The pomegrenate fruits growing from their black branches were plump as they always were, ready and ripe for the picking.
Julika plucked one from the stalk and sighed as she looked down at the golden surface of the fruit. It was pomegrenates day after day, night after night, endlessly for years.
She couldn't deny that they were delicious, and unbelievably juicy, but after fourteen years of eating the same thing she'd grown tired of it, and she'd told Mama and Papa as much. Yet they kept saying they couldn't do anything about.
Pomegrenates were all that grew in their Hell.
Speaking of Mama and Papa they'd be expecting her back before the sky turned black. That was when the monstrous shedim came out to fight over a chance to go to the Mortal World, that was when Mama started work and when Papa would put Julika to sleep by telling her stories, the way he'd done from the day she could understand what words were.
The sky was red now, meaning it was safe, but it would't remain that way for long and Julika reminded herself that she had to hurry home.
She picked a few more pomegrenates and pulled her cloak closer over her shoulders before heading out of the orchard and onto the path her father made for her.
Out of the thicket of trees and onto the road there was little that lay before Julika for miles ahead. There was the ash that made up Hell's earth and the misty red fog above that made up it's sky, there were dunes of it, the ash, that curled with little wisps as the cold wind carried their grains and settled them down again lightly.
Julika sighed and walked forward, dragging the hood of her cloak lower over her ears as she did.
The wind was picking up now, carrying the scent of death and blood; a prequel of the coming violence the darkness would bring.
Julika tried to focus her mind on the path, straight and narrow, standing out black against the sand, even as the hem of her cloak fluttered in the wind and the basket of fruits weighed heavier in her hands.
Maybe she'd picked too many pomegranates.
When she grew tired of just looking at the path and walking she resorted to thinking about the stories awaiting her when she got home.
Those stories were the things Julika treasured the most.
Stories of skies that were like ink at night and not as black as shedim blood, stories of ground that was brown and rich in some places and yet was golden and brittle in others, instead of ash everywhere you looked. Stories of green grass and a yellow sun, of fresh air and a cool soothing breeze after a hot day.
These were the stories that ruled Julika's heart and mind, that made every day in this little Hell worthwhile. Julika wondered which one he'd tell today, would he talk about Olympus or Atlantis, or maybe the Fey and their honesty and cruelty, or maybe he'd just talk about The Mortal World, those were the tales he loved telling the most, the ones that had happened in his home world.
It was always clear he missed The Mortal World, and yet he stayed here in Hell with them. Julika always asked him why he didn't go back, why they all couldn't leave Hell and just go to his home. He would always smile and whisper with that pained look in his eyes. "It's not safe for us Julie, it's not safe for you"
Julika never understood, but she'd remained patient, and had waited for the day they would leave Hell, and their small little cottage.
Julika nearly yelped when she realized the cottage was now merely a few steps away from her and ran the rest of the way.
The cottage was made of the black wood the pomegrenate fruits grew from and had braved Hellstorms and unexpected shedim attacks. Usually her mother and father would be waiting for her at the door, eager to get her back inside, but today there was no one at the door waiting for her.
Worry gripped Julika instantly and she found herself jamming her shoulder into the door because of it.
The door gave in with a click and a crash, and she fell to the floor with a thud.
Fortunately, her parents were there and she'd managed to save the pomegrenates from being squashed.
Unfortunately, she'd broken the lock and most likely her shoulder.
"Julie" came her father's voice. He was beside her in an instant, raising her up from the ground and cradling her in his arms. He looked at her shoulder and carefully put his hand over it.
Crimson light shone, and a minute later Julika felt the pain in her arm begin to lessen.
"What were you thinking barging in like that" said her father. His name was Percival, and he was the one she got her silver hair and red eyes from, everything else she got from her mother.
"I thought I would see you outside but you weren't there so I got worried" Julika said.
Percival chuckled and Julika could hear her mother's laugh from behind him. Their combined laughter was a strange sort of symphony, like two different melodies somehow making a beautiful song.
"I suppose that's on us" Percival said as he led Julika to a nearby chair so that she sat opposite her mother who was looking at her with those playful purple eyes. "Your Mama and I have been talking for a long while now, we barely noticed the Darkness approaching, we're dreadfully sorry dear"
"Talking?" inquired Julika, whose ears had only caught that one word.
Mama and Papa loved each other there was no doubt about that, but they rarely spoke. Their discussions, as far as Julika could tell, never involved actual words, only meaningful looks and affectionate touches, as if their love had developed it's own language that was somehow telepathic, private, sacred to them and them alone.
So for them to have actually said things it meant something big was about to happen.
"What were the two of you talking about?" Julika asked.
Percival looked to his wife and she nodded with a smile. He smiled back and then turned to Julika.
"Your Mama and I have decided that it is time to start training you and preparing you for the Realms Beyond"
Julika could feel her heart on the verge of bursting.
It couldn't be, could it?
Was today the day?
It was almost like her father could feel her excitement because his smile grew wider and his eyes grew softer.
"We're leaving here, we're going to all the realms I've always told you about, and we're leaving tomorrow"
Julika screamed for joy and she was fairly certain all of Hell's tenants could hear her but she didn't care, she was estatic.
She was finally leaving.
"I can't believe this" Julika rejoiced. "I should go and start packing, you too Mama"
Julika failed to notice the look on Percival's face as she said this, but she could see the look on her mother's.
It was of utter heart break.
"Julie dear" came her father's voice, layered with hesitancy and care. "I'm sorry dear but Mama isn't coming"
"What?" She asked. "Bu... but why?, why can't Mama come with us?"
Percival stood and came to squat in front of Julika. He had such kind eyes, and they gazed up at her with a silent plea.
"Julie" he said. "Mama has to stay for her own good and her safety"
"But she's been stuck here for so long, she deserves to see the Realms, she deserves to leave here"
"I know baby girl" Percival said. "But it's for her own safety, and her own protection"
"I can protect her Papa!" Julika said. "We can protect her together!"
It was clear on Percival's face that he wanted to do something, but there was simply nothing he could do.
"Julie, I...."
"Mama can't be okay with this, she'd never let us leave without her, right Mama?"
But Julika's mother was silent and when Julika tried to catch her mother's eyes she looked away, shielding her face with her raven black hair.
"Mama?"
There was no answer.
Julika, eyes brimming with tears and chest heaving, leapt from the chair and ran to her room, her father's voice calling after her gradually fading as she got farther and farther away from him.
As soon as Julika reached her room she banged the door shut and went to her vanity table made from the same black wood everything else was made of.
She looked up at the mirror. Her glowing eyes stared back at her, burning with a feral anger that she'd never felt before, she could feel it rushing in her veins, seering her heart with a terrifying heat.
She tried to turn away to focus on something else, but something kept her there, digging her nails into the wooden table, looking at her own face, the face of her mother.
Her mother who she was leaving behind.
The thought made her want to scream.
Julika screamed.
The mirror shattered into a million pieces as her eyes burned a brighter red.
She didn't shield her face as the shards flew at her, she didn't care for any of that.
What was life going to be like without her mother?
Her Mama?
Julika never wanted to know.