Sacrifice

Felix was worried. They had retreated to the living room to enjoy some dessert and relax. 

After dessert, he sent the twins up to watch some cartoons and he brought out one of his prized wines for the remaining members of the family.

Xaloc was eighteen years old so he was old enough to join them for a small glass of wine. Felix slowly drank the wine but there was no relaxation associated with a good glass of wine.

His mother said that she had something very important to discuss. Something very important, it was not a word that Nyx Night used very often. No, to be exact Felix had never heard the word leave her mouth before.

Felix was both afraid and annoyed with his mother. His fear came from the way she would sometimes gaze at him and other people, it was so chilling that he did not want to remember it.

As for the annoyance, his mother was very flippant. His children were much luckier than him. 

Growing up his family life was not that great, they were rich with tons of servants but his mother was never around and even when she was, she was never directly involved in the running of the household, she would rather leave it all to the servants.

His father on the other hand was an addict. He was not addicted to drugs or alcohol but sleeping. 

Bruce Night could sleep through anything, an earthquake or even a fire. As long as he was fed and watered, his father couldn't care less, there was no familiar affection.

He swore that he would never be like them.

"Relax a bit. You are getting everyone worried." NYC cautioned him as she drank down her glass of wine. None of her children had ever been such a worrywart as this one. Is it because of the mortal blood?

"Okay. I am a goddess." Her words brought about a deafening silence.

Xaloc's eyes widened while Felix paled.

"Mom, is this some kind of joke?"

"No. My name is Nyx, goddess of the night."

Felix got up. He felt annoyance creep up in his chest. Was this the reason he has been worried all dinner? "I would like to indulge you but I have a lot of work in my hand and I need to go and deal with them."

Nyx sighed, Felix had always lacked imagination. She glanced at Xaloc and saw that he was contemplating her words. He was a good seedling, completely different from her son.

"In the past, just a casual move would destroy all doubt but I think this would have to surface."

She got up and changed her form. Her brown hair lengthened into a long black mass that almost reached her knee.

Her skin lightened an impossible shade of white looking much like the painted ghosts of horror stories, her eyes remained the same, however, its blackness had an ethereal and divine glow to it.

The light in the room started to vanish as a kind of ink-like darkness spread from Nyx to every corner of the room and yet in the darkness, everyone could see her, she was like a beacon dragging all gazes to herself.

She did not need any words. This was Nyx, goddess of the night.

Xaloc gasped. He felt so powerful. It was like there was an energy rushing through his body capable of toppling mountains. He moaned, it was so comfortable.

Nyx's lips twitched. This child. Her Aether amount is so pitiful compared to her heydays yet he wanted to absorb the little she had.

She snapped the thread, causing Xaloc's eyes to snap open, meeting his gaze she shook her head before disabling her immortal apparition.

"Do you believe me now?" She could help a smirk as she asked both Felix and Karen.

"Mom...How? Why?" Karen did not know what to say. This was something she could not wrap her around as she held his husband hoping he would have something to say.

Felix has matured since young and as a CEO, his adaptation skills have been polished since young. He took a deep breath as he tried to analyze everything he had seen and heard. 

It was very difficult. Even a ten billion dollars business deal was not as difficult as the few sentences that he heard today.

"Greek?" Xaloc asked. "Are you the same Greek goddess of the night that is in all the tales? The same Nyx that hid Hypnus after he lulled Zeus to sleep. The one that lived at Tartarus?" His heart pounded as he asked. 

He was familiar with Greek mythology text and if he could recall the text perfectly. 

It is said that together with Uranus and Gaea were two mighty powers who were also the offspring of Chaos. These were Erebus and Nyx, who formed a striking contrast to the cheerful light of heaven and the bright smiles of earth. 

Erebus reigned in that mysterious world below where no ray of sunshine, no gleam of daylight, nor terrestrial life ever appeared.

Nyx, the sister of Erebus, represented Night and was worshipped by the ancients with the greatest solemnity.

"I don't live in Tartarus, close but not in its depth and the tales about hiding Hypnos are exaggerated but yes, I am that Nyx."

Felix chuckled as his confusion soon flared into anger. "That day in the hospital, I caught you giving the twins something to drink and you claimed it was water. It was not water, right? They had been so energetic after you left and the doctor even claimed that maybe he was wrong. It was something you did right?"

The moment Felix mentioned the twins, the atmosphere became tense and there was a sharpness in everyone's eyes as they looked at Nyx.

Having children suffering from terminal illness was one of the worst things that could happen to a family. From the constant visits to the hospital, the fears and desperation, it leave a particular aura in the air, one that constantly corrodes the bond and joy a family has.

Shortly after they were born, Maya was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukaemia and Mason, a rare form of Acute lymphocytic leukaemia. That had changed everything.

"Mom. That day you saved them. Why did you not do that ever since!!" Felix stood up, his eyes quickly turning red, it was as if the years of frustration compounded at once. "They are your grandchildren. They have been in so much pain. We were so scared that they could relapse, that they would die and you just stood there." His voice hitched as he forgot to breathe.

He did not understand, "How could you? How could you not stop that from happening? Do you know...know much we have sacrificed?"

"I know." An emotionless voice interrupted. "I can't speak for others but I sacrificed my childhood, one year of school, some minor surgeries, approximately three gallons of blood, four bone marrow and a kidney. That should be it."