Lilith screamed while repeatedly pounding into her head. With a sudden, overpowering sensation, the lives of people—no, everyone—flashed before her eyes. Ever since she was a child, every instance, every breath, every movement seemed to coexist all at once. A sharp, piercing scream seemed to divide the night sky in front of her as she fell onto her knees, bashing her head into the ground.

This wasn’t pain she could avoid; this wasn’t pain she could turn off. Could she not be free, even in death? Was she destined to live here forever and watch? Watch King Leith continue his domination using her still young children?

She let out a small groan as she slowly stood back onto her feet, tears sticking onto her white lashes before falling down. It was empty—empty and cold with the frigid stickiness of death seeming to hover around her like an anxious child.

A large, glowing tree illuminated her skin, making her glow a pale white as she looked up at its looming branches. It had seven branches that reached out into space, and they reflected into her now gray eyes with luminosity.

Lilith walked over to the tree and placed her hand on the trunk. Her eyes widened as an overwhelming sensation of experiencing another lifetime, but this time, it was her own.

“Mommy would tear down this whole world and rebuild it just for you if it’s what you wanted.”

Lilith’s hand was violently trembling, spasming, but she couldn’t seem to remove her hand from the trunk of the tree. Who was this woman?

“I love you.”

Tears fell freely down her face and onto the white ground beneath her, coloring it a dark gray. Was this what family love truly was? So someone was caring for her after all, then. A cracked sob left her mouth as she fell back onto the ground, pounding onto the rock.

“Why! Why!” she screamed, biting the soft flesh on her arm to try and muffle the sound. She wept and cried and shouted but even still, nothing around her changed. There was nothing here except for that lone, glowing tree that seemed to mock her with its vitality.

“Little rabbit, do you think I could raise you to be my obedient woman?”

A shivering hand clasped over her sicky-white lips as she tried to wretch, feeling the burning feeling in her throat, but nothing would come out. She hacked and felt herself choking, wheezing for air, but nothing would come out of her body.

This was it. This was her fate. She believed her life would change today, a life with a son that she could truly, genuinely love. A life with a man who needed nothing more than her presence. There was no such thing as love in this world—love got you killed. It was so inhuman, it got you slaughtered and burned for being a “witch.” There was nothing left except a gaping pit of lies under which people disguise their love.

Why was it her? Why was she cursed to live alone for all this time? Slamming her fist against the ground, she cursed her mother for praying to whoever it had been. Whoever she prayed to, it worked, and Lilith resented both of them.

Lilith sat up, her head still spinning. Everything was so confusing, so jumbled. Past, present, and future all seemed to collide at once, but one thing was for certain.

She couldn’t see anything before her birth, and thousands of years into the future, everything simply went black. Nothing about this “Luminous One,” that seemed to grant her powers. Lilith stood up and roamed the surface of the moon, searching for a sign, anything. But all she found was a cold spot on the moon. She had felt nothing—no warmth, no coldness, nothing, except for one spot just beside the tree. Loneliness was truly the only thing here to keep her company.

So, she watched. For thousands of years, she observed men beat their wives, wives cheat on their husbands, seeming soulmates drifting apart, and worst of all, she watched the incenstuous campaign grow in Leith as the King desperately tried to keep her bloodline pure. Deformities, illnesses, and pained lifespans all birthed from the sacred ideal of “love” so desired.

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But one of her children was unscathed—the one harnessing life and death. She never even got to name her son. She watched him grow with hazy eyes, clouded with obsolete dreams, unaware of who his mother was or who his father was.

In the thousands of years Lilith remained stagnant, with everyone seeming to convolute or forget her story, she watched as the tree expanded out behind her. Every “Leith,” as they were deemed, became its own branch that reached out farther and farther.

Lilith’s skin began to fade, turning more and more transparent as years passed.

I don’t want to be forgotten.

She had nothing left—nothing left except for a twisted remembrance written into history books, but that was better than being forgotten. She couldn’t just disappear, not after all of this. Not after sitting here for thousands and thousands of years locked as a slave to a power she never wanted.

“Lilith, can you hear me?”

Lilith jolted up, her white hair thinning and draping all around her like a blanket. She let out a little laugh before falling back. Was she delusional now, too?

“Lilith, please take this sacrifice if you need this energy.” The voice was riveting, thrilling in the way the words seemed to gently roll and hang in the air before dissipating.

Lilith’s hand brushed against the trunk of the tree, and she witnessed a gorgeous woman with brown hair and blue eyes humming a tune above the mutilated body of a barely discernible man. The woman—she was a descendant of Lilith’s only beloved son. The man’s body seemed to breathe as Lilith drained the energy from it before it fell as an empty husk.

Hello, my dear.

The woman’s face lit up. “Hello. My name is Daisy.” She stood up and reached up toward the sky with a longing hand; her toes kissed the ground as she walked.

Lilith’s face lit up. One of her children, one of her descendants, had finally reached out to her. She could feel her heart swell with utmost love as she looked down on the beautiful woman. Daisy was captivating, utterly stunning in the way she glistened under the moonlight. She had longed for this connection for so, so long.

Why have you reached out to me, Daisy?

“You must have been lonely up there by yourself. I’m sorry it took me so long to reach out to you,” her voice was sincere, and Daisy brought her hands up to her heart as if offering her most vulnerable truth. “I want to bring your power back to the world the way you once saw it, Lilith.”

Tears fell down Lilith’s face for the first time in millennials, and she melted as she felt the cold, emotional sensation. My daughter, tell me how I may assist you with your dream.

“Lilith, if you revive my powers, I can show the world your beauty once more. I could manifest your dreams and powers.”

Lilith’s face fell immediately as she let out a silent, restrained laugh, wiping her wet face dry. The last thing Lilith was was naive, and regardless of how charismatic Daisy was, Lilith saw right through her. Daisy had no desire to live for Lilith—she just wanted Lilith’s power.

Only one thing had kept Lilith from going insane. If she weren’t on the moon, serving as God of the world, who would have taken her place? Someone worse than her? Lilith knew she had killed millions of lives on the battlefield, but she, too, knew she was a good person.

But as she watched herself fade from the world, she lost that resolution.

She was God, God of life and death and serenity and despair, inherently making her the most powerful and ruler of all those traits. But if someone were to come along, do more or worse than her, then wouldn’t they take her place? Couldn’t she move onto the afterlife and be free then?

Of course, my love. I yearn to grant your wish, but unfortunately, I may only designate you as my loyal servant for a greater mission. Once you complete it, I may alter your power.

Daisy’s expression faltered for a moment into one of both resentment and ignorant optimism. “Yes, I fully understand. I will do anything you request.”

You have a beautiful daughter. She’s still young, but she has a heart swelling with love and generosity despite the cruelties she’s faced.

Daisy’s voice only seemed to grow in its thick, luxurious tone; she was playing it carefully, doing her best to appeal to Lilith. “I do, she’s quite lovely. Do you need something from her?”

I need her.

“And me? What about me?”

I need Morrigan.