The Story of Three

Dante, Demetria, and Lucius had their own unique traits, but Dante had something his siblings didn’t. He smiled at the signs Lillias taught him and paid more attention to Demetria’s books. He adopted Lucius' thrill of laughter after breaking glass and freezing when given directions.

Of course, there were habits Lillias created.

Dante, technically the oldest boy would be the chosen one to rule, and in order to make it happen, Lillias needed Dante to feel powerful, like kings in novels, act out scripts of men in love and favor the storms, quakes, and fires. But the fire was Lucius’ trait, and Lillias was careful not to let Dante favor those, for her plan would not work.

Lucius competed with his mother for no reason. He mimicked her when she ordered tasks for them, making her weaker to the point of crying. Demetria believed this was unfair, so she made sure to intervene when possible, closing Dante’s eyes when Lucius used his signs for evil. She was able to control Lucius’ recklessness by standing in the middle.

The children grew older and understood their feelings a lot more. Dante, still deaf, had learned enough sign language to easily please others. Demetria, his twin sister, didn’t have the same gifts because, the more she tried pleasing people, the more she got hurt. Lillias ordered her to stay away from her twin brother, afraid she would pass on those feelings of affection and insecurities to Dante, making him weaker to rule.

Lillias succeeded in what she hoped, not considering the eternal separation amongst siblings. By the time she tried bringing them back together, Dante wouldn’t allow her to leave his side. He felt like an only child, something he secretly hated but couldn’t show. When he was alone, his thoughts telepathically communicated with Demetria when he felt pain, love, and paranoia. He spoke to Lucious when people made him angry, learning how to hurt them without touching them.

Once Lucius became an influence on Dante, Lillias no longer had power over her children. The whole purpose for their existence was people, without people they couldn’t survive, and they made sure people hurt each other as a source of entertainment. Lillias now saw her children as monsters and felt agony.

On the other hand, Demetria had fallen in love with Jason, a kindhearted farmer. She had been the only child who felt love after all and spent most of her time with the kind farmer, already seeing their future together.

Demetria had a friend, Oriana who hung out in the river at night staring at the moon. People laughed when she spoke about being able to predict the future, which only earned her the title “crazy.”

“Ori, I love Jason and want to escape with him, away from this place.” Oriana started to cry.

“Please tell me it will happen.”

“It’s happening,” Oriana said. Demetria smiled.

“No, not that…it’s your brothers, the people here, a battle only you can stop.”

“NO!,” screamed Demetria, “I..I left that, I can’t be in the middle again.”

“Jason, he won’t love you forever,” Oriana said nonchalantly.

“I don’t believe you,” said Demetria, “tomorrow, I..I will tell him to leave with me, and I’ll be with my mother again up in the heavens.”

She ran to the farm. “JASON,” she said, opening the door to his house, “where are you?!”

Silence. She felt the weight in her heart. Something happened or would happen.

“Please” her voice had broken, “say something."

She then heard something laughing. A laughter that sounded familiar.

Lucius.

“Where IS he?” Demetria said loudly. “You and Dante can do whatever you please I don’t care, possess as many people as you want, I’m running away with the only man I love.”

“Awww Demi you don’t know?” If you do that you’re fucked, and the gods will curse you for not keeping a balance between precious Dante and I."

“There’s nothing wrong with Dante,” Demi said, he is the ruler of people, he doesn’t possess evil in them like you.”

“What, you think I chose this trait?” Lucius said, “Don’t you remember Mom placing us in a certain order?”

And there it was. If Dante or Lucius managed to combine their energies, people would die for sure.

“Where’s Jason?’ asked Demetria.

“Oh yeah,” Jason said, touching his heart sarcastically, “I managed to possess at least 3 people, and well, your love is gone.”

Demetria’s tears fell down strong enough to flood a whole town.

“See,” this is why you were chosen to keep balance,” said Lucius.

“That’s where Dante comes in and possesses men in power,” Lucius said, smiling at Demetria.

“He’ll put order on top of you, the people will listen, and well at first it will work until our precious brother begins possessing almost everyone.”

“What about you?” asked Demetria.

“Oh, I was born to be hell,” said Lucius, “I will peacefully wait until one of these bastard rulers dies and come to me.”

“And my dear sister, I’m sorry but, you’re in the middle of all this,” Lucius touched her arm. Demetria felt the burning of Lucius' soul.

“Remember the number 2023, that’s when I get annoyed by Dante’s dead leaders and allow them to grow old, unfortunately, you will have to deal with them”

“I...I just wanted to be with the guy I loved,” said Demetria, crying even stronger.

“People suck,” said Demetria

“And we are in control of them,” said Lucius, they’ll make our existence a living hell."

"So why is Dante up in heaven?" asked Demetria, "he can't even listen to people."

"Well...that's how narcissists live," said Lucius. "People are echoes, begging for help yet, Dante will never listen...he's out of touch with humanity."

Lucius hugged his sister and whispered something in her ear.”

“I am your balance, Demetria, Dante is now a god, too busy up in the heavens, starting this narcissistic possession, but don’t worry, hell is on earth, and I’ll make sure to keep hugging you and comforting you.”