Chapter 16: A loving mother

“...E…eh?” I was left speechless. What the fuck was happening?? She knew I was going to kill them, but she still asked me to do it “Why? Shouldn’t you stop me instead?”

She shook her head “It would be useless and I’ll show you the reason.” She came closer to me and took my hand “Close your eyes for 5 seconds.”

I did as she said and in those seconds I felt her energy flowing in my body, when those seconds passed I opened my eyes and saw her soul, a red flame cut in half and what kept it divided was I small white flame in the middle. I tried to remove it with my powers but it rejected me, with a greater force than mine I got pushed back and in the blink of an eye, I was now looking back at the mother.

I was sweating ‘That white flame…was so strong’ I looked at the mother and asked

“What happened to your soul?”

With sad eyes, she answered “A god put a curse on one of my ancestors as a punishment because they betrayed someone the gods loved as their child. I don’t know who he was, but I know what this curse does. Usually, Zonniki can live a lot longer than humans but because of that little white flame, my lifespan is cut to 50 and…whoever has my blood or becomes someone I care about, would die too with great pain. Even if find a way to escape from death or die sooner than expected, this curse is hereditary, so my child’s soul would be affected too.” she stopped for a moment looking away, she was sad. Still, there was something else…she was ready to die without many regrets and the few she had were probably about her daughters.

“If only it appeared sooner…I wouldn’t have married him and would have closed myself in a house for the rest of my days…but it appeared when I was 35 and Emily was already born…now I’m 49, in some days I’ll be 50.” she then looked at me and continued “Your arrival was written in fate, I’m sure of it.” she was still holding my hand.

“Please, promise me you’ll kill us…you’ll save us from this curse.”

“...ok…I’ll do it…” I wasn't looking at her but kept my head low. I didn’t want my eyes to meet hers, I knew I would have cried. With her hand, she raised my head and our eyes met, while caressing my cheek she said

“Before I let you speak with that person, I’ll tell you one last thing. The fact you didn’t kill us sooner means you have a big heart, bigger than you expect. What you are doing now, going murdering every single criminal you find, won’t bring you happiness.”

“I know that. But even if I stop, someone else will start doing the same.” even if my memories were fake, I couldn’t just stop what I started. As righteous as I wanted my actions to be, I was still a wanted woman in multiple countries.

She silently hugged me back

“I’m sorry.” I simply said

“You don’t have to be sorry. There are things that even we, Zonnikies, or even Gods can’t choose.” she said while caressing my hair.

We stayed like that for some seconds, then she detached and took a few steps back.

“Once you two finish talking, I’ll regain control over my body, but I’ll be unconscious. Take me to my room and put me in bed and…you know what to do.”

I nodded whiled drying my tears with my hand “Thank you for letting me stay in your house…” I wanted to add something else but closed my mouth immediately ‘It wouldn’t be appropriate.’

“If you want to use that word, I’ll allow it.” she said like she knew what I was thinking.

“...thank you Mom.” I smiled at those simple and warm words and it even made me tear up a bit.

She smiled too, it made her wrinkles look more pronounced, but they were making her somewhat more beautiful, while her eyes started watering she said

“Now you resemble Sophia a bit more…you two would have been great friends in normal circumstances. Thank you for treating her body respectfully and thanks in advance, I know you’ll keep your promise.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

She closed her eyes while still smiling, but her aura was changing already, it was becoming black, her smile slowly disappeared and when the eyes were opened again, they were grey.

“Finally, we can talk now.” the tone of the voice was different, it was cold and her aura was massive, it was releasing malevolent energy with a smell so putrid that I had to cover my nose, otherwise I would have puked.

‘What are this energy and smell..?’ I thought while trying to be calm in front of that thing.

‘Whoever this person is, she must be eliminated…’ I quickly realized that thought was crazy since the difference between us was abysmal. Going against her would have meant certain death.

I was on the defensive but that person didn’t seem hostile, she just remained still and was analyzing me with her gaze, from the head to the feet, but what she said after, confused me a lot.

“Who are you?”

“...huh? You wanted to talk to me without knowing who I am?” I asked confused. ‘Is she trying to mess with me?’

She sighed. “Just answer me, I don’t have a lot of time.”

“...Sarah.” I just answered since I didn't have any other option.

“Mh.” She crossed her arms “Do you remember your past? If yes, what do you remember? Be as short as possible.”

I nodded “I remember I was raped y my fat-”

“Stop.” she interrupted me and massaged her eyelids out of frustration “I see…Unfortunately, I was right…” she said to herself.

“What? You were right about what?” I asked.

“It might be difficult to explain, especially with a certain Zonniki’s presence.” She turned her head to her right and I followed her gaze, at first there was nothing but immediately after Arismis appeared out of thin air, he was looking at the woman full of spite. He usually doesn’t show up when I’m on a mission, but seeing him here meant something was wrong or wasn’t going according to our(or his) plans.

“What the fuck…are you doing here?!” he shouted at the woman.

She shrugged shoulders “I don’t know. I was going on a trip and just happened to appear here.” she continued with a little smile “I’m surprised to see you here. Hope I’m not ruining anything important.”

“Tsk. Do you really want to mess with me now?” he was seriously getting mad and his aura was moving like a vivid red flame.

“Yeah. And I’ll continue because you’re just a little puppy who serves the Council and would never take action without their approval. Basically, no one to respect”

“...ok. Now I really want to tear you apart.” he said calmly while his left eye was twitching.

“Let’s leave this bloodlust for next time shall we?” while saying that, her black aura quickly surrounded both of us.

The last thing I saw and heard was Arismis trying to reach that person, but he wasn’t fast enough. Now, I was surrounded by the darkness with that woman.

I was looking at her, preoccupied “Who are you?”

She shook her head “It would be useless telling you my name now. Arismis will soon break through so let’s not waste any time.”

Unsatisfied I continued asking “...At least tell me, what do you want from me?”

She looked at me indifferently “You have to slowly learn the truth about this world, so I’ll show some memories of the past…and you could regain your real memories too.”

“Real memories?” I wasn’t too surprised since I already had some suspicion about it, but I still tried to fake a surprised expression. ‘I don’t know if I can trust her, so for now, I’ll just act li-’

The woman with a blank face suddenly said “You are not good at faking or acting surprised in general.”

“...Ok, you got me. So, what do you want to do precisely?” I simply said.

“. Now, I’ll show some memories, but after that, you’ll forget what you saw again.”

“Oh ok- Wait what did you just say?” I asked, genuinely confused.

“You’ll forget everything you’ll see. This is necessary because Arismis will surely check if I made some changes to you and if he finds out, he’ll delete everything again.”

Still confused I asked, “Ok, what’s the point of making me remember everything now and not another time then?”

“Because the next time we’ll meet, we’ll probably not be speaking this friendly. Anyway, you won’t forget everything forever, your memories will just be stored somewhere deep in your soul and Arismis won’t be able to reach them since he isn’t strong enough. When the right time comes, you’ll remember everything.”

I didn’t say anything else and was a bit reluctant. I knew Arismis was strong just by looking at his aura, but hearing he couldn’t do something was weird and also difficult to believe, but, as usual, I didn’t have many choices, so I remained silent.

“I guess you don’t have any other questions. Let’s start then.” she said and that darkness quickly surrounded me. The woman wasn’t there anymore, it was only me. Before I could even think she tricked me, a bright light coming from far away invested me and I started seeing something…