Hush

Niyati was once a beautiful and powerful sorceress, said to have a voice so enchanting it would place any man she chose under her spell, cursed to spend the rest of their days tending to her needs, until their last dying breath. It is rumoured that she feel in love with a young man after he saved her from the attacking families of those she had enslaved, believing them to be on a witch hunt. She had never had anyone care for her without the aid of her enchanting voice and vowed that he would be hers of his own free will.

The man however since that time had heard of her deeds, and promised that if she freed those she held prisoner as her slaves and proved to him that she would love him as long as she lived, he would give her his heart. Without thought, she released those under her spell and to prove there was nothing else, and no one else she loved and needed more than him she asked a request from the deity of death, in exchange for her soul he would allow her to live until he stopped loving her.

Little did she know of the promise her lover had made to the people, that he would give them revenge for what she did to them and their families. When she came to him of the news, she had done what he had hoped; taking out a dagger he killed her. Thousands of years have now passed, her lover dead and her deal with the deity still strong, she is cursed to walk the world of the living serving the deity of death as she had done to those many years ago, and as he never truly loved her in the first place, she shall never die.

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"He will not! He will not! Stop this, stop this nonsense at once you wretched fools, you know nothing of what you speak!" Niyati's eyes shifted to the side as she inhaled heavily, her lips curled into a snarl to their response. "Be quiet! He'll hear you! I demand you be quiet! Hush! HUSH!" She yelled, pressing her palms to her ears as she sunk down the wall to the cold stone floor, her eyes clenched shut "Shhhhh..." She hissed forcefully attempting to calm them, her body rocking lightly back and forth. "Shhhhhh..."

Niyati opened one grey eye and glanced about the dank temple warily, a few seconds later she opened the other. Satisfied they had gone she took her hands inches from her ears hovering them in place ready to replace them if there be a need. Her lips curled into an insane smile and then released an equally insane nasal laugh, her hands trailed down her face, her nails dragging down her cheek and resting between her teeth. Her sights darted about the area when the sound of footsteps echoed down the tunnels, Niyati scrambled to her feet and hurried over to the centre of the room, her bare feet padding against the floor. Cupping her fist she held her hands under her lowered chin, her sights gazed up with a hopeful glint in her eye when the figure entered the room.

"Greetings Milord!" She exclaimed excitedly, following him round, not allowing her back to face him as he walked passed her to his seat as if she wasn't even there. "I have found him." She continued falling to her knees by his side, her hands rested on his seat. "I saw him! In his eyes..." She said, her sights drifting off. "He looked so sad..." Niyati's eyes quickly darted back to the Deity. "But I told him not to worry, I said we'll be together soon, because you promised, you promised me, didn't you Milord?" Her face by now was occupied by a huge grin. The Deity's expression had remained unmoved from all this and he merely placed his elbow on the rest and rubbed his eyes.

"Be gone." He said dismissively, his hands motioning her away. Niyati's face dropped at the sound of his words, her eyes widened with a pleading look.

"B...but Milord..."

"BE GONE!" He demanded, standing to glare down at her with piercing crimson eyes. Niyati clenched her jaw and fought to hold back her tears as she scampered out the room. Her eyes welled up as she huddled herself into a corner breathing in heavily and tying to keep her tears from spilling. Her hand reached over her head, clasping strands of her tangled hair as she began to rock herself, the voices mocking her in a venomous whisper.

"No! No! Shhh...shhhh..." Niyati's head shot up quickly at the sudden sound of his voice, her grey eyes were wide and her cheeks stained with tears. She stood swiftly to her feet after a few moments, her hand coming to a point towards the man that had appeared from the darkness. "Shhh!" She demanded as her eyes scanned the area. "They're gone, but they listen." Her sights fell over to him as she promptly stood upright and tilted her head in question to the figure, gazing at him with an unblinking eye. "Why are you here?" She asked, ignoring his question of her presence in that forsaken place. Raising a brow a thought crossed her mind as she inhaled a deep breath and turned slightly away from him, her hand lifting to her chest and resting as if to protect herself from him.

"Were you spying? Do you spy on me, mortal?" Niyati turned her head away, adverting her eyes to the ground and whimpered. "They punish me they do, sending their spies to watch me." The woman closed her eyes as he spoke, a smile creeping over her lips, a content smile. Her raven hair fallen over her face while her fingers weaved among the strands, and her head rested against the wall. She hummed with pleasure at what he called her; it had been so long that she had almost forgotten.

"Human..." she sighed in a whisper, for awhile she just stood there with her eyes closed and leaned up against a wall and a curl to her lips as if she were remembering a fond memory. She looked almost to be asleep. Her eyes suddenly shot open, her smile fading swiftly as she pushed away from the wall. "Shhh!" She spat, her eyes shifting about the darkened room. "Not now, we have a guest!" She stomped her foot down on the cold floor, the sound of a sharp clap on impact. Convinced they had gone she straightened herself, though her head titled to the side to view him. "Why am I here?" She repeated. "I am here because I was summoned by Milord, of course!"

Standing there a moment she gazed at him, leaning in until her weight pulled her to go forwards. Niyati walked towards him, constantly staring with held breath, her hand raised towards him limply. She stopped a few inches away, her hand about to touch his face, she turned to look down at her foot which was halted mid-step and little prints of blood where she had trod and a little stone where she had stomped her foot.

"I bleed..." Looking back over to him helplessly, her tone a fragile whisper. She turned away, exhaling lightly. "Blood is life, life is death, and death is my curse." Niyati weakly lifted her head to view him, and walked forward a step as he moved away. Her dark grey eyes worn and empty with a strange betrayal in them scanned over him; leaning forward she inhaled deeply, taking in his fanciful scent. It had been a long time since she had been with a mortal who was not on the verge of death and the smell of life was intoxicating to her. Her eyes closed and still basking in the scent and whispered into his neck.

"I summoned him and he appeared." She sighed, her breath trailing along his skin. She pulled away, her mouth now clenched and her lips forming a phantom smile. "But he lied to me! He promised me a lie!" Her sights fell sadly back down to her foot at his comment. "Why heal the body when you can't heal the mind?" Niyati walked over to the wall as she said this, pressing the side of her face and the rest of her body against it with a smile as if listening.

"I hear it's heart beat...I hear voices too." She whispered, closing her eyes. "They scream to be let out...but one is missing." Her eyes shot open. "Don't go!" The banshee begged, standing up, her hand reaching out towards him. "…please, don't go." He merely smiled with amusement, bowing his head before his physique disappeared, leaving her no more alone than she had already been.

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