The Creators Ch. 07

"Corruption?" I whispered. Arbitrus nodded, and I turned my attention back to the picture. "But black eyes don't mean anything," I insisted, "a cosmetic astral meld can turn anyone's eyes any color. You don't know that—"

"I know," Arbitrus said solemnly. "I traveled to Drastin when news of this Night Eyes reached my ears. I found her in her brothel, and I saw the beast beneath with my own eyes. It smiled at me, and I ran. I ran as far as my legs could carry me."

"Good Mother," I whispered, "Astrid—this 'Angel' girl—she's my friend's daughter! She and Flora went to Drastin ahead of us, they're—"

"Dead," Arbitrus interrupted, "or wishing they were. Or maybe Night Eyes invited them to dinner? No one knows what she'll do. You'd have better luck predicting the fall of a thousand dice than guessing her actions. It's the nature of the beast inside her."

Arbitrus leaned toward me until I could feel his breath on my cheek, his eyes boring a hole into the side of my head. "But Corruption made a grave mistake, Julia; she returned to the world when the Destroyer walked its surface."

There was pregnant silence between us where the unspoken words lingered, hovering over us like a black cloud. I prayed that Freydis and Flora were safe, but the realistic side of me knew they weren't. The pictures of Astrid were drawn across the paper in my lap, of her in chains and ropes, suffering the degradations of a twisted mind, a corrupted mind. The Life Giver, my only hope for redemption, was under the mercy of that corruption. Could I murder with premeditation? Could I become the dispassionate destroyer, the brutal corrector? Was this the path of righteousness? Was this what the Holy Mother made me for?

"I'll do it," I barely whispered, "I'll kill Night Eyes."

The Maternal Bible: Chapter One, Page One:

On the first day, The Holy Mother created life, the land on which it walked, and the sun with which it shined. She birthed those that would carry her likeness; the human, elf, dwarf and nymph; the orc, goblin, ogre and troll; the centaur, siren and mermaid. There were others that she birthed as well. These were not of her likeness, but she loved them nonetheless. These were the succubus and the incubus, twins of lust who shared the sin of their father. But the Holy Mother still saw them as her children, and so she blessed them, and set a path for them on which they could take to enter the kingdom of heaven. It was that forgiveness that became the first step of the Maternal Path, and it is the first step all must take. For all are born with the sin of the Unholy Father, all are born imperfect, and so all must forgive, lest they be hypocrites. The Holy Mother has given all a path to follow, and all must follow it to find eternal salvation.