Chapter 34: Interlude Two: Scarlet - The Descent of Twilight

At the time, Scarlet had no clue what her parents’ fervent belief meant to them as she saw herself begrudgingly entertaining their bubbling anticipation for a short time before waving them off and heading upstairs to finish the sixth season of a drama she’d been watching recently.

The voices around them dulled for the music and storm’s presence, and, now from her father’s eyes, Scarlet was taken into the basement, where candles had been lit; the large, open space was almost entirely clear of furnishings, excluding a coffin in the center.

Scarlet hadn’t been down here for a long time—it was her parents’ place—all of the walls had been knocked down, leaving only the mansion’s support beams; her parents’ arts and crafts project had been under development since she’d been eight years old.

Thirty cultists descended with her parents in the dimly lit area, singing an eerie song that chilled her marrow as she joined them from her father’s lips.

The ominous piano accompanied them as they spread out to various points in the circle; hundreds of ingredients, artifacts, fake organs, and her own personal items littered the occult morphemes drawn in red paint—of course, she knew better now what the sticky, wet runes and body parts were.

*

"A long way down to the place I found, a lurking silhouette waiting below;

A dark sun, hollowed by the fade—that debt you live to repay;

You see the blackness stare, promising to spare the chosen.

*

Born of graves and left below, painted ashes, painted snow;

When the dark awakens, fires of our last hopes are burning low;

Our souls will char, flicker to and fro—afraid to linger and to go.

*

Until her scythe comes to take us home;

A pact embraced, a road unsought;

In blood-red roses lay—she became the Bringer of Twilight.

*

A black heart’s redemption borne by brigand’s blood;

Vengeance is her only ward—beware the blood-red rose’s thorn;

For it will end with Scarlet.

*

The darkest night, the brightest light, history tainted by the twilight;

Born of graves, left below;

No time for rest, nowhere to go.

*

A storm was loosed, a foul wretch bound with tear-stained eyes;

A nightmare born between dark and light, she became the blight;

The Maiden of Death cannot tend to her fields, and silence falls on eternities’ end.

*

Pricked by blood, her seed sown to spread flowers true;

She is exposed, she is undone;

No more colors—her wrath is known.

*

Shackled in pain forevermore;

Heaven or Hell, the red sea toils...

To where do you land in the spaces between?"

*

Veronica hugged her mom and dad. In horror, Scarlet saw her mother open the coffin with a joyous nod at the girl’s parents, and Veronica entered it; everyone was crying around them, laughing at how long they’d waited for this moment and how blessed the teenage girl was for being chosen. She would be the one to set Scarlet free—to set her free.

The storm intensified with the eerie music as the sky outside fractured, and the coffin was closed. A noticeable change took place in the room that shook Scarlet to her core; she hadn’t been here for this ritual.

Fur sprouted from some members’ skin; others were illuminated with aura or became stunningly beautiful—they were transforming like Anthony and Rachel—all of them, including her parents.

Every symbol and obscure language written throughout the entire basement brightened, items rising into the air as each person spoke a different tongue in unison, performing their individual part in the complex ceremony.

The artifacts lit with fire while hovering in the air, and Scarlet now understood everything her parents had done throughout the years; they’d been training and gathering what was needed for this colossal occult moment. They didn’t cause it—they had known of its coming and used The Oscillation for their own ends.

All of the blood plastering the walls, ceiling, and floor collected into a scythe in her mother’s hands, glowing red irises fixated on the casket with the teenage girl she’d known most of her life; the blade split it down the center as shadows brought her panicked past self to her parents, seeking help after her change, only to be met by the carnage and evil practice.

Scarlet could only watch from her father’s elated eyes as she collapsed in shock. Veronica’s shimmering blood pooled from the destroyed coffin, imbued by whatever dark magic they’d cast to sink into her skin. She remembered the feeling of being trapped in a box, squeezed from all sides as it melded with her body—suffocating every drop of liquid from her being—and not until now did she know the horrifying truth.

Veronica’s blood...

"Half correct," her mother whispered, bright crimson irises lowering to appraise her.

She blinked, and she was now collapsed on the ground, hyperventilating from the smells, terrifying scenes, and feelings tainting her confused mind.

Her blood lashed out like pikes to skewer every stranger around her—at least, she’d thought they were strangers at the time—only to look up to find their dead smiles staring down at her as if this was the crowning moment of their lives.

Her father’s blood flowed out to join the crimson tide cycling around the room, dozens of spears holding him high overhead while her mother hummed and shifted to a more curious posture, dropping the crystal ruby weapon to the floor while casually moving to examine the horrific event.

"It is...unfortunate that this is how we must meet, Scarlet."

Shakily getting to her feet, thunder cracked, revealing her return to Rachel before the bolts showed her the bloody sea she was drowning in; she could practically sense the discontent the lunar hare had upon seeing her state from the slaughter before the images were taken away.

"You... You made them think you’re me; you took over my body?!"

"Hmm. Half correct again," the monster in the guise of her mother chuckled, shifting her arm to her back and clasping her elbow. "Allow me to introduce myself—I am not Scarlet—as you’ve called me... I am Twilight."

Stopping beside her, the imposter brought her attention to the hole in her mother’s lower side, where a spear remained; the building overhead faded to show the failing light.

"This crude ritual has bound your body and our souls... An avatar of sorts for my essence. Mmh. The music and sound," she whispered as if savoring the finest of wines. "It has been so long since I have tasted the rhapsody of souls..."

Stumbling to her feet, Scarlet hugged herself. Half the world melded between her memories and the bloody soup she sank into. "What am I supposed to do?"

Her mother faded, replaced by Veronica, the grinning blonde flashing her teeth as she held up a chain that went into the maroon void. "You are in control now, Scarlet... It’s so much different from what my parents told me! Rachel seems like a nice friend."

"Veronica?" Scarlet mumbled, utterly confused about whether this was Twilight again or the girl she’d tried to dodge most of her life. "Who are you?"

"Hehe. I don’t know, to be honest," she giggled, glancing around the abyss they were in. "It’s...endless. I kind of got lost, but I saved you! I had to after seeing the truth. Oh, and I would be careful who you trust about this... Hmm?"

Scarlet’s own voice pressed in around them like melting butter as the music escalated with new instruments joining the haunting hum. "Such a magical symphony..."

Veronica forced a grin and rubbed the back of her neck. "Hehe. I guess she’s a sleep talker—or is that me—umm... Whatever. Anyway! I’m here for you, so don’t worry about any of the skills stuff Rachel was talking about; that’s, eh-heh, kind of out of your reach right now with all the chains and shackles."

Scarlet shivered in the chilling blood as something colossal shifted in the depths below the ruby sea, its scale beyond words. Abruptly, she was pulled out of the waters and drawn through a swirling maelstrom into the stormy heavens, freeing her from the orbital draw of whatever slumbered beneath the waves.

The blonde’s parting words held in her rousing mind as the world returned and the nightmare faded with the haunting yet beautiful ambiance.

"I know we weren’t really friends, and I kind of annoyed you—ugh, I was so cringy—but I’ll be here helping you! Heh. I don’t know what else to do, if I’m being honest. Good luck!"