The week both dragged and flew by. There never seemed to be enough time, especially with the short daylight of Winter at hand. Willoughby Twobuckle's warning was a blessing, but... Would it be enough?

The final evening was upon them. Delilah felt every ounce of the electricity in the air. She would smile and reassure the workers of their impending success, but her chest felt tight, doubting and full of worry. The beginning of their funds had been spent on the immediate repairs, with promises that more gold would flow after the battle. Hopefully a promise she could help fulfill.

Retiring early to her room that evening, Delilah lights a weak oil lamp and sinks onto a bench against the wall. Her face is full of nervous frustration. Her body barely feels any stronger... Just exhausted. She leans back against the cold, drafty masonry. 

Hands shaking a bit, Delilah grabs another piece of grimnettle. Chewing the bitter plants has almost become comforting, although she curses Cyrus under her breath for it.

She stares numbly into her own shadow, the mass of darkness being cast on the wall next to her. Unable to sleep, she watches it for a good hour at least. Watching it shudder and move as the lamp light flickers. A million thoughts pass through her mind. Every so often and unsure why, she reaches out to touch it. Not sure what she's expecting of it. 

"You're back now, Delilah..." She starts to mumble to herself. Her brain feels a bit... itchy. The feeling makes her shiver. "You know you heard him that night. 'You have work to do.' Right? You might be weak but you're not useless..." She winces as she says it. She continues to stare.

"You know you saw him there. There with... with the other dead. ALL the dead...." She grumbles, "Why?" Delilah practically punches her shadow, recoiling her bruised and scraped knuckles.

"It will turn out right in the end... Won't it, Shadow God?"

"Weakness is a starting point... a place for growth." A now familiar voice rings out from the darkness. The golden eyes of Nerezza appear in the corner of the room as the shadows ripple and flow, breaking upon his body like waves on a shore as he steps through them and into the dimly lit room. Folding his wings around him like a cloak, he smiles at Delilah, his eyes flashing for the briefest moment. "Good to see you up and moving, My dear..."

Delilah jolts in surprise, then relaxes almost instantly. "Good to see you too... not sure I've fully come to terms with leavin' and comin' back here to... Well to breathin' and such things." 

She looks intensely at Nerezza. "How did... How did you talk to me, when I was... Wherever I was? Or was that a dream?"

Nerezza cocks his head. "You mean when you were dead and your soul being sucked into the hells? I was able to talk to you because I too was traveling between this plane of existence and the hells... Asmodeus and I were able to use Mephistopheles' escape attempt as a trap, and we were able to drag him through the portal fully... he is now imprisoned where Asmodeus can keep an eye on him..."

She blinks, rather startled by that response. She had no idea that was what was happening to her soul, but the crackling, howling sound and the red light suddenly made a lot more sense.

"O-oh. Well that's... Huh." She looks like had a bitter taste in her mouth as she processes how closely she skimmed by being sucked into hell. 

"I'm glad you got him. Mephistopheles, I mean. And shut him back in there." She shivers a bit again, but not from the cold. "I knew you would though, it..." she chuckles a bit uneasily. "It was in that book I got from your son, after all. Feels almost like I got caught up in a real story this time."

"Ah... yes. That book... transposed from my journal, most likely." He smirks. " potential outcomes to many futures, past outcomes to bygone events, and things yet to come that won't ever come to pass." He seems to enjoy the confusing riddle.

She gives him a strange look, pondering his cryptic words. (I rolled a raw 12 XD)

"So there was a chance... That he would have succeeded?"

Nerezza frowns. "A chance, yes... but that chance ceased to exist when he was stupid enough to take your life..."

She gulps, seeing the look on his face. She glances away. 

A memory comes to mind and her heart sinks a bit, but she smiles nonetheless. "Hey, you know... your daughter... She's just as beautiful as you described. I suppose I should be grateful I got a chance to meet her after all."

"My Sylvi... I cannot wait until magic is fixed... I'll be able to visit her and her mother in the world beyond..." he smiles sadly, looking off into the shadows.

Snapping back to the present, he sniffs and wipes his eye. "But yes... as soon as he took your life, his chances of success all ceased."

She feels overjoyed at the thought of him being reunited with his loved ones, then thinks for a long moment. Wondering if she could see her dad again, someday. He was just a face in the crowd, in the afterlife... He disappeared too fast.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she returns to where she's at. "I'm glad it sealed his fate. He... He was terrifying, and..." She winces. "I'd rather not ever see or hear him again, to be honest. The memory is enough."

"That is true... the sight and sound of Mephistopheles, especially his true voice, can be quite imposing..." Nerezza leans against the wall, looking at Delilah with a concerned look.

She snorts softly. "That's a... a good way to put it. Imposing. Infesting..." She rubs her hand over her head, massaging a spot she knows she can't physically reach. Her eyes glaze over a bit but it passes quickly. With a sigh she drops her arm to her side.

"I..." She glances at Nerezza, then looks away with shame and guilt. "When I first tried to escape his followers, I... I tried and failed to call for you." She shakes her head. "I couldn't speak. I was terrified. That moment was on my mind a lot afterward." 

She kicks her feet against the floor, feeling like a little kid under his gaze. It was both comforting and... not, at the same time. "But times after, I had opportunities to talk. I could have said your name... But... I felt too much like I had to solve it on my own. Ya know? I was prideful. I wanted to be strong. I'd gotten out of things before."

She grimaces. "My mind didn't feel right in the end. I couldn't even see the closeness of the danger until it was too late. What felt almost worse in that last moment though.... Seeing the others. I'm sorry I put your son through that."

Nerezza walks over and sits down next to Delilah, patting her shoulder as he does. "My dear, you did the right thing with the situation you were dealt. Had you called for me, I would have answered... sure, I would have rescued you, but do you think rescue was truly what you needed in that moment?" He smirks, as if he knows something. "Sometimes a lesson is learned only through failure..."

"And as for putting my son through what happened... it wasn't a happy scene, but it was one of the better outcomes of the possible turn of events." He flourishes his hand and produces a couple of crackers, smiling as he offers one to Delilah.

She gives him a funny look, taking a cracker with a smile. "I'm sure I did learn more, the way it all happened.... You talk like... Like you know? I thought you were the God of Memory? Aren't those in the past?" Delilah takes a bite, the sweetness both relaxing and comforting.

"Memories are strange... what is past for some is future for others, and what is present for many is past for few. What is, was, and can be... will always be seen by me as what has been, what will, and what may happen once again." Nerezza grins again at his riddles.

Delilah shakes her head and laughs. "You sure do love riddles, don't you?" She takes another bite of biscuit and chews it thoughtfully. (15) 

"So... You can see what could have happened?" Even without gettin' into my head? Unless you are...?" She gives him a queer look. She mumbles, "It doesn't feel like it did then though, if so..."

Nerezza holds up his hand, shaking it. "No, no. I am not invading your mind, my dear... memories of the future are difficult to grasp. They are fleeting, ever-changing glimpses. Flashes of potential. In order to actually see what may come to be, I have to focus on it for some time... it's quite... draining." He bites his cracker and chews it, enjoying the sweetness and crisp texture.

"Ah, I see." She relaxes a little, but seems a bit... disappointed somehow, mulling something over in her mind.

Shaking it away, she looks back at the shadows at the edge of the room. Pulling her cloak around her a little tighter against the chill, she asks, "Is Rodrick's... Mom? Is she doing alright?"

"Quite." He smirks, a playful light in his eye. "I doubt even Asmodeus would dare push Aria too much... Although, she isn't in the hells anymore. She finally joined me when I left. I took her to my home in the shadow realm, but she's currently visiting an old friend on Dolor..." Nerezza pops the last of his cracker into his mouth, brushing the crumbs off his fingers. "Something on your mind, Delilah?"

Her eyes widen a bit, contemplating that. She smiles bittersweetly. "The queen, she was really gentle when I... When I met her. I'm glad I got the chance to."

She fiddles with her cloak collar a bit, used to toying with her church necklace instead. Although she had her things back in her room, she couldn't bring herself to put the amulet on again. "I guess I... I..." The words taste sour in her mouth. She almost whispers out of sheepishness. "I wondered if, in any of those possible futures, I had called to Tarj, if... He woulda answered me. When I was captive..."

Nerezza tilts his head, looking Delilah in the eye. "Are you sure you want to hear the answer to that?"

She meets his gaze for a long moment. Delilah finally shakes her head. "I suppose I don't."

"I just... I realized, I couldn't bring myself to call him either. My own god. His name didn't even come to mind. Only--" She stops short and glances away. "Well, I suppose, it's like you said. It wasn't what I needed. I needed a different lesson."

"And what do you think the lesson you needed was?" He stands up, walking to the wall and leaning against it.

 She furrows her brow, clenching and unclenching her fists with nervous energy. "I know I learned I needed to rely on myself... For my own sake. Even if I failed, I can... I can get back up. I'm not the same as I was before. That 'me' died... I can be better."

She stares hard at the floor, an irritated tone in her voice now. "By dying, I learned even Tarj's knowledge has limits. Or at least his teachings... There are holes. There are flaws in his logic. Why? It doesn't make sense. His influence hurts. It destroys. Why? Why destroy what you don't understand? If you're a real god of knowledge?"

Finally, in a rush of frustration she exasperatedly blurts out, "And I learned I'd rather follow someone knowledgeable and powerful like YOU than someone like him. I would rather--" She stops, catching herself. Her eyes grow wide as she looks at Nerezza, the God of Shadow. 

Then her look of surprise and embarrassment turns into... something else. She looks overwhelmed and... relieved. Looking at her hands and then back up to meet his gaze, she finishes in a quiet voice,

"I... I would rather be... I want to be... a Child of the Shadows."

Nerezza smiles again, his eyes narrowing slightly. He walks over and holds out his hand, offering it to Delilah. "I was wondering when you would stop fighting within yourself..."

She tries to find the right words but fails. She just nods, knowing she'd been fighting it for months... likely ever since she lost herself as Arabella. Anxiously, she reaches out to take his hand.

Nerezza helps her to stand, cradling her hand in the crook of his arm and leading her down the stone hallway, out into the cool night air. 

"You have potential, that much is clear to me. You have the will to do what you must and the desire to do what is right. You seek the truth even when it could be hard. These are all good qualities." He walks along the newly constructed wall, looking at the night sky.

"Shadows are everywhere there is light. We are the darkness that hides just out of sight. The silent observer, watching and waiting. This is what it means to be a Child of the Shadows... is this still what you want?"

She exhales slowly, the stillness of the night air competing with the deafening chorus of crickets in the forest. Bracing herself, she tries to pick her words carefully.

"I've spent a long time tryin' to blend in, in the cities. Within society. To hide myself. But this here..." She looks up at the stars. "This was a whole new world to me, bein' out in these places. With these people. It all was somethin' I -couldn't- hide from. I can't express how long it's taken me to get comfortable with it."

Her voice grows stronger. "I've had to immerse myself. To observe. To watch. I've learned so much, but... I want to learn more! To -see- more... Not to blindly believe like I once did, but find... real truth." 

She looks at him, a fire in her eyes. "Yes. Yes, I want this opportunity more than anything."

Nerezza chuckles. "You have passion in your soul! That's good. It will drive you forward..." he leads her around the entire castle wall, listening to the evening sounds but remaining silent himself. As they reach the doorway inside, he stops in the torchlight, their shadows dancing on the cobbles. 

"You've had the power all along... you just have to embrace it. Reach out and take hold of it. Command it like it is yours to own." He points at her own shadow.

Delilah looks confused at hearing that. She felt no more powerful than she ever did, but... Was it that simple? 

She meets Nerezza's gaze, then looks down at her own shadow, a lump in her throat. It continues to flicker and sway along the stonework. Slowly raising her hand to it, she tries her hardest to imagine it's listening to her. It's... It's her shadow after all, right?

"Physically reach out and grab it. Shadows in this realm are a part of you, but borrowed from the shadow realm. Feel for your shadow in your mind... once you feel it there, grab it with your hand." He touches her shoulder, a somewhat odd sensation running down her spine as he helps remove the barrier between body and shadow.

Delilah shivers at the sudden atunement, like cold water across her back. She moves her hand closer, touching the rough cobbles. Feeling her shadow like she did on the wall in her room. But...

Something seemed different. Something was... Tangible. Her mind zeroing in on this darkness, she makes to grip it in her hand with as much confidence as she can muster.

As her fingers touch the stone floor and the shadow thereupon, she feels a thin almost silk like material instead of the cold stone. Wrapping her fingers around it, she can feel the rush of energy as part of the shadow realm flows through her, granting her power to use and bend shadow to her will. Her grip tightens on her shadow, it feeling more and more tangible as her vision brightens with the magic flooding her eyes.

Suddenly a voice from behind her, "Oww! Stop pulling on that, please!" Nerezza has an enormous mischievous grin on his face and somehow snuck his wingtip into Delilah's grip, through his shadow and into her own.

Completely enthralled with both the new experience and sensation, she almost forgets her surroundings. Nerezza's teasing voice makes her jump practically a foot in the air, tightening her grip as she does so.

Nerezza laughs as she launches into the air, pulling some of his feathers out. "Shadows can also be used for fun... just don't overdo it."

She's immediately remorseful, not sure what to do with his feathers. "I--I--I'm sorry! Um... I..." Bashfully she looks at the feathers, then back to her shadow, then back to Nerezza. "Was--did I do it right?"

"See for yourself..." he points to a piece of fabric in your hand next to the feathers.

She glances back at it, her eyes widening. "It... It worked? This is mine?" She gently takes it in her other hand, feeling it between her fingers. The sensation seems... Oddly familiar. Recently familiar.

Delilah glances back up, then looks around. Nerezza has disappeared. She is left alone with her thoughts to contemplate.