// Elpis hasn't had a nightmare for over millennia. So I wanted to write that down.
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The goddess of Life woke up with a scream. Her eyes were two golden pools of light and her silky pink locks fell onto her chest and back. Her eyes were wide open, her chest heaved up and down at a fast pace. She put both hands on her face, touching herself in order to feel her skin and anchor herself in the present. She felt the sweat soak her fingers and the warmth of her skin. Her cheeks were burning, her chest was painful and goosebumps were covering her arms. She glanced to the left and noticed that the bed was empty. Pride had left it. She hated the cold feeling of her hand against the sheet and the fact she was on her own after something so wicked had happened to her. Her breathing was more labored than usual and her golden orbs were looking left and right as she was trying to collect herself. Pride wasn't there, but he had a good reason. She knew he was working on something and assumed that he probably went to the Underworld so he could tinker on his next project. She gasped for air and ran both hands on her delicate neck to make sure that nothing was squeezing her airways. And nothing was. She could breathe fine and easy. She was safe.
"I have felt like this before..." -She whispered to herself standing up hastily and grabbing the bathrobe that was laying on the small chair next to the bed. She wrapped her perfect naked body under the bathrobe and tied it up before she rushed to the balcony for some fresh air.-
Elpis felt the fresh breeze over her face and sighed deeply as she was now free from the suffocating atmosphere of her bedroom. She realized that she was right. Elpis had, indeed already felt this before. It was Fear. It was the purest form of it that had clung to her heart and squeezed the life out of it. She was trying to understand why she woke up screaming and was worried to be under attack. Naturally, since Pride gifted her a scythe, the goddess of Light and Hope was able to summon it anytime she'd need it and it appeared in her hand. She wrapped her fingers around the weapon and twirled it around, getting herself ready for a potential attack. Nothing had come, nothing happened so there was nothing to be afraid of. It was nothing but a nightmare. Elpis made the weapon vanish and she turned her heels so she could look at the view from the balcony of her hotel room. It was a beautiful starry night. The stars were brightly shining and lit up a very black sky. Her chest was still heaving up and down, beating so fast that she couldn't calm down. Fear was still clinging to her wet skin. She was starting to remember the nightmare.
She remembered the day she was betrayed by her brother. The nightmare was in fact a memory. The night where she was stabbed by the dagger of Fate and cursed her for millennia. Elpis realized that despite her newfound freedom, and her desire to get revenge, she still had not faced the worst feeling of them all that she felt on that fateful night: Fear. Pride promised her that she wouldn't be afraid anymore because they would never be able to make her feel fear. Pride promised that they would pay for what they did and he forged a weapon for her. She never fully expressed the fear she felt when they betrayed her nor did she admit to herself that she still doubted her strength. Perhaps it was too early for her and she needed to build her strength and power. Perhaps, she simply needed to cry the tears she refused to cry when Ishtar stabbed her. Perhaps she simply needed to face her fears. "Oh... Superbia. How I wish you were there with me. I am worried about the upcoming war...worried and afraid. Oh, beloved, please come back to me and hold me... hold me... make me forget."
She pleaded, her voice reduced to just a whisper. She put her hands on the balcony and looked at the empty pool down. Her lips trembled and her eyes were wet from unshed tears. How could it be that she still feel the crushing presence of her brother? She still could remember the hand wrapped around her neck, squeezing the air out of it. She could still remember the anger in his voice, perhaps it was hatred at this point... she could still remember the bitterness of his tone because of her. He made it about himself and the family, claimed that her choice was destroying the primeval gods, claimed that she hurt him by choosing Pride. She realized for the first time and what was supposed to be his last, that Ishtar had desired her. He stabbed her out of jealousy because he couldn't have her. Yes! Yes! she remembered the pain she felt upon realizing the truth.
Oh, the heartbreak that followed was worse than anything else. She trusted him, she deeply loved him and he betrayed her in the worst way possible. With the war slowly getting closer, the young woman was wondering if she was strong enough to stand tall before her siblings. She was wondering if she would give them the same blind eye and deaf ears they gave her. She was wondering if she could be as heartless as they were and as vengeful as her heart was trying to be. Her scythe appeared again and she planted it on the floor of the balcony. Yes! yes, she was ready. They had reduced her to a pile of nerves and pain. They had tormented her soul for millennia but not without consequences. Her wrath would run down on them. Her anger would swallow them whole, her punishment would erase them from existence. She could do it. She would do it. Beware of the Nightmare Elpis would become!
-TBC-
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