We started in the morning. There was a complex we were set to find. Our destination was a large house in the mountains known only as the Belle Mansion. The walls had been stripped down to concrete and stone over the years. Beth walked ahead, her scythe steadily in her hands.
"I don't like this place," Ciana pulled Tia closer to her.
"Relax," Tia brushed Ciana's hair. "Nothing could possibly go wrong."
"Easy for you to say," I pointed.
"Hey," Beth paused. "You all should look at this."
~*~
The morning was oddly quiet. Loral didn't even look at Lexington. The two didn't argue. I rested happily in their silence. Arn was his usual self. I was glad not to have to cease any fighting. We moved on with our journey.
"This is it," Arn stopped, touching some symbols outside the cavern.
"I am seriously tired of caves," Loral huffed.
"Well," Lex shrugged. "Whatever happens, don't detach from someone who can fight demons," he smiled in my direction.
"Let's try not to lose each other at all," I took a deep breath to let all my worry out.
"We will be fine," Arn touched my shoulder. Loral grabbed me away from him. "I'm certain we will make it out of here alive."
"Don't worry," Loral gave me a soft look. "I'll look out for you."
I nodded my agreement. I still couldn't fight the gnawing feeling that something terrible would happen.
~*~
"Hello?" I called out into the black abyss.
"Tia!" Ciana yanked me back, giggling.
Forrest stepped forward. "No, she was right. There is something out there."
"W-"
"Quiet," I hushed Beth.
Forrest waited in stunning silence. I'm sure he first had to rule out our heartbeats before settling on what could be before us.
"You remember our first fight," Forrest looked at me. "That giant marble statue."
"Yeah, you're digging up deep memories," I smirked.
"There's something about that size down there," Forrest kept his voice low. "And about twelve other fae."
"Whatever it is," Beth reached into her pocket. "They won't stand a chance."
~*~
Wondering off without Arn was my first mistake. I stared at the stone cavern walls that seemingly led nowhere. I was hopelessly lost. Worst of all, I ended up with Loral. Despite his uptight demeanor, he was stuck with me. I thought only that his fear of caves kept him this close.
"We're lost," he repeated.
"No," I assured him. "This cave has to lead somewhere."
Lex. something hissed behind me.
"What was that?" Loral twisted about.
I didn't dare look back. I rested my hand on the hilt of Zweihänder. As long as I had this Lilith-forsaken sword, I was fine. At the very least, Loral had defensive magic. Defensive light magic in this dark fucking cave.
Leeeeeexxxxx, the thing hissed again.
I shook my head. This wasn't real. I was hearing things. I glanced back to Loral. He was gone. I turned around, staring at the cave around me. Where the fuck did Loral go?
"Loral?" I called into the dark.
Lexxxington, the dark answered back.
I reached for my sword, finding it gone. What the fuck? I turned around. I was defenseless in this cave. My sword was suddenly dangling in front of me, suspended in the air by something dripping and dark.
"What an interesting little sword ya got here," a face appeared beside me.
It smelled awful, like anything that was far beyond dead. It sneered at me, its yellowed teeth dripping something foul too. Its eyes were completely orange, like burning embers. I stepped away.
"Give me that," I demanded.
"Oh, now, Sunny," it smirked. "I merely wanted my turn."
Sunny. Fucking Sunny. The name I gave away when I was doing my showman bits. When mysterious men would buy me drinks, whenever someone at shows asked me for my name, that's what I'd tell them. Call me Sunny.
"What the fuck are you?" I inquired.
"Well, well," he bowed. "My name is Inky; my friends Succy and Busi got your friend over there. We're the three incubi of this cavern, and trust me, Sunny, we've gotten pretty hungry."
~*~
The vines felt oddly lifelike in my hands. I wasn't sure dead plants could quite feel like this. I grabbed Tia's waist, helping her down. I slipped my metal nails back on, one by one. I pulled my teammates behind me. I had to find where these things were.
Red threads stretched out for miles. The walls were a reasonable distance away down here. It was dark. I could feel creatures moving.
Ignite, I commanded.
Little blue flames popped up around the room. Each enemy before us was illuminated by spirit fire. I grinned. This was going to be too easy.
"Where's the big one?" Beth whispered.
Something yanked a string. A nice trail of spirit fire flew up the thread. The flames lighted a huge angry face behind us. Tia drew her claymore.
"Get behind me!" She shouted.
~*~
"Lexington?" I asked the dark when he disappeared from my sight.
"It's rude to call us what we aren't named," something stood before me.
His eyes glowed bright pink. His teeth dripped something orange, and he was smiling at me. Demons. It hadn't been that long since I had run into one. The last set of runes still burned red. They hadn't quite scarred yet.
"Lux emundari," I crossed my hands, blinding light filling the room.
The demon stood before me, laughing as it faded. "Nice try, Loral. I do commend your efforts. But you need to understand something. We've been here for thousands of years now."
It took a step towards me. I shuffled backward. Something wrapped around me. There was another one. Two demons. I thought I could barely take down one.
"We're starving, dear Loral," the other one grinned wide. "Come on, give us a bite."
"No way in hell," I gritted my teeth, pulling as hard as possible to escape.
Their slimy arms slipped around me. I was sandwiched between the two of them. They let their hands, if you could call the pointed ends of their arms that, explore my body underneath my clothes.
"Oh, what is this?" The one demon lifted my shirt further. "Syntheos? Ludenari? Zyra? Bir'Omor? We're not the first demons who have defiled you, are we?"
"What do you mean, Brother Busi?" the other leaned over. "Oh goodness, ancient runes. Maybe we'll have to take a stab at him, too."
"Brother Succy," the demon reached around to parts of me that shouldn't be touched. I began to kick at him, to struggle. "I believe we've got ourselves a treat right here."
"Stop it," my breath was heaving in my throat.
"Oh and gone too quick, what a shame," the one called Busi bemoaned. "Guess we'll have to take it in other ways. Maybe here?"
I screamed as pain shot through my body. The other shoved its hand down my throat to silence me. Tears dripped down my face. How could they do this to me? Why didn't my magic save me?
~*~
I scattered dead seeds along the ground as I ran. In my wake, plants bloomed. Vines twisted around the red thread Ciana had spewed across the room. I hiked my scythe towards my head, swinging down into the thing before me.
It reeled, reaching for its weapon. Little did it know that plants were headed for it. They wrapped around its hands, rendering them useless.
Again, I swung for the head. It lobbed off with a satisfying, bone-chilling thunk. I stepped closer to see what it was. A man. With glass eyes. It was as if someone had replaced his insides with machines. Things that fought for him and lived for him. He must have been kept young by these mechanisms. The vines set off again in another direction. I chased them down for my next victim.
~*~
I could hear Loral scream. I kept out of Inky's reach.
"What are they doing to him?" I asked.
"Only what I'm about to do to you," Inky shrugged. "It's not like you haven't been here before. You quite like things like that, if I remember."
His arms shot out, wrapping around my ankles. I was hoisted into the air, my arms being held behind my back. My sword was thrust against my throat. I felt woozy with all the blood rushing to my head. Abruptly, pain shot through my body. He wasn't even giving me a chance to be prepared. He was defiling me without question. My voice cried out in pain, but the dark cavern just echoed it about. I had been in situations like this, where I was forced against my will. Yet being strung upside down was fucking with my head.
The incubus screamed as my body filled with fire. It burned. I felt like I was walking through an inferno.
"What is this? An A?"
I started to laugh. It had found Arn's mark, the one that allowed my body to communicate with him. He would come and save me now. The incubus didn't take kindly to my laughter. Punishment ensued, as it always did in situations like this.
Arn, please save me quickly.
~*~
Bang. It was like a gun or a cannon going off. I'm sure it fumbled with all my teammates fighting around me.
Bang. The clash of two swords fighting to the death.
Bang. I could take down this monster with ease. I needed my opening shot. I finally found the move of weakness I needed to conquer my enemies.
Boom. It fell to the ground. A man stood from the back of it. A machine. He was controlling it all along.
I held my sword tightly in my hands. The blade of my claymore reflected my sweaty face at me. These animal hides probably made me reek. Ciana would hate me tonight.
The man drew a broadsword. I laughed.
"Let's dance, pretty boy!" I hollered.
~*~
My mind went back to that cave. Back in time, back to Seratonium. When Heneric and I were playing, we played as all the other kids did in the caves. We were just playing. It wasn't my fault. I... Was I in control? I was a sinner—a killer. My hands ended Heneric. The moment replayed in my mind, in my nightmares, so many, many times. They were my hands, but they weren't mine, were they? I didn't kill him.
I didn't like the way the demons continued to defile me. This was so far beyond wrong. This was against my beliefs. The tears wouldn't stop either. I was in so much pain. I wasn't a killer. I didn't kill him. One demon began to pull at my wings. The torment was enough to make me let out a garbled scream.
Something in my heart pulled. I had felt it before. My stomach turned. I was going through it again. Light streamed from my eyes, brightening the stone around me. The demon before me, Succy or whatever, started to scream now. He disappeared. The other one slapped a hand over my eyes.
"No more of that," he instructed.
I screamed again. For Gehora's sake, somebody help me.
~*~
The other heartbeats were dwindling. I jumped when the giant one crashed to the ground. I turned to see Tia fighting with the thing that controlled it. It was so deep in the machine, I couldn't hear him, but the echo it made through the hollow body. That's why it sounded so big. Ciana was using blue magic to fight off an attacker. Beth was looking for another one. I could feel the rush of another.
I turned around. Flames trailed its head. Water. I pulled it from the air, freezing the ground at its feet. It stumbled, falling flat on its back.
I pulled the ice up, sharpening it like a blade. I crashed it down over its neck. Done for.
"TIA!" Ciana screamed.
I looked with enough time to see the sword go right through her eye. The amount of blood was astounding with simply one strike. Tia collapsed to the ground. The man ripped it out of her. She fell to the floor.
My mind went blank.
I flew forward. On what madness, I didn't know. I felt all the water around me, plenty of which was the blood of my now fallen teammate. I fell into combat with this man.
He was quick with his weapon—vines wrapped around his ankles so he could no longer move, but his arms didn't cease. Threads grabbed him. He froze in the ice. Yet, he still had the will to fight. Ice flew through his head, splattering blood across my face.
He was finished.
Tia's heartbeat had faded. It was gone nearly the instant after he removed his sword. I fell beside her. The world around me was a tsunami. Everything I knew to be real was gone.
~*~
"Lex," I stopped dead. "Myhilda! Loral and Lex! They're in a cavern below us!"
"How will we get there?" she turned.
"Come here," I grabbed her in my arms. "Perdere."
The floor beneath us crumbled. My feet hurt as we hit the floor. I took the impact. Blackness flew by us.
"Demons," I froze. "That's the work of the demons."
"Save them," Myhilda's eyes begged me.
"I will," I moved my hands. "Myhilda, stay here. Turn invisible."
Myhilda sat down beside the wall. She wrapped her arms around her legs. She seemed so tiny. Defenseless. Loral would have killed me for leaving her alone, but I could feel the power of all three demons ahead. This is what we were after.
As I left Myhilda's gaze, I allowed my god powers to consume me. Demons would take me seriously if they saw me as I truly was. I could see a white light further down the tunnel. I flew as fast as my wings would carry me. The light was gone. I dropped to my feet below a demon with glowing yellow eyes. He held Loral tightly in his arms, more arms on him, touching Loral where he shouldn't be.
"Oh no," the demon dropped Loral.
Loral's eyes were glowing a bright white. That was the light I had seen.
"By the power of the gods before me," I clapped my hands together. "I command you back into the realm where the demons rot. You should have died long ago."
I opened my hands, a black skull flying out of them as my father had taught me. The demon vanished.
"Arn?" Loral asked me. "What's going on?"
"Where's Lex?" I shoved his questions away.
"I lost him," Loral looked down the cave with glowing eyes.
I heard a screech. Lex's sword came flying out of the darkness towards me. I reached out a hand to block it, forgetting in that instance that I hadn't had the time to put on my leather gloves. The blade sliced my hand open.
"Turn that damn light out!" A demonic voice called.
"Let him go!" I charged forward.
Loral's eyes did the trick before I could, however. Before I reached them, the demon had melted to a pile on the floor. Lex was curled on the floor before me.
"Lex," I reached him.
"Stop it," he pushed himself away from me, not daring to meet my eyes.
I straddled his lap, forcing his hands away from his face. He was crying. His eyes searched my face. He was insulted.
"I shouldn't be crying," he pulled his wrists from my fingers. "Shut up."
"Hey," I grabbed his shoulders, pulling him to me. "You're allowed to cry. It's perfectly okay to cry. Whoever told you not to is lying to themselves."
"What about Loral?" He asked swiftly.
"I'm fine," Loral called back, his lights still reflecting off the cavern wall.
"You took too long to get here this time," Lex muttered.
"I'm sorry," I held Lex tighter.
"Is everything okay down there?" Myhilda called down the hole.
"We're fine!" I called in response.
Lex stood, brushing himself off. He wiped his tears away, only really managed to smudge dirt along his face.
"Can you pick up my sword?" he gestured to the thing lying on the ground. "I don't think you want to know what that fucking demon did to me with it, and I don't want to touch it."
I set the thing in his sheath.
"I'm sorry, Loral," Lex offered him a hand.
"It's not the first time," Loral shook his head. "I kind of wish this power would have kicked in earlier. Then maybe we both wouldn't have had to do that."
"At least it wasn't for long, right?" He tried.
"Arn," Loral focused his gaze on me. "What even are you?"
"Shit," Lex looked towards me. "Make him forget. Make him forget what happened too. Let him blame me. He shouldn't have had to do that."
"I'm a god," I answered. "I was born from Persephone and Domascus, which, according to Myhilda, would be Lena and Deracanon, I suppose? I'm sure you would understand."
"I see," Loral nodded. "That would make you Lineodin, the God of Growth. Do you have to make me forget? I think I need to remember this experience."
"Can you keep my secret?" I challenged.
"I'm sure I can," he blinked his glowing eyes away from me.
"What the fuck?" Lex pulled at my arm. "Now, you're letting any fae know?"
"I think he needs to know," I set a hand on Loral's shoulder. "There are gods looking out for him."
"Guys?" Myhilda called down the cave walls.
"Make noise so we can find you!" I yelled back.
~*~
I couldn't stop the tears. I could barely move. Beth finally reemerged from her tent. I put my shaky hands beneath my thighs.
"Everything okay?" My voice fluttered.
"I got him to sleep," Beth whipped out her box of cigarettes. "She's being carried back to Delta Ace. We'll arrive after her tomorrow. I sent a letter ahead at the nearest town. Everything's taken care of."
She flicked her fingers, igniting her cigarette. She quickly took it, blowing the fire until it was slow-roasting embers. Beth took a very relaxing breath.
"Are you okay?" she asked pointedly.
I shook my head. I ran the sleeves of my cardigan by my eyes. I had cried through all my makeup to this point. My sleeves were stained. I probably looked like a wreck.
"I'm sorry," Beth offered.
It was then that I could tell Beth was like me. She had never felt a personal loss. This was my first. I was miffed. She didn't have the same attachments I did.
"Here," Beth shoved her box of cigarettes at me.
"Oh, no," I instantly protested. "I don't-"
"I know," she insisted. "But you need something to occupy yourself. So take one out. Focus on something small."
I heeded her words. I don't know what exactly compelled me. I listened. Beth lit it for me, and I followed exactly what I had seen her do.
That big exhale released all the dizziness in my head. Someone had flushed all the worries straight out. I felt my body cry for that feeling almost instantly.
"There she is," Beth laughed, coughing on her smoke.
"Thank you," I held it in my fingers for a second.
"I'll stay with you tonight," Beth nodded. "You shouldn't be alone."
I puffed on the cigarette a tad longer.
"You'll make it through this," Beth set her hand on my thigh. Her red eyes held my gaze like a slap to the face. "We'll all make it through this."
"I know," I said. "We have to."
~*~
I stared at Arn across the fire. I couldn't believe he was a god. The way he was disguised, I wouldn't have even guessed. Lexington set the hilt of his sword in the flames, allowing it to burn until it was red-hot. The two of them were together, as a couple. Did the gods earnestly not condemn them? Arn met my eyes. He knew I was staring. I forced myself to look away to Myhilda's lap.
It was uncomfortably silent here. We didn't dare tell our teammates what had happened. I suppose Lexington and I were to simply suffer in silence. We had bathed in a nearby lake, but I still felt filthy. My lights had only flickered out once we had reached the hole our teammates pulled us up through, once I was in daylight. I would have to come to live with the pain, the burning sensation of new runes carved along my spine. Why did demons feel that they had to corrupt me to my core?
A hissing sound escaped the air around us. It caused me to jump. Lexington met my eyes. He was only trying to cool the hilt of his sword so it wouldn't melt with water. I was so far on edge. I was teetering at the edge of my own proverbial cliff.
Light of the World, that was my power. The thing that glowed in my eyes. The ability to vanquish demons with a look. I wondered how I could draw it out again.
"I think I need to sleep," Lexington met Arn's gaze. "And actually sleep. I need this entire day gone."
"All right," Arn lowered his head. "Loral, are you going to be all right?"
"I'll be fine," I assured him.
He nodded, standing himself up. He retreated into his tent with Lexington. There was a sound of crying that spilled from their abode, but I pretended not to notice, as did Myhilda. I found my hand seeking hers, enveloping it in my own. She was perfect if I was to be frank.
"Wouldn't you like to get to bed too?" I inquired of her.
"Not until you do," she answered quietly.
A few more minutes of silence passed. I admired her hand, how different our skin tones were. I was white, like the moon. Her skin was brown, like the desert sands in midmorning. My fae dwelt in caves, and hers traversed the desert in the sun. We were worlds apart, but we fit so well together. Who cared if our views were different? Lexington was right to accuse me of having feelings for her. I did.
"Loral," she said, small like it was almost a question.
I took this chance to kiss her. She didn't fight me off. She accepted it. I wished to dive into her chest and cry. Women were good at comforting. With a sharp sting, I realized then that my lip was cut from the mishap earlier. I pulled back.
"Loral," she tried again. "What happened today?"
"Nothing you should have to worry about," I whispered, laying my head in her lap.
"Do you like me?"
"I do believe so."
"Would you marry me one day?"
"If your parents would allow me to. It would be rude not to ask them."
"You don't need their permission. They have to be happy for me as long as I am married off."
"Then yes."
"Loral, are you crying?"
And I was. My tears dripped into the light, breezy material that made up her skirt. I let them drip quietly, not even letting it inflect my voice or steal my breath—hot tears of shame, of panic, of sorrow, and hate.
"My back hurts," I mumbled.
She lifted my shirt. She gasped at the new runes along my back. I bet they were red and festering, similar to the first time.
"I didn't kill him," I gasped. "It wasn't my fault."
"Of course it wasn't," Myhilda soothed me. "It wasn't your fault in the slightest. No one should be blaming you."
"You don't even know," I whispered. "But that's okay. I don't either."
"Loral," Myhilda ran her hand through my hair. "Why do you pray to Gehora?"
"Because he's pure, unlike me," I found myself saying. "Because he's about redemption and second chances. Like... Who is his wife? Mebella?"
"Stererra."
"Exactly. Stererra gave him a second chance to love her again. And Gehora gave her another chance after she broke that promise."
"Loral, what happened?"
"We were just playing," I recited. "Like all the other kids. All the other kids ran into the nearby caves to play. Only, there was a demon this time. My hands killed Heneric, but I don't think they were mine."
"Loral," her voice was filled with sorrow, worry, pity, all those nasty sad feelings wrapped up with a nice little bow.
"I didn't kill him."