“Like I can escape the world.” She folded her arms across her chest and lifted a brow at the strange person before her still sitting in the tree and kicking her legs. “You knew I would become one if I gave him my soul, so why didn’t you tell him?”

“Sometimes mystery leaves us wanting more.”

“Then what of the children’s book? It was very funny where you left your feather.” She scoffed while tightening her arms. “Beauty and the Beast, really?”

The Witch Owl tilted her head the other way.

“Didn’t you enjoy reading it to him? Your story is not the same, but you still fell in love with someone which most find hideous.”

It was becoming annoying that all these different beings were watching them.

“But the beast was a dick in the beginning, Orpheus was kind to me the entire time.”

“He was also worse. You were almost eaten many times. I didn’t think you would survive, and yet here you are, speaking with me as though I have done something wrong.”

Reia inhaled deeply through her nose before letting her outward breath soften her muscles. She was feeling a little offensive for no reason.

She helped me. I have no reason to be rude.

“Okay,” she conceded with a sigh. “Why are you here now though?”

“Why can I not be? You are a product of my design. Can I not speak with you when I am the reason you are here?”

“Is there something you want to say to me?”

“Is there something you want to know?”

Tension filled her muscles once more. Reia’s little patience was only at ease when with Orpheus. This woman looked human, but was undeniably strange.

“You are the one who guided me to come speak with you and waited for me to do so. I would rather be inside with Orpheus if there is no point to this.” When she didn’t say anything or react, only one question came to mind, one that caused her to frown. “Why are you even helping him?

What’s in this for you?”

The Witch Owl flipped her leg over the tree branch before moving the other over as well, then she fell backwards to swing upside down by the backs of her knees.

With her hair bundled inside the hood of her cloak as she hung there, she cocked her head to the side.

“Can a mother not care for her child?”

Reia's lips parted in shock, surprise, disbelief.

“Mother? How’s that even possible? You look like a human.”

“I once was, but now I am like you.” She lifted her hand to cup her chin. “I gave my soul to the void in return for eternal life and magic, and in mating with him, I have given birth to Orpheus’ kind.”

“What the fuck is the void?”

And how the hell can someone have sex with it?!

“A spirit of darkness. It is not easy to mate with an entity made of mist and cloud.”

Reia wished she could truly feel her own hand rubbing her forehead in confusion. All she felt was light pressure.

“You’re telling me that Duskwalkers come from a Phantom and the void fucking? How’s that even possible?”

“How is anything possible? Why can humans live on Earth? Why do the trees grow? How did creatures learn how to wield magic? All of this, which seems impossible, is possible.”

“Shit, I guess that’s true.”

Reia eyed the Witch Owl warily.

She was currently in love with a Duskwalker and happily had sex with him. She couldn’t, shouldn’t, have prejudices about this woman sleeping with some spirit of darkness.

“So, you’re just here to help your children? What about the others, then?”

“My bull-horned son was tortured, but I saved him from death. My ram-horned son is travelling, and I have made sure he is safe. My Impala-horned son was lonely, and I have helped him seek love. My deer-horned son is still learning, but I have guided him to his brother who can teach him. There are the two others who have no need of me as they have each other. Then there are the few who have not fully formed their skulls yet.”

“You only give birth to sons?”

Her coal eyes crinkled with humour. “I give birth to nothing, and the first human they eat dictates their gender, like with Demons.”

“If you’re their mother, then why don’t you tell them then?”

“When they are faceless, they know I am safe, and that I will help. They know, even if they do not remember. They trust me. Why should I care beyond that?”

Reia’s felt herself paling at the idea. I think Orpheus would want to know where he came from.

“If you want to help him, then what do you need from me now?”

“Nothing, I came to help you instead. There is one thing I came to warn you of.” The Witch Owl pointed to Reia’s stomach. “I would be careful of your womb if you do not seek to give birth to darkness.”

Reia shuffled back a step while crossing her arms over her belly as if to hide it.

“What do you mean? I’m a human and he’s a Duskwalker.

We can’t have children together.”

Her grin was confusing as she was upside down, appearing like a frown at the same time.

“But you are not a human. You are a phantom, as am I.”

She turned incorporeal in front of Reia’s very eyes, slipping from the tree branch to hover above the ground.

She stood to face her and then walked forward.

She placed her hand on Reia’s shoulder and she felt it, in the same way she felt the pressure of her touching her own transparent flesh.

“He is made of spirit and human and has now made you spirit and human. Your soul is tied to him and now you walk on the cusp of life and death, never truly alive, never truly dead.” She placed her hand on Reia’s stomach. “You mate with a child of darkness, and you will make more if you are not careful. I was not ready when it happened the first time.”