Morke: The Hunter

Prologue

We are curse creatures.

Doomed to walk this earth alone, ageless, soulless, most of us purposeless, wandering through the centuries trying to go unnoticed, feeding on whatever scraps can be spared. This is no life at all, not even for an eternal like myself. With every passing night I grow restless and weary, I have been in this damp sewer for far too long; I need to get out; quench the need to hunt, this is my craft and I have no match, I excel on taking the lives of others like myself, eternals that have gone astray, those that do not do what is requested, those that do not give back what is required. I was one of those rebels, drunk with power, feeling untouchable, unbeatable, how mistaken I was.

My life was spared, but it came at a great price, killing my own, this is my punishment, the penalty I must pay for my rebellion, my insurrection, the mistakes I did not commit, the betrayal I was a victim of. Thousands of years have passed since I was deceived by my blood, my brothers and sisters, the first sons and daughters of Lilith, we are known as the forsaken, the ancient ones, the original darkness.

My sin being the spawn of a treacherous rebel, once, my mother had a privileged place amongst the Supreme Beings, they created her from the same earth that gave life to the first man. She possessed an incredible beauty and intellect, her skin white as milk, her eyes purple as the crystals from an amethyst, her mind quick and dangerous as the thunder, her temper uncontrollable like water. She was supposed to act as a perfect companion and counselor, as a servant, bow her head before her male counterpart and expected to say nothing. But Lilith was never meant to be bound to anyone, she rebelled against the creators and demanded to be treated equally, this enraged the Gods who gave her an ultimatum, she could either serve the first man, or be eliminated. She took either option; chose to remain free instead of a life of servitude.

My mother knew that the Gods would not take lightly her insubordination, so she crafted a plan to escape; every day she visited a different celestial being and taking advantage of her agile tongue she filled their heads with false words "Tell me oh powerful Anu, supreme ruler of the universe, is it true what I heard from the very voice of Utu? He assures that his creations are the most beautiful and perfect of all."

This is how Lilith incited Ishtar, Nanna, Marduk and the other Gods to argue and fight amongst themselves to decide who was the most beautiful, the smartest, the one that possessed the most faithful servants, who received more abundant offerings. My mother leveraged this situation and taking her first-born sons and daughters she escaped to the desert.

When the Creators sent for my mother to respond for her actions, she was nowhere to be found, filled with anger they sent their messengers of death to catch and punish her. Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof, celestial beings with an unmeasurable beauty; tall, thin, with long silver hair, eyes the color of mist and a pair of golden wings. Vain with a hostile temper they are venerated and feared for their incredible force and incomparable cruelty to punish. Angels; damn grotesque winged creatures, their fairness only superficial, but their hearts and souls black as a moonless night, they were to accomplish a simple task, annihilate Lilith and all her descendants.

Even though witchcraft was strictly forbidden, my mother was a vehement practitioner of the dark arts, mastering them impressively; every day when the sun set and under the shelter of the thicket of the night she went deep into the forest to cast spells, curses, enchantments and transformations; the last one being her specialty. Her favorite forms to mutate her body into were a big black wolf and a slender, elusive, agile snake.

This is how she went back and go unnoticed on the eternal garden, during one of her trips she heard that the angels that were looking for her had found her hiding, heading there in that very moment to apprehend and present her before the gods.