Sericea carried herself through the rustling grass with an air of purpose. The cool breeze ruffled her soft red fur as she moved, bringing with it the salty scent of the nearby ocean inlet. With a keen acidic gaze, she scanned the landscape around her, searching for any sign of her mother with a tail that twitched impatiently behind her. Her mind swirled with question-ones she burned to know the answers to. For her, secrets were easily kept, but hard to resist when they were blaring in front of her.

A sudden gust of wind sent a flurry of autumn leaves dancing across her path. Sericea paused, her keen nose twitching as she caught a familiar scent on the breeze. Ahh, there she was. Abandoning stealth, the girl bounded forward, lanky legs pumping as she raced toward the source. She skidded to a halt at the edge of a small clearing, her acidic green eyes scanning the area intently. There, by a tumbling waterfall that cascaded down the sheer rock face, stood her mother, Absinth.

"Momma?" Sericea called out once she was close enough to be heard, her tone honeyed and light as her voice trailed off. She hesitated, suddenly unsure how to approach the subject of Setekh while keeping him a secret as she had promised to do. Her paws fidgeted in the soft grass as she gathered her courage. “What were your parents like?” She asked innocently, hoping to convey nothing more than a youthful curiosity.

"Sericea Praetor-Inferos"

Absinth’s mind wandered as her knife spun through the air, embedding itself with a solid thunk into the bark of an old log by the waterfall. She stepped forward, pulling the blade free before taking a few measured paces back. Her movements were deliberate, each throw steadying her thoughts as much as her aim. The roar of the waterfall was almost hypnotic, drowning out the lingering ache she couldn’t quite shake.

Her thoughts drifted to Indica. The child had enjoyed watching her practice, eyes alight with quiet curiosity. As she lined up her next throw, Absinth’s focus sharpened as she let the blade fly once more. The knife struck true, yet the image of Indica lingered, as much a part of her aim as the throw itself. A rustling in the grass caught her attention then, pulling her back from memory. She turned, catching sight of a familiar flash of red fur moving through the clearing, and the subtle ache within her twisted, transforming into somber warmth.

Absinth watched her daughter with a mischievous smile, but she couldn’t miss the fidget in her paws or the slight hesitation as she approached. Then, the question came, innocent in its delivery, yet unmistakably seeking something more. Ah. My curious girl.

Absinth let the words linger, and for a moment, her gaze flickered back to the waterfall. Well. She supposed this wouldn’t be the last time one of her children wished to know, so why not start from the beginning, nice and proper? "Listen up, save any big questions until the end, got it?" she began softly, "Khroma, is not like this land, Sericea. It’s a place where colors seem to fade away, where life is painted in shades of gray. It’s cold. A place where a King has never outlasted the next challenger, where chaos reigns above all else. Vices take root there—or they are born there rather, and mercy... mercy is a fragile thing that dies quickly. Just like everything else." She looked down at Sericea, her gaze steady, laced with a strange sadness. "I was born and raised there, where betrayal is commonplace, and trust—trust is a weapon that will always be used against you." Absinth hummed, her lips splitting in mock delight as she continued. “For all its lawlessness, it is a place so strict even to this day I could be hunted down and killed for leaving. Isn’t that fucking hilarious?”

"Absinth Artemisia Inferos"

Sericea listened with rapt attention, her acidic green eyes wide as she absorbed every word her mother spoke. The land of Khroma sounded harsh and unforgiving, a far cry from the verdant valley they called home. A shiver ran through her red fur at the thought of such a bleak and dangerous place.

"But you did obviously escape." Sericea blurted out, unable to contain her curiosity any longer. She quickly clamped her muzzle shut, remembering Absinth's request not to interrupt. Her bushy tail twitched nervously behind her as she waited for a reaction.

The yearning to know more about her mysterious grandfather surged within Sericea, but she bit back the urge to ask directly, remembering her promise to keep Setekh a secret. Instead, she fidgeted with a tuft of grass between her paws, waiting to see if her mother would reveal anything further about their family history. She studied her mother's face intently, searching for any flicker of emotion that might betray more than her words let on. Sericea knew Absinth held many secrets close to her heart, but the young pup was determined to unravel them, one carefully worded question at a time.

"Sericea Praetor-Inferos"

She smirked as Sericea blurted out the obvious, the wicked gleam of her emeralds amused as she simply nodded. Absinth contemplated her next words, carefully tracing the rough edges of a memory that never quite dulled. "My mother…. was a beautiful, simple, stupid whore. She was a drunk, cruel and spiteful as they come, bitter down to her bones, and quick to lash out whenever she could, especially at her own children. There was nothing nurturing about her. Most days, she staggered through the slums, cursing the very life she’d brought into this world, blaming everyone else for her problems. She sold off my siblings one by one, trading them to whoever had the coin or use for them. Children are nothing more than merchandise in Khroma, you see. And when they were gone, she set her sights on me, her final bargaining chip. If I hadn’t been quick to run, I’d have ended up just like them, handed over to the highest bidder—which I heard would have been a brothel. Cunt still sold me without actually handing me over, last I heard.” She laughed here, thinking about the wondrous career choice her mother had attempted to broker for her. “I had no chance to be anything other than quick and suspicious, like a rat picking my way through Khroma's filth to survive. It was that, or enduring the same life as my mother. In Khroma, you learn to survive, or you don’t survive at all. There’s no mercy for the weak there. Life and death is a currency exchanged freely."

She took a breath, letting that image settle before shifting her tone. "Then there was Setekh—my father. But calling him ‘father’ doesn’t do justice to what he was." Absinth brought her gaze down to meet her daughters, as if gauging Sericea’s reaction. She never spoke of her father to her children before… but it was high time—especially since Absinth knew he was drifting about these lands.

"Absinth Artemisia Inferos"

Sericea listened intently, her acidic green eyes wide with a mix of shock and horror as her mother's words painted a vivid picture of the cruel land she had escaped. The thought of Absinth, her strong and capable mother, being treated as nothing more than property to be sold made Sericea's stomach twist with anger and revulsion.

"That's awful," she murmured, her voice soft with sympathy. "I can't imagine...having to survive like that." Sericea's brow furrowed as she tried to process the grim realities of Khroma. Her sheltered life in the peaceful valley suddenly felt like a fragile bubble, one that could be shattered at any moment by the harsh truths of the outside world.

Sericea's ears perked up at the mention of Setekh, her curiosity instantly piqued. She leaned forward slightly, hanging on every word as Absinth began to speak of this mysterious figure from her past. Sericea tried to keep her expression neutral, but she couldn't hide the intense interest sparking in her acidic green eyes. In her mind, she conjured the image of him - imposing, powerful, enigmatic.

"What was he then, if not a father?" Sericea asked cautiously, her voice soft and probing. She knew she was treading on sensitive ground, but the desire to learn more about her grandfather was too strong to ignore. Her bushy tail flicked nervously behind her as she waited for Absinth's response.

"Sericea Praetor-Inferos"

Absinth’s expression darkened, and her gaze became distant as Sericea questioned what her grandfather was, her mind reaching back to those early days. "Setekh was… something else. I heard his tale once before, from an elder sister. Born a prince, claimed to be divinity itself. I think they actually called him a fucking gift from the heavens, with ivory fur and eyes like fire. But there was nothing heavenly about him. He was a monster, crafted from cruelty and grandiosity, and he took—takes his pleasure in bending others to his will. When he finally learned of my existence, his gaze turned to me, and I became his new object of affection."

Her voice took on an edge of bitter amusement, though it was devoid of humor. "Because that’s what he does. He loves. He started by calling it 'bonding.' He’d plan little outings, lessons in survival, but they were nothing more than sick tests disguised as family time. I can’t count the number of times he did something fucked up and told me he did it for my sake, for me. He thought he was teaching me, showing me how to embrace the world he believed we both belonged to. That I could see it his way."

Absinth’s claws pressed firmly into the earth, grounding herself as her voice dropped to a low murmur. “He’d tend to my wounds, licking them clean—the very wounds he had inflicted himself. That lonely god, always grasping for something to make himself feel alive. But he’s hollow, empty, and nothing will ever fill that void.”

Her tone darkened further, voice edged with a haunted intensity, like she was living through the memories themselves once again. “In his twisted mind, he believed we shared something profound, convinced that I understood him in a way no one else did. Perhaps I believed it, once… when his teachings brought some strange form of comfort, when his twisted affection was the only care I’d ever known. As a father, he taught me all I know to survive. But, he is also the curse that will never stop following me.” And for that she still carried the surname of that twisted man, for the sake of reminding herself how she could always turn something torturous into strength.

She locked her gaze with Sericea’s, her expression steel, something flickering in the depths of her eyes, raw but well contained. “But he left, slipping away like smoke the moment some new obsession crossed his path. I wasn’t about to wait for his return. And I certainly wasn’t going to stay just to let my mother finally sell me off. My options were limited, and more than anything I wanted to be able to be freely, me.”

Absinth exhaled, releasing the tension she hadn’t realized had gathered in her body. After a long pause, her gaze softened as she looked at Sericea. "Questions?"




"Absinth Artemisia Inferos"

Sericea felt a chill run down her spine at Absinth's words. The image of Setekh in her mind shifted, the enigmatic aura giving way to something far more sinister. She swallowed hard, trying to reconcile this new information with the grandsire she had been secretly meeting. How could this be?

"He... hurt you?" Sericea asked hesitantly, her voice barely above a whisper. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer, but the question tumbled out before she could stop it. Her paws kneaded the soft grass anxiously as she waited for Absinth’s reply, each second stretching longer than the last.

Sericea listened, transfixed, as Absinth's words painted a chilling portrait of Setekh. Her mind reeled, trying desperately to reconcile this monstrous figure with the grandsire who had shown her such attention, such favor. The secrets they shared, the lessons he taught her - had it all been a twisted game, a sick manipulation?

"I don't understand." Sericea whispered, her voice faltering- almost unnoticeably so. She knew she was unable to give voice to the implications that tossed in the back of her mind. Her acidic green eyes shimmered with a mix of confusion and dawning realization. But it was still there- it would take root in the back of her mind.

Sericea felt the weight of her mother's words settle in her chest like a stone, cold and heavy. The image of Setekh she had built in her mind, the wise and powerful grandsire who saw her potential, began to crack and splinter. The secrets she had kept, the meetings with Setekh - they took on a new, sinister light. Had she fallen into the same trap, the same twisted game her mother had endured?

Sericea's mind raced, searching for some way to reconcile the Setekh she thought she knew with the monster Absinth described. But the more she grasped at the memories, the more they slipped through her paws like sand. The praise, the attention, the promises of power and purpose. It had meant a lot to her. She loved him too.

"Sericea Praetor-Inferos"

Absinth’s expression darkened, her gaze sharpening as she registered the shift in Sericea’s voice, the tremor in her words. She didn’t miss the subtle crack in her daughter’s tone, the confusion twisting her gaze into something else entirely. Slowly, she exhaled, each breath grounding her, as if she were preparing to wield the truth like a blade. She imagined it was difficult to hear this, what will the image of herself she had always instilled in the children.

“Yes,” she replied, voice unwavering, carrying the weight of memories and rough edges honed by survival. "He’s dangerous. Not like a bear or a cougar. You can’t predict him, can’t know what will set him off. He hurt me not just with his claws or his teeth, but with the things he put in my mind, the way he twisted everything until I didn't know what love or loyalty meant. I guess I never did in the first place, which is why it was so fucking easy for him. I don’t know. You can’t understand madmen." You can only survive them. Play their game if you cannot escape, bear the consequences of knowing them for the rest of you life.

Absinth’s claws flexed into the earth as she continued, feeling Sericea’s tension rise, a thread of realization pulling at something just out of sight. Just on the tip of her tongue. "Things like him only survive off of the emotions of others. Taking everything without giving anything but the worst in return.” Her voice dipped, rough with bitterness, but her gaze remained steady, pinning Sericea down with a history the girl may never understand. A slight tremor entered her paws, her fores, yet Absinth couldn't tell if it was fear or anger that shook her so.

Her hackles raised slightly, eyes narrowing as something clicked into place, a suspicion coiling tight in her chest, but it was shoved harshly aside as she continued. She had to continue. “...Setekh has a way of making himself seem all-knowing. Fuck, god knows what in that skull of his. But he’s only a man.” Absinth’s voice turned bitter, almost a whisper, as if speaking to a younger, more vulnerable version of herself. “It’s all a game, Sericea. Winner takes all.” And loser either dies or wishes they had.

"Absinth Artemisia Inferos"

Sericea felt her throat tighten as Absinth's words sank in. The confirmation that Setekh had hurt her mother, not just physically but mentally and emotionally, made Sericea's stomach churn. She thought of her own interactions with her grandsire, the secrets they shared, the lessons he taught. Had it all been part of some twisted game? Was she just another pawn for him to manipulate?

Sericea's paws fidgeted anxiously in the grass as she struggled to maintain her composure. She couldn't let Absinth see the turmoil raging inside her, the way her world had been turned upside down in the span of a few moments. She had to be strong, to protect the bond she had forged with Setekh, even as doubt began to creep in like a poisonous vine.

“I’m sorry,” Sericea whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, Momma. No one should have to endure such cruelty, especially from someone who was supposed to care for them." She looked down at her paws, unable to meet Absinth's intense gaze. Sericea's mind whirled with conflicting emotions - the love and admiration she felt for Setekh warring with the growing unease sparked by her mother's revelations. How could she reconcile the grandfather who had shown her such favor, who had promised to help her achieve greatness, with the monster Absinth described?

Sericea took a shaky breath, trying to steady herself. She couldn't let her mother see the cracks forming in her resolve, the way Absinth's words had shaken the very foundation of her beliefs. She had to be strong, to protect the secrets she shared with Setekh, even as a small voice in the back of her mind whispered that perhaps those secrets were more dangerous than she had ever imagined. "I can't even begin to understand what you went through," Sericea said softly, finally lifting her gaze to meet Absinth's. "But I'm glad you escaped, that you found a way to break free from his hold." She hesitated, her bushy tail twitching nervously. "Do you think... do you think he could ever change? That maybe, with time, he could learn to be different?"

Even as the words rolled off her tongue, Sericea knew they were naive, a childish hope born from her own conflicted feelings. But a part of her desperately wanted to believe that the Setekh she knew, the one who had shown her such attention and favor, could be more than the twisted monster Absinth described.

"Sericea Praetor-Inferos"

Absinth watched her daughter, noting the way Sericea’s gaze faltered, the anxious fidgeting of her paws. That soft ’I’m sorry’ lingered in the air between them, and while Absinth didn’t need pity, she heard the ache in it all the same.

She sighed, a bit rough but not unkind. “Don’t waste your sorry on me, Sericea,” she replied bluntly, with her own brand of motherly care. “I got out, didn’t I? I’m here, scars and all. Freedom doesn’t mean walking away untouched. It means you drag the shit with you, knowing it’ll hurt like hell even when you’re past it. I survived, made my choices. That’s what mattered. It’s what mattered to me.”

Absinth’s jaw tensed as she caught the quiet hope woven into her daughter’s words. She’d been there herself once, clinging to the idea that someone like Setekh could change, that something inside him could be fixed. But some realities were too harsh to ignore, and she wouldn’t spare Sericea from this truth. For whatever reason she was empathizing so hard about.

“Setekh’s nature isn’t a flaw to him, Sericea,” she said, her words as heavy as stone. “It’s his strength. It’s what makes him tick, the way he feels alive. Wolves like him don’t learn compassion—they learn to fake it, to mimic the parts of real emotion they think are useful. He’ll spin dreams, promise you everything you crave, and by the end, he’ll have you so tangled in his web you can’t tell where his will ends and yours begins. That twisted shit? It’s who he is, through and through. There’s no changing it.”

Her gaze hardened. The thought of Sericea letting her guard down around someone like Setekh set a fire in her. “There are plenty of others like him out there. And they… he doesn’t love like we do. He loves in the way a spider loves a fly in its web. Useful, trapped, and his.”

Absinth held her daughter’s gaze, her eyes fierce and unguarded. “But I’ll tell you one thing,” she continued, her tone hardening. “His so-called ‘love’? It’s his greatest weakness. That bastard can’t stand the thought of not being adored, not being someone’s whole damn world. It eats at him, gnaws him from the inside out. He’s out there right now, angry and disturbed as all hell that I tossed him aside like the filth he is.”

She shook her head, a bitter smile curling on her muzzle, her voice laced with a dark satisfaction. “Let him rot with it. Let him feel a shred of what he tried to put me through. He thinks he’s untouchable, but even someone like him can taste their own poison when it’s served right.”

Absinth’s gaze softened just slightly as she looked at Sericea, a spark of blazing protectiveness flaring within her. “Don’t ever let someone like that have that kind of hold on you. He’ll starve without it, and he deserves nothing less.” She huffed, brows furrowing as she prodded her daughter with her nose, emeralds seeking the understanding of the little fiery girl.



"Absinth Artemisia Inferos"

Sericea felt a heaviness settle in her chest as she absorbed her mother's words. The hard-won wisdom in Absinth's voice, the scars that spoke of battles fought and survived - it was a sobering reality check. Sericea's youthful idealism, her desire to see the best in others, even in someone like Setekh, suddenly felt naive and foolish in the face of her mother's experiences.

"You're right," Sericea admitted softly, her acidic green eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "Freedom isn't easy. It comes at a cost." She swallowed hard, trying to dislodge the lump forming in her throat. The weight of the secrets she carried, the clandestine meetings with Setekh, pressed down on her like a physical burden. Sericea's tail twitched anxiously as she grappled with the realization that her grandsire, the one she had grown to admire and trust, might not be the figure she had built up in her mind. The seeds of doubt had been planted, and now they took root, spreading tendrils of unease through her thoughts.

Sericea felt a chill settle in her bones at Absinth's stark warning. The metaphor of a spider and its helpless prey sent a shiver down her spine, and she couldn't help but wonder if she had already been caught in Setekh's web without realizing it. "I understand," Sericea murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. "I won't let my guard down around anyone like that. I promise."

Even as the words left her mouth, Sericea felt a twinge of unease. The secrets she kept, the meetings with Setekh - they hung over her like a gathering storm cloud. How could she face her mother, knowing she had already begun to fall under her grandsire's spell? The guilt gnawed at her insides, a sickening sensation that made her want to curl in on herself. But Sericea forced herself to meet Absinth's gaze head-on, her acidic green eyes shimmering with a mix of emotions - love, fear, confusion, and a desperate need for guidance. "Thank you for telling me the truth," she whispered, leaning into her mother's gentle prod. "I know it couldn't have been easy to relive those memories. But I'm glad you trusted me enough to share them."

The truth was, she couldn’t shake the adoration she felt for him. The way he spoke to her made her feel seen, unique. It fanned the flames of her ambition and ignited an insatiable hunger within her. Each lesson was a thread drawn tighter, weaving them together in ways she scarcely understood. To be his protégé meant something profound, and yet the warning bells in her mind tolled louder with every interaction they shared. She knew going forward, she would have to tread carefully. Be aware. And be proactive in shaping her own destiny.

Blinking away her inner musings, she leaned up into her mother’s touch once more. “Thanks Momma … I love you.”

[Exit Sericea]
"Sericea Praetor-Inferos"