Unlocked: Rewritten

Chapter 22

Sophie

The cache's single jewel slid open and projected an image. It was Oralie and Kenric in silver hooded capes.

"Where is she?" Kenric asked.

"I don't know," Oralie whispered.

"She said she would meet you here, right?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure about this, Ora? This is probably going to be very dangerous," Kenric warned.

"I know, Kenric. But I need to do this. You didn't have to come if you weren't willing to—"

Just then, a voice called out. "Sorry, are we late?"

"Hello?" Kenric called out, "Is this Esme Allaband?"

"Well, looks like we have another Councillor on our hands. I thought I told you, Oralie, that you couldn't bring anyone with you."

"Well, excuse me if I don't trust a mysterious voice who won't even show her face!"

"If you wanted to see me, all you had to do was ask."

In the projection, Esme walked out of the shadows and stood in front of the two Councillors. "And since we're introducing ourselves, please meet my sister, Gisela."

Another woman appeared next to Esme, and Sophie groaned. Of course she was a part of this.

"Hello, dear Councillors. It's a pleasure." Gisela dipped an elaborate bow, then turned to Kenric. "I don't wish to be impolite, but you weren't invited."

Gisela threw out her arm toward Kenric and closed her fist.

Kenric's eyes grew wide before he collapsed to the ground.

"Kenric!" Oralie screamed, dropping to her knees beside him. "What did you do to him?!"

"Don't worry, he'll probably be fine after a very long rest. Elves' bodies can only take so much trauma to the heart."

"What?!" Oralie said.

"I thought you, a Councillor, would understand basic elvin anatomy. When an elf's pulse gets too low, they tend to pass out. Hemokinesis is a powerful ability, you know. Extremely useful."

"How can you say that? You're terrible!"

"No, I'm just willing to do whatever it takes to achieve my goal."

"Ahem, you mean our goal, sister," Esme reminded her.

"Right, of course. Anyway, I should be thanking you, Oralie. By bringing Kenric along, you provided us with the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the power stellarlune gives."

"What is stellarlune?"

"It's a mixture of quintessence and shadowflux. I'm sure you're familiar with the substances."

"Yes, but how can they be mixed? Pure light and pure darkness would be too unstable to be combined."

"It would be," Esme jumped in, "if I hadn't discovered a way for them to be safely combined. Now, stellarlune gives an elf an extremely powerful ability without blowing them up."

"It is still not a very comfortable process for an elf to ingest stellarlune," Gisela said.

"To manifest an ability in such an unnatural way must be very painful," Oralie commented.

"It certainly can be," Esme agreed.

"But it's easier if you embrace the change," Gisela said.

"Wait—are you talking about me ingesting stellarlune?" asked Oralie.