Nurturer of Nightmares

Nihila

There was snow surrounding me, the waves crashing into the shore with a deafening roar that overtook the world, my remaining three siblings chattering as cheerfully as they could, occasionally speaking louder, until I could easily hear them over the waves, and sometimes dropping their voices so low that I wasn’t certain they were speaking anymore without turning to look over my shoulder.

Marili was holding my hand, limping carefully over sharp rocks, a fishing basket in her other hand. She had to drag it, no longer strong enough to carry it on her shoulder.

Behind us, Matami and Triona were also limping, my brother carrying a bucket, net and a knife- the last of the fifteen knives we had once used to gut the fish we caught. Triona was carrying a backpack full of supplies- two bottles of water, and a piece of dried and salted fish, her skin pale and flaking away.

“The snow is worse today,” Matami said quietly, and Triona replied, “We’ll have to move fast, then. We don’t want Nihila getting a snow burn like last time.”

I rubbed at my aching arm, the wound bandaged, and Marili breathed, “We’re here.” I had tripped into a pile of what I’d thought was snow, my arm burning only a few minutes later. Matami had wrenched me out, using a leaf to brush me off, but it had been too late. Now, that arm was burnt, somehow. When I’d asked about it, Matami had said that some piles of snow were more dangerous than others, and they could give you ‘snow-burn’. Marili had cried about it, and I’d had to spend the night on the edge of the cave, away from them. Triona had said it was because snow-burn could spread, but eventually I would be safe.

There seemed to be more of those snow piles lately, which was why, in some places, Marili would pick me up and carry me on her shoulders, her breath rasping in her chest, rattling like a piece of timber in a strong wind. Her feet had begun looking worse lately because of the snow she walked through, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before she wouldn’t be able to walk anymore.

Matami nodded, holding up a finger for us to be silent while he looked around, although I wasn’t sure what for. There was no one left.

Here, at the end of our world, where the ocean hit the rocky edge, and where, buried at the tree line beneath a pile of seaweed and debris from the sea, was the boat Triona would be taking out into the ocean in search of more food.

My sister uncovered it, Marili holding me close to her, the world around us empty of others, which Matami confirmed with a confident nod. Even the animals had gone silent, lately.

Demons, however, had become more and more common.

The sun was only just beginning to rise, however, and although the tide was restless, making it less than ideal for fishing, we were desperate. Triona had the last of the food in her satchel, and if she didn’t bring anything back today, we would die.

Dragging the boat toward the waters edge, Triona weighed it down with a large rock, anchoring it in place against the sand, before rushing back, hugging Matami, Marili and I tightly.

She held us for a moment, before turning away, ripping a handkerchief from her pocket and coughing up more blood, choking on it for a moment before she managed to hack up a large chunk of blood, wheezing. She had been doing that a lot, lately.

Apparently, it was a sign of a really bad snow-burn.

Matami’s face fell, and he pulled her to the side, while Marili led me to a large rock that sat over the water, the waves lapping at the edge of it. We sat there, cross-legged, Marili pulling me into her lap while the two of us gazed out over the water.

There, while Matami and Triona spoke, Marili began whispering to me, braiding my hair while she told me another story.

“Once upon a time, there were three brothers who spent their days hunting together… They loved each other dearly. Every year, they would hunt together, gathering enough that the entire family, and all of their friends, could survive the harsh winter.”

I smiled, listening to her soothing voice, wondering if this was one of the stories our mother had told her. Marili had begged for stories every night, and every night, our mother had told her a new one.

“One winter, the three brothers went out to hunt for more food, as their neighbours had thrown a great feast the night before and devoured their supplies. When the brothers reached the forests edge, they decided to split up. They spoke, and it was quickly decided that the youngest would head to the fields to hunt for smaller game, where he could use his smaller size to his advantage to hide in the dying grass. The middle brother would head to the ocean to fish on the raging sea, as he had grown up with it, and knew its language. The eldest, it was decided, would head into the forest to hunt a large white bear that had been stalking the town. The village only a few kilometres away had claimed it was cursed, but the eldest brother did not believe this. He decided to hunt it down, and save both villages.”

“What happened to the youngest?” I begged to know, Marili pulling me closer as Triona dragged the boat the rest of the way out, tossing her satchel into the bottom of it. She threw the rock as far as she could, Matami carrying it the rest of the way, tears streaming down his face.

My sister waved goodbye to the other, before turning back to me, breathing, “The youngest managed to catch a great many smaller creatures. Enough so that, two hours before nightfall, he returned to the village with two large baskets full. The villagers, overjoyed, gifted him a new hunting bow, and arrows made from a large steel rock they had found and carved. The middle brother came back with an hour before nightfall, with three buckets of fish on his back. The villagers gave him a new kayak in return for bringing so much food back.”

“And the eldest? What did he get when he brought the bear back?”

Matami turned toward the forest, waving to Marili, and I smiled. It was just like the story! Matami was going into the forest, Triona out to the sea… The only people who wouldn’t be going would be Marili and I.

“Nightfall came upon the village, and the two younger brothers began to grow worried. Their brother had left to hunt the biggest creature, and had not yet returned. The youngest decided he would venture out into the woods to find him, while the middle brother refused, saying it was foolish. They would wait until morning. The two brothers argued long into the night, and the youngest brother, realising he would not win the argument, came up with a plan. Waiting until his brother had fallen asleep, he took his new bow and arrows out into the forest, calling for his brother in the moonlight. After many hours, just before dawn, he found the downed body of a large white bear, the skin already removed. In a panic, he began screaming for his eldest brother, concerned that the bear may have killed him in their battle.”

“Did he find the eldest?”

“He spent many hours searching, and just as dawn broke, he found the eldest curled up in a cave. His skin was torn apart, and his teeth had been replaced by those of a bears’… The village had been right, and the bear had been cursed. Upon killing it, the curse passed on to the eldest son. The youngest ran toward his brother, who begged him to stay away, and fell to his knees beside him, asking how he could break the curse. The eldest brother only knew one thing- by killing him, the curse would be passed on, and the brother would become human again. He refused to let the youngest brother sacrifice himself, even when the youngest reasoned that the eldest was the best hunter in the village, and that he had a family waiting for him at home. The eldest again refused, but the youngest did not want to see his brother, who had cared for him, become a bear. So, he stepped a few feet away, and drew his bow and arrows.”

I held my breath, the sky turning grey above us slowly, the wind picking up in response to Marili’s tale, “He pulled the arrow back, as tight as it would go, and then released it-” There was a scream out in the ocean, the waves having grown too high in a matter of moments, and Marili grabbed me, rushing me away from the rock and shoving me into Matami’s arms the moment he came barrelling down from the forest, the two of them rushing to the coast, searching for Triona’s boat…

Triona didn’t come home with us that night…

“Why do you call me, Nihila?” Marili’s cool voice echoed through my mind, and I grimaced, thinking, ‘I didn’t call you.’

“You were thinking of me. You might as well have rung a bell and screamed my name into The Void.”

‘Why am I frozen here?’ I was still in Tarvenia’s Palace, stuck in the bed while I waited for someone to save me. I could feel something holding my powers down, keeping them subdued. But what? Who?

I turned my mind inward, easily stepping into that pocket of space where The Void lived in my mind, to see Marili standing there, her dark black hair drifting around her head, her eyes blood-red and glowing. The ends of her veins floated above her skin like spiderwebs, and she raised an eyebrow at me.

Not the Marili I had known, and cherished, for years. This Marili hadn’t told me stories on the beach. The Matami here in The Void wasn’t the one who had sacrificed himself for me, either.

Earth, and the Legacy War, had broken them. I refused to let it do the same to me.

“You were thinking of Triona, too. She didn’t come, though. I did. I thought… Well, it’s been a while since you’ve been here.”

‘I’m frozen here. Why?’

“It’s the Gods of Daemonium keeping you here. You’re too meddlesome, apparently. Nihila, what were you thinking, taking on a Demon Lord?”

I almost could have mistaken the distress in her voice for concern… ‘I have a bargain to uphold.’

Marili tilted her head, her hair shifting with her, and she replied, “The World-Killer girl… She summoned you for a different purpose, though. You could come home. Satalari is furious with you.”

‘I don’t want to go back, and The Void isn’t home. Alaska is. Besides, I made a friend. Several.’

“Friends? Nihila, we’re Ancients. We’ll outlive all of them.”

‘Not these ones. Destiny, Cain and Seth are Immortal. Like us.’

Marili raised an eyebrow at my last statement, before sighing deeply, acceptance washing over her as she breathed, “You always were stubborn, baby sister.”

‘I know. I’m sorry, Marili, but I’m not coming back.’

She smiled sadly, before rushing over, hugging me tightly for a brief moment and saying, “I’m sorry I never finished that story for you.”

‘You died not long after. A week, I believe.’

Marili nodded, saying, “We tried, Nihila. We tried so hard to keep you safe… But… Well, Matami and I knew Triona wasn’t coming back. She didn’t intend to die the way she did, but she was heading onto that boat with no intention of returning. She had radiation poisoning. It was fate that caused her boat to tip when she intended to simply die of poisoning on it.”

‘I know. Now, anyway,’ I conceded. I hadn’t known at the time. Triona had suffered from radiation poisoning. A slow, long death. As had I.

‘I’m sorry I got the both of you killed,’ I apologised, Marili giving me a wry smile and saying, “It was quick, little sister, and we didn’t regret it, not when it meant protecting you. Your friend will need you at her side, you know. She fights for life in the Demonic Manor now.”

‘How do I get to her?’

“Break the spell that is keeping you in place. I would attempt to call for Lazarus, Nazareth or Nicnevin.”

‘I would, except I don’t know who any of them are.’

“They are older than us… The true Ancients of this world. Old Ones. Satalari knew of them, somehow, but I don’t dare ask how. You should seek them out. It’s time to wake up, Nihila.”

‘Will I see you again?’

“Should you ever decide to return to The Void, baby sister, I would be more than happy to welcome you back. Should you need a hand on that battlefield, too, I will join you.”

As Marili faded back into the darkness, I began wondering. Maybe a part of Marili had survived the Legacy War…

And maybe it was the same part that lived inside me as my eyes opened to reveal a bright Tarvenia bedroom…