The Anima [completed]

36.

"You don't have to tell me anything, Sam, but let me try to understand. At some point after we spoke to The Anima, you were sent on a mission. Your father instructed you to go to the Shadow Plane to deal with... a threat? Yes. So you did as you were told, you went to the shadows. But when you arrived, you realised the 'threat' was no more than a village. Perhaps this village was all adults, but perhaps this village also had children. You were told to burn it to the ground. But, being the upstanding man that you are, you decided to investigate. Somewhere along the way, you encountered my doppelgänger. After only an hour of discussion, you unveiled your father's injustices and decided you had deciphered the visions you feared so much. You realised that this was what your destiny had decided for you and that you were fighting the 'right' war. You got closer to Ly, and just as the vision predicted, you fell in love."

Sam squirmed on the bed, his face contorted in an ugly mixture of emotions.

"Shall I continue?" I asked, cocking my head.

"How do you know this?" He was panting, the result of resisting the tightening restraints.

"Entered people's minds is a power Ly intended to take from me when she killed me. Reading them is one I must of inherited when I killed her instead."

Strength he had not before shown suddenly pulled against the restraints as he jerked from his position. Eyes wide and vicious, veins exposing on his neck and arms, Sam looked ready to kill me. I wanted to feel sympathy, but I could not. The facts were too obvious and the line in the sand had already been crossed.

"She was manipulating you, Sam." I said softly.

"She was good!" He screamed and thrashed about on the bed, but my power was stronger than his and he could not be released. "She was going to fix it! All of it! How could you do that? How could you kill the one person good enough to want to fix it all?"

Tears were forming in his eyes. It was then that I was sympathetic. He truly thought she was going to do the right thing.

"She was not good, Sam. Her motives were not as pure as her intentions. Did you know she intended to hide for the duration of the war and rule over the rubble when it was over?"

His eyes flicked to mine, pure anger running through the iciness of his irises.

"Tell me, Sam, did you check on my family as I asked?"

He didn't say anything for a moment, but then he nodded, a small movement almost unseen by the naked eye.

"And my sister, you saw her?"

Again, a small nod.

"So when you and Ly intended to bring war to the humans, did you consider that she might die? A small child? Because that was what was going to happen. Children will die, as will soldiers, but the children will die none the less. Tell me, is that right or just?"

"There is death in all war."

"But is all war inevitable?"

Silence fell, clocking the room as shame filled the princes heart. I felt his emotions like a punch in the gut. Along with the inevitable anger and disgust, there was betrayal and a seep suppressed sorrow. I sighed and sat up from my chair. Staring down at the prince, who was now so small and powerless, I saw him for what he really was. He was just a man. Easily manipulated maybe, but from digging around in his mind, I knew he was not evil. However, I still nibbled my lip at the possibility that the visions foreshadowed more than what had already passed.

"You can't trade one evil for another, Sam. I think you know that." I paused and watched his face in silence. A tear slid off his cheek and sunk into his silvery hair.

"I'm getting everyone out of here tonight. We are going to take over the palace and stop The Anima. We could use your expertise."

"And why would I help you." The prince spat, his face reddening.

"Because you know it's the right thing to do." I started, relived that the sneer dropped from his face, "And because I believe you want to get rid of your father as much as the shadows do."

I raised an eyebrow and waited. Faintly, I heard a sigh. I smiled in victory.

"Plus," I shrugged, "Someone needs to rule the First when your sweet daddy is gone."

With a simple flick of my wrist, I untied the magical ropes that kept him restrained. Suddenly, he sat up, leaping from the bed and reaching for me in one fluid motion. Something cold pressed into the front of my throat and his hands snatched onto my hair.

The stone throbbed sharply at the base of my neck and I laughed at the idiocy in the situation.

"Oh, honey." I chuckled sharply against the blade.

The power was like heroine and my was I addicted. I was far beyond the realisation that no blade or weapon could harm me. It might make me bleed, but I was no longer mortal. I could not be killed.

Sam's hands were steady, unmoving. I caught the hand that held the blade and sliced my neck open. Blood gushed from the wound, spurting over the prince's face. He staggered back in shock, stammering for words he would never find. I grinned as the blood flowed down my front, already slowed by the skin that had begun to stitch itself back together.

"I tried to be nice, Prince. But here is the deal now, you join us, or I lock you in this room forever. Now I still don't know exactly how you Fae work, but I know you don't need water and can go a long while without food. You'll be trapped for a long time before you die, and even then you'll be an entire plane of existence away from any of your possessions, and no one will know when they need to resurrect you. So, do you want to rule the First, or do you want to be trapped here... forever?"

The wound had healed and I began to work on absorbing the blood on my front back into my skin. Sam's eyes stayed pinned to the ground and I felt the unease creep into his subconscious. He had no choice, he knew as much. Slowly, the unease faded and his eyes rose to meet mine. A grim smile settled on his lips and he tucked the blade into his waistband. I plucked up a used shirt from the back of the chair and threw it at him.

"Get dressed. We have work to do."

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Hey guys! The double update, as promised. I think I might have to make the final few chapters super long because I wanted to finish on a rounded number, so prepare for some later long ones.

Comment your thoughts!

What do you think about the visions coming through?

Vote if you enjoyed :)

xx Charli 

(unedited)