"Aren't you going to invite me in?"
General Roderick smiled, the expression, although normal appearing, caused nothing but dread for Erin, who could see it was not reflected in his eyes. Every breath he took seemed to steal the oxygen from the room. Erin felt suffocated, desperate to escape but her only path to freedom was through him.
She forced her face to remain calm, carefully hiding all the emotions that threatened to overwhelm her with just the sight of her father.
"I wouldn't want to waste your time." She responded politely, but still rejected his request. His eyes narrowed, and Erin felt herself break out in a cold sweat as the sense of being near death was present.
"You rejected my summons."
"I didn't think we had anything to talk about." Erin was struggling to maintain her composure, but succeeded.
"Good." His smile broadened, and he chuckled, the sound raising the hairs on the back of her neck. "You've grown a backbone."
With that he pushed past her, the slightest brush of his hand on her arm making Erin want to jump out of her skin, and sat on a chair at one side of her room. His posture was relaxed, casual, but nothing could obscure the sharp sense of purpose that hung around him. He was not someone to idly visit.
"Unfortunately you are wrong, however, we have a great deal to discuss." He gestured to the chair across from him. "Sit."
Erin stayed where she was, considering her options.
He had stopped blocking the door, she could run away. She could ignore him and remain standing, able to flee at a moment's notice.
...
She could kill him.
Erin felt all the hatred and rage she felt towards him surge through her, screaming silently in her head to kill the man in front of her. The man who tortured her. The man who threatened her friends and loved ones.
The man who murdered her mother.
She had gained a great deal of power and experience lately, perhaps if she surprised him...
General Roderick stared at her silently as she struggled, before throwing his head back and laughing.
At the sound of genuine amusement, Erin was startled. When had she ever heard him make a sound like that before? As she puzzled over this, however, his next words terrified her to her core:
"Hasty." He stopped laughing, his face disappointed. "You have been many things over the years, child, but hasty is not one of them. You'll never achieve your goal at this rate."
He hadn't moved, but it felt like he was holding a knife to her throat. Erin swallowed uncomfortably, wanting to back up but unable to.
"Goal?" She was proud of how unconcerned her voice sounded.
"What do you know of the origin of magic?" Changing the topic abruptly, he leaned forward, his gaze focused.
"The origin?" Erin shook her head. "Magic has always been here. As far as I know, it didn't originate from anywhere."
The corners of her father's lips tipped up. "Right and wrong. Magic has always been here, but it has not always been in the form we are used to."
Erin sat down, confused.
"Currently, magic is separated into different types, different levels. It makes it easy to determine the strong from the weak. Magic is filtered, allowing easy access and use, and the current world as we know it is kept safe." General Roderick's expression was mocking. "But it was not always that way. Pure magic not restricted by any level or type once existed. A magic with the power to change the world."
Erin's mouth was dry, her palms sweating, she swallowed carefully. "Why are you telling me this?"
"..." He stared at her in silence once again, seemingly contemplating something. "Did you tell your aunt about our upcoming trip?"
"Wha...?" Erin felt the blood drain from her face.
"If you haven't yet, make sure you do." He grinned maliciously. "She won't react well. She doesn't want you finding out the truth."
Nothing in this conversation was making sense. She shook her head and remained silent.
"Well, whether you tell her or not, you will go to Merion." He stood up, causing Erin to quietly sigh with relief as his gaze left her own.
"As your father and as a representative of our military, I will be traveling with your team. Of course, this will include meeting with Christopher and his family while we are in the country. He is your fiancé after all."
Despite the overwhelming fear she felt at his presence, a small flame of anger bloomed. "I'm not marrying him."
Her father frowned. "What did you say?"
At his intense stare, Erin felt enormous pressure and was having trouble breathing, but she still glared at him and responded loudly.
"I am not marrying that man."
"..." There was a moment of silence, followed by laughter.
General Roderick held his sides, shaking his head slowly as his amused appearance slowly faded.
"Engagement is sufficient for my purposes at this time. I have no need for you to actually marry him in the end, but the engagement must continue for now."
"I will not..."
"I have already compromised, child." His eyes were cold. "Do not push me further. Otherwise, you will not be the only one to suffer consequences. What's the name of that boy that follows you around?"
Erin's blood ran cold.
"Don't you dare..."
"Gerald, correct?"
A loud cracking sound resounded from the walls around them, but it was ignored.
"No..."
He raised an eyebrow, unimpressed at her obvious anger. "Perhaps I should pay him a visit next?" Tapping his chin gently, he continue with a cruel smile. "I wonder if he'll remain as devoted to you once I start to tear him apart piece by piece."
"... enough." The tortured words escaped from her lips as a whisper.
The world around them tore apart as Erin snapped, her already tenuous control on her emotions slipping from her grasp. The walls and ceiling exploded outward, flames bursting from every pore of her skin. She could see nothing but flames, feel nothing but rage. She briefly noted the building falling apart around her, incinerating into ashes.
"Foolish." Her father walked forward, a sphere of wind protecting him from her magic, and reached out to grab her, lifting her in the air by the neck.
Feeling her air supply cutting off, she struggled briefly, but it was like striking against a mountain. She couldn't reach her amulet to tear it off, and restricted, she didn't have a chance.
"For all those years I was so disappointed. I thought you were soft, weak, like your mother." He looked at her still burning form. "But look at you now, bursting at the seams with power, although... artificially restricted? Is it that woman's work?" His eyes gleamed with interest. "Just how powerful are you?"
Erin made a dagger out wind and tried to stab him but he simply avoided it by dropping her to the ground.
"I was wrong, which does not happen often."
Erin stood up, preparing to attack, but his next words stopped her in her tracks.
"All this time I thought you took after your mother. But here you are. A killer."
Erin reached out toward him again her face drawn back in a snarl. Roderick stepped backwards, avoiding her grasp.
"Who would have thought that in the end, you would end up being just like me." He smiled and walked out of the room.
"We will talk again."
With that he was gone, leaving Erin kneeling on ground amidst the ashes of what had been her room, her body still as a statue, her eyes staring blankly at nothing.
"Where is she?" Gerald muttered anxiously to himself, searching around the school grounds. After she hadn't returned from leaving to contact her aunt, he had slowly become worried, going to her dorm to check on her.
Instead, he found a crater where her rooms used to be. The walls, the ceiling, her furniture, all of it was gone, burned to ashes which still coated the ground and floated in the air.
She wasn't there.
Seeing signs of a fight but no clues to her location, Gerald began wandering, hoping to run into her. After some fruitless effort, he had an idea, and started making his way deeper into the forest, towards the lake.
Maybe she would go there.
The place he had taken her after her father had first told her he would force her to get married.
The place where they had played with water magic, forgetting about the unforgiving world around them.
The place where they had first kissed.
As he moved closer to his destination, Gerald began to sense a strong illusion barrier, similar to the type that Elsinore had used during their individual training.
"Erin." He whispered her name to himself. She really was here. Filled with purpose, he started moving forward again.
"Where are you going?" A voice called out, stopping him in his tracks.
Gerald turned, a frown on his face. "Christopher."
The other young man smiled, the sunlight reflecting in his eyes making the gold in his irises even more prominent.
"Can I come?"
"No." Gerald sighed. "I'm a little busy right now. Please leave me alone."
"Look, Gary."
"It's Gerald."
"Whatever." He waved a hand dismissively. "You're looking for Erin, right? I need to find her too. She and I haven't spoken yet. She's just avoiding me."
"That's her right to do so." Gerald's voice was cold.
Christopher rolled his eyes. "But we're getting married. The LEAST she can do is talk to me before then."
"Now's not a good time..." Taking a deep breath, Gerald tried to hold in his anger.
"It's not your business to tell me that." His normally carefree face becoming serious, Christopher stepped forward. "I'm the one marrying her. Not you. Get used to it. Now where is that girl hiding? This way?" He started walking towards the barrier. Towards the place that held so much significance in Gerald's heart.
"No."
"What...?" Christopher turned to ask, but had no time to react as Gerald punched him in the face.
The young man stumbled back, clutching his nose, blood pouring between his fingers.
"A man can only take so much." Gerald face was expressionless. "Push too hard, go too far... hurt her... and I'll kill you."
Christopher tried to talk, but Gerald interrupted again. "I have level 5 insight."
Christopher's eyes were wide with shock.
"I know exactly what you are."
"..." He seemed to stunned to speak.
Gerald sighed. "Go to sleep, before I change my mind about taking you out." He snapped his fingers, and his opponent's face grew pale as the blood in his neck slowed its flow and reversed back towards his heart. Christopher's eyes rolled up and he collapsed to ground, unconscious.
Gerald released his magic and without looking back, stepped into the barrier.
It was Hell.
The trees around the lake had been scorched, many crushed into a pulp. The earth had large divets in it, the water raising up in enormous waves and crashing down onto the shore. It was a scene of chairs, of destruction.
And within this crumbling world, Erin fought her demons.
She flashed around the clearing, her form moving faster than the eye could see. A blade of wind in one hand, and a blade of fire in the other, she fought desperately, striking out with everything she had. Gerald could see her fighting style was different than normal. It disregarded all defense, only focusing on attacking, on dealing damage.
She fought like she wanted to die and take the world down with her.
As for opponent... Gerald looked at the familiar figure, and sighed.
It was a spitting image of General Roderick, matching her speed and power hit for hit, never losing his composure for an instant.
It was also an illusion.
"Erin!" He called out, trying to catch her attention.
"..." She ignored him, continuing to fight.
"ERIN!"
"..."
He walked within arm's reach and tried to touch her shoulder.
"ERI..."
Erin spun around, placing both blades against his next with a animal like snarl. She held the pose for a moment, and recognizing him, slumped.
"Gerald?" Her eyes, filled with rage and bloodthirst, slowly drained until all that was left was pain. The swords in her hands dissolved, the burns and welts left on her hands evidence of how tightly she had been grasping them.
He reached forward, pulling her tightly into his arms. "I'm here."
Slowly, shaking, her arms wrapped around him as well.
"..." Gerald wanted to ask, but knew she wasn't ready, so he held her quietly. To his surprise, however, she volunteered the information herself.
"He was here."
Gerald thought it over, surprised. "Your father? Why?"
"I... I'm not sure. He's planning something. It has to do with Merion... and Christopher. But I don't know what." Her voice was hoarse, as if she'd been screaming.
"Should we not go?" Gerald reasonably suggested.
"I don't know, but he seemed to know that Aunt Elsinore didn''t approve of me going there." She shook her head. "I'm missing too much information."
His arms tightened. "We'll figure it out, together."
Erin sighed. "Together."
"Then we can focus on what's TRULY important." Gerald grinned. "Our wedding."
"..." He expected Erin to grin back, but instead she only had a look of pain. "Gerald?"
"Yes?"
"Am I... Could I..." She took a deep breath, steadying herself. "Am I like my father?"
"A murdering psychopath?" Gerald didn't hesitate. "No, why?"
"... You're sure?"
"Are you insulting my taste in women?" Gerald laughed, gently kissing her forehead. "I don't know what he said to you, but he doesn't matter. You know who you are."
Erin looked up at him, conflicted. "Do I?"
Gerald nodded. "And if you forget, I'll remind you.
"..." She stared silently, until he awkwardly stepped back.
"Something on my face?" He rubbed his chin with an uncomfortable chuckle.
She leaned in and kissed him on the lips. "I love you."
He froze into place, shocked. After a few too long moments, Erin shook his shoulder with a confused expression. He shook himself, seeming to gather his thoughts.
"Sorry, I thought I might have died or was still asleep or something."
Erin chuckled, shaking her head. "Idiot."
He reached over, pulling her tight and kissing her deeply.
"Love you too."
Now it was her turn to be shocked. He laughed loudly pulling her hand and leading her in the direction of the school.
"Come on, we have revenge to plan, an international trip to organize, an evil plot to foil, a wedding to arrange..."
"Don't forget exams." Erin interjected.
Gerald groaned. "Don't remind me."