Daughter of Nyx

The Goddess of Madness

We arrived in a rather cozy room, which contrasted the eeriness outside. The walls were lined with worn out antique designs. Two couches lie in the middle of the room, a woman with her back turned to us, sat on one. Broken pieces of pottery sprinkled at one corner of the room and shredded photos at another. Black and white photos of people, in wooden frames lined the wall.

"Alyssa, they're here to see you," Stef's Nana said, shakily raised her right hand at the black haired woman, "Please, I want to go...."

"For the last time, Nana, she said her name is Lyssa," Stef sighed.

"Please... You promised me! I don't want it anymore," her Nana's voice went from raspy to short breathes.

"Nana? What are you talking about?" Stef bent down next to her grandma, a worried expression on all our faces. 

The woman stood up from the couch, raised and waved her right hand before us. 

"Go," she said. Except- her voice was all around us. It didn't seem like she was talking from her mouth. 

With that, Stef's Nana gasped for breath, mouth wide open, back arched, like she was possessed. 

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HER!?" Stefani screamed at the woman, tightly grabbing her Nana's shoulders.

"Nana! Nana, do you hear me? Nana!?" she cried. She then turned to the woman and attempted to attack her when Travis stepped in and held her back. The woman, who Stef called Lyssa, turned around. 

Nico drew his sword and Clarisse took a battle stance. I stood there, helpless. I wanted to run but I didn't want to abandon them. I wanted to strangle this woman but I was too scared of her aura.

"Such disrespect," Lyssa sighed. Again the voice came from all around, like an echo bouncing about in the room.

She was a beautiful woman. Her skin was light gray and her eyes were white with no pupil. She wore a plain and simple white nightgown. There were scratch marks all over her arms and legs. There were no shoes on her feet and as she stepped towards us, her feet marked the carpet with bloody prints. 

"I knew it. You're the one causing this then," Nico warily pushed us all back behind him. 

Lyssa coaxed her head, a slow smile creeping onto her pale face. Her lips parted to reveal razor sharp teeth.

"NANA!" Stef's outcry returned our attention to her grandmother. Her Nana had gone limp, eyes weak of life and mouth foaming. "I'm going to get my Uncle!" With that, she ran out of the room and thumping footsteps can be heard echoing the first floor.

Noticing the way we stood and looked at her, she chuckled, "Don't worry, I won't try to hurt you. How could I hurt my dear-" she raised a finger at me, her nails were missing, "sister?"

"Sister? I don't know you," I said, still shaken up by the presence of Stef's Nana's corpse and at the same time trying to sort out my wavering emotions. I turned my head slightly towards Nico without taking my eyes off her and muttered, "What the hell is she?"

"Of course you won't know. After all I'm just a minor goddess. One that's uncared for and unimportant," Lyssa said bitterly, losing her creepy smile.

"I should've known from the moment Stef said your name," Clarisse spoke up.

"Oh? Oh. You're Ares' kid, why did I not think of that," a smile returned onto Lyssa's face.

"You're the goddess of madness. I've seen what you do to all those war veterans," Clarisse gritted her teeth. She tightened her grip on her electric spear.

"1692 Salem witch trials. You caused the religious frenzy," Nico added.

"Come on now, let's not go through all my achievements," Lyssa said in a fake modest manner, "though you have to see Hecate's face when she got the news."

"I was on the run from her ever since," she laughed. "Anyways, I was expecting you and just wanted pass on a message. No fighting," she waved her hands in the air as if she was surrendering, "sadly." 

"Why? Why Stef's grandma?" I blurted out. Most times someone's death just prompts depressive emotions in me but to do that to someone else's loved one, when they are unable to do anything, is simply inhumane.

"Well... you can say the Frankenstein family is just somewhat... special," Lyssa lazily answered.

"As I was saying, the message I was tasked to pass on," she paused for a moment as if preparing to deliver an important speech.