White Devil

by Janina Franck

  The other man bowed and left her alone. Her body sighed and closed its eyes before massaging the bridge of its nose. When her eyes were opened again, there was a blinding light, quite akin to the one Lilith had experienced when she had touched the Hellfire Naginata. Her body tried to shield its eyes from the brightness and took a step back, right against the wall. After a moment the light faded, and a female voice echoed away whispering, I give you my child. Use it wisely.

  In the center of the room, something familiar hung in the air – the Hellfire Naginata. It made no sound, no vibration, nothing. Lilith felt that there was a distinct difference between the object it was here and now, and the object it had been for her in the labyrinth. Even the air felt different. This version wasn’t as heavy, not as ancient.

  Lilith’s body was breathing heavily, and gingerly, she stepped toward the artifact, as if ready to jump away any moment. Lilith was certain that this man had not known about the weapon prior to this, but it threw up several questions. Why was she a spectator to this scene? A suspicion crawled into her mind – was this the birth of the Hellfire Naginata? The first time it had been seen by human eyes?

  But no, not human eyes. Lilith could feel wings on her back. They were different to her own, lighter, and there were four instead of two, but whatever type of hybrid her host was, he was not human.

  Nevertheless, here she stood in a different place, body, and time in the same situation as before: only a moment away from touching the Hellfire Naginata.

  First, the body poked at it and quickly withdrew its hand. Nothing happened, so he took it in both hands and lifted it from its invisible perch in the air. The weight was the same as it had been for Lilith. But unlike in her case, it wasn’t light that spread, it was power, pure energy, magical or otherwise, that was poured into her body and spread all around it. It was a tingling, empowering sensation. Her host began giggling with incredulous hope replenishing as the power grew.

  “One last attempt,” he whispered. “For my people.”

  He strode out of the room and through several different halls and rooms, until he got to a courtyard that was filled to the brim with frightened and hopeless people. Most of them had dainty, translucent insectile wings on their back. Lilith presumed they were the same as those belonging to her host. The uniformed man from before rushed toward her, his face stricken with even deeper grief and pure hopelessness.

  “They broke through to the second and third ring before we could get there,” he reported.

  Lilith’s host nodded gravely.

  “They will pay,” he promised.

  The other man looked at them, confused. Lilith couldn’t blame him. He knew nothing of the new development. Her host stepped out onto a balcony in view of all his subjects. They all looked up to him, fear written on all their faces in tears and blood.

  “My people,” the host began. “Today is a terrible day. We have lost many, friends and family alike. I am sorry. I could not protect them. But I will protect you. The gods have sent me the means!”

  He jerked up his arm, raising the Hellfire Naginata over his head.

  “Do not be afraid,” he yelled. “For I will save you!”

  He took the naginata into both hands, still pointing into the sky. Lilith could feel the energy racing through her body and into the weapon. The pearly orb began to shine. Then, the copper line along the blade and the bronze ornaments along the staff began to glow and gleam as well. For a moment Lilith was astonished by the sheer beauty of the image. The next moment she knew nothing but pain. The orb exploded, sending an ocean of blue flames in all directions.

  The people in the courtyard were burned to ashes instantly. The castle collapsed, aging by centuries in the blink of an eye.

  Blue hellfire traveled fast and far, engulfing the oncoming army, leaving nothing but ash, dust, and sand. The energy was flowing through the host’s body rapidly. The flames still spread and burned. He began to rattle. His limbs felt heavy and weak.

  And then Lilith felt what it was like to die.

  The work of the Hellfire Naginata hadn’t even lasted for a second, and yet every single image was burned into Lilith’s mind.

  She screamed in anguish for all the people who hadn’t stood a chance, and for the king who had only wanted to save his city. She screamed in her own voice, red flames around her and the cursed weapon in her hand. Before she had time to calm down and realize she was herself again, she was thrust into the next scene.

  Lilith found herself in the body of someone climbing through ruins of some sort. Most of the walls had entirely deteriorated and it was difficult to tell where there had been doors or windows, or even a second story for that matter. There was dark sand everywhere.

  With skilled movements, Lilith’s host jumped from ledge to ledge, ducking under some obstacles and climbing over others.

  Lilith’s mind was still in uproar. If she had been in her own body, she would have been crying her eyes out, but she was not, and therefore, she was forced to focus on the situation laid out before her.

  The host was carrying a large, heavy backpack, indicating that they had been traveling for a while. Their feet were aching as well and sweat was pouring down their temples and back, partly due to the heat, partly because of exhaustion. And yet the footsteps and jumps continued eagerly. The host was on a mission and Lilith dreaded the moment she would find out if her suspicion was correct.

  Only a few meters further, her host made a noise of excitement and hauled a stone slab off the ground. Beneath it, there was a hole. It wasn’t a deep hole, a grown dwarf could have easily gotten out again, but it was wide enough for a very specific weapon to float in.

  Lilith’s mind felt sick, but her host was excited. Adrenaline shot through their veins, inducing impatient anticipation.

  Unlike her previous host, this one didn’t hesitate to grab it. There was a quick flash of light which brought her host to their knees, but they didn’t let go. They were panting, sweating, and giggling crazily. It was a gurgling chuckle, one that clearly communicated unexpected success of a large scale. The power shot through their veins.

  This person was very different to the previous host. They had been looking for the Hellfire Naginata and considering how they acted, Lilith felt fear crawl into her mind. Why did this person want the weapon so badly? She hoped they had a similar reason to herself; to protect, not to kill. But she didn’t believe that. After all, even the host prior to this one had failed. He had tried to protect his people by killing others, resulting in the deaths of millions.

  May the Enforcer heal their souls, Lilith prayed in her own mind.

  Her host took the naginata and began climbing back the way they had come. Outside of the ruins, a vast, bleak desert was waiting.

  The host blinked and the scene changed. It was night and they were sneaking through the darkness toward a manor. The backpack was gone, and the air was a lot cooler.

  Lilith was confused at first, but she presumed there had been a time-skip of sorts. Perhaps whatever was showing her these things had decided that the time in between wasn’t useful or necessary for her to see.

  The Hellfire Naginata was still clasped tightly in their right hand as they ducked and slinked toward the manor, hiding behind bushes, walls and trees – using every shadow available along the way.

  Lilith could make out the silhouettes of people behind lit windows. She felt her host’s lips twitch into a vicious grin. Then they charged. They pointed the Hellfire Naginata at the door and with one short burst of energy a blue fireball shot from the weapon, blasting the entrance open by utterly disintegrating the door.

  Whoever this person was, they had learned how to handle the artifact without it getting out of control. That wasn’t much consolation to Lilith.

  They stormed into the house where a servant girl dropped a platter and screamed at the sight of them, but the next moment her head had been neatly sliced off, and she dropped to the ground. Lilith�
�s host stormed further in, killing everyone in their way with the immensely sharp blade.

  Lilith felt the movements, she felt herself killing each and every one of those poor people. The naginata sliced through them as easily as air. There was no difference. In her mind she screamed at her host to stop, to bury the naginata in a place where no one would ever find it, and to stop killing these people.

  Eventually, they reached a strong oak door. For a moment they stopped, looking at the ornaments. The grin never faded. Then they let off another blast of fire and the door was no more than a heap of ash. Slowly, almost casually, the host sauntered into the room. Two men, evidently brothers, a woman and a child cowered together in fear.

  “What do you want from us?” one of the men asked. His voice was shaking, and he was holding the child and woman tightly.

  The host laughed joylessly.

  “Revenge,” they whispered, and the body parts of the victims rolled over the ground, spread around the entire room, the walls adorned with flowers painted with blood.

  Lilith was in a heap on the ground, crying uncontrollably. She couldn’t take this, no, it was simply too awful, too horrible! This weapon… the things it had been used for-! So many horrible, horrible things!

  There were more. One scene after another Lilith was forced to live through. In each and every one of them, the Hellfire Naginata caused death and destruction. A large island country entirely obliterated and banished to the floor of the ocean, with everyone who had not been able to get away in time dead. A terrible war on the continent, caused by people who abused the power of the abysmal artifact. Occasionally people who found the weapon were themselves immediately turned to ash, as if the Naginata itself sucked out their life force if they weren’t strong enough to wield it.

  Lilith was having trouble breathing. So many awful things…

  Every time, the naginata hummed louder, vibrated more strongly, as if it was thirsting for more life. It learned, Lilith realized. It learned from the people who wielded it. And the only thing it ever learned was how to kill and destroy, because that was what weapons were meant to do. Eventually, she found herself in the body of a hybrid, a satyr. They were carefully walking through a tunnel, along with a group of other hybrids, some of them carrying lamps of sorts.

  Lilith recognized the place. She herself had been walking through that tunnel only a short while ago. She already knew that only one of them would leave again. All the previous experiences had left her dry, without emotion. She merely observed from the eyes of the one who would probably pick up the Hellfire Naginata as a ghost, a shadow.

  They chatted quietly amongst themselves; it was quite clear that they all got along, that they were friends, even. Someone made a joke and Lilith’s host chuckled at the punchline. Even so, all of them were tense. None of them dared to make loud noises, and they all – including Lilith’s host – constantly scanned their surroundings for change or danger. Eventually they reached the entrance of the labyrinth. It was glowing, just like it had been for Lilith.

  She didn’t actually know how the labyrinth had come into existence, or who had brought the Hellfire Naginata there.

  Her host and the other hybrids whispered agitatedly.

  “What is this place?”

  “I told you they were keeping a secret from us!”

  “Who do you think made it? And why?”

  “Maybe it’s dangerous… It looks a bit like the entrance to a maze, don’t you think?”

  “Don’t worry, I’m a minotaur! Labyrinths are in my blood!”

  “Should we go back and report first?”

  “Don’t be daft! They sent us to investigate and that’s what we’ll do.”

  After arguing for a little while, they agreed to go in. There was no humming, no vibration. They tumbled into the illusionary traps and almost went mad, if the illusion hadn’t been broken by the fact that not all went in at once and nothing actually happened to those who had set the trap off, other than getting a severe scare.

  Since Lilith was observing from someone else’s head, she could actually see the magic as well. She was no longer surprised at why Amethyst and Ayalon had been reduced to heaps of fear and misery. The hybrids experienced a quite similar fate. Even Lilith herself couldn’t deny that it was difficult not to panic and believe that no one was dead.

  Nevertheless, eventually they got past all of the traps. A minotaur was leading the group, sniffing into the air every few meters, decisively walking the same way Lilith had followed the humming earlier. By now, the entire group was reduced to a bundle of bare nerves.

  They looked around hectically at any little noise. None of them were chatting anymore. Finally, they reached the room with the Hellfire Naginata. It looked the exact same as it had when Lilith had found it.

  Gingerly, the group entered the room and spread out. Lilith was surprised at the fact that the room was not instantly filled with flames like it had been for her. Meanwhile, her host approached the weapon slowly but steadily. Lilith tried with all her might to invoke them not to touch it, to turn around and leave while they still could, but, of course, none of it worked.

  The satyr grabbed it but could not lift it out of the air. Instead, the artifact sucked out their life energy almost instantly, shooting it out wildly at every one of the other hybrids in the room in the form of blue lightning bolts, before summoning an ocean of blue flame, purging every trace of the visitors, including the satyr. Lilith had seen one of the minotaurs run out of the room and back into the maze, before her host had fallen prey to the Hellfire Naginata.

  Lilith screamed. She screamed and cried and let out all her anguish, all the feelings that had built up over every scenario she had been forced to watch. She knew nothing but that grief. She neither saw nor heard or felt anything else. She just screamed at the world in an attempt to relieve herself from all agony and torment. It was too much for one girl to bear.

  When she finally came to her senses, Lilith was floating in empty space. She was still holding the Hellfire Naginata, but everything else had disappeared. There was nothing. Nothing at all. Her wings were spread, but she didn’t have to use them.

  Disturbed, she looked around. What had happened? Was this another one of the scenes she had to live through? But no, she was in her own body.

  My child has chosen you.

  The voice had come from nowhere, and it hadn’t made a sound. But Lilith had heard it before. A shape stepped into the nothingness before her. It was a beautiful woman, but Lilith could never put words to her beauty. If she had been asked to describe what she looked like, Lilith could not have given an answer. She might have had bright, dark, grey or even green skin, Lilith could not tell. She faced the same problem with hair, shape, and eye color. All she knew was that the figure seemed gentle in her motions and smile.

  “Who are you?” Lilith asked, floating backward. She wasn’t afraid of the woman, she didn’t even mistrust her, but the circumstances called for caution. The woman laughed a quiet, sweet laugh which reminded Lilith of the wind chimes outside of Colm’s cottage.

  I am the Enforcer of the Separation of Soul and Body. But I prefer to be called Death.

  “You are… the Enforcer?” Lilith could barely believe it.

  And you are the Anomaly. It is nice to finally speak to you.

  “Anomaly? I do not understand.”

  It is of no relevance. Important now are different matters. Death said, smiling. You have seen the capabilities of my child.

  “Your child…? You mean to say the Hellfire Naginata is your child?”

  It might as well be. I created it and put a bit of myself inside. It has a mind of its own and it has been imprinted on by its experiences. You have seen them. It is not my child’s fault it has been used for such atrocities. However, now it knows nothing else and thirsts for more.

  Lilith looked down at the weapon in her hand. Right now, it was humming quietly, gently.

  It has
grown strong. Death continued. Instead of being controlled, it has learned how to control the ones who dare to touch it. It shows them its past, and drives them to weakness, before using their life force to do what it thinks of as fun.

  “It has not used me,” Lilith mumbled, surprised. Death looked upon her in pity.

  Are you certain of that?

  The woman waved her hand and suddenly, they were hanging in the air and Lilith had to flap her wings to stay up. Beneath them, there was destruction. They were beside the sea and after a moment, Lilith recognized the cliff face a little way off. But directly underneath them, there was only a ruin immersed in water. Everything had been destroyed and anything still standing, was burning. But not only that: In the center, there was a hole. It was as large as a house. Lilith felt sick and her blood seemed to freeze in her veins.

  “No,” she muttered. “No! Have I caused this? Have I killed all these poor, innocent creatures?”

  Death put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

  No. She said. The people evacuated in time. But you have not done this. You are currently doing it.

  Lilith looked at her in terrified confusion. Death chose to explain.

  I have taken the liberty of meeting you in a dimension only accessible by the mind, to show you this and speak to you. You need to come to your senses and stop, or my child will feed upon you as well. I think you have the strength to withstand it. You are an anomaly, as my child is. If anyone can tame it, it will likely be you.

  Tears flowed freely over Lilith’s face.

  “I cannot,” she sobbed. “Just look at what happened here! Is this not proof that I am not capable of handling that thing?”

  She gestured at the remains of Port Kalhes.

  You were taken unaware. Use what you have learned from the memories my child has shared with you. It has taught you all you need in order to wield it successfully. Your heart is pure. There is no corruption, not even now. That is why you can.

  Lilith gave up. She closed her eyes.