MadeleineThe Goddess shook her head, “I am not sure if I should be proud of you for asking so many questions or sad that you still cannot figure out things.”Her words made me close my mouth that I had opened to throw hundred more doubts at her.“What makes a person ‘alive’?”She asked me and I answered, “The fact that he breathes?”I stated and she probed me further, “And?”“Uh, and his soul?”“Correct. So now does the lich have that?”I shook my head in answer.The Goddess folded her hands and replied, “Creating a living being is an art of the Gods or Goddesses…not demons. They cannot create living beings like we do. But they keep trying…and now they have realized that no matter how much they try, they need a little support from us… the very Gods and goddesses they defy”I thought hard and abruptly cut her,“So, my blood is that source of reanimating dead beings?”She nodded her head, “They can only create undead beings that are mere puppets, and the demon knew that I had been savi

MadeleineThe lich gave an amused laugh as I heard something slither on the ground. My confusion must be visible on my face as slowly a black snake made of that same liquid which had led to the creation of the girl began to slither towards me.It had appeared somewhere from behind the cold throne the lich had been seated on.“Wondering how I still have my power when I used almost all of it to create my child?”He asked as the snake continued to slither towards me. It reached in front of the lich and rose like a big giant serpent with a large body and a menacing behavior.It hissed and the lich raised his hand as if to caress his pet or whatever it was. “This is all because of you, Madeleine. You did not think I would waste such a treasure and not save some of it for future use, right?”I merely looked at the snake and tried to scoot away from it. The lich petted its head as if it was a dog while the snake continued to hiss loudly.“Go, bring me our guests”The lich ordered and my eye

HaydenThe serpent stayed where it was and observed me as if I was some sort of curious mouse. It could kill me with a single flick of its giant tail but it simply kept looking at me.I clenched my fists and looked around again, trying to find a way out of it. Though, I knew the place was sealed. I had no weapons, no trees or rocks to take cover of and there were no spots to hide either.It was just a barren piece of land with me vs. the huge serpent. I looked at it and when my initial fear of it had subsided, I looked at it intently and realized that it was made of the same black liquid that we had found around the cave and the forest.So, in essentiality, it was not a live serpent but more of a reanimated one, like a robot that had been infused with a bit of sentience. Trying to overwhelm it with my sheer strength would not be possible as it would be a joke if I would try to do that right now. I had to tire the serpent out and find its weaknesses.I was betting on the fact that it h

MadeleineI sat motionless on the ground, unable to process what I had seen. My eyes were telling me that I was not dreaming but my heart could not accept it.No…not could not…my heart did not want to accept it.It was as if everything good had been wiped out of the world…everything that ever made me want to smile, to live…it was as if the reason for me to exist had been snatched away from me.All I could feel was sorrow, pain, and immense hatred.As I watched the snake swallow Hayden whole I got up from the ground and turned to look at the lich.He was clearly enjoying this and my sorrow was morphing into something deadly...something that would tear me apart but I could not care less.Hayden had gone down fighting and I was fighting till my last breath as well.Meanwhile, the lich goaded on the snake’s victory and snapped his fingers as the transparent wall was once again replaced by the solid wall.“Didn’t you love him? Wasn’t he your mate? How did your ‘love’ help him?”My eyes wer

MadeleineAfter hearing my cries of begging and pleading, Leo was finally freed of the lich’s hold.He fell to the ground with a sickening thud and I meant to rush to him but the girl held me back.I was feeling so angry that I again used my elbow and drove a punch straight onto her nose.She stumbled backward and fell to the ground and this time, her hair fell to the side, revealing her face for the first time.I was just getting up from the ground but Leo’s face drained of all color as he stared at the girl.I turned to look at him and then the girl not knowing what was going on.He raised his hand in a disbelieving look and asked her, “W-what? How?”The lich once again cackled and asked in amusement, “Oh, I see that you still remember her.”Leo did not look at the lich but at the girl who was now getting up from the ground. She got up on her feet but with that same mechanical way as if she was a robot.“Who is she?” I blurted out without thinking.The way the color drained off his