It was almost funny, in a terribly painful way. He was the only one that deserved the fate that the world would suffer in due time. But she no longer cared for the others, for in their nature they were his, and anything of his was best left in ruins.

  The world was in its infant stages. Civilizations were being born but they had yet to truly prosper or branch off from one another. She found those times quite fascinating. Both of them did.

  She knew Danai would deny it now—that she had ever stepped foot outside of Sanctuary, ever interacted with the mortals and their budding cultures. Yet it was a sin they had both committed.

  Danai peered from one side of the street to the next, her smile getting wider each time she did so. Eldrianna alternated between watching her—she could vaguely recall being happy in seeing her sister’s delight—and the people on the street. That’s when a certain individual caught her attention.

  “Danai, what if we actually go down there?”

  “What?” Her eyes grew wide and she stepped closer into the shadows, as if that really made them less noticeable.

  Eldrianna laughed. “Go out there, talk with them. We’re still their goddesses, aren’t we? Why don’t we give them something to write about?”

  “That sounds like a terrible idea. What if Orestis found out?”

  “I’m very disappointed in both of you,” Eldrianna began in the intentionally worst impression of Orestis she could do, “even though I somehow haven’t cared to notice it until now. How dare you. Now you must stand in a corner or something. Honestly I don’t care as long as you don’t bother me as I create my ‘master plan.’”

  She laughed at Danai’s expression. That was the only true difference between them—one saw Orestis on the same level as the rest of them, and the other exalted him to such heights no one could’ve naturally reached.

  After a conflicted moment, Danai shook her head. “I’ll stay here and watch.” She retreated to a place where it was pretty unlikely she was going to be able to see anything. “Have fun.”

  “Oh, I will,” Eldrianna said with a smirk. “You’ll wish you were with me.”

  She was only half surprised that Danai still hadn’t ended up following her. Eldrianna didn’t mind being alone, though. She almost blended in that way—though still stood out enough to get the kind of attention she was hoping for.

  Most of them, unfortunately, did nothing but stare. That was normal; mortals could sense someone of greater power among them and it was the kind of air she was certain she radiated, as a goddess. She’d be told later a part of it was the aura of darkness that mortals could pick up on, too. She hadn’t minded it then, but… sometimes she wondered why Orestis had made them that way, if her turning was not in his plan.

  Or, if he’d always expected her to Fall, why he bothered keeping her around in the first place… and why he seemed so unprepared and desperate when she started tearing things down around him. He certainly wasn’t the one with a trap planned; she knew for certain he never truly watched over his creations.

  “Hey!” a young man, one about the age that she and Danai presented themselves as, walked up to her. He grinned. “I don’t know if this is rude to ask, but, ah… are those wings?”

  “Of course they are,” she answered effortlessly.

  “Does that make you a fairy?”

  “A little more than that, actually.”

  He seemed curious and about to ask another question, before some older man called, “Achadus! Stop wandering off, I need you!”

  The young man let out a sheepish chuckle. “Well, that’s my cue to go. Maybe I’ll see you later.”

  She could barely get a mhm out before he ran off again.

  …

  She found herself… drawn to him. She wanted to be with him. She wanted to tell him stories, to hear his own. She’d always wondered what it would feel like to participate in those mortal dances, the ones in groups or the ones with couples. Before, she could only ever imagine being alone in them—now, he was with her in every single one of those fantasies.

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  He called her Dree, a nickname he chose to make her “a little less goddess-y” or “more approachable.” She loved to hear him whisper it to her.

  Eldrianna was upset, at first, when Danai began to refuse to join her on her trips out of Sanctuary. It had, honestly, been the first sign of the soon-to-be traitor. But, in Achadus’s presence, all such thoughts disappeared; she didn’t feel like a goddess, or have the lingering fear that her sister would betray her.

  There was… one problem, however.

  “What do you think, Dree? Aren’t I a genius for having come up with something like this?” Achadus puffed his chest with pride, getting a small giggle out of her.

  “I don’t understand why you’ve made it all so complicated,” she remarked, still smiling. “Though it does take a certain mix of cleverness and stupidity to do the things you’ve decided to do.”

  He took on a more thoughtful expression; she always considered such a thing to be ill-fitting on him. “I can’t explain it, but I’m sure that someone out there is going to appreciate this. I don’t know who it’s going to be or what they’re going to be here for, but this is going to help them with… something. I feel like this is my contribution to the world—the thing I do that keeps my name from becoming forgotten.”

  Panic coursed through every part of her being. “Your name will never be forgotten. As long as I still exist, there will always be someone to remember you.”

  He chuckled, then pointed out, “Thanks for the sentiment, but it doesn’t mean nearly as much when it’s coming from someone who lives forever.”

  “I… suppose it doesn’t…”

  There was one thing keeping this from being perfect.

  He was mortal—bound to join Vriuh’s domain.

  …

  Then, she was naive—naive enough to believe she could confide in Danai. Eldrianna told her sister all of her thoughts and feelings in one, nervous ramble, then ended off with what she planned to do. It would turn out to be her biggest mistake.

  She found him pale, leaning over papers, mumbling things. He hadn’t quite been the same after his father’s death—he usually denied spending large amounts of time with her.

  “Achadus,” she said softly.

  That caught his attention and he gave her a weak smile. “Dree. Have a special surprise for me?”

  “I want to tell you something.”

  “Really? If it’s that you’ve always loved me, I think I might feel better if you could show me.”

  She smiled. “I can give you something better than a kiss. I can give you the gift of immortality—to be a god, like me, so we won’t have to ever be apart…”

  …

  A few days passed until the time came when they were going to go through with it. But, as they walked together, sharing exciting plans of all the things they could see and do in their infinite time together… she felt her surroundings change.

  Quietly, she could hear Achadus calling her that nickname and, distantly, feel the stares of the other townspeople. But she stood in the center of Sanctuary, Orestis just in front of her. Daphni, Faidon, Vaso, and Elle stared down with blank expressions. Eldrianna understood immediately what had happened, when she noticed Danai practically hiding behind Orestis, giving Eldrianna a glance before looking away.

  Fueled by anger and betrayal, Eldrianna asked the question she already knew the answer to. “You told him?”

  Danai said nothing.

  Eldrianna would’ve marched right next to her—demand a reason, something that made her deserve this, why her sister would choose to do it—if some grander force had not forced her to stay still.

  “You have disobeyed Me,” Orestis said in that lofty voice, one devoid of all emotion yet radiated power near impossible to face. “You have not only interfered with My plan, but you have shared unspeakable secrets. For this, surely you understand the consequence.”

  “Danai was with me!” Eldrianna insisted. She knew she was going down—it was a matter of if she could drag someone down with her now. “She did it, too!”

  Orestis didn’t take his eyes off of Eldrianna. “Danai, does she speak the truth?”

  A moment of silence, then, “I would never disobey You. My Light is forever Yours.” Danai never looked up.

  “Liar!” Eldrianna tried harder to break the invisible restraints, but she couldn’t. As much as she wanted to force Danai to say it one more time to her face, loud enough for the world to hear, she couldn’t.

  She froze completely when she felt her hand wrap around a dagger, one that had formed from nothing. Her betrayal turned to distress as Sanctuary began to fade again, yet she had no control over her body.

  “You will suffer for this grave transgression.” Still, Orestis’s voice was empty, unchanging. “You will kill him—his soul will be one that Vriuh will never harbor. Then you will be banished from Sanctuary. Such a blatant sinner is not welcome among My blessed halls.”

  She couldn’t argue. She couldn’t fight. In a moment, she was standing in front of Achadus, who gently held her shoulders with a concerned expression.

  She’d never cried before this, nor any time after, but it was the only thing she did at that point. Somehow, however, she managed the words “I’m sorry” before she stabbed him.

  As they both fell to the ground, she felt it—the thing that would mark her as Darkness, traitor of Orestis. Her wings shattered, the pain choking out whatever curses she might’ve uttered. She was glad that Achadus was dead by then, because she didn’t want him to suffer more—to watch her ichor drip down her back and mix with his own pooling blood.

  She saw the mix of blood and ichor that day and assured herself of one thing:

  The whole world will remember this day, one way or another.