Find me

Chapter 88

No. No. No. Deep, deep inside my heart, somewhere I wouldn't look at too closely, I could feel it. A crack. You fucking bastard what have you done.
Before I could react, I saw Alice there. Younger Alice.
"What have you done?" Alice choked out, "Get your hand off her" her voice raised.
All blood drained out from Dorian's face when he noticed her.
Alice rushed to Andriana, "Mother...please open your eyes. Please, please, please" She grabbed her hand, resting Andriana's head over her lap "Mom, please wake up. I came for you...I came to meet you. Please wake up". She was continually sobbing.
Alice's blazing eyes glanced up at him, "What have you done? She came back for me" she yelled, "I was finally getting to meet her. But you...you took this away from me". Tears continuously falling down her cheeks.
But he didn't say anything. He kept silent just staring down at her and Andriana. The anger is replaced by some guilt and it is visible in his eyes. He froze there.
After a moment, he walked to her, grabbed her arm, he pulled her away from her mother. And before she could react, his hand going to her face-perhaps using magic-and Alice went silent.
It seems like she fell asleep with her eyes open.
My body shook and my fingers curled into tight fists. He was erasing her memory.
With a blink, we are back at the castle. And everything is gone, forest, Andriana, Dorian, everything. Jacob's show is over.
"Do you still trust your dear friend" Jacob's voice echo in our surrounding.
When my eyes catch a glimpse of Alice, my heart aches. She was on her knees, staring down in utter silence.
Jacob goes on, "This is the reality of him and yet you wanted to save him. Don't waste your power on him or anyone else" he sits on his knees, "Come with us. We will help you".
I squirt to her, "Don't listen to him, Alice". But my body froze. I can't move, not even my finger. What the...
My eyes dart to the queen, and as expected, she's watching me. And beside her are Petra and Malissa standing. I saw red smoke coming out from Petra's hand. Fuck. She's using her magic, magic in my blood. Petra's magic paralyzed me. I couldn't move, but I was conscious as those guards descended upon me. They had formed tightly packed groups, all twitching muscles and blazing looks, as if perhaps some part of them knew that it was their only chance at survival.
I noticed as Jacob leaned down, closer to Alice, "Join our hands, and then there will be no pain. We will help you in getting revenge on your mother's killer" he whispered.
My jaw is clenched. But I can't speak. Don't listen to him, Alice. Please. Just look at me. I don't know if she could hear my thoughts but I wish. He's manipulating her, using her weakness.
I glare at my mother whose gaze is already on me, waiting as if I change my decision in any minute. Well, her wish will never fulfilled. I look away.
The moment I get free from Petra's magic, I will kill everyone with my own hands.
And this is when I noticed that a black cloud was emerging from nowhere. Slowly-slowly it was covering Alice from every corner. I look at Edwin, he wears the same look as mine.  
This doesn't look good. Something is wrong. Something is wrong with her right now.
She doesn't flinch not even peeked up. Is this my mother doing? I glanced up at her, but she wore a look of shock. I don't understand what is going on, nobody does.
The black cloud is getting dense, circling Alice, and darkening our surroundings. Moments later, it entirely covered her that I couldn't see her anymore. She's completely inside of it now.
And Darkness engulfs the palace.

~~~~~

Feathers. Feathers everywhere. Black, smothering, so dark that all color curled up and died in them. Everything was distant and numb. I could not get my mind to work well enough to process any of it.
My heartbeat was out of control. A sharp pain shot up my back. I was in pitch darkness, and yet, too many sensations surrounded me—like two different worlds were colliding, each feeding me conflicting senses.
Alice.
This was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. 
Calm down. Breathe.
But even my own thoughts were lost like my mind had become a gaping, cavernous maze I no longer knew how to navigate. Something else was here, something was—
Alice? Where the hell are you?
I put my hands straight out in front of me. I could see nothing, but they lay flat against the smooth, toothy stone. The cold unyielding firmness steadied me.
And yet, even though my palms were now pressed firmly against the wall, I felt something else, too—coldness. Everything strangely falls silent. It's like everyone is gone, which isn't possible. Everyone thinking the same as I did. Strange.
And suddenly a flood of cool light emerges—from the stars or the moon? Or hundreds of torches floating above the arena? No. It was coming from somewhere else.
It was night, but compared to the darkness of the castle, it blinded me.
I blinked into it for half a second. And when my eyes adjusted, I got paralyzed with shock.
The thing that we are watching right now is beyond imagination. Alice.
She's floating, her fire wings lifting her in the air, arms wide open, eyes closed. Black feathers covered her entirely, and the skirt of feathers pooled lightly around her feet. Fire came out from her fingers and the tips of her hair. She let it erupt into the sky—past the castle wall and the sky.
The fire roared through her, surrounding her in a blanket of light heat, and power.
And when she opened her eyes, they weren't blue anymore. They were black, pitch black.
Petra's magic is gone. I tried to reach Alice, but there was an invisible wall around her. "Alice?" I called her again and again. But she won't listen.
Moments later she finally did. When she looked down at me. She seems different. It's like, I'm watching someone else. In her eyes all I could see was darkness. What is this? She isn't the Alice whom I know.
Black-golden lines covered her throat,  shimmering down to her neck.
"This is impossible" Alessandra's voice breaks my thoughts.
I turn to her "What is wrong with her?". My panic level is at its peak. I don't know what has happened to her. I've never seen something like this before. It's like someone possessed her.
Alessandra's eyes are still on Alice as she replies, "She's not Orion".
I jerked my head back to her, "What?" grabbing her hand, I asked again, "Then what is she? Malign? No this can't be possible". I know this is way too impossible. She is Orion Queen's daughter. There is no fucking way possible for her to be Malign. 
Alessandra looked at her in sheer awe—like watching the most incredible thing she had ever seen.
"She's a hybrid" Alessandra goes on, "She's not just Orion. She's both. Orion and Malign. The power of darkness is inherited from her father. And the fire is the gift of her mother".
My breath hitched in my throat. I was shocked into silence by her statement.
"And right now, she's not to herself. The betrayal and rage triggered the darkness inside her and it completely controlled her from the inside out" Alessandra said.
What?
Fuck
This is why everyone is dying to take her power. Because she has tremendous power. 
"What do we do now?" I questioned.
"We can't do anything. Everything is in her hand. If she wants then she can get her control back or-" Her worried eyes glanced up at Alice and then back to me.
She doesn't need to complete it. I know the result. I know every damn possibility.  
But I won't give up.
Alice gripped her blades but did not need to wield them as she rose. She is stepping through a sea of white flames over fire-eaten corpses that might have been animals, might have been royal guards, on her way up the path, climbing and climbing until she reaches the Queen.
"Where is he?" Alice's voice roared.
Queen tilted her chin up, eyes narrowed, "You know him better than anyone else out here".
"But you controlled him. Bring him here or no one gonna leave this palace alive".
Queen's face darkened. She stared at Alice with hatred in her eyes, "You are standing in front of Queen and yet you dare to threaten me".
And this is when one of the royal guards attacks Alice. But her blazing hand grips his head and in a matter of seconds, he turns into ashes.
There is no bone, no flesh left. Just his ashes.
"Bring him here" Alice growled and an enormous amount of fire emerged from her that killed another one. Not just killed, but his flesh becomes nothing but ash.
My mother's eyes widened at the sight. Her anger returns to full force. She glared at Alice, "You are starting the war again. And your end is near because I will rip you with my own hands".
And this is when all the royal guards attack Alice at once.
The fire around her intensified as if a volcano of fire erupted from her, burning everyone into ashes at once. Alice rushes to Queen but Petra and Malissa block her way, "You can't touch our mother, you bitch". Red smoke emerges from Petra's hand, paralyzing Alice. But their magic won't hold her for too long. Alice surged forward with jerky movements and gusts of wind threw them afar.
"Bring him here" Alice screamed with an intensity that the wall of the palace shook, and shattered all the windows.
We cover our eyes. This isn't a good sign. If she continues to be like this. Then no one from the hell brought her back.
Without wasting any more seconds, I rush to her, "Alice? Look at me" I yell. "This is me. Please just look at me". Her blazing eyes finally glimpsed down at me.
I walk closer, "I know you are still in there, and hearing me right now". Her grip tightened around her sword.
But I won't stop. I'm not bloody scared of her. I continue, "You can control this, Alice. Taking revenge is not the only option you have and you know this".
I take another step, "Stop this, please". And then another step. I'm standing so close to her now that I can clearly see those black eyes that don't belong to my Alice. But right now, blazing under rage.
"I'm with you, Alice. And I always will. Just don't do this. Because later you will gonna regret this".
Her eyes seem to be softened a little. So I go on, "He's already suffering for what he did. Please just stop this. I'm begging you".
She lingers on my ear, "I don't want to hurt you. But this is my war. And you should stay away from this" she whispered.
I shuddered.
And this is when one of the guards, dives a knife over her right arm. She grabbed his hand, twisting it so hard that I heard a crack. Crack of his bone.
He screams in pain but she won't let him go not until she burns him alive.
My eyes widened. This isn't going to end well. She needs to stop. She has to STOP.
Her eyes darkened. Alice’s vision clouded with swarms of dark red.
"Bring him here" she growled while pulling Petra and Malissa with her magic. Their bodies slide on the floor until their throat reach Alice's grip.
On her right hand, Petra was struggling, and on her left Malissa. They both tried to remove Alice's grip from their throat but were unable to move even one finger.
"Call your dear brother. Tell him.." Alice tightened her grip around Petra's throat. "Tell him to come or you both end up dead".
Petra choked, tears falling from her eyes, "I don't... I don't...know...where he is".
"Enough" the Queen voice roared. She opened her palm and a black gust of wind hit Alice's chest. Her body clashes with the pillar behind her. And an invisible hand grips Alice both hands around the pillar.
Shit.
I grabbed my sword and ran toward the Queen. And was about to strike her when excruciating pain tore through my back, then my shoulder. My knees hit the ground, a gasp ripped through me.
It took a few seconds to realize what was going on.
I looked down and saw a sword right between my chest and abdomen. Blood is dripping from it.
My blood.
I tried to pull myself up, braced against the floor. When someone jerked the sword out of me. Sucking in a breath, tears filled my eyes. I was grunting in pain when the sword dived into me again. I collapsed on the ground, my vision blurred. But all I can see is my mother standing right in front of me, watching me or waiting for me to...die.
I gasped in pain when someone grabbed the back of my throat, pulling me to my feet.
My eyes fall to my blade, right next to my mother. I want it. I raise my hand. I want my sword now this is when my body swirls and I see a smirking face of... Jacob.
"Hello again, young boy," he said. His one hand gripped my throat while the other holding a sword, covered with my blood.
I blinked, trying to clear my vision. I can taste blood in my mouth. My body is going numb. I barely heard anything.
His voice echoed in my ears, "I hate to watch you like this. But you chose the wrong team" he whispered.
I spat the blood on him, "You are nothing... but a bloody dog...of the Queen" my voice faltered.
His jaw clenched and at the same time, his sword plunged again into my abdomen. And my body jerks with it.
I barely feel anything right now. Everything is going silent.
My eyes fell to his behind and saw something beautiful. Alice.
It's like I'm watching her after a decade. Her wings are gone. Those black eyes were replaced with her glossy blue color.   She's back. She's BACK.
She's screaming, crying. But unable to come to me. Her hand was still tied up around the pillar.
I smile at her.
Thank you for coming back. I wonder if she listened to my mind.
Maybe this is the last time I'm watching her. Maybe I won't see her again. But I'm glad to watch her for the last time. I want to be with her. But looks like I can't. I'm sorry.
She screamed again and again, telling me something but I couldn't hear her. I can't hear anything.
My lid is becoming heavy, vision is going blurry. Slowly- slowly everything is disappearing. Her face is fading which I'm hating. I want her. I don't like the way her features start disappearing in front of me.
I haven't said it before. But right now I want to say it aloud.
I tried to say but my mouth is not supporting me, I want to say- I love you, Alice Stewart. I always love you. You've always been my girl. I don't know when I first start seeing you as a woman. But you've always been my favorite.
It's like everything starts replaying in front of me, when I first met her, when I talked to her for the first time, when I asked her to go to the beach, when we rode a bicycle together. When I met her in Silver Divine after a very very long time. I remember that face that she made that day after bumping into me.
I smile again.
This is when my eyes fall closed and darkness engulfs me.