Pretty Spelled by K.A Knight

Lilith

What makes a monster evil? Is it the darkness that lingers inside? Is it the malevolence that has warped them?

In one single moment, there is balance. No monsters and heroes. The darkness is lifted from those who possess dark minds, lessening the load and providing love. And into those too pure, darkness is added to create shades of grey. The burden of the world is shared.

Everyone becomes a monster.

Not evil.

Not hateful.

A monster has seen true darkness and been touched by it.

A monster is only a monster if you call it that.

Together, we are so much more.

Atlas lets go of Khalid’s hand, leaps over the gap, and pulls me into his arms. Our lips crash together, and we ignore the others’ groans and catcalls. He pulls away, pressing his head to mine as he lifts me, so I wrap my legs around his waist. I feel stronger than ever, I finally feel…whole. There was always something missing inside of me—who knew it was darkness? Who knew I had such a past, such powers? Not me, but I have never felt more like myself, and I know my family will be there to help me learn and control them. To keep this world safe with me.

“I thought we were at the end, Wildflower.”

“Me too,” I whisper.

“I thought I lost you. I was so broken…I was ready to die here, to be with you forever. It’s the only thing that kept me going, kept me upright and breathing until I got to your side,” he murmurs, closing his eyes for a moment before they open, filled with tears. He’s showing me the true depth of his pain, longing, and love. “Never again.”

“Yeah, he’s right!” Ciar calls.

“Never again,” Mishal adds.

“We are family, Lils, don’t ever expect to be free from us,” Slate says.

“What these fuckers said—ouch!” Kyro yells.

“The idiots are right, Lils, never ask us to do that again,” Calder demands, almost snapping in his pain.

“We love you, sister,” Khalid interjects. I lift my head and meet their eyes over Atlas’ shoulder.

“Can we go home now?” I ask, beyond exhausted, but also needing out of this place. I have been trapped here for too long. I need fresh air, and I need to feel the sun on my skin to know…I am truly free.

“You kinda burnt it down,” Remi points out.

“Then we rebuild,” Atlas declares determinedly. “We have time, we have centuries ahead of us, all that matters right now is that we are together and okay. Everything else can wait.”

I couldn’t agree more. I drop my head to his shoulder for a moment before he turns, holding me in his arms, and strides back through the temple. When we reach the edge of the floating stone, I frown.

“We can’t just leave this here,” I murmur.

“We won’t,” he promises, kissing my head. “Mishal, take to the sky and destroy it. We end her memories and legacy now.”

With that, Atlas transports us all to the forest below at a safe distance as Mishal shifts, and with Dabria, they take to the sky. As ordered, he breaks and burns the temple to ashes until it rains down above us.

So many died there, so many were hurt there, including me. Now it’s gone. The part of rainforest where it once stood is a black mark on the earth, one that will never heal because of the evil there. It’s infected…scarred.

I have my own scars now, we all do.

But to me, they only add to who I am, proof of the battles I have fought and won. Proof of the hardships and the utter strength I found in myself when I was at my lowest, when everyone else had given up, when even I was giving up. Of when I found who I really am, my destiny, my purpose…my family.

This world is filled with billions of people, with thousands of places to see and explore. Some will be bad, some will change you, but every path you walk is your own, filled with choices. Making a wrong one doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. There is always hope, because the greatest of us are the ones who have seen the darkness.

Lived in it.

And come out stronger.

Your wings may have been clipped once, but watch them heal and let yourself soar, stronger and more beautiful than ever as the shine illuminates those scars and marks.

Lighting you up like a stained-glass window.

* * *

Atlas transported us all back to the cottage after that, to the place I think of as home. The cottage he built for me when he had hope, the place I destroyed when I was stuck in the darkness. It’s a symbol of forgiveness, rebirth, and yes, pain, but also love.

It’s the place where my family and I will begin again. Not just as fallen gods, but as guardians of this world.

There may be nothing left but rubble at the moment, but tomorrow is a new day, and in a few hours, the sun will rise again and wash this place clean with its light. Time can heal anything if you let it.

We all lie on the beach with nowhere else to stay. My eyes linger on my brothers, who sit in their own bubbles with their mates, celebrating our victory. It’s beautiful, and to see the love in their eyes and the happiness on their faces…it makes it all worthwhile. They have finally found what Atlas and I always had, what I wished they would.

True love.

I’m not talking about the sappy kind, but the flawed, beautiful kind. The type forced from forgiveness, the one that touches you so deeply, you can’t breathe without it. The one you want to come home to every day and wake up to every morning. The sort you want to fight for, even when it seems helpless. The type you can never give up on because without it, you are never whole. That type of love is so rare that when you find it, you hold on tight, but you can’t suffocate it. You have to feed it, water it, and give it its freedom, and no matter what, it will always come back and grow bigger and better than ever.

It’s the forever type, and now my family is complete.

“I love you, Wildflower, enough to stretch through time itself. You are never getting away from me again,” he murmurs into my ear.

“I don’t ever want to,” I promise, moving closer, his head on my shoulder. “I love you with everything in me. Even when I was lost in the dark, you were always there. What we face in the future doesn’t scare me anymore, not with you at my side.” I turn my head and kiss him softly before pulling away and looking forward, my hand in his. Our hearts beat in sync, and our souls are so tightly tied, they could never be separated again. That’s what I was missing all along. What the darkness, the evil, needed to be saved.

Him.

Staring out at the water, wrapped in Atlas’ arms, I know that no matter wherever we go, we are safe, we are loved…we are together. We can rebuild, and we can heal, but better yet…

We can live.

It was our choice, and instead of killing her, we chose to try and save her. That is what the true sacrifice is—to choose life and pain over death. The Fates are watching us now, smiling. They couldn’t make us choose this, we had to.

We had to decide to have each of us take a part of that evil, that pain into us, connecting us forever.

But it’s done now, and our reward?

We all get to live, and Atlas and I get to have what we always wanted.

Each other.

A family.

I fight off the tiredness, not wanting to miss a moment of this perfect new dawn. We stay here until the sun rises, its beams covering my skin and face like I wanted. Here, on the sand before our burnt down home, my brothers and new sisters at my side, I fall asleep in my love’s arms.

It only took a few centuries, but we are finally getting our happily ever after.

“Merry Christmas, everyone,” Cassandra calls, making me smile.

A family.