"For how long will one be aflame with their desires and not be burned?"
Weeks bled into months, and months bled into years.
The children grew. Leon was eight, Reina five, and little Lemuel three. Their laughter rang through the home, bright and unrestrained, filling the walls with joy. Their father spent each evening with them, cherishing their liveliness, even as his wife seemed… different.
Reheil was no longer the same woman he had married. Something in her had grown strange over the years, her warmth diminished. Still, he loved her, dismissing it as nothing more than the toll of childbirth.
But behind the veil, something far darker festered.
Appolyth had lingered too long away from her domain. Her hair, once radiant, had grown disheveled. Her golden eyes had dulled, turning hollow and eerie. Her wings, which once glimmered with divine brilliance, now sagged, their light fading.
Her divinity was slipping away.
Desperation twisted her thoughts. At times, she found her gaze drifting to the children, her beloved children. Her hunger whispered: Take their spark. Their vitality will restore you.
Her hands trembled. Her wings quivered. But she could not. No matter her hunger, she would never harm them. They were sacred to her. Untouchable.
So, she fed elsewhere.
Reheil's consciousness became her sustenance. Piece by piece, Appolyth drained her, sating her divine hunger upon the very soul of the woman she had overtaken.
And so, she justified her crime with this reason:as long as the children remained untouched, all was well.
But corruption does not ask permission.
It had already bloomed within her.