Uranium Demons

“So, you see,” the large figure quietly said, “now that you know everything, there is nothing you can do. Your fate is sealed, Morgana.” The young woman peered up at the great demon. Its deer skull head glowed in iridescent hues of uranium and the deep cracks produced hues of violet. 

“You are bound for Hell,” it boomed. Morgana’s eyelashes fluttered and the color of the demon’s black robe disappeared beneath her short lashes. 

“But–” she began to plead. 

“But nothing, Morgana,” the demon reached out a boney and decayed hand with an outstretched finger to touch her forehead.

“Why did you tell me?!” She shouted with tears in her eyes, “had you not said a word, I wouldn’t have known! You wanted me to know! You wanted to send me to Hell!” She shouted with her teeth showing which shone under the flames that surrounded them. The demon let out a loud bellow that shook the cave in which they stood. Morgana covered her ears with her hands and bent forward in pain. 

“You know that if you sin– if you falter in belief, if you mess up! You will suffer! You will suffer in the belly of souls,” the demon opened its robe to reveal a blinding illumination of glowing white souls. They danced and swam in circles forever in the stomach. Its ribs arched in perfect symmetry to create a cage of foreboding malice. The souls, white and translucent, swam quickly and bounced between the ribs. Little orbs of different sizes, all bouncing around in a chaotic frenzy!

Morgana heard the sound of blood rushing in her ears. The beating of her heart was painful in her chest as she beheld the torment of her future. 

“When you hear my name, your fate is sealed, Morgana,” it howled. She kept covering her ears. “You shall not escape my name, for it is Mep–” 

The cave began to quake with a great gust of wind. The demon’s robe flew about slapping Morgana in the face.

“What’s happening?!” Morgana shrieked. Her orange hair blew in all directions becoming tangled in a fury of confusion. The walls began to crumble and the flames were snuffed out. The wind settled and standing before the two was a large moth with wings outstretched. Just like the demon's skull, the moth’s wings draped as a beautiful dress of iridescent uranium and a hundred violet eyes stared back at Morgana. The bodice of the creature was furry and its long antennas curved as shooting stars do. The eyes began to blink and searched in all directions.

“The fallen one! Be gone! Her soul is mine!” The deer skull demon shouted.

The moth demon said nothing and began to flap its wings again, stirring up dust and dirt into the space around them. It began to wriggle and writhe its long arms and legs and wrapped Morgana up before shooting up into the abyss above them. With one powerful swoop and push of its wings, the moth decimated the remaining bits of the cave, leaving the deer skull demon buried in a rubble of rock and ash. 

Morgana opened her eyes to see the face of a moth in all of its brilliance as it flew through the air. She peered down to see where they flew; blinded by a dazzling shine of lights. They were still in a cave! The glow of the moth’s wings revealed the endless rows of diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires many colors. They reflected off Morgana’s dark brown eyes as the colors began to mix and meld together in a harmony of pure ecstasy. Her heart beat. Her lips quivered. She squirmed against the bodice of the moth demon until her own body exploded in euphoria. The gems she saw colored her cheeks in flushes of reds and pinks. She began to scream out into the cave; as if asking for the gems to surround her in a blanket of adoration and pleasure. The colors began to morph into one blinding light. Morgana closed her eyes and began whispering: “Please let me be OK,” over and over again. Her consciousness slipped into another realm as the force weighed down upon her mortal body. 

Surrounded by darkness, Morgana’s body lay suspended in the air. She opened her eyes and let out a gasp.

“I can’t move!” She shouted. The moth revealed itself to Morgana. Its wings dragged on the floor.

“What– Why…” Was all Morgana could utter. She contorted her face into shapes of helpless agony. Her brows furrowed into one line of disorientation while her mouth hung open. Slowly, her eyes began to shed tears. The moth came closer and wrapped Morgana up in its wings as she began to sob. Her body could not convulse with her heavy sobs as she cried onto the tiny scales of the moth. The fibers of hair absorbed her tears and she cried and cried until the tears wore her out and fell asleep being warmed by the moth's wings. 

When Morgana opened her eyes she saw the intimidating blue of the sky once more. She sat up to behold an oasis surrounded by grass and weeping willows. The water rippled as the leaves brushed against it over and over again. In the distance, birds tittered and chirped. A small lunar moth danced about the oasis and landed on Morgana’s head. 

“You’re so small now,” Morgana whispered, holding her hand up to moth for it to crawl into her palm. 

“That is not me,” an old voice whispered back. Morgana gasped and turned around to see the moth demon towering over her.

“Why did you save me?” Morgana asked.

“Even I don’t know the answer to that. I heard the frequency of your soul. It was calling out in pain to the learning of sin,” the moth spoke but its mouth never moved, yet Morgana heard every word. 

“Who are you? Who was that deer skulled demon?”

“My name is old; too old to be spoken. It does not exist anymore. I think you would rather I did not reveal who that deer skull demon is. When its name is revealed to you, your soul will belong to Hell.”

Morgana looked down at the ground in sadness; grabbing the grass between her fingers, tearing it from the ground, and throwing it at the moth. 

“So, what?! I’m trapped to one day hear his name and then what? I’m sucked into Hell?”

“The demon you saw is not a ‘he,’ but an ‘it,.”

“Okay… What do I do? Tell me, please!” Morgana pleaded.

“You need to find out the deer skull demon’s name first before it finds you.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“Find the Library of Yggdrasil.”

“Yggdrasil…” Morgana whispered.

“Yes, it is the oldest library in our world. All of our names are in a book.”

“What book?” 

“An old book. Small and square in appearance. Its pages are old and covered in dust. When you read its name you will be free,” the moth explained.

“Will you come with me?”

“I cannot accompany you. But I will tell you to follow the path of the willows until it turns to sand. Keep walking. The library will reveal itself to you.” 

“What if I get lost? I don’t know where I am, I’ve never been here before!”

The moth extended its antenna down until the white furry tip touched Morgana’s forehead. The image of a grand building ornate with statues and a grand staircase appeared in her mind. Three large pillars together loomed together with oblong windows.

“I want to live! I don’t want to die. I don’t want to do this. I’m sorry I tried to conjure a soul. Please, do something!”

“You wandered into the land of the dead in your world, as you call it, a “cemetery,” dug up the bodies of the dead and tried to conjure their souls! You tried to bring what was gone back and in your stupidity you were unsuccessful and failed! You called out to any entity to help you and look at what it cost you! You are lost! Far from your home and present time! Alone in a world of demons and magic. You are certain to fail but you’ve done it to yourself! You have no one to blame but yourself.”

“But, you don’t understand, I was only in the graveyard bec-”

“It matters not! You conjured a soul and asked for any demon to help you. The reasons are obsolete. This is your last chance.”

Morgana sat in stunned disbelief. She shut her eyes and let out a breath. 

“What I don’t understand is why did the deer skull demon tell me the truth? Why would it tell me of sin and Hell? Wouldn’t I have still gone to Heaven if I didn’t know about sin?”

“It’s true, those from your world are privileged in always going to Heaven. But you have been mixed into ours. You know that sinning means you are bound to Hell and suffering.”

“So, what you’re explaining is that I’m destined for Hell?”

“Correct.”

“It’s not fair! Why did it tell me?”

“You fell into a trap. You were like a lamb to the slaughter.”

“How much time do I have?”

“I do not know, but begin your journey. Go! Find the library,” the moth said as it began to flap its wings once more and raise into the air. In an instant the moth was gone; a small dot in the sky disappearing with every passing second. She stared ahead at the oasis and noticed that there were many lunar moths fluttering around the water and landing on the trees. 

So, I just follow that path of trees through the water. 

Morgana finally stood up and looked down at the patch of grass that she had ripped up. She walked ahead and dove into the water. She swam forward in the warm water. 

It feels like a hug.

Her fingers felt the mud of the edge of the water where the weeping willows dipped into the water. She crawled up on all fours and stood among the trees. 

All I have to do is… just follow the trees… 

Morgana stepped upon the path and felt the irresistible urge to run. Her ankles sprang forward and she flew forward feeling the brush of the leaves on her arms. Her heart beat with the heaving of her chest as her feet pounded into the grass as she ran. She ran until she saw the sand that sparkled off in the distance. Morgana remembered what the moth demon told her. 

The sand! I’m so close! 

Morgana collapsed into the sand. She coughed out the mouthful of sand she ingested. Turning around, she noticed there was nothing but sand behind her. The path of trees was gone– there wasn’t even one leaf left on the ground. All that surrounded her was sand. She was alone in a desert. She longed for the warmth from the oasis as she felt the harsh pressure from the sun. There were no trees to shade her. No water to quench her thirst. There was no way to go back for the oasis did not exist anymore. 

How many years have gone by? What happened to the oasis behind me?

Morgana held up her hands to see that they had aged. The veins were more visible and one on her left hand protruded out in blue much to her dismay as she shrieked. 

“I’m old!” Morgana yelled as she fell onto her side. She began to cry as the sand enveloped her body. 

“I want to be back home with my mommy! I want Nadia and Crystalia!” She yelled out as she hugged herself while rolling in the sand. The sun quickly dried up her tears and Morgana began to feel the effects of the unforgiving heat in the desert. 

“I can’t do it… I can’t walk in this stupid desert or find a library. The demon will take my soul. It’s no use!” Morgana dug a little hole with her withered hands in hope that the sand deeper in the desert would be cooler– or perhaps have water trapped down inside. She dug deep enough to the point that the hole created a blanket of shade for her to escape into. Like a bug, Morgana curled into a ball. Her heavy eyes subsided as she fell into a deep slumber. When she awoke, the hole was glowing in that same green uranium of the deer skull and moth demon emitted. 

“Are you back?” Morgana called out. She climbed out of her hole and beheld the bone chilling cold night of a desert. She shivered as her dress barely protected her against the wind and particles of sand blowing in the air. 

“I saw the green light! Moth! Please, anyone, I’m lost and I’m scared! Which way do I walk?” She shouted out again. Morgana hung her head down to see the sand around her illuminated in the green glowing. She snapped her neck up to look but there was nothing looming over her. She looked down again and realized it was her. Her entire body was glowing that brilliant iridescent uranium green! 

“How am I…?” She uttered with wide eyes and raised brows. With outstretched hands Morgana stared at the glow emitting from her arms and hands.

 “I’m glowing! Why am I glowing?!” She screamed as she began to run forward. The sand fluttered in perfect arches behind her feet with every step she took. She covered her face as she ran but the green still shone through her eyelids. 

“Make it stop! Make it stop!” Morgana shouted until she tripped over something in the sand and fell into the sand with a hard thud. Blood began to squirt from her toes and colored the sand in crimson. She turned to see what type of rock she tripped over but saw something carved from iron sticking out of the ground. Beautiful details of seashells and waves littered the thing. Morgana held her glowing hands around it to get a better look. She began to dig around it when finally she realized it was an iron cross buried upright in the sand. 

“I’ve seen this somewhere… it’s… it’s one of the little crosses on the top of the library. This… this is the library? It’s buried, I can’t get inside!” Again, Morgana began to cry as she realized the wasted efforts of the moth demon and her own stupidity. Her feet began to swell as Morgana felt the sudden pain in her entire body. A cacophony of voices began to fill the void of empty sound around her. They called out: “Morgana the Cursed!,” “The Fallen One!,” and “The One to Suffer!” over and over again. A horrific void of false promises! Morgana continued to hold the iron cross as one by one three demons rose from the sand and towered over her. On the left a hulking snail with its uranium green shell slithered across the sand. Its weight and height shook the sand while its two eyes gazed down at Morgana in enthralling lust. On the right a black cat with its glowing green eyes revealed its shining fangs. And finally before her in the middle stood the largest of the three. A deer skull demon who glowed not in uranium but all violet. Not a crack nor a scratch could be seen on the skull but small markings of purposeful intent. Some archaic numbers unbeknownst to Morgana. A crown of teeth and fangs sat upon the deer skull demon’s head. It hunched forward in remorse. Curving forward, the purple deer skull demon appeared ancient. It reached down boney human-like fingers and scooped Morgana up. She was frozen in fear as the three demons stared at her with eyes bigger than her small body. 

“The Cursed One! Morgana!” The demon held Morgana up in its palms. She gazed down to see that the ground had disappeared from how high the demon was holding her up. 

“Let me down!” Morgana shouted as she tried to leap from the demon’s hands. The deer skull demon let out a bellowing laugh.

“You will fall, but until you hear this all again,” it said.

“Again?”

“This is your 188,754th time after all, Morgana, you never remember,” the snail uttered.

“You are cursed after all,” the cat screeched while swiping its paw against its face to clean it.

“Almost 20,000 years ago, you, Morgana, watched as your entire family was eaten alive while you hid under your bed,” the deer skull demon began.

“No, no! I wanted to bring them back! I didn’t mean to hide!”

“And so you dug up their bodies and chanted words you didn’t understand. They came to life but as the undead.”

“No, no!” Morgana shouted as she tried to cover her ears.

“You called out for any entity to save you! To save your family! Before you came the demon Mephisticles!”

“NO!” Morgana shouted as she ran forward to leap from the demon’s hands. She fell through the air as she gazed upon the iridescent green and violet reflecting in her eyes of the demons before her. 

“Yes! The fallen one, doomed for eternity to live in Hell again and again. As human and moth!” The deer skull demon outstretched its arms around the falling Morgana whose arms turned into wings. Her body grew hair all over it and the antenna sprouted from the top of her head as she screamed in horror until her voice was no more. 

“Behold! Seraphisticles the Demon Moth! Cursed forever to never remember her own name!”

In the skeleton palms of the demon’s hands was a moth with wings draped as a beautiful dress of iridescent uranium and a hundred violet eyes staring back at us all.