"Nyx," a voice hissed, piercing the darkness.
I jumped to my feet, swiping my hand across my eyes trying to hide that I'd been crying. "Who's there?!"
A slightly manical laugh echoed around the otherwise empty block of cells. It seemed to be coming from the shadows near the entrance of the room. "Guess who."
I shook my head violently. "Show yourself!" I spotted a sharp-ish looking rock lying near the entrance of my cell. Darting forward, I picked it up and held it out in front of me like a weapon. "I'm armed, and I'm not afraid to use my weapon!" I called, a nervous tremor wavering in my voice.
Another laughed. "Oh, Nyx. Stop it! It's just me!" A small figure in a dark cloak emerged from the shadows, the cowl covering its face.
"Efia?" I dropped the stone and clutched my chest, relieved that it was only my sister. "What are you doing down here so late?" I glanced up at the window, gauging how late it was by how dark it was outside. "It's nearly midnight, isn't it?"
"Yes. But that's not the point." She brought out a jangling chain of keys. "The point is, I'm breaking you out."
"Oh." I walked back to where I'd been sitting and sat back down, turning my back on her. "No thank you."
"What?!" She was shocked. "I come all the way down here just for you to tell me, 'no'? No, no, no, no, no. Not a chance." She unlocked the gate and came in, crouching down next to me. "Where's your vigor?"
I tried to turn my face away but she saw my tears before I could turn away.
"Nyx? What's wrong?"
I replied, but she couldn't hear what I said because I was mumbling into my arm. She told me so, so I repeated myself, tears streaking down my cheeks all the while. "Our father is an evil murderer who probably intends to kill us all! He killed Mother first, then Grandmother! He's probably killed more people than that too, but still. He killed his own family!"
"What? He killed our grandmother? Which one?"
I pointed to the cloak covered body lying in the next cell over. "That one."
Efia rushed over to the next cell, unlocked it, and ran in, kneeling beside the body. Slowly she peeled back the cloak, gasping when she saw our dead grandmother.
I looked away, not wanting to see her face again as it would bring on another fresh batch of tears.
Efia was sobbing, holding onto Grandmother's cold, stiff hand. "I never remembered you, but I feel as though I've known you for my entire life and more," she whispered softly.
A few moments later she shuffled back into my cell. "I'm sorry, Nyx."
I said nothing in response.
"How did my...I mean...our father kill her?" she asked, crouching next to me and placing her warm hand on my back. "It doesn't look like she was murdered."
"That's because...he was the one who...sent her down here and left her to...die!" I sniffled. "He ordered the Enchantiss to...take her...And he ordered her to be put down here...That's why it's...his fault!"
She nodded slowly, processing what I'd said. "I understand that you're mad at him, but it looks like she died from sickness. My...our father couldn't have made her sick so how is it his fault?"
I flung my arms in the air, frustration seeping into my words, "I already told you! He sent her down here and left her here. The dampness probably got to her lungs making her sick and then she died. It is his fault and until you can prove otherwise I'm going to continue to believe that."
Efia shrugged. "Whatever. Anyway, now that you've got that out of your system, would you like to be rescued from your misery?"
"No. I'd like to stay here, thank you very much."
"Too bad. You're coming with me!" Efia unlocked my handcuffs, grabbed my arms, and pulled me to my feet. "I mean, you wouldn't want to stay down here so long that you get sick and die, would you?"
Reluctantly I shook my head.
"Well then, follow me," she said as she stepped carefully over the low bars and through the open gate.
Dragging my feet, I followed her from the cell, taking one last longing glance back at my grandmother's body. "Where are we going anyways?"
"You'll see," was her vague answer.
I followed her through the winding dungeon passages until she finally stopped at what I thought must be the very last side wall of Deepdark. In front of us was what looked like a very small, pitch black hole in the wall that led deep into the rock.
"This is where you took me?" I exclaimed, glaring at Efia. "At least it wasn't pitch black in the dungeons."
"Stop grousing and go in. Age before beauty!" Efia grinned at me, gesturing to the black chasm.
I stepped back, shaking my head. "Not a chance. Wait," I turned to her, "I'm older than you? I'm the older twin?"
She laughed. "No clue, you'll have to ask Father sometime. Now go!"
"No. If you want to leave so badly then you should go first."
"Hey, I'm not the one with a Phoenixmark. I've heard that Phoenixborn can sense everything around them, including inanimate objects such as, the tunnel suddenly narrowing, any rocks that you could potentially trip over, and sudden dips in the ground."
I rolled my eyes. "Where did you hear that?"
"She heard it from me," said a deep voice from behind us.
We both jumped, startled.
"Who's there," I called into the dark starless night. My eyes were darting all around the empty courtyard, creating shadows that seemed to jump out at me.
A very tall man stepped from the shadows. "You really shouldn't be out here this late, girls. You know, it's not safe in the tunnels at night."
"Ugh, this is your fault, Nyx," Efia said, turning on me. "You were the one who wouldn't go into the tunnels and now Father's caught us."
"Oh please! My fault? You were the one who wanted to go into the tunnels in the first place! You dragged me along with you, probably because you were scared." I folded my arms. "I had no part in this."
"Girls!" a female voice echoed from the shadows behind Havel. "Silence while your father is speaking please."
Havel turned slightly, a slight smile twitching at his lips, and a small Enchantiss woman appeared from the shadows. She was gorgeous, her eyes an unsettling shade of pale yellow and her midnight blue skin had a shiny gloss to it. Her short bright pink hair almost glowed in the inky night.
"Nice to see you again, Efia." She turned to me and examined me. "You too, Nyx."
"Who's she?" I whispered into Efia's ear. The strange woman's yellow eyes were resting on me and making me extremely uncomfortable.
She obviously heard me because she smiled coldly and answered, "I'm Nalrae. I shouldn't have assumed you'd know who I was." She examined her long nails. "Though to be fair, I did expect that Efia would've told you about me long ago."
I said nothing. Nalrae didn't seem like the nicest person ever and so, I was choosing not to interact with her as I knew it would make me angry.
"So girls, do you have anything to say for yourselves?" Nalrae asked, a fake smile pasted on her face. "Perhaps what you were doing out here at the outskirts of Deepdark, by yourselves, past midnight?"
"No," Efia muttered, "We have nothing to say for ourselves other than what Nyx said was true."
"And what did Nyx say exactly?" Nalrae gritted, her smile becoming even more fake.
"She said that it was my idea, and it was. I was the one—"
"No. We were both a part of it," I said, not looking at her. "I have every bit a part of it as she did."
She smiled slightly at me, a silent message saying, "Thanks."
Havel glanced at Nalrae before saying hesitantly, "Well, since we've caught you, you'd better come with us to the—uhh, the..." He looked to Nalrae for the answer.
"Torture chambers is the word I think you were looking for. I think we need some better answers than you've given us." She squinted at us, almost as if she was trying to search our innermost souls. "Take that one, whatever her name is," she nodded at me. "I'll take the other one...Efia was it?"
Efia shook her head, a little shocked that Nalrae—who'd been in her father's household since her mother's death—hadn't known what her name was.
"Come along, Efia," Nalrae said, clucking her tongue and striding towards the entrance to the dungeons.
I watched Efia trudge after Nalrae dejectedly then turned to my father, waiting for him to tell me what to do.
He glanced back at where Nalrae and Efia had disappeared. "Follow them," he finally ordered. He walked off, not even checking to see that I was following him, which, to my own surprise, I was.
The 'torture chambers' were not exactly what I had expected. They were small rooms with a weird contraption sort of chair. The one I was in had cobblestone walls that had been white washed so much that they would probably glow in the dark.
"Sit down," Havel ordered, waving his thin arm at the contraption in the room.
I stepped back, a bit of my old spirit taking a hold of me. "Why should I?"
He looked quite taken aback. "Because I said so."
"I don't think so. Not unless you promise me that it won't hurt me in any way or give me permanent trauma." I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, definitely don't need any more of that than you've already given me."
"Just sit down please, Nyx. I do not have the patience for this right now."
"Do you ever?" I muttered as I settled down into the contraption which was, to my surprise, actually quite comfortable. "Not that I would know. I've never lived more than two years with you."
"STOP!" he exploded, taking a menacing step towards me. "I don't need you guilting me right now!"
No, I thought, you need some serious anger issue management and maybe a hug. But not from me. Aloud I said, "Fine, fine. You do you."
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said as calmly as he could, "This machine probably isn't going to hurt you but I also can't promise you that it won't give you—" He made air quotation marks. "—'permanent trauma'. It's very subjective depending on the person and it may make you feel very uncomfortable."
I nodded, not really listening then sat bolt upright as he tried to attach what seemed to be a head device over my head. "Wait! You mean you don't know if it's going to hurt or not?!"
He shook his head and said, "Look over there!" He pointed at the corner of the room. He managed to distract me enough to manage to get the head device over my head and fit the cold metal disks to my temples.
As soon as the metal disks were on my temples I once again as if I was a disembodied being just existing in the world but not taking part in life. I was floating around in a world of darkness and emptiness.
A scene of a girl, her hands above her head seemingly to control a fireball flashed up before my eyes. I could almost hear the roar of the fire as it got bigger and bigger. It then flashed to another scene where the fire had consumed everyone except for the girl. In the background I could hear the screams of other people and the roar of the fire intertwining in an almost harmonic way.
Another scene flashed up. This time it was of a boy, his peaceful face resting in the deep hollows of sleep. The way his bright blue eyes looked at the girl when he opened them made my ghost-like self gasp.
The next scene was of an elderly woman, as fragile as glass, gazing at the girl lovingingly as she fell to the ground. Her final breath leaving her resting on the damp cobblestone and the girl crying over her body.
I realized with a start that the scenes were my memories told from a third-person view. I had known all along that the scenes looked very familiar but I just hadn't made the connection that they were my memories. I was inside my own mind, looking at my own memories, and making new memories by watching my memories.
"Interesting," a deep voice said, echoing around the now blank space. "You seem to have a very intriguing past given how you reacted to seeing your own memories, my dear. Such a pity that I couldn't have been there to enjoy it with you."
"What are you doing to me?" I called, the sound echoing around my mind. It was almost like I could hear two of myself, one out loud and one inside my head.
"Well," the voice said as a rendition of my father materialized in my mind space. "Usually when we do this it goes a little differently." He began to pace in circles around my mind. "There's usually a lot of kicking and screaming, hence all the straps and buckles to keep you inside the chair. Also, usually whoever's being interrogated is helpless against the magic concentrator and therefore cannot withhold any information from us. But you," he stared at me intently, deep in thought. It was almost as if he was studying me to figure out why I was different from other people. "You defy all points of this invention."
"How so?" Despite myself I was very interested in what he was saying about the machine. "Do you think that it's because I'm Phoenixborn? Like you."
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That's an interesting theory. A very likely theory too. This machine is only able to be operated by someone who has magic that they can channel into it. It would make sense if your magic—beause it's so dominant over you—was protecting you from the prying magic."
"Wait, so you mean you have to channel your magic into this machine to make it work?"
"I suppose, in a way, that's how it works. Though I couldn't explain how it works to you. I wasn't one of the magicians or technicians who worked on it. That was Nalrae's special experiment."
"Is she controlling you?" I blurted out, not thinking of the possible consequences.
He looked horrified and quite angry. "Of course not! Do you not think that I am making my own decisions?! I am quite capable of making my own decisions, thank you very much!" He shook his head in a disappointed way. "Who would've thought that my daughter—yes, my very own daughter would think that I was being controlled by the most loving, kind, and gentle woman in the world."
"Loving? Kind?! Is that what you think Nalrae is?" I shouted, lunging at him. I could feel my body struggling against the straps that held me to the chair.
"Of course!" he yelled back. "You don't?"
"I never said that," I said, realizing my mistake and trying to fix it. "I just wanted to know what you think of her."
His eyes glazed over and assumed a dreamy look. "I think...that Nalrae is the most beautiful, kind, loving, gentle, smart, compassionate woman I have ever met."
I nodded, withholding myself so that I wouldn't explode. "That's interesting. I would say..." I gulped, rage pulsing through my veins trying to stop me from saying what I was about to say. "I would say that Nalrae is everything you just said...and more." I internally shuddered at what I'd just said.
"That's good." His eyes unglazed and became what I had thought were his 'normal' yellow eyes but now knew better than that. They were blank and unfeeling...because Nalrae had somehow made him fall in love with her and follow her around like a puppy.
"So, are you willing to show me anything about your memories seeing as I didn't get to see them the first time around?" he said, breaking the silence and my train of thought.
"Ummm," I murmured. I wondered how much I should show him seeing as he was very likely to report everything to Nalrae. "I will show you one memory, and one memory only." The thought of rewatching the memory made my stomach turn but I knew that it was the only one that I would feel safe with letting him know about.
I took a deep breath, steadying myself, and preparing for the emotional rollercoaster I was about to go on. With one last deep breath, I mentally pushed the memory towards my father.
He grunted when he got the memory.
Standing in front of the girl was a woman she recognized. Although she didn't look the same as when the girl had last seen her, she still looked like the same woman.
The old woman let out another unhealthy sounding cough. "I know, I'm a sight for— cough —sore eyes. The dampness got to my lungs a few months ago and it's steadily been getting worse." She sank to her knees, wheezing. She gazed up at the girl sadly, her eyes filling with tears but she was smiling. "At least I got to see you one last time before I'm gone."
"Why would you say that?" the girl asked, sinking down next to her and taking her hand. Her tears were creating tracks through the dirt on her face. "You can't go! Not—" she paused, squeezing the old woman's hand softly as she took a few laboured breaths. "Not yet. I only just found you again. I thought you were gone forever and when I finally see you again." The girl sniffed, torrents of tears running down her cheeks. "You have to leave already?"
"I'm sorry, Nyx," she wheezed, cupping the girl's face in her soft palm. "We'll see each other again one day, but aside from that—" Another deep cough. "—you mustn't let your father find what he's looking for. You must find it first. Meld it with its channeler and wipe out the Enchantiss. It's the only way."
The girl shook her head, her body was shaking, her tears falling like a waterfall. "I don't think so. I believe there is another way!"
The woman sighed, a long shuddering breath that seemed to drain every last drop of her energy from her body. With one last shallow wheezing breath, she whispered into my ear, "Nyx, I know this is going to be hard for you, but for those who love with their heart and soul there is no such thing as separation."
Her head lolled to the side and the girl could almost see the life leave the woman's body. It was a glasslike reflection of who the woman had once been and as she walked through the air towards the small barred window she turned and waved as she disappeared from view.
"Grandmother!" the girl screamed, resting her forehead on the woman's limp body. "Come back! I still need you!"
"How could she just leave me like that?" the girl whispered, her wet face buried in her hands.
When the memory ended I was left standing alone in my headspace. Havel was nowhere in sight.
My mental body took a step forward, but as it did so I felt a jerking sensation and felt as though I was falling through an endless void of space.