The Tragedy of Delilah

Hello, reader!

            If you’ve picked up this volume, it means you’re interested in learning of one of the greatest tragedies in known history! A story of love, loss, and revenge of global proportions. This is the story of one Delilah, Orphanmaker, Death’s Matron, among other titles. Her tale is one of many legends that comes from the exotic heartland of the Ferrosian continent. Within this volume are a collection of stories from various points along her long life. From the cautionary tale that sparked her rage, to the fall of the Will of Death, to the many years of her life outside the cult spent in exile. To better understand the context in which theses occurred, at the end of this book is a list of recommended reading that may help if you perused them first. And, without further ado, the tragedy and redemption of Delilah. Enjoy.

~Dr. Jacob A. Billingsly

1: The Tragedy of Delilah: First Act

As translated from a document recovered from ancient Ferrosian archives, excavated in Aurum. 

Below: A sketch of the cave paintings found in the caves of Landown, circa 455 BCE, the earliest known record of this story.

        As the tale goes and listen well. Be not unfaithful or may come hell.

The worst atrocities to have ever transpired, came from one man’s wanton desires.        

This dragon’s consort scorned and dejected, and heart in a state that could never be mended. 

Gone is Delilah, loving mother and wife, in her place, now a living blight.

So, heed this story, and chase away the whispers of a heart starting to stray.

For on account of your selfish deeds, one may come and make the world bleed.

            Long ago, in the vibrant hearth of Tethys Bay, there was a young dragoness named Delilah. She was fair, she was stout, brimming with health and fertility. Her skin was the color of ash, with pale stripes and living green eyes. Her horns were of ebony and her wings were wide as a score of Flunsers[1]. To anyone who gazed upon her, she was both beautiful and formidable. 

            She was mated with another; whose appearance was equally noteworthy. He was a feathered, colorful creature, named Ogden. He was all the colors of a flower bush, gaudy and mesmerizing. The color of his plumage would put even Beaugalli[2] to shame. He and Delilah were quite happy together, and they had a daughter, named Mirabella. She was like a nymph of her mother, with the same ashen skin and ebony horns, only without the stripes, and she bore the eyes of her father. They all lived together in a cave, facing the great mountains to the east. And here is where our tragedy begins.

            On the eve of a storm, Delilah lay with her spouse and child, enjoying the warmth of the cavern.

“Hmm….Storm’s getting close, Delilah. We are hungry.”

Ogden stated lazily.

“Yeah! I wants some deer, mama!”

Mira piped up eagerly.

“Alright, you two. I’ll get something for us before that storm reaches the bay.”

She replied fondly. Rising to her full height, she nuzzles her daughter once more before embarking on her task. Perhaps she would have done more, if she knew what awaited her upon her return…

            Out she went into the wilderness, seeking the delicious venison that they all enjoyed. But, while she hunted, an unexpected visitor came to their home, unbeknownst to Delilah. The role this visitor will play is equally damnable to that of the other. Had they any sense or compassion in them, the annals of time would not have condemned them for what they made 

            After finding what she sought, Delilah returned, having just outrun the storm. Finding the cave dark and quiet, she walks in, curious, and calls out with her prey in her jaws.

“Hey! Who extinguished the fire? It’s freezing out there, you know!”

As she walked further in, she saw a light from deeper in the cave. Figuring that her family had just moved further in, she walked right into the next chamber.

“Hey, I got dinner! Pre seared, just the way you….you….”

She stopped when she finally paid attention to her surroundings. There was Ogden, sitting by a smaller fire. But what was that in his jaws? Why, it was none other than his own daughter. She was in a state of partial dismemberment, her forearm missing and her hindlegs equally gone. Delilah just stood in shocked horror, dropping the deer from her maw.

“Wh……….What?......What are you doing?!.....How?...........Could you…..”

“Oh, you’re home already? I thought you would be out longer.”

Ogden replied in a calm and nearly mocking tone. He let Mira’s dismembered form fall from his parted jaws. Seeing her child like this elicited a cry of shock and grief from Delilah

“WHY!? How could you do this?!”

“Consider this a separation gift. I no longer love you, for I have found someone else. A bride more fitting of my divine appearance.”

“But….but….We were happy, weren’t we?”

“Bah! If you can call sheer boredom happiness. I was just silently suffering with you, waiting to find someone more…exotic.”

“Wha…what in the name of Inferneum[3] does that mean?!”

Before Ogden could offer any explanation, Delilah was set upon by the very harlot that Ogden’s very vanity and lust attracted. She was hiding on the ceiling the entire time, like the creeping wretch she was. A demented lizard, unfit of the proud, virtuous title of dragon. A scuffle ensued among them, Ogden and the harlot seeking to slay Delilah, so that their union could stand, uncontested. However, Delilah wrest herself free, gathering up what was left of her child and escaping into the cover of the storm. Unwilling to pursue her into the hellish layers of lightning and hail, they allowed her to escape.

            Hours later, after restless flight, Delilah finally lost the strength to fly. She collapsed to the ground, a great distance from her former home. She was no longer in the beautiful and welcoming Tethys Bay. She had passed beyond the great forest and landed in the Bonelands, where the land was but rock and dust, where only vile eaters of carrion could survive. She lay there, helplessly grieving all that she lost. Her home, gone. Her family destroyed in a moment. However, her mourning sobs were interrupted by a small, familiar voice.

“Mmm….mother…”

The voice weakly called. To Delilah’s utter surprise and horror, Mirabella still lived. Somehow, perhaps by some cruel trick of the Divines, her daughter still lived, in her rent and ruined state. Lived as she did, however, she was still hopelessly doomed to meet Death.”

“Mira? Mira!”

“Mother…..”

“Hush, baby, I’m here…Mother’s here…”

Delilah knew, a sinking feeling in her heart, that she was dying. Mirabella was going to die, and she couldn’t do anything. All she could do was comfort her child up until her last moments in life. Making her daughter as comfortable as she could, she started to sing. Softly, she repeated the lullaby she always sang to her. It was all she could do to comfort Mira.

“Mother…”

“Yes….Yes, I’m here…”

“Mother....I don’t want to go...please...I don’t....”

The life faded from her eyes. Mirabella had passed, leaving Delilah to scream in grief and fury at the heavens. She cursed the Divines, cursed the world, and everyone who lived happily while she was made to suffer. She howled and cried as she coddled her daughter’s lifeless remains.

            Hours more passed, ‘till Delilah finally found the will to bury her beloved. She buried Mira deep, so the denizens of this blighted land would not feast upon her. Upon her grave, she piled boulders high into a makeshift monument. Then, Delilah laid herself down to die. With all lost, and no hope in her broken spirit, she fully intended to wait, so she could be with her daughter again.

However, Death had other plans, rather than to take Delilah. For once again, she was roused by a voice. Not her daughter this time. No, this voice was male, and carried concern, as well as curiosity.

“Hmmmm? What’s this? Why the sad demeanor, my dear?”

Delilah looked up, seeing the speaker. The voice belonged to a form she had never seen before. It had a beak, yet it had teeth, arranged into a twisted grin. Its body was serpentine, without legs, and yet, it had wings, and plumage running the length of its body. Perhaps most disturbing was the fact that its eyes were of no common color. The eyes of this being were black as volcanic glass, with irises as red as life blood. If she had not already lost her will to live, Delilah would have been frightened. However, with her very being, crushed by her voluminous loss, she felt nothing but a hope that this creature might take her life. Standing, she addressed the creature with a blank and depressed existence, her voice hoarse from her unheard cries.

“Why the sad demeanor?...Heh…First the Gods made me to suffer, then they insult me by sending a demon to casually ask why I might be sad…”

“I assure you, my dear, I am no demon. I am but a traveler, one who cannot ignore a being in distress.” 

“Well, either kill me or leave me. My time here is done, and I am done in my futile perseverance as a mortal.”

“My, my, there’s no need for that. Why don’t you just start from the beginning. Perhaps I can convince you out of your forfeit of life.”

            Seeing no reason to decline, Delilah relayed her tale of woe to the serpent. The serpent listened, with a face of sympathy. At the end, he finally spoke. 

“Well, that is tragic. I am so sorry.”

“Now do you understand why I wish to die? If you truly feel sympathy for me, you will smite me where I stand, and let me rejoin my daughter in the next life.”

            The serpent paused, seemingly contemplating the request. Then, he smiled. He bore a twisted and wicked smile, one that promised no good.

“Perhaps I could do better than that? You are a dragon, no? A creature of awesome power and great pride, yes? Do you not seek revenge? To avenge your daughter, so she may sleep peacefully in the afterlife?”

“How? I am but one dragon. A helpless female for whom none care for. Any who hear the tale will simply agree with the aggressor, as that is our way. When a new coupling is made by the male, the prior family is considered an insult.”

“Oh, my dear, I can give you the power you seek. The power to take revenge, to cast down those who would look on and remain idle. The power to break the traditions that sought to break you. Come with me, and I will teach you the ways of Death. How to bring the living to heel and speak for the nameless innocents, slain and forgotten by time. What do you say?”

            Delilah considered this offer. She thought of how she trusted Ogden, thinking how he might have cared for her and her child. She remembered the pain of having to helplessly watch her daughter die in her arms, begging not to go. She remembered everyone who had wronged her, how there was no sympathy for her at any point in life. Even her own parents had thrown her to the wolves, and none cared if she lived or died. Her blood boiled at the thought that Ogden and his new consort premediated this, that they might be happy with themselves after mercilessly slaying a baby. Her baby. She knew the serpent was a dark being with an ulterior motive, but what choice did she have? She had nothing left to lose. Live or die, she didn’t care anymore. With her heart filled with anger and grief, she replies.

“I…..Accept….”

[1] Flunsers were a species of Ferrosian ferret known for their rich coats and long bodies. By this estimation, her wingspan was about 80ft.

[2] . Beaugalli is a general term for songbirds known for their exquisite plumage. Today, we might just call them birds of paradise.

[3] Inferneum was that dragon culture’s version of hell.