The Last Celestial

The Blood of the Taurus Part II

Darkness was all around, and she could see nothing but the flicker of orange and red in a second before it disappeared again. She can feel hard things brush against her skin, as well as soft and sponge like things. There were sharp objects scraping painfully against her body.

But blood wasn't drawn out from her skin.

She felt like her body is being pushed and pulled and her fingers and toes are being cut off by something invisible, dismembering her slowly. She couldn't scream as she feels like the thick black liquid will fill her mouth if she opened or parted her lips.

Still, there was no blood was coming from her dismembered body, even as she's being digested slowly while her consciousness is till intact.

There was this lingering awful pain. And then suddenly she saw a small light the size of a grain. It got even bigger and bigger until it was the size of her head. She swam through the thick liquid, then as she reached the rim. When she did, she grabbed the edge until she had a strong grip enough to pull herself through the thick dark liquid.

There was no air on her lungs, yet she was not suffocating. She can't feel her heart beating, yet she was not dying. And it's as if something was helping her to stay alive, helping her to escape. Even with four of her fingers missing on her hands she managed to pull herself out of the creature.

She smelled something putrid, something that made her stomach turn and her throat close. She then realized that she was hanging halfway from the creature that devoured her. A loud scream filled with terror came out of her mouth as she tried to get further away from the creature.

But as she managed to crawl of the creature something happened that was beyond her comprehension. The ground underneath her shook, and soon the earth c***k and stones bigger than her head appeared, while some was bigger than her body.

She yelped when one of the stones crashed on top of her, toppling her. Then there's another and another until she was covered by rocks and small stones. Mud from underneath filled in between the spaces, and soon her vision became even darker.

Until her consciousness was no more. Hyacinth revived as the bull who shook the earth.

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When she woke up, she felt weak and felt extreme hunger. Her mind was clouded with fear. She was trapped in between stones, and there was no space even for her to move. She can feel movements beneath her. As if she was being taken somewhere.

And then she remembered something... something important that she almost forgot. As if her own mind is forcing her to forget. Landon. Her baby boy...

She wondered if he was still alive, or if he was eaten as well. She thought that maybe she was already in the place of endless torment, and this is one of the punishment she received for all her sins and unfaithfulness to the Celestial beings.

All she could think about it Landon. How her boy will grow up without a mother. Sadness consumed her. Rage and anger filled her. And all she could think about is revenge. She wanted to kill those creatures who took her life, and denied her boy a happy life with his family.

There was nothing more she wanted, than death. She wanted to crush everything on her path. She wanted to destroy something, anything to numb the pain that she was feeling.

And then, there was something inside her. It was like Landon was calling on to her, shouting and screaming for her to come and get him. She kept on hearing his loud cries that she felt frantic, and all she could wish for was to see her boy again.

Something was draining her, sucking out all of the remaining energy inside her.

Suddenly, the stones encasing her began to rumble, as if she was hitting something hard. Something impenetrable. It happened again and again that it made her panic as she was seeing nothing but darkness.

She kept hearing sounds but could not make of it. The feeling of something crashing against her continued, yet she does not know why.

For a moment, it stopped.

She saw light and then she was pulled by an endless vortex. She fell into a lake, and her body made a splash. She gasped, and some of the liquid hit her mouth. But it was not water, it was blood. She was laying on a pool of blood. Her skin absorbed it, and her heart which stopped beating for days pumped and began to beat again.

That's when she saw someone.

Right before her eyes, a creature different from any other. A figure of a woman. The being was tall and her skin was as green as the earth mixed with brown and blue and small spots of yellow. There was a big horn on top of the being's head, much like of a bull. And the horns of her head was not made of ivory or steel or wood. It consists of vines, small and big. Some were brown and green.

The being in front of her spoke. Her voice was soft and it tickled her senses, calming her. "Don't be afraid." The being spoke. "For you are chosen..."

When she heard those words, immediately the lost air on her lungs returned and she began to breathe again. She gasped for air, as if she was reborn. But then something in her was awakened, something dark...

"Where... where my child?" She whispered as the color of her eyes changed from dark brown to green. "I... I just had a baby... where's my child?" She trembled as the vines enveloped her body, pulling her out of the blood filled lake. "My husband... my baby..." She cried as she stood of the being in front of her.

The being in front of her raised its hands. Suddenly she felt vines crawling towards her skin, enveloping her whole body. "Listen..." The creature spoke just as softly, but this time her words came with threat. "...your heart has been filled with darkness. For you've seen so many death of your loved ones."

The Celestial raised her hand, the vines latched onto Hyacinth's head. "You will forget..." Was what Taurus said before her eyes turned white. "...you will no longer remember your child or your husband. You will walk on the Earth as my reincarnation, for you are reborn."

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Darlene screamed on top of her lungs when she saw a vine from the Bull's head extended, reaching out to Andrew and grabbing unto his feet. It pulled him down, and the beast consumed him, along with the relic and the baby.

"No!" Darlene screamed, her hands balled into a fist as her body trembles. "No! No! No! No!" She let out a blood curdling scream as she does the unimaginable. She runs towards the bull, who was now standing in place.

"Darlene! Wait!"

She heard Rajesh calls, but she didn't listen.

"It's suicide!" He shouted again.

Darlene no longer cared if she lived or die. For she thinks she has no purpose left in life if that relic is gone, and Landon has died. "Spit them out!" She shouted as she continued to run, not noticing that Rajesh was trailing behind her.

"Darlene, I beg you." Was his plea, as he was trying to catch up to her, leaving him almost breathless. "Please!"

The two of them only stopped running when Darlene noticed that some of the rocks from the bull was tumbling down.

"What the..." Darlene said, before pushing off Rajesh so that they won't be crushed by a falling rock. "...Rajesh!" She then screamed when not only a single rock was falling from the body of the bull. But it was falling apart in a snap of a finger. "Rajesh, look out!" 

Soon enough they saw Andrew bursting out from its collapsing mouth, with the baby tucked safely on his arms. But there was one thing she noticed as she runs away from the scene. The relic he was holding onto was missing.

Andrew instantly flew away to catch up to them, only to hand over the baby back to Darlene. "Wait." He said, stopping the two from running any further. "The---there's a woman. A woman is inside that bull! I have to help her."

Darlene's eyes widened and her mouth gaped. 'A woman?' She thought to herself as she watched Andrew fight his way against the rocks and boulders. 

The island shook as the rocks fall into the ground. Andrew hurried at the scene to save the said woman, while Darlene and the others wait to see who the woman is...

Only when Andrew came back with someone on his arms did the colors on Darlene's face returned. The woman was wearing a white shirt, ruined by dark tar and dust from the rocks and the mud.

Even from afar, she knows who that person is... For she was the person whom her best friend loved. When Andrew landed just a few feet away from the fortress, Darlene and Rajesh ran back towards them, along with the other Keepers who wanted to see who the woman was.

Darlene cried and cried when she saw the woman's face. "Hyacinth!" She yelled as she clutches onto the baby who's crying along with her. "Hyacinth, Landon is here! Landon is with me, he is safe!"

The woman faced everyone with a confused expression on her face as she lets go from Andrew. She looked at them with such bewildered expression, as if she doesn't know or remember anyone.

"Who are you?" She asked, tilting her head to the side as her green and gold eyes pierced right through Darlene. "Do I know you?"