literature

Non Omnes Moriemur, Chapter Four

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           When morning came at Xsainu castle, Eclipse found himself curled up on the floor next to Lilith’s bed. His bones ached from having slept on the hard floor, but this fact was easily put out of his mind as he sat up to see a still peacefully sleeping Lilith. She had curled up into a tight ball underneath the blanket, and her hair appeared to have gotten twisted around her torso. The chain attached to her foot hadn’t seemed to bother her at all, to his relief. Then again, even if it had she was in a potion induced sleep, making the point rather…pointless.

            Several of his joints made loud popping sounds as he stood and half-heartedly stretched. The light filtering in through the curtains on her windows was just bright enough that his unadjusted eyes were made to squint. He considered what he was going to do at this point. Chisoku obviously had taken some stronger issue to what had happened the night before, but since the demon lord had decided to talk about it once the girl awakened, there wasn’t much to do about that. At the same time, he didn’t want to leave her. There was no guarantee that she wouldn’t wake up, despite his reassurances to Chisoku of the opposite, and if she did there was also no guarantee that having attached her foot to the bed will have had any point at all.

            He briefly considered waking her, but decided against it. New information could be gathered from her if he did so, but he didn’t feel like he should rush Chisoku’s judgment on the matter. Any information he would be getting would have to come from books.

            Finally with a plan, he set to work…coffee first though. About an hour later saw Eclipse taking up a temporary office residence in Lilith’s room. A new table had been placed in it, and several decent-sized piles of books lay in piles, some open to various pages that he had deemed of interest to the situation at hand. The potion was supposed to be wearing off in twelve short hours by this time, which meant he had twelve short hours to do several important things.

            The first thing he did was put protective spells on Lilith’s scythe, after having replaced the gem into its proper place on the weapon. These spells, he at least hoped, would ensure that if she tried again to destroy it, killing herself in the process, she wouldn’t be able to do so. Knowing that eased his mind, if only a little. Moving on, he began to sift through the texts on the table, looking for any information that could predict or explain the effects of Lilith’s old memories joining with the ones she had made since they were locked away.

            It was difficult to find any similar cases within the books, and he even had to return to the library to gather more to look through, until finally he found one book in particular that seemed to describe what he was looking for.

            Quite a time ago, when the sort of magic was young, a warlock had been testing out spells on a murderer, to see if wiping out the memories of the horrendous acts he’d committed would allow a successful reintegration into society. For a time it did, and the murderer became a normal man. But it seemed as though the magic didn’t hold forever, and when the memories broke loose from their book, the man went mad. He exhibited symptoms akin to that of a person with multiple personalities, flipping back and forth between his former and present self, until finally the man went on a killing spree before killing himself. The experiment was thus deemed a failure.

            Eclipse shut the book more forcefully than he might should have. Lilith wasn’t a murderer, obviously, but if the same principles applied, then her old and new self would fluctuate between themselves more and more the longer their memories mingled. He thought back to the night before and realized that must have been why she’d stopped struggling after he’d stopped her initially. The Lilith that he knew had come back out of the abyss she’d been thrown into, while the Lilith that no longer wanted to live had been thrown back.

            With that information, it seemed that the only way it would be possible to fix this mess would be to reseal the memories. Some very powerful magic had done it in the first place, and even then it had eventually begun to leak. There was no guarantee that he would be able to do half as well with the magic, considering it wasn’t exactly a branch of magic he used much…but at the moment it appeared to be his only option.

            There was still plenty of time for him to make an attempt before she would be waking, so Eclipse quickly found the spell he would need for the attempt then pulled his chair up to Lilith’s bed. The book was open on his lap as before.

            Just as he was about to begin the incantation, Lilith turned over so that she was facing him and her hand brushed his leg. He started a bit, but reached out to take her hand and place it back on the bed. Even though he’d replaced it quick enough, he let her hand rest in his for a few moments before finally clearing his throat and beginning the spell.

            He dived into the library that was her memory once more, but this time felt different.

            “What are you doing here, Master Eclipse?”

            Eclipse turned around to see Lilith, a curious yet concerned look on her unusually gaunt-looking face. “Lilith, I-”

            “He’s here to lock me away again.” Again he turned, the Lilith he saw here obviously the one formed by the memories he had released.

            “It’s the only thing to be done.” He said, not sure which on to look at.

            “No it isn’t, don’t lie. You could have let me destroy my gem and be over with it. I would be happy in the afterlife with my Aednir. But you couldn’t!” She pointed an accusing finger at him. “Just let me die!” She screeched.

            “I don’t want to die!” The other Lilith latched herself to Eclipse’s side, and he looked down at her sadly. “Don’t let her kill me, Master Eclipse. I want to stay with you!” Tears streamed down her cheeks as she pleaded opposite her old self.

            “Coward! Death is the final release. You of all people should know that. Reaping souls for a living is what you did, after all.” Old Lilith trudged angrily over to herself and yanked her away from Eclipse. He reached for her, but the old Lilith was too quick. “Submit to death! Don’t you want to be rid of the pain?!” She shook Lilith, only worsening the tears and sobs emanating from her. “Don’t you?!” When an answer wasn’t forthcoming, Lilith threw her new self to the floor and turned to Eclipse.

            They stared at each other, hatred and anger in Lilith’s eyes, pity and pain in his. “You are the coward.”

            “Excuse me?”

            He nodded slowly and went to help his Lilith up. “Only a coward would use death as an escape, to run away from what is possible here in this life. You are the coward, not her.” He motioned to the Lilith that was now sobbing in his arms. “She knows the pain you both bear, and yet she chooses to live. She wants to live, and you…” He gave her a serious look. “Are the coward.”

            The old Lilith let out a shrill laugh.

            “Spare me your preaching, old man.” His eye twitched ever so slightly. “You could never understand. You don’t. I will end myself, even if I have to take others with me.” She pulled her scythe up from where it hadn’t been before and slashed out.           

            Eclipse woke from the spell feeling a bit achy.

            “Master Eclipse?”

            “Yes Lilith?”

            “My hand hurts a little.”

            He looked down and realized that he had never actually let go of her hand before he had begun reading the spell.

            “Sorry…” Of course, that wasn’t the only thing he was sorry about now. It was now obvious that he wouldn’t be able to lock the old Lilith away again, not with her running around in the library with a scythe and every intent to stay free long enough to die.

            A sudden knock at the door drew their attention that towards it. Without any introduction whatsoever, the door swung open to reveal Dreymeil.

            “Hey, Chisoku said he wants to talk to yo- ooooh~ What are you two doing there~?” Dreymeil snickered and sauntered in to get a better look.

            Eclipse gave him a glare and stood. “Dreymeil, I thought you of all people would know that it is rude to enter a lady’s room without permission. Now go, and tell Chisoku I will be with him shortly.”

            Even the blue-haired demon could see that the expression on Eclipse’s face left absolutely no room for argument. He shrugged. “Heh, fine, I’ll leave you two alone then~” He gave Lilith a little wave before departing, letting the door shut sharply behind him. Eclipse sighed and crossed back to his work table.

            “I’ll have these removed shortly…but first it seems Chisoku is requesting our presence.” It had been obvious that Dreymeil had only meant Eclipse, but for still more obvious reasons, Eclipse wasn’t about to go to a meeting without Lilith in tow. “Are you feeling up to walking?” He asked.

            She nodded slightly before making her way out of the bed. Yawning, she reached instinctively for her scythe where it was usually kept. “…Huu?”

            Noticing her confusion, Eclipse quickly explained. “Your scythe is safe, don’t worry. We’re only going up to the throne room anyway, so there’s no need for you to have it.” She didn’t look happy, but seemed to know his reasoning and didn’t question it.

            “Huu, are we going to go now then?” She asked, moving towards the door and waiting for him, hand on the knob, anxious to turn it.

            He gave her a curious look but said nothing about it. “Yes we can go.” Lilith opened the door and let Eclipse pass by her first before exiting herself and sidling right up to him, intertwining an arm with his. A strange warming sensation passed over Eclipse’s face, but he did his very best to ignore it entirely as they traversed the castle’s halls and chambers to reach Chisoku’ throne room.

            They took the most direct route, arriving in only a few short minutes to an open room. Chisoku was pacing back and forth before his throne, only to pause when Eclipse cleared his throat.

            “I said you, not her. Why did you bring the girl?”

            “The girl? Lilith has a name, Chisoku. You should know why, anyway. It’s…” He looked at her cautiously. “…dangerous to leave her by herself.”

            Chisoku glared at him for a moment. “Tch, fine. I don’t want her in this conversation though. Make her not hear or something, I don’t care what you do.” He slumped onto his chair and waited for Eclipse to follow his orders.

            “It’s okay, Master Eclipse. You can do it and I’ll just sit over there-” She pointed at the corner of the room to the right of the throne. “And wait for you to finish talking, okay?” She tugged gently on his arm, still intertwined with hers. He took a moment to consider it, but nodded.

            He muttered a short spell then turned Lilith away from him. “Chisoku is a Big Red Meany Face.” Chisoku turned rather red at the phrase. It was a title he’d heard Lilith use for him several times. Lilith didn’t react though, assuring them both that he hearing had been properly muted. Eclipse showed her to the corner, then confronted Chisoku.

            “Now, what did you need me here for?” He asked, knowing full well what.

            “I told you we would talk when she woke up. She’s awake, now we’re talking. Don’t play dumb with me.” Chisoku tapped his fingers impatiently on the arm of the throne.

            “Sigh….so what is it you have to say?”

            Chisoku paused his tapping to consider the necromancer for a moment. 

            “The girl has to go.”

Whee, Chapter Four. I was a little laggy getting it up, sorry OTL

I don't have much to say about this right now. Huu. So yeah, enjoy xD

Chapter Three ::: Chapter Five

Eclipse belongs to :iconsamuraiflame:!
Lilith belongs to me!
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Samuraiflame's avatar
Oooh and the drama has begun :iconcblushplz: The grumpy pants are so grumpy grumpy

and Eclipse, just having to deal with all this. He deserves some time off. LOL
I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER HNGH