working on hell

Lira

The sun was barely peeking over the horizon when I first felt the weight of the day pressing against my chest. I hadn't slept. My heart knew what my mind refused to accept: this would be the last sunrise I would see with Elias.

I watched him from the window as he gathered stones in the garden, searching for the roundest ones to add to his collection. He had spent hours choosing the perfect spot to keep them and would ask me every night to help him count how many he had. I clung to that thought, trying to etch his laughter, his carefree steps, and the sparkle in his eyes into my memory.

When I called him, he looked up and ran toward me with his hands outstretched, showing me his latest find.

"Look at this one, Mom! It's the biggest one I've found. Do you think I can paint it like the sun?" he asked, his voice brimming with an innocence that tore at my heart.

I smiled, though the gesture felt like it fractured my face.

"Of course, sweetheart. It'll be the most beautiful one of all."

He frowned, sensing something in my voice.

"Mom, are you crying?"

I knelt down to meet his gaze, cupping his small face in my hands. His eyes, so large and trusting, reflected everything I loved in this world.

"No, my love. Sometimes moms cry because they're very happy."

Elias tilted his head, clearly puzzled, but he didn't press further. Instead, he held up the stone to me.

"Then this will make you happier. It's for you."

I couldn't help it. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I pulled him into a tight embrace, wishing I could freeze this moment, stop time, and shield him from what was to come.

"Listen to me, Elias," I finally said, finding a firmness in my voice I didn't know I had. "No matter what happens today, you have to stay here, okay? Don't leave the house. Promise me."

He looked at me intently, with a solemn seriousness he sometimes adopted, as if he understood far more than he let on.

"I promise, Mom. But… will you come back?"

The world seemed to pause. My heart screamed one answer, but my lips refused to lie.

"I'll always be with you," I replied, stroking his hair.

I pulled away before he could ask more questions because I didn't trust my legs to carry the weight of what was to come. I didn't look back as I closed the door. If I did, I knew I wouldn't have the strength to move forward.

The sun was already high when I reached the center of the village. The square, usually bustling and full of life, was eerily quiet. A murmur of voices filled the air, but it wasn't a whisper of hope. It was a whisper of fear.

The villagers surrounded me, their gazes fixed on me, but none of them carried compassion. Only distrust, fear, and the certainty that there was something about me they didn't understand. Rumors had spread like wildfire: "Lira the healer, Lira the witch." They never understood what it truly meant to be different, to have answers when the village was drowning in pain. And now, when I needed them most, they turned their backs on me.

The priest, standing before the crowd, looked at me as if I were a heretic. His face reflected the mixture of judgment and condemnation so many of them felt. With his deep voice, he began reciting verses from the holy book, invoking divine power to tear me apart and show the villagers the so-called truth.

"Lira, daughter of darkness," he said, his tone grave and authoritative. "You have brought sickness, you have brought plagues, and everything you touched withered. You have sold yourself to the devil, and now it is time to pay for your crimes."

My heart pounded, but my body remained still. I knew words wouldn't save me, that I couldn't convince them. They couldn't even see the sacrifice I had made to save them or the pain of healing those who didn't understand my power.

The heat of the flames began to rise from the base of the pyre. The scent of burning wood mingled with the mist forming around me, as if even the air denied me the chance to breathe.

"No! Don't take her!" Elias's voice cut through the noise of the crowd.

My body reacted before my mind could. I lunged toward him, fighting against the men holding me back. Elias, his eyes filled with terror, ran toward me, but two men grabbed him before he could reach me.

"Let him go! Let him go!" I screamed, unable to hide the desperation in my voice. But they didn't listen. Their hearts were already filled with fear and hate.

The priest raised his hand, and the fire roared with an intensity impossible to ignore. The flames consumed me, burning my skin, but I didn't feel the pain at first. My only thought was Elias. Would he be safe? Would he remember me?

Then, a voice whispered in my mind, and the air itself seemed to freeze.

"Do you want to live, Lira?"

I looked around, confused, as the fire continued to engulf my body. I saw my life crumbling before my eyes, saw death approaching, and I couldn't let it happen. I couldn't let Elias grow up burdened by my absence, by the weight of a weak mother taken by injustice.

"What do you want from me?" I asked, my voice trembling but filled with a desperation no longer human.

"A promise. Tell me you won't let them forget what they did to you. Tell me you'll take what is yours."

The flames began to subside. The pain faded, and when I opened my eyes, I was no longer in the square. The village was gone, and all that remained was the darkness now dwelling in my heart. Elias… Elias was gone.

My son. My life. My soul. Everything I loved was lost.

And so, the pact was sealed. I became what I had feared, what I had sworn never to become. Justice would be nothing but vengeance. And the village would pay. The whole world would pay.