CW: umm.... :) Perhaps disturbing descriptions of death/the dead.
It was beginning to get late after you translated the manuscripts left for you. You were getting hungry and tired. You picked up the doll that Dollmaker made for you and went to eat before bed. You were greeted as usual by the family. Other newspawn held dolls of their favorite church members or themselves. You sat away from the other members to eat in peace while watching the others. As ordered to do by the Father. He did not want anyone to accidentally hurt you. You felt lonely. You wanted to talk to the other newspawn in the church and play with them. Being a newborn god was lonely. You missed playing with Rocket and Sword already. You missed your old friends from the world you came from.
After you finished eating, you went to your room to retire for the night. You held the doll that was given to you, feeling comfort of having it with you. yet, you wanted your mama as well. You had heard that she was sent out to hunt down some heretics. You did not really know what it meant other than the heretics did not follow the church and The Father anymore. You heard of one. An inphernal named Katana. He left the church. When you asked for more information on him, you were denied. You were told it was too dangerous to know too much about that particular heretic.
You got ready for bed. You changed into your sleeping clothes and brushed out your hair. You brushed your teeth and finally said prayers before climbing into your bed. The Scythe doll was in your arms. You held the crystal pendant you wore for comfort as well. It was like you felt your mama's heartbeat through it. Not just hers, you felt like you could hear Venomshank's and Sword's. In the darkness and silence, your mind wandered. Wandered back to a faded time. A time where you had not been in the inpherno, instead in a world with others like you. Visions of people you knew floated through your mind. Hornless like you.
Parents. Mother and Father. Your memories of them were fuzzy, but you could see a little of them still. You wondered if they were still alive out there, or if they are dead like you fear. You wanted to see your real parents again. To hug your mom and dad. To be read to before you sleep. To actually be a child again. Your new mama was a good mama, but she was not like your mom. You hugged the plush you were given for more comfort.
"Goodnight.," You said to nobody but yourself.
Sword struck the training dummy with his gear, slicing through it. His first instinct was to want to show you before he remembered that you were not there anymore. He could have sworn he heard your voice say 'goodnight' from his crystal. Sword held it in his hand, feeling the warmth that came from it. At least he had the feeling that you were safe because of it. He did miss you. It was nice to have someone besides Venomshank and Sisyphus in the house. Plus, you were so small and cute! Sword jumped as Sisyphus landed on his shoulder. He relaxed after seeing the small crow.
"Do you miss Lua, Too?," Sword asked the bird and rubbed the little head.
Sisyphus of course did not answer. The red horned swordsman had noticed just how much Sisyphus liked to perch on you. The bird was with you if he or Venom was not.
He wiped some sweat from his head and saw it was time to take a break after looking at the clock Venomshank left on the training area. Sword walked to the kitchen to get some water when he saw Venomshank reading a letter.
"What's that Venom?," Sword asked as he filled his glass with water.
The mask wearing god looked to his ward before looking back at the letter.
"Some correspondence from a family member.," Venomshank replied as sword choked on his water from hearing that, "I was honestly surprised myself. We usually don't contact each other."
Sword wiped his mouth and put the glass down, "So? What is it about? What do they want?"
Venom looked at the letter again, silently reading over it.
"Asking about Lualight. They saw her in Crossroads while she was running errands for me.," The god replied and folded the letter, "They were just curious after seeing her and Sisyphus."
Venom's tone was a mix of happy and amused. The one who wrote the letter must be someone that Venomshank could get along with more, Sword thought. It would not be Windforce or Darkheart, so it had to be someone else who was more unaware of Lualight.
"Is that it?," the red horned inphernal asked and took his glass to drink again.
Venomshook his head, "They also wanted permission to meet her. I fear that I have to tell them no now."
Sword could hear the disappointment in his guardian's voice. If you were still with them, Venom may have let you go visit. But you were not there. Who knows where you were. Sword finished drinking his water and washed the cup. His cheek was nudged by Sisyphus, the crow was urging him to bed.
"Goodnight, Venom.," Sword said to his Gaurdian.
"Goodnight, Sword.," Venom replied as he watched the younger inphernal climb the stairs to his room.
The toxic green horned god touched the crystal hanging from his horn. He felt your power through it. He had heard your voice from it earlier. Venomshank clutched it gently in his clawed fingers.
"Goodnight, Lualight. Sleep well."
You woke early in the morning from a scary dream. It seemed like others were still asleep. The night guards were still out and keeping watch. You slipped from your room and wandered to the archives to read more. You were still holding the doll of your mama. You set the pretty doll on the desk before looking through the untranslated books to find something new to read. You found a small notebook that was unlabeled. You flipped it open and found that it had notes about the Swords inside of it. Mentions of what each was supposed to do, but the pen was smudged from years of wear. You could not read all of it. You did note that there was one mention of Darkheart in it.
'Opposite to his twin, Illumina, in both terms of personality and appearance. I gave him the ability to travel anywhere in the inpherno through the backdoors, so he may watch over the inhabitants when I am not there.'
You wondered how the backdoors worked. It would be nice to travel around like Darkheart did. You kept flipping through the notebook and trying to read what was left of the messy scrawlings. The final message in the notebook was smudged, as if written in a hurry.
'I have to leave the inpherno. I put its care into the hands of my Swords. Many will believe I have died, but that is okay. I pray that no other human comes here but if one does they must-'
The page was burned at the bottom. You could not read any more. You decided to keep the notebook with you, hopefully you could read more of it later. You carefully put the notebook in your personal bag and picked up another book to read.
A tap on the door to the archives made you jump, you looked up and saw Crowbar looking in.
"Can't sleep?," He asked while holding a small light.
"Slept enough.," You replied and looked back down to the pages.
Crowbar looked back to the halls before walking in and sitting across from you, he placed the light on the table to give you an easier time of reading. He eyed the doll before picking up one of the untranslated manuscripts.
"I heard these are written in the language of the creator and that you can read them.," He said while flipping through the books, "Is that true?"
You nodded, "It is. I have been learning a lot from just reading them."
The much larger inphernal put the book he was holding down. He crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair he was in. You wondered why he decided to sit here with you instead of continuing his rounds.
"Your injuries, are they okay?," You asked.
Crowbar rolled his shoulders, "Perfectly fine now. Those Wranglers were a bit of trouble, but Your mama 'nd I took care of it."
You didn't want to pry anymore into what he meant. You felt like something bad happened to those 'wranglers'. You continued to read, looking for more information on your power, Lua.
"What are you looking for in those old things anyway?," Crowbar asked, "The Father keeps having you translate them."
You shrugged, "I guess I am curious. I want to learn about this power I have been given and I am the only one who can read these."
You kept reading as Crowbar kept sitting across from you. He poked at your doll, amused at how cute his boss looked as a doll.
A small mention about Lua appeared in the book you were reading, but it only said that hornless were capable of weilding it. Something you already knew. You sighed and placed the book down. Looking at the stack of books, you noticed that there were some books that repeated, like they were copies of the same book. Almost like they were small pamphlets for Hornless to read as they got in the inpherno. These books all had information that was well known in the inpherno and were not useful to you or the church.
You set your little head on the table, your hair falling over the polished wood.
"You did not find anything useful, I gather?," Crowbar asked.
"Not at all. Some of these books are copies.," You said, "Like Telamon had them given out to other hornless to introduce them to the inpherno."
You pouted a little.
"Would have been nice to get one of these when I first got here.," you complained, "Then my parents and I would not have suffered as much as we did before getting seperated!"
You reached for your doll and hugged it, feeling the soft fabric against your face. It was much squishier than your mama, but you would rather have her holding you.
Crowbar seemed to be barely listening to you. His expression was tired.
"You don't have to be here, you can go back to your rounds.," You said to the inphernal.
"Can't.," He answered, "Scythe and Father told us to watch you if we find you alone."
You puffed your cheeks up a little. The Father had gotten more weird since you had gone to Crossroads. You wanted to go out again, but you had a feeling that the family would not let you out again after what happened. Yet, it was not your fault. You were ambushed! There was no way for you to know that was going to happen.
You felt your eyes getting heavy as sleep came back for you with a vengence. Crowbar seemed to have been waiting for that as he lifted you up carefully and carried you back to your room. He set you on your bed. You were covered by the sheets and were left alone after. Crowbar went back to doing his guard rounds afterwards. You tried to fight sleep more. You wanted to find more books. You wanted to read more, read about the history more. To read about Telamon and the Swords more. You tried to keep your eyes open, but you were pulled back into the realm of sleep.
You hugged your doll as you slept. The door to your room was cracked for those doing their sentry duties to check in on you. Your small body was still as you laid on your bed, unaware of the surroundings, yet perfectly safe while sleeping. When you awoke again, you looked to the clock in your room. You had missed morning prayers. Oops. You got up and got dressed before wandering back into the archives to continue your work with translating. You were greeted by the archivists and you returned their greetings. The books were just the same as before. Information on the anatomy of hornless and some bedtime stories. Same as the others you found. You Sorted the books and found the repeating titles. No new material. You leaned back and sighed. You were done. You wondered where they even got these books and small pamphlets from. You waved to the archivist to get their attention.
"Do you have any information about where you got these?," You asked the inphernal.
They shook their head, "The scouts found them in a ruined building marked with the hornless language. The building had this inscribed on it."
They showed you a picture of the tiny ruined building, a sketch that was quickly made by the scouting team. You immediately saw the words on it. It was a bookstore and information stand. This had to be for the small group of Hornless that came in to help Telamon. You groaned a bit.
"All of these have been translated already.," You said, "They are copies of what I already did."
The archivist sighed before thanking you and took the books from you. They gave you some old tablets to translate for them. These had more information that was more useful to you. More information on Telamon himself. The tablets had been broken, so large portions of them were missing. But something stood out to you.
Telamon was depicted with seven swords floating beside him. You carefully wrote down the translation of the few words that were on the tablets. You were able to find that the ones you did have were able to be fit together to get a better mural and story.
'In the birth of the inpherno, the birth of the Inphinity, there was Telamon. The shaper of this world.'
You wrote down all you could of what was available and set down your pen. You looked at the image of Telamon again. Cloaked with his face obscured, a halo of fire, seven glowing swords surrounding him and a single silver one in his hand.
Swords.
You saw the colors and designs of the swords. They looked so cool and pretty. The green one seemed to stand out to you. It was so big, alongside the red one. You didn't know you were staring at it for a long time until you had one of the archivists tapping your head to get your attention.
"Are you okay? You have been staring at that tablet for half an hour.," They asked and corrected their glasses.
"Oh. Yes, I guess this one interested me.," You said, "The image of the creator and his weapons is so beautiful."
This got a small chuckle from the archivist as they took the fragments from you after confirming that you translated everything. They went back to check and found that you had indeed translated their entire stock.
"Huh. Guess we have to go find more for you.," They said and gave you an apologetic smile, "Well, since you are free now, you can go play."
You got up from the chair you were in and walked out with your doll in your arms. Your small feet carried you through the church. You watched the other members go about their days. The church members greeted you when they saw you, you greeted them kindly in return. The sound of laughter caught your attention. You followed the sound to find the other Newspawn of the church playing. Some were practicing with their gears, Playing with some toys, or even playing with some little animals they had found.
You wanted to join them. You took a few steps towards them before stopping. Father Overseer told you that it was not safe for you to play with the newspawns because of their unstable gears and temperaments. You saw the unstable gears from those practicing, they attacked each other with a playful manner, their gears making horrible cracking sounds.
You hugged the doll shaped like your mama while watching the Newspawns in the courtyard. You hid behind one of the pillars while watching them. Their eyes and horns were still intact. They have not been inducted yet. The laughing and playing newspawn didn't notice you at all. The bitter twinge of envy gnawed at you. You wanted to play with someone. You wanted to play with other children. Godhood was lonely. Your thoughts were cut off when a ball some of the newspawn were playing with bounced over towards you. The laughing and playful shouts stopped when the group saw you. The church members all knew of you. Some were not able to get close enough to see you properly, like the Newspawn.
You picked up their ball while holding your doll under one of your arms. You held the ball out for a newspawn to take back from you.
"Here.," You said while holding it out.
You heard small whispers and hushed conversation from the group of newspawn as one of the braver ones took the ball from you. That newspawn was taller than you, yet looked to be freshly spawned.
"Thank you..," the newspawn seemed to be confused by you.
"Lualight!"
Both of you jumped when you heard your name be called. You looked back to see Crossbow hurriedly walking towards you. She picked you up to take you back inside.
"You should be careful, they could have hurt you.," she fussed while carrying you.
"They didn't.," You said while being carried.
"But they could have.," Crossbow said while carrying you to the lounge that she and the other scouts liked to stay in after their missions.
The scout caravan leader put you down on a soft cushion chair. She sat beside you on an adjacent cushion. You saw her clothes were dusty, as if she and Chainsaw had been on a supply or scouting run. Said twin was splayed out over his favorite sofa. He opened his good eye to look at you before closing it again.
You were finally able to see them again like you wanted to. It was a relief to see that the two did not have any scars or other injuries from the ambush. Your crystals did protect them like they were supposed to.
"Are you two okay? I have not been able to talk to you since the ambush.," you asked the twins.
Chainsaw got a small smile on his face, "We're fine thanks to your protection. Grappling Hook and the Wranglers couldn't keep us down because of it."
'Grappling Hook'. A name you were not familiar with. Was that the one who threw that hook at you and Chainsaw?
"Was that the big inphernal who attacked us?," you asked.
"Yep.," Chainsaw replied, "Bastard would've snatched you up with their crew of you didn't run."
Crossbow leaned in to whisper to you, "I heard that Grappling Hook is also Scythe's Ex. She doesn't talk about 'em much."
This was the first time you heard that your mama had been married previously. You wondered why they separated. Was it a difference of opinion or from the scorch.
"Don't like Chuck. Lil bastard.," Chainsaw growled.
"I'm not a fan of Beehive myself.," Crossbow huffed.
Another scout party member piped up, "Would be nice if Tara accepted my invitation."
That member had pillows thrown at them both playfully and a way to shut them up. You got a soft cushion to the back of your head, knocking you over from the surprise of it. After the scouts saw you were okay, they started to laugh at your surprised little face. You threw the pillow back at the face of the one who first hit you. Chainsaw cackled at the member who got hit, getting a pillow to his face as well. He got up and started to playfully roughhouse with the other inphernal, getting the others to cheer and throw playful insults at them.
Crossbow picked you up and held you away from the group that was starting to get a little too rowdy.
"Why are you not in the archives?," Crossbow asked you.
You might as well tell her, "I finished translating everything."
She tilted her head slightly back and forth, thinking about it before giving a smile.
"That was fast.," She responded, "I thought it would take you years to do it."
You shook your head, "The material repeated. It was the same thing over and over."
"Then, what will you do now?," She asked.
You didn't think about that. You had been tasked with translation and healing tasks that you kind of did not think about what else you wanted to do. You wanted to play, but you were restricted on what you could do or play with. You wanted to go out and explore, yet the father and the others did not want you to go. Everything fun you wanted to do was not allowed.
"I wanted to explore the ruins again.," You answered honestly.
"That's too dangerous.," Crossbow's tone was flat and cold.
She caught her tone and made a friendlier tone to continue, "Why not let me show you some interesting things the gardeners have been doing in the courtyards?"
You could not really deny her as you were being held by her, so you nodded and let her carry you to the inside courtyard. It was a lovely mix of open air expanses and plants with water features. She placed you on the soft grass that was grown on a plot near a cool spring.
"This section of the church was built on a spring, so we get clean water from it.," She explained, her smile and tilting head made her glass eye sparkle.
You felt the breeze coming from outside, it was cooled by the stone walls and the water. It smelled like the fresh grass and faintly of smoke. The Ruins were in that direction. Crossbow crouched near you and ran her fingers through your hair, getting the knots out of your hair. She kept an eye on you as other inphernals of the church wandered through. She was keeping the rowdy newspawn from getting too close to you. You heard their whispers.
'Why does she not have horns'
'That face looks weird'
'She doesnt look natural'
You ignored their words. Newspawn did not know about hornless. They would learn about what you were soon enough. You looked away from the group and back out to the smoke plume in the distance. You could still faintly feel the memory of the warmth of the fires. How Darkheart used them to cook the fish for you and your parents when you first met him. You remember how he sounded when he spoke your language, a language that felt more and more foreign to you as time went on.
Your father had let you climb onto the 'god' when he gained your family's trust. Your family. It had been almost a year and a half since you had seen them. You felt torn, your parents had to be alive, they were a lot stronger than you! But you also felt like with how much time had passed, they had to be dead. You felt a hand touching your cheek, pulling you from your thoughts.
Crossbow was wiping a tear you didn't know had fallen.
"Are you remembering something?," She asked and got a nod from you.
She was about to say something else when she was called. She got up to walk away but stopped.
"Lua, I have to go.," Crossbow told you, "Your mama should be back a little later."
"How long is later?," You asked.
"About four hours?," she replied before leaving.
You went back to watching the grass and water in the courtyard. It was a lot nicer to watch everything here than to just be stuck inside all day. You felt the breeze blowing your head that was not covered by the veil.
It was peaceful. You could hear the other church members around you. However, your focus was on the distance. A shimmer. Like the power you have. You could have sworn you saw something in the distance. You didn't know what.
You knew you needed to stay in the church courtyard, yet you wanted to go to the ruins. You had to go to the ruins. There were more things to explore in those old burning buildings. You wanted to go back and see the place where you and your parents had stayed. To find what you had left there. It shouldn't take too long...
You knew Scythe was going to be there soon. You could wait and ask her to take you. But… Something was urging you to go. Something in the back of your mind. It was not like the time Darkheart led you to Venomshank, this was your own instinct telling you to go back to the place you had been staying before being found by the church. You stood from your spot, little white robe dress blowing in the wind that flowed gently through the courtyard. You could tell there were not many if any inphernals left with you. It was quiet. Everyone was gone, you were alone. With your doll in your hands, You sprinted off into the sands outside. The power of Lua burst through you, allowing you to move faster than before. You were grateful to have this power. You could check out the ruins very quickly before going back to the church.
You were getting closer to the ruins when you became aware of the shadows above you. Vultures. You had to be ready. You prepared your Lua to attack, just in case. Especially if there were Wranglers about.
You sprinted to the nearest cover of plants to hide and watch the vultures. The patterns of flight were not like those of wild ones. These ones were being ridden. You could not see the saddles or markings from this distance, so you didn't know if they were your scout siblings or the wranglers. You kept hidden in the brambles and moving carefully. You heard a sharp clatter. Rocks were being thrown at your hiding spots. Whoever it was, they were trying to drive you out of your hiding place.
You moved to a shaded area far from your original hiding spot and bolted towards the flames in the distance. You knew this was wrangler territory. You had been told about it by the scouts. The riders shouted when they saw you bolting away from the hiding spot You heard the wings of the birds flap as they got closer. A hook shot out at you, just missing you. You kept running to avoid the ones chasing you. Until a rock that was thrown tripped you. You fell, rolling down a sand dune with your doll in your arms. You scrambled to get up when you heard one of the birds land and someone dismount the bird. Large hands picked you up when you tried to run once more.
"Now then, How'd a New spawn get out here?," A voice asked as you were held.
You struggled to get out of the hold of the large inphernal that was grasping you. Your body sparked with your Lua. They dropped you after being zapped.
"That's the same newspawn from before, Hook!," you heard one of the other riders say.
You tried to run again but were lassoed with a rope. You were pulled back. Your doll dropped to the ground and was picked up by one of the wranglers.
"Hook. You may want to see this.," the large inphernal said as she held your doll out to the leader.
They took your doll and looked at it before looking at you. They held it out to you.
"Do you know who this is?," the leader asked you.
"My mama.," you said back, "And she's coming to get me."
You heard whispers from the others as the leader looked a little sad. They untied you from the lasso, with some criticism from one of their friends.
"Did she say anything about me?," They asked and got a shake of your head as a response.
They looked more saddened. Their gloved hand was placed atop your head. You knew this had to be Grappling Hook, your Mama's ex.
"Hook, if this is Her spawn, this is dangerous. Remember last time?," one of the members said, "She wiped one of our teams just for retaliation of us getting close to her spawn?"
You felt the calling from the flaming ruins again. You wanted to run, but didn't want to leave your doll. With a quick motion, you grabbed the doll and ran again. Going right to the flames. You were barely able to escape the grasp of your Mama's ex as you scampered into the flames. The fires didn't even singe you as you ran through. You ignored the shouts from Grappling Hook for you to come back. You kept running. The others mounted their vultures again while Grappling Hook was trying to coax you back.
You kept running and looking back to make sure they didn't follow. This caused you to not see where a drop off was, making you fall again. Rolling through fires and into a small pit below a ridge. You make a sharp yelp as you landed on something that poked you. You thought you were being cut into by sharp rocks cast down in the ridge, so you looked down.
A corpse was below you. But it was not an inphernal or an animal. Bones. Sharp bones broken and scattered. Clothing torn and dirtied with old blood and filth. A woman and a man. Hornless skulls glared back at you with an eyeless and soulless gaze. A primal sense of disgust and fear filled your stomach. You felt like you were going to throw up.
Your eyes started to water as you screamed. Your screams were silenced by the roar of thunder above you. Rage, pain and sorrow overtook your tiny body as your Lua surged.
Tumblr is not letting me scroll but so far on my dashboard. It doesn't restrict anything else but my dash with this. WTF. I tried to turn the endless scroll off then back on. Didn't work. this is affecting both my devices. Fix?
Tumblr is not letting me scroll but so far on my dashboard. It doesn't restrict anything else but my dash with this. WTF. I tried to turn the endless scroll off then back on. Didn't work. this is affecting both my devices. Fix?
Is there any other trail of humans before Lualight and her dead parents?
Sorry if my English is confusing, it's not my first language-
I am assuming you mean evidence of humans besides Lua and her parents, yes. There are carvings of them in hidden temples throughout the world of the inpherno and left behind writings that Lualight has been tasked with translating.
There are mentions of humans or 'hornless' in some very old books in some regions and of course, the Swords themselves have seen and met humans. Especially their creator, Telamon.
Lualight is just the first Child human that has been in the inpherno, so there were no warnings or writings about what a young or baby hornless was like.
It was a bright morning. You were given some small errands to run from Venomshank. You had to return the books to the library and drop some things off at Da Shop. You left after eating a little something and giving Venomshank and Sword a hug. They had decided to do some morning training. You climbed the stairs to the upper levels of Crossroads. You took the familiar roads to the shop that Zuka owned. The shop was currently closed. You wondered if Zuka and Rocket were up yet. You walked up to the apartment door. You knocked on the door and waited. Again you knocked after a bit.
"I'm coming, I'm coming.," You heard a voice call out and the door opened.
You looked up and saw Zuka scratching at his shoulder while yawning. You could see his fangs. Teeth worn down with his age. He looked down at you. You waved with a big smile.
"Good morning, Zuka!," You grinned.
He made a slight smile after seeing you, "Mornin' kid. What're you doin' out here this morning?"
You held the package that you were given out to him, "Venom told me to give this to you!"
Zuka's face lost the smile after you mentioned Venom. He took the package from you as you pulled out the magazine you got.
"I found a picture of you.," you said and opened to the article with his picture in it.
You pointed to it with a big smile. He looked down at the picture and then to your happy face.
"You are so cool, Zuka!," You cheered.
Zuka motioned for you to follow him in with his head. You did and he placed the package on the table.
"That was a long time ago, kid.," He said, "I am not proud of it."
You looked between Zuka and the picture of him when he was younger. He was a lot more desaturated.
"I still think you are cool now.," You said, "You are a good person, I'd like to be like that when I grow up."
You felt his large and calloused hand on your head. You heard a tired sigh.
"Don't lose your kindness in this world, Kid.," He said to you as he rubbed your scalp.
His hand was big enough to cover most of your head.
He let you out after waking up his son. Zuka had to open the shop. You walked through the streets again. Your little shoes tapped on the pavement. You didn't have Sisyphus with you. But it was just a quick errand run before going back home. You passed by the cafe that Slingshot owned and saw him getting ready to open. He and his siblings saw you through the window. You gave them a friendly greeting wave, one that they returned. It was a beautiful morning and you felt happy. You didn't see that a one eyed someone was watching you from the alleys.
You found your way to the library and knocked on the door. The door opened and you saw Traffic on the other side. He was scratching his belly with a sleepy smile as he held the door open for you. Did he sleep in the library. You walked in and saw Ghosdeeri at the desk. Her silver glasses reflected the lamplight she was working under.
"Good morning, Ghosdeeri. Morning Traffic.," You greeted the two.
Ghosdeeri looked up from what she was writing, "Good morning, Lualight. Did you enjoy the books?"
You nodded.
"Yes! The one about the animals was interesting. It was also fun to hear about more things from Venom as we read it together!," You were smiling as you relayed the information to the pumpkin headed creature.
She seemed to be pleased with your happiness. She took the books from you and put them back.
"Is there any other books that you would like to borrow?," She asked in her melodic sounding voice.
"Uhh. Do you have anything that needs to be translated?," You asked, "Like some manuscripts or tablets?"
Ghosdeeri shook her head, "I do not have any of those. But they can be found in some government buildings in other regions from what I hear. There are also come in the museum."
You nodded, "Okay. Thank you."
You walked to the door and wished them goodbye. You returned to walking through the streets, seeing the streets begin to be filled with inphernals.
A familiar set of horns beckoned you when you saw them in an alleyway. Dark blue. Curved with a slight swoop backwards. You peered down the alley and saw Broker on his tablet. He had his usual grin on. He looked up. His face lit up after seeing you.
"Lualight!," He cheerfully greeted, "You have been having quite the adventure!"
You walked up to him and sat on the box he was on. You looked at the video he was watching on the tablet. It was a video of you and Scythe. She was swaying to music as she held you. You remembered it, she was making you feel better after you had to get some vaccines.
"Your mama misses you a lot.," Broker said, "This week has been the scariest I've ever seen her."
"I miss her too.," You said.
Broker patted your head with a smile. You leaned into the petting. His hand moved down to your cheek as his thumb ran over your cheek as he held it. He watched as you nuzzled into his hand.
"The Father has been worried. We all have been.," he said, "And it's been hard trying to keep track of you. You keep moving about and Banhammer keeps getting close to catching me again."
Broker gave you a silly expression to see you smile again. He was always so friendly and warm to you.
"Was afraid that Meds lost you for a bit.," Broker said, "But I'm glad that you are safe. Poor Meds has been going through it though."
You remembered that you needed to apologize to Medkit. You had wandered off and gotten kidnapped by Banhammer. It was your fault.
"Please don't be mad at him.," You said, "It was my fault for not being careful."
"Oh, it's not me. Your mama has been super stressed after you disappeared.," He said with both his hands up, "She's been giving him a hard time all week."
You could believe him. Your mama was very protective about you and had a little paranoia concerning you. Broker patted your head still. He placed you on the ground.
"I still have some business here in crossroads.," the scarred inphernal said, "Be safe~."
He gave you a smile as you walked away. You wandered back through the alleys. You began to be very aware of someone following you. A shadow was on your back as you walked. You stopped for a second before looking back. You saw hands reaching for you and you were picked up swiftly. You were snugly placed against a warm chest and your head was nuzzled into. You struggled to escape before the arms holding you squeezed tighter. Your eyes were facing a forest green neck scarf. You knew this smell very well. You knew the hands that picked you up and the sharp fangs that nuzzled into your scalp.
You snuggled into the familiar chest and let yourself relax. The body holding you heaved as she made a sigh. Her tension relaxed after having you in her arms.
"My lil' darlin'.," She said finally, "You gave your mama a good scare."
You looked up to her face. She was giving you a smile. Your mama gave you a kiss on your forehead.
"Mama, I missed you!," You said and hugged her neck.
Scythe started to walk with you in her arms, "Oh I missed you too, Darlin'."
You noticed that you were not going to the same destination you were originally heading, She turned off to go somewhere else. You passed by Slingshot's cafe again. Even when you tried to get out of her hold, she kept you against her chest. Scythe kept nuzzling and running her hand over your back. She was careful not to put pressure on your bandaged injuries. Your mama took you up further to a high point. You found her vulture was waiting there. The bird bowed to allow Scythe onto the saddle while she held you. After she got on and had you settled, the bird lifted off into the air. You were going back to the church.
Scythe had noticed that you were not wearing the clothing that you had on when you left. You had new clothing on. She thought you were so cute. She had also seen your bandaged wounds, that meant that something had happened. She was not going to let you out of her sight or out of her arms for a while now. You saw the giant tower getting smaller as you were flown away from Crossroads. Scythe held you close to her body with her real arm while she held the reigns with her robot one.
"We've been worried sick, darlin'.," Scythe said, "After you disappeared during the ambush, we all got very worried. Then hearin' that 'Kit lost you as well."
"That was my fault, not his.," You said, "Please don't be mad at him."
Scythe didn't look mad at you at all. She looked more relieved. Like she had been fretting every day since you disappeared. She was more tired looking.
"The Father wants to hear everything that happened when we return.," Your Mama said, "He'll especially want to know how you got hurt like this."
You saw her grit her teeth. She was mad that you were injured. Her own and only baby. She wanted to have some beauty sleep after getting back to her room with you. You felt her pressing you tighter against her as you two flew through the area that you had been ambushed in.
She didn't let you look down.
"Keep your eyes on the horizon.," she told you.
But you saw a faint red on the sand below. You looked to the horizon and watched that. Not wanting to see anymore of what you glimpsed. You relaxed against you mother until you got back to the church. Even when you two had gotten off the bird, she didn't let you walk. Almost like she was afraid that if she let you go you would disappear.
Her shoes tapped on the floor. Other members stopped when they saw her walk by with you. They either bowed or gently greeted you. Scythe walked you into the office of the Father. He was sitting at his desk before he looked up and saw you.
"Lualight, you've finally returned home.," The Father stood and pulled a chair out.
Scythe hesitated, yet put you in the chair. She stepped aside as the Father walked behind you. The clawed gloves traced the chair behind you. What used to feel like comfort now felt like a threat. It felt like he was threatening to keep you restrained unless you gave him the answers he wanted.
"We were worried when you vanished. Our little god was lost in a dangerous world.," his voice had a gentle tone to it.
He was not genuine. He didn't mean it. You had heard genuine concern from Venomshank. You just looked forward as you were taught to. How Father taught you to be when he was speaking to you.
"Now, my dear Lualight, where did you get these injuries?," He asked.
His claws trailed by your head.
"From Windforce.," You answered.
His pacing behind you stopped. The claw dug into the wood behind you.
His voice was less gentle after and more demanding, "Explain."
A single word order. No asking if you were okay or if you still were in pain. Just demands for answers. Scythe tried to speak, but Father had her be silent.
"I was taken to the Splintered Skies and put on a trial by her.," You explained to the Father, "She got mad at me and..."
You didn't finish your statement. You remembered how scared and hurt you were. The Father tapped his claws on the wood.
"Continue.," he ordered.
"I got hit with the power of her sword.," you told him.
His clawed hand ran over your bandaged wound. It hurt when he pressed into it. You winced and pulled away from him.
"Who gave you aid?," He asked.
"Medkit.," you answered.
The Father seemed to be satisfied at the moment as he went back to his desk, he steepled his fingers.
"You will be made to speak on this after the sermon. Rest for now.," He ordered, seemingly giving your mother the order to rest more than you.
He had turned to her on the last part of the statement. Scythe picked you up from the chair you had been seated on. Her hands were careful and gentle. She returned to her room with you. Scythe took off her hat and scope. Her jacket, scarf and necktie were taken off after as well. You were held against her, you could feel her exhaustion catch up to her.
You heard her breathing change as she fell into sleep. She kept her arms around you as she slept. Your mama was warm as she slept with you in her arms. She was relaxed now that you were back with her. Back where you belonged. Scythe had not been able to sleep since you had disappeared. Even when Broker called back to tell her that you were safe. She did not rest. She had been running on fumes to get you back. Her beloved daughter.
Your little head was slotted onto your mama's chest, right under her chin. You felt her breathing, heard her heartbeat. It was hard to not drift off yourself. You had slept well, but the soreness from the training Venomshank had given you had made you tired. You could not leave. You might as well nap with her. A sense of safety was with you as you slept in your mama's arms.
While you were sleeping, word of your return spread through the church. As did word of you being injured. The news spread like wildfire through the church.
"Scythe brought her home this morning."
"I saw that she had bandages on her."
"She's safe now. Good."
Nobody tried to interrupt the nap you and your mother were taking. They knew that you two needed your sleep. Besides, it was too precious of a sight to see. The young god they loved, asleep in the arms of her mother.
The sun moved across the sky. Venomshank was waiting for you to come back. You did not come back. Sword went out to find you, even asking Medkit if he had seen you. The gladiator helmet wearing iphernal went to the library to ask the ones there if they had seen you. They told him that they saw you when you returned the books and nothing else. He thanked them and looked for you some more. Sword remembered that you really liked the cafe that Slingshot owned. The young warrior walked in and started asking the staff if they had seen you.
His heart dropped when he heard they did. And that you were being carried by a very dangerous inphernal. Vinestaff could not hide her disgust when talking to Sword about seeing you being carried by your mama. She even mentioned that the inphernal carrying you claimed to be your mother.
"How in the inpherno is she even related to Lua? Lua is too sweet to be hers!," Vine fussed.
Shuriken nodded with an uncomfortable smile.
"Thanks for the information.," Sword said.
"Hey, It'd be best to not go after her. The people that her mother are with are very dangerous.," Slingshot said through the kitchen window.
Sword deflated. You had been taken.
He went back to the home he shared with Venomshank. The god worriedly stood and looked at Sword when he came back.
"Did you find anything?," Venomshank asked.
Sword made a grimace, "She was taken. Her mother took her."
Your mother. That dangerous individual that you had told him about before. He had also gathered more information on her when you and Sword were out together. Venomshank knew she was the most wanted criminal in the Inpherno, if not the most deadly. His own nephew had multiple dangerous encounters with her.
Scythe.
The enforcer of the Church of the True Eye.
Banland Police force's most wanted criminal. Wanted for multiple murders and mass execution. She didn't seem to be one to adopt a helpless hornless.
Yet she did. She loved you dearly from what you had told Venomshank. The most wanted who adopted and loves the most innocent. He did not know the location of the Church itself. If he did, he may have considered retrieving you himself. But then again, he did not like to interfere with mortals and their follies.
"Venom?," Sword's voice pulled Venomshank from his thoughts, "Will Lualight be okay?"
"She will be. Hornless may be soft in body, but their power can shake the inpherno itself. Only fools would dare to challenge one of the creator species.," Venomshank said.
He hoped his words were as true for the young as the one he had known. Telamon's memory gave Venomshank some hope. If you were similar to he, then you will be perfectly fine.
You had woken from your nap, but Scythe was still sleeping. She was stubbornly holding you. You couldn't move. You did see some of your fellow church members peering in to check on you and your mama. Nobody dared to wake her. Nobody dared to take you from her either. All you could do was watch her sleeping face and listen to her breathing, listen to her heartbeat. Her warm breath blew over your hair. You would see her face muscles move, like she was dreaming of something. You could only hope that it was something nice. You saw the familiar shimmering of crystals that had appeared during your sleep.
Finally, your mother stirred. She got up and stretched her joints out with some popping. Scythe wrapped her arms around you again and hugged you tightly. She smothered your face in kisses and nuzzles. The tickling of her fang against your cheeks making you smile.
"Mama! That tickles!," You could giggle out as her kisses were turning your skin pink.
She stopped kissing your face and gave you a smile. One that was so full of love and warmth. She had really missed you in the days you were apart.
You were taken to get changed out of the outfit that you had bought in the crossroads. You were dressed in one of the robes that were made for you. The habit to hide your hair and hornless head was placed on you again. The inphernal dressing you also painted your face with makeup, symbols of the church on your forehead and under your eyes. some rogue on your little lips. Your wounds were cleaned and examined, leaving the healing tissue exposed for viewing by the other members. You were taken to the Father again. He wanted you to give you some direction on what you were to say on your part of the sermon. You had to tell your story, or at least the parts he wanted you to tell with certain embellishments.
The Father wrote down the script he wanted you to follow and practice. You read over it, reading aloud for Father to coach you.
"Again. But put more emphasis on this part.," The father said, pointing to the passage.
His clawed hand tapped the page as the other was resting on the back of your chair. You repeated the sentence, with more emphasis as he asked.
"Good girl, much better.," He praised as he petted your head.
His claws ran from your scalp to run gently across your cheek.
The Father's clawed fingers ran across your cheek, letting the back of the fingers brush over your soft skin to not cut you. He was careful to not smear the makeup put on you.
"Start again, from the beginning.," He said in a kind tone, directing you to speak again.
"My trip beyond the church has been wrought with both danger and discoveries-," You began, reading the script based on the story you had given the Father.
He kept running his fingers over your cheek as you spoke, giving gentle encouragement to keep going. His demeanor was a lot more gentle than when you first returned. He stopped you when you got to the part of when you were learning to defend yourself. He took his claws off of your cheek to tap on the wood of the chair.
"Could you do a demonstration of this new power of yours?," Father asked, "At least just summoning one of those shearing crystals without damage?"
You thought a bit, you had only been able to do attacks with those types of crystals. You didn't know if you could suspend it like your church siblings did with their gears. Plus, you knew that the use of the power would be felt by Windforce and Venomshank. You were moved from the seat you were on to the Father's lap. You did not try to argue with him. His claws were so sharp that if you struggled, they would have cut you. He had you continue to practice under his watch. He corrected any mistakes and made you redo the speech until you had it perfect. Or as well as a child could do.
He was reading over his own notes for the sermon later that day. You were a few days out of practice for speaking to the family, but you still had to. It was part of your duties. The Father kept running his claws over your skin, running over your cheek and neck. He ran his claws close to your still healing wounds.
"Now these sections are crucial, they link to my own sermon.," The Father said as he pointed to his notes and then to your own.
'The Evil of the False Seven'
Something that Father kept preaching. How the 'Swords' were false gods. Especially in regards to the one known as 'Firebrand'.
"You saw the wickedness of the False gods yourself.," He stroked his clawed hand over your injury on your head, "It is a wonder that you survived. Or maybe it is because you are of the true ones."
His claws tickled your scabbed over wound, making you try to move away from his touch.
"It did hurt.," You said.
"But it did not kill you.," The Father replied, "That is the most important part."
You held onto the paper you were reading, The eyes on his coat seemed to be watching you along with his own.
"Those wicked false gods will want to stop you. To keep you from becoming what you were meant to be.," The Father asserted, "Either by force or by trying to convince you of their fake goodness. You have seen their true nature, The flames at the ruins and from Windforce."
"Not everyone I met was bad, though.," You told him and looked up at him, "Many were very nice."
"You were fortunate to have such interactions.," The Father hummed while running his clawed fingers over your cheek, "Most of the population are violent by nature. Even right from spawn, they begin to fight."
His claws kept petting your soft skin as he explained the dangers of inphernals to you.
"But you, a hornless, are a kind and gentle being. Not having a fighting instinct as strong as ours.," The Father continued, "Such a nature makes you a more stable and considerate creature. A true god. You need to stay that way to be a good leader."
He ran his finger over the bridge of your nose, down to the tip of it.
"Now, from the top. We have a few more hours before we have to give our sermons.," Father said while petting your face more.
He made you repeat it again, Correcting mistakes while stroking his clawed hand under your chin. You spoke until the script was finished. The Father patted your head to praise you. His claws wrapped around your head easily as he rubbed over your hair. His claws smoothed over your clothes before lifting you up. He stood himself before walking out of his office.
His shoes tapped on the smooth floor as he made his way to the auditorium. It seemed a bit more crowded in the halls, like it was during your introduction to the church. The members all around the inpherno must have been called after you were returned home. A cold feeling ran over you. You could not place it, but you wanted to be at Venomshank's place or with your mama instead. Members stepped aside for you and the Father, bowing as you passed by. Their horns and top of their heads were all you could see. You wanted to see their faces.
The Father brought you into the auditorium and set you on a seat that was new. A seat that was on the stage and near the podium. Inphernals, your church family, flooded into the Auditorium. They took their seats as the sound and smell of life filled the massive room.
"My dear family," The Father spoke out to the crowd after they all sat or found somewhere to be, "Our dear Lualight has returned."
A roar of excitement echoed through the crowd. It was so loud. They had all missed you.
"I know many of you want to hear from her about her adventure, so I shall let her tell you first before our sermon.," The Father turned to you, beckoning you to the podium.
You stood from your chair and made your way up, hopping onto the stool provided for you.
You began to speak but stopped from the feedback of the microphone. This made some of the members laugh. But you didn't feel like they were mocking you. You heard some gasp and whisper about your injuries. You spoke, following the script and direction that the Father had given you. Yet, you decided to add something. The fact you hid in the eternal flames from the Inphernals that had tried to catch you. The flames that had devastated so many of your fellow church members.
You kept speaking. You didn't tell them about staying with Venomshank or about Sword. You told the rest of your story. You told them about Windforce and her trial, about seeing Banhammer. About seeing other inphernals in the Crossroads and about the wranglers you saw. You told them about how you had also began to learn about self defense using your power. You summoned your crystals as an example, making them burst above your hand.
You returned to your seat after finishing. You allowed the Father to do his sermon while you thought about what you had said. You didn't believe all of what you had said. You followed the script that was given, but that was to keep Father Overseer happy. He gave his sermon as you waited to be let go back to your mama. You would rather be sitting with her anyway. You were barely listening to what he was saying as you looked at the crowd or the hem of your robes.
You wondered about Ghosdeeri. Was there others like her? Perhaps one here in Lost Temple? You thought about Chainsaw and Crossbow again. Were they okay? Were your crystals able to heal them? You wanted to know if they were there in the auditorium with you. You looked up and scanned the crowd for them. You finally saw them, their horns peering over the crowd in the very back. The brooches you made for them seemed to be sparkling in response to your want to find them.
After the sermon, you tried to make your way through the crowd to go see Chainsaw and Crossbow. You were stopped by various church members. They wanted to talk to you, to touch your injuries or even pet you like usual. Some, like those who were burned by the eternal flames, touched your skin since you were unburned. You saw that the two you wanted to talk to were called away by someone else, leaving you alone with the other church members who wanted to talk to you.
You were picked up by one who held you up so you could be talked to without crouching down. You tried to talk to and help as many of your family as possible. Easing their pains and worries as they came to you for comfort and support. Lua poured from you and into the ones you were helping, easing their pains and healing them as they needed. The inphernal who held you passed you to another when they were called away. You kept healing and helping your family, like you wanted to do. But you yourself were getting exhausted. You kept taking care of everyone else, yet you felt like the others did not stop to want to help you. Only your mother seemed to care. Broker was nice, so was Chainsaw and Crossbow.
After you finally were able to help everyone and got to the archives. You sat in your usual spot to read what still needed to be translated. You recognized it as some medical text. Oh so the scouting teams found some medicine books. It seemed to be for inphernals to help their hornless companions in the days before the hornless left. You carefully translated the words as you could. You were not as fast as Ghosdeeri. You thought that having her help you translate would be nice. Or at least someone like her. You stopped and looked up at the lighting fixtures above you, mind wandering back to the Crossroads and those you met there.
You could see why Broker liked Zuka and Rocket, they were kind. Boom box was a lot of fun too. Coil scared you a little, but he seemed to be nice underneath it all. Even though he smelled a little like dog. You stretched your little arms out, reaching out behind you and feeling fabric touch your fingers. Someone was behind you. You leaned back forward.
"Oh Sorry.," You apologized.
You turned back and saw The Dollmaker, the oracle of the church and the one who had made a lot of your clothes.
"Dolly! Are you okay? I didn't hurt you did I?," You asked, knowing her fragility.
She shook her head as one of her dolls piped up, "I am okay!"
Dollmaker took one of your hands and looked at it. She must have heard that you had walked through the eternal flames.
"No burns, fortunate child.," another doll spoke with a saddened voice.
The overhead lights shined off of her four horns. Her bandaged face looked down at your tiny hand as her dolls scampered around her feet. You could not help but feel bad for her, a beloved member who had been irreparably scarred by the heat of the scorch. You had not been told much about the scorch, only that it was caused by one of the Seven and that it hurt many inphernals, killing many more.
You tried to soothe her pains whenever you could, even now you let her have some of your Lua to not suffer. The eye shaped gold jewelry on her head shined and she tilted her head in comfort from the healing. The three dolls that made up her gear even slowed down and seemed to relax.
"Dolly, is there something you needed?," You asked.
She shook her head and presented you with a doll. It was of your mother. You took the soft toy and hugged it with a wide smile. She seemed pretty happy from your reaction and gave you a pat on your head. You could feel her clawed hand on your head through her long sleeves. She left you to keep working on your tasks. You didn't see her look back at you sadly as the needles impaling her spine starting to spark.
Dollmaker walked slowly to the Father's office, feeling another vision coming to her. She instinctively pulled one of the needles from her spine and pulled fabric from her bag. She hurridly made a doll. The frantic pace of it was enough to get the Father's attention as he saw her making the doll.
"Dollmaker, Do you have news?," He asked as Dollmaker finished.
She held the doll she just finished and began to shake. The father noticed the needle she used was the second one on her spine. The one that warns of coming bad omens and tragedy.
"A storm comes.," the voice of the sad doll spoke, "It will shroud the inpherno. Regions will be covered in the shadows the storm casts."
"A storm?," The father asked before Dollmaker held out the doll.
"Sorrow, rage, pain. This will come to pass.," The dolls all spoke together.
Mom and dad were diving out somewhere and dad picked up a nurse shark. He was so excited that he wanted to show my mom.
But all she saw was the teeth as he kept swimming towards her with the shark in his hands.
