By Light of the Full Moon

Part I: Breathe Me In, Breathe Me Out
Part II: Every Third Day

Outer Plane: Arborea
Long ago

Etain traveled from sun up to sun down as if in a daze. Each step was painful, heart sore. Her mind scattered often and she found she had to redirect her thoughts more than a few times so she could focus on the matters at hand. Her loneliness left an ache in her heart and that heartache burned deep and long. She had been with her sisters since her beginning of time. Rarely did a nymph exist away from her kind.

She had an idea of where she was headed - there was a lovely, pristine meadow she had traversed through once upon a dream. The nymph would replant some of the cuttings there, scatter seeds all around, stick healthy branches into the ground, and start again. Etain vowed to never cross paths with the god or his goddess again - if it could be helped. At least, not until she was ready to face the goddess responsible for destroying her home and slaughtering her family, and that would be a while.

The field darkened all the more as it grew later in the eve, and she used the trickling sounds of the little spring up ahead and to her right to guide her. She estimated another hour or so before she reached the meadow, and she had taken time to think and to plot along her journey. She knew she was no match for gods and goddesses. She knew she was only a plaything, a source of entertainment, a pawn to cast away when they tired of their game. It still would not prevent her from trying to cause as much havoc as she could on her way out though. Yes, she was well aware when the time was right and she had all she needed to execute her plan, that her mission would be suicide. But she would only implement it once she knew her sisters were healthy and safe. There was so much to do in preparation for that moment.

And when the full moon glowed high in the sky amongst the starlight, the nymph came upon a field of wildflowers. She reached down and took a wild cosmos, twining it in her hair. She softly smiled as she did so, thinking back to how she and her sisters loved to weave blossoms into wreaths for each other to wear. She would have that again someday, she would see smiles upon her sister's youthful faces too. The goddess who took it all away from them would pay. Etain would make sure that she did. Somehow.

"Where are you going?" A soft, melodic voice drawled into the field, snapping Etain out of her reverie. The flower nymph turned toward the source of the voice and saw the woman's ethereal visage for what she was, a goddess of extraordinary beauty filled with hatred and resentment. Etain calmly halted her steps, leaning slightly forward to tighten the straps of the satchel bearing the seedlings and cuttings at her thigh. Her heart pounded in her ears, her fingers trembled, but the goddess' eyes were not settled on the nymph's hands, merely her face. The anthusae lifted her gaze back to the goddess. She did not trust herself to speak, so she said nothing. She would have been beautiful in that moment if she had not harbored such darkness in her heart, such bleak, disturbing thoughts in her head.

The goddess of enlightenment looked upon her, regarding her keenly and smiled, "Oh I see, you do not love him. How rich," she chuckled, and there was a wicked harshness in the sound. "How so very rich." The words sounded as if they were scraped from her throat.

Etain blinked, something flickered in her eyes, but she stood quiet and in contemplation. After a heartbeat or two, "I only learned of you today, you know." Etain spoke, her voice calm, belying the turmoil she felt bubbling in her core. "After you murdered my sisters." She said the latter neutrally as if it was an afterthought.

There was indiscernible movement around the goddess' eyes. Was she surprised of the news? Quite possibly. Did she give a fuck? Quite possibly not. The nymph pursed her lips and, despite the wrath that threatened to eat away at her from the inside, she stood before her with poise and grace.

"It is time you pay for your transgressions," the goddess began. "I will not take pity on you or allow you to wallow in your loss and wither away."

"Do it, bitch," was the nymph's speedy reply, growing weary of the prattling. Her throat tightened as she took a steadying breath, trying to force herself to remain calm for she had decided then and there she was ready to part that world - she would accept her fate, to be non-existent. Her brows furrowed at her misfortune - she was not prepared for an encounter with the goddess so soon. And Etain felt as if she had failed them again - her sisters. Because of her relationship with this goddess' husband, they were dead. Because of that relationship, the goddess hunted the anthousai down so she would pay for that indiscretion with her life. Her sisters would not have the chance to survive, after all. Everything ended on this night.

Random thoughts began to enter her mind space. She was allowed that, surely - the flower nymph was about to exist no more. She was a nymph, she simply did what nymphs do - she pleased, she took, she gave, she healed, she protected. She was supposed to protect them - her domain, her sisters. Her lover was a god, he simply took as gods take. Did she love him? Of course not. She enjoyed his gifts, his attention and devotion, but she had to admit that she had more fun with the satyrs. They were more passionate, less deceiving, rough and playful, less complicated. Sure, there were those who took to defiling a nymph's domain, but they were few and far between and were dealt with swiftly. They knew what they sought after though - moreso than most men or gods. Gods could be weak too when it came to the charms of the fairer sex, just like mortal men, and they all had their secrets.

Etain regarded the fair-haired goddess with eerily serene eyes, her beauty had been long-stripped by her cruelty. The nymph opened up her mind to commune with the nearby flora. "Farewell, daughters of nature," she said within her mind. "After I am no more and she has gone, please scatter any seeds you can. Tell my sisters of my tale. Tell them I tried. I truly did. Tell them that I am sorry to have failed them and that I love them so." Etain blinked and squared her shoulders, readying herself to accept her punishment. She would no longer pine for love lost, but found she did have more to say before the scorned goddess ended her existence for good. "Tell me, almighty goddess, do you savor that taste of death on your tongue? Do you take pleasure in the blood on your hands? Will your god ever forgive the corruption that has sprouted within you and has spread and consumed your soul, turning you dark and ugly to him and anyone who witnesses your wickedness or stands in your own path of self-destruction?"

"Enough! Silence, nymph," the goddess bellowed, her expression contemptuous.

But the nymph continued on as if she did not hear. "Do you make it a habit of destroying nature, of obliterating whole villages and life forms in your path because you cannot control your beloved? You yearn for a god who finds you despicable, so much so that he leaves you at first light to seek out someone who is completely the opposite of you." Briefly, her mouth quirked as the goddess began to cast her spell. "You love him yet he spurns you. You attack those who fall victim to his seduction. What a terrible life that must be to lead," Etain finished over a sudden constriction in her throat. The light in her eyes had begun to fade for the spell had burned through the air, a brilliant white light striking her in an instant.

She heard herself gasp, and saw the world spin around her. A smile graced her lips. She heard her sisters beckoning her, welcoming her. How impossible that was. There was no life after this one. If her tie with her flower was severed, both it and her spirit would be no more. The soft green of her eyes dulled until there was no light left behind them. Etain lay on the ground, convulsing as waves of that searing magical light continued to pulse over her. She felt nothing. The goddess began to cast another spell.

"No! Etain!" An all too familiar voice rang out, the owner of it coming into the goddess' view and blocking the line of sight to his nymph lover. The goddess recanted, causing her spell to fizzle and the god turned to Etain then, his thoughts belonging only to him. "Farewell, Etain," he said, though the possibility to hear anything had long passed. "Don't you dare," his wife warned but he did not heed her words, instead throwing out his hand to push an unseen force toward the nymph as a portal opened behind her and sent her spiraling through to the other side.