howls—no longer human. Her bones twist and warp into fur, fang, claw. A massive wolf stands where she was, muscles trembling with restrained power.
“Don’t be stupid, Luciara,” Athanasius says. His eyes flicker from Delilah to Luciara. "I have to fix the house after you've damaged it!"
“How precious is human life to you, brother?” she demands, ignoring him. “Have you learned nothing?”
He doesn’t answer.
