A sensation crept through her, curling around her limbs, pressing against her skin. An invitation. A command.
Lilith swallowed hard, staring into the depths of the unknown.
The answers she sought—they could be beyond that threshold.
But was she ready to find them?
Then, with fear coursing through her veins but determination burning brighter, Lilith stepped closer to the portal. Each step felt heavier, as though the air itself resisted her movement. The dark red glow of the portal pulsed in rhythm with her racing heart, its energy almost tangible.
But just as she reached out, an invisible wall slammed against her, halting her advance.
Lilith staggered back, her breath catching in her throat. The air grew colder, sharper, and then—
That voice.
The same voice that had haunted her days before, creeping into her thoughts, now echoed around her, low and chilling.
"Are you ready to see your true identity, Princess?" it hissed, the words dripping with an unsettling mix of mockery and allure.
Lilith froze, her fists clenching as the voice continued.
"By entering the portal, you are accepting your true nature. Are you ready for this?"
The words hung in the air, heavy and suffocating. The portal pulsed again, its glow intensifying, as if waiting for her answer.
Lilith's heart pounded. The weight of the question pressed down on her, the enormity of the choice before her threatening to crush her resolve.
Lilith took a few seconds to think, but the truth was—she had already made her decision the moment she came here. There was no turning back now.
Her gaze hardened, the uncertainty fading as resolve took its place.
"I will go," she declared, her voice cold yet charged with emotion, steady but brimming with restrained energy.
The portal pulsed in response, its deep red glow intensifying, as if acknowledging her choice. The invisible force that had held her back no longer resisted—it welcomed her now.
With a final breath, Lilith stepped forward.
And the world swallowed her whole.
The moment Lilith's body passed through the portal, a weightless sensation overtook her—like she was drifting through an endless void, suspended in nothingness. Then, just as quickly as it began, the pull ended, and she landed with an abrupt stillness.
She opened her eyes.
The world before her was utterly devoid of color, as though it had been drained of all life. Black and white stretched infinitely in every direction, painting a landscape of eerie contrast. Around her, towering trees rose impossibly high, their skeletal branches vanishing into the swirling sky—a sky that wasn't truly a sky, but a chaotic mass of light and dark clouds clashing together like an unending battle.
A heavy fog crept through the forest, thick and alive, twisting around the trunks like unseen hands reaching for her. Lilith took a slow breath, but the air felt different—thick, weighted, carrying something unspoken within it.
Then, the whispers.
Low, constant, surrounding her from every direction, yet without a source. The voices weaved through the mist like ghosts, shifting in tone, in urgency. She strained to make sense of them, but the words refused to reveal themselves.
She wasn't alone.
She knew that much.
Whatever had brought her here—it was watching. Waiting.
A distant voice pierced through the whispers, cutting through the eerie silence of the monochrome forest.
"Lilith."
Her breath caught in her throat. It was faint, almost swallowed by the mist, but unmistakable.
Her mother's voice.
Lilith froze, her heart pounding as the sound echoed again, softer this time, but still clear.
"Lilith."
Tears welled in her eyes, her chest tightening with a mix of longing and disbelief. Her mother was gone—she knew that. She had accepted it long ago. But hearing that voice, so familiar, so full of warmth, shattered her composure.
Even as her rational mind screamed that this was an illusion, a trick of the realm, her emotions took over.
"Mom!" she cried out, her voice trembling as she broke into a run.
The whispers around her faded into the background, the dense forest blurring as she sprinted forward, chasing the sound. Her wings unfurled slightly, brushing against the skeletal branches as she pushed herself faster, desperate to reach the source.
Nothing else mattered. Not the eerie atmosphere, not the suffocating force that had brought her here.
Only that voice.
Lilith's breath hitched as she reached the clearing, her pulse hammering in her ears.
There she stood.
Tall, elegant, black-haired—just as beautiful as Lilith remembered. But something was undeniably wrong.
Her mother's figure was eerily still, her once familiar presence altered by the unnatural details that sent a chill down Lilith's spine. Two sharp horns crowned her head, curling subtly like a forgotten mark of an unknown past. Her eyes—once warm, filled with light—were now pure black, void-like, unreadable.
But Lilith didn't care.
None of it mattered.
The overwhelming rush of emotion drowned out all hesitation, all fear, all logic.
"Mom!"
She screamed, her voice raw, cracking under the weight of her longing, her desperation. Without a second thought, she rushed forward, arms outstretched, ready to embrace the woman who had once been her entire world.
For just a moment, she thought she would feel warmth, the familiarity of her mother's touch.
But then—she was gone.
Just before her fingertips could brush against her skin, the figure dissolved, breaking apart like scattered particles of mist, vanishing into the monochrome air as though she had never been there at all.
Lilith froze, her arms still reaching forward, but grasping nothing.
Her breath shuddered, her heartbeat now a deafening rhythm in her chest.
She had known—deep down, she had known—this wasn't real.
But that didn't make it hurt any less.