Sacrificial Lamb Pt. 02

Ospree patted Hemma on the shoulder, before grabbing Fosta by the elbow and leading him a few steps away. Hemma started to wonder if they really thought human ears were totally useless when they started conversing in hushed voices not five feet away. But she just listened, focusing on not throwing up again.

"It's not supposed to be like this, is it?" Ospree whispered worriedly. "I thought it was supposed to be quick?"

"It can be..." Fosta appeared deep in thought. "Every soul is different... it might not work."

"What happens if it doesn't work?"

"She will die, probably. But her light is strong, I felt it..."

Hemma heaved again, her stomach empty, and cramps setting in. She laid back down, curling in on herself, feeling hot. Her entire body was heating up again, like it had right after she drank that elixir. It started in her finger tips, burning up her arms, and through her core. She moaned, then screamed, feeling like she was burning from the inside out. While she tried to curl in on herself, someone was prying her open and forcing her to lie back flat.

"Ospree, help me! Hold her still!"

Hemma felt her dress being pulled off, and cool hands being placed on her chest and on her forehead. Again, she screamed in both pain and relief as the fire was pulled out of her through the hands. As soon as the pain was gone, Hemma passed out.

Fosta sat back on his heels, looking at the prone, unconscious woman in front of him. She was so beautiful and full of life, he hoped she survived. He knew it had been wrong to force this on her but he hoped she would come around to seeing it his way. He couldn't let himself fall for another mortal. Not with the certainty that they will die, such temporary creatures. But he also couldn't let this mortal leave him, not when she reminded him so much of his lost love. This time Fosta would make sure she would survive before allowing himself to care, to love again.

Legend says, the elixir of the golden apples had the power of healing as well as the ability to transform mortals into immortals, humans into gods. After the god Fosta's human lover was injured, the god scoured the earth, finding three apples. One in the den of a cursed bear, one on a mountain guarded by a dragon, and one at the heart of a volcano. Freeing the bear, bribing the dragon, and swimming through fire, the god retrieved all three. Using these apples, he made an elixir, enough to heal his lover and give her immortality. By the time he found the apples, however, her soul had already moved on into the afterlife, and her body died in the god's arms when he returned.

He never used the elixir, and instead kept it as a reminder of what he had failed to do, who he had failed to save.