The pity party eventually had to come to an end. Rylla’s eyes were swollen from how hard she cried and her body shook as a chill ran down her spine from the cold night air. She wanted to be alone right now, but the god, Rhadon, now sat in the same spot she last saw him, looking bored out of his mind. It seems he will come to regret his decision sooner than they both expected.

Dirty patches covered Rylla’s dress and she already knew a punishment would await her once her mother would see. Not that she should worry about the state of her dress when the god of death trailed behind her every step. At least he knew how to keep a respectable distance. Rylla’s body cried from the aches as she walked, most likely present from being dead for a few hours.

The piercing light of the city cut through the darkness of the forest as she slowly approached the entry gates. A set of guards was placed on either side of the large wooden doors that was currently wide open for it’s citizens. The gates and the wall were run down just like the rest of the city. King Mayas never bothered to hide how little he cared about his subjects, so most people struggled to find a place to live or ways to feed their family. And that fact showed in every corner of the city.

The further Rylla walked the more the stench hit her nose from either the garbage stacked on the side of the houses, or the people who never get a chance to wash away the filth that has gathered on them. The only people who had the luxury of not experiencing these problems where either the wealthy or the military. After all, King Mayas always had a strange obsession with war and conquering the Kingdom of Tairia. He couldn’t have his military embarrass him by looking the way people in his empire did.

It was a shame that parts of the capital looked the way they did. Nolis was located next to a large river which broke into smaller ones all around the city. If one so wanted to they could probably travel everywhere by boat. If you only added some trees to this place, it would stop being so dull.

The whore house Rylla’s family run was located between the rich and poor district so it was accessible to both. The run down wooden houses, if one could even call them that, slowly turned into elegant brick ones. Her home was bigger than the rest of the properties surrounding it, being three stories tall and much wider to accommodate the amount of women that lived there. It was made up of mostly brick but still had wooden pillars as part of it’s structure, making it blend perfectly between the districts. It could still use a renovation or at least a deep cleaning, but her parents were too cheap to hire the people to do it.

With a deep breath Rylla extends her hand and opens the run down wooden door. While the house didn’t have that putrid smell like the streets did, the heavy scent of perfume assaulted her nose and made her feel nauseated. The real question was if the nausea was from the smell or the sickening feeling of knowing what’s coming next.

Rhadon, who was still closely behind her now walked forwards and looked around. It was hard to tell if the god was displeased or what he thought of this place or the people in it. Perhaps if his head was anything but a floating skull in darkness, it would make Rylla more at ease.

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From the sounds of it most of the rooms were occupied, not many ladies sat in the lounge and a woman called Avalon sat at the small desk with a list of rooms. She was still new there, picked up from the street by Fleya for her bright red hair and pine green eyes. Her start however has been disappointingly slow, so as punishment she’s made to sit at the front of the house and keeping the rooms organised between appointments, only moving from the spot when requested by a customer.

“What did you do to your hair?” Avalon’s panicked voiced sent a shiver down Rylla’s spine and she quickly rushed over to the mirror at the end of the hall.

Instead of the usual chestnut hair that Rylla loved, there was now a large strands of white at the front of her head that she frantically grabbed and moved as if it would change back to it’s natural colour.

Seeing her panicked expression Rhadon chuckled and shrugged his shoulders when their eyes met. “You had to be marked marked by death, foolish child. Or did you think you died and there would be no signs of it on you?”

Rylla took a deep breath and faced Avalon again, trying to ignore the god as much as possible. “And what of my parents?”

“They are… Upset. They were expecting you earlier, to help set up before night hours.” Avalon’s tone was full of pity, something Rylla truly hated. “Prepare yourself.”

“The hair is not going to help either.” She couldn’t help the panicked that leaked into her voice, but she was grateful for the warning.

The stairs seemed daunting as she began her way up. Her heart pounded as she made her way to the first floor then the second. Until the moment her mothers eyes burned into her with furry.

Fleya Insallor wasn’t known as a kind woman. Not to her husband, workers and especially not to her daughter who failed every expectation that was set. So she didn’t waste time as she strode towards her.

“You insolent fool.” Fleya’s voice sounds through the entire second floor as she slapped her daughter. Rylla didn’t have time to react to the assault as she went tumbling into the wall. “Do you still not know your place? Your role in this house?” This time instead of a slap, a hard kick landed on Rylla’s stomach making her grunt.

Just like every other time this happened, she tried to pay attention to something else, most of the time it would be people that watched or customers that were there for the first time, but in those rare moments she felt brave she hoped that one day this would be over and there wouldn't be another beating.

Blood trickled down her mouth and Rylla’s vision slowly became blurry, but she couldn’t escape the disappointed look from the god of death.

“Are you truly this pathetic?” He walked closer to her, sat right next to her face so all she could see was him. “I’ve given you this power. Use it.”

But before she could everything went dark.