Takes place: Late April 2025, after Darius returns to the Isles
Summary: Darius and Lilith reconvene in the emptied throne room of the Emperor, where they discuss what happened
DARIUS:
Darius did not particularly want to return to the throne room.
He had nearly died there. Hunter did die there, though he was brought back to life. But a powerful man had powerful secrets, and there were very few he trusted to discover those outside of himself and a selected few.
As the doors groaned open, far slower and less triumphantly than when they’d burst in a mere few days ago, his eyes fell upon a dark woman standing in the center.
“I see we shared the same thought,” Darius said, starting to walk in. His first instinct was to be suspicious of her, to think that she might be here to claim some glory and power for herself. But she had done more than her fair share in working to lift those suspicions. And more than that, she was an archeologist. Of course she would return to a scene like this. “Have you found anything?”
LILITH:
Lilith stood in the empty throne room for the second time. The first was when she was a much younger woman, marvelling at the history and power this place held. Now it only served as a frame for memories she didn’t wish to keep.
She turned to meet Darius, in the quiet reverence she still had for the hallowed halls she smiled. “Yes. But no, it seems all of Belos’ secrets were just smoke and mirrors. And I was a fool to believe them…”
The archeologist wondered what new ideals would fill this space, now that the smoke and shadows were clearing out. “What happens now? I fear followers of the old way will plan to retake this place even now that he’s gone. He had a presence like the Titan, we can’t erase it in mere weeks.” She smirked, “I think we may have to stick together Daemonne.”
DARIUS:
It was plain to see that Lilith was still holding onto her guilt. She likely would for a very long time. The petty, mean-spirited part of him wanted to scoff and tell her she wasn’t doing anyone good pitying herself like that. But as someone working through his own guilt of following the Emperor, not to mention everything else he was complicit or directly involved in under his rule, he was able to push that part of him down with a nod.
They both had a lot of work to do.
Her smirk did draw something of a guffaw and eye roll from him. “Oh, don’t be smug about it. I can work perfectly well with others, I’ll have you know,” he replied, with a little smirk of his own. But it soon hardened into something more serious as the gravity of the situation settled. “We’ll need to be a united front. I don’t know how fully I trust all of the Coven Heads who have publicly spoken out against Belos, but we’ll need a majority over his loyalists. We’ll need to keep a close eye on everyone. These next few weeks may be more high stakes than the battle itself,” he said, looking around the room. In the days after everything happened, the throne room had been cleaned, and no longer was his, or Belo’s, blood everywhere. But the pain and trauma of it all lingered in his mind, if only through the shift in ooze he could see out of the corner of his eye where his arm once was.
“What do you wish to see in your vision for the future of the Isles?”
LILITH:
Smugness was one of her prominent traits, it was hard to not be. Her teasing demeanor fell away into her usual sober self. “It’s definitely me who needs to learn how to work with others…”
After so many years of essentially being her own boss, she found it difficult to look to others for their opinions. It would be a struggle to drop her superiority complex at the door and actually listen to people she deemed as drooling idiots. The respectable Lilith Clawthorne had a lot to learn about actual respect. She nodded along with Darius, he at least had earned her respect.
“There’s an unfortunate number of them. The Blights will be a problem. I agree that now is the best time to quash any lingering loyalty to his ideologies, but there needs to be law and order restored back in the Isles before we can set our eyes fully on the future.” Lilith straightened with a dutiful air, “Right now, all I want is that there are no more secrets. Not between us or the people of the Isles. Secrets and shrouds are what got us into this mess with a ruler who was never who he claimed to be. Secondly,” and it was a big deal that she said this out loud as Lilith Clawthorne was a staunch advocate for it, “no more Conformatorium. I’d say ninety percent of those incarcerated are only there because they spoke out against Belos’ regime.”
She didn’t need to say that it was her own actions that filled half of those cells, Daemonne was surely aware. Lilith had a conscience to clear and the Conformatorium was a good first step.
DARIUS:
It was strange, seeing Lilith so dour. He was so used to seeing her high in the air like her ravens, with him wanting to rise to the occasion as well. But if she’d let her head hang, then he at least wouldn’t push it down. “We’ll get you started on those lessons,” he teased lightheartedly.
The mention of the Blights curdled his stomach. On the one hand, he was more than ready to shove his revolutionary prosthetic in Alador Blight’s stupid face, but on the other they had provided many of the abomination soldiers who had fought for Belos. They would no doubt claim innocence now that the tides had turned and it would likely be a lengthy court battle. It would be that way for many loyalists. But the job needed to be done.
He nodded at her statements. “I agree. Although we will need some sort of prison reform, especially for those who might seek to bring back Belos or rise to their own power, the Conformitorium certainly is a relic of it’s era.” Belos’s era. As much as they wanted to bring back law and order, they had to make sure these laws didn’t reflect what came before.
There was a silence that fell over them as he looked around the room. The question that he had since that fateful day sat on his tongue, and he debated whether to voice it. But finally, he said, “Can I ask you something? How long did you have the Stone for? Why didn’t you tell any of us?”
LILITH:
After preaching so much about secrets and lies, Lilith had no choice but to tell the shameful truth. “Nearly the whole month.”
Even the truth vindicated why they shouldn’t trust her. Lilith’s trust went both ways and she was just now learning at her big age how to count on others when it actually mattered. She sighed and let her shoulders hang, not proud of her deceptions anymore. “When I found out about what Belos was doing, and what he wanted it for, I disbanded the search. But learning about the grimwalkers, and Hunter… I kept it a secret because I knew no one would want me to have it. I recognize I am not the most forthcoming or trustworthy. I’ve been the Emperor’s lap dog longer than any of the children have been alive. I was supposed to collect artifacts for him, imprison people who spoke out against him. Even my own sister was on that list!
I believed the stone would be taken and no one would have used it like I did. It was a gamble that their lives weren’t tied together and it worked. I worried that if Belos died and took Hunter with him… that maybe no one else was as wretched to take the risk of reviving the both of them.”
It was a devastating risk to bet all their lives on the one boy. To risk them all on the hope that a liar hadn’t found a convenient truth.
“I’m sorry that I hid it from you. As it turns out, Belos wasn’t the only paranoid one.” That was the closest Lilith would get to admitting that Darius had earned her trust through his actions.
DARIUS:
Nearly the whole month. Darius’s expression soured as he remembered how frantically he had spent the last month looking for leads only to come up short. In some ways it was his own fault–Lilith had called off the hunt after all. But now, there was clearly a reason for that.
He listened to her, though his dark eyes glued themselves to the throne as to not cut her a glare when clearly she was trying to be forthcoming. It was a gamble indeed, and one that had nearly cost Hunter his life. Had they used it on him before, then perhaps the fight would have gone differently.
Or maybe it would have gone worse. In the end, “what if”s would get them nowhere. This was the end result they had come to, for better or for worse. In a weird way, he almost felt he understood his sister, holding onto grudges of the way things might have been. But like her, he would need to learn to let go and move forward.
So finally, he released a tired sigh and tore his gaze away to offer it back to her. There was no anger to it, but maybe a disappointment and a resignation that this is the way things had to be. “I can’t say I agree with the way you went about it, but your gamble paid off. This time. We can’t risk those kinds of games moving forward, though. We will need to be completely honest with each other in the future.”
To test this, he followed up with, “Where is the stone now? Is it secure so that no one else can get it?” The last thing they needed was one of Belos’s sycophants trying to bring him back to life.
LILITH:
Lilith nodded soberly. It was never a game to her. The games were over and all the pieces were strewn about the Isles and further. The pair of them, along with new and old colleagues, had to put the board back in its box and hope no one proposed a rematch.
“It’s safe. Back where Merlin left it. I told no one of its location, and…” she paused. The great raven witch was wary of letting people exert power over her, to let them bend her to their will. After Belos it only seemed natural, but she was distrusting before then because she knew the shadows and what hid in them too well. Tentatively she offered a great show of trust, “I’d like you to remove it from my memory. No one should be aware of the Stone’s location and if I know where it is then someone else could take that from me.”
DARIUS:
Darius’s eyebrows raised slightly. It was not a request to be taken lightly. Not only did it mean giving up the power of one day finding the stone again if needed, but it meant trusting that he wouldn’t take that knowledge for himself. There was a part of him, an instinctive part, that believed he couldn’t just let that go. After all, what if something else happened to Hunter, or Belos came back? To let go of something so powerful would be putting them at a severe disadvantage.
But that was the thinking of the Emperor, and the society he created. In an Isles ruled by Belos, it was survival of the fittest, a constant clawing for strength in a hostile world that wanted them all dead. But that wasn’t what the Isles were, really. Yes, it was a more wild and dangerous environment than the mainland, but it was also infinitely more magical, with possibilities around every curve of bone. Maybe they wouldn’t have the stone, but they would have each other and the unique opportunities that their home provided. They would be okay.
So in the end, he nodded, taking that olive branch of trust. “Alright. I’ll do it.”
And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
Prior Reading:
The Isles Are Dark
For the Future
Hunter, Willow, Darius, Lilith, Eda, and Raine reach the Isles and gather with the rest of the rebels. Together, they make preparations and share one final meal...
takes place: the evening of 4/19
cw: authoritarian government, plotting to take over said authoritarian government, thoughts of inevitable death/dying
After Willow and Darius learn that Emperor Belos has shut off all communication to the Boiling Isles, they call a team meeting of trusted allies in Swynlake and decide they have to end this once and for all...
Takes place on the evening of 4/18/2025
@halfawitch-willow @darius-dues @ravenwitch-lilith @owlwitch-eda @mxrainewhispers
cw: authoritarian government, plotting to take over said authoritarian government, thoughts of inevitable death/dying
Darius watched her carefully as she responded. Of course what she could be saying was a lie, but a woman like her loved to lord her superiority over others. If she was in the Emperor's good graces during these trying times, she certainly would be feigning shock that he didn't have those same permissions.
This was different. If she was telling the truth then it had grave implications. If the Emperor was not even communicating with the Head Witch of the Emperor's Coven then who was he communicating with? Anyone at all?
Just what was he planning?
He regarded her for a moment before shaking his head. "No more than anyone else, it seems." That wasn't entirely true. Of course, there was everything with Hunter and his relationship to Belos, but they weren't nearly on that level. Not yet.
In the darkness they shared, he wouldn't blow out his candle entirely, but he'd guard its light behind his hand.
"I'll admit, it's been quite frustrating. Never in my career has the Emperor ever acted like this. There have been whispered concerns happening throughout the covens. What do you make of it?"
Lilith hated to speak ill of the Emperor, especially when she wasn't aware of his grand plans. But it frustrated her to no end to be left out when she was one of his greatest assets left out in the cold.
"Honestly, Daemonne, I'm not sure. He's... a paranoid type, but he hasn't shut me out like this before." The words came out smoothly, despite the force it took Lilith to voice them.
She swallowed her pride to keep sharing, knowing what Darius knew would only come with trust. And if their game were to play out in anyone's favor, she would need to show her hand first.
"As far as I am aware, this is unprecedented. The Isle... they've been open as long as I can remember and the Emperor not--" she winced with her words, "the Emperor not informing me of these plans means he is holding them closer to his chest than ever. Perhaps, his paranoia has gotten to him in the time I have been away."
Hunter wasn’t sure what he expected Lilith to say.
A woman in her position, in her power, could simply throw him out. She was under no obligation to believe him, especially considering how close she’d been with Belos before she came to Swynlake. When Hunter thought of her, he always pictured the two of them walking down the corridors of the Isles’ administrative buildings, talking about great plans.
But she spoke and Hunter realized that maybe he’d been wrong about Lilith.
Maybe like himself, Lilith had been dumped in Swynlake on a wild goose chase. Maybe Belos had removed her from the equation for some reason, wanted to control his assets more tightly. Maybe he did genuinely believe that Lilith could find the Philosopher's Stone, but in the end, she’d just been a tool to him, something he could cut off easily if the situation called for it.
Maybe he and Lilith were more similar than Hunter had thought.
He swallowed.
“I — Darius said as much,” he said. “I don’t know… it’s a big ask. Especially considering, well… he’s already put a spell on me. I should’ve died during my accident. He’s keeping me alive till he finds another. I — I’ve more or less accepted that I…" His voice trailed off, his gaze wandering. When he looked back at Lilith, there was a newfound determination in his voice.
"The important thing is that it doesn’t happen again. To someone else."
Guilt clawed its way up Lilith's throat, tearing at the back of it. Her eyes stung with a fire she'd felt before. Maybe she hadn't known about the necromancy, the torment of the Golden Guards, but her hands were not clean in any way.
The Head Witch did not get to the top without being just as vicious. She thought of Edalyn, young and scrappy but just as talented as her, maybe even more so. That was what turned the elder's blood so green. Her jealousy made her a monster and thus she made her sister into one too. Lilith had years to face what she'd done but she just couldn't bring herself to acknowledge the guilt.
This revolution had a way of forcing Lilith to see the carnage she wrought, all by the hands of a boy she hardly respected last year.
She took a steeling breath, "The thing about spells and curses, Hunter, is that they can be broken."
The boy's life force was tied to Belos in a way she feared breaking it would kill them both... but she kept that to herself. Her hunt for the Philosopher's Stone was over in one capacity though Lilith believed she would keep looking for Hunter's sake. And if it couldn't save the boy, maybe she could use it to save her sister.
Darius quirked a singular eyebrow at her response. When she spoke of her work, he assumed she meant the stone, which he was not unconvinced was a mission given by the Emperor directly. For a man who had no problem siphoning the lives of his most trusted subordinates to replenish himself, he had no doubt that he might be looking into other methods to extend his lifespan.
And yet, she invited him to sit down, to have further conversation. Why? Hunter had already been ousted by the Emperor, and yet he, and Darius, were expected to continue their search for the stone. Was Lilith only keeping them close to keep an eye on them?
Or was something else going on? Carefully, he sat, brushing out his cape from underneath him. "Well, surely I would assume the Head Witch of the Emperor's Coven would have special permissions to come and go as needed. Unless that isn't the case?"
"One could assume I would have special permissions, but with communications down I haven't gotten any updates as of late..." She wanted to curse him for making her flash her cards before him. But Lilith understood the art of the exchange. Give a little, get a little.
She leaned back in her chair, gathering her air of superiority when she needed it most to feel at ease again. "You're also a coven head, surely you have the same information I do regarding the matter. Unless... you know something that the masses aren't privy to?"
This was the closest Lilith Clawthorne would ever come to begging. If Darius recognized that, this interaction could go one of two ways: he realizes she knows nothing and leaves her in the dark alone, or he sees how they are in the dark together and they could join forces to leave it behind. The latter requires trust. Trust Lilith didn't have with the people of the Isles. She was just too relentless and too cryptic to ever be someone anyone could trust.
It was true that Hunter didn’t know exactly what Belos’ plans were. But he did have some suspicions. Those suspicions being that Belos wanted him back, and he was suffocating the Isles till Hunter showed up on his doorstep.
There was still a lot that Hunter didn’t understand — like why go through all this trouble?
He also wasn’t entirely sure what he should tell Lilith.
He’d told Eda, in a moment of bullheaded bravery (or brave bullheadness, depending on what your read of the situation was). But he wasn’t sure if that trust could extend to Lilith.
Except —
Well, she was in the dark too, wasn’t she? Upset at Belos for leaving her behind? Hunter knew what that was like. He’d been there. He’d been desperate for approval, for acknowledgement. Answers.
Maybe an answer was what Lilith needed.
“I learned he was planning a spell,” he said, slowly. “One that would make him — powerful. Immortal. And he… he needed me for it.” He swallowed. “Just as he needed the Golden Guard before me.” Hunter did his best to keep his voice steady. “As you can imagine, I, er, do rather like being alive even if he didn’t want that. So… I managed to escape and that’s why I’m public enemy number one.” He cleared his throat. “Apparently, he says I’ll die soon anyway!”
He wasn’t sure why he added that; maybe to show Lilith that he wasn’t a threat? Maybe because saying it over and over again made it feel like it was something that was going to happen to someone else, instead of his own very imminent future.
The weight Lilith wanted lifted sank deeper, heavier on her chest. Her great task was only a back up plan, or merely a tool to make Belos stronger just like Hunter said. No one was entirely sure what the Philosopher's Stone was capable of so perhaps it could work in tandem with the methods he was currently using.
If Lilith were to believe what this boy, this fugitive, said... she would have to accept some unfortunate things were true. One, that she was never as close to the Emperor as he led her to believe. Two, that he was using the Golden Guards to replenish life force he couldn't make on his own... to be immortal. And three, her hunt for the Philosopher's Stone needed to end.
"That is... unfortunate." Were the only words of condolence she could muster.
Lilith was never good at this, the empathetic part. She could feel the sorrow, the worry, but the witch could only express emotions on the opposite end. She could show her pride, her rage, her indignation. Words of pity didn't cross her lips much.
"I... I didn't know. I know that's hard to believe with my position in the administration. But... you know more than anyone that the Emperor is a paranoid, secretive man. If he is a man at all..." She all but whispered the last part. "We can figure this out, Hunter. You will not die."
Lilith's gears were turning in her head causing the flame of nearby candles to dance. She hadn't signed up to commit necromancy, to kill innocent young men to keep power over the Isles. The sorceress loved being adjacent to power, having power, but not at the expense of Hunter's life.
When everything had come out, Darius didn't go to Lilith. His first priority was the children of the Boiling Isles, who were now stuck in a dilemma of whether or not to go home, and what might happen to them. In all honesty, he assumed it would be the last he'd ever see of her. Whatever machinations the Emperor was planning, surely he would be surrounding himself with his most loyal and trusted lapdogs.
But that wasn't the case. First, the other Coven Heads who were most supportive of Belos seemed just as lost as the rest of them. And then, even when the deadline for the closure had passed, Lilith was still here, in Swynlake.
He needed to see it for himself. He didn't call her ahead of time or let her know he was coming. He simply showed up in her office, cloak billowing behind him.
"I'd let the team know if I had found anything," he said, making it clear that the mission for the stone was one that was collaborative, not for her alone. "I'm surprised to see you still here, even after the closing of the borders."
Though, not the friendliest of catching up it seemed. It made Lilith feel like a cornered dog, him calling her out directly like this. As straightforward as the Head Witch was, she wasn't the kind to show her hand to just anyone.
Lilith kept her face stoic as she replied, "Well, I have work in Swynlake to do. My job here is as important to me as anything back home."
A slight pause and Lilith stood to welcome Darius in further.
"I am sure we will all be able to go back to how things were before once matters have settled in the Isles. Sit, please."
What matters, exactly? Lilith didn't know. And she wasn't completely confident things would ever be the same in the Isles when her letters went unanswered. She didn't want Daemonne to know that though, in fact, she wanted to know what he did.
In order to quell her mind of threats, she kept tabs on everyone in her circle and on the outskirts of it. Hunter, boy wonder, was always on the outside of her circle. That is, until he became wanted shortly after she entrusted him to help her find a relic for the Emperor.
That was when she became the most interested in a Golden Guard that she ever had been. They were one in the same, lap dogs to the mighty and powerful, so what did he do to spark that wrath? She elected to ignore it for her own selfish gain, but now the paranoia in silence was getting to her. Lilith invited the fallen, once golden boy in to her shadowy abode.
She made tea. She set the fire. She lulled him in with hope of a break through in their hunt.
"So, Hunter... I've given you enough lead with your personal life, but it seems the times are changing, for all of us." Lilith set her nightshade colored tea cup closer to his side of the table they gathered around. "I'm afraid I can't ignore it anymore.
Hunter hoped this would just be about the philosopher’s stone.
Even though he'd barely been thinking about that. Could you blame him? He’d been kicked out of the Boiling Isles, orders to arrest him should he ever return. He was suddenly on his own, working a job that he frankly was not qualified for (Cass Hamada must’ve taken much much pity on him) and trying to study for a degree that probably wouldn’t matter in the end.
And of course, there was the situation in the Isles.
But Hunter would rather talk about his lack of research with the Stone than about that.
Yet, of course, Lilith Clawthorne, razor sharp as a raven’s talon, would waste no time in cutting straight to the point.
He swallowed his tea, trying to keep his hand steady.
“I —”
What could he say? Belos was going to use him in a dark necromantic ritual? For all he knew, Lilith was still loyal to Belos. She could just drag him back to the Isles, lock him up in Belos’ dungeon. Except —
“Why didn’t you go back?” he blurted out. He sat up a little straighter. “I think that’s fair. An answer for an answer.”
He hoped it sounded much more confident than he felt.
The boy looked ill. Lilith wanted to response with petulance, but thought better of it. The pair of them were both too scared to fully show their cards and expose how screwed they were.
Lilith was proud, revolutionary. She could set the example, even though she wanted to sneer and tell Hunter that she asked first.
She sighed, “it seems our emperor has neglected to inform many of his servants of his plans in this time of strife. Belos hasn’t spoken to me about his plans, I assume you are just as unknowledgeable?”
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