Page 63 of A Lust for Blood
“Oriana,” he breathed, fresh tears falling unbidden down his face. “I know you are there, please. You must overcome it, take back control over the bloodlust. You are stronger than it, Oriana, you always have been. Let go of your fear and be in control of your own destiny. You cannot stay locked within yourself forever. Fight.”
Suddenly, the creature cried out in excruciating pain. It jerked, gripping Garren’s arms hard, but it did not dig its nails into his skin or try to crush his bones beneath its grip. He looked into its eyes, to see not a hint of yellow left. It was her. The deformity of her face and body began to melt away like the wax of a candle. Her forehead smoothed into supple skin, her nose and eyes altering back into the woman he had come to love these past weeks. Each malformation changed until they were all replaced by the soft, breathtakingly beautiful features of his love, his divine goddess. She brought her mouth up to meet the skin at the nape of his neck and bit down, teeth breaking through the thin layer of flesh. She drank deeply.
Pain seared through him like a bolt of lightning. It was hot and blinding. He could feel his limbs growing weak, but he held onto her as if at any moment he might lose her forever. With each gulp Oriana drank of his blood, his vision blurred, and his body sank in exhaustion. He hadn’t felt like this since the Martok had wounded him, but if it was to save Oriana, he would give her all that she needed. He would give her everything.
Just as Garren thought he might pass out, wind and snow began to swirl around them, lifting them from the earth. He closed his eyes against it as they hovered in the air, gripping Oriana to his chest tightly while she continued to drink. Until the wind, the snow, and all the elements that had circled around them pushed out in a rippling wave across the land.
They returned to the solid ground once again, and Oriana’s brilliant green eyes stared up at him. Within them, he saw all the tenderness in the cosmos. “You saved me,” she whispered, still encircled in his arms.
“You saved yourself.” His voice gave way to the emotion he knew she could see on his face. “Haldis knew. She always knew you were there hidden within the bloodlust.”
They stood, locked in each other’s embrace
“I thought I had lost you,” Garren whispered into her hair, swaying slightly.
“I don’t think I could ever be lost from you, not truly, for I know you will always be there to find me.”
“Until the end,” he whispered, his lips descending onto hers in a gentle kiss.
“Until the end,” she said back to him. Her face was alight, for what he believed to be the first time in a long time, with hope.
Six Months Later
Oriana looked out over the growing city around her. The moon was full overhead, peering down like a sentinel at the new city of Elscar, keeping watch over its new beginning. Its silvery haze bathed the world in a shimmer of warmth, offering good tidings.
In the months since the curse had been broken, Oriana had found a new zest for life. She had brought down her ominous Phantom Wood and reached out to the neighboring towns and villages, helping Sardorf to establish new relationships and trade–a foreign thing to a community isolated for five centuries.
The people of Sardorf rejoiced in the disappearance of the Phantom Wood. They dictated the 31st day of the twelfth moon to be a day of rebirth, celebrating the day with spiced drinks, food fit for kings, and presents for their family and loved ones.
Haldis had ventured out to Elscar, wishing to build a new civilization to honor those who once lived there. And so the city began to grow. Garren traveled throughout Svakland, spreading word that the ruins of Elscar had been rebuilt–the Bad Lands were no more. People flocked from far and wide, some seeking a better life and others searching for a new beginning.
In the city's center, Oriana recreated the freshwater spring with a new sculpture at its center to honor those who perished all those years ago–the old city of Elscar. Each and every one of their names were chiseled upon the surface of the stones, never to be forgotten.
Garren and Oriana eventually etched her story into Haldis’s book of Gods and Curses, spreading the knowledge of other Gods and goddesses in the cosmos, as well as showing Svakland who their true guardian and overseer was. It also provided a remembrance of the centuries that the people of Sardorf had suffered because of the curse and of how the curse was ultimately broken. A god’s curse was impenetrable, except to those who believed there was a way. It was the ones who never gave up, who read between the lines, that could overcome any obstacle. Those like Garren, who had broken through the embodiment of her bloodlust against all odds.
Up until then, Oriana had never truly understood the bloodlust. She had spent her entire life denying its existence, attempting to lock it away and forming it into a separate consciousness. She forced it to be on its own, splitting herself in two. She had created the thing she feared most.
It wasn’t until the curse was broken that she saw clearly for the first time in her life, finally realizing what she had done. Evil cannot be suppressed; that only feeds it. Evil must be left to exist alongside goodness. The hatred for that part of herself grew until it was able to attack and hold power over her.
As Oriana accepted it, acknowledging the bloodlust as a piece of herself, it evolved, changing shape into strength, power, and protection.
No longer was she the meek goddess that had fallen victim to the fate that was thrust upon her. She was in control of her full self; she always had been. She was the maker of her own destiny.
Oriana looked up at the man standing beside her. Garren gazed out over the city, admiring what she had brought back to life from ash and rubble. Whether or not he liked to admit it, he had saved her. He had opened her eyes and helped her discover that she had always been in control, but was just too afraid to take it. She would forever be indebted to him for that.
“Do you ever wonder what Orrick did with Anthes and Balthar?” Garren asked her.
“Honestly,” Oriana said, “I don’t want to know as long as we never have to see them again.” She could only hope her brother had done the right thing. One thing they did know for certain was that Orrick had not stopped filtering his creatures into Svakland.
“There is talk of a demon laying waste to ships venturing into Coral Cove.” Garren turned his admiring gaze on her, reaching out a hand in question with an unmistakable twinkle in his eye. “Are you ready for our next adventure?”
A wicked smile played upon her lips as she placed her hand in his. “Let’s go see what you can really do, Zydell.”
