A girl, Lya, was orphaned and enslaved by a pirate from Benevito, Vandel. He gave her task, a "gift," for letting her survive. Every conflict that involved people's lives, she had to choose who would die: her or them.

Years later, she became a beautiful teenager. Vandel became lustful from such a sight. And so, he raped her. She kept silent, for she feared the consequences. However, the silence broke when she showed signs of pregnancy. She did not want to bear his child, yet she did not want to abort a life created by a part of her.

Nonetheless, she had no choice.

Vandel sedated her. He had doctors perform an abortion. She woke and no longer with child. Part of her was happy. The child would've been born to a horrible environment. But, a part of her was devastated. Up until now, she always had to choose who got to live. Yet, she had no say, no negotiation, nothing, on what to do with a child that was half hers. She grieved in silence for many months. And when she was not mourning, she continued to choose people's fate. Her empathy for those people slowly diminished.

One day, on shores that were hidden, Northwest of the Western region, Vandel captured a couple. The man held the woman. The woman caressed her stomach. Lya caught a glance. She stared. She knew. Though the belly was yet to show, the woman was with child. Then, the moment came when Lya had to choose: the man or the woman. She eyed the couple, shifting her sight several times. Then, she stopped at the man. Vandel saw. He knew her choice. With his hand, he signaled for the man's life. While Lya's and the woman's eyes were averted, the man was killed and thrown out of sight. The woman shook and sobbed, huddled in a ball. Lya watched and murmured to the woman, "Soon, you will choose between you and your child." The woman shifted her head towards Lya. Her eyes and mouth opened. Her lips quivered as tears rolled past them.

Months passed, and the woman went into labour, giving birth to a girl. When the woman regained her strength, she held her baby in her arms and went for a walk. Suddenly, a couple of men surrounded her and escorted in front of Vandel and Lya. The men separated the baby from the woman.

Lya eyed the two options in front of her. Vandel watched her gaze. Her stare stayed on the woman for some time. A smirk appeared on Vandel's face. Then, Lya shifted her eyes to the child. Vandel tilted his head down as he held in his chuckle. He flicked his hand at the men with the woman. The men nodded and began to pull the woman away. Lya started to walk towards the baby. Her fixed attention on the child blocked out the cries and screams of its mother. Slowy, Lya approached the child. Her arms reached to it. Inaudible words passed through her moving lips.

Suddenly, as she caressed the child in her arms, the mother's words reached her ears, "Please, let me have my child." Lya's eyes opened wide. "Let me be with her until she can walk. I won't tell her I'm her mother." Tears welled in Lya's eyes.

Vandel swiped his hand in the air. The men jerked the woman, causing her to trip. At that moment, the men's grasp loosened. The woman bolted to her baby girl. After a few steps, she tripped. A man had thrown a bola around her ankles. Her chest slammed into the floor. The air got knocked out of her lungs. She fought for air as she reached her hand to her daughter.

Lya turned her head to the woman. The woman's lips moved. Lya read them, "My baby." The welled-up tears broke and streamed down her cheek. Lya repeated the woman's words. Then, once more. Her short-lived memories of her unborn child flashed in front of her. Again, she spoke the words, but louder so that Vandel could hear. He raised an eyebrow, surprised at those words from her mouth. Lya turned to Vandel and cried aloud, "My child. My baby. The only life that you did not allow me to choose!"

Vandel took a step forward. He wiped his lower lip with his finger. "If you had chosen to save your baby, the baby would've died with you. It was simply your life, or the baby's."

"How could you? That is my decision."

"To do what?" He shouted, stopping her from saying another word. "To have it die alone, or die with you?" A laugh escaped his throat. "If I had given you the choice, then you would've discarded the child. I saved you from becoming a murderer of your own blood."

Lya wanted to refute, yet no words dared to pass her lips. She was at a loss of words. Then, she fell to her knees. The child in her arms cooed from the warm caress, oblivious of the situation. Lya stroked her head.
Without warning, a ring of light formed around her. Her eyes went dark as she spoke, "If I had to choose back then, I would've chosen to save my child."

"And then you would've died with-"

"And in turn, take your life." Her lifeless eyes made their way to his confused and irritated look. "Many died because I never chose correctly. This time, I know what to choose."

Vandel rallied his men around her. They hesitated at the ring of light, stepping to and away from the light. At Vandel's command, one man lunged forward. As his foot passed the circle, he dropped. Everyone jumped away from the circle. Annoyed, Vandel shouted another order and even threatened his men. Another man gave his attempt. As soon as a part of his foot stepped onto the ring, light escaped his eyes as he, too, dropped. Furious, Vandel took a harpoon and lunged it at her. When the tip was a couple of centimetres from her, bones shot out of the ground, encasing her inside a dome.

Seconds later, the dome crumbled, revealing another person alongside Lya and the child. She was tall, almost twice as tall as Vandel. She wore a bird skull as a headgear and a ram skull on her torso that was also a bra with its horn wrapping around her bosoms and around her shoulders. She had leather panties and, on its rim, was decorated with bones. Her pitch-black hair was so long that it made a small pile of itself on the ground.

Vandel recovered from such a sight and acted first. He got another harpoon. As he was about to throw it, the being opened her mouth, letting out a screech. To Lya, the woman, and the child, the sound was nothing more than a baby's cry. To the other's, it was deadly shriek, a banshee's cry. Once the noise stopped, the men fled as fast as they could. Vandel stayed. He tightened his grip around his weapon.

Lya spoke, "This time, I'll choose to live... and you to die."

Vandel let out a couple of laughs. "With what power? If you think that thing scares me, then you are way in over your head! Be it human or god, I'll rid of it! There shall be nothing in this world that I can't control!" He lunged, harpoon first, at the being. "Now, die!"

The being pivoted on her foot, turning to Vandel. She faced her palm towards him. When the harpoon tip touched her palm, it shattered. Vandel tumbled close to her. She glared at him through her mask. He returned the look. His eyebrows furrowed in anger.

Her mouth opened. Another sound came out. This time, it sounded like a breeze echoing within his ears. Though soft, it paralyzed him. His legs refused to move. The being took a step to him. She placed her hand on his head. He grabbed her hand, trying to shake her grasp.

Once more, she opened her mouth. She spoke, "If one is fated to die, then who will be destined to such fate?"

Still trying to tear her grip, Vandel grunted, "If anybody has to die, then surely it will not be me. Everyone else deserves to die... and that includes you!"

"One will die in order for one to live..." She turned to Lya. "An unborn child died for the mother to live..." She turned back to Vandel. "And so, if the child is reborn, who will take the vacant bed of death if not the mother?"

"Reborn?" Lya breathed. "Then, are you-"

"HA!" Vandel howled. "A mother and a father do not exist if the child is not born."

"Let blood pay for blood," the female being spoke. "You place many on the line, and never once have you placed yourself against another. For this first and last, I will place you against her." She pointed at Lya. "Who will pay the blood price for the child to be born?" She dragged Vandel to the woman who had kept silent the entire time. "Choose." She ordered the lady.

The woman shook in fear and confusion. Her gaze shifted rapidly between Lya, the being, and Vandel. Then, as if her worried disappeared, she spoke with confidence fueled with vengeance, "If many have to die for him to live, then many will live if he were to die."

"Your choice."

The woman stared into the being's eyes. "The person I choose to die will be...," she dug daggers into Vandel with her glare, "...him."

With the last words, Vandel let out a raging roar. The woman couldn't do anything else but to watch. Then, his body fell to the floor.

There was a moment of silence before Lya walked up to the being. "Are you my child?"

The being turned her head to Lya. "Because of you, I am born," she answered, "but not from your womb that once carried such child."

Lya exhaled a disheartened, "Oh." She then grabbed the being's hand with both of hers. "Just for a moment, let me pretend that you are. Let me say the things I never had the chance to say." The being did not respond. Lya took the silence as an approval. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," she started. "I am sorry that I was not strong. I was weak, and because of that, I wasn't able to protect you." She started to cry. "I only wish for you to grow healthy and strong, more so than me." She cleared her throat. "When I was pregnant with you, I thought that if you were born, everything would change. All bad days would become happy days simply by seeing you smile. I am sorry those days will never happen."

Lya looked the being. The face showed indifference, always had been, always will.
"The child's name?" The being spoke.
Lya replied with slight embarrassment, "For a boy, Edric. For a girl, Lucinda."

"One that draws in light, and the other is the light. Fine names from a parent who has lost the light." The being turned and began walking.

"Lucinda," Lya called to the being.

"A fine name for a human child or for another being," she responded, "but for me, I am anything but the light. I do not shine. I do not dim. I simply give and take whatever is needed. A life for a life."

With those final words, she faded into the distance.

Lya knelt down to the woman. She handed the baby to its mother.

Lya spoke, "A choice I never got. The life of a child, or of that man." She gave the mother and child a hug before leaving.