A Gift from the Goddess

And, stunned, | followed mutely behind her, unable to do anything else.

This was a so-called Devil of the Mist? The way Allison had spoken, I'd assumed my entire family were

bloodthirsty savages, the worst of the worst.

However, Myra seemed so sweet, so... normal. Well, except for the fact she was claiming to be over a hundred

years old.

That bit felt a bit... surreal.

She walked us through the front door and into a living room, a cosy vibe about it. I'd assumed this place was

maybe an apartment complex but it seemed more open and... homey.

“Make yourself comfortable,” she said before walking into the next room.

| could hear as she began brewing tea, just as she said she would, and | was left to stare at my surroundings. |

looked around at the old furniture, but it was a set of portraits on the wall that drew my attention the most.

“My parents,” she answered a few minutes later, returning with two cups. “The last generation to live here. After

my children were born, things got a little... busy. The family business wasn’t as important in the grand schof

running a pack.”

“And what business is that?” | asked, taking the tea from her.

“This used to be an orphanage,” she explained. “Though... | imagine we ran it a little differently than the human

one you lived at briefly.”

“So that really was you then? All those years ago?” | asked. “You were the one who tried to adopt me?”

Her expression becforlorn and she looked away.

“...1 did everything | could...,” she said quietly, her voice sounding distant. “When they refused to listen to me, |

began trying to get my hands on sforged human documents. However... when you're being hunted by even

your own kind, it’s not easy to find friends willing to help you. When | inevitably gave up on official methods, |

decided to try and steal you away instead... only | was too late. Someone had adopted you and miraculously it

was as if all trace of you had vanished.”

My father. So, he really had been responsible for covering it up at the orphanage too. I'd had a feeling the

censored-out folder was his doing. The large ‘donation’ made sense now.

“Where did you go, Rheyna...?” she asked, looking back to meet my eyes. “I searched everywhere | could.”

My mind flashed with the answer, recalling the upbringing I'd experienced, and immediately felt uncomfortable.

It wasn’t an easy topic.

“... was adopted by a human,” | said vaguely.

“And were you happy? Did they treat you well?”

Not really...

But it was clear that she felt guilty for not being able to find me. She was looking atas if she neededto

tell her that I'd had a great life, that I'd been completely fine despite losing my real family. That | hadn't suffered

at all.

And so | just smiled, hoping | looked believable enough.

“Oh... it was okay,” | answered. “Pretty average. Nothing you need to worry about. Just your typical-.”

*CLAPP*

I-flinched backwards as Myra abruptly clapped loudly in front of my face, takingby surprise.

“Why did yo-.”

“No influencing,” she said crossly, scoldingas if | were a child. “Not under my roof.” But then her features

quickly softened, a small sigh leaving her. “Please don’t feel like you need to lie for my sake, Rheyna. You don’t

need to swaywith reassurance. I'm tougher than | look.”

“What do you mean?” | asked, still stunned in place. “I wasn’t doing anything....”

“I raised generations of Knight children. It’s very obvious what you were doing.”

And she gavea stern look.

....Had I actually been doing something? | had planned to lie about my upbringing, sure, but | hadn't intended to

try and ‘influence’ her. Not intentionally. Did this mean | was doing it without realising?

“You seem quite skilled at it, I'll give you that,” she then pointed out, her head tilting a little. “Had | not been on

guard, you might have actually fooled me. That would have made you the first since....”

Her face then turned sad once more, a pain showing in her eyes. Perhaps someone she lost?

...Though if she had lived for as long as she’d said, | imagined that list was quite long.

After a minute went by, she quietly sighed to herself and shook her head, breaking her own chain of thought.

When she did finally look back towards me, | knew she was trying her best to lighten the conversation. “With

those eyes, | shouldn't be surprised that you'd manifest with it. Though, truthfully, I don’t know if that makes me

happy or sad.”

“What do you mean?” | asked, curiously.

This was something I'd been wanting to know for a long time. About my ability and what made us ‘devils’. Hell,

even an explanation for how | was able to talk to her at all right now would have been appreciated.

“Our lineages are a bit muddled currently,” she started. “But whenever a child is born, the universe sort of... flips

a coin. A fifty per cent chance that the eldest will manifest with one ability or the other. The second eldest child

will then inherit the remaining one. That is if they even show signs at all. Merely having the potential inside isn’t

always enough to harness it. Sof the children never show any aptitude at all.”

“So that means | could have ended up like you?” | asked. “Would | also not...?”

“...Not age?” she provided with a small smile. “No, my circumstance is a little... unique. At most, those who take

after me. remain looking youthful for a bit longer... but, unlike me, they do eventually pass on... everyone always

does.”

There was a hollowness in the way she said that. | could feel the weight of her grief, imagining what it was like to

watch everyone she knew slowly die.

...To have loved ones, and yet to always be left behind when they passed.

It must be horrible.

“Tellmore,” | said, pressing for answers. “I want to know everything about what we are and why I'm like this.

Why... I'm a devil.”

“Hey!” she snapped suddenly, a crease forming between her brows. “No. We don’t use that term.”

“What?...’Devil’? Isn't that what we are though?”

“I don’t know where you heard that, but we don’t use that language here,” she said.

It was a bizarre feeling of being continually told off by someone who looked around my age, yet spoke like

someone much older. She somehow managed to keep makingfeel like a child despite her appearance.

“The lies that spread, due to fear from small -minded people, do not make you a devil,” she said, still frowning.

“What we did here... we made history. Amazing strides of equality that revolutionised our kind’s archaic ways of

life. But as with all greedy people in power who'd prefer what only benefits them... they chose to rely on rumours

and half-truths to weaponise their agenda. Our abilities that they feared so much gave us a position to dictate

change in our world unquestionably, unable to be defeated in battle nor denied... so they resorted to methods

belonging to cowards. An effect that rippled through the generations until it resulted in what it unfortunately

did.”

...S0, we're not evil?” | asked. “These abilities weren't used to hurt innocent people?”

And she immediately set her tea down and held my head in her hands.

“No,” she said firmly. “Our abilities are merely a manifestation of our lineage. Ties to the original werewolves, the

embodiment of Thea’s power. Or... that is true for you at least. | am not a direct descendent... more like an

adopted one.”

“This isn’t making any sense to me,” | said honestly.

And she relaxed, moving back once more as her smile returned. “I had the sreaction when | was your age.”

Before | could ask her to clarify further though, she moved onto the sofa and patted the space next to her,

indicating forto join her.

“Letexplain...,” she said, taking a deep breath in.

...And what she proceeded to say only mademore convinced | was losing my mind. That perhaps | was

asleep and this was swild, made-up dream | was in.

“At the beginning of our history, werewolf kind was birthed by the revival of five children, each imbued with a

piece of the now dead Goddess Thea, Selene’s mother,” she explained. “One child held the ability of strength,

another with foresight; one with perception manipulation, another with influential reverence... and one with

youthful longevity. These are the five abilities that made up the original lineages, of which, only three had

initially survived into modern history. The other two had been lost after being reclaimed by Thea in her quest

Once she saw how confused | still was, she waved her hand. “That one is a long story. Perhaps too complicated

for now.”

“But | still don’t understand how this works,” | said. “How is it that you're able to remain ageless if you're not

from these... lineages?”

Though that question seemed to be met with shesitance, causing her to shift uncomfortably.

“Ah... well, you see...,” she said slowly.

When | was sixteen, I... died.”

“What...?"”

| tensed up, wondering if | was really hearing this right.

“When one is brought back from the dead by Selene, they are marked upon their back with a double crescent

moon. This gives them an ultimate authority with the title Saintess,” she said. “But it is a piece of a God that

allows the person to return to the living. The original children manifested with abilities upon their revival and, like

them, this sprocess was applied to myself. One of the lost pieces Thea had reclaimed was then bestowed

uponduring my restoration. The mark itself amplifies whatever latent ability is inside, making it so

| could not age.

“How is it possible to return from the dead though?” | asked.

“The last Saintess, Aria, was distraught by my death and felt responsible,” Myra said. ” She petitioned Selene to

gift her with my return... but | don’t think she realised the full consequences of doing so. And don’t get me

wrong, I've had a very long, fulfilling life ... however, as awful as it might sound, | sometimes wish she hadn't of

done it. I harbour a lot of regrets, a lot of pain... losing you just being one of many.

Aria... that was Ariadne, the Silver Saintess?

The one said to be insane?

If Myra was telling the truth, it seemed none of the things Ashwood had toldwere accurate. Just what else

was false?

“I had a choice to make,” she continued. ” When my closest friends all died, | soon realised that, even though |

may look young, | didn’t feel like it inside. My thad already passed even if my body remained. | was tired and

just wanted to grieve in peace. It was therefore my decision to leave the pack to the next generation, to let it go

on as was intended... and | left the Silver Mist. | hid myself away in isolation, needing a break from it all. It was

only once | returned to briefly meet my great-great-grandchildren that | discovered the place was entirely

destroyed. | was... too late.”

She must have left before the war, not even realising it was happening.

“I should have done more to find you, Rheyna,” she admitted. “I wanted to keep scouring every town for you, to

not sleep until I did, but... things quickly changed. | had another choice to make... an impossible one at that.”

“And what would tha-.”

But before | could ask, | then heard something from upstairs. It sounded almost like...

...Coughing?

Immediately, | stood up on high alert.

“Is someone in the house?” | asked, reaching for my dagger.

But Myra was quick to follow and hold her hands up to stop me.

“Woah, it’s okay,” she said. “It's not an intruder. Letintroduce you.” Introduce me? Was this another family

member? The place was so quiet that it seemed strange for someone to be in the house and not cdown

upon my arrival.

They would have had to have heard Myra and | talking.

But | decided to not question it and, instead, followed behind Myra as she led us up a flight of stairs and down a

hallway, walking until we finally reached a door. It was here that she then lightly knocked and opened it

There was a bedroom on the other side, nothing too special, but it was a lump under sbedsheets that

instantly drew my attention.

...Because it was those bedsheets that then moved... and a girl heaved herself upright into a sitting position.

Her appearance instantly madetake a step backwards in shock.

She looked just like the Silver Saintess depicted in the temple. Possessing unnatural features that made it hard

not to stare. With long silver hair and violet eyes, the similarities were uncanny. But, unlike in the painting, this

girl seemed a lot younger and sickly.

Dark circles ringed her face, her complexion as pale as her hair. And she was weak...

incredibly so. Appearing to have trouble just sitting up, with no strength to support her tiny frame.

“...This is Clarissa,” Myra said next to me. Born to the other lineage line. She is a descendent of Aria and her

mate, Aleric.”

However, before | could speak, the girl just simply coughed painfully and looked up atcompletely

unimpressed.

“Rheyna,” she wheezed out slowly. “...What took you so long?”