The Night Rider

Chapter 62 - Inheritance

The man who stood in the shadow of the door wasn't her father.

The calm wave of familial recognition became sharp and cloying with unfamiliarity the moment Nivara recognised the ominous, black attire of a necromancer. He was taller, his back arching below the densely packed sand of the Snake Pits, his well weathered hat scraping signature divots into each roof.

The glowing Trollians that had once followed the trail of sandstorms lit dimly in the moonlight, halted in darkness. The only light that trailed was from the man's cigarette, somehow igniting the room too brightly and not enough all at once. An easy mark to confirm his Fire Trait.

Nivara groaned wearily at the aggravating light, Aidari's deteriorating eyesight making her long for her usual body, the Surge draining her enough to barely move her head away from it.

"Fiora? Are you alright?" Nivara's words hung weakly in the deafening silence, waiting with bated breath for her response.

There was no reply.

The necromancer took a single step towards her.

The sheer terror struck Nivara more than any weapon ever could.

The Surge forced her to remain in her seat, its electric hold over her churning into a cloying mix of hot and cold chills that rendered her body so weak she could barely keep her eyes open. Her breath hitched, the miniscule, hypnotic flame startling her far more than any banned profession, her mind frozen in place just as much as her bones.

A single step. That's all it took to change the temperature.

"How dare he show up after all this time? Does he even know what you went through because of him and he better not dare tell me he knows because of his stupid, egotistical-"

Never had the sound of arguing made Nivara feel so relieved.

Fiora's words were cut off by the rushing winds of her Trait, the sand walls surrounding them instantly melting away an entrance. Aidari's home removed the Fiora sized hole with ease despite the scorching air emanating from the frustrated Air Traited all for the fact she didn't want to enter into the same hallway as that man.

The visceral fear Nivara felt was tempered by Aidari's sheer amusement the moment he ducked his head to avoid the height of the ceiling. The sudden uninvited visitor became a bumbling clown the second he crossed the threshold of her doorstep, his aloof nature slammed into the hanging light in a spray of sand.

A bubble of laughter washed over Nivara without her noticing, The Fire Trait that had been deadly precise outside in the elements now reacting like a puppy barrelling its way to a new friend. It singed through every appliance in a line of haphazard zigzags from the pie stand to the kitchen towel underneath it until it met with Aidari in an over-exuberant hug of warmth.

"Kirai."

The threat on her life evaporated along with what was left of Aidari's favourite drink, the tweak of a smile threatening to dampen her daughter's understandable disdain for the bumbling, awkward Traited. The moodily dressed Fire Traited removed his signature hat respectfully, far older than Nivara expected with his mostly greyed hair trying to overtake the rest of the flaking black.

"Lady Aidari. My apologies for the late hour and the unexpected visit. I understand your need for secrecy but I wouldn't have come here if I didn't need your guidance."

He gave a short bow, Kirai's conflicting personality irritated Fiora with every jerk of his head. She remained standing against the doorway he had entered in an attempt to block it, eyes fixed on him with every step he dared to take towards her mother.