[RP] Thorns and Daggers

[Mariana Xiechai]

An Excerpt from Evirea's Diary

I’m playing chess with a demon.

Not literally of course. Breaking out the old board with a potentially millennia-old entity feels like pre-emptively admitting defeat. He probably played chess with the guy who invented it. And won.

Still, holding a gambit against someone like him doesn’t seem like one of the brightest things I’ve ever done. To be fair, I’ve done a lot of not bright things. Oh sure, they’ve been clever, but on that scale between still being alive and a one-way shot down the throat of a burial well, they’ve veered towards the latter.

If it was just me, I’d question it less. I gamble my own life a lot. But I’m not some lonesome bachelorette anymore. I have a husband. I have a daughter. I have a lot of friends who would probably try throwing themselves down the blasted well after me. I have to stay alive, but more than that. I’ve got to cover my pawns, too.

Actually, I feel like pawns is too demeaning a word. Pawns doesn’t cover Prreta or Celroc. It certainly doesn’t cover Allena. The former two are sitting next to me as we spout crazy ideas to save our mutually favorite nolthrir. We’re literally inside of her head, speaking to the demon inhabiting her. Speaking to Vallar, whose poker face is better than mine.

I hate that his poker face is better than mine.

The conversation keeps going and the back of my head is ringing. I suggest we filter memories of pain into him. He’s stated before he feeds on that. But apparently passing through one body to the next would dilute such a thing, which I guess makes sense. We bandy other ideas. We come close to bickering, all of us tense and agitated. A life is on the line, after all. A life we care about.

I don’t know if saving a friend is all that selfless. Aren’t you just trying to save a part of yourself, too?

When Prreta finally makes her offer, a part of me roars protest. She wants to take the crystal energies lodged inside of her bracelet and pour them into Allena. It will heal her, the demon says. It will heal the wound that keeps opening and opening and bleeding her dry. Once the vile enchantment in her flesh is seared away, she’ll be able to recover. To survive.

Well, after she gets shipped to the death realm. And after Prreta potentially burns herself to death. After all, that bracelet was made to protect her from crystal energies. She could wind up more fried than one of Zalya’s late-night carp delights. 

We break the conversation. We go back and console Allena. She just learned she has two demons warring for control inside of her skull, after all. And here we are, potentially strengthening the one we think might be benevolent. The one we think might help drive that bastard Rigwyn summoned out of the poor kid’s body.

Gods damned Bazaal. Literally gods-damned Bazaal. Two of the people I care about most are about to embark on a seriously risky surgery that could leave one, if not both, forever maimed. Or worse. Forever horizontal and cold as ice.

It’s days like this I wonder why I gave up drinking.

[Prreta]

Prreta raced around the corner of the fountain, skirt held lifted slightly in the front and train hissing across the cobbles behind her, searching. She stopped and her face fell on seeing Anysu lean in and whisper to Celroc. She had hoped to find her husband alone but had to admit that he knew as many or more people than she did herself so the chance of that was slim.

    Celroc looked up, detected her expression immediately, and said worriedly "Prreta? Is something wrong?"

    Prreta offered Anysu a terse smile and turned troubled eyes to Celroc, saying "Yes. And also, it's time"

    "Time?" he asked as he held out his arms to her, offering a hug. "What's wrong, Love? You seem really troubled. Please, tell me what's bothering you."

    Prreta hugged her arms to her chest and stepped up to rest against Celroc, inviting him to enfold her in his strong arms as she said, "I've had a terrible day and really need to talk. but it's time for..." she lifts her right paw to rattle her fiercely glowing bracelet.

    "Did you need your bracelet drained?" asked Anysu.

    Prreta shook her head to the larger Bilkau, and feeling quite proud of herself she said, "I have finally learned enough to be able to drain it myself."

    "That is good to hear Prreta. Without hurting yourself?"

    She forced a convincing grin and said "Mostly. I'm getting better at it". She hoped that she was “better” enough to handle it today. It was critical.

   She reached for Celroc's paw and struggled to keep her doubts under control as she said “We'll see you later, ok Anysu?” Then they raced toward the Pterosaur.

    The ride from Hydlaa to Amdeneir seemed to take forever. Glancing down at her bracelet for the thousandth time she thought about how much energy it had absorbed - for weeks now she had been putting herself in the way of every sloppily cast crystal way spell she could until finally the bracelet could contain no more and the energy had burned her delicate skin. She sighed wistfully - maybe SOME day she'd stop being sensitive to Crystal energy but...well, no good worrying about that now.  She reminded herself that since she barely qualified as a master the worst she could probably do was blow up Evirea's Guildhouse...and everyone in it. No Pressure.

    The azure afternoon light glinted from Evirea's scales and Prreta admired how it set the orange tint of her wings afire. The  two Enki slowed to a stop in front of her where she waited by her Guildhouse door.
    "Sorry we're a little late", said Celroc.
    "Not late. Allena's not here. Probably still talking to Caraick, actually. Saw him with her. You two can head inside if you wish. I'm waiting out here for her to arrive."

     Finding a comfortable place amidst the pillows and carpets on the floor, Prreta and Celroc chatted and she tried to calm herself until the door opened again. Suddenly she was all nerves.

    "Have you told her?” she asked in a trembling voice.

    Evirea shook her head. "I thought it best she hear it from all of us. Namely, you. You're playing the pivotal role this time, Prreta. We're following your lead." Then she glanced behind her and gestured for Allena to come closer.

    Prreta shifted from leaning against Celroc to sitting upright, closed her eyes and took several deep, slow breaths as she marshaled her courage. She was definitely not looking forward to this part but it had to be done. It had to. And strangely fate had decreed it her lot....no, that was a lie. Fate had decreed nothing, but having found this kindred soul in Allena, she didn't want to entrust it to anyone else.

    Allena forced a half smile "That bad, huh? Well you have seen my memory of MY first Patient. I can take this"

    Prreta silently recited an Azure Way focusing exercise, then opened her eyes and said as confidently as she could. "There is a plan, Allena. You have two..." she paused realizing that she didn't know if Evirea still wanted to protect the unfortunate girl from the terrifying knowledge.

    The Klryos turned to face Allena and said bluntly, "Demons. There are two demons fighting for control right now, in you. One of them appears to be benign." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a sheet of paper upon which she'd sketched a rough relief of Vallar's face. "The other is the one Rigwyn summoned. Bazaal."

    Prreta chewed her lip as Allena studied the picture with tears rolling down her cheeks. After the poor girl had taken a moment to adjust to the thought she picked up where she'd stopped "...demons. The benign one, Vallar, says that Bazaal is the cause of your wound getting worse despite everyone's best efforts. If it's not healed, we'll lose you, Allena. Forever. He has proposed a way that may heal it."

    She paused for a moment, not relishing what she must say...or do, then finally sighed deeply and continued. "It involves a huge amount of crystal energy being poured into you. And there's a risk. That it might be too much." As she talked she slipped the stone encrusted bracelet from her right arm and laid it on a pillow next to her. Even in the hall's brightly lit interior its brilliant glow is almost painful to look at. "I've gathered about what three or four Crystal Masters might cast in a day."

    She glanced to Evirea and saw a look of hopelessness wash over the femros' face for just an instant and doubted herself...what if...?. Then Celroc's paw came to rest gently on her shoulder, and she was glad for his reassuring presence behind her. He was such a comfort. More than anyone else he made her want to be better than she was - kinder, gentler, and more honest and open. All the things she struggled most with.

    The Nolthrir girl flicked away a tear running down her face and coughed lightly "It is a lot different being on the other side of this talk," Then she forced a smile.

    Prreta felt a terrible sinking feeling in her chest as Evirea stepped forward and wrapped an arm around the girl and one wing around her. "We're going to be right by your side through all of this. No matter what happens, that's where we'll be."

    "I'm sorry, have I said something...bad?” Prreta asked as she looked between Evirea and Allena. Doubts flooded her...had she already made a mess before even starting the procedure?? Could she do this without killing them all?

    "She means being the patient, hearing she might not survive a treatment."

    Prreta nodded mutely, trying to reassure herself that it would be OK. Taking a deep, shaking breath she started to silently recite her calming exercise, then Celroc began to rub her back lightly, offering comfort and encouragement. "You can do this." it said. "I believe in you"

    "You take care of these ladies, hmm?" said Allena to Celroc. "I'll haunt you if you don't," she said with a grin. Still trying to relieve the tension when she was the one who had the most right to be afraid!

    Evirea murmurs, "If after the treatment your body vanishes into the Realm, I intend to follow you. I think, Prreta, you should remain here. You'll be exhausted upon completing this procedure. Celroc will have to take care of you."

    “No!” Prreta thought “I want to be there!” She looked up sharply at Evirea and got out "But..." before the femros held up a hand to forestall further argument. "If by the end of it you feel well enough, fine. If not, I think you agree it's best. You'll do her no good if you're already incapacitated once you get to the Realm."

    She was right. As usual. As Prreta nodded her head in acquiescence, Allena said "Thank you. I am sorry our time was so short together. Maybe if I wasn't so foolish..."
    Prreta felt her heart sink to the pit of her stomach which threatened to rebel at its weight. It was bad enough that she doubted herself, but Allena? The conversation receded into the background and she barely heard it for the roaring in her ears...
    Celroc's voice registered distantly, "Allena, please... don't say it like you're going to truly die. You-- You're going to be just fine, alright? All three of us will be watching over you to make sure nothing goes wrong"

    Then Evirea spoke up, "Now see here. There's a risk you might die, yes. But it's still a procedure. The point is to SAVE your life, Allena, and odds are you will pull through this. I don't think for a moment you'll die. I think you're FAR too stubborn for that."
 Allena took a deep, shaking breath and turned her head to the femros. "Evirea. Oh Evirea. I have been looking for these words for a long time, but everything just seems so inadequate. I am sorry. And thank you. If you could... If you could find the Snitch and tell her.... Oh, she knows" and looks down, biting her lip.
    Prreta looked down again at the gleaming bracelet, wondering if they'd approve if they knew what she was going to do. Wondering if they'd believe in her at all. In fact, she wondered if she believed in herself really...or was this shear selfishness? Did she want so badly to own Allena's love that she'd destroy the girl?
    Evirea brushed the girl's hair gently with her fingers, looking so tender and motherly that Prreta's breath caught in her own throat, then kissed the top of the girl's head and said in a determined tone, "You said you needed to know how much? Since Crystal magics harm her as they do you, you should just steadily pour it directly into the wound. We're still just trying to cure her, that's the point. Yes, it will likely send her to the Realm. But that doesn't change. We're purging that wound."

    Evirea's determined tone dragged her back from self doubt and into the moment like a slap. Only gentler. More encouraging. She so wanted the femros' approval and trust as a – dared she even think it? An equal. Or at least something more than the child she felt like.

"A stream,” Prreta confirmed, “not a burst. Ok, Just...second guessing myself is all.”
    She gestured to the furs in front of her and tried to sound confident, clinical, like she'd heard real healers sound, "Allena, if you want to join us? And also...you haven't yet said you agree to this plan. I won't do it against your will"

    Allena shrugged and as she moved to the furs she said "I mean, if trusting a demon in my head that I don't even know doesn't sound crazy, I don't know what is, but sometimes crazy is what needs to happen."

    "Don't worry. Everything will be alright." Celroc said in his calm, quiet voice.

    Prreta said "The reassuring thing is that he has to live in there too. In your head. He has no desire to die either."

    The fenki sighed heavily then hesitantly reached her paw toward the bracelet with a sense of foreboding.

    As she held the glowing bracelet up before her eyes she explained "What I'll do is pull out as much crystal energy as I can and direct into a sot of energy void. It will be giving off all kinds of...” she struggled to describe it even to herself. It wasn't the energy itself, but just the part that made it visible, brilliant. Even that however burned when it was strong enough.
“...radiance.” she finally said. Yes, that was the word she wanted.
“Then I'll surround it a few inches away by a shield of dark energy to protect us; you and me. It'll look pretty frightening as the crystal energy's radiance impacts the shield." she glances at Evirea and says "this is what Sacho thought could sustain me..."

    "Prreta, you're sure you can do this without harming yourself, right?" came the warm but concerned voice of her husband. She felt that doubt rising again, but quickly swallowed it down and turning a terse smile toward him she said as matter-of-factly as she could, "I can't guarantee that. I've never done this before. But that demon, Bazaal, wants to get out...it's important that not happen"

    Allena's voice suddenly rang out - as cold and objective as Prreta hoped she sounded, "Shall you be restraining me?"

    Prreta felt her eyes well with tears. This poor girl with the beautiful soul and she herself was going to tie her down? She shuddered as the memories of her own past flooded into her thoughts,  images of a dimly lit cellar and a chain, and pain. Endless pain and...

    At that moment she very nearly backed out...but Allena's LIFE depended on her. She couldn't let the girl down. She tried to clamp down on the fear - both past and present, and brushed at tears that just kept trying to escape from her eyes.  She clamped down on those memories hard, locking them away. That was then, not now. Now she had people who loved her, who would give their own lives to protect her. Allena was one of them, and needed her right now! She focused on the Nolthrir and saw a distant, detached look in the girl's eyes. Then she looked up at Evirea, "should we?"

    The klyros grimaced, obviously not relishing the idea either, but answered the girl "It might be best to tie you to one of the beds so you don't thrash around when you're in pain, don't hurt yourself."

    Then Evirea's eyes slid over to Prreta and she felt herself flush under the femros' scrutiny. "There is risk that she'll burn herself again, but we can heal her once more if that happens. I'm fairly certain it won't be as...as difficult as it was before."

    The last time she'd been burned by Crystal she'd been lucky that the Dark Lady claimed her no more than seconds before her soul was completely destroyed. That experience had changed her, left her ravenous for pain, flesh and blood of prey. She shuddered as a part of her thrilled to the memory.

    Evirea retrieved a pair of earthen handcuffs big enough to hold Allena's wrists without hurting them, and a length of rope. "I'd make a joke, but now seems inappropriate."

    "Don't worry, humor is the best way to fight this mood. Everyone is so serious" said Allena with a smirk as she laid down on her back.

    As Prreta accepted the rope from Evirea, she had visions once again of being bound, helpless ...and could no longer stop the tears. She felt them tickling the fur of her cheeks to drip from her chin. She wanted to throw down the rope, burn it even; wrap Allena in a hug and tell her it would all be OK...but that wouldn't make her well.

    Everything would not be OK.This had to be done. She gritted her teeth, used every Azure trick she knew to force the terrifying memories down, and said "Forgive me Sister" as she willed her fingers to tie Allena's arm and leg to the bed.

    "Always", came the quick response.

    Celroc tried again to lighten the mood by joking, "Ah, the bond between twins..."

    Twins? Yes. Twin souls. Never before had she met a soul so like her own. She had thought she was unique and it was so lonely. With Allena here she wasn't unique, wasn't alone. The girl HAD to live, and for a long time!
Once more Prreta felt Celroc's reassuring presence behind her - quiet, calm and strong. Once more she called on her Azure training to focus her mind and put aside her emotions. For her that was the hardest part - the stilling of emotions...but she did it.
    Evirea took the rope from Prreta's outstretched paw. She tied it dutifully and gave it a tug to ensure it was securely fastened. Then she clasped the handcuffs around Allena's wrists. She flicked her hand and the wood of the headboard swallowed the chain, to hold the girls arms and minimize her flailing. "You're going to make it out of this, Allena. We'll see to that. I promise."

As the others made a final attempt at levity, Prreta took deep calming breaths and tried to convince herself that she could do this...that this was no different than the times she'd practiced in the glade with Sacho. The thought that the amount of energy she'd be harnessing today was a hundred times more than anything she'd done before tried to intrude on her building calm but she felt it and shut the thought out.

    At last Prreta felt centered. Calm.  She raised the bracelet above Allena with one paw, closed her eyes and began to summon Dark energy. The Dark power grew,  dancing within her. It became heavier, more visceral, and somehow more alive and she felt the familiar song in her soul at its presence. She loved this part.

    After savoring the power for a moment, she reached out with her mind and removed the energy from the space around her paw and bracelet, to form a void - a hole in the air with only the faintest visible disturbance. She heard the sound of a breath suddenly taken, trembling, but in her emotionless place she discarded it as irrelevant.

    Prreta opened her eyes, looked at the Nolthrir bound and helpless on the bed and felt...nothing. Finally she had battled the emotions down and was ready. "Do you want me to proceed, Allena?"

    The girl remained silent, eyes squeezed closed and only barely nodded. It was enough.

    She felt the room receding as she intensified her focus on the spell to come. When she felt as if her body was a puppet operated from a distance she reached out with her mind and opened the bracelet's reservoir of energy.

    The void suddenly filled with blinding white light. Purple flames erupted from the almost visible sphere of shadow shielding them from that horrible crystal energy. Even from her detached distance Prreta felt it searing her paw and forearm where they passed though the shield and into the center of her captive sun. She knew she was going to lose the paw, but what was that compared to Allena's soul? She accepted the loss and embraced the pain; just as she'd been taught...maybe after this was over she'd accept inclusion in the Azure circle after all.  She recognized that thought as a distraction and put it gently aside to focus on the procedure.

    Black smoke oozed downward to crawl across the bed and fall to the floor. The brilliance of the light, the ominous flames and the stench were terrible even at this distance. She closed her eyes to shut out the distracting sights and willed her ears to not hear the crackle and hiss. Her brow knotted in concentration as she opened a hole in the shield of shadow and directed the energy in the void. A beam of blinding light no broader than the width of the Nolthrir girl's pinky sprang from the bottom of the sphere to strike directly into Allena's wound.

    The bed thumped and jumped as the girl spasmed under the pain.

    Prreta heard Celroc whispering a prayer to Talad. It like everything else seemed very far away. Her eyes drifted open as she reached across that great distance between her mind and her body to speak, in a voice that sounded brittle to her own distant ears, "Evi, can you check the wound please and let me know if we need more ?"

    "On it," the Klyros answered instantly. She lifted the Nolthrir's shirt, to reveal the ragged cut across the girl's chest pouring out blood and a dark vapor. "It's working, Prreta. It's going to get worse before it gets better."

    "P--PRRETA! You're starting to burn! Stop!" Cried Celroc, as the acrid scent of burning fur further tainted the smoky air.

    Prreta closed her eyes against the brilliance of the captive crystal energy and the terrifying flames rising from around it. The pain was beginning to intrude as both energy and flames burned at her flesh, but she re-focused herself, regained that needed distance and increased the amount of energy Allena was receiving.  The Nolthrir convulsed harder, rattling the heavy bed frame, and began whimpering quietly. Prreta felt a sudden thrill run through her as the dark, feral, animal part of her awakened and began to revel in the pain she was inflicting. She had wondered if it would awaken. She found it easier to force it into submission with a quick Azure meditation than she had expected, and that encouraged her.

    She suddenly realized that Allena was not strong enough to survive...then hit upon a strategy. Summoning her Azure energy she reached her mind down into the prone girl, attempting to identify the 'shape' of the darkness trying to fuse with her, then she used a very basic Azure trick to mobilize Allena's own body defenses to fight the darkness and to bolster her strength.

    "Prreta. What are you doing?!” cried Evirea.

    Prreta's awareness drifted closer to her body, to the distracting sounds and scents and pain. She said through gritted teeth "azure...healing...letting her...body...help". Then she let the beam of crystal energy grow in size and strength again.
   
    Even with her eyes closed Prreta sensed the dark presence - seething, powerful and vile - that coalesced around Allena. The girl's cries deepened, becoming low voiced moans.

    As she struggled to re-detach her awareness she heard Evirea let out a cry of alarm and say "These glyphs forming on her skin are the symbols of Bazaal! This is his symbol for everlasting pain. But Vallar said that Bazaal would try to force Allena to cling to life with every fiber of her being. I think he's trying to make us stop so that the wound isn't healed, and Vallar is not empowered. I hope. I pray."

    Prreta sensed the growing power of the darkness rising within Allena and quickly enlarged the beam to engulf the entire wound. Crystal energy poured out of the void, sparking as it burned into the dark power, flickering and flashing about the room like sunlight through a wildly spinning crystal. Where it touched Prreta, small bits of smoke rose from her body and face.

    Allena's screams grew in intensity as the beam became yet more powerful. The wound bubbled and churned as the power that sustained it begins to be consumed, shielding itself with Allena.

    Now with three energies to maintain, and the new distractions of pinprick burns all over her face and body, Prreta felt her control slipping. Desperate to maintain control just a little bit longer she lifted her free paw toward Celroc and choked out "Help me...bear...pain..."

    Celroc seized Prreta's paw in his, squeezing it tightly, and Evirea joined her hand to them. Their presence was comforting, reassuring, as they readily accepted the link to her mind. She shunted her own pain into them and felt a surge of magical strength as she drained those she held most dear.

    She heard Celroc's teeth grit at the sudden pain, and he groaned agonizingly. Evirea wheezed and gurgled inarticulately.

    But it wasn't enough. SHE wasn't enough. While they gave her plenty of themselves, she simply could not convert it fast enough. Her eyes flew open wide as her shell of Shadow failed. Bathed in the radiance of the raw Crystal energy she was overwhelmed with pain, her azure control shattered, and she panicked – realizing she'd failed. Then the void winked out. The remaining crystal energy exploded outward bathing the guildhouse in its crystal wash. Where it touched her she erupted in flames. Her paw was ripped from Celroc and Evirea's clasp and she distantly felt as if she hit something, hard. Then all was pain and darkness.

[Ascomanni]

The Shadows of a Forgotten Past

A small and slender Nolthrir took a swallowing gasp as consciousness struck her. She felt the icy slab of marble beneath her, the smooth silk gown on her skin, and the warm glow of energy washing over her. Slowly the Nolthrir sat upright and opened her eyes to the world around her. She sat on a jagged and cracked slate of white stone that did not take much imagination to see it had once been pristine. The vaguely disc-like structure was worn, weathered, and stained from cycles of neglect.

The dais spun painfully slow in a sea of darkness. No, darkness would be something. This is 
 a void of nothing, she thought with her mouth agape.  The void chilled her to the bone, stretching through and beyond her imagination. It left her feeling empty herself and very, very small. The void was neither without form nor empty. Along with her platform were smaller pieces of the same battered stone and countless cubes with 
 doors? Were those rooms? Where am I?

The strange and unearthly rooms also were churning in the turbulence of this place. The current was too slow to divine the epicenter, it could have been the platform where she was standing or it could have been hundreds of miles away. She had no way of knowing. She spun in a circle on her miniature island yet in every direction the view was the same, yet she could not locate the source of the warm and tender energy she felt.

As she spun, a room kept grabbing her attention. She slowed to a stop and watched it closely. Is it moving faster than the others? She watched accelerate, orbiting the platform faster and faster, moving closer and closer. The Nolthrir spun with the room, keeping her eye on the circling mass. She backed away as it made its approach; her heel gripped the edge of the tiny island. She had nowhere to go. The room slammed into the dais, rocking the foundation. She frantically waved her arms in the air to maintain her balance on the precarious position above the void.

Everything stilled. She took a tentative step forward toward the seemingly plain wooden door. A tingle ran down her spine.  Something inside her was pulling her closer. Her legs of their own accord and she was helpless as she watched as her hand reached out for the door knob. It turned slowing in her grasp. The door popped with a bright and dazzling light the choked away the void, blocking her vision.

The brilliant light diminished and she stood on a plane of white light that also seemed to continue indefinitely. However, unlike the blackness from whence she came, the light felt full and vibrant. Is this the energy I felt earlier? It feels different somehow. She spun to examine her uniform surroundings. She was not alone. A Nolthrir woman had been standing behind her.

“Who are you?” she demanded of the other woman as she turned her full attention to her. She was young, a girl yet really. She wore a similar sky blue gown that she herself wore. Her hair was short, curling around her ears and off her shoulders, complimenting her blue skin. Her face was round, yet not overtly so, and her features gentle. From head to toe the girl was littered with cruel and savage glyphs. The Nolthrir’s eyes opened wide and she let her stare drift to her own arms. They too bore the same grotesque markings.

No, not the same. Mine are more numerous and dense. “Where am I? What is this place?” she called to the girl. Yet again, the girl remained as she was, unflinching. The girls’ gaze was barring through her. That was what was most unsettling about this girl: her eyes. Her left eye also bore a mark where her pupil should have been. The pupil was replaced with strange glyph of an upturned crescent, pinched close together and a teardrop at its center. Both eyes were steeped in unmeasurable sadness. It pained her heart to see such pain and anguish. It shook her to her core.

“I am sorry. I am so very sorry,” breaking her silence in a low and quite tone that seemed to reverberate through this place.

What is that supposed to mean? “Listen, I don’t know who you are or what you’re after,” she stepped forward, closing the gap between them “But you
” she trailed off, swallowing her words. Her eyes. They aren’t following me. What is going on here? She took a side long step and the girl didn’t move. She continued on slowly circling the stranger s she remained focused at something she couldn’t see.

The girl cleared her throat. “I am Allena and I am here to help you.” She ignored the girls babbling moving closer to touch her as her hand past through her. What is this, a ghost?

“You have a long and difficult road ahead of you. Not everything I have to show you is pleasant.” The girl turned her gaze downward. “But it is time to heal. I am sure you are scared, but it will all make sense soon” The girl, Allena, stepped to the side and gestured as a door appeared behind her.

Where did that door come from? I was just behind her. What is she talking about? “What is the meaning of this!?” she demanded, knowing full well she was not going to get any answers. She took a step forward to regard the door and block out the apparition.

The door looked identical to the one that had lead her inside this place. I appeared to be of a study oak wood, stain dark. The frame was pain, adorned with a simple angular inlay. Slowly her eyes drifted toward the door knob. The knob was a polished brass with a relief of a radial flower on the face. Everything in her being told her to turn away and run, but she felt hypnotized, her eyes fixated on the circular brass flower. Slowly a shaky finger extended out and ran around the ring of the flower. The door knob twisted at her caress. The door popped open with a brilliant flash.

The warm summer air was stifled by a cooling breeze that rolled over the gentle hills and rustled the tall grasses. In a low vale abundant with wildflowers of a myriad of pastoral hues and varying patterns, two Nolthrir women ran, laughing as the older of the two gave case to the younger. The younger, only a handful of cycles, had dark blue hair that danced behind her. Her light pink sundress already bore green stains from the days activities. The older woman’s face was angular and gentle. Her tone was a light Azure and wore a long flowing red dress that had yet to be marred as the younger girl’s ha, that was accented by her black hair.

The girl let out a playful squeal as the woman caught up to her and with a tender smile picked her up and laid her on her back in the soft grass. She fell over the girl with a grin and tickled her on her stomach and down her sides. The girl squealed even louder and kicked in a fake attempt to free herself.

Time lurched forward.

The young girl lay in the crook of the arm of the woman as they lay together looking into the sky. The older woman smiled as she pointed into the air as the girl leaned in closer to gaze down the outstretched arm. She gasped and clapped with excitement as she spotted the bird soaring overhead. The girl turned and nuzzled into the other affectionately.

Time lurched forward.

The woman lay on her side as the girl became increasingly excited over an insect grazing on the pointed leaf of a yellow flower. She watched the girl with a tender smile as she picked a white radial flower and slipped it behind the ear of the girl. The girl blushed as she reached up and gently fluffed the flower. He looked to the woman and smiled warmly.

Time lurched forward.

The young Nolthrir rode on the shoulders of the woman who had received a matching flower of her own. They walked down the gravel road, the light fading behind them. The older woman walked with an exaggerated gate that bounced the small child with each step. Both woman and child were laughing and grinning as they reflected on the day’s events.

The vision faded slowly away. Despite her sight being marred from the tears in her eyes, she could see she was back on the stone dais in the dark and relentless void just as she had left it. She fell to her knees and slouched down. While watching the vision, it felt distant and foggy, but now, sitting in the darkness alone, it felt deeply personal.

It was not only the vision that struck her but many residual memories as well. She now recognized the vision as a memory of mother and child. She knew the memory was of the ghostly apparition, Allena and Allena as herself. She knew the memory as the fist that she had ever recorded in this place.

The room before her flew away as another came in to replace it. The room beckoned to her. The memory inside called to her. Her shoulders tensed and she closed her eyes to renew her resolve. Her knuckles paled as she clenched her fists. She was keenly aware that the memory inside the room would offer her more of Allena’s memories and with it to become more of her.

She straightened her back and threw open her eyes. Those eyes. “And what if I don’t want too?” she called back to the door. “What if I want to be my own person? Don’t I have a choice? I don’t want to be her!” The yell echoed only briefly before being consumed by the void. The silence hung think in the air. It ate at her. She slumped, her face nearly to the stone floor.

No, I don’t have a choice. I am her. I cannot run away. To deny her would be to kill her. To kill myself. She stood and locked her eyes on the door. She closed the distance between them and threw the door open and entered the memory becoming more of who she had been. The room departed to be replaced by another and another. She entered room after room, suffered memory after memory, until she no longer felt a visitor, but as Allena in her own mind. There were more rooms to explore, but she was herself once more. She could be who she needed to be again. The rest of her memories could wait.

Allena stepped from her mind and saw nothing but a grey expanse. She forced her eyes open to discover to her horror that they already were. Allena focused her mind despite her panic to remember what had lead her here. She remembered the intolerable pain and the incredible orb of Crystal and Dark. She remembered the ray searing into her soul. She remembered her heart stopping. She remembered dying.

Am I dead? Is this True Death? Is it time to sleep? Allena closed her eyes to the grey world sought the silence to reflect. Poor Evirea and Prreta. They tried so hard and I let them down.

Allena’s ears twitched. The grey world was not silent. There was a dull, melodic hum to the place. It felt so familiar, yet lay just outside her grasp of understanding. She turned her head toward the sound, yet the response was slow and irksome. She felt like a child struggling to understand her body and its movements for the first time. She strained to hear, to recognize the melodic tone. As she slowly deciphered it, words slowly came through.

“–ome on, Sweetheart. Talk to me,” murmured the voice. “Look at me. I’m right here, now. I’m right here”

Alena knew that voice. It was the Snitch. Allena focused all her mental fortitude to speak. “I
 I am 
 sorry.”

Her voice cut through the grey world she now lived. “It’s not your fault, sweetheart,” the Snitch murmured again. “It’s not your fault. Your friends did it to help you. None of this was your fault. Come on back to us, now. Come with me. Let me take you out of this place, somewhere you can heal. Somewhere you’ll be safe”

[Ascomanni]

The Word of a Coin

Alderan watched the spinning silver disc glisten in the low candle light. The disc sung against the hard wood of the table as moved in a circle around the small divot the coin had left when he had flicked it onto the table. The shimmering silver held his fate on its edging.

Alderan hated setbacks. No, no. That wasn’t exactly true. He relished them. He lived for the thrill of altering plans on the drop of a coin. What he hated was the unnecessary cause of these particular setbacks that had left him deeply agitated.

His apprentice had been murdered. Alderan had not truly cared for the boy so much for the time and effort he had spent recruiting him and grooming him. All of that work for him to have died so foolishly. All he had to do was to follow directions, but instead he had confronted her and lost. He had lost and now was refuse. He had drawn attention to their cause and had complicated matters.

Doubt sparked in the back of his mind. Had he chosen the wrong sibling? No, no. The son had been the logically choice. His jealousy and rage had made him an ideal recruit. He had been easy to manipulate and the daughter had her own purpose to serve. He had played his hand logically. The fault had lied with the training of his apprentice if anything.

But what was done was done and, in all honesty, things could have turned out much worse. The boy had been little more than an instrument to him. A means to an end and he had failed. The situation had changed yet time was till on his side. The coin slowed and vibrated on the rings of one of the two faces. Yes. Time was indeed on his side. He could yet bide his time. Alderan smiled as he looked at the coin slowly coming to a halt to show a savage ‘B’ on the face before him. Yes. He and the coin were in agreement. He would wait.

[Mariana Xiechai]

[Warning: violence and gore, profanity]

The room was dark. The fire played on the walls, making shadows that ravaged and devoured one another with the shift of the flames. Their illumination didn’t seem right somehow. They only fed the black, turned it into tar. Isn’t light supposed to drive the night away?

I hurt everywhere.  I’ve been flung, I know that, cracked against the stone again and again. I can’t feel my legs. The fire flares, and shows the corpses of the people I brought here. Demagul’s body is bent in half, a stalactite carved through him as though he were some macabre hunk of meat on a shish kabob. Aleeane slumps in the corner, her eyes vacant, a trickle of blood running from her nose and a hunk of iron thrust through her temple. Anysu and Sacho lay dead on a velnishi’s nest. The blackened spear was meant for her, but he jumped in between.

It got both of them.

Why aren’t they fading into the Realm?

“Did you think you mattered?”

The voice draws at me. Not alluring. More like a fish caught on the end of a hook, the barb stuck in its gills. It knows it’s made a mistake. It knows it took the bait. It’s being reeled in and in and the pain gets sharper and sharper, but there’s nothing it can do. Its fate is sealed.

“Did you think that anything you did, mattered?”

The footsteps get closer. I can’t look. I am a coward and I cannot look. I can’t draw the breath to cry. I think my ribs are broken. I turn my head and I see Asmo’s face not a foot from mine. His skull is crushed, one of his eyes hanging from its socket, the tendrils barely clinging. It only took a single blow. He didn’t see it coming.

“You are nothing.” The words hit me like hammers because the voice is one I love. “You were never anything. Did you truly believe, in your arrogance, that you could defeat me? I am immortal. I am eternal. I am fueled by the hatred that courses through this world like blood. You knew that. Of course you knew that. And yet you dragged them here, brought them forth like sheep.”

Hands clutch at my collar. They drag me up the wall and I scream as pain rips down my spine. The sound echoes through the cave, coming back to me, mocking me. She smiles and tilts her head to the side as the light plays off the markings on her skin. She inhales as though my agony is her ambrosia. She smells of burning hair and flesh from the spells they flung before they died.

“Thank you, Evirea. Thank you. This is just the beginning of it. Your sacrifice, my initiation. This is the first altar upon which their blood will pour and I revel in it. I bathe in it. Without you, this never would have happened.”

She leans forward. She kisses my cheeks, one at a time, and then my brow. Her lips are ice. “A part of me will miss you. A part of me will miss watching you scramble desperately. You always knew, from the beginning. It was hopeless and you knew it. But you couldn’t admit it to yourself. And here you are. This place, your tomb. I shall mark it for you. ‘Here lies Evirea Pomolle. She was never very clever.’”

I will not cry. I feel the tears on my cheeks, hot, searing. I am not worthy of them. Somehow I lost my way, I lost it all, and there is no one here in the darkness to blame but myself.

The fire flickers. Movement from behind her, as she holds me to the wall, as she presses her fingers against my shattered bones and revels in my shrieking. I can barely see him through my tears, but I know he is dying. I know that as the blood flows from the dagger in his belly his face is fixed and determined.

I know there is a spell forming on his lips.

And there is light. Pure light, white light, blasting through the corridor. Roled lets it fly with his last breath, his knees buckling, eyes lidding as he collapses to the floor. It barrels forward, pounding through her back, erupting through her chest in a spray of charred organs. The ruins of her heart.

She clings to me. The markings on her flesh dissolve away, and we lean against the wall as we crumple. The malice leaves her face as the Ja’uh melts from the pupil of her eye.

Allena’s lips part in surprise, then in horror. I see the tears trickle down her cheeks, and with her words she tears my heart out as well.

“Why didn’t you save me?”

And the darkness consumes us.

____________________________________

I wake screaming. I feel myself fall onto the bed, and then I roll off of it, crawling on hands and knees in a brief panic. The nightmare’s grip is a powerful one. I reach the water basin and splash the coldness on my face again and again, gasping, letting it make me numb.

My fingers grip the sides of the desk tight enough to leave dents in the wood with my claws. As I stare into the mirror, I catch my breath, and then I force myself to slow down alongside it.

My reflection stares back at me from the foggy, cracked mirror. I still looks terrified, my eyes wide and bloodshot, my chest moving in shuddering heaves. I compose those features like soldiers on a battlefield. I glare at the mirror and bare my teeth in defiance.

“Bullshit,” I hiss. “It’s all bullshit and you know it.”

There is no answer, but I feel that familiar heat stirring inside of me. I keep going.

“There’s no way you’re letting this happen. Nobody, not Bazaal, not Rigwyn, not anybody is going to take them away. And they sure as fuck aren’t going to take her away.”

I embrace the rage. My face is curled into a snarl, and it only grows more contorted when I grin. “You’re going to kill that mother fucker,” I whisper harshly. “You’re going to make him buuuuuurn, baby. You’re going to pull him out of her strand by strand and watch as they end him in the prison of some corpse.  You’ll watch as they rain damnation down and sear his soul out of this existence.”

I straighten. Grabbing my shirt from a hook on the wall, I yank it over my shoulders so viciously I hear them pop. I don’t bother with the buttons. I cast one more look at the mirror and I thrust my finger at it, my words dripping like molten lava from my lips.

“He can’t have her.”

I leave the room, slamming the door behind me.

[Ascomanni]

A Long Day

To say that Allena enjoyed being blind would be grossly inaccurate. She felt so useless and hated stumbling around in the matted grey; however it did afford her certain advantages. When had shielded her from the stares. It had, after a time, offered her some confidence. No one had expected anything from her so she had no fear of disappointing anyone. It had also afforded her time to think.

She had been so busy while she had lived in fear of dying. Running around trying to fix everything one final time and trying to find the words for goodbyes. But she had lived and now things seemed to have slowed for her. Her friends were still fretting over her and she knew she should be more concerned, but next to facing true death, things just didn’t seem to matter. She felt eerily at peace.

Maybe this is the harmony, the balance, Yenida was always talking about, she thought. She doesn’t want to save you. She just wants to recruit you for her own means. To change you like all the others. Allena shook her head and let out a sigh. What is wrong with me?

Allena hated that question and it kept resurfacing. The answer was even harder to face: a lot, an increasing amount that even she was not privy to.  Every time her friends had made trips into her mind, they returned with a new look of concern and shared with her less and less. It is because they don’t trust you. They think you are a monster. The—

SHUT UP! Allena called back with her anger flaring. How she hated her self-doubt. So much hate. How can I be a healer? Her peace was fading as quickly as her eye sight was returning to her right eye. Her left was all darkness. I suppose I should be thankful for that. At least I can function now.

Evirea’s treatments were working wonders on her vision. Her right eye was nearly back to normal and she was learning to deal with the lack of depth perception. Maybe I can get back out there and try to help again. It was a hopeful thought, but one she needed. She felt like such a burden on all of her friends.

You, help? You’ll just get in the way, like you always do. Allena let out a low growl as her self-doubt returned. Today is going to be a long day.

[Ascomanni]

The Mirror of Pain

Allena strode in to the arena with purpose. She had just come from Amdenier to check on Evirea to discover she was nowhere to be found. Evirea really should have known better and should have been resting. Allena was now headed to the dummies to blow off some steam. She really needed to punch something into submission.

She entered the training pit with her head down and flexing her fists in preparation. As she approached the dummies she glanced up and stopped in her tracks. The bag was already in use by none other than the subject of her frustrations: Evirea. Allena stood aghast for a moment before a smirk slid across her face.

Of course Evirea would be here and doing the one thing that she shouldn’t be doing, Allena thought. She is going to be a troublesome patient. Allena let out a low sigh and adopted a serious face and cleared her throat. She assumed her practiced tone of authority “Evirea.”

Evirea and seemingly failed to notice the approaching Nolthrir girl. She had been engrossed with her training on the dummy, striking vital points of various bipeds. She froze as her name was called, her claws wrapped tightly around where the carotid arteries may be found. She craned her head gradually and quirked a brow at the girl.

Allena looked pointedly at the Klyros. "I would say something about resting and taking it easy, but I am sure it would be on deaf ears. I have some Eyebright for you. Various concentrations." Allena turned her shoulder and riffled through her bag.

Evirea pulled her hands away from the dummy's throat. She approaches Allena with scuffed knuckles. Her face bears an almost angry expression. With concentration she wipes it away, replacing it with a grin to greeting her. "Ever reliable. As for taking it easy, there's plenty of time to do that when I'm dead, so they say."

Allena smirks "Not on my watch. The idea is to keep you alive for as long as possible," and pulls out three wrapped cloths and offers them to Evirea. The Klyros tucks the packages away after extracting one of the vials and pulls the cork out with her teeth and downs it, before looking at the now empty vial. She tips it and watches as the last trickle of fluid drips sluggishly down and hits the ground between her feet.

Evirea’s eyes follow without erring. "Hm. Thank you, I'm sure this'll help."

Allena nods "And you will tell me if they don't? There are three concentrations. One being about 3 times the normal, then 5 and the last is 10. Do go slowly with it."

Evirea winked to the younger woman. "If you were charging me for it I'd think you were trying to get me addicted. But yes, I know how it works. Preach to the choir and all that. I shall be careful."

Allena cracks a grin "Well I wouldn't have said anything, but I also wouldn't have expected to see you out here to begin with. I thought maybe your momentary lapse of judgment may have extended beyon-" Allena suddenly cuts off and her eyes go glassy

Evirea stares at the girl. Her eyes narrow to slits, and she turns her head at a scrutinizing angle. Quietly she murmurs, "...Allena?"

Allena suddenly adopts a look of rage and shouts in a harsh and authoritative tone shouts "Shut UP! SHUT UPSHUTUP SHUT UP!"

Evirea stares at the woman for a moment. Her eyes become watery momentarily, as if she would cry; a strange reaction for her. The expression shifts. The glassiness leaves, and an anger that mirrors Allena's own works over the lines on her face. Her fingers curl around the azure stone in her pocket and she approaches Allena. Evirea’s hands dart forward to press against her temples as she tries to work her way inside, muttering something under her breath. Allena snaps out of her trance with a shake of her head as Evirea makes contact "Wha-" is all she gets out as Evirea slips into her mind.

 Evirea's consciousness slips through the layers swiftly. It hurls, heading directly for Allena’s mind. The hall seemed much as Prreta and Evirea had left it in their earlier attempts to repair the great foyer. The stones held, completing the floor and two grand and gently spiraling staircases are present at the end of the hall but are worse for wear. The rooms of the girl’s memories still orbit equidistant from one another in the void.

Evirea whirls in the darkness, her eyes on each of the rooms she can see spinning aimlessly in the abyss in search of something. She extrudes reddish aura around herself. Evirea appeared almost stronger, the muscles more defined, as though a result from struggling and holding up against the pain.

"C'mon c'mon c'mon, give me something," Evirea murmurs under her breath.

A spark of electrical purple energy lights between the rooms as a deep and hollow voice erupts in Allena's mind coming for everywhere at once. The voice is deep and hollow, radiating malevolence. "She now enters you mind without asking. She sees you as nothing. You are weak. Too weak to stand on your own and they know it. Soon you will be nothing to them. Nothing"

Evirea's face forms into a fierce grin. She stands at the center of the dais and spreads her arms, her hands open with the palms up. "Weak?" She parrots. "Weak? And who else could stand so long against an ageless creature. Who else's mind is so powerful it keeps its structure for so long? Not even mine own could hope to last in such diversity. You are strong, Allena. The only reason he thinks weakness comes from leaning on others is because he is a hollow thing that doesn't grasp the strength that comes with love. You know better."

The voice offers a cold and heartless laugh "She says strong words, but she only wants to use you. What has she done for you? She keeps you perpetually weak so she can control you. She hides behind 'friendship'. You know better,” the voice mimics. No one could ever love you"

Evirea laughs quietly mocking the voice. She walks slowly along the marble, her wings fanning out behind her. "I want you to know what I see in you," she murmurs. "Your intelligence, your power, your courageousness. I watch you struggle with yourself as I have struggled." Memories begin to dance like wisps behind her, rolling off her shoulders: her pain when the girl wouldn't meet her eyes at first, the rage in the knowledge that someone she doesn't know hurt her, the fury she felt when she saw her own parents reject her for different reasons.

"I love all of you,” Evirea continued, “because all of the good and the bad and the balance in between, I've been in that struggle. I've watched how you've fought to be who you are. It's given me strength. Given me courage. You are more than a friend to me, Allena. You are my daughter. You are precious and I love you, I love you, I love you." The words echo around her, her hand stretched out into the abyss.

The words echo and reverberate in the void. They grow in volume and strength as they permeate in the inky darkness. The dark voice shouts loudly "SILENCE!" and the void goes dull under his command. A harsh pressure descents on Evirea, attempting to push her out of Allena's mind. "She claims to know you. She knows nothing. She cannot know your true nature. That is who you are. You know the truth and you cannot run from."

Evirea lets out a loud, strong, and bold laugh. She holds her ground, though her presence begins to press against the floor, drawn to her knees. "Oh, I indeed have much darkness. It is woven into my soul, into hers. But the difference between you and I is that there is more than that. There is hope, there is light, there is courage. We are all the sum of our parts, but you, oh demon, are just a wisp of one, your own pieces cut off and cauterized. You are a shadow, but she? She is whole. She is morethan you."

Evirea raises her voice, shouting into the stillness. "You know why he wants me gone, Allena-girl! He doesn't want you to remember that this is YOUR head. That this is YOUR soul. YOU are the governor here! You are the god of this place! Cast out this one that has violated your sanctuary! CAST HIM OUT!"

A ghostly image of Allena begins to form at the heart of the crumbling hall and the pressure on Evirea suddenly ceases and pours onto the fleeting image of the Nolthrir "You cannot cast out what is a part of you. I am you. I am the voice of reason. You know this You reached this conclusion long ago."

Evirea snorts as she works to her feet, her chin held high. "You? You the voice of reason? LAUGHABLE! You are not her voice of reason. Allena is not party to a voice who revels in nothing but pain and violence. She's far more clever, far more wise than any of that. You were forcibly woven into her soul, and you can be torn back out again. But we can't do it alone." The Kylros steps towards the edge of the dais. "YOU know who speaks the truth! You know who I am! You know that I love you, and that love is toxic to this thing inside!" Her hand stretches, fingers splayed. Though she whispers, there's a certain power to her voice. "Come to me, baby. Break free of him. Focus on my voice. Show this bastard what you can do."

As Evirea speaks, the dark electrical energy sparks bright between the rooms. The brighter section of dais sparks with a source of energy and the ghostly image of Allena returns slowly growing in clarity. The voice lets out a low growl of effort.

Evirea lowers her voice to a harsh cadence. "This thing is a killer of families, of children. He is a creature of destruction. He may be a demon now, but he was a man once, a broken, twisted little man. Even as he is now he is unworthy of you, of what you are. A Healer. You are a Healer: mender of wounds, binder of bones. You are at your core a being with the power to right what is wrong, to fix what was broken. This thing is not of you. It was never of you. Drive it out! DRIVE THIS SCUM OUT!"

Allena's ghostly image open's her eyes. They are stoked with fear, confusion and pain. "Evirea? What are you doing here?"

Evirea whirls towards the image. She reaches out for it, placing her hands on either side of its face. "Baazel is here. He's wormed his way into your mind like a little leech. But you have the power to push him away. This is your mind. This is your soul. This is your sacred place. So drive him, sweetheart. Push his lying tongue from every corner of yourself. Shove him back to where he belongs. You can do it. You are strong, Allena." She leans in and presses her brow against the girl's, peering directly into her eyes, her own glowing with a fire. "You are STRONG."

Allena's eyes open wider "In my mind? What do you mean? Where am I? Why is everything broken? I was just in my hall and it was fine. What happened?"

The voice of Baazel screams down "She is trying to trick you. This is not your mind. Go back to where you were. That is your mind, where everything is whole."

Evirea wraps her consciousness around the girl, the feel of it: abrasive like a mother cat's tongue, potent like a spice's fragrance, passionate like the fighter of a rebellion. "I am me," she murmurs. "That voice is not you. That is nothing but the wisp, the mere fragment, of that gods be damned demon. This is your mind. This is where you belong. And you, Allena, can put it back together again. You, Allena, can shove him out like so much refuse. All you have to do is trust me, baby. Trust me. You trust me, don't you?"

Allena looks around, holding onto her mentor for dear life "Evirea, I am scared. What is going on?" The girl throws herself into a panic. The colored area of the dais shirks around the two to be replaced by the weathered and crumbled stone.

Evirea grasps the girl more firmly, clinging to her as she clings back. "Focus on me," she murmurs. "Listen to me. Do not be afraid. I'm right here, I'm right here with you, and I'm never going away. Prreta's never going away. Yenida's never going away. Your friends will never abandon you. This truth is as eternal as he is. Find this little leech. Track down where he's sunk his teeth into your sacred space and pry him out. Pry him out, Allena. You can do this. Have faith in the girl who healed my husband with her brilliance. Have faith in the girl who knew so much so young. Have faith in yourself. Know that you have the power to drive Baazel out."

Allena freezes a moment as the electrical storm rages as Baazel exerts pressure on the small space around the two clasped figures. Allena buries her face into Evirea as she struggles to focus. Slowly a warm, purple aura surrounds the girl and the coloring expands and mends the stone slowly. "Evirea, I love you. I will never leave you."

Evirea's aura grows stronger when the girl speaks, both in the ruddy hues and in the softer shifting blue. "Far dee, kraesan kmasanmil," she murmurs. The klyran words flow off her tongue with ease, and it seems as though there is a memory connected to them, one full of tender warmth. "I will never leave you, beloved daughter."

Baazel calls out from the darkness "Don't fall for her tricks! She'll abandon you. She’ll hurt you! Don't let her!
 
Allena shakes her head in response to the voice and mutters quietly "never" and holds Evirea tighter and the acceleration of the repair of the hall swells.

Evirea grasps the back of Allena's head with her hand, her claws lightly weaving into her hair, her arm shifting around her waist. She glares into the darkness and her lips pull back into a fierce snarl. Her word rings out in a furious and protective rage, like that of a lioness protecting her cub, a raw sort of love, a feral and violent love that starts the battles of passion. "Mine," she screams. "My child! She is mine! Mine! MINE!"

Allena cries gently against Evirea as Baazel lets out a howl "She'll betray you like all the others!" and fades as the hall restores with a brilliant flash. The Hall regains its walls and the marble shines. The stairs become whole and the railing are polished, however they lead to the nothingness and the rooms can be seem still orbiting the hall

"Evirea, thank you. I... I was so lost"

Evirea clings to the girl as the voice fades away. Only when it stops speaking does she finally loosen her bruising grip, though it appears to take some effort. She blinks, her voice raw but genuine. "Sometimes we all get lost. I'm just glad I could help you find yourself again." She jerks her chin at the floating rooms. "We'll put you back together again. Me, Prreta, the others. We know how. You've never been alone." Her hand moves to caress the side of her face as she leans to kiss her brow. "I'm so glad you're back again."

Allena flushes and looks up at Evirea "I... I thought I was in my mind. It looked the same. I just thought..." She shakes her head and smiles broadly "It doesn't matter. You are here."

Evirea strokes the girl's face again gently, her fingers trembling. "I am here," she confirms, smiling tremulously. "I'm always here, whether in your mind or with you in the flesh. You can always come to me. I will never turn you away, Allena. I will never abandon you." Her aura begins to flicker, weakened by the energy she's extended, and her voice cracks with fatigue. "I must go now. I will return. I will bring others with me. We'll help you restore what was broken."

Allena nods "I'll be here when you come back" and smiles to Evirea as she fades.

[Rigwyn]

[ Good stuff. ]

[Ascomanni]

As The Wind Blows

A small wind rose across the marble foyer originating from nowhere and flowing to the same place to bring a biting chill. Being slightly cod had always brought Allena comfort. She had retreated to her mind for solace. Here she could be alone. Here she could define what was and what would be here. She was the master of fate and writer of destiny.

A gust came and whipped her hair and dress about her. The wind ripped through her silk dress and tore the tension from her shoulders. The wind was not real nor was the hall she occupied for that matter. None of it was in this place and that gave her pause. If none of the source of her comfort was, did that make it a lie? Maybe that was all she was living now.

Allena pulled her hands from her lap to inspect them. She focused on them in vain to steady them, yet they still shook. She had been like this for a while now. She had thought, she had hoped, she would be better by now. It had already been a few days but there had been no change.

Allena had hoped her discomfort had stemmed from the demon in her mind. From the moment she learned that the Snitch purged her mind she would start to feel better. She begged all the gods, old and new, for all her symptoms would fade and she could get back to her life.

But she knew she was lying to herself. Allena was deeply unsettled. She had always considered her mind her own. In the waking world she was weak. She had no control over events, or even herself at times, but her mind had always been a haven for her. Until now.

When she first fought Baazel, It had been a disaster until he had entered her mind. Then, and only then, was she capable of turning the tables on that monster. But her victory had been far from complete. Somehow the demon had been able to infiltrate her mind and make her his prisoner without her realizing. How can she recover from that?

Prreta has nearly killed herself, Evirea’s mind was fraying, and the Snitch had nearly lost her soul. And for what? So she could never trust herself? She would put on a strong face, but Allena knew in her heart that she would never be whole again.

The wind rose to chill her to her core. She felt so empty. No comfort was coming, not now. Maybe never again. The demon may be removed from her mind, but is still infected her soul. How maybe would be hurt before this was done?

And to what end?

[Celroc Amaul]

Fade to Black.... Did we get him?

Celroc's vantage point of Allena's exorcism:

Celroc arrived at the guildhouse, meeting Prreta, Evirea, Sacho and Anysu out front.  Knowing what was about to come just moments from now, naturally, he was nervous, but soothed as his wife runs up and embraces him.  This sweet moment they share finally must come to an end as the two walk through the guild doors and begin preparations for their next task: an exorcism.

After a final refresher on who does what, and where, Celroc takes his place with the other Crystal Way mages.  Suddenly, his stomach sinks; he realizes that it's going to be not only himself, but many people that he cares about, putting themselves on the line to kill this demon.  Thoughts began to race through his head. “What if they die?  What if something happens to Prreta?  What if my friends are killed before my very eyes?” 

Of course, his composure began to change.  His friends could see that he was worried.  The group around him offered words of comfort that did help him a bit.  Even an Azure spell to help calm his nerves that seemed to work well.  But after all, how calm can you be knowing a demon will be staring you down face to face just minutes from now?

Celroc took a few deep breaths.  He used this time to remind himself why he was doing this.  His older brother's famous words ran through his head one more time.  “Friend in need....”  He knew Allena needed her friends help now.  Celroc could not live with himself if he abandoned her in his time of need.  His next thought turned to Prreta.  He remembered how much Allena was able to help Prreta, just by being there to talk or share similar experiences.  He remembered that they were “sisters,” even if not by blood, but by how fate has dealt them both a similar hand of proverbial cards.  He knew that Prreta needed Allena, perhaps as much as Allena needed Prreta now....

Now encouraged, and calmed thanks to his friends, he waits.  Finally, the time comes.  Jiggs begins a ceremony that will pull the demon to a new host.  A living gobble that was captured and restrained.  Across the room from him was Allena, herself and the entire team of Azure mages around her slowly being surrounded now by a dark aura.  Celroc could feel it.  It was not just dark in color, but in the other more symbolic senses as well.  It had the sensation of fear, loneliness, hatred; as if it was the embodiment of evil manifesting in front of him.  For as much as Celroc knows about it, it might as well be such a manifestation.

The aura is pulled closer and closer to the Crystal mage group, of which Celroc is part of.  With wide eyes, he can see it coming.  The group prepares itself, everyone getting ready for what was coming ahead.  Celroc began to gather his Crystal energy, being ready to use it at a moment's notice; about now, he begins to realize just how much of a novice he is in Crystal Way.  Funny the things you'll notice when you're about to play games with death, isn't it?

When you're staring down such a monstrosity face to face, your perception of time and your surroundings can be skewed.  Allena let out the most horrible scream as the demon left her body and began floating toward the group, but the scream would not seem to reach Celroc's ears for several seconds later.  He watches, only able to wait, as the darkness moves ever closer... closer.... and finally, he hears the shout from behind him “Baazel!”

The aura crackles with energy, almost like its own self-contained thunderstorm.  Upon being called, it is pulled into the body of the gobble.  Jiggs gave the signal, and it was now go-time for the group.  Time to flood the gobble-- or more precisely, the demon inside the gobble-- with Crystal Way energy and kill it once and for all.  Celroc struggles to keep a regimen going of Energy Arrows and Relaxing Sleep to sustain his attacks.  Every few arrows, he takes a short pause to restore mana, and continues. 

For most of the other Crystal Way mages there, Celroc's regimen would probably be simple.  Child's play, even.  But for Celroc, the novice that he was, this was all that he could do to help.  Arrow after arrow after arrow was fired, slowly taxing Celroc's energy.

His determination won't let him stop.  For anything.  He is decidedly going to cast until the demon is dead, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.  During the battle, a bolt of the eclectric-like energy strikes Celroc from behind and he falls forward; yet does not even take the time to pick himself up.  Laying forward on his chest, he continues to cast desperately.

And, it looks like the team effort is working.  Celroc is only a small part of it, while still weakening the demon with every blow.  The demon does try to make him and everyone around him lose heart by screaming that it is immortal, will never die, and so on.  “Immortal?”  Celroc hears this word and his thoughts begin to race.  “Is it truly immortal?  Can we not kill it?  Is all of this for nothing?”  He then shakes his head and continues just as before, now becoming very fatigued. 

Very fatigued indeed... everything is starting to go dark for the poor menki.  And that is meant in a literal sense, he is beginning to pass out from the effort of it all.  As the group continues its efforts, the demon is barraged with Crystal and beheaded by Chays with a poisoned axe.  Yet... somewhere after this time, Celroc is no longer aware of that.  In fact, he is losing awareness of his surroundings altogether  “I have to... keep casting!” runs through his mind.  “I can't stop...!  Not until we are DONE!”

The demon slithers out of the gobble, and slips away, making a run for it.  It is gone.  Celroc's job should be done now.  But he doesn't even know it.  He continues to hit the very dead gobble with arrow after arrow, his aim getting sloppier.  In his mind, the last things to run through before he passes out completely are “Anysu...?  Sacho?  Kaerli?  Where are you? I can't see you! Please... don't.... be.... hurt....” despite the fact that they are all within a couple meters of him and basically alright. A final image of Prreta and then Allena, a reminder of why he is doing this, comes and goes before he is out.  Out cold.

There lies the menki, completely unconscious.  He doesn't even respond to the noises around him or when examined by Anysu and Kaerli.  It's not until Anysu uses a Rinse and Invigoration spell that he awakens.  Still weak from it all, he is helped to his feet and gets the news that it was a success.  The demon has left.

Celroc now wobbles as he walks across the room, up the stairs, and finally to Prreta, whom he holds tightly not only for his own comfort, but to comfort her as well.  There the exhausted menki woud stand and idly listen to the chat nearby.  There really wasn't much more anything he could do, and being so tired, most of it went in one ear and out the other.  To be frank, the menki just needs some time to rest his mind after such an ordeal, and almost everything after this point seemed to go by quickly, almost a blur, as Celroc stands there enjoying the victory.  Not only his victory, but that of everyone involved.  “We did it,” he smiles to himself.  “The demon is finally gone.”

[Remember, this is from Celroc's point of view.  The demon may not actually be gone, and some events may be different from described.]

[Demagul Riwe]

[Alright, I am so sorry that this took so long to finish, and thanks so much to Allena/Ascomanni for your help with editing. Without your help this would just be a mess of typos.]

Red Ribbons

“Come to my guild hall. Please. Now.” The words made Demagul shiver as the silver-winged messenger flew away. Evirea was often concise in her messages. This one was different, however, and it terrified the Nolthrir. He knew without a doubt what her words meant: this was the day he would fight the demon.

Demagul was no stranger to The One’s guild hall. This was, however, the first time he had ever seen such a crowd in it. Very few of them could he call a friend. Some of them he had seen throughout the Dome, but neither had put in the time to speak to the other. Most of them were strangers, however united with a common purpose.

Several others trickled into the room after Demagul’s arrival. Evirea passed the time by going over her plan several times, making sure that everything would go as smoothly as possible. Eventually, some tense mingling started in the room, waiting for the last arrivals. By the time everyone had arrived, the mood was significantly lighter than it was when Demagul arrived, only to be crushed again by pure dread. He looked up and saw Allena standing still with a forced smile. Demagul knew that they would be starting, so the demon wouldn’t have time to prepare.

Although he was a Crystal Way mage, Demagul somehow found himself with the Azure group, who would enter Allena’s mind to confront the demon. Evirea set up opposite the Crystal Way mages, who would be the ones to defeat Baazel once and for all. They sat in a semicircle, with Allena in the center. Nearest to the child were Prreta and Evirea, with Gova, Chays, and Demagul close by. Immediately, Prreta opened the mental link and Demagul was pulled into the strange, mental realm, Hopefully we will only have to deal with a headache afterwards. He thought to himself.

He had only been inside of Allena’s mind once before, but not a single detail of the hall had slipped his mind.Demagul looked anxiously at the circle of purified stone that surrounded the child. While the floor outside of it looked old and cracked, the small patch of shining marble was like a bubble of light around Allena, protecting her from the evil outside. He noticed that the circle was pulsing slightly, slowly growing and shrinking. He took a mental note of this, realizing that the mental realm could very well have a logic different from that of Yliakum.

He quickly looked to Evirea’s mental avatar, and just like before, the red ribbons were wrapped around her. He knew right away that they would have to hurry. Allena, still in the circle of purified stone, was there, too, speaking with Evirea and the others who had entered. “Just
 Please, be careful” She said, just before the hall began to fade.

At first, Demagul was nearly blinded by a dark, purple fog. He silently panicked for a moment before he drifted out of it. As he flew further away, he looked back to see that the fog had become a purple orb. He looked forward again to see two other orbs come into view. One was a bright red, the other a dark, colorless mass. He knew what it was right away: Baazel. Evirea and Prreta formed memories in their hands and hurled it into the darkness, opening a dark, pulsing tunnel, threatening to collapse any moment.

With a roar, Prreta charged into the tunnel, and Demagul took this as his cue to do the same. As the group entered, an evil laughter could be heard. It unnerved Demagul, but he simply shielded himself with a slight aura of crystal way magic and continued. He suddenly found himself in a swamp-like area, with a living darkness where where water should be. The laughter continued, and the voice spoke. It mocked Evirea for her plan, and ended with, “Give me the girl and I shall let you leave this place”.

“No deal” Evirea said with a surprising steadiness to her voice, “I think you know how this ends. Why don’t we skip the preliminaries and go straight to the final round.”

Baazel laughed. “Then let it not be said that I, the demon, did not offer a peaceful solution. The mortal, with all of her morals chose this path.”

Suddenly, several dark tendrils launched out of the darkness and reached for the group. Demagul let his aura grow slightly, but it did no good. He saw himself in Hydlaa, with a sickly Lemur child holding out two hexas with tears streaming down her face. “P-please, Mr. Demagul! This is all that we have. Please, it’s for my mother. She needs the cure!” Demagul looked around to see the deserted Plaza, except for him and the girl. Half off Hydlaa was dead, and he had poisoned them with teas.

“N-no! It can’t!
NO!” Demagul forced himself back to reality, and with a flash of a white dagger cut at the tendril furiously. He silently prayed that the memory was fake. He saw the others screaming and bleeding from the memories, all except for Gova, who calmly cut the tendril with the tip of his spear. Prreta quickly snapped out of her memory and lunged at the demon, enraged, and the tendrils recoiled.

“Don’t you see? I am master here!” Baazel did not seem hurt by Prreta’s attack at all, but merely amused.

Demagul let his crystal aura grow freely around him and began hurling several energy arrows into the darkness. It was difficult to tell if it had any effect, but as soon as he gathered enough energy, be prepared for another round.

Suddenly, Allena’s scream echoed through the swamp. It sounded muted, but it was definitely Allena’s. Unable to bear the sound of her suffering, Demagul gathered all of his energy into one arrow, firing it with as much force as possible into the center of the darkness.

The fight continued for what felt like days, but it was clear that the demon was growing weaker, and it became evident that Baazel was distracted by something else, as well. Gova took advantage of this and launched a beam of light from his spear, and Demagul prepared to summon another round of arrows. Before he could, though, he was knocked back by one of Baazel’s dark arrows, and toppled back, helplessly watching the others.

The bands around Evirea were getting dangerously tight, almost digging into her flesh. She was barely clinging to the mental realm, clinging to a chain that reached into the darkness. “I will not let you” She called out to Baazel. “I will not let you take her. I will not let you take my girl. You can’t have her, do you hear me? You cannot have her. Be gone, demon. Take your pain elsewhere. Here you belong on longer! GET OUT OF MY LITTLE GIRL!”

A flood of raw emotion surged up the chain, scattering the darkness once more. This time, the demon struggled to form again. Baazel’s scream of agony echoed through the swamp as Demagul found the energy to stand up.

As the evil energy began to fade from the swamp and the darkness wavered, Prreta leapt into the center of the demon’s mist and cried out “ALLENA!” Evirea followed close behind, thrusting her blade into the darkness. Chays attacked the demon from a distance with a memory, and Demagul began focusing his energy into the dagger he clutched, as memories began to dance around his feet.

Finally, the demon faded completely, leaving a gaping fissure in the purple orb. Overhead, the red orb’s energy tried to fill the abyss, but only in vain. Prreta and Evirea, who had been standing in the heart of the darkness, looked at the gap in horror. For a moment, there was silence as everyone stared up at the scar. Hopefully this is the last scar that Baazel will leave, Demagul thought to himself, unaware of the severity of the situation.

With a shriek, Evirea dived towards the fissure, pouring her own energy into it, but like the Red Energy, her efforts to fill the abyss were in vain. Prreta reached into her sternum and ripped out a piece of her own flesh. She held it out towards the orb and it became a beautiful red orb that expanded into a shield. She thrust it into the scar as an attempt to close Allena’s soul with her own.

Finally realizing the danger that Allena was in, Demagul watched helplessly, not knowing what to do. He knew that Evirea and Prreta were quite experienced in the logic of Allena’s mental realm, and he was terrified of making a mistake in such a desperate time.  The two then dived into the purple orb, and Chays vanished, having returned to the physical world. Demagul paused a moment before leaping into the purple orb.

“Allena?” He called as soon as he entered. “A-are you alright?” He regretted his words as soon as he saw Evirea and Prreta, by an empty circle of purified stones. The red bands cut into Evirea’s flesh now, and even watching her suffering was unbearable. The Klyros and Fenki were looking at a strange etching on the floor. Demagul offered to help, but neither replied. They were Allena’s family, and he decided that it was best to watch from a distance.

He began to back up, hoping to stay out of the way, when he heard another set of footsteps. He turned around, expecting to see Gova, but instead he found himself face to face with a Ylian.. “What just happened?” The stranger asked.

“Y-you are in Allena’s mind, sire.” Demagul watched the stranger’s expression carefully as he answered.

The Ylian smirked. “Yes, I am well aware of that fact. I was denoting the shambles it appears to be in.”

Gova joined Demagul in focusing on the newcomer. “Assist, or depart. No distractions,” the Klyros said sternly.

Demagul made a mental note that Gova trusted the stranger to assist, but the Ylian had not yet earned the Nolthrir’s trust. He quickly stepped between him and Evirea. “It
it would p-probably be best to l-let her concentrate.” He discreetly clutched the white dagger in case of violence and watched the stranger’s every move.

Surprisingly, he only nodded. “Yes, I suppose that is an appropriate greeting for a dark stranger in a place that was thought to be secure and is proving to be otherwise, yet, I must insist you let me pass and speak with this woman.”

“We drove him out.” Evirea croaked. For just a moment, Demagul thought that she was talking about the stranger, and prepared himself for another fight. Then the klyros continued. “We drove him out, but he was still too entangled. I thought we’d done enough, but
but we hadn’t. I
I thought we killed her. I think I killed Allena.”

Demagul was beginning to get the impression that Evirea trusted the Ylian, and so he quickly moved to her side and gestured for the stranger not to approach. “No, there is still hope!” He told her assuringly. “There
there must be!”

While Demagul’s attention was on Evirea, the stranger stepped around him to the Klyros. “Please time is a precious commodity we can ill afford to waste. Cease your petty gesture and allow me to do what I have continued to do far longer than any of you.”

Still wary of the stranger, Demagul quickly looked to Evirea. “C-can we trust him?”

The klyros shivered, her aura flickering. “Yes.”

As he began to fade into the physical realm, Demagul eyed the stranger once more. “I do not know you, but we are putting a great deal of trust in your hands. Please, do not let us down.”

“And I, you.” he called back.

Demagul awoke with a dreadful headache and the smell of burning flesh filled his nose. The Crystal mages from the other group were celebrating as Aleeane tended to an unconscious Allena. Across the room, there was a gobble corpse with a faint trail of smoke rising from its burnt skin. Allena’s life was in the hands of a stranger, but a part of him knew that there was hope. He couldn’t help but smile as Evirea began to stir, knowing that the Klyros could finally be free from the torture from the red bands.

His mind a mixture of countless thoughts and emotions, Demagul let himself be certain of one thing: the demon is dead.

[Ascomanni]

A Change of Face

The silver coin spun on the table. Alderan rapped his fingers on the hard oak table as he glared at the circling disc. He and the coin had been at odds as of late. Alderan had watched from afar as his carefully laid plans had fallen apart. Very night it had instructed him to wait.

Alderan had tried everything he could think of to persuade his coin. He had begged and pleaded with it until he was reduced to tears. He had drafted formal essays on the merits of action. He had graphed the probability of their success over time with respect to unfolding events and had been dismayed by the decay of the slope. He had made arguments appealing to the logical, emotional, and the joys of their mission and the necessity to save what was left. It had become something of a nightly ritual for them.

If this persisted much longer, he was going to go crazy. Alderan didn’t understand why it was doing this to him. Hadn’t they been through a lot together? Why would it turn its back on him now when they had been so close? This had even been its plan. He had been content to continue on as they had, but his trusted partner had thought differently. Alderan glared at the coin, willing it to slow. He hated fighting with it, but hated the inaction while watching everything they had built crumbling around them.

The coin slowed and balanced agonizingly for a moment on its edge before tilting face up. Alderan beamed as the Ja-uh greeted him. A beautiful upturned crescent with a droplet at the center, the emblem of a soul being separated from the body over and over again, yet still contained within to support and prolong life. This would leave cracks between. Cracks that could be filled. This was the symbol of unending and complete anguish.

Alderan snatched up the coin and clutched it to his breast as he stamped his feet with joy. Finally, it was time to set things right. He could at last do something about those who had dared to interfere. We would have his victory.

Alderan moved the coin into his fingers. He knew how much his friend loved to spin. With a snap of his fingers, he granted the coin its wish just has it had his. Alderan brought his chin down onto his arms that now rest on the table. He grinned like a small child as he watched the coin whirl without fate on the line. Nothing else mattered now as he watched the two images, the ‘B’ and the Ja-uh, merge as one on the rapidly turning disc. It was truly a beautiful sight to behold.

[Ascomanni]

Up in the Air

Hydlaa had become ripe in his absence. It was tender fruit that longed to be plucked. All it needed was a small nudge here and a careful word there. Everyone was more worried about who was dating who and what material their garment was made from. That had become what it meant to survive. No longer was there fear of the shadows or from where their next meal may come. Their comfort had made them weak.

A smile slithered over Alderan’s lips. It had been all too easy to acquire the information he required.  There had been resistance but only token resistance at best. Each he had approached had offered a sliver and those slivers had compounded into pieces of the whole. He had been able to feint enough knowledge in the end and the rest came pouring out from the Nolthrir in this very garden. I flowed freely from him in one glorious wave that sustained him.

Acquiring this beautiful, sweet knowledge was but the first step. Here now was where the road diverged. What he had learned would make a sublime weapon or sturdy armor. Alderan fished out his coin from his pocket and tossed the silver disc into the air. If his efforts would be sword or shield were now up in the air.

Alderan’s familiar smile oozed into being to bare his teeth as her stared lovingly at the tumbling coin. He knew this was not the preferred method of selection. He had always favored spinning on edge, however in the ridiculous garden with that insidiously deformed tree, there was no place for him to spin freely. Save for the fountain’s edge and he had always detested being wet. Best to play it safe for now, the time for risk would come soon enough.

Yes, it was best to play it safe. Armor was the best choice.

Alderan watched the coin descend and bent over to push the grass out of the way. Weapon. Alderan slammed his fist into the earth. Why? Why now? It made no sense. Was he being set up for failure? Was this a test of his loyalty? Regardless, the choice was made.

She may have damaged the vessel, but there were always other options forward. Oh yes, always options. It was not his place to choose and she would choose now.

[Mariana Xiechai]

[Note: This is a role play converted to writing. The content is the same, some of the lines are the same, but as the RP lasted for quite a while and I didn't want it to run forever, I tweaked and condensed. Hope that's alright with those involved.]

I hate no win scenarios.

The arrogant and naïve think they don’t exist. It’s either because they underestimate their ability to be backed into a corner, or they’re insufferable optimists. I find both stances annoying. These sorts are more likely to freeze up when faced with losing, or worse, more likely to lash out in all the wrong ways. Wreak some collateral damage. Make things worse.

Sometimes you can’t win. Sometimes you just have to minimize the blow to make the cleanup smaller afterwards. Less blood to mop, less bodies on the floor.

The sleep root burned its way down my throat. A mental thing really, there’s nothing acidic about it. Goes down smooth as silk. As the empty vial slipped from my hand and shattered, I thought about the note in my pocket. I thought about the words glaring out of it with a crisp professional hand. Come alone, for if others are present, I may need to do something rather rash.

I think I hate being told to come alone as much as I hate no win scenarios.

The death realm felt cold to me. Colder than usual. My pale armor shone oddly in contrast to the blacker depths beneath the walkway. It made me feel exposed and vulnerable like a nerve poking through flesh. My feet rasped over the rusted metal, and I watched it sprinkle down below between the beams and into darkness.

I was terrified. My fingers shook, and I curled them stubbornly tighter around the galkard I held. I had faced a demon once before, and it nearly killed me. I’d had backup. I’d had my friends. People think I’m confident, that I can lead them and direct them, but the truth is that without them at my back I am nothing. I’d never felt that truth more keenly than in that moment.

For all I knew, Allena could be dead. She could be a corpse entering rigor mortis. She could be broken and bleeding out with Dakkru smacking her gaudily painted lips. I knew what Jesper, what Alderan, was capable of. I’d met men like him before. They were of the same mold with tweaks made only after their manufacturing. Eventually they always got taken down. Eventually.

That didn’t mean there wouldn’t be losses on the way.

I entered the room, looked past the Dark Crystal, and my terror gave way to rage.

Allena lived. She was comatose, sprawled on the stone floor amidst a pentagram of crystals, but she was breathing. A curl of dark way energy was plunged into her abdomen like some kind of perverse umbilical cord.

Alderan perched nearby. He was smiling warmly, flipping a coin up and down in the air, catching it. I saw the way his eyes twitched towards it lovingly. His posture was relaxed and confident.

“Ah, Evirea. So good of you to join us.”

I wanted to say something biting. Ah, Alderan. I see you’ve read up on cheesy villain lines. I imagined plunging my claws into his eyeballs and following him back over the desk he was sitting on. I wanted to use the hilt of my blade to smash his skull in. I didn’t want to kill him. I wanted to make him hurt.

I said nothing.

His eyes fell to the sword in my hand. His smile didn’t falter.

“There will be no need for that, dear. Unless you would like me to begin the ceremony prematurely?”

He twitched his fingers and Allena began to scream. She screamed horribly, the blood-curdling sound of someone in absolute agony. Her body convulsed within the circle. I’d heard such sounds before, but I never got used to them. Nobody ever gets used to them. It’s the ode of an animal caught in a trap, praying to the gods that someone will come kill it so it doesn’t have to hurt anymore.

I felt tears prick my eyes as I dropped my weapon. It clanged against the floor.

“I am going to make you suffer,” I said hoarsely. “Give her to me.”

He tilted his head to the side. “Oh? Now if I were to do that, I would no longer have the upper hand. You see, I wish to discuss and perhaps negotiate.”

Again I said nothing. I didn’t trust myself to speak. I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t make it worse. All I could feel was hatred.

He cleared his throat, flicking the coin up again. “You see, someone has been tampering with my subject.” He jerked a chin at Allena, and then glared at me. “Pain. Pain is the key and someone has been relieving so much of hers. Well, she is still suitable, but no longer ideal. Then a thought occurred to me. There is another that is just as suitable.”

I felt my heart sink into the pit of my stomach. I closed my eyes tightly, just for a second, and then forced them open again.

“Wh
”

Chays burst into the room. The link between our minds shrieked with his fear, and his anger. He was hallucinating, the proximity to the Dark Crystal sending him into a frenzy. He raised his axe at Alderan, and Alderan pointed at Allena to begin killing her. She let out another harrowing scream, her back arching at a breaking angle.

I grabbed my galkard, flipped it to its hilt, and slammed it into the back of my husband’s neck.

He slumped to the ground silently.

For half a minute Allena continued to shriek. I felt my heart move from my stomach to my throat, frantically darting my eyes between her and the bastard still casually perched on the desk. He made a cutting motion with his hand, and she went ominously silent.

Then her chest rose and fell with one breath, and I felt tears of relief slide down my face.

“As I was saying,” Alderan went on casually. “There is another that would be suitable. You may choose to take her place. If you would like.”

I wasn’t surprised. Alderan had been parading around town as Jesper for a very, very long time. Eavesdropping, wiggling information out of people. I’m sure he knew quite a bit about me. Even personal things I’ve only told to close friends. A few kind words and a wrinkled old face can loosen lips. Idle banter turned to blackmail.

He knows I have plenty of pain to give.

I was vaguely aware of Jagzer entering the room. I don’t know how he got there. I heard him arguing. Heard him trying to take up the position for me. Heard the refusal I knew would come. My husband’s anger resurged as he awoke, his head throbbing, moving back along the floor. I ached with guilt for hitting him. I ached with the thought of our children. I ached with the knowledge of the choice I had to make.

“I’ll do it.”

Silence. Then Jagzer snapped his head to me, protesting, telling me how much I had to live for. He might as well have stuck a knife in me. No one was more keenly aware of those truths than I.

Chays rose to his feet. I could feel his dread growing. He held his axe in his hand and imagined slipping it through Alderan’s skull like an overripe melon.

She’s a daughter to us, love. I cannot leave her.

I heard his voice in my head, bitter, rejecting. She’s no daughter of mine. Not after all she's done.

“I’m getting impatient,” Alderan said coolly, his fingers twitching again. “It’s time to decide.”

I walked to Jagzer and gave him the dagger with Baazel’s symbol etched into it. I told him to find Siteya. Find Roled. Whatever happened to me would be reversed, I said. I closed his hand over the hilt and reassured him there would be a lead to track.

There was some truth in my words. Some.

“Please get my husband and Allena out of here,” I rasped.

I could barely see anything. It was a blur, and I felt more tears stinging my eyes. My pride wasn’t enough to make me care. Chays protested in vain, but he knew my mind had been made up. I could her him thinking of taking me against my will.

I almost wished he would.

Their footsteps left us in silence. With each step they took away, my heart beat faster and faster. I couldn’t put up a brave face. All I could think about was all of the people I was letting down. I didn’t want to die. I couldn’t die.

Whether or not I did was now entirely out of my hands.

Alderan raised his hand towards the circle of crystals. “Shall we?”

My feet felt like lead. I said something to him I can’t even remember. Something snarky. Something I didn’t feel. My hands trembled and I didn’t try to hide it.

He looked smug. I couldn’t work up the anger anymore. His hand raised, and a shot of darkness plunged into my core. I gasped, reminded of the feel of a dagger between my ribs, turning and seeking. It poured into me, flowing into every nerve. I felt it stirring behind my eyes, mopping up my tears and moving like a fist down my throat.

“Now,” he murmured. “Let us begin.”

And then all there was was pain.