Reunion

The room filled with moths, forcing Dragomir and the others outside. Soon, the whole house was swallowed by the black cloud of nightmare creatures.

“It pushed all of us out except Milena and her dusha. That Mora made a conscious choice,” Dragomir concluded.

Milena found herself in a sea of moths.

She moved through them, searching for anything that could lead her to her mother’s real body.

The tiny wings fluttered so loudly that she could barely hear her own thoughts.

“Mom! It’s me!”

Moths kept landing on her body, in her hair and across her face. But she didn’t mind.

Then she heard faint mumbling.

“Zduhach!”

Her eyes darted from one moth to another. Her cold dusha did the same, but unlike Milena, her companion on the other end of the thread searched for a way out of the swarm.

Milena reached forward, pushing through thousands of moths. At last, she found the bed where Zduhach slept. She could hear him mumbling, but his voice was muffled.

Then she saw it.

Mora’s proboscis was wrapped around Zduhach’s face, as if sucking something out of him.

“Good heavens! What are you doing, Mom?!”

Milena moved without thinking and grabbed Mora’s shoulder, but immediately froze.

“Is this what was happening to me back then, too? Gross!”

Milena kept talking to her, but Mora didn’t react.

“Mom, listen to me!” Milena pleaded. “That man is my friend! You want to avenge your death, right? Then aim your anger at me! It’s my fault, isn’t it? You said so!”

Milena stepped back and watched Mora suck at Zduhach’s face.

“Mom!”

As the moths shifted around Mora’s face, Milena noticed that her skin looked paler than before.

She stepped closer and carefully picked a moth off her face.

“Oh no!”

Mora’s skin showed signs of frostbite.

“It’s just like with those Rusalki…! Could it be…?” Milena’s chin trembled. “Mom! Mother!”

She shouted, trying to snap her out of it. “Aren’t you ashamed of being controlled by that goddess?! Where is your human honor? Where is your spirit strength?!”

Whatever she did, Zduhach continued mumbling against Mora’s proboscis.

But then… whether out of frustration or desperation, Milena reached for her shoe.

She swung the shoe straight across Mora’s frostbitten face.

The moths scattered from her skin. Mora’s glassy eyes finally shifted toward Milena.

And she stopped sucking.

Mora pulled away from Zduhach, who stopped mumbling and went right back to snoring as if nothing had happened. His face remained completely dry.

“Mom…!”

“When you were little…” Mora spoke. “You hated being ignored when you talked to me. So you always took off your shoe and threatened to beat me up with it if I didn’t listen. It was always so funny…”

“You… you remember that?”

“Of course I do. You’re my daughter.”

Mora walked up to her and embraced her.

Milena’s eyes welled up as she let go of her shoe.

For a moment, they stood there in silence.

“What will happen to Zduhach?” Milena pulled away. “I wasn’t supposed to interfere.”

“You didn’t wake him up. Thanks to you, I came back to my senses and chose to stop. Besides, he…” Mora glanced at Zduhach. “…didn’t dream of anything. But this is who I am now. Even if I leave him alone, I’ll bring nightmares to other people.”

“But you don’t have to do that! Come with us! We’ll find a way to rewrite the rules of this world and-”

“Shhh…” Mora’s moths covered Milena’s lips. “You’ve become very strong. I’m proud of you. But I’m afraid Morena’s control cannot be broken so easily. The bond between a mother and daughter may seem strong enough to resist it, but that’s just wishful thinking.”

“So you’re saying that you’ll go back to attacking us?”

“Most likely…” Mora said. “But you have to understand one thing. That slap didn’t break anything. It only snapped me out of it for a moment. Death… is the only thing that can release me.”

Milena stayed silent.

“I’m still a Mora. I still think you’re responsible for my death. And I still have this urge to swallow your head.” She gave her a faint smile. “Some spirits are simply evil by nature. Love can remind us of who we used to be… but it can’t change what we’ve become.”

The moths around them started retreating into Mora’s proboscis until none remained.

Mora flew across the room and disappeared.

Dragomir and the others hurried back inside and found Milena standing there with one bare foot while Zduhach still slept.

“What happened?!” Dragomir asked, staring at her.

Milena turned around and smiled as a tear rolled down her cheek.

“Everything.”

Dragomir felt no need to pry. He turned to Zduhach’s mother instead. “Zduhach wouldn’t wake up after he fell asleep.”

“Well… more like, he got knocked unconscious,” Milena added.

The weaver walked up to her son. “He never got to experience being woken up early by his mother’s voice.”

She gently shook his shoulder, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Wake up, darling. It’s a brand-new day.”

And with that, Zduhach finally opened his eyes.

Dragomir gulped.

He knew what was coming.

That devastating question. Just three words.

Who are you?

Zduhach yawned. “Damn, I feel so relaxed! Why did you guys never tell me how amazing sleep was?!”

“Z-Zduhach…” Dragomir started, then clicked his tongue.

“Huh? What’s up, Debilmir?”

Dragomir’s jaw dropped.

Debilmir.

He had never been happier to hear Zduhach butcher his name like that.

Milena gave Dragomir a suspicious look. “I’m starting to doubt that curse of yours. You sure we were lovers? Aren’t you confusing me with a different lady?”

“No, no! I swear!” Dragomir dropped to his knees beside Zduhach’s bed. “Do you really remember me? But how?! Everybody forgets me after sleeping!”

“I don’t know. Maybe because my mom was a weaver?”

Dragomir burst into laughter, and his eyes grew moist. “Yes… Yes, that must be it!”

Milena giggled as well, while all the dushe in the room exchanged glances.

“Since he’s a half-god, the rules may apply differently,” Zduhach’s mother said. “When one of his dushe left his body, part of his consciousness remained awake with it. So even though his body slept, he never fully did.”

“My mother said Zduhach didn’t dream of anything either,” Milena added. “So perhaps he truly wasn’t asleep in the usual sense.”

“I have no idea what you guys are talking about.” Zduhach leapt from his bed. “Mom…” He faced his mother’s warm dusha, searching for her eyes even though they remained closed. “I… failed to kill all the gods. In fact, I’ve personally killed only one so far. But I’m still fighting, just like you wanted!”

His mother’s cold dusha joined the conversation. “You’re doing just great, Zduhach. Don’t worry.”

“I just wanted you to spare Dazhbog,” her warm dusha added. “It would be very sad for a son to kill his father.”

Milena and Dragomir exchanged looks.

“What…?” Zduhach took half a step back. “Isn’t Dazhbog that guy who fries people with his fire powers when they refuse to play his games?!”

“Yes. And he’s your father.”

“W-why didn’t you tell me about him?! You never stopped talking about the gods, but you never mentioned his name or that he’s my father!”

“I wanted to protect you. Sometimes, not knowing the truth is better. And also…”

Both of the weaver’s dushe lifted their faces toward the ceiling.

“I loved him.”

Dragomir’s gaze fell to the floor.

“Why didn’t he help us when the gods attacked our town? Why did he let you die?!” A vein bulged on Zduhach’s forehead. Then an image of his mother freezing from her toes upward flashed before his eyes. “It was Morena, wasn’t it…?”

“Yes. I died because of Morena’s ice attacks. Dazhbog had promised never to lay a hand on anybody I held dear. But he found a way around that promise by having somebody else destroy our town.”

Zduhach’s breathing quickened. His nose and the corners of his mouth twitched.

“So he might as well have killed you himself.”

“Yes. I was stupid to trust a god. But back then, it was the only way for me…”

“You keep saying that. But surely there were other options,” Dragomir interrupted. “Zduhach lives and does everything for you! And this is how he learns the truth? Having it thrown in his face so heartlessly?!”

Milena pulled his arm. “Dragomir, stop. It’s not her fault she doesn’t feel things as strongly as she used to.”

Zduhach looked at his mother’s dushe.

“Mom. I’m grateful for everything you did for me. But… after hearing this, I can’t go along with your wishes anymore.”

The weaver remained silent.

“Killing all the gods except one? I admit I was stupid for misinterpreting that. I’m sure Debilmir and Milena can handle the rest. But as for me…”

Zduhach clenched his fists.

“I swear I will kill Dazhbog with my own hands!”

Chapter 39: END