Chương 65: Chapter Sixty: Sirens Lullaby

Hypatia moved on to the metal box emitting a dull thrum. A heavy lock hung from a handle and was secured by a strange material that wrapped around the entirety of the smooth metal. Hypatia scrutinized the contraption and came to the conclusion that it was a chest of sorts. For what she did not know but something compelled her to search the surroundings for its natural enemy.

"Where are you?" Leaning against the counter with exhaustion from keeping a tenuous realm for splintering under her manipulation, Hypatia shook the illusion from her mind. This is getting too dangerous. A flash of something metallic flickered. Instantly, all of the fatigue faded as she searched for the source. A key hanging on an inconspicuous hook on the side of a cabinet close enough to the ceiling that she didn't immediately notice it gleamed invitingly.

Leaping to grab in lieu of using her powers, she wrapped her fingers around the sharp ridges to admire it and decidedly pushed it into the jagged hole. The strange padlock unhinged and fell to the ground with a clatter. Her hand fell on the handle the next second and a wave of rot overrides her senses. Ducking to cover her nose. Hypatia staggered back at the smell of rotting meat and possibly fruit. It was hard to distinguish the two sludges from one another. What is this? What is this?

Bewildered at the oddity, Hypatia bumped into the counter and caught her breath. •••••••••••••••••••• Hypatia ran after the crimson shadow playing cat and mouse with her, shouting until her lungs shook.

"Slow down!" Miseria looked over her shoulder at the tenacious creature and weighed the options mentally. I guess it couldn't hurt. She hopped down from the shaking branch, in front of the strange woman she had just met.

"What's up?" Hypatia got down on one knee, heart pounding with the seriousness of her discovery, and asked while looking into the girl's eyes for a trace of deceit.

"Would you go back?" A flash of understanding crossed blood red orbs. She grinned, and her tears dyed the snow black.

"Not even if they begged me." With those words the heavy clang of a bell hitting a wall harshly echoed, followed by the metallic clang of a door being slammed shut severing the connection. Stripping the false reality away to reveal its true face in the darkness. … Hypatia ejected herself from the mind of Miseria and blinked a few times to correct her sight. Her lashes bared a single tear she had shed while deep diving and she wiped it away with her sleeve.

She turned her gaze to the sleeping child and revealed a knife from within her bodice. Recalling Miseria's ashen cowardly behavior from earlier, Hypatia didn't believe that even she knew what kind of monstrous secret she kept under wraps. But could she take such chances? That kind of soul… coupled with her immense talent and capacity to wield the magic she'd been gifted with. It's a disaster waiting to happen. Something like that…

A dangerous premonition solidified her straight and narrow line of sight until all that remained was a cold blooded calculation. Something like her cannot coexist with the Equilibrium. How and when should I dispose of the threat hiding in plain sight? Although she shows signs of being vulnerable to THEM. It doesn't look like she had succumbed to an influence greater than the gods from the desolation of the inner world. No other presence existed within her. Yet.

Teetering on the brink of destruction from the memories of something she does not quite remember. Traces of past lives have never been so obvious in a mind before. It was now or never. Risk the fate of their world or… eliminate a threat before it ever even matures? Hypatia held the curved blade closer to the neck of the babe peacefully sleeping. Suddenly all of the candles in the prayer room were smothered to death.

"Who's there?" Unlike the permanent night she was used to living under, the room was now drowned in darkness. Pure darkness. Mist brushed against her cheek, and she stilled. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Hypatia's eyes clouded over with a sinewy fog, and she sank into the ground, petrified. Quick shallow breaths left her throat as she struggled to breathe under the immense pressure threatening to fracture her shoulder blades.

A weary hoarse voice echoed from within the behemoth of absence.

"Do you really think…You are a God?" Ridicule was apparent.

"No…No. I-I I'm honored to serve."

"Then serve." Laced with an indifference reserved for ants, "Don't interfere unless you prefer..." A sharp pain pulled her lips together grotesquely. A fine needle stringing them together for the entity.

"Being sewn shut." The air was sucked out of the room and she coughed from the lack. Her eyes cleared up and the candles lit themselves again. They danced in the darkness of the room like nothing had ever happened. Trembling at the encounter, she grasped at the warm metal of her pendant. A gift from her Goddess. It burned her clammy palm, and she heaved a shuddering breath in again relishing the taste of air after being deprived of it for just a moment.

"Hypatia?" She jumped and looked down at the little girl with mismatched eyes. She looked concerned for the poor old woman despite her kookiness.

"Are you okay?" Hypatia stared back at her with indecipherable expression. Stone faced and green in the temples. Veil scattered on the floor in a haphazard manner.

"Ma'am?"

"..." Miseria got up slowly under the oppressive gaze and buttoned her undershirt back up cautiously. Hypatia found her voice a fortnight later and it sounded foreign even to her, "You may go."

"Sure… Are you sure you're—" She choked out." Go." Miseria didn't need to be told twice; she jumped up, stepped over the crystal bowls lying on the ground, and left without hesitation. Hypatia collected herself and sheathed the blade hiding in her sleeves. This… must never be known. •••••••• Miseria stumbled over to Erichean who was fast asleep on the rug, clutching a flask like a security blanket. Snoring the house down like he pays bills here. Damn! He needs a c-pap machine.

I climbed over his outstretched limbs and dragged a blanket hiding underneath my bed to cover his torso. It was bright pink and illmatched with his cool ranger clothes which made me smile. Brief visions and whispers of something wrong filtered into the room. Absolutely nothing in the icebox seemed to clue her into the wrong here. This is not the truth. She tilted her head towards the rest of the floor. Stairs. Taking them two at a time wary of anything that might pop out to spook her. The hallway revealed itself.

"Here goes." Dreading whatever demented articles hid behind the curtain. Hypatia turned the knob.

"…" Wooden effigies of people she assumed were important to this girl were standing upright in different poses. Wax molded into an expression on their smooth faces. A pair holding each other while watching something on a black box hanging from a wall. Nothing too strange but she wasn't ecstatic about the rest of them. Hypatia closed the door and creeped over to the adjacent entrance. A couple of young children were standing on bunk beds while one sat on the ground and looked up at them despondently.

The dramatic frown sent a shudder down her spine and she curled her lip in a disgusted frown. Hoping to get it over with, she opened the next one without further ado. Rooted in place. Indescribable at first sight. It burned. It burned to look. She put a hand over her mouth suppressing the vomit creeping her esophagus she couldn't bear to keep the door open. A shaking hand reached for the door handle and it felt wrong to even reach into the room.

Like she was reaching into an abyss and becoming dirty just from touching the air. Her hand twitched every so often. Steeling her resolve, she couldn't stop now that she'd seen something so vile. She wasn't unused to the sight. Delving into minds had given her more than enough time to see into the darkness of every corner of depravity that existed in the minds of all. Yet it unsettled her. It threw her off her game in a way she had not felt for years. Niathe. The name tasted unfamiliar now that she knew.

Knew the dark places held secret in this mind. Equal parts loathing for the woman and profound sadness for the girl was too much in the heat of the moment. How would she even begin to tell her? Did she even know? Under her supervision how could such a tragedy happen? What kind of laxness did she dare to have towards her one heir. Knowing what she means to us all. To the Empire. To the Fae. The witch kind. Who are these people? The contempt seeped from every pore as she continued with a heavy heart.

Heart jumping when something brushed her temple. Somewhat used to the surprises of this place. She pulled on the string and an entire structure fell from the ceiling. More stairs. Sighing, she began the climb. Poking her head up she judged that it was safe in here and entered the final level of the house. This room was cold. Unlike the rest of the house. Pink clouds of insulation gathered in a pile close to the hole she had entered through. Hypatia stepped over it, picking up her dress to avoid being caught in it.

A mattress was pressed up against a wall alongside a box that held some of the inhabitants belongings. Books, writing utensils, scholars items. Well read. As expected of her. The pictures on these walls are scratched. White lashing against brief shadows of a requiem from a scene she did not want to remember revealed her lack of identity. Struggling to hide but unable to fully let go. The chaos existed in every corner of the hurricane that hit the room. She scoured the rest of it for more details. No dolls.

Perhaps she finds comfort her. Pouring over strange glyphs and other tokens—"That's not very nice of you." Hypatia jumped for the umpteenth time and dropped the book. It made a thump sound, laying on the wooden floor abandoned.

"..." New eyes took in the elven girl clad in a cloak that seemed to bleed with the rise and fall of her tiny chest.

"I win." Miseria stomped closer to Hypatia, who discreetly clenched her fist ready to defend herself. A tiny hand reached out for the necklace, hanging from the older woman's neck and Hypatia cleared her throat dodging the greedy jumping imp.

"What is this place?" Miseria responded absentmindedly still intent on retrieving her prize.

"A house. I used to live here. Now I don't. My prize." She shoved her hand out again, and Hypatia took it off by herself to place it in the tiny little hand. Miseria examined it and smiled victoriously. Then she opened her basket revealing its contents for just a moment and threw it in. A hidden tension built up in her neck, "Miseria?" The girl buffered for a minute before relaxing, "Yes?" In a rare cajoling tone, Hypatia pointed at the basket, "Is that what you ate?" Miseria frowned and opened it up to inspect it.

There's nothing wrong.

"Yeah. Why?"" That is not food meant for a child." The smell from downstairs percolated the air up here and Hypatia's stomach churned.

"You can't eat that." Hypatia reached out to take it from her, and Miseria backed away.

"Get your own! This is mine!" Hypatia swallowed a mouthful of bile and looked around in shock.

"How long?" A few pieces that had been alluding to her clicked into place. Alarm closed her eyes to the light and opened them to the truth. Physically ill, at the revelation. She arrived at the dead end and let go of the reins. The space folded and began to collapse. Confused, Miseria stepped forward to hear the taller woman better, "What?"

"You said…You lived here a long time ago. How long?" Miseria scratched her head and looked around for an answer.

"Ah." The bell tolled and my head raised from its awkwardly bent place. Neck aching from being stuck in such an awkward position, I tilted it from side to side. A heavy book lay between my thighs, set on a random gold rimmed page. It didn't matter anyhow. She wasn't here to read. Gospel music played from a poorly tuned piano as a couple watched as their little star played the keys with a mastery unbefitting his age.

Clear glass windows betrayed the blot of the evening and the constant music that joined the chorus of the gospel. Sirens made the best lullabies.

"Hey." Purple hair tickled my shoulder and I turned to face the girl sliding into the pew.