The Diary of the Great and Glorious Ezra

04.xx.0324

In the month of Aradil, we had traveled far enough to finally meet the renowned Argus. Argus was a flamboyant man, a few inches taller than myself. The way he carried himself was confident and cocky. He had wings made of a shimmery, golden material that he loved to flash in the daytime. He had soft pink hair, bordering on pastel. He too dressed formally. 

Domascus didn't seem to like Argus immediately. He kept his distance. He continued to share a tent with me, not minding my presence as much as he had before. We spoke only a few times, no conversation of substance. 

Argus was asked by Titania to join our barrage because he had wealth, class, and charisma. He offered skills that none of us possessed, a cunning slip of the hand that managed to gather wealth practically from thin air. 

On the first day he was with us, he stole from me. It was just a ploy, a display of skill. I was tending yet again to the horses, as they seemed to like me. That and they were always beside Persephone. Argus stopped by Persephone, talking to her about the flowers that were springing up about. She giggled in this conversation and I felt a bit peeved. Argus took note of my disappointment. 

"Sorry, chap," he brushed by me before he turned around. "Not all of us can be as gifted in the art of conversation as me."

I didn't realize what he had stolen until that night. I reached into my pocket for my map of stars. When I discovered it was gone, I raced back to the horses, hoping I had simply not dropped it.

"I was praying you'd notice," Argus stepped forward out of the shadows. "I've been waiting far too long. You'd better be glad this wasn't sitting in a pile of horse shit with your inattentiveness."

"Give it back," I managed to say, my breath still caught in my throat.

"Fine," he handed the paper to me twixt his two fingers. "You should keep your possessions under a more watchful eye. You know," he gave me a wicked smile. "There are many more things in this world I can steal than physical things."

"How can you steal something that doesn't exist?"

"Much like this," he neared me, planting his mouth on my own. 

I was backed into a tree. I had never been kissed by anyone before, much less someone the same sex as I. I didn't know what to do outside of closing my eyes. I could never speak to anyone about this but you, and even then I'm furiously flustering rethinking it. I didn't fight him, I merely stood still when he left. 

How he knew I had never been defiled by another fae, I couldn't answer you. It disturbed me to my core, dear. I was bothered. I headed back to our campfire anyway, glad to see his lantern being snuffed out in his tent. I sat down beside Queen Lilith in the flickering light of the fire. 

My night was filled with far more disturbance than I could have asked for. It will pale nothing to what happens to me eventually though. I could already tell from that moment. Titania said herself, I was the great and glorious Ezra. I suppose this was just fate preparing me for what would come. 

I was sketching in my songbook, a song of lust I heard Domascus singing earlier today. He had quite the talent for singing but refused to write down any of his own sonnets, claiming that if others were meant to hear, they would be around to hear them. I wasn't sure why I felt this lusty song would be the one I captured for today, but it had seemed to strike a chord with me. While others sing of purples or pinks or even lavishing reds as lusty colors, he sang about the color teal. I was utterly confused, yet it seemed much more provocative to me the more I thought of the color. 

"I always liked the color blue," Lilith slurred out.

"I've never dappled in lust," I ran a touch of color across the page with magic. 

"I have," she shook her head. "Can I tell you something?" 

"I don't see why not," I simply shrugged. 

"Let me tell you the story of a woman who had lied and the daughter who never quite heard the truth," she bowed her head solemnly. 

She spun me a tale of a woman, designed to be Serberous' wife. I know every tale you have heard of Serberous is awful and degrading. Originally, he was nothing like what has been described to you. Serberous, as Mother Gaia knew it, was going to become evil. He was born God of Chaos, it was bound to happen. Lilith told how her only purpose in creation was to be his wife, and for a time she had been. She was born Watera, God of Confusion. She had born Persephone that way, they had created insanity across the worlds, they named a planet after their daughter. But, Watera came to see Serberous' wicked ways. So she left him. Mother Gaia allowed her to be reborn as Lilith, the God of Understanding due to her knowledge of both good and evil. 

She did so for the sake of her daughter, Persephone, who was now aged around eighteen, maybe closer to Domascus' age. She had stolen Persephone in the night, when she was still an infant, and raised her on her own. I was honored, to say the least, to be bestowed with this story, with the forbidden knowledge of who Lilith truly was.

"There's nothing crueler in this world than reality," Lilith tilted her bottle to the sky. 

I allowed Lilith to fall asleep. This way, she would remain unaffected by nectar in the morning.

"You don't have to do that," a soft voice came from the tents.

I made my songbook fall through my legs so it shut. Persephone stood before me in a pink lace nightgown. She looked like a darling but at the same time, someone I desired to feel more intimately. 

"I know she drinks," Persephone knelt down beside her mother. "She's running from something and I'm not quite sure what."

"I don't desire for her to harm herself in a stupor," I answered. "That's why I do this. I stay up to read the stars."

"What do the stars tell you?" she asked.

"They tell me of everything that has been and ever will be," I was drawn to her presence.

"What do they speak of me?" 

"Come," I held out a hand to her.

In any given moment, I would have shied away from her, as I did most living fae. I preferred to be alone, to not be stricken with the visions of others. I felt something in my heart, maybe even as far as my soul, for Persephone. It's what allowed me to dare myself to use my Gift on her.

She set her hand gingerly in my own. I saw things I probably shouldn't have, things I dared not to speak of. I saw her die. But I saw her, afterward, for thousands upon thousands of years. She was sitting with Domascus, her hair now black, with a boy that looked far too similar to the both of them. But I saw moments that were shared in my sort of virginal intimacy that made my heart glow with warmth.

"You will find love," I smiled at her.

She grinned back at me. "That is one thing I was hoping this realm held for me."

"You should get some rest," I stood. "Titania said we were to start our real journey tomorrow."

"You are right," she nodded. "Goodnight, Great Ezra."

"Goodnight."

Persephone was one of the sweetest and kindest creatures I would ever meet. I hope that my intentions go through, that you too have them inside of you. I know you will be the sort of fae that others just open their hearts to, bear their scars too. It is a wondrous thing.

-Ezra in the month of Aradil