Mother of Bones

[Iduna]

Trigger Warning: Dealing with the difficult subject matter of a child's death.

A Mother's Love - Gilded Bones

It was difficult work to clean the tiny set of bones sitting upon the dining room table, with only one arm, but Tina worked tirelessly to clean the bones of her daughter. Despite the fact that it was her own hand that ended the child’s life, she refused to believe that it was she who set down the sentence of death. It was the Greafer who stole Anastacia from her and Milan and it was the damned Shadows who first made the threat to torture their beautiful child, to rob them of her presence. Tina would not let them take her on their terms. No; Anastacia deserved better than that. She deserved to be sent to the blessed Shadows of Coloth by someone who loved her. So, by her own hand, she had painlessly killed her own daughter and cut out her heart. Pushing back her tears, she had asked Crowley to burn away the remaining tissue, so she may tend to her daughter’s bones and give them the honor they deserved.

Even as she washed away the black ash from the bones, the pain of loss felt as though a dull knife had wedged itself inside of her chest. The priestess was as dark and evil as any may come, yet she still had the ability to love. Tina understood the stigma behind those who are seen as evil, knowing that it is believed evil is the antithesis of love, yet she wished to prove differently. It was her love for Milan and Anastacia that drove her to work for Casliel, in the first place. If the Greafer was a danger to their world, she would do anything to see that their world is protected. What is that, if not an act of love? Her actions never deviated from what she believed needed to be done - actions that no one else was willing to take. Yes, she knew the darkness in her heart, but she also knew that this darkness was needed to achieve the end goal of creating peace, and safety. Even the act of giving her life to Canas was done in her belief that He is the one to harbor in a better world for everyone.

She sniffed back her tears as she traced her fingers over the top of the tiny skull she was polishing, remembering the beautiful face of her little girl, and her charming smile. Anastacia was a special child, with a pure soul that was ripe for shaping into the most brilliant of weapons. She was the key to creating a clean world, a world without warring minds and ideals; a world of perfect obedience. Now, that was gone. Tina rested her hand over her womb and felt the residual ache of Milan’s furious unity. A small smile came to her face as she felt the small glimmer of hope that they had created another new life, as was their goal. While the soul of their daughter was kept safe within Shadowfell, they sought to create a new vessel for her, a better and superior body for which to sharpen the blade that would sunder any resistance against the will of Canas. Within her own mind, she could see the destruction this new incarnation would bring. They were working toward a better future for all, and nothing could deter them from this path. Anastacia would rise again.

Milan walked in from the other room and watched her polish the skull to a shimmering patina with a faint smirk on his lips. “The love of a mother... will you gild them in silver, or gold?” he asked softly.

“Gold is more valuable, and so was she,” Tina barely looked up from her work to answer, the skull being nestled against her chest with the remainder of her arm holding it steady.

“Yes, I do believe she deserves this honor.” His voice was pitched low, touched by an emotion that was rarely shown, even to his own wife. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, letting one hand rest over her womb, “How long will you take? When are you going to know whether we were successful?”

She turned in his arms and rested her hand over his heart before answering, “Soon. I will know within a few weeks if Anastacia will be returned to us.”

“Excellent. We cannot wait for too long, Tina. There must be a new one. You cannot fail, there is too much at stake.”

“I will not fail you, Milan. We will have Anastacia back soon.” With that said, Tina turned and resumed her work on the small skeleton before her. “She will be perfect and whole.”

[Wired]

[Iduna]

A Mother's Love - Promises

The tiny bones were scattered across the table, just as before, aside from one difference - they were now coated with a dull layer of gold. Tina was sitting at the end of the table with a soft cloth in her hand and a long bone tucked beneath the remaining stub of her left arm, polishing the gold to a gleaming shine. Her brow was furrowed in concentration as she furiously rubbed the cloth in a circular motion on a small section of bone, only for it to slip from its anchor to fall to the floor with a clatter. Letting out a soft curse, she bent down to pick it up, then looked to what was left of her arm. She had sacrificed so much for the mysterious being, known only as Casliel, but had not seen much in the way of reward. Would he follow through with his promises? Would he free her soul from his claim and soothe her losses? He claimed to have good intentions in his fight against the Greafer, but sometimes she wondered if he was any better than that King of Shadows he had locked away.

As she leaned back in her chair, her gaze shifted toward the crystal that was resting on the shelf beside her. It was growing close to its feeding time and was giving off a soft, purple glow as a reminder. She stared at the gently pulsing light for a long moment, before standing and retrieving the vial of bugbear blood she had gathered earlier in the day. Leaning down until her lips barely brushed the surface of the crystal, she whispered softly, "Are you hungry, Casliel? Can you even hear me or see me?" She uncorked the vial and poured the blood on top of the seemingly innocuous mineral, smirking as the dark red fluid was immediately sucked into it.

"I often wonder if you are aware of everything that is happening around you, when you have no body to claim. Are your senses intact?" Tina corked the vial and set it beside the sink for washing, then turned back to see the crystal pulsing with that same light as before, "how does it feel to be locked inside that prison, and trust that I will not destroy you on a whim? You are completely at my mercy, and I think you a fool for allowing it."

She pulled her chair beside the shelf and leaned forward, looking upon the crystal more fully. "I could destroy you. I could take you to the Greafer and bargain for my freedom from you." Tina chuckled softly and stroked her fingers along the glossy surface almost affectionately. "Of course you know I will not do this. You have seen my soul and you know I keep my promises. Thus far, you have done the same. Your words hold power, so I have no choice but to trust you when you promise that I will be rewarded. However, should you break these promises, you will suffer. I will make certain of this. You have to make sure that my sacrifices have been worth it."

Her voice was suddenly thick with emotion as she continued her rant, "I was forced to kill my own daughter for you, Casliel! It is because of you that she was put into peril in the first place! All of this is your fault! My pain, my suffering...is all because of you!"

Tina stood so quickly, the chair toppled to the floor behind her, tears of agony streaming down her cheeks as she waved the stump of her left arm in the air, "I gave my arm for you! What do I have left now, a man who doesn't have the ability to love me, as I love him? A man who takes and takes and takes, while occasionally showing tenderness in a well choreographed performance? Do you enjoy it when he takes me on this table, rutting himself within me like a wild animal? And do you enjoy it when he spills his demon tainted seed, then demands to know when a new child will be made to replace the one we lost?" In a fit of rage, she grabbed the crystal and hefted it over her head, ready to throw it to the floor and smash it into a million pieces.

Her arm shook with the sheer effort of forcing it to obey the command from her mind to throw it, but her body seemed to have a will of its own. With a ragged cry, she gently set it down on the table and traced her shaking fingers over its surface. Tina stared at the crystal, the tears in her eyes blurring her vision and turning it into a beautiful, multi-faceted gem until she blinked them away. Finally, she spoke in a soft voice, "You have ruined my life, Casliel. All of my plans have been shifted aside so that I might serve you. Yes, you initially gave me the choice, but the moment that first promise was made, I was your slave. Tell me how this is any better than what the Greafer has done to the Shadows. Tell me how you can restore my life so I may continue my work for the great Canas, to usher in His new age," she slammed her hand against the table and yelled at the crystal, "Dammit, Casliel; answer me!"

The crystal did nothing more than pulse with a fading dim light, until it was completely dark. Tina sat into another chair, heavily, and struggled to catch her breath and calm herself. After a few minutes of near silence, save for the hard breathing of the priestess, she picked up the bone she was working with previously and resumed her work. She didn't look at Casliel's Prison as she spoke to it again, "I will keep my promises, Casliel, so you had better keep yours or I will bring the full power of hell down upon your head. This is my last promise I make to you, until you deliver yours."

[Kell]

Tina’s loud frustration shred through the walls of Milan’s comfort zone, vibrated loudly through his ears and left him momentarily confused. He diverted his eyes from the play of shadows between his hands and cast a wondering look at the wall, from which behind it had come. He didn’t want to stop what he was doing but he knew instantly what was going on. She was venting her frustration, again, at the most inconvenient of times. He was annoyed; he felt that he had been disturbed quite enough already as of late. He felt agitated because of what appeared to be her impeccable timing for throwing him off. There hadn’t a day gone by without Tina asking for his attention one way or the other and in all honesty it was starting to wear a bit thin. She wasn’t in the position to ask anything of him, not unless she was sticking to her agreement of making them another child. She kept reminding him, trying to keep him at bay by saying that she only wanted to please him but he wasn’t really seeing it. Not unless pleasing him in some contorted, strange fashion had become synonymous with a constant, daily harassment instead of delivering what she had promised.

He did try to remain kind and understanding. He somewhat had taken notice that if she was to begin creating that new life, she needed his support and so he tried giving it to her. Love, devotion, a listening ear; he was trying very hard. But it was never enough; she would always end up crying more. And he felt like he was starting to run out of options before risking beginning to sound like a repetitive tune sung by the dullest bard of them all. Every morning he went out to get her breakfast. He made sure that she had something to drink during the day and helped her get dressed and when required he would help her dressing her wounds too. But the constant nagging about all the sacrifices and how she’d given up so much was taking its toll. He wished she could just be happy with the damned gilded bones and be done with it, but she couldn’t. He could have liked if she’d just understood that all of this was because of the choices she had made herself. ‘t Was because of her promises that Anastacia was no more; she had wanted to help Casliel. She, Tina, had made the promises. If anything, she should be consoling him, Milan, for his losses. But she was entirely too egocentric to see the truth in that, thus she kept moaning about the deceased little brat and her own imperfections. As if he cared.

The way she kept the appalling stump hidden from him was nearly grotesque; even when he was sticking to his part of the agreement of making a new Anastacia, she would attempt to not show it and keep it behind her back or at her side. As if he would simply forget that half her arm was gone. As if that would make the act of planting that new life inside of her, any nicer. It wouldn’t. There was no chance of making this any easier; it was an act that he committed himself to for the sake of keeping them together and giving their future a chance. He wasn’t doing it because he liked it. It had never been appealing to him to lay with her. And why she was twisting herself into the most uncomfortable of positions trying to still appear what she had ceased to be, was a mind boggling mystery to him. It wasn’t making a difference. But he knew that if he were to explain that to her, it would hardly come across as supportive. So he kept lying.

She’d better turn around soon though and come with some sort of positive news. He didn’t want to rid of her but if she had become useless to him, then he didn’t see how he had much more of a choice than dispose of her. It was unsettling, upsetting him even, but what else could he do? Now that he’d felt what it was like to have offspring, he was obsessed with having more. He needed more, because he had plans for them. The lengths he would go to obtain that goal, would be great. Even if that meant finding a new woman to be at his disposal. After all, one would throw furniture past the point of repair out too.

[Wired]

When they publish the official anthology I'm sure they'll cut these distracting comments out, but keep it coming!

[Kell]

When they publish the official anthology I'm sure they'll cut these distracting comments out, but keep it coming!

You shall have a special thank you in our bestseller novel.