One swims in the syrup. One breathes it in through all the minutes and the hours and the days. The days turn into weeks and the weeks turn into years and the syrup turns to death.
I have been dead for many years.
She is the seed, the sapling, the flowering plant, the leafless husk.
Sarah died. Emma disappeared. Everyone leaves. Everyone goes away.
She won’t. She will stay. Forever.
The water rises, snapping the strings and clearing the fog. She does not hear him. She does not feel him. She is free.
She is Shannon, she is Bella, she is Jason.
She is Seth.
Fire cleanses.
Fire purifies.
Fire kills.
In the Valley of the Sun 
Stunning.
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Thank you!
I was worried that people might not be too happy with how it turned out – I deleted so many words. The wordcount was nearly 400 at one point. But well – this was all that needed to be said.
And it took a while, I know. And so I’m worried that people will be like “More than a month for this?” but I had a lot of emotional demons to conquer. But I conquered them. I won. 🙂
Thank you so incredibly much.
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Oh it was really beautiful. I loved the pictures of her stepping back from the fire, turning into everyone.
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Lilith! I can’t believe that she came through, although I’m not sure if it was a good or a bad thing now.
Amazing chapter, especially the fire sequence photos!
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It really couldn’t have ended any other way, I think. Live by the fire, die by the fire. 🙂 I think Seth always knew that Lilith was his angel of death.
Thank you!
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I love the photos of Shannon’s, Bella’s, and Jason’s ghosts overlapping Lilith. Very clever!
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Thank you! 🙂 I did want them to have the fire growing in each one but that proved pretty much impossible to shoot. But I’m still happy with the compromise I found between my vision and what was possible in the game.
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Beautiful. Fabulous. Simple prose; all you need. Great images.
Well done, it’s been worth waiting for.
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Thank you! 🙂 Yay happiness!
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Wonderful! I read this last night, but was too tired to comment coherently, so here I am again.
You really put in a lot of effort into the little details in this one–Lilith standing in for other people to get justice for them. I like the idea that she even comes to represent Seth because she is trying to cleanse and purify with fire–but she sees what he didn’t–namely that you can’t have something pure when you have to do something evil to keep it. Seth’s continuing life wasn’t pure because he had to take something that didn’t belong to him to keep it.
At least, that’s how I’m reading this. Feel free to correct my interpretation. 🙂
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I wouldn’t presume to correct anyone else’s interpretation. 🙂 There’s all sorts of interpretations, I think. I know I found a new one every week there for a while.
I do have a personal one that I will share in a sort of recap/summing up/processing the story post later.
Thank you so much for being there and for being supportive and for being my friend.
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Oh, this was so worth the wait. It is absolutely mindblowing in its simplicity and incredible beautiful. I feel justice has been done.
I like the title: fire and water, Seth and Lilith, but the images in the end are reversed. He toys with the water and she kindles the fire.
One thing I don’t understand. He is scooping the little deathfish out of the bowl. Did it fall back in there because the flames caught Seth or…
Thank you so much for this story! 🙂
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Thank you!
And yes – I wanted the lines between Lilith and Seth to blur in this one.
Hmm. We are going to say that the fire interrupted him in the act of scooping the fish out and he dropped the scooper thing and turned around.
Thank you so much for all of your wonderful comments. You’re such a kind person, and I admit I wish I could be more like you. 🙂
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Eloquent. I echo what Rachel said about Lilith standing in for those who died and bringing justice! You must have put hours into those images, and they are really powerful.
I like that you came back to the chair where Lilith read the diary. Nice touch to see that licked by flames, too.
Seth looks slightly surprised by what is happening. I guess he didn’t really expect to finally sink into the flaming syrup.
~applause~
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Thank you so very much! 🙂 I’ve loved all of your comments, always so wonderfully well-written and insightful.
Actually those pics didn’t take more than two hours or so at the most. My original vision of them was more intricate than turned out to be feasible. I wanted the fire to be growing in each one, but yeah – not really possible.
But I like how it came out anyway. 🙂
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LOOK WHO’S ALIVE. BB was missing you.
This is really excellent. As per usual. WAY TO IGNORE THE HATERS.
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I miss you too. 🙂 I’m still posting at Valley Sun Sims if you want to come hang out there. 🙂
Thank you! And I did indeed win, didn’t I? 🙂
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Ack, I need to check my google reader more!
I feel sorry for Seth. I am more than convinced that he does everything he does out of pure loneliness. From the early chapters we saw, we know that he wasn’t always like he is now.
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I am going to continue and finish Ten, which I think will explain a lot about Seth. And oh yes, he is very lonely and he certainly was different when he was younger – teen Seth music has a very different feel to it than Valley proper Seth music.
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Loved the photos with Shannon, Bella, and Jason, very well done! Fantastic update as always, I love it! Just amazing, you’re very talented!
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I love how Lilith is empowered by those she has lost. I’m so sad to see that the next chapter is the end 😦
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I’m proud of those pictures. 🙂 And yeah, that was the whole idea – that she found love, and she used it to overcome Seth’s emptiness.
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So is Lilith imagining things? Is this really happening? Did she snap or something? Why does Seth want to kill her? If he’s discovered the secret… that is… and what did Sarah know? What did she know and she didn’t want to tell him? Does Lilith know? Is Seth simply psychotic and thinks she has some information for him on ambrosia or how to live forever or something? I know you didn’t mention Sarah in this chapter but I was wondering. The pictures are phenomenal.
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Yeah, I did go really abstract here at the end. Eh, it was a learning experience.
It is really happening. Sarah knew how to make ambrosia, and wouldn’t tell Seth. Seth figured it out. Eventually. In my creative license with the recipe, he needs one more life fruit to make it. And he gets life fruit by killing people. So Lilith could die, he gets the life fruit, he makes the ambrosia, he brings Lilith back with it, he thinks that bringing Lilith back will somehow make up for killing Sarah, because this one he can kill and then bring back. Dude is not very with reality here. 😉
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Seems very disconnected with reality, but thank you. This made sense.
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Well, you know, reality and me….we don’t get along too well. 😉
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