Pray for the Wicked | ATEEZ

43.

As we walked through the palace gardens, Lilith did not once ask me to hand her the Lunar Flame.

She let me hold it, protect it, as she led me through mazes of flower beds and low hedges, beneath trees which seemed to glow underneath the midnight sky above, and past patios and greenhouses and conservatories before, at last, coming to a halt by a stone railing beneath a pomegranate tree.

I followed her every move, finally tearing my eyes off her figure to watch how, past the crumbling stone, the garden was replaced by thin air and cliffs which plunged into the deep much like I had done upon my first arrival in Hell.

Below, the foamy blue and green waters of Odeion's ocean churned and licked up the sides of the cliffs, eating away at the rocks. In the far distance, an entire world of beautifully lit darkness and eternal night loomed beneath the landscape of the rolling clouds and midnight overhead.

Hell was as strikingly beautiful as it had always been.

"In war, no one is ever victorious," Lilith said.

I turned to her, watching breathlessly as her hair caressed her face, the gentle waves a fiery red so deep that the pomegranates hanging heavily from the low branches around us seemed dim in comparison.

"And yet, after millennia of war, your mother emerged triumphantly. Only death and destruction seemed sufficient in filling the gaps that temptation, greed, and want could not do on their own. For thousands of years, I did not see her smile. But when she finally ruined me-" she paused, her jet black eyes finding mine with a sad smile.

"I have never had the courage to tell Hongjoong. He so admires me. But I lost to her, your mother. I lost everything."

"I'm sorry," I breathed, but she simply shook her head.

"Tell me, what is your name?"

"Dahlia," I answered quickly, watching her smile brighten ever so slightly.

"Like the flower," she mumbled. "Tell me, Dahlia, is this your first time in Odeion?"

I shook my head and she narrowed her eyes in a playful manner, "And my son, has he seen Illenium?" I nodded.

"I suspected so," Lilith sighed, and I frowned, unable to stop myself as I blurted, "You knew the portal was open?"

"I did not. Only the blood of both Lailah and I have the power to reopen the bridge between the two worlds. I never intended to rebuild it, knowing that your mother would undoubtedly crave more, crave closure, which would be unattainable if I refused to cooperate. But you and Hongjoong could have done so as well," her words trailed off as she studied me for a moment, my wings.

"The son of Satan, San, suddenly fell ill. Heatstroke, the others told me, a rare occurrence considering the lack of light in Hell. And Hongjoong, as well, has refused to show his wings for a month. He has always been fond of flying, but not anymore."

I fought the urge to ask if he was alright, though the question lingering at the tip of my tongue was almost unbearable as I remembered how he had reacted when he realized, how we had fought, how he had disappeared during the night.

Lilith turned away again, watching the heart of Hell in the distance with a fond look in her eyes as she placed her hands on the crumbling railing separating us from the cliffs below.

"They will turn fully white once the light returns," she said, and my heart skipped a beat as my mouth jaw went slack in surprise. "Now that the Lunar Flame has been recovered, the darkness will melt away. All of it." I glanced down at the onyx in my hands, the dark, jagged stone the size of a heart, as she continued.