Chapter 31: Life can be an assassin you'll never see coming.
The riveting starry sky showered its brilliance from above while the magic lamps decorated the streets with their own charm. Bars and taverns each sang different a story of love, loss, triumph, brotherhood over a mug of beer or a shot of whiskey.
In streets, jam-packed with people celebrating tonight, drifted a woman wearing azure white robes- stark contrast of today's fashion yet blending in like milk and water.
Her silky black hair tied in a loose bun rested on the back of her neck. Her dignified black eyes skimming the sparkling lit streets in flickering expectations.
The wonders she was led to believe- Every day something new to discover- Not a day going by without cheek hurting laughter- The thrill of writing the children's tales were all beginning to shape nothing but a senile god's ramblings as each second went by.
In this place of promised adventure, she found nothing she hadn't seen already, in this day-long stay of hers.
Just how bored must one be to find this fascinating? - She couldn't help but wonder with every each she took on her way back to Babel- Her way back to Heaven.
Ouranos did advise this will happen.
For an entity such as her… For someone who had existed long before the concept of time was but a fleeting thought, there is nothing left to explore.
So she traced her steps back, asking herself, what makes it worth sealing Arcanum?
Nothing, her mind declared as she stepped on, hands behind her back yet eyes still searching- hoping that little spark they kindled in the icy void wasn't in vain.
And it wasn't.
.
.
At last, he'd get to see her face again, he thought.
Feel the warmth of her palm on his head, he thought.
The sense of belonging.
That unconditional love.
His redemption…
But it all shattered in an instant- His hopes shattered just like that day, as he rubbed the blurry tears off his eyes and saw a stranger.
She was indeed the most beautiful, but she wasn't mom.
His radiant gaze froze, so did his grinning lips and his soul as the startled woman spun around.
Definitely a Goddess, his mind stated.
As the shocked gaze of the Goddess settled on the teary eyes of the child who claimed her to be his mother… in those eyes, she saw a flame of hope flickering like a candle under a moonless sky, threatened to be whipped off by the cruel roar of reality.
And the very next second, it did.
Consumed by the same dark void that plagues her heart… consumed by despair, killed under the stomp of disappointment, but most of all, that look of betrayal in his eyes.
That unfeeling heart of hers she thought had long forgotten to even thump- ached as she gazed at the hopeful sun, vanishing into the void, ceasing to exist, swept away like dust under the winds of reality.
-TAP
Her mind jolted awake as the child trembled back, his freezing hand releasing hers.
Even though the Goddess knew nothing of the child yet the cold-silent heart of hers spoke for what it seemed like the first time ever- Don't let go, it said.
Her lips parted, a syllable about to resound- The child disappeared.
He vanished into thin air as though it was all just a dream, an illusion or a mirage her bored mind concocted for a moment's entertainment.
But the Goddess froze. She knew for a fact it wasn't just a dream.
For she had witnessed a miracle.
"A mortal traversing between the fabrics of existence?"
The Goddess saw right through his Blink. Understood the concept, its principles. Anyone could've mistaken it for something else, but not her.
Her stunned black eyes blinked, and the sharpness returned while her body spun around before striding towards Babel at a pace faster than she ever walked.
Ascending back was now out of the question- she had discovered anomaly likes of which she has never seen.
She needed answers- how and whys were swirling a ballerina in her head, and much to her astonishment, in the middle of the ballet was a pair of ashen grey eyes, begging.
Torn between her curiosity and emotion she never thought would pang her heart- she walked on towards the sky-piercing tower, each step more impatient than the previous one.
.
.
-DING!
The chime of the elevator echoed in the Room of Prayers as the Goddess stepped in.
Blue flames atop the touches studded into massive white pillars, illuminating only the path leading to the stairs at the end of the chamber- to the majestic throne above. Rest was all engulfed in purple-tinted darkness.
"I hope your stroll had been… eventful," resounded an ancient primordial voice of the old man seated on the throne, who then stood up and began his descent.
"Eventful… indeed," the Goddess said as she stepped forward with dignity, dominating the Heaven she came from, "Do me a favor, Ouranos… I want you to investigate someone."
What appeared to be a 'favor' echoed more of an 'order', yet the lips of Orario's Ruler curved up. Amused, he said, "So someone did catch your eye…"
"Shall I find someone else?" the Goddess asked instead, eyes boring into his sky-blue eyes.
His amusement was just a veneer she saw through in a second. The Sky God was stunned.
She knew, as respectful as they may appear- no one wanted her here.
Chuckling, Ouranos replied, "You need not strain your legs, Lady…-
.
.
.
On the wide railing of a dark empty three-story house sat the shivering Argus, failing to ignite a cigarette for the 6th time, putting every ounce of his being to keep the demons chained.
Here, he thought, he was moving forward.
A step at a time it was, but he thought he was making progress… things were changing.
But no! He ran ahead and grabbed a random woman's hand, crying as he called her mother.
-Slap!
His hand rose itself before descending on to his face as he cried- cursed himself- his very existence, "Just how fuckin desperate are you!"
Oh, how he wished his cheek would hurt- how he wished heart wouldn't.
The acceptance of the fact he had painstakingly built turned out to be nothing but another delusion.
A yellow-black tape separating his conscious, tricking it into thinking he was moving on.
But in truth… in reality, he was just running away, ignoring it.
Ignoring, suppressing how desperate he was to see them again.
/ It's okay, Argus… maybe there was something strange about her. I saw what you did, and she did look like her… /
But Argus silent cries what replied 'HER'.
His trembling shoulders quaked even more as he cried harder. For the first time, he let all the chaos loose- he gave himself permission- he had enough.
The chains broke.
And the guilt began eating him alive.
The demons ran wild.
The regret tore him apart.
Anger darkened his mind.
He broke.
And so did the charm of pain-killers.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
An_Imperfectionist
An_Imperfectionist I know... it's way shorter than usual. Here's what happened... I thought my writing skills were stagnating or if not... then I have hit a bottleneck. So I spent the last few days learning as much as I could, from anywhere I could... and believe it or not... I literally begged an author to teach me how to write the way he does.
Yes, of course, I got rejected, politely.
POLITELY!
So I went ahead and read his novel, and learned as much as I could from it... and from other sources as well... and then I wrote this.
So, yeah... Vote me~
Comments help better, though.
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