ADLAI
Adlai awoke in darkness. Blinking into a realm drowned in shadows, his sight, usually quick to capture the faintest light, could not penetrate the void. Left to wonder and reach, Adlai clenched the cushion beneath his hand and quietly surmised a resting bed. When the room finally came into view, the impression of furniture revealed itself. There was not a lot to see, but an empty chair sat by his lonely resting place. As he stared at that empty bedside seat, his hallowed mind filled with questions of what had been. His memory was a grungy gaggle, but it spat small details of his experience. They came in pieces that required puzzling, but soon Adlai saw her: Nadine.
In the moments preceding his collapse he had not been allowed to look upon her - The weight of her will did not offer him the luxury – but he clearly recalled her contempt. Hers was a potent rebuke for acts she had not even known. She crushed him under evidence no more credible than a fleeting feeling. Even now, as the eldest Arbitor pulled himself out of bed, his arm ached in a shoulder socket that still felt wrong. Stretching his back shot a pain up his spine, but Adlai bit his tongue and limped his way out of that solitary room.
The eldest Arbitor did not wade through the short halls long before he realized where he was. Thatch and Stone Inn as told by the signature squeak of its floorboards. Adlai combed the dark corridors until he saw a light slithering from a crack in a closed door. The soft beam caught his curiosity and so the eldest Arbitor limped toward the opening. A gentle push was all he needed to enter and inside he saw Nadine speaking before Brielle's bedside.
Adlai heard her calling upon her God with whispering chants and Slavic tongue. The dimly traced scene was the stuff of religious depiction – A forlorn mother hailing the heavens for her sickly child – but Aldai was left with a feeling of loss. It was alright though. The whispers told him so. There would soon be no need for her or the things she never offered him. Adlai could watch now, the two of them together, clad in the mettle of resignation. But still he called her. "Nadine," said Adlai.
The black witch continued her praying prostration. She heard him. From this distance, she had to have heard; but still she made him wait until after she was done. "You are awake," said Nadine. "That is good. Very good." Her kind words belied a tonal disinterest. One did not require superhuman ears to hear it. Adlai was not offended when Nadine turned her concern toward Brielle. He no longer could be.
He asked her plainly. "What happened to Brielle?"
"...She lost control again," Nadine responded.
Adlai's was caught by the short statement. As told long ago, the condition required to conjure Brielle's shadow half was always the same: Starvation. It seemed like a simple problem with an easy solution, but Brielle did not hunger for the same sustenance as ordinary men. Her demonic body craved human flesh and it was a gnawing hunger that was both painful and perpetual. The black witch taught the shy girl to curve the craving with regular meals, and that system proved effective if only by thinning margins. Food was not scarce when the black blood made them the highest of hunters, but that was only a small consolation when the devil's venom was the source of her affliction. Brielle had not known true satisfaction for years, yet her dark desires rarely took the reins. It was an event when The Beast broke free, so when Nadine said what she said without a reason closely attached, Adlai knew something was amiss.
"That can't be it," said Adlai. "Brielle never just...refuses to eat."
"That was it, Adlai. You do not need to know anything more."
The eldest Arbitor heard her dismissal and thought of the only cause for secrecy. It was the same reason every time, but still he had to ask. "...Was it Achim?"
Nadine was silent, but the truth eventually came."...He was involved."
Once again, the eldest Arbitor found kindling for his spite, but Nadine's transparency made the situation an anomalous one. He looked upon her again, truly looked, and, with eyes open, Adlai saw a woman somber in her silence. The absolute stillness conjured memories of death and his heart shuttered in his chest. Adlai hurried to his brood sibling's side soon after with a premonition of loss.
The relationship between Adlai and Brielle had always been one fraught with strife, but the tension was not all their own. The black blood brought out the worst of both, especially in the days immediately after the demonic injection. The scars from their early scuffles had only just begun to fade, but they never hated one another. Not really. In fact Adlai felt guilt in the wake of what was once a constant clash. Even more so after Brielle found the courage to dismiss his sins an innumerable number of times. She was his better, and not because she was strong but because she was uniquely kind. So when the admiring Adlai looked upon his ravaged companion, what else could he have felt but seething rage?
Brielle was trapped in suffering. The static that plagued her body saw to that painful stasis. He could see the burns from Achim's deadly hands through Brielle's singed attire. They were obvious to him, and different from the damage left by his unrestrained flames from a more turbulent time. Back when the eldest Arbitor spat fire with every argument, it was wild and unintentional. But Achim was different. The damage he had done was pure in how deliberately it was inflicted. The skin on her neck and near her heart were warped by high voltage - the dark boy's signature targets – but Achim was not the only one who left their wounds upon her. The youngest Arbitor may have taken the most brutal toll on Brielle, but the little craters on her body – some still filled with splintered bullets – was proof of a concerted effort. Brielle's mouth was bleeding too, leaking ink in a way that left him particularly frightened. Her jaw had not healed properly either and that left the most disturbing tears along Brielle's face skin.
"Do not worry," said Nadine. "She is healing, but very slowly."
"Why,'' said Adlai. The eldest Arbitor blocked the brunt of his ire, but his fist had become heavy with anger.
"Brielle never accepted the black blood. She hates her condition and rejects it with all her might. This has always been so, since the day I found you two." Nadine stared at the battered girl. "Because of this, the effects of our curse struggle to take hold of her. It is why she can repress her hunger so well, and why she can be killed with far less than you or I." Nadine laughed, but it was a gesture that masked her concern. She began to sob. "Her being the holder of the most durable demon out of the three of us is surely God's will," said Nadine. "It has to be." The black witch held Brielle's trembling hand. When her hand did not still, Nadine had to force a smile. "My little chertenok, stubborn in all of the worst ways sometimes."
The longer Adlai looked the harder it became to contain his anger. His fist began to steam as he envisioned Achim no longer as a brother, not even a person, but an object of evil. There was no other thing he could be, as told by the whispers between his thoughts.
"Nadine," said a growling Adlai.
"I know Adlai," said Nadine. "I understand your anger, now more than ever, but to act on such a thing would be – It would not be right."
"What?! WHY," Adlai shouted.
Nadine was quick to hush the eldest Arbitor. "Calm yourself," she hissed. "I was not there, Adlai! I do not know what happened or why." The black witch turned to Brielle, her eyes soft in their stare, and felt the shy girl's cheeks. Her hand was tender despite the roughness of Brielle's ripped skin. "I did not save only Brielle tonight. Achim needed saving as well."
"What? What're you saying," said Adlai.
He was surrounded, alongside your sister. He also suffered injuries that could have only been inflicted by Brielle in her feral state." Nadine then sighed. "So as much as I would like to blame Achim, I know that I cannot do so in good conscience. He was a victim as well."
"There you go again," Adlai shouted. He kicked a hole in the dresser side. "You're making excuses for him! Protecting him when you KNOW he was wrong!" Adlai's footprint heated the floor, singing the old wooden planks. For all his bluster, Nadine pacified him with a menacing air.
"Be quiet and listen," she commanded.
The young man remembered the aching pain racking his body. He would do as she demanded, but not without tsking his teeth.
"Adlai, I do not know who was wrong. Whether it be Achim or Brielle," Nadine scolded. "I will not blame them either, not without knowing. The truth is, If anyone was wrong, it was me. I-I apologize."
Her sudden apology doused the fire in Adlai's heart. He relinquished his fist and gave his brood mother his undivided attention. Nadine leaned over Brielle's bedside in a way that could only be described as disgraced. "I told you and Brielle to stay away from Achim. To not interfere with his divine purpose, but I am not sure if that is the right thing to do anymore. I have prayed for clarity. I have begged the heavens for a guiding light, but then this occurs and my faith shrivels to nothing..." Nadine sniffled. "Maybe if I brought Achim into our fold. Maybe if I allowed you and Brielle to know him, he would not feel the need to do the things he does. Just maybe..." Nadine paused and wiped her eyes. Adlai was left speechless. "...Adlai. Listen carefully."
"Y-Yes," Adlai responded.
"We will be taking your sister to a secluded place, away from people, until her consciousness is restored. We will bring her back using The Abar. After she recovers we will be leaving this region."
"Okay," Said Adlai. "But what about Achim?"
"I do not know what he will do, but Achim will most likely be leaving as well," Nadine responded. "Until Brielle regains her health and her senses, I want to leave him to his own devices for a time."
"Then what," Adlai asked.
"Then I will personally bring him into our group."
"Nadine, you can't be serious," Adlai remarked. "After what he did to Brielle!? You're really just going let him get away with hurting people AGAIN!?"
"Achim's actions are the result of my inaction, Adlai," Nadine responded. "I am the adult, and I have willfully left him on his own for far too long. I should be held responsible, not him. Do not blame him, Adlai. Not for this."
"What about everything else then," Said Adlai. "He killed my family, Nadine! He killed them and kept killing for years until today! Are you really just going to let him join us after all of that!?"
The black witch stood up after Adlai's fervent protest. She turned toward him and approached with such an unflinching step that Adlai stepped back on fearful instinct. He could not escape though, not from Nadine's unexpected embrace. She hugged him, and wept a confession. "I am sorry, Adlai! I am," said the black witch. "I do not know what the right decision is, but it is becoming more and more clear that Achim is in need of guidance just as much as you and Brielle. I only wished I saw that sooner. Forgive me for doing this. I know it is difficult for you, but please trust me."
Adlai allowed her to hold him and used the rarest of moments to assess himself. He had not been held by Nadine since his younger years. Back then, she hugged him quite often. He needed her warmth during those dark, cold days, but what about now? Adlai found his answer in the chill crawling up his spine. Nadine held him in a warm embrace yet he still felt cold. The whisper reiterated what the eldest Arbitor already knew and he pulled away from the black witch with duty on his heart.
"...We have to make sure Brielle is okay," said Adlai.
Nadine nodded thrice, but not before a long look into Adlai's eyes. He read her gaze as a sign of uncertainty and, as a result, he wondered if his response had been that jarring. Without accusation, Adlai justified himself.
"I-I know we don't get along, but Brielle is like my sister," Adlai stated. "She was...she was always the first to try and fix a situation. Even when the problems weren't hers to solve."
"I see," Nadine said. "My apologies for staring. I was expecting a different response. You are correct to say that Brielle needs us though. Take your sister to a well-suited place where the ritual will be performed. I will say goodbye to our kind guests and pay the rest of our fare."
Adlai had no reason to refuse her. Brielle's well-being was always a worthy end. He and Nadine shared that thought unequivocally. So he complied to the request of that foreign woman and held Brielle as comfortably as one could with a single arm. Adlai then departed from the rickety inn and into the night.