The orb has spoken. A hero must rise, and unite all the creatures of Ammertia to face a greater, ever growing threat to the south.
However, tensions are growing to an all time high between the races. The elves have separated themselves from society...
Gripping the tiara firmly in one hand, Sylvia extended her hand towards the unidentified being. Using the magic of the tiara, she stopped their blood from moving, holding them steady.
As soon as her palm faced them, the illusion dropped. It didn't melt away like it previously had. Instead, one minute Sylvia was in Dirella's house, and the next she was in a house.
The house was clearly run down, with rusted bits of metal jutting through rotting pieces of timber. It was barely holding itself upright. Glancing to her right, she saw Dirella standing just outside the metal door, still slightly peeled open.
Looking to her left, she saw Thomas. He looked slightly bewildered, the basket in his arms now empty as the illusion had been stopped. He stood up, looking around in horror at the house around him.
Finally, Sylvia looked in front of her to see a man. Not a demon, not even a mage. Just a man. He was held aloft off the floor, his feet dangling in the air. He smiled a crooked, weak smile at her.
"Become.... The monster," he coughed out, straining against the pressure. Sylvia was enraged, her brows knitting together from anger. This man had put her through hell, bringing up all the mistakes of her past and making her fight her brother and die over and over again.
Monsters have motive, they kill because they know nothing else, have no sense of morality. But a human?
In her blinding rage, Sylvia turned her outstretched palm into a fist, forcing all of the blood in the man's body to come crushing in the centre of his chest. His body crumpled, still held aloft by her hand.
Blood began to ooze out of his eyes and ears, and the man coughed one more time before Sylvia dropped him to the floor. His body hit the ground and was limp.
Sylvia stood there for a moment, shocked by what she had done. This was a human, someone she had vowed to protect. But they were evil, right?
She was shaken from her thoughts by Dirella's hand on her shoulder. Sylvia looked up, unsure of what to say.
"You did well darling," she said solemnly while giving Sylvia's shoulder a squeeze. Dirella slowly walked up to the body, inspecting it closely.
"Just a human...." She muttered, before her gaze fell to the man's wrist. There was a silver bracelet, made of intricate interlacing chains. It looked so delicate, so pure.
"That explains it then," she sighed heavily, gently taking the bracelet off. Under normal circumstances Sylvia would have questioned her relentlessly. But for now, she had another priority.
Without saying a word, Sylvia slowly walked over the Thomas. He was staring bug eyed at the crumpled body on the floor, looking up at Sylvia in horror.
"What.... What happened?" He asked, lips quivering.
"You were stuck in a time loop, come on. Let's get you home," with this Sylvia gently grabbed him by the hand and began to lead him towards the decrepit door. She gingerly stepped out, careful to avoid the tetanus ridden material, and guided him out also.
Dirella looked Sylvia up and down as she passed, a look the mixture of admiration and horror plastered on her face. Nontheless, she followed Sylvia and Thomas.
Thomas led them most of the way, the sun had clearly risen a while ago, and it was about late afternoon. Sylvia felt as if she had only spent half an hour in the dimensional rift, however knew much more time had passed in the real world.
Weaving through the streets, the trio soon found themselves in the poorer district of the outer ring. Thomas stood in front of a door, hesitating with his hand raised ready to knock.
"How... How much time has passed?" He asked, glancing at Dirella. She had explained the situation to him on the way, to be met with a mixture of disbelief and confusion, followed by grief.
"We can't tell. Time wasn't linear in there, it accelerated as the man wanted," Dirella offered, not really helping things much. The man nodded stiffly, before knocking on the door. Taking it as their cue to leave, Sylvia and Dirella walked away.
The door opened to reveal an elderly woman. She was slightly hunched over, a lifetime of work compressing her spine beyond it's capabilities. Thomas looked quizzically at the woman, unsure of who it was.
But the woman knew who he was.
Her eyes lit up, shining bright with tears brimming. She gently reached out a hand to cup Thomas's face.
"Daddy?" She croaked. This broke Thomas, as he began to sob uncontrollably. Sylvia and Dirella turned at this, leaving the family to their reunion.
They walked in silence for a bit, unsure of where they were even headed. Sylvia felt her head swimming with what had just occured, everything she had gone through. Dirella soon broke the silence, however.
"What were you thinking?!" She cried out, stopping in the middle of the street. Sylvia walked a couple paces in front, before finally stopped. She sighed, turning around the face her.
"I couldn't wait. I had to get him out," she said, voice stern and stubborn.
"So what, you couldn't ask for help? You could have died!" Dirella was yelling, irate at the danger Sylvia had put herself in. And when met with anger, Sylvia retaliated.
"I had it under control! I can look after myself, you're not my mum!" She hollered back, the last part of the sentence causing her to freeze. Dirella too dropped the look of fury on her face, her features softening and her shoulders dropping. She slowly paced up to Sylvia, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"You can look after yourself, but that doesn't mean you have to dear," Dirella said. Sylvia maintained composure for a minute, before breaking down completely. The sobs came, sobs that wracked her entire body. Dirella embraced her, drawing her close in the middle of the walkway.
"I know what he showed you, and you know Darian and Aliyah would never leave you. Nor would I," Dirella reassured her. In all her hysteria, Sylvia completely forgot about the last illusion at Dirella's house.
But Dirella hadn't.
While holding Sylvia close to her chest, Dirella knew that the group would find out eventually. But not now, they weren't ready yet. But she prayed that when she did tell them.
They wouldn't turn on her.
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I love messing with time, and the long lasting effects it had on characters. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I had a lot of fun with this sideplot. Next chapter will focus on the main story once more.
