Folly & Agendas & Talulah

*[Chapter 35]*

PLEASE NO!

The months I've spent -traumatized- were for naught. I sobbed until I could sob no more. My throat grew sore from every cry. Eventually the light emitting from my husband's hand faded away, and so did my daughter's wails. 

"Let me... see her..."

My plea was left unanswered. My daughter isn't breathing but bleeding. My fingers sunk to the floor; streams of cloth were attached to the curtains. With one slight touch the room was set ablaze, and with it, one last breath. 

---

"This callous world, cares not for your efforts...'

"Must you perish in this torturous plight?"

An eerily familiar voice pervaded my ears. Every word echoed until I could endure no more. I couldn't see where I was; I could only hear. It's as if I landed in a deep pit, an abysmal purgatory. I could sense someone moving slowly beside me, the sound of tangled chains followed every movement, every step was precise, like the tick of a metronome. 

"You embarked on an exodus, planting new seeds in the hearts of many...'

"But your body failed you, on multiple occasions...'

"Now, your spawn has withered away."

Those words stabbed me in my heart. Her wails on the edge of death. Her eyes that didn't open; The world she couldn't see. The mother that wasn't there to see her grow. My spine was slowly freezing on itself. A lump grew in my throat suffocating me. 

"Life has its fair share of victories and defeats...'

"Myriad stars decorate the night sky, while countless graves litter the landscape...'

"Do you wish to see your daughter again?"

 The clanks of heavy chains circled around me until it came to end. My daughter's wails echoed in my head. Her strained gasps terrorized me. The pure dread persisted on and on, and on and on. I couldn't hold it in anymore, horrendous screams came out of my mouth.

"Well, do you?" He asked.

"Yes!" I cried in all of the ugliness it produced.

"Promise me one thing, and your daughter lives."

"Please. I'll do anything!"

"Very well. Promise me, that you will free the snakes...'

"Break the shackles upon this land...'

"Shine the light through these dark times...'

"And start an age anew..."

---

She was but, a lucky girl...

---

Soft coos floated into my ears. A foreign warmth embraced me while I slowly opened my eyes. The tremendous weight gained from my womb was all but gone. My legs no longer felt sore, and I seemed to have recovered. My body felt rejuvenated, and when I saw what was sleeping on my bosom, my heart melted. 

Two soft, pointy stumps were growing from the side of her head. Strands of black and silver hair grew from her scalp. Her skin was strikingly pale, but her cheeks had the glow my husband once had in his youth. I lifted her higher on my bosom until her head reached my cheek. A pointy tip sprouted from her tailbone. There was no blood coming from her mouth, only quiet breaths. Her little fingers tapped my body. A new affection began to manifest.