Rylla never thought she would die this way. With a stranger's hands around her throat, holding her down in the river. Squeezing harder and harder with each passing second.
Originally, this spot was her safe place, somewhere Rylla could run away from the chaotic whore house she called her home, from her parents that made it their hobby to make her life as miserable as possible, and all those terrible memories that came from that place. This little spot by the river was a break from it all.
Now it was ruined by the two laughing men, and the attacker that was on top of her.
This was Rylla’s end.
The struggle rippled the water, blurring the faces of all the men, all that was visible was the dark wavy hair and cold blue eyes of the attacker. Eyes that were filled with hatred, not necessary towards her, but rather towards everything that surrounded them.
The thought of giving up crossed Rylla’s mind, the man was much stronger than her, and it’s not like the thought of ending her life didn’t cross her mind before. But, now, all Rylla could do was fight for her worthless existence. She kicked out, tried to punch and scratch, but nothing. All it did was waste what little air she had left.
In her final moments, Rylla couldn’t help but wish that her life was something more. Not exactly sure in what sense, but she wanted to achieve something. Maybe stand up to her parents? Or run away from Nolis and find somewhere else in the kingdom to live in, and start over? Rylla just wanted something she could be proud of.
Eventually, the laughter of the men in the back got further away, the wavy brown hair became more blurred, and everything became darker.
The attacker only took his hands off, when the body under him went limp. He waited a moment to make sure the woman was dead, that he truly just killed someone for the first time. All he could do was stare at the pale face of the girl, half covered by long chestnut hair and haunted brown eyes that still looked back at him.
“Aymer, we should go.” Wyll laughed, as he kicked the body.
Kiall made comments about the struggle, but the word didn’t quite reach Aymer. Everything was distant.
He watched his body move away from the river and followed the others. In that moment nothing felt real. Aymer’s body was no longer his own.
Rylla, softly opened her eyes. There was nothing, but pitch black. There was no sound, no light, no objects in sight.
Even with no light, she could see her body just fine. In disbelief, Rylla stared at her trembling hands. The last memory she had was of her dying, of being drowned in that river.
If King Mayas was right, all citizens of Koragon would be granted eternal peace in the afterlife. But such empty darkness, screamed anything but peace. And she never particularly believed the nonsense of the greedy king.
Slowly, Rylla started walking, but no matter how much time had passed, or how far she had gotten, the surroundings did not change.
During this time all she could do was think, and reflect on the life she had. Not like there was much to reflect on, Rylla was only nineteen afterall.
Eventually her parents would notice the lack of their servant, when the customers would complain about the rooms not being clean. Might take a day or two. It would be more likely a random person would stumble upon her body. There were no friends that would notice her absence. The last person Rylla was close to, was killed by a customer in the whore house. Officials stated there was no crime and the love making just got “out of hand”. That’s not what Rylla saw. Tamra started to push away, when her face started turning purple. However, the fat man was one of the officials, a rich lord was worth a lot more than even the best whore in the kingdom. The worst part was the fact that Tamra died only a week before their planned escape.
They were gonna leave, but now both of them were dead.
“Hello, dear child.” A deep voice echoed through the darkness, causing a shiver up Rylla’s spine.
An odd creature slowly crept towards her, at first all Rylla just felt uneasy, but the closer it got, the more her whole body begged Rylla to run in the opposite direction.
It was at least seven feet tall, the head was of a large dead animal, with horns made of bone on both sides, the right one was at its full length, branching out in multiple directions, but the left was broken in half. It wore a long black robe covering the large body underneath, only exposing its pale white, bony hands.
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A terrified sob escaped Rylla’s mouth as she began to run.
“Jokes on you, this is my realm.” The creature cackled in the distance.
The ground beneath Rylla’s leg began to resemble sand, and with each step she fell deeper into it. Until eventually only one of her arms and head was showing above ground. The monstrosity just sat crossed legged before her, amusement danced in its eyes.
“Your crying is rather annoying, I would rather you stop.”
“And I would rather you leave me alone!” Rylla screamed as loud as she could, hoping to scare the creature away.
“I was not the one who begged for a second chance, little human.”
The realisation that this could have been Rylla’s doing all along, made her speechless. She could have passed in peace, made her way towards eternal rest, but of course she had to whine about her life one last time, and summon this thing of nightmares.
“What are you?” Rylla managed to take a close look at the monstrosity. It had shining grey eyes, and the skull was covered with small scratches, the robe on it was worn, but the holes did not reveal anything beyond it.
“My name is Rhadon.” The thing smiled towards her. “I am the god of death, and I answered your call.”
“King Mayas says there is only one god, the ruler of-”
“Your king is full of shit, like most of you pesky humans anyway.” Rhadon interrupted her before she could finish. “I am not here to argue whether you believe my existence or not. You could consider yourself crazy for all I care, I am here to strike a deal, not ponder on higher power.”
There was no telling what was real or not, if to trust this god or not. As much as Rylla was telling herself not to do it, having a god by her side would be a first. It might turn her life around. Even if it sounded stupid and nobody would believe her.
“What would be the deal?” Rylla stated, her breath still unsteady.
“I shall give you my blessing, grant you powers other humans could only ever dream of.”
For a while the two just stared at each other. Whatever the god was thinking, was not easy to decipher. While Rylla’s mind was racing at all the new possibilities. It was not power that she craved, but the freedom that came with it. Her whole life she has been used and abused, her mother even attempted to sell her numerous times. If there was even a possibility of power, there would be respect from others.
“What do you get out of it? I would imagine a god has better things to do than aid a random human.” Rylla questioned.
That was the only thing that did not make sense. Gods did not go around handing out favours or more people would have believed in them, which only meant Rhadon was hiding something.
“Perhaps I am simply bored.” The god yawned.
“Now who’s full of shit.”
“Careful girl.” Rhadon snapped. “I can tolerate a lot, but I cut souls in half for less. My reasons for the deal do not matter. I shall bring you back from the dead and grant you powers, do what you want with them I do not care.” The god finally released Rylla from the ground, forcing her to stand next to him. “The power does come with a price. If you do not pay it, you will no longer question if you have lost your mind, you will know it.”
The god’s vague words terrified her. If the deal was sealed the road ahead would be unknown, but if Rylla didn’t, she would stay dead.
“I will accept your blessing.” Rylla whispered.
“Very well.”
With a low chuckle, the god disappeared.
In the next breath, Rylla was no longer surrounded by darkness. Once again she was back in the river. Water had flooded her lungs and soaked every inch of her body. Rylla could not stop the coughing fits, and her legs gave out the moment she stepped out of water.
Stars have long since filled the sky, the only sound was the water and the soft melody of crickets. It has been hours since the incident.
For a second Rylla questioned if it all had been a dream, but the thought was shattered when her eyes fell on the tall figure between the trees. The god of death just stood there and smiled.
The next few hours were the only ones Rylla would allow herself to feel any self-pity. So she curled up into a ball and cried. Tomorrow there might be no time for such selfish acts. Tomorrow everything might change.
But, for this one moment, she was the girl a stranger decided to murder in cold blood, and Rylla grieved her death.