Descent Into Darkness

Descent Into Darkness Chapter 56

Well, 9 months ago, my laptop was (kinda) stolen, so I wasn't writing. Obviously. But I have a short chapter for all of you, and for one person in particular. NekaPorter, this is you, love. Enjoy!

Edit: Wattpad formatted my copy and paste weirdly, and I'm still trying to fix it. Apologies.

Phoenix saw to Elaina's meeting with Ember, then excused himself to watch her soldiers settle in, taking care to not interact with any of them. He stood on one of the hills overlooking the space they had chosen for their camp, watching as tents were pitched, cook-fires were lit, and men tired from marching rested their feet. 

He heard footsteps at his back and nodded to Elaina once she sat near him on the grass, and he waited for the strike. She had said she harbored no ill-will toward him, but he was not sure if he completely believed her. "No," she said, crossing her legs and leaning forward.

Phoenix raised a brow. "No?" 

"I did not say I did not want to kill you just to drop your guard. I have no plans of harming you in any way."

Phoenix chuckled. "You will have to forgive me if I do not take your words at their meaning, for I have done much which would warrant my death, to you and your city most of all."

"Is that why you sit here, watching my soldiers instead of helping them? Afraid they might kill you on sight?"

He nodded. "I asked Lian to assist them, but she scowled at me and disappeared." 

Elaina sighed. "While I cannot speak for my soldiers, and I am quite sure many of them would love to run you through, I can speak for myself. While I am angry at what happened to my city, and to my husband, I know what it is like to not be ones self, and to regret the actions taken later."

Phoenix glanced askew at her before looking back at the people milling below. "You were once under the influence of Avec?"

"Not so much as you, but yes. I did not draw on its power, but I still felt its affects. I knew what it could do to someone else, namely any person fire-born. Our emotions are so strongly connected to our gifts, and fire-born are the most emotional, feeling anger unabashed. The affect on one such as yourself could prove disastrous, as it was."

"You must be stronger than I," Phoenix mumbled, tearing a piece of grass from the hillside beneath him."

"It is not a matter of strength, Phoenix, but a matter of power. Avec is a strange stone, and one would be hard pressed to learn everything about it in a single life time, but I will tell you that I know that when a person is more powerful, the stone puts out that much more energy, corrupts them faster. You must be powerful indeed if it only took days to influence you to the point of doing the deeds I have heard you accused of. So no, I harbor no ill-will toward you, and would ask that you live a long life after this crisis, should we survive."

Phoenix took a moment before replying, trying to understand the woman beside him and utterly failing. "You are a strange woman, Elaina," he said finally, which elicited a small smile from her before they fell back into silence.

The sun had moved little before their comfortable silence was broken by a young woman walking up the hill from the camp. Phoenix made to raise his hood to hide his face, but a hand of Elaina's on his stopped him. "You have nothing to fear from this woman," she whispered, and together they watched her ascend the hill, a package in her arms. 

She wore blued gray trousers and gray shirt, a puffed scarf wound around her neck like a serpent. Her skin was dark like tree bark, darker even than Lindani's, long, smooth, midnight hair hung down her back, framing large, almond shaped eyes, gray as the sky before rain. She moved confidently, never looking at where her feet would land, but never stumbling. The parcel she held turned out to be a small stack of four books, and she finally approached Elaina and Phoenix, looking down upon them akin to a queen inspecting her subjects. 

Elaina raised a hand and gestured to the woman. "Phoenix of Yaag, it is my great pleasure to introduce to you, Neka, of the desert clans of Isandir. A powerful earth-born, though it holds no interest to her."

"Earth-born?" Phoenix questioned, rising to his feet. "We can use all the elementals we can get our hands on."

Neka spoke, her voice lilting with an accent Phoenix could not place. "I will not be fighting with my body or gifts in the coming war, Phoenix of Yaag."

Phoenix looked to Elaina, who was rising to her feet as well. "Neka is a scholar, the most gifted scholar I have ever met. Able to read entire volumes in mere hours, and able to bring to mind any information contained therein with a simple question."

Phoenix nodded, not fully understanding, and Neka turned to Elaina. "My lady, you must convene the generals. I have stumbled upon the history of Demetrius in my reading, and have much to tell."

"What have you learned?" Elaina asked.

"His true name, from where he hails, and most importantly, a profound weakness which may prove priceless in the coming battle."