There was no telling how long I'd kept going in and out of consciousness - just that it did little to distract me from the pain. It could have been ages, or it could have been minutes or even seconds.
One thing I knew for certain, however, was that I was going to regret playing into the hand of an ancient being, one that was something greater hiding in the fields of gods. Nothing good was going to come out of this.
Yet, if it worked . . . If she could truly get at least some of this madness out of my head . . .
The Circle is going to kill you.
The agony in my side told me differently.
They'll have to get in line.
Refyra cut into my calf with swift, firm motions, somehow easing the swelling gathering up in there. I wanted to move, wanted to tell her nevermind, that I could handle life a little while longer with these things that ached for freedom. Yet the words never came - or if they did, I wasn't aware of uttering them.
I was, however, aware of the traver fighting whatever the hell Refyra was trying to do. It had tried taking root in the nymphtan, and judging by the strange infection in my calf, it'd nearly succeeded. If she'd kept her teeth lodged in me for a second longer . . .
And here I thought I'd be the only casualty for when it became fully aware.
My life played in flashes before my eyes. There was a girl grinning down at me from her perch in an old, sappy pine tree, her gray eyes catching the distant sun's light just right. There was an older, sickly woman, her body frail, that refused to let her disease take her joy in life away from her. She laid on her bed, whispering stories to me and the girl inside a home our deceased father had built long ago.
A boy chasing me throughout the village because I'd stolen his clothes while he bathed in a pond not far from there. I hadn't expected him to take me on my bluff; he didn't care that everyone saw him without any sort of protection. It ended with me simply dropping the clothes altogether because boy, I did not want to see any of that. Or at least that's what I kept telling myself.
Then I was standing in the dark, the sky a mocking clear, the moon full and bright. Everyone stood silently between the buildings around the square, while I stood before a post only one other had died on before. A jar of blood rested awkwardly in my hands, and I couldn't for the life of me look up to meet the eyes of the person I was sent to kill to prove what flowed through my family's veins was not entirely evil.
Which was ironic, because I still had the blood of a newborn fresh on my clothes.
Through the memories, I could feel myself choke on tears. I wasn't sure what they were from.
A furious, outraged scream echoed deep within my skull. A shadowy figure ran, desperate to catch me while the flashes behind my eyes began to fade.
"Not now, Rhoe," I whispered through numb lips.
And that was it. The thing was no longer there. The roaring in my head subdued drastically. It wasn't completely gone - Refyra had promised only to take out the most powerful of my peculiar problem - but gods, I wasn't going to complain.
Weakly, I lifted my head, my stomach churning when I saw the girl holding a strange mass of dark, angry shadows with a bluish tint swirling in there. Holy hell, that looked a little too similar to the dark magical items we were often forbidden to use.
The girl's blue gaze snapped up from her prize, and she grinned upon seeing my mortified face.
"Would you like to hold it?" She asked, gesturing to me with what I assumed was the traver.
No, no I did not.
Even without my audible response, she laughed. I felt like I was caught up in a fever dream and there was no real way out.
"Come, child, stand up," she motioned. "You act as if you were on Death's own heels."
I had to question the meaning behind those words when she tossed me a sly, knowing smile. I looked around, curious if I was about to see some sort of reaper - a supposed rumor of death itself. That was one thing in this world that remained a mystery. Not even the spirits who came back to haunt the living were entirely sure of the inner workings that occurred between life and death.
Seeing nothing, I urged myself into a sitting position, groaning at the insufferable pain in my side and leg and everything else.
"How . . ." I began, then took in another long, deep breath. "How have I not bled out?"
"Oh, you will," Refyra promised, as if that was supposed to assure me. "Well, come along, now. Stand up. Quickly - you don't have much time." I was about to tell her off as best I could in this half-dead state when she snapped, "If you want to live, you will listen to me."
Oh, this was going to hurt. Sure enough, a steady hiss was already making its way through my teeth when I shifted my feet beneath me. Refyra shoved the massive ball of evil beneath one arm before moving to grab my bicep. Before I could object, she yanked my upright-
"Damn you to hell," I cursed. Refyra ignored me, instead opting to walk towards the little pool of water in front of us - the one Mutnya would have used to drown me in. My breaths came in short, pained gasps, but she didn't seem to care about that, either.
"I have given you a blessing, of sorts," she said, her words hurried. "All you need to do to receive it is throw this," she gestured to the traver, "into the water."
Despite the rushed sense I was getting from her, I eyed the goddess suspiciously.
"I'm not a child," I rebuffed. "You want me to sacrifice a living demon to you? For what?"
"Not me," she corrected. "The nymphtan may have worn my sigil, but the alter is true."
"So this would go to Tanryn, then," I replied. "How is that any better?"
Instead of snapping at me, like I'd have expected, Refyra smiled.
"That necklace will hide you from Death's touch," she decided to explain. "Should you die right now, your precious Circle will use your spirit for the next few centuries, at best. Even more, at worst. And when that is over . . . Well, your sins will seek to find you, regardless."
I glared at her. Her smile widened. Oh, I played much too far into her hand.
"You can always take it off," she continued. "Once you've fulfilled your oath to the Circle, you can dispose of it as you wish. Face your past when you're ready, instead of potentially having this all dragged out for an entire millennium."
If I'd been twenty years younger, I wouldn't have hesitated to refuse. I would have told the goddess of deception and chaos and misguidance that I fought to keep people safe. I didn't know what offering an actual fucking demon to an exiled god would do, but the fact that she wanted me to do just that meant it wasn't anything good.
But I wasn't twenty years younger. I was twenty years corrupted, twenty years tired of being dragged through blood and death and gore, knowing that this madness had the ability to carry on and on, and no one knew how the hell to stop it.
I wasn't sure if Refyra was telling the truth - that the Circle would want to hold me for centuries, use me the same way they did Bogdan. However, the idea of having this all carry out over a span of generations when I could barely handle a handful of years . . .
"Give me that," I growled, swaying on my feet. The goddess said nothing, obliging to my request. And then I stood, holding a swirling ball of something Rhoe had used to haunt my dreams for the past several weeks. It had been dormant in me for years, only activated once I got closer and closer to fulfilling my oath.
This was going to piss her off, too. With that in mind, I smiled, knowing that I was going to regret this. If the Circle ever found out, they would surely sacrifice me, themselves.
No matter. At least this would bide me a little more time to get my affairs in order.
"Wait, don't-" a sudden, new voice called out. But it was too late.
I dropped the dark mass over the water.
There was a splash.
And then there was darkness.
~ 1483 Words ~
So. What do you think will happen, now? ;)