The Elf Thief

Chapter 18: The Asylum

(A/N Hey guys! Ok, big change that may confuse you a little. So I changed one word in chapter 16, the freaky lady who went off on Dearekk is now called the Sibyl. So the Seer in this chapter is a different guy, ok? The picture on the side is of Mistea and Ventar. Ok. Enjoy this chapter!)

Chapter 18

The Asylum

Sonya walked through a part of the castle she had not seen before. A young fay boy led her through the huge halls, but unlike most fay, he never made a sound.

When they finally reached an arch, the fay messenger refused to go any farther. He just floated there stiffly, his feathered wings fluttering furiously.

"Where is the Emperor?" Sonya couldn't help but question.

If possible, the boy became stiffer and his wings began to slightly tremble. "His Majesty, the Emperor, does not come to this part of the castle," he said in a shaky voice. "The Emperor is good, he has the essence of light magic in him. This place is evil. It reeks of dark magic, magic gone wrong. The fay Emperor stays away, the voices are too strong here."

"What voices?" her tone seemed sharper than she intended. But the messenger refused to say anything more, instead stating, "The gate to the Asylum is straight through this arch," before flying away.

The door was enormous. It seemed to be made of onyx, with ivory designs dancing across it. Her hand tracing the figures, Sonya realized that "Sonya?" a voice from behind her made her turn, snapping out of her trance.

Dearekk stood behind her, looking at her with something like...caring? No, he might as well have lied to her about the whole "request" incident. "I heard a guide would be here soon."

No sooner had he finished speaking than another fay simply appeared before them.

"By the One!" Sonya cursed as she stumbled backward in surprise.

The fay simply shook his head, as if he were dealing with a child. He looked a few years older than her, with skin as pale as the moon on a cloudless night. His hair was a slate color and his ashy dragonfly wings made it seemed to glitter. A thin strip of grey cloth was wrapped around his eyes; he was blind.

"I don't normally give tours," he said sarcastically, "but since you two are special, I'll have to make an exception." The fay's head tilted in each of their directions, as if inspecting them. "Hmm, two elves," he smirked, "or should I say an elf and a half?"

Dearekk's jaw visibly tightened.

His smile widening, the fay continued speaking. "I am the Seer, you may have meet my mother, the Queen-Siby Isvi." He was taunting Dearekk. Sonya suddenly had the urge to punch this arrogant fay and wipe that infuriating smirk off his face. "I give you a warning," he drawled on, "only I walk in and out of the Asylum with my sanity." With those words he turned and opened the huge, onyx doors.

As Sonya walked in, the first thing she noticed was how utterly featureless the Asylum was. It seemed to just be an endless hallway lined with black doors. Instantly, she began to wonder where they led.

As if seeing the question in her eyes, the Seer gestured to the doors. "The cells the prisoners are held in are made of diamond enchanted to absorb any excess light, making them look black." Suddenly he turned and snapped at Dearekk who was leaning towards a rectangular eye slit. "Don't look in the eye-holes. Some of these creatures have been forgotten by the races of Zauluke, some only exist in legends, and both should stay that way."

Dearekk jolted out of the way right as an ebony hand covered in scales slashed where he had been, it's jagged fingernails slicing through the air before jerking back inside. When he looked at Sonya, he was pallid and shaking.

"Come on," Dearekk said, "let's move."

The Seer spun around and began to walk, Dearekk and Sonya close on his heels. "Since you seek the Sword of Mist and Flame, I will tell you the legend of it," the Seer began. "Long ago, before the Age of the Kings, there was a time when the fay fought amongst themselves. Creatures of the night roamed the plains; leaders rose and fell within months, killed by assassins, poisons, and mysterious disappearances. It was a time of blood. In the midst of all the chaos, a fay was born by the name of Mistea. Wanting nothing more than to unite her people, Mistea was given an opportunity by the One: if she sacrificed something dear to her, she would be given a chance. So she sacrificed her wings so that she could walk among humans.

In her searches, Mistea met a human fire-mage by the name of Eythil. Eythil saved her life more than once, and they grew very close, some even say they were in love. But one night, the two companions were attacked by bandits," the Seer's voice grew resentful, as if he was recalling a dark memory. "There was no special reason for the outlaws to attack them, they had no knowledge of Mistea's quest, but in the night they came down upon them and killed Eythil with a single dagger to the chest. He died in Mistea's arms. Bitter and in agony at the loss of her friend, Mistea fled to a system of caves, not far from where Eythil and she had been camping. It was there that she found a tarnished, broken sword. Pouring out all of her pain, her passion, her pathos, and her power, Mistea created Ventar, the Sword of Mist and Flame through the deepest of magic. Some say that she was the mist and Eythil was the flame, and only through his death was the Sword of Mist and Flame created. Coming back to Imperia, our new Empress brought peace and prosperity throughout the fay nation. Ventar was passed down, being summoned in times of need, until a fay prince used it for wrong. He brought great evil upon our land, and was exiled and his name forever forgotten. But it was too late, the Sword of Mist and Flame had disappeared, not to be seen again for hundreds of years." The Seer stopped and turned to Sonya, a sneer on his face, "And now an elf-child comes to tell us all that we have been to blind to see where our emblem has been hidden all these years."

Sonya was too stunned by the story she had just heard to respond. Still sneering, the Seer turned to Dearekk, "We have reached the end."

In front of them was a silver orb, suspended in mid-air and pulsating with it's own hypnotizing light. A purple haze seemed to surround it, making the silver ball almost impossible to truly see.

But then Sonya heard something, a whisper. It was not a whisper like she had heard in her dreams; instead it was a whisper of a child. Wandering away, from Dearekk, Sonya found herself over by a door, and leaning closer and closer to the eye slit. The voice grew clearer, and Sonya was stunned to realize it was the voice of a girl about her age.

"Help me," it said feebly, "Please, free me. They put me in here and I don't know why. I didn't do anything..."

As Sonya's eyes peered through the cell door, she saw a teenage girl curled up in the corner. She wore a black dress, and her skin was white as snow. But when she looked up, Sonya knew that something was wrong.

The something in the girl's eyes were...amiss. There was a fire behind them that could not be sane, and shadows dripped down under her eyes like stalagmites. But when violet eyes found Sonya's green ones, she felt frozen in place. Laughing, the little girl threw herself at the door.

"They are coming," she sang in a raspy voice. "They are coming just like they told me they would! They will come out of the earth with fire and death to kill you all! They will pave a path for it. They will make this place a barren wasteland, a shattered territory that nightmares will roam and destroy all who oppose them. They will come!

The fay girl cackled and threw herself back into the corner, humming and chanting to herself, leaving a very shocked and horrified Sonya shivering on the ground.