She was sitting alone surrounded by waves of black. The world around her was animated and yet she couldn't find the breeze that pushed the murky liquid below. Above the stars hung in the inky blackness of the night sky. Asha and Umwell were looming, almost close enough that Talia could have reached out and brushed them.
"Hello?" She called out, curious as to where she could be. She remembered fighting the dragon clearly, and then nothing. Was Nico watching over her? Was she dead? She wouldn't be surprised if she was, her face was still burning and so was her body. She could feel it even in her bones.
"Follow the moonlight..." A feminine voice whispered. Talia didn't recognize it, so it wasn't Hephatus. She eyed the twin moons again, but this time they were gone. A silver stream of light lead away from the ocean of blackness she floated above so she got up and followed it. She wasn't sure how she could walk when she wasn't on solid ground, but it was obvious she wasn't on the terrestrial earth.
Following the light was a slow affair, it never seemed as if she was moving. The black water beneath her continued to churn tremulously and the stars above remained stationary. Yet she continued to persist, moving forward steadily. Or so she hoped. Time was a meaningless word, there weren't hours or minutes she knew. In fact she couldn't even gauge how long she was moving. It could have been years and she wouldn't even know.
Eventually the sky started to lighten a bit changing from the solid black to dark midnight blues, royal purples, crimson reds. The stars were still there but they were fading too, slipping away the more she pushed on. For a moment she stopped to look up and just take in the view, the beauty of it. Behind her it darkened again, almost as if it weren't changing with the rotation of the world but rather was a stationary scene of eternity.
"Maybe I really am dead after all." She mused, scratching the left side of her face. The burn was fading as well into an ache. She had always imagined there was no pain after death, but if life had taught her anything it was that pain was the constant truth.
"No child, only dying." This time it was Hephatus's voice that filled her, she turned back towards the lighter skies to see the goddess walking towards her slowly. Statuettes did little to portray the true beauty of the goddess, her light porcelain skin, her obsidian black hair, her thick voluptuous lips... And her cracked eye. The white webbing stood out clearly against the black of her iris. Her right eye was a darker purple color, but not dark enough to obscure the color entirely.
Hephatus was always portrayed as wearing long comely dresses that hid her bosom, legs, and arms. But as she appeared to Talia she wore a white button up shirt that cut off at her elbows and a leather corset over the top which attributed to her nearly perfect figure. Her legs were nowhere near hidden beneath the cumbersome skirts of the noblewomen of life. She wore knee-high black leather boots that showed off her shapely legs and a high-low cut skirt which showed off her thighs and trailed behind her. The skirt itself looked as if it were made from black webs, sticky and shiny as it fluttered in the nonexistent wind.
The final detail that was widely argued amongst her worshippers was her arms, Talia saw all four of them clearly as she moved forward. Most preferred to see her with only two arms, much like themselves. Talia was happy to see her four arms, happy to see that she wasn't wrong after all. Humans liked to warp images to fit their prerogative. She shook her head, there were bigger things to consider rather than taking in the true image of her goddess.
"Dying?" She finally managed to grit out just as Hephatus stopped in front of her. The goddess smiled, but the sorrow in her eyes was unmistakable.
"I'm afraid so. I had hoped... Hoped I could save you from this fate. Save you from the end." The goddess reached a hand out to stroke Talia on her wounded cheek, the ice cold of her touch soothed away the lingering pain until it didn't even exist anymore. Talia's soul ached at the touch, she couldn't tell if it was from her deep devotion and fulfillment, or from the knowledge that she was dying. She couldn't forget Nico after all, or how it would affect him.
"What do you mean?" She finally managed to ask it after what felt like an eternity of staring into the woman's eyes. In her gaze she could see everything, the darkness, the light, the sorrow, the anger. So many emotions, so much reality. Hephatus had always been the only mother figure Talia ever had and to see her as she was... It was haunting. Hephatus pulled away slightly, looking to the stars with a frown.
"The heavens are splitting apart daughter. The stars are fading... The light is dying. And the world is in such terrible danger. We all knew the day was coming, and yet..." Talia watched the goddess's eyes as they changed from sad to disparaged.
"For eons we've known what would come and we let it. We didn't prepare you, or the rest of our children. Our mistakes follow us, they will always follow us, and running away has never made the problem go away. Time is short now, his hold grows stronger as ours grows weaker. And what was my brother's solution? Dragon riders. And what did they get us? A few more thousand measly years. Now our mistakes lie at the doorstep and the punishment falls to you... To our creation." Hephatus started to walk on so Talia followed, too afraid to stay alone any longer.
"I don't understand?" She asked after the silence dragged on. Mistakes? Gods didn't make mistakes. That was why they were Gods after all. They were holy and immune to the troubles of mortality.
"I could tell you it all now, I suppose, but that would take time out of why I've really come here. I've come to tell you that I couldn't do it, I couldn't stop Fate and I couldn't change your destiny. I wish I could swear, but who do I swear to?" Hephatus laughed lightly. Talia watched her curiously. Fate? Destiny? She was just some spawn, a halfling cast away by her parents into the shadows of the world. What could destiny possibly have for her? Besides a life of stirring the political pot that was, killing anyone who needed killing. As far as she was aware, destiny didn't often favor the killers.
"So was it my destiny to die in that fight?" She recalled the face of the dragon, the horrifying evil in its eyes. She wasn't a saint, but she could recognize true depravity when she saw it. Maybe it was a good thing, maybe dying like that was just tipping the scales of balance back to a happy medium. Hephatus frowned again, turning to look at her for a moment.
"No. I'm afraid it's far more complicated than that... And so long as my son Nico is true to me and his instincts you won't die from this. In fact I don't think Fate would allow you to die from it, not now that you've been united with the egg." The goddess moved on once more guiding Talia with her.
"You'll have to explain more than that if you want me to understand." Talia grumbled as the light continued to grow. By that point the stars were gone and the sun was rising. Was Hephatus leading her to N'Kalla's throne?
"My brother was the one who came up with the dragons, creating them with his very hands so long ago... They were his answer to his brother's growing strength as dusk settled upon the world. They're beasts of incredible intellect, magic ability, and strength. They lead the world back from the darkness of eternal night, and broke upon the world a new dawn. And yet, as N'Kalla arose once more his creation died. They burned so brightly... And then they were nothing but ash." Hephatus held her lower hands forward and within them a floating image of a dragon formed. This dragon was proud however, clean, bright, and beautiful.
"Metaphorically?" Talia queried. Hephatus smiled slightly again, the corners of her lips pulling up to reveal the whites of her teeth.
"I suppose that's what the humans call it... Yes. Their demise was a result of the prolonged war with Vekkar and his armies. In the end, neither side truly prevailed. Vekkar claimed a few of their souls as his own, and with them their dragons which is what you faced. They became twisted with darkness. They are not true riders, or dragons." Hephatus continued to explain how loosing their souls to the darkness had tainted them beyond function, they were nothing more than puppets. The dragons could not reproduce, nor could they utilize the original magic they had possessed.
"I enjoy learning about history my goddess, but what does that have to do with me?" Talia interrupted after a while. She didn't mind rambling by any means, but she had a feeling there was a point to be made and they were both getting off track.
"Ah yes, I apologize... It's been so long since I've been able to talk to my children like this... It's so refreshing. Talia, there's something you should know, about Fate and destiny, and what yours is. But I don't want you to feel as if your existence is solely for this... For what I'm going to describe to you. In the beginning it wasn't even my choice, I didn't even know until the decision had been made."
"What do you mean?" Talia interjected. The goddess's expression was rapidly changing to one of distress and worry. That in and of itself was causing Talia to worry. What could she possibly have to say that had her so worked up?
"Many years ago we became aware of the swell of darkness rising again, a clear marker of the cycle starting anew. N'Kalla was certain his riders could triumph again, the last had left behind the seeds to start over after all. But when the last of them had died or been enslaved we no longer crafted 'worthy souls' as he likes to refer to them. A dragon is paired with specific souls, in many cases the decision was left to the dragon but he ensured that these last five would not hatch for any mere soul... He wanted them to be reserved for the moment Vekkar arose again, and if he allowed them to continue there was no guarantee he could keep them alive and sustained. After all, we are not supposed to interject in mortal life more than necessary." She paused again, this time crossing her arms across her chest. She looked towards the rising sun with a distinctive frown, much like the frown Talia would give Nico when he had done something stupid.
"Your soul was hand crafted by the top five gods, N'Kalla picked the strongest races of the world to carry that soul and harness that power. Giants, hardy bodied, resilient, powerful, stubborn, massive.... Elves, long lived, incredibly magically talented, intelligent, lithe, and connected to the earth in a way no other hominid specie can boast of. Both are of the oldest peoples that still inhabit the world. And a cross that very rarely ever occurs. He had Fate weave a new tapestry, one that brought two unlikely lovers together..." Talia's heart twisted. Created? Hand crafted no less, as if they took extreme care into creating her.
"They put that much work into... Making me? If I was that special then why did my parents abandon me? If it weren't for you I'd still be a... I'd be a gods damned slave! If they wanted me so badly, why didn't they protect me?" She pointed to the sun with a sneer of derision. She had prayed to N'Kalla multiple times while she was a slave, begging him to free her, to stop the pain, to stop the abuse, and never did he once respond. Hephatus sneered as well, her eyes darkening and her frown changing her demeanor to one of quiet brooding danger.
"My brother's motto is hands free once his meddling is done. He saw darkness intercept your path and yet, he allowed it. So is life, he said. Fate promised you would find the egg when the time was right, so he assumed that no matter the path you took it would come to pass with or without his interjection. But in the end, if you were still with those men.... Would you really have been the person to save the world?"
"Am I even the sort to do it now? I have no love for humans, for anyone really. What is my investment here? You're the only one who invested the time in me. Who offered me protection, education, family... " Talia looked to the Sun, to N'Kalla's palace and felt nothing. She didn't hate him, to hate the King of Gods was to wish for a dark and painful afterlife. But she felt no loyalty to him. Was that why she was walking with Hephatus? Did the Gods want to ask her to fight for them, for their cause? They had painstakingly created her soul after all, and if she chose not to their little plans all went down the shitter. Hephatus continued to walk, Talia followed slowly behind.
"You have no reason to. I will admit it easily, without trepidation. I can see the question on your face, did my brother ask me to do this? Did he ask me to beg you for your allegiance? He did. Because he realized that the time is now, and we have nothing left. You were always meant to be the first rider of the new age, and he botched it all to hell. He had no grounds to ask you favors, and he knows full well even if he asked you'd spit at his feet. I know you would." Hephatus smiled then, a true toothy smile. Talia smiled a little too as she sensed the goddess's pride in her.
"The only one I owe anything to is you. But I'm not a warrior... I'm not noble, I'm not kind, I'm am assassin and that's all I am. That's all I've been for so long now I can't see becoming anything else even if you asked me to. I've never imagined myself as anything else." Talia stopped then, turning back to look at the dark skies behind them. She didn't feel right in the light, walking towards N'Kalla's throne. It wasn't her realm, not anymore if it ever had been. But the darkness behind them was growing ever so slowly. Hephatus hadn't been lying when she said dusk was rising once more. N'Kalla's throne was threatened. That didn't bother her to be honest, he could take a dive and disappear for all she cared but if he fell so too would Hephatus.
"I understand. Even to us change is the most difficult challenges to face. And I'm here to tell you that whatever you choose, I will support it. I know your heart Talia, I know your dreams and desires more than any other creature in the world. The egg will hatch for you, you will become a rider and I can not stop that. But I can tell you that the path you choose from here is your own... As much as I can allow it to be. Even Fate can not decide this, chaos is too powerful even for him to eliminate. So if you decide to raze the world and seek revenge I will stand aside and watch. If you choose to burn away the shadow, I will burn with it gladly. I am old, and even I know death is unavoidable even to us gods. To be truthful..." Hephatus turned to stare into the golden light, her darkness shivering under the burning hole of the sun. Talia's heart raced as the silence stretched on. Hephatus sighed suddenly before continuing,
"To be truthful I've known death is coming for us all for some time now. This is the end to a cycle that's been going on for eons now. And I've been alive for thousands upon thousands of years guiding the blades of the shadows. This war will not end kindly for any of us. N'Kalla strives to preserve his empire, to solidify his hold." Talia suddenly understood. Their conversation had a myriad of meanings, of messages, of secrets. But she understood clearly the goddess's message. No one was going to make it out whole. No one was going to make it out alive. Even the kingdom of the gods was going to fall, and she couldn't stop it nor could she protect her own children from it.
"How could I possibly save anyone from this then? If even the gods will fall?" Talia was drowning in the information, overcome with it. With the weight of it. If the gods were going to fail in holding back the darkness how could she possibly hope to do any better?
"Have you ever wondered why you're the only one in my order who can wield fire? Have you ever wondered why you're so different from them? The power you posses is unlike anything they could comprehend. And it never belonged with me. I was never meant to take your soul in or to guide it, but I couldn't allow you to continue to suffer from N'Kalla's neglect. I didn't give you the tools he had hoped for you to gain through life, but in following the path you were on I couldn't even see you becoming a good person."
"And I am one now?" Talia raised an eyebrow. What defined 'good' to a goddess that represented death, murder, shadow, and night? Not evil, she had to admit that Hephatus was not the representation of evil. But most people believed her to be one of the lesser goddesses. One of ill repute without crossing the line into downright evil.
"Perhaps I am not the one to ask, I am biased after all. Like I said, I see your heart and I know it's worthiness. I have to go now however, my daughter. I'm sorry I couldn't stay to talk longer, but things are in motion and I need to ready things for the end. I didn't call you here just to talk either, I called in a favor." She motioned behind them towards the darkened skies and Talia noticed the moons were once again present. Though the moment she spotted them they both turned into bright light and hurtled towards them.
She watched in awe as they touched down on the invisible ground and changed form. First they were two wolves, one with blue eyes and one with red, and then they were women. They were identical twins, the only difference was in their eyes. The 'left' twin had blue eyes and the 'right' twin had red eyes. Umwell was the left twin and Asha was the right. They both had long silver hair that reached their knees in gentle wavy curls. They both wore white frilly dresses and blank expressions. The other big difference was their skin color, Asha had black-ish skin while Umwell's was porcelain white. They shared the same face, height, clothes, and expressions. They mirrored each other perfectly.
"Talia, we've got a gift for you... Please do not forget our constant guidance or presence in your life. Hephatus is the shadow, and we are your light. Whenever you are lost, do not forget to look to the skies for our vision." They spoke in unison, walking forward before each one lay their right hand over her right and left eye. She closed her eyes as a strange tingling feeling filled her, numbing her eyes, her body, her soul, and her mind. She realized with a start that she was fading again, slipping away from Hephatus and the twins.
"Wait! I still have questions... I still want to talk to you." She called out, but her voice echoed in the void around her. She knew then that she was alone once more, slipping between worlds as her body struggled to heal. She wished desperately that she could be with someone, anyone so she didn't have to face the darkness alone.