Lilith was the most powerful sorceress, and her husband, Adam, was also a powerful sorcerer. They were the biggest power couple in the kingdom of Wendell.
They had a son, the fairest child in Wendell, with golden hair and freckles that made him cute, Arthur. But when Arthur was 4 years old, he caught a strange sickness. Lilith and Adam did everything in their power to save Arthur, but after 2 years of fighting death, on a cold, silent night, Arthur passed on.
Lilith and Adam were devastated and went to stay on the outskirts of Wendell to mourn Arthur alone. While Lilith slowly healed, Adam got worse and couldn't accept the loss. After much thought, Adam decided he and Lilith were the most powerful beings to exist, so he believed they could fight death.
Lilith knew there was nothing she could do to change Adam's mind. So she chose to be by his side, whatever he was going to do. They searched everywhere for a spell that could bring back the dead. Finally, they found an ancient forbidden spell said to be able to trick death. The spell was simple, all they needed was enough power, any ancient orb strong enough to channel the power, the incantations from the book of dark words and the symbol to mark the life to be offered. It was the oldest of black magic, but Adam was ready to risk it all to get his son back.
They found a fitting orb and had their first go at the spell. Their hut was on the outskirts of Wendell, in the South Forest. And they planned to use the forest as an exchange for their son's life. Using magic, they burned the circle of ancient symbols and sigils into the ground.
"Here, let me go get our son," Adam said as he handed over the orb to Lilith.
Lilith stared at the orb with a straight face. She looked back one more time, and Adam was out of sight.
Then she whispered under her breath
"Emèra lavu laci revi crís. Elno vare shan nuari thél. Revai dormin, esso lûn, Fira kelai, torin kun."
The orb glowed faintly, and the wind hummed softly, then lost its glow as everything quieted down.
Adam came back with their son's lifeless body preserved by magic. Lilith's eyes teared up on seeing her son's lifeless body.
Adam placed the body in the middle of the circle and the orb on Arthur's chest. They both stood on opposite sides of the body. Then Lilith nodded, telling him she was ready.
"Valek noro temari sèn….." they chanted the spelling in,
"Elthé mava, kelú rem. Doran selvi, thalos rei, Senu vi lamir, kairos dei."
Lilith's hair started to float each strand alone, a whirlwind surrounded them, growing in strength by seconds, the orb floated slowly in the air as the sky darkened, filled with lightning.
"….Senu vi lamir…."
A huge lightning strike struck the orb continuously as the orb lit up and hummed with power, the ground shook, and a burst of wind from the middle of the circle pushed in every direction, bending the trees away. They didn't stop chanting; the spell had only begun to work. The circle of symbols and sigils lit up blood red with threads of electricity before turning pitch black. Shadow veins from the boundary of the circle began spreading outward, sucking life from everything it touched, the plants and trees dying, turning black.
Suddenly, the orb's glow became unstable, and there was a loud boom with a burst of energy from the orb flinging Lilith and Adam away.
Lilith groaned as she looked up. Adam was lying unconscious and pale, drained of all energy. The shattered orb floated in the air, the skies cleared with Arthur still lying lifeless, it didn't work.
The ritual failed, but it only made Adam more obsessed. "It's the orb, it's not strong enough." He got another orb, and they tried again. And again. Each time Lilith whispered to the orb….
"Emèra lavu laci revi crís. Elno vare shan..."
…. A ritual with a promising start….
"Valek noro temari sèn…..
And every time, the orb shattered. And the ritual failed. With the black decay spreading wider every time.
After the third try, the entire kingdom was already in fear as the black magic was felt across the lands. Trees fell into ash, the wind stopped singing, animals dropped dead, and streams dried up.
The king sent a messenger with an order for Lilith to return with Adam. Lilith sent the messenger back with a short message: "Tell the king if he loves Wendell, he would leave us to grieve in peace," she said with a soft but intimidating tone. Her message was returned with fear to the king, and he dared not challenge her because Lilith alone could take on the entire forces of the kingdom.
But then came the seventh try.
Adam bent to check the sigil on the ground when he saw something—pieces of the orb from the last ritual. He noticed something weird. He picked it up and turned it. There was a strange symbol carved into it.
His heart stopped. It was Lilith’s mark. The only person more skilled in mythicism than he was her. He didn't say a word that night. But he watched her.
And the next day, when he handed her the orb and walked away to prepare Arthur’s body, he saw it— Lilith lifted the orb to her lips, closed her eyes, and whispered,
"Emèra lavu laci revi crís..."
Just like before. Just like all the times before.
Adam’s hands trembled as he placed their son’s body in the circle, but his voice was stone when he said, "Undo your spell on the orb."
Lilith was shocked, with sad eyes, she said to him. "Adam—"
"Undo it, Lilith."
Lilith disenchanted the orb with tears; she knew she had broken his trust.
He didn't wait for her; he started the chant.
"Adam, you have to let go. We can't win against death," she begged him. But he paid her deaf ears.
"...kelú rem. Doran Selvi, thalos rei, Senu vi lamir…nhh"
Adam was already pale; without Lilith, he would be drained of all life before the lightning even hit the orb.
Lilith saw him in pain and had no choice but to join him.
"Valek noro temari sèn….."
Everything was as usual, and the decay grew faster. But suddenly everything stopped, and the orb started emitting a blinding light that grew brighter by each second. This time, the shadows started growing into the circle around Arthur's body, black vines emerged from the shadow and dug into the body.
Some tentacles reached for Adam's leg, dragging him into the shadow as he struggled helplessly, casting every offensive spell he knew, but they were ineffective against the vines. Lilith dived towards Adam, stretching her hands to him, and released a light that enveloped them, vanquishing the vines.
Boom! The orb released energy like an exploding sun. Arthur's body melted into the ground, and a giant tree sprouted with vines and branches that almost covered the entire forest.
The tree stood tall as everything went back to normal. Gold veins ran through its bark, each leaf gold with black dots like freckles. And a red, plump fruit. Beautiful. And deadly.
The first curious villager who found the tree plucked one. The moment his teeth pierced the skin, he dropped. Lifeless. No blood, no scream. Just silence.
The tree bore life. But its gift was death. They called it the mourning root.
Adam lay drained and barely alive in Lilith's arm in her sphere of light under the tree.
"It was all for nothing," he whispered.
All that power. All that loss. All that magic… for this?
For a deadly tree bearing cursed fruit?
Maybe the whole thing was just a glorious boondoggle.
But Lilith didn’t see it that way. She saw Arthur.
Lilith wrapped her arms gently around his shoulders.
"No," she said. "It was Arthur."
And for the first time, they wept together, not to bring Arthur back but to remember him.
