The Sand Queen ✅

Thirteenth

To be honest, I wasn't surprised by the destination.

After all, I had been hanging out with an immortal god every single day, meeting his also immortal, goddess sisters. I had been roaming the dreamland back and forth, slowly knowing every little piece of land.

Not to mention me having some sort of emotion-sensing and -manipulating power, also receiving eternal life. Really, I wouldn't be shocked if Zeus decides to join the research party.

"Why the Hell, Desire?" I asked her as we made our way to the main place in the strange, dark realm.

"Just like you feel the most important emotions in a creature, I felt a quite sharp longing to home from here" the woman replied. "Rebecca, or what her name is desires to go home"

Fair point.

Just as expected, Lucifer Morningstar's residence was a grandiose palace with everything made of marble, gold and such. Pillars held the enormous dome above the main room, from where a big terrace looked down at the endless ocean of screaming and crying souls.

That part was a bit frightening, not gonna lie. Imagining how many bad people ended up here.

I stayed close to the siblings, just in case anything wants to jump on me and for example tear down my head.

"This place is abnormally silent" Morpheus broke the silence ruling over the palace. He stopped suddenly, causing me to bump into him. I stepped back, accepting his offered hands. "Stay close. You can never foresee Lucifer's next step"

I nodded, gulping down my nervousness. It mainly came from the fact of not knowing whether I should be afraid of this so-called Lucifer Morningstar or not. After all, I had been hanging out with two gods, plus I also happened to own magical powers – which weren't that weak either, if my intuitions were right.

I also got the idea of using my intuitions after a pretty long period of unsuccesful search. We had looked everywhere – every little rooms, every little corner for any suspicious sound or creature, furniture.

Still, nothing.

Morpheus and Desire were on the edge of going mad when we entered a small room somewhere deep in Lucifer's mansion. The place wasn't comfortable from the beginning – but when I accidentally touched a strange-shaped vase with closed entrance, I fell onto my back.

The well-known wave of strong emotions hit me like a strong wave of wind. Straight through my body like a cruel lightning bolt, shocking my every muscle with the sea of emotions coming from that vase.

As soon as Dream heard the whang of my body meeting the hard floor, the god left everything he was busy with, hurrying me with all his power.

He crouched down, his bright blue gaze sparkling in worry. He slid his arms behind my back, holding me with all his power. He nestled his face closer to mine, his breath tickling my neck as he spoke. "Addie! Addie, what happened? Are you okay?"

I took a deep breath, trying to fight all the emotions swirling inside me. They were like a huge group of noisy kids, every one of them wanting to share their opinion with me – not leaving a single centimetre of my brain free to use to form my own thoughts.

I felt every kind of emotion. Rage, sorrow, being lost – everything negative. At first, I thought it was more people's emotions mixed up. However, as time slowly went ahead, the emotions began forming a clear image inside my head, in front of my eyes.

I saw a story.

The story of a lost human girl, praying to the demons instead of the gods. Doing rituals, cutting her own veins, drawing devilish symbols.

I saw Tetra.

I saw how she hoped finding help by becoming Lucifer Morningstar's servant. She gave her her soul for freeing her from her poor human self, turning her into a demon.

Then, I saw a collage of her demon life. How much she craved for praise if doing something well.

At the beginning, she did get a lot of good words from Lucifer. However, as decades passed, the ruler gave her less praise and more castigation. This rose the negative feelings in the girl again, like when she used to be a human.

With the difference that this time, she had no escape.

And the last scene I saw?

It was a location of the town I lived. The town where my family lived.

A location where Rebecca was tied up against the wall, with a winged woman-like creature laughing franctically above her.

And that's where the picture shown by the emotions ended, causing my entire body to shake.

As soon as my view was clear again, I knew where we had to go. And by where I mean the exact location, burning like a flame on paper, creating a blackish hole.

"I am" I turned my head at Dream, who was still examining me with worry in his gaze. He still didn't understand my exact current state, so I went on with the explanation. "Especially since knowing where Rebecca is locked"