Saviour of Souls

Desterium

I punched Tiskial hard enough that he plummeted to the ground, my Connected and Selphien gulping behind me, Tiskial brushing off the dirt, and standing to his feet again, albeit somewhat disoriented.

“Again.”

“How many times do you want me to do this?!” I snarled, my muscles burning from a week or two of no use, and he grit out, “As many times as our Queen tells us too.” Luckily for me, and to the immense relief of Seth, Jason had made, and given, me a tonic that had healed my throat, which at least gave me the ability to speak for myself. My one regret was that I was now expected to respond to people again.

I turned to look over my shoulder at Seth and Selphien, who were sitting on a stack of wooden crates, a platter of sandwiches balanced between them. Behind them, Tarlien and Syrphien were chatting, munching through the collection of snacks, and I heard the air shift a second before Tiskial brought his fist flying toward my face. I grabbed it, resisting the immediate urge to snap it, and he spun me toward him.

Years of training was enough to keep me on my feet, but he wrapped me in a strange, backwards, strangling hug, his arms becoming chains around my waist, and I felt panic fly through me, Blood-Lust screaming at me to kill him, anything to get him to let me go. I stamped my heel into the inner part of his foot, and he folded like a lawn chair, swearing. I scampered away, darting as far into the tent as I could get away from him, sweating profusely. Tiskial, seeing the strange reaction, looked up at me, and quietly, offhandedly said, “I’ve worked with soldiers before who couldn’t handle certain training poses, be it because of background or traumatic memories.”

Composing myself with a few short gasps, I breathed, “What’s your point?”

“I need to know about them to prevent them from occurring in training,” he said pointedly, and I snapped back, “I don’t have any ‘traumatic poses’, thanks! I’m fine.”

“That didn’t look ‘fine’ to me.”

I shook my head, brushing him off, and felt Seth’s eyes on me, confusion flooding him. Could he feel the adrenaline coursing through me, burning up my energy? I hadn’t had a proper meal in days, let alone blood. If I was going to keep training at this level, I was going to need to start drinking it.

Tiskial’s concern touched something in my heart, though, and as he lined up the next routine, I said, “I used to walk home with my twin after school, back on Earth.” When I had been bathing, with Myr and Jane keeping an eye on me, they had given me a few tips to connecting better with the others, to become allies quicker. I hadn’t wanted to bother- We were still enemies, in a way. I would not go out of my way to save any of them if I needed to, and yet, I would defend them if I could. But one of those tips had been to open up a bit more, something that I dreaded doing. Myr, especially, had claimed that they were all aware some dark things had occurred in my past, and it would be better, and bond-building, if I shared them. He looked over to me, his hand still wrapped around the wooden pole he had been about to unsheathe from its barrel prison, and I continued, “Everyday. We would get home, and Cain would be there. Sometimes he would walk with us too, but he would be there, and my mother would be there. Sometimes, my father would be too, but no matter what, my mother was always home to greet us.” Now I could feel the attention of everybody in the tent on me, even Seth, who had done his damned best to ignore me since the meeting.

Tiskial threw a stick to me, and I caught it, stepping forward, the two of us circling each other, although his face remained intensely glued to my own. He swung at me, and I deflected it, feeling a stinging in my eyes when I said, “One day, at school- a human Academy, for those of us who might not know, I felt strange, like something was wrong. I ignored it. It was school, and at some point, you were going to feel watched, and it was usually because you were. Cain left earlier, claiming illness, so that made me feel stranger, but against everything, I stayed. This was barely a year after Reannatiel had died, and I’d only been back at school a month.”

Tiskial motioned for me to swing at him, and I did, firing off two easy hits that, had my vision not been clouded, I would have landed. As it was, he deflected them, and I took a moment to wipe at my face, pretending to be wiping sweat.

“I walked home alone that day, and something didn’t feel right. The air felt electric. I felt like a storm was building, but the sky was clear, and I could see no storm. I could feel it, though, and the closer I got to my home, the worse it built up.”

Tiskial paused, allowing me to discreetly wipe at my face again, and I breathed, “I saw police cars before I even reached the house. Police are like the Guards in Ordeallan, but for humans. They keep the law, and they defend people. I could see an Ambulance, too- which carried humans who worked to heal people, and sometimes, to remove the dead. People, neighbours, but mostly people from my father’s court were swarming the yard, but none of them noticed me, not even Zeella’s Guardians, and I could see from the look on their faces that something wasn’t right. I could smell blood before I even reached the damn door.”

Syrphien, seeming to sense where the story was going, swore, and I heard Tarlien murmur something under his breath- For Syrphien to control his reaction.

“I knew what it was. I didn’t want to believe it, because what ten-year-old wants to know that their mother is gone in such a way, so I ignored Zeella and Cain’s shouts for me to stay back, and I ran for the bathroom. I was hoping I could help her, like I knew I had before.”

Even Tiskial had halted his training to let me speak, and lifting my chin, I asked, “You want to know why I do not react well to that pose?”

He nodded, just barely breathing, and I shuddered out, “That’s the pose Cain caught me in when I found my mother. I wasn’t meant to see her. He wrenched me back, and I love my cousin more than anything, but I hate him for that. I hate him for keeping me from her. There’s no way I could have saved her, it was too late for that, but I wanted to try. Maybe I’d gotten lucky with my powers and inherited healing, or Necromancy like Cain, but he pulled me back, away from her, and I watched them, those Ambulance workers and Police officers, cover her and take her away. You all view me as a monster, and I don’t blame you, because my not being able to bring her back is what made my family fall apart.” Tiskial, opening his mouth to say something in reply, caught the sharp end of my glare as I spotted the pity on his face, and I threw the pole down, hissing, “I’m done for today.”

Storming around Syrphien and Tarlien, the latter trying to stop me, a heart-broken look on his face, I bit back tears. As I left, I heard the air whoosh from their lungs, like they had been holding their breaths, and Syrphien swore again. I sat outside, feeling the sunshine pour down on me, and heard him when he said, “I knew about it, but to see it through her eyes… I kind of feel like an ass.”

“You can’t blame yourself for judging her, the things she committed…”

“Things she was taught. Hell, Tiskial, we’ve been taught everyday of our lives, we just got lucky enough to be taught by somebody who wanted to do the right thing. She didn’t get that.”

“She refers to Zeella by his name. Why?” Tarlien mumbled, and Seth replied, “Maybe he likes it that way, or maybe she sees it as a respect thing. I call Karla by her first name.”

I exhaled loudly, feeling cold inside, although the hollowness made no movements, no effort to grow further and expand my chances of ruining this one shot at freedom. I waited until one of the others was training to slide down off the crate I was sitting on, and onto the deck, curling up in the sunlight, letting the exhaustion melt from my bones as it was replaced with warmth. An hour later, having peacefully drifted in and out of blissful consciousness, I felt arms wrap around me, Seth grunting, “Come on… You’ll burn if you stay here.”

I was too cosy in the sun to fight back, or to tell him that I would walk back myself, and instead allowed him to carry me… somewhere, I wasn’t sure where. I could hear Selphien and Syrphien talking quietly, as well as Tarlien, who I hadn’t gotten to know too well.

“Who is the boy?” I slurred, and Seth struggled at juggling me and a tent entrance until Syrphien pulled it aside for him, allowing him to continue carrying me.

“Huh? Oh, Tarlien. He’s a friend of Selphien’s.”

“Is he nice?”

“I suppose so. You’ll have to ask him.”

I could feel the warmth beginning to dim now that I was out of the sun, and my stomach growled loudly just as Seth began tucking silken sheets around me, saying to Syrphien, “Could you fetch someone to watch her? Tatiana says she needs to be guarded.”

“From who? Zeella? He can shove it,” I mumbled. I wasn’t afraid of him.

“No, in case you decide to make a tired break for it,” my Connected explained, and I shrugged, turning over and curling into the soft mattress, which was infinitely better than the one I had been given before. The sheets were both cool and warm at the same time, and I quickly stripped out of the training clothes I had been given, sinking further into the sheets, dragging a soft, feather-filled pillow downwards and tucking it under my head.

This was Heaven…

I drifted off again at some point, feeling strange, and woke to Myr, her long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, a pair of earrings hanging from her ears. She was quietly rearranging everything on my desk, laying out my belongings, and I sat up slowly, my brain disoriented. She turned when she heard me, and with an apologetic smile, explained, “Sorry for waking you, sweetie, I was just giving your stuff back.” It was beginning to become dark outside, a lantern hanging from the ceiling the only source of light, and outside, I could hear people piling wood in one of the fields, as well as the sizzling of meat over fires.

I nodded, laying back on my pillow, and she walked over, a concerned frown on her face.

“You don’t look so good.”

“I don’t feel so good,” I groaned, before asking, “What time is it?”

“It’s nearing sunset. It’s the Winter Solstice celebration, so I’ve decided to hang out with you. Nobody should be alone for solstice,” she smiled, and I shook my head. I could feel a killer headache building, and I could barely breathe at the angle I was lying at. I wasn’t coming down with something, was I? If I was, I wanted to be alone. Illness could kill a Demonic-being, even something as minor as a cold.

“Spend time with your friends.”

“My friends, if they wish to see me, can come see me in here,” she said, pulling a chair out from under my desk, and, pulling a cookie from her pocket, held it out.

“Cookie?”

I took it, starving, and devoured it in two bites, Myr’s face worth the ill feeling I was going to receive later. She watched me for a moment, before quietly saying, “Tiskial told me what happened in training. Are you okay?”

“Does it matter? I’m not a friend to any of you.”

“Not yet, but you’re an ally, and that means that your happiness is our happiness. Do you need to talk?”

I doubted blurting out my life story again was going to look like anything but a pity tactic, so I forced a smile to my face, and said, “No, I’m fine. Thank you, though.”

Myr winked, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit warmer as she added, “Do you dance?”

“Are you asking me to?”

“Hm,” she snickered, “No, but I have a feeling that somebody will,” she cast a sly look outside, where I could see, and smell, Seth standing outside, chatting to Selphien, and I rolled my eyes, huffing.

“He’s with Selphien.”

“He’s also your Connected… You saved Selphien, and probably Syrphien, too. Why did you do it?”

“I guess I wanted to feel like I was doing something right, for once. I don’t get to do that very often.”

Myr fell silent for a while, and I took the opportunity to stand on shaking legs, which jolted Myr out of whatever train of thought she’d been having, and as she stood, I noticed her clothes. She was wearing a light blue, near silver shirt that lengthened in the back into a cloak, a hood attached expertly at the nape of her neck. Her pants were a shade darker, and a white bag hung from her arm, ready to be filled with… something?

“Would you like to join the Solstice?”

Glancing out at the Fae I could hear outside the tent, I hesitated. It wouldn’t be a good idea, especially since I was more than aware that a lot of the soldiers weren’t particularly happy with my becoming an ally, even if I was only around for a little while. My presence could provoke something. Myr, seeing my face, said, “I’ll be with you the entire time.”

“What if someone comes up to us?” I asked, and she snorted.

“They won’t.”

“I don’t have anything to wear,” I said in a last-ditch attempt to back myself out of it, but seeing that I was desperately trying to stay isolated, Myr shrugged, and said, “I can lend you some of my clothes. We’re pretty much the same size.”

I sighed, giving in, and Myr smiled, gleefully saying, “Wait here!”

I could understand why she didn’t want to be stuck in here the entire night watching me, even if she had said earlier that she didn’t care, but I didn’t really want to parade myself around, especially after the rather tense meeting, and the fact that Syrphien was still sporting the impressive bruise I had given him.

I wandered over to my returned items, grabbing out the satchel I had carried nearly my entire life, and slung it over my shoulder, digging through a few of my items to see if I was carrying anything worthy of wearing. Aside from the bikini, which I had been wearing up until a few hours ago, there was nothing.

It wasn’t until I opened the second bag that I remembered my sister, and my mother’s memorial boxes, and I opened my mother’s, gently sifting through the jewellery I had stored in there. I had a few pieces that I wore often, relics of my mother, and tonight, I gently picked out a small diamond necklace, the chain made of silver, and placed it around my neck. I had a pair of earrings that matched it, but out of fear of losing them, I decided against them, carefully closing the box, and placing it aside.

Myr returned just as I slid the box back into the bag, a pile of soft blue clothes in her arms, and she gently asked, “Do you need anything?”

I shook my head, taking the clothes from her, and promised to be out in a moment. She stood outside, where I heard Selphien start up a quiet conversation with her about Tarvenia as I dressed.

Strangely, I felt like there were eyes on me, and as I changed, I looked around the tent, feeling somewhat paranoid of the dark, shadowy corners. Surely the wards would pick up on someone lurking around? I brushed my hair- the first time it had been brushed in days, and took a moment to steady myself, feeling self-conscious in the tight, blue shirt and skirt for the first time in years. I wasn’t used to any other colours but black and red, but the Solstice clearly had a tradition that needed to be followed.

I pulled the tent entrance aside, stepping out into the cool dusk air, and Myr looped her arm through mine like we were old friends as Seth went pale, and Selphien turned bright red, blushing for me. I averted my gaze while Myr desperately tried to start the conversation up to save face for me, instead gazing out across the decorated camp, admiring the streamers that had been wrapped around six large maypoles, and the huge bonfire that had been built, and was waiting to be set alight. A large stone circle had been built around it, and from an unknown source, I could hear a gentle, but thrumming, music being played; a mixture of drums and harps- enchanting, but primal.

It was mostly Fae littering the large field that had been dug out in the middle of the war camp, but many other Super-Natural species had emerged from their tents to partake in the festivities, and thankfully, hardly any of them took any notice of me standing on the wooden boards above their heads.

The smell of cooking meat, sweet fruits and that strangely haunting music lured me from Myr’s side, who let me go with barely any attention, too wrapped up in whatever conversation she was having with Selphien and Seth to take much notice of me. I stepped into the cool grass, brushing aside the fact that I didn’t have shoes, and into the crowd, holding my emptied satchel close, intending to fill it with food by the end of the night to snack on later.

Every Fae in the ring had an empty bag or coin purse that they were holding, like they were waiting for something, and it wasn’t until the sun had finished setting on the horizon that I heard a strange, bellowing call, like someone shouting down a metal pipe, that I began to wonder if this strange holiday was something deeper for the Fae.

As the call rung out across the field, its final notes drifting across our heads, six Faeries of various ages and genders took their places at the poles surrounding the bonfire, and I watched as they lifted their hands in unison, the music vanishing, and the Faeries around us going quiet, watching patiently.

In the music’s place was a throbbing, loud drum beat that made my soul recoil slightly, and I looked down to see I was standing on one of the many stones that surrounded the bonfire, a marking glowing bright white beneath my feet. Stepping back, I felt light-headed, and held onto one of the tables in support.

In harmony with both each other, and the drumbeats, the six Faeries held their palms out, and I watched in awe, feeling strange, as a white flame flickered to life across their palms, crackling loudly. It sounded like ice forming, and as the drumbeats cut out, a second, deafening call emanating around us, the Faeries tilted their hands forward, as if intending to pour the icy flames onto the dirt. Instead, their magic leapt forward, striking the bonfire, which lit up with a ‘BANG!’ that rattled the camp, and I jumped back, startled, red flickering around me. I dropped the instinctive shield, feeling the judgemental eyes of others glued to me, and I felt someone fall into place beside me- Myr. On my other side was Selphien, holding Seth’s hand tightly, and I felt a heavy weight beginning to grow on my shoulder, coming from my satchel. When I went to look in it, Myr pulled my hand back, murmuring, “In a moment.”

I could see that everybody else with a bag and purse, which was everyone, was having the same experience, although none of them made a reach for the items that had magically appeared in their bag, instead waiting for the call to end, and the drums to begin once again. Without warning, Myr shoved me back onto that stone, and I froze as the light beneath all of them died, people lining up behind others who had stepped onto the stones, as if waiting their turn. I looked back at Myr desperately for instructions, but she tilted her head back to the bonfire, indicating I watch. I did as she asked, hearing Selphien mumble something under her breath, and watched as a stone on the other side of the circle lit up with a bright green, the Faery atop it stepping smoothly toward the fire. On the opposite side, directly parallel, the same stone lit up, and that Faery began walking, the both of them reaching into their bags without looking.

They didn’t stop when they reached the bonfire, although the heat must have been unimaginable, and instead reached through it, toward each other, with their hands clasped. They exchanged whatever items they held, and then turned, and scampered off in delight to examine their gift.

This continued four more times, with not everybody on the stones being Fae, luckily, leaving me and one other Faery, a girl with pale orange skin, waiting on the stones, watching for our turn.

Hers lit up with the colours of sunlight, and I looked down to see mine glowing a deep red. The stones reflected power?

Taking a deep breath, I stepped off the stone, and walked nervously to the bonfire, the girl on the other side doing the same.

It wasn’t until I was three or four feet away from the bonfire that I heard a voice say, ‘Reach into your satchel, young one.’

I scrambled to do so, wondering who the voice was, and grit my teeth as I came close enough to the fire that it should have burnt, only to find that instead of heat, all I felt was freezing cold ice. The girl with the orange skin reached into it, and I did the same, our fingers brushing together as we passed our gifts to each other, leaving me wondering what in the name of the Heavens was going on.

Before we could move, however, a heavier weight fell between us both, and we leapt back, startled, people laughing around us as we both tripped, falling over.

They were laughing until the fire in the centre cracked, like somebody had taken a huge axe to it, and shards flew outwards, leaving, in the centre of the now frozen solid flames, a statue of a regal-looking woman, her dress billowing out behind her, her arms cupped above her head, and a diadem on her carved hair.

“Um…” I looked around for answers, wondering if this was part of the ritual, to find everybody else pale faced, and whispering. Myr stepped over the stone to try and retrieve me, only to hit an invisible barrier.

‘Open your hands,’ the voice said again, and aloud, I demanded, “Who are you?”

The girl was also speaking to somebody on the other side of the field, although I couldn’t hear her words, and I looked around to see that I could hear nobody else, despite the fact that they were talking. When the voice urged me again to open my hands, I did so- right at the same moment that the girl on the other side of the bonfire did. A replica of the very necklace I wore now was sitting in my palms, although this time, the diamond was a sapphire, my mother’s birthstone, and I clenched my fist, hissing, “What kind of sick game are you playing?”

The girl on the other side of the bonfire had begun to cry, cradling something in her hands and rocking back and forth over it, and I threw the necklace on the ground furiously, standing and shouting, “If you’re going to be such a bitch, at least tell me who you are!”

“My name is one well-known throughout Fae history,” a woman said from behind me, and I turned to see a silver-haired woman, her eyes glowing with the same colour. Nel Sevenna, the Silver Queen. I held my ground, my having been power crackling at my fingertips from the moment I’d been thrown backward, and she stepped toward me. The other girl hadn’t noticed her yet.

“I believe you have something for me.”

“Nope. I have nothing for you but a middle finger, and a whole lot of questions.”

“You willingly joined in the ritual. You have an offering to make to me.”

“I wasn’t aware I had to make one. What do you want? Gold? Food?” Nobody ELSE had been forced to make a damn offering to her! What kind of unfair bullshit was this?!

“How about a piece of your life?”

“A piece of my soul? No deal there, lady.”

Nel Sevenna, who historically, I couldn’t remember being such an insensitive ass, sighed dramatically, and finally said, “Very well, how about a memory?”

“It depends on which one,” I said warily, knowing full well how the old Fae of lore worked, and Nel Sevenna said, “You can choose one. In exchange, I’ll give you a second gift.”

How was I to choose a memory to give up? After a while of debating about what I could afford to lose, I said, “Take the one I’m thinking of now.”

It was nothing but the memory of a nightmare I’d had months ago, only a day or two after I had been raised again. It was nothing prophetic, or even worth mentioning, but it was strange enough that I wanted to get rid of it. It had consisted mostly of images from Earth, and a few strange hallucinations about shadowy figures. Just a stereotypical nightmare. Nel Sevenna, whose presence I felt in my mind, sighed again, seemingly in disappointment at my choice, and my head filled with a cotton-ball feeling. Before I could demand what her gift to me was, I collapsed.

I kept consciousness, watching as the Queen approached the girl on the other side of the bonfire, giving her a similar choice, and a moment later, the girl also collapsed. She returned to me, her hands clasped in front of her, and whispered, “The ring lies in his brother’s pillow.”

With that, she vanished, and I laid there for a moment longer, debating what in the depths of Hell she could have meant, until I felt warm hands on my body, Jane shouting, “She’s freezing!”

They sat me up, leaning me back on one of the tables, a group of Faeries doing the same to the inconsolable Faery across from me, and around us, things promptly returned to normal, as if none of them had seen the Silver Queen. The flames were now once again curling and dancing, and people continued to exchange gifts through them, which I was now told was to ‘purify them’, and make an offering to Princess Amyrdeen, whose birthday we were celebrating.

Something was sitting in my hands, and I uncurled my shaking fingers to find two items- The necklace that Nel had given me when the flames had cracked, and a strange silver token. I rubbed at my head, shivering, and someone pressed a hot drink into my hands, Myr taking the token from me to examine it.

“Cool! You got a Fae coin! What an awesome gift!”

“Yippy for me!” I said weakly, once again annoyed with the lack of warning from the Fae, and Myr pressed the coin back into my hands, before plucking up the necklace, looking at me in fright, “You didn’t rob somebody, did you?”

“No, there was a Faery woman- Nel Sevenna.”

Seeing that they clearly didn’t believe me, judging by their faces of disbelief, I recapped what had happened, mentioning that I could remember something being taken from my head, but I wasn’t sure what, as well as the strange ‘second gift’ that I had been given. I took back the necklace from Myr, brushing a thumb over the sapphire, and Jane asked, “Your mother’s birthstone was a sapphire?”

I smiled sadly, and tucked the necklace back into my satchel, feigning yet another smile as a strange feeling of emptiness crept over me again. I wanted to eat, dance, and then sleep again. The ring bullshit could wait until tomorrow, during Tatiana’s coronation. I already had a sneaking suspicion of whose ‘brother’s pillow’ I had to look under, since Seth had once again gone pale, but what sort of ring would garner the attention of a very much dead Fae Queen?

Seth had already scampered off somewhere with Selphien, and I had no way of knowing what was going to occur next in this strange festival, so I stuck to Myr’s side, following her as she went to get food, find Tiskial and the others, and eventually, she began dancing, the strange events of Nel’s appearance forgotten to them.

I was pacing around the edge of the floor, wondering what was going on, when somebody tapped me on the shoulder. I turned, already prepared to defend myself, to find Emmett hesitantly standing there, wringing his hands together.

“Um… I’m sorry to bother you, but you look familiar.”

Oh, shit. I had forgotten about Emmett and Merry, and the fact that they knew me as ‘Seth’s lover’.

I smiled warmly, hoping nobody called out for me, and said, “Oh! Hi, Emmett, was it? How are you?”

“I’m fine… I was wondering if you knew where Lydiav was?”

Lydiav. She had been with Silba the last time I’d been able to check, but I couldn’t blurt that out here. Glancing around to ensure nobody was watching, I grabbed Emmett’s hand, and wrenched him into a nearby tent, whispering, “I’m sorry I had to pull you away from the party, but I can’t risk anybody finding her.”

He nodded, and I said, “I can’t tell you where she is, because the person she is with doesn’t trust people very much, but I can take you there.”

If I was lucky, Silba would still be in Ordeallan. She would have protected her home from the lava, but whether she was there or not wasn’t my issue, it was how I was going to get out without being noticed. Leaving now could jeopardize my bargain with Tatiana.

Except, Lydiav needed that cure, and nobody had been able to get it to her recently. That, and I had to give the Paradoxin Cord to Madorinne, because new bargain or not, I was going to uphold my promise to the Northern-Isles girl.

Emmett, to my surprise, had no qualms about following me into the lava-filled depths of Ordeallan when I told him where we needed to go, and I said, “I have to get something for her first. But first, I need your permission for something.”

Less to my surprise, Emmett was a bit freaked out to hear that I could steal his skin, and even more freaked out to see it happen, especially when I took his voice as well. I would need his appearance to get into Jason’s tent to steal the Henara cure, and I would need it to get out of the camp as well.

He promised to wait for me in the tent, out of sight of others, and I strode out, feeling like I had a new purpose as I made my way across the festivities toward Jason’s tent. I had no idea what the Henara cure looked like, since I’d been given the injection when I was knocked out, but there were ways of finding it. I didn’t stop to think about the fact that there would be others in the tent until I had stridden in, Jason immediately hearing me and turning around, a bowl and a jar in his hands.

“Ah, Emmett! What can I do for you?”

“Um…” I shuffled my feet nervously, glancing around at the other soldiers, and Jason, seeing my faked uncomfortable expression, motioned for me to walk forward, where I could see a collection of wards carved into the floor.

“Oh, those? They’re just to ensure there are no deceits at play. We do, after all, have a Demonic-being with a rather trickster set of skills. Those wards will deactivate powers. Even I don’t have any when I’m in here. They also stop any noise from being heard outside of this circle, which means I can chat privately to anybody who may need it.”

I walked forward, and stopped on the edge of the wards, smiling at him in as friendly a manner as I could manage, beginning, “I need something from you, but you have to promise not to-”

“Step inside the circle, Emmett, if you don’t want whatever you’re about to say to be heard by others.”

I hesitated, and Jason sighed, motioning for me to continue, his attention sliding back to his bowl, which I could see now was full of strange herbs and spices, as well as a pale brown liquid. Whatever he was making didn’t look very appetising, but knowing Jason, it wasn’t meant to be eaten.

“I need your help,” I said simply, and Jason, without turning away from his concoction, asked, “With?”

Deciding to take a chance on the impatient Vampire, I stepped inside the wards, Emmett’s skin melting from me.

“Please don’t panic, I just need a cure for something,” I breathed, and Jason turned slowly, his eyebrows rising in questioning. Either he was in a very good mood, or I’d shocked him beyond responding in any way other than ‘mild annoyance’.

“And what could a lowly Alchemist do for a Princess of Hell?” He said, dead-pan, and I took a deep breath. Maybe taking a chance on him had been the wrong choice, since I could practically see his will to help me flying out the door.

“I need a cure for Henara. It’s not for me, and I’m willing to pay-”

“You want a cure for Henara for one of your Demon friends?”

“You swore an oath to help anybody, regardless of who or what they are,” I hissed, and Jason said, “You’ve caused a lot of problems, young lady, particularly for me, since I’m the one who has to firsthand see the wounds you inflict on people. I’ll help you, but don’t expect me to treat you like a friend. We have a long way to go before I can call you as such.”

Fine, I could understand why he felt that way. I nodded, digging into my satchel for the money he would want, and held it out. He pulled a small vial, a needle attached to the end of it, from a locked box on his desk, and said, “Inject it anywhere in the body, but if you can, inject it into a vein. It’ll take affect much quicker than if you inject it into an arm or leg.”

I tucked it carefully into my own satchel, thanking him, and he brushed off my thanks, before asking, “Seth brought up something interesting to me, a while ago.”

“Oh?” I paused on the edge of the wards, preparing to take Emmett’s form again, and he said, “He mentioned a blonde woman who worked for you. She cleaned for you?”

“Lillian? What of her?”

“So her name is Lillian…” Jason ran a hand through his hair, and I paused. I had known that Lillian was from Earth, but so was Jason… Were they once lovers? When I asked this, he looked down at me with disgust, and said, “I had a sister on Earth. Her name was Lillian. I thought she was killed in the Legacy War.”

Lillian was Jason’s sister? That explained the matching, eccentric looks, but why hadn’t she said anything about him in all the years I’d known her?

“Oh. Well…” I didn’t know what to say to that. Lillian could already be dead, depending on just how badly Zeella had reacted to my leaving. I know Alishan had returned to the Manor so she could report the damage back to me, which made me wonder what she had done with the Sacreds, or even Phoenix. Maybe I would send her a letter, or hopefully, Bal’gag, who I had been told had escaped, would contact her for me.

“I don’t expect you to do anything about it. I spent my whole life believing she was dead. Finding out she’s alive doesn’t change much now.”

Wasn’t that was just upsetting. Maybe I would find a way to bring her here. Hell knows it would save her life, because eventually, Zeella was going to be pissed enough at me to punish her in my place.

I rushed out without another word, unsure what to tell Jason, and forgot to replace my appearance with Emmett’s. As it happened, it didn’t matter, because as I was rushing back to the tent, Emmett beckoned to me from the shadows just outside the camp, whispering, “Hey! Destiny!”

I rushed to greet him, crouching with him in the mud, and he asked, “Did you get what you needed?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Take me to Lydiav.”

We stood, turning away from the war camp, and I could have sworn I felt eyes on the back of my head as we crept out into the darkness of the surrounding fields, heading for the ruined city…

*

Emmett, as it turned out, never shut up.

Conversation after conversation, and question after question fired from his untiring mouth until I was just about ready to kick him in the gut and fetch Lydiav myself, but I forced myself to smile and answer his questions, which spanned from everything from home life to how I had met Seth. I gave a few easy, believable lies- My home life was fine, and I’d met Seth in the Rusty Tin bar. Emmett soaked up every answer easier than a sponge did water, and I quickly found myself tuning out his own replies, growing increasingly annoyed.

Eventually, after hearing him ask about my parents, I said, “Look, Emmett, I’m fine with taking you to Lydiav, but I don’t really discuss my parents.”

He clamped his mouth shut, turning white, and fell silent.

Blissful, wonderful silence…

It was the silence that ended up saving our lives, because as we approached the edge of the city, the wall having been brought down yet again, I felt the air tighten around us, and heard footsteps atop the lava that I might have otherwise missed.

Each step hissed, and the sound of stone grating against stone was enough that I winced, but pulled Emmett into the tunnel entrance, clamping a hand down on his mouth, and freezing. Satalari was nearby. There was nobody else who could walk on that damned lava. I could feel its heat even from here. I could sense Nihila with her, too. Emmett, luckily, seemed to also sense that something was wrong, and when I drew the dagger he was carrying in his belt, he froze further. Seeing the look on my face, he began to wrestle quietly for the blade, fighting for control of it.

If Satalari came for me again, I wasn’t planning on trying to attack her. I was going to use this blade on me.

I didn’t understand why he cared, until I remembered that I was to take him to Lydiav. I was the only person, aside from Seth and Bal’gag, who knew where she was.

Finally, I wrenched the blade from him, but he must have seen the change in my face as Satalari continued walking, and I heard someone begin screaming in agony above us. I didn’t know Satalari was still in the city! I would have taken longer studying for a safer way in than the rooftops had I known!

“You need to go get help!” I hissed under my breath, trying to shove him away, and he grabbed my arm, demanding quietly, “Why? Who is that?”

“Her name is Satalari Paradoxin. She’s what’s known as an Ancient.”

“I’m not leaving without Lydiav.”

“Oh, yes you are, because if she catches you, you will wish for death. Believe me on that front, at least.”

Emmett hesitated, seeing the dagger in my hands, and breathed, “Tell me where she is. In case something happens to you, because I can tell that you’re going after her.”

The screams of that poor person were continuing, and I could smell flesh burning- I felt salt brush against every wound, no matter how small or unnoticeable to begin with- shaking the pain and horror from my head, I said, “Silba. She’s with Silba.”

“I don’t know who that is.”

“Jason will. Go, Emmett!”

I shoved the dagger into his hands, since it was the only weapon between the two of us, and with Emmett running back across the field, he was more likely to be noticed by Satalari than I was. If that happened, I wanted to give him a way out.

He took off running, and I leapt up from the tunnel to buy him time, because I could already feel Satalari’s powers humming around his body, noticing him immediately. I practically stumbled into her line of vision, my hands stinging with the influx of power, and her eyes widened slightly, before a saccharine smile spread across her lips. She was still pressing her hand into the man’s chest, burning him, and I ignored the smell of burning flesh and horrific screams that were beginning to fade. Even if I killed Satalari now, he would die. There was nothing that could be done for him.

Satalari lifted her hand slowly as he died, his blood bubbling up, glowing orange as it wrapped around her fingers, and she strolled over to stand before me, whispering, “Not many people come back to play after meeting me, Princess…” The blood sank into her skin, fuelling her in much the same way Nihila, who was now nowhere to be found, fed off blood, and I lifted my chin before her, staring her down as I felt her attention drift off Emmett, who was nearly back at the war camp, and toward me.

“I’m not the same as an average person.”

“I can tell… It’s why I took my sweet time with you. Do you remember it? The burns? The salt? I can tell you do; I see it in your haunted, pretty eyes…” She vanished before me, ash drifting around my body, and I turned just in time to see her materialise again behind me, snaking around me, her body more ash than corporeal.

“I nearly killed you, Princess, so why are you back?”

“It’s my turn to return the favour.”

“With what weaponry? The Assassin’s arsenal is drained, the-” The barb of power that I had been snaking between her ashy form struck mid-sentence, and she shrieked in fury, droplets of blood that were lit up like flames exploding outwards. They left huge welts where they landed across the buildings and floor, smoke rising, and I coughed, waving at the air, my powers rising around me in a shield. I looked back to see the person Satalari had killed was slowly burning up in the lava, not a trace to be left behind. Not even this man’s family would know what had happened to him, why he had gone for a walk and never come back, or if the screams they might have heard throughout the night as Satalari had hunted were his.

I turned slowly, scanning every possible area the ashy Ancient could hide in, and tauntingly called out, “You always did talk too much, Satalari!”

There were shadows in every nook and cranny, in every broken house and bubbling street, there was a place for the Ancient of Chaos to hide.

Chaos was everywhere, and it was only a matter of time before it found me, too.

Ordeallan was burning, and with it, any hope of defeating not only Zeella, but the more powerful allies he was acquainted with, was turning into ash on the wind.

I had once sworn I would get revenge on Ordeallan, but looking over what Satalari could do, the death and sadness she caused, this was something better to fight for, somebody better’s blood to spill.

Keeping my shield around me up, I began to send flares of power outwards, searching for her, knowing that if I found her, I wasn’t wasting time, I was going to squash her like the bug she was.

House after house, street after street- had she left?

The ground beneath me began steaming, the burning smell of sulphur and smoke.

I leapt out of the way, landing on my feet as the ground shattered where I had been standing. No lava poured out, but the heat would have been enough to kill me, boiling me alive.

The wall of the house I took cover beside cracked behind me, wood splintering, and rocks groaning as it came crashing down, furniture shattering on the hardened lava.

I caught a glimpse of Satalari, still more ash than Ancient, darting between buildings, her eyes glazed over, completely lost to her power.

Maybe, once upon a time, I might have believed her a slave to that power, but she knew what she was doing.

Lances of my power, mimicking the whip I had once lashed out with, struck after Satalari, always seeming a step or two behind as she circled me, buildings crashing down around us, and I continued to have to move to avoid being crushed or cooked.

“One of us is dying tonight, Satalari, and it’s not going to be me!”

The world plummeted into darkness, Satalari bringing a wave of ash over the city, and I covered my mouth and nose with my clothes, my eyes and lungs burning, tears streaming down my face. Nothing but watery shadows darted in the corners of my vision, and it was the slide of one foot on gravel that had me spinning before she could stab me in the back, a jagged piece of rock in her fingers. I grappled with her, slashing with my nails, the both of us snarling, and the ash thickened, as if she was trying to choke me out. We tumbled to the ground, still clawing for life at each other, and I watched as I managed to sink poisoned claws into her arms, as if the Septem Peccatis had finally returned. She screamed, and erupted into ash again, merging with my surroundings.

Eventually, I heard people shouting more and more through the thick smoke, and a gaping crevice, similar to the one I had summoned Nihila out of, tore open beneath my feet, dragging down five or six streets, and bringing the remains of the wall crashing down on top of me. I plummeted, catching hold of myself on a rocky outpost, and covered myself with my power. I reached up to drag myself back into the street, blood clouding one of my eyes, and she dropped in front of me, her hands clawed, her skin bubbling like an active volcano, and her eyes furious as she rose to her full height, and screamed, “MEDDLING GIRL!”

She gripped my wrist with her hand, the heat unbearable, and I felt Seth double over in pain somewhere, my vision flashing red for a moment. Accepting death would be easy, knowing that my Guardians were free, and Emmett knew where Lydiav was to save her. I could accept this death. I was slipping, Satalari now sliding her hand up my arm, and I felt my power surge in adrenaline-fuelled panic- Satalari released me, and I fell onto a ledge below, my hand unable to bleed, the wounds cauterized by her fiery fingers. She choked up above, and I looked down to see that I was clenching my burnt hand hard enough that my nails had slashed into my skin. Staring up at her, I tightened my grasp on the instinctive bolt of power that had saved my life, and watched as it tore through her, blood and lava splattering down over me like rain.

The world itself seemed to scream, like the depths of Hell had been torn open, and I reached up, my power shoving Satalari down to me. I would push her into that crevice beneath me, but not before I knew for certain that she was dead. Climbing slowly upwards, each new tug of weight making my arm scream in pain, and I eventually rolled over the edge, still ripping through Satalari.

I couldn’t bring myself to look away as my power tore through her like she was wet paper, shreds of it splattering. I couldn’t stop, had to keep going, because I knew that if I stopped now, she would stand again, she would kill me, and she would take her time doing i- Arms wrapped around me, wrenching me away, and I screamed wordlessly, my power still ripping Satalari apart. I wasn’t stopping until I saw bone, and after that, I would shred them, too. She deserved this for what she did to me. She deserved it, and so much worse! So I unleashed that furious, unrivalled power that kept the Manor fearing me. The power of Hell.

The mere smidgeons of it that I allowed myself to access were nothing compared to it. I could kill Ancients. There was nothing and nobody stopping me from doing this forever, because nobody would dare stand in my way!

“YOU CAN’T HAUNT ME!” I screamed at her, “YOU, AND ZEELLA, AND EVERY OTHER SICK, ILL ASSHOLE AT THE MANOR CAN’T LAY A DAMN HAND ON ME! I WON’T LET YOU!”

“Destiny, stop! Stop!” Someone screamed in my ear, and I felt my soul shatter, much like how Satalari’s body was nothing more than a crumpled mess. There wasn’t enough body left to even properly identify her. I managed to stare at it for a moment, the realisation of what I had done sinking in, before burying my face into the chest of the person who held me. I didn’t make a sound, not a single whimper or cry or groan, or even a shriek of victory. There was nothing but emptiness in my chest where my power had been curled up, waiting, and I took a deep, shuddering breath as the air cleared. Seth rubbed at my back, holding me tightly. I could tell he was shaking as much as I was, and I heard Tatiana gasp, before there was a loud retching noise above us, Tiskial offering a prayer to the Heavens, while Kynal swore intensely. I heard someone else, likely another soldier that had been brought to aid in the fight, begin crying, although I doubted it was for Satalari.

Finally, I managed to let out a whimper, before turning and retching over the side of the crevice, only barely managing to prevent myself from throwing up, the first time I had gotten a look at what Satalari had opened. There was a swirling mess of ash that hid everything below from view, but that ash was slowly fading away, and soon, I would be able to see the bubbling, burning mess that would be her grave.

Seth knelt beside me, rubbing my back, and I looked over my shoulder to see that he wasn’t looking at me, but instead at the puddle that was Satalari Paradoxin. I tugged on his sleeve, and he flinched away.

I met the gazes of each of the people in turn, seeing the fear reflected in them, and began hyperventilating, my body too shocked for tears. What had I done?

Even this, for me, was too far…

I had just turned an Ancient into pulp.

Never, in my thousands of years of training, had I been able to unleash that… madness. It was like I couldn’t control it anymore. Whatever hold I had tightly clung to over my power was gone, and I could feel it coiling in my gut like a snake.

My gaze fell onto what was left of the Ancient, and I shook my head violently, feeling my power rise once again, thinking that my quickened breaths were in response to a threat, and I shouted, “Get away from me!”

None of them moved so much as an inch, not even Seth, who was most definitely in firing range if I lost control of whatever Hell I had just unleashed. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to move- they couldn’t. They were just as much in shock as I was.

What was it? What was it? What was it?!

“I can’t control it! Just get away! I don’t want to hurt any of you!” I clutched at my own hands tightly, sitting down before I collapsed, and struggled to even my breathing, Satalari’s sludge beginning to evaporate under the heat. Stepping forward, and hoping that finishing the job would ease my panic, I wrapped my power around her remains, and shoved them into the pit, where they landed on something that snarled with fury in return.

No…

Earlier, I could have sworn I’d heard the world, no, Hell itself, shriek in fury when I’d killed Satalari. It wasn’t shrieking because Satalari had died, it was shrieking in victory, because somehow, the Ancient of Chaos had just opened the gates to Hell.