Blessed by Night

Even though it was hard for her, Nyx listed off every one of her shortcomings and failures to her son one by one.

She listed off the days that she spent drinking in agony and even the times that she spent locked in terrible struggle against the sun gods.

But what required the most effort for her was the difficulty that lie in telling her son that she had let herself be drowned in carnal acts in a misguided bid to keep all of his remaining siblings safe.

Normally this would have been the part where he tried to kill himself out of sheer discomfort, but he sensed that his mother was truly trying to be vulnerable in this moment.

Long after Cami had fallen asleep in his arms, Nyx suddenly closed the distance between herself and her son and placed a hand on his cheek.

"There have been a number of moments in my life where I have been filled with grief over the loss of something dear to me. And at no point in my life have I ever… known pain like I have the day that I suddenly lost the ability to feel you.

You and your siblings are everything that I live for… to suddenly have even one of you leave my life nearly broke me in ways that I cannot describe to you. I became lost.

I remembered the moment where I first realized that we were discovered and and I… begrudgingly… foolishly, brought you around those who would only seek to do you harm."

Malachi began to feel like he knew where his mother's next words were headed, and he shook his head preemptively.

"You aren't to blame for-"

"I should have kept you!" Nyx said as she clenched her fists. "I-I should have never have brought you before them, and I should never have listened to your wanton desire to save the humans from their fates and I should have kept you in my world, in MY arms! Just so that you could be safe!!"

"…Why didn't you?"

Nyx gritted her teeth as dark tears fell from her eyes; heartbreaking but more beautiful than crystal.

"Because if I did that then you would have hated me! And all I want is for you to love me as much as I love you! So I foolishly brought you before those bastards, and she snatched you from me for a year, Malachi! A YEAR!"

Finally, Mal understood exactly why his mother had been avoiding him and could no longer bear to see him.

While it wasn't that she blamed him for suddenly disappearing, she blamed herself for letting him go.

Nyx, the primordial goddess of the night had always been one of the strongest beings in existence on any plane.

Which also meant she could be the most overbearing.

She had never had to listen to anyone, as the number of beings who were capable of keeping her in check could be counted on one hand.

But the one time that she did listen to the other gods and brought her darling child before them, she immediately was made to wish that she hadn't.

They started treating her son like he was some sort of monster.

Behaving as if he were a beast who would gnaw at the heads of all women and children if he were allowed back onto the earth without a leash.

If he were even allowed to return with his life at all.

They had planned to subject him to some needless trials that he was far above already, and gave him no opportunity to refuse.

And then… she lost him.

Her son that was more precious than anything else was ripped away from her so cruelly, and she could not do anything about it.

Despite all of her massive power.

All that she could do was keep her remaining children safe, and she would do so even with her body if need be.

Aubrey gave into her seduction as well in a moment of mutual grieving, and they spent a week trying their best to forget the hole in their lives before she finally tore free.

Things became awkward between them after that, and it took a while before they could return to some semblance of normalcy.

And now that they were…. It still was not the normal that Malachi remembered.

Mal shifted Cami in his grasp and took his mother's hand.

"It wasn't your fault. Who could have known what was going to happen that day? And me going before the gods… that was always going to have to happen sooner or later.

I mean… I am a nightmare. My daughter is a nightmare. We are beings that are supposed to destroy this world and they would need to know where our loyalties lie. That's only natural."

"….Why does that not comfort me in the slightest?"

"Sorry." Mal chuckled. "But that's just the way it is. We just have to take comfort in the fact that I'm back, alive, and keen on making up for all the time I missed. That's all there is to it."

Nyx fell silent shortly afterwards, not liking her son's words but not able to refute them either.

She was so caught up on the unfairness of their circumstances that she completely forgot all about the words she'd let slip earlier.

"Ma."

"Hmm?"

Much to her surprise, Nyx found her son staring at her with a rare and very serious look on his face.

"Let me ask you… earlier you made it sound like you knew the being responsible for snatching me away like a priest would kids at a petting zoo."

Almost immediately, Nyx flinched a bit before she went back to her usual avoidant nature.

"A-Ah, did I say something like that? I don't really remember." Nyx said playfully. "And you and your crude analogies are really-"

"Ma."

"Oh alright, alright…. I'll tell you if you give me one little kiss?"

"Aubrey has given you enough kisses for the both of us for the next 400 years!"

Nyx suddenly bit her lips and her eyes went hazy as if she were remembering something delightful.

"She has truly grown up splendidly… her body is exquisite, and the way she uses her tongue is rather- Would you stop it!"

Nyx was interupted from her fond recollections by the sight of her son creating a short dagger made out of shadows and acting as if he were about to slit his wrists.

…Although acting was really more of a stretch.

"Please… no more torture..! Tell me who did this to me or I will paint this sidewalk with my blood." Mal pleaded.

He even forced tears into his eyes for additional dramatic effect.

"Can't have that, can we?" His mother laughed.

With lightning quick reflexes, Nyx placed a kiss on her son's forehead before he even thought to stop it.

What followed next was the familiar scene of his skin and flesh burning away into nothingness as he came to resemble a being similar to her.

A mass of stars, galaxies, and swirling nebulae that were each more beautiful than the last.

"… I still want to know who did it."

"Damn it!"

Nyx ran her hand through her hair exhaustedly as she tried to come up with a way to dissuade her son from pursuing this particular tidbit of information.

"My boy… if you are thinking about revenge, it is best you give up on that now. The enemy is not one that you will ever be able to go up against.. and you should be glad that is the case."

Mal had never seen his mother this adamant about something before, but he would not be dissuaded from learning about this so easily.

And perhaps because Nyx could sense this, she let out a deep sigh as she flopped onto her back.

"Your grandmother… is the only being in my life that I have ever come to fear. And even though I don't know why… it was her who took you from me back then."