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The night god.
He was someone that every nocturnal fae in the Briar Valley knew about, no matter how young or old. He held dominion over the night, the moon, the stars, and was rumored to dream walk quite often to help guide fae.
He was someone that Lilia had seen enter his dreams many times during the human-fae war. The god never stayed for long, only appeared long enough to banish nightmares, console and advise him before leaving.
Lilia had never seen the god’s face, despite how many times the strangely young-seeming and sounding god had curled up beside him, sometimes in his lap, and hugged him tight while he cried. The god’s face was always obscured by a strange but beautiful mix of aurora and ethereal colors, acting as a makeshift veil over the god’s face.
Lilia never minded though, even as a war general who had been a firm believer in the idea of fact over faith, truth over suspicion, prioritizing the war over worship, he still found it an honor to be so consistently visited by the god.
Perhaps it was the dreams that had made Lilia such a firm believer in the night god, what convinced him to spend so much of what little free time he had praying to the night god, even when no verbal answer was given. Lilia had also once left some of the voles he’d caught on a makeshift altar as an offering before a tough mission.
The mission had surprisingly gone off without any issues despite the mass amounts of risks, and Lilia considered the oddity explained when he came back to the makeshift altar and saw that the voles he left were gone with a small note that simply said ‘appreciated’ in ethereal ink. After that, Lilia would often leave small offerings for the god. He could never offer much given the state of Briar Valley, but no matter what he offered, the god always took it. Lilia also figured out that the god had a fondness for mushrooms and thus made it a habit to grab some whenever he saw edible ones on missions and offer them to the god.
Lilia had also realized that he started subconsciously tracing constellations, the ones the night god had said were his favorites, on his leg or the table during meetings. He found himself engraving one into the handle of his claymore, tracing the engraving before every battle no matter how small as a comfort.
He had devoted enough of himself to the god that even Maleanor had jokingly suggested someone had hypnotized him to believe in the god that Lilia had so vehemently denied caring about before. Lilia had retorted with a comment about how no one was bold enough to try. And while Lilia hadn’t voiced it, he was sure that if someone had tried to hypnotize him then the night god would have stepped in or undone the spell.
But that was during the human-fae war.
And no one had seen or heard from the night god since then.
Some suggested that they had somehow offended the night god and he had in turn turned his back on them. Some thought that the other gods had forbidden direct interaction with mortals.
While some had thought that the humans had somehow managed to kill him. It sounded absurd at first. Humans? Killing a god? Until people remembered that a lowly human had managed to take down the fae princess, a dragon, in a one on one fight.
Lilia would admit that had believed that theory. After all, why else would his god abandon him?
So, when he came across a young human in the forest, the forest where he had repaired an abandoned cottage to call home, his first instinct was to kill it, even though the war had long since ended.
But then the human with hair as silver as the moon had looked up at him with such confusion and innocence in wide aurora eyes. It had been then that Lilia had lowered his weapon and demanded to know what the child was doing out this far from any village, human or fae.
The child had responded with a timid ‘I don’t know’. When Lilia demanded to know how the child didn’t know – were humans really this dumb? – the young human had explained that he couldn’t remember anything. That he had just woken up in the forest with no memories and started wandering.
Lilia didn’t know why, perhaps it was because he had raised Malleus, perhaps it was because the child had the same moonshine-silver hair as the night god that Lilia so dearly missed, but he had chosen to take the child in until Lilia could find his family.
Lilia had spent two years looking, and between never finding any leads, the human child who Lilia had named Silver growing quite attached to him, to the point that the boy would cling to him for hours if Lilia was away to long, and how Lilia and even Malleus felt a growing fondness for the human boy, Lilia had stopped looking. Lilia had officially, with permission and acceptance from the queen, adopted Silver.
And if Silver’s biological parents ever somehow found him, wanted Silver back when they had clearly been the ones to abandon him, they would have to fight Lilia tooth and nail to get Silver back. And quite possibly have to fight Silver to, as the young boy had once hissed at a stranger for trying to give him a head pat.
And that was how he ended up here, in Night Raven College, specifically the Diasomnia lounge.
Lilia was just scrolling on his phone, a bit unwilling to admit he was bored with Sebek and Silver out for training and Malleus out gargoyle watching. Lilia paused when he scrolled passed a theory article labeled ‘Where Is The Night God?’.
Lilia would admit he was easily drawn in about such things. And perhaps got unreasonably annoyed if the article or any sort of post slandered the god.
His curiosity once again got the better of him and he clicked it, scrolling through it. He saw nothing out of the ordinary, just the usual theories on what had happened to the god…
Unit he reached the bottom, where a theory he hadn’t heard was written out.
“There is one last little known theory. Gods are able to take on mortal forms and are known to do so if injured, one has even been known to force himself into believing he was actually a mortal in order to recover. And the night god disappeared during the human-fae war, when his people were being killed off, and he was rumored to be a young god with a pure heart.
So, perhaps the night god couldn’t handle the war anymore when the princess was killed and forced himself into a mortal body without memories. And the night god was rumored to be young.
So, what if his form became that of a small child-“
Lilia slammed his phone down, his chest rising and falling unsteadily with uneven breaths.
He never would have thought about that, but now that someone had suggested it, it made too much sense.
Especially given how similar Silver was to the night god.
The night god adored mushrooms, especially mushroom risotto specifically.
So did Silver.
The night god had silvery shining hair that seemed to reflect moonlight itself.
So did Silver.
The night god was absurdly kind, to the point that the only time Lilia had seen the god upset during dreams was when Lilia had a nightmare about one of the largest battles of the human-fae war.
Silver was also absurdly kind.
The night god was quiet, had this air of calmness and peace around him at all times despite the state of the Briar Valley.
So did Silver.
And to add some more fuel to the fire that was now going off in Lilia’s brain, Silver’s unique magic allowed him to walk in dreams. Lilia couldn’t count the number of times Silver had appeared in his dreams, sometimes during nightmares and comforted him, curled up into his side while the two sat in comfortable silence until the morning.
Just like the night god.
~*-----------------------------*~
Okay, so, Lilia would admit that this was one of the many times he was acting without thinking. He did more research into the theory and proof of it.
Apparently it was thought that the night god would remember and regain his powers on his sixteenth birthday. Silver was currently seventeen.
Meaning, theoretically, if the theory was true and Lilia’s hasty assumptions were correct, if Lilia were to summon the night god, Silver might appear in place of him.
Lilia fished out the matches he had brought to light the ceremonial candles he had put around his room, only to pause. What if he was wrong? What if the night god wasn’t back? What if he wasn’t Silver?
It felt like Lilia would be losing the night god all over again if that was the case.
But what Silver was the night god?
Lilia didn’t know how to react to that. Because, on one hand, Silver would have been willingly hiding that from him for over a year now. And on the other hand, that would mean that he’s been raising his god, his friend.
Sure, even before the night god had disappeared, Lilia had assumed that the night god was young. Saw him a bit like a child. But he was still so clearly a god. There was a clear line between (Lilia’s) child and a god.
If Silver was the night god then that line was thoroughly run over a horse, five elephants, a hurricane, a tornado, and quite possibly a dragon.
Lilia shook his head. He needed to focus. Just… Do it. Go through with the summoning, and he can deal with the repercussions afterwards.
Lilia lit the match in his hand and carefully lit each candle and closed his eyes, pressing his hands together in a prayer. He had done this many times before when making offerings to the night god. And the movements felt familiar because the night god had once told Lilia how to summon him should Lilia ever need him outside of the dream realm.
After a moment, when Lilia was about to give up and assume he’d been foolish, a cold wind passed over him and he heard the candles flicker out.
Opening his eyes, the familiar sight of the night god stared back at him, only his face wasn’t obscured by that familiar ethereal and aurora veil, no, clear as day – ironically – was the face of a child. His child. Dressed in a replica of the shooting star outfits.
Understandable given that the outfits were based off him in the first place.
White, star like freckles covered his cheeks and nose, and the skin on his lower arms bled from the natural pale skin tone to ethereal. That explained why Silver had stopped taking off his gloves around people and had concealer and foundation makeup in his room.
“Silver?” Lilia asked in shock, trying to wrap his head around what he was seeing.
The night god, his former friend, who he had thought died during the human-fae war, was Silver. His son. His precious son that he’d been raising for the last thirteen years.
Silver smiled softly. “Hi father…” Silver said, giving a shy wave. Lilia could only stare at the god in shock. “I’m guessing you have a lot of questions?” Silver asked.
“I- you- you’re.” Lilia said, stuttering slightly. Yes, he had a lot of questions, but the words got stuck in his throat.
Silver chuckled slightly, the sound so familiar for multiple reasons now. “It’s okay, take your time, I’m not going anywhere.” Silver said.
So many questions ran through Lilia’s mind.
How? Why? When? Did Silver remember everything or only being the night god and not the specifics? Had Silver truly remembered since his sixteenth birthday? What was going to happen now?
But one question was at the forefront of his mind.
“Why didn’t you tell me when you first remembered?” Lilia asked, hurt tinging his voice.
Silver looked down, seeming guilty. “I didn’t want anything in our relationship to change… I know it sounds selfish, but while I enjoyed spending time with you during the human-fae war, I hated how me being a god forced distance between us… So, I didn’t tell you because I wanted to keep our relationship as it was, father and son, not god and worshipper.” Silver said softly, guiltily.
Lilia’s gaze softened with affection.
Oh, this sweet, sweet boy. Perhaps Lilia should have told him during the human-fae war that he saw the god as his own, saw him as child. But the very thing Silver had kept secret was what caused Lilia to avoid doing so, the knowledge that Silver was a god.
But even being a god couldn’t erase what they had been through the last thirteen years. How Silver had cuddled close to him on rainy nights, how Lilia comforted him after nightmares, how Lilia taught him to wield a sword, how Lilia brought him back to the cottage when he had tried to run away, how Lilia watched him and Malleus play and train from dawn to dusk when it was allowed.
Lilia gently cupped Silver’s face in his hand, tilting Silver’s head back up to look at him properly. A part of Lilia thought it was wrong, a small and very much ignored part, but when Silver looked at him Lilia didn’t see a powerful god, the one that had helped him fight through a war. No. Lilia saw his son. So sweet and kind.
“Nothing, not even this-“ Lilia gestured to Silver’s outfit and godly features “Can change the fact that you’re my son.” Lilia said, kissing Silver’s forehead.
Tears pooled in Silver’s eyes and he hugged Lilia tight, burying his face in the fae’s chest. Lilia smiled softly, wrapping his arms around his son and resting his chin on Silver’s head. Just as he used to do during dreams where Silver would comfort him. Only now their roles were reversed.
And if that night, the two clung to each other in sleep, reminiscing of old times in the dream realm, then that was for the father and son to know.