Prologue
❝Battles are meant to be fought. But in the end, they are lost,
no matter what you gain, you always lose something.❞
The girl stood watching the scene in front of her, it seemed like it was long ago, while she was another person. Perhaps she was, she no longer knew.
"Mama?"
A woman lay in bed with hollowed cheeks and dark circles outlining her eyes. Dried blood surrounded her mouth and her hair was grey with strings of white. But it was still her mother, no matter the fact that her youth had left her early and she was now an echo of her health. She reached out for her daughter’s hand. She knew her time had come.
"Mama?"
"Sweetie, I will be going to a better place."
"Mama?" Her cries grew more desperate, she could tell the light was leaving her mother’s eyes.
"Lilith, tell daddy I love you all."
"MAMA!"
"And grow up to become the best ruler Arastus has seen."
The scene flashed in front of her eyes and faded into another.
" My name is Rosette Calderone it’s a pleasure to meet you, Princess Lilith." The girl with her light brown flowing hair curtsied to another girl. She wore a simple dress for nobility and curtsied lower than others. Perhaps it was that. Maybe that made the princess take her under her wing. Or maybe something else entirely. She watched as the girl held out her hand to the true princess in front of her. " The pleasure is entirely mine."
The scene faded in front of her and she spun around to find herself somewhere else.
" Lily! Get out of the way" Lilith was pushed out of her seat by someone and fell to the ground with a thud. The assassin was about to lower his sword on the brave maiden who took the place of his target when.
CLANG! Two things were in the air, a sword and a severed head. Lilith stared at the blood droplets sprinkling on her and her best friend’s figures. Her rose had almost just died for her.
Lilith couldn’t stop her tears of joy and guilt from pouring down as she watched the scene in front of her. Rose was all safe pressed against the chest of Augustus, Lilith’s knight.
Lilith picked her self up at the same time Rosette did and they threw themselves at each other.
" Don’t you ever-"
" I couldn’t let you die-"
" People care about you-"
" You are the future of our nation-"
Lilith lifted her head from where it was buried in Rosette’s shoulder." When are you going to stop being so damned selfless!?!" She didn’t care that she, the blue rose, had just cursed.
" The second you start caring about yourself." The pink-haired girl’s beautiful eyes turned glossy at this and she buried her head in the best friend’s shoulder again. Her knight pretended not to see her weakness. She would never forgive him after all.
The girl stared as the scene faded once more.
" I choose to die first." The princess lowered her head as she said this.
" Ah, I see the princess chooses the noble way to die." A handsome man stared down at the fallen princess as she held back her tears. ” Any reason why you would die before my niece?"
" No reason, but may I announce something right before I leave the world?" The man stared at her for a minute, then nodded.
" Lily, you can’t die!!!" The brown-haired girl was dressed in rags now, next to the princess. She was grabbing at the girl repeatedly as they were both being led up to the balcony where the now-deceased king once made his speeches. The other girl was weeping but pleas to "go first" were unheard.
The man lightly touched her neck, Lilith could feel the sound-maximizing spell spread on her vocal cords.
She held her hand out for the hemlock brew before speaking, " I declare, with my power bestowed upon me by the supreme being as royalty, that my bloodline shall continue with this girl next to me known as Rosette Calderone. Once this country falls out of this unwanted tyranny, she will wed my once fiance and never, I repeat, never allow us to fall again." Why was this man still letting her talk? She looked over to him and saw him focused on the far distant edges of the city. An army was approaching. They could arrive in time to save only one of them though, her time was approaching.
She continued," My death and the deaths of all the people around you shouldn’t have been in vain. Pick up your weapons and fight for your freedom! All glories to the Kingdom of Arastus!!! For my death will not be our end, it shall be our beginning."
She lifted the cup to her lips and drank it all in one go. She had 30 minutes, but could already feel dizziness. She must’ve had a large dose. 30 minutes seemed small, but in those thirty minutes, much happened. The crowd below rebelled against the guards, the army marched, and everyone around her. All of her friends had arrived. Her heartbeat seemed to slow down.
" Promise."
" Promise what?"
" Promise me that you will love your fated one the way you loved me."
" I love you, Lilith." There came a peck on the lips from a crying girl.
" I love you too, Rose." She reached out to touch Rosette’s cheek. And her arm relaxed.
Even with the chaos around them, the world seemed to quiet the moment she was lost. You could almost hear the last breath leave her mouth. She was joining her mother now, in a better place.
Lucifer had watched the scene in front of her quietly, the life she had once led indeed been a tragedy, somehow lit by hope.
She had never unlocked her true potential during her short time as a human instead of the devil. Even if it was a punishment.
The room became a white void. The showing was over.
" Are you done yet, Lucifer?" A voice echoed off of unseen objects.
" Yeah, yeah, I’m coming," She walked over to a door in the empty void, rubbing her halo.
Micheal waited for her outside in the hallway. " So, how was it?"
Lucifer snorted. " Was what?"
" Your life as Lilith Desdemona."
Lucifer snorted. " Stupid, it could have been better. I need entertainment.” She tried to hide the sadness in her voice, but that was already noted by Gabriel.
Lucifer turned and went into her room the second it was in her sight. Gabriel sighed at this.
" It was that bad, was it?” She sighed. " I suppose it was for even Fate to even have her eyes on it.”
She looked at the door in front of her with pity, ” Oh Lucifer, you innocent angel. At this rate, I wonder how long it will be until you fall again.”
She then continued down to the hallway unaware of how soon that was to come.
