I still fought, every day I fought against Brenin trying to control me, my magic, my actions. I would not kill for them, but the screaming. The screaming of the pitiful creatures Aerona tortured started to follow me into my sleep. I couldn’t go a moment of the day without hearing that screaming, the only thing that silenced it was the Phoenix Tears, and I hated that solution as much as I hated those that caused the screams. It was the screams and knowing that I would only ever hear more of them that led me to kill the ghoul I faced the last time. I didn’t want to; I had it down on the ground and helpless. “I’m so sorry. But I’m saving you from a much worse fate.” I’d whispered before I took its head off in one clean stroke.
Brenin started to clap, proud of me at last and I felt the shaking hit me without any need for a drug. “Well done my pet, well done!” he cheered for me, coming across the clay. I still had the ichor dripping sword in my hand, ready to use it on him should the chance arise, but Aerona took it from me before I got my moment. “You see, no one had to die in agony today because you did what you had to do. You weren’t selfish today, and so that creature is at peace.”
“I hate you.” My everyday defiance resurfaced despite the successful kill.
“Not as much as you hate you right now pet. But this was only your first stage of training. Tomorrow you get to move on to bigger and better things, learning the art you’ve seen my dear sister Aerona practice so many times.” Brenin patted my cheek and without thinking about it I snapped my teeth around his thumb and bit down as hard as I could. He’d once eaten my little finger so it was about time I repaid the favour.
Brenin backhanded me hard enough I felt something in my jaw crack. It concerned me because I wasn’t sure if it was a tooth, my jaw, or even my neck, but I went tumbling over onto the clay. I tried to get onto my hands and knees, to move away but once again the Demon King lived up to the description of being demonically fast. I was kicked in the stomach hard enough I tasted blood, then my shirt was ripped up my back before I felt the shark-like teeth dig in, biting into the flesh of my back, where hip swells out from spinal column. The lassitude of a demon bite hit me even as Brenin stopped his attack, storming out of the arena before he could damage me further. Even as he stomped away I spat out the broken tooth from my mouth, getting onto my knees despite the pain. I was actually getting used to being roughly treated like that. Aerona approached me and jabbed a needle into my neck, and I didn’t fight her, compliantly bending my head to the side at her more gentle touch. It wasn’t the pure wash of Phoenix Tears this time, a much more diluted version instead, and I was gratefully disappointed as my addiction screamed for it. The Phoenix Tears blunted the edge of pain but the euphoria was no longer enough to turn me into a completely passive puppet. Aerona lopped my arm over her shoulder and helped me stand, and even though I had seen her torture many creatures, I clung to her as if she were a friend. She walked with me patiently, taking me to a quiet area where food was set before me and I was forced to eat. “Would it make it easier for you to accept your training if I told you that we are trying to save people?” Aerona asked without preamble.
I was emotionally burned out, the withdrawal making me shake slightly, so I just looked at her without really processing. “Explain.” The command sounded flat of all inflection.
“We are no longer the most dangerous things in the dark Callahan. And I hope to whatever Aspect of the Goddess is listening that you and your Wild Magic will be enough.” Aerona replied in a deadly serious voice.
“That’s truly comforting coming from the slaughtering strawberry shortcake.” The sarcasm was a defensive response I’d not thought myself capable of yet.
“Oh I do like you Callahan, and I wish that we could have met under other circumstances, at a different time in my life. I do what I have to do, just like you will. The name of the game is survival and there isn’t an entity in this Realm that is better at that than I am, even if it means doing things that drive me insane. I wish I could help you escape in the hopes that maybe you could help me do the same, but my brother was telling the truth when he told you that we need you. More succinctly, we need your Wild Magic.” As Aerona pleaded, the entire compound started to shake. At first it was so soft that I had figured the tremors were my own body, still struggling through the withdrawal process, but this latest one was no gentle body tremble; it was a proper quake.
“Power pocket?” I mused out loud as the next rough heave convinced me to hide under the table I was eating at.
“Much worse!” Aerona replied as she joined me under the table.
In the human world the Power Pockets bubble up unpredictably and rattle all of reality for a few minutes, then go on their merry way. Things get destroyed a little, but generally no one gets hurt by them directly. I did not want to know what it was that could make the psycho Demon Princess under the table with me look concerned. It had to be exponentially worse than my simple Power Pockets. Nearly ten minutes after it started, the jerky throttling of the ground stopped and it felt safe enough to emerge from under the table.
“Follow me.” Aerona gave me no choice as she grabbed my hand in hers and hauled me after her tiny form. Her tiny little fingers maintained a vice like grip over mine as she hunted down her brother. We found Brenin in an actual throne room, with an ostentatious piece of furniture that lacked only a butt in the seat to complete the look. My attention was drawn off of the gilded, polished and bejeweled throne to look at the real centerpiece of the moment, a large….thing. It looked like tar and oil mixed together into some kind of amorphous blob.
Even as my brain struggled to try and figure out what this thing could be, my head started to hurt. ‘Callie! Thank the Goddess you’re alive.’ Cass’ mental voice forced its way into my head finally. I was so relieved to hear from her that I almost overwhelmed her with emotions before I managed to lock it all down, knowing that there were now memories inside me that I did not want her to have to suffer through.
‘Cass, can you tell me what this thing is?’ I wondered, a weird sense of curiosity having me creep toward it despite every instinct screaming at me to get out while I still could.
‘We’re getting them here too Cal, and we haven’t a clue what they are. They touch you and it’s like every sickness known to Mankind has come back with a vengeance. There have been cases of Typhoid, Bubonic plague, Ebola, massive Influenza; it’s a walking plague carrier. It seems to be hitting the Normals harder than us Casters though.’ Cass info dumped on me, trying to help in any way that she could but I still refused to let her absorb all my memories. I didn’t need to horrify her with everything that had been done, but I let through some of the information that wouldn’t hurt her. ‘I think you should get out of there.’ She urged me as another ripple struck, more ooze forcing itself into view as if squeezing into reality. I stumbled backwards as the quaking became stronger and clutched to a wall to avoid going flying as a second creature forced its way into existence.
As my Wild Magic surged up, it thrust Cassie out and overwhelmed me within a fraction of a second. My sensate gift tied into it this time, letting me see the energies that should have made this creature up. The fields of my own reality were woven and painted with colours and lights, energy strands making everything connect. But the creatures were nothing at all, sucking the very vitality out of everything they came into contact with. The colours of even the stone faded into listlessness as all life sucked dry. One of the ooze reached towards me with what I could only call a tentacle and the Wild Magic acted to defend me. A strange medley of my elements; a paste of earth and water, swirled with air and fire, hit the black goop and the combination hissed as if it were acid. The once liquid seeming exterior of the things started to harden and crack, unable to simply absorb the amount of energy pouring into it. As the void thing hardened completely, thousands of cracks started, the entire monstrosity suddenly converted into graphite and ash.
I sat pressed against the wall, panting and drenched in sweat while the Wild Magic coiled itself back up and let me regain control. I could see Brenin and Aerona staring at me intently from the other side of the room blocked away from me by the bulk of the thing I had just presumably killed, so despite my shaky feeling legs, I took off running. The hallways were filled with screaming, crying, yelling, and generally panicked creatures, all of which helped me slip farther away without detection. I needed to try and figure a way out of this place; this was likely my best and only chance to get out of here.
There’s a certain pattern to how a building is laid out, not something you might intentionally pick up on but the subconscious mind figures out. So I let my instincts guide me as I slipped through the bodies of those running around, and found myself outside in a courtyard. There was a very impressive wall that lay between me and the rest of the city, and that was it. I could climb over and escape, signal Cassie and let her find me.
When I tried to reach out to touch minds with my twin however, something stopped me. I’m sorry, but you need to stay now. The familiar voice whispered inside my head. My feet felt rooted to the floor even as I looked at potential freedom not thirty yards away. Every second I delayed made it more likely for Brenin to find me again. I’m sorry but when you chose to stay alive, it meant that you chose to stay here as well. This is the something major, the reason you have to endure this and be here. The angels you’ve encountered, the demons you’ve fought, and the alliances you’ve forged, all of that has been leading you here. It’s not yet the TIME but this Realm will be the PLACE. If you’re not here for it, all fails and there is no stopping the tide. But with you here, with you ready, it buys us time later. I promise you that girl, what you do now helps later.
How can you know that? I fought against my stasis, but every trick I could use had already been countered.
I know because I am a Tribute of Death. I can go back into my own timeline to adjust my choices; to make the changes that need to be made to give us a chance. You won’t understand yet but you will soon. Some things do not change, no matter how much else does. You are not ready yet, but there are only short weeks left to get you prepared.
The voice inside my head disappeared as suddenly as it had arrived, and I found myself no longer planted in the courtyard to escape, but instead inside the Demon King’s Castle, helping put out a fire. The last hour or so was a blur but despite everything the voice had said and done, I could actually remember disjointed pieces of it now. I had to stay, I had to adapt, and I had to become better so that we had a chance later on.
I’d thought that Brenin’s castle would be filled with his family and retainers, the higher class of Demon kind, and yet I had stumbled across a family of Imps trying in vain to put out the fire in their home. Inside one of the goo things had melted and I realized that they had set the fire deliberately to try and kill it. The water hissed into steam as I refilled the bucket to throw some more and Brenin came scrambling around a corner with Aerona and a half a dozen guards in tow.
He grabbed my shoulders tight and pressed me against a smoke stained pillar. “Where did you go? I was tracking you, following my hold on you when you vanished. Then I felt you here. How did you do that?” he demanded, snarling at me and I wasn’t sure if he was pissed off at me or concerned for my wellbeing.
“What are you talking about? I’ve been right here, helping your damn people out. Now grab a bucket and be useful.” I ordered the actual King of Hell.
“Watch your tongue mortal.” One of the guards growled threateningly. Brenin released his desperate grip on me to turn and face the troll.
“If you don’t grab a bucket and help, I’ll take that sword of yours and shove it so far up your ass the next one of those creatures could have you as shish kabob.” I warned without any concern for my ability to back the threat up.
When the troll took a step towards me, I simply tapped into Brenin, using the speed he had used against me earlier to strike the troll’s knee and rip the sword from his hip. It never occurred to me that I should still be struggling with connecting to magic here in the Granite Realms, or that I didn’t want to reveal my skills to anyone let alone the Demon King, and especially concerned with the fact that my magic was playing nice with the Wild Magic. Instead, I was focused on just doing what I had to do. And right now I was focused entirely on getting this fire put out, and that meant putting this troll guard into a receptive frame of mind. I laid the sword against his backside. “If I need to prove to you and yours that I am not joking, I will. I’m not very good at this sort of thing yet, Aerona’s only just started teaching me, so it might take me a few tries to properly skewer you but I’m sure you’ll be patient with me.” I warned with a grim smile.
“I’ll grab a bucket! We should form a line of buckets!” the troll suddenly sounded pitiful and I had to fight against myself to not feel empathy for him. I grabbed the scabbard and slammed the blade home, keeping a grip on it to hide my trembling hands. I hated that I just had to do that, and the way that Aerona and Brenin were watching me with pride only made me detest my own actions more. But the troll guards all jumped into a line and had buckets filled to be passed, doing in moments what I had been unable to do on my own.
“I think we should take this to a less public forum.” Aerona suggested with perfect diplomacy as Brenin continued to stare me down. The fact that I could meet his gaze at all should have scared me, but I just didn’t care. I had to survive, I had to adapt, and I had to do what needed to be done so we could succeed. I just wasn’t entirely sure just who that ‘we’ covered in entirety.
Aerona followed behind me as Brenin led us to a small library, where every conceivable surface was covered in books. “Start at the beginning and walk me through what you already know.” I suggested, the authority in my voice not my usual tone. I felt like a puppet being used.
“These things are the entire reason I wanted to get you into my possession.” Brenin hovered close to me as I knocked books off a chair and sat down. “I can handle attacks against my Kingdom, but these things are not of this Realm. They’re not of any Realm. When they first came through, many guards died before we learned that a single touch is Death. I was right to claim you Callahan; you did remarkably against the ones today.”
“I did nothing, the Wild Magic acted all on its own. And I’m not yours.” I countered the words and stubborn defiance feeling more like my own self.
“You and the Wild Magic Callahan, you are definitely mine. I had only a shred of hope you’d actually prove to have some use. But this, this was beyond what I had ever expected. I’m not just going to train your body and mind now Callahan; I’ll master and own your magic too.” Brenin promised darkly.
“Try it, go ahead. I want to see how well a Demon King handles Wild Magic inside his brain. Broiling and boiling, rotting and twisting everything so that nothing is sane anymore. How long do you think your people would last with you like that? How long do you think you’d last like that? Can’t pump yourself full of Phoenix Tears because then you’d be a useless as I’ve been on it, you’d have to be replaced by someone more stable.” Now I wasn’t sure if the words were mine or belonging to the strange voice in my head. It was an odd blend of both of us, eerily familiar in a way I hadn’t put my finger on yet.
Brenin leaned on the arms of my chair and held his face a breath away from mine. “I am not a human. If your unremarkable self can contain it, I must be able to as well. Test my patience pet and we will see very quickly who comes out on top.”
“Brenin…” Aerona’s voice was a warning. Against him or preparing him for my attack I wasn’t sure. As Brenin grabbed my throat and pressed the damn needle into my arm I sent whatever Wild Magic I could against him. It was like scraping the last of the water droplets out of a barrel, almost entirely futile. I had used so much energy against the things earlier, and again to face the troll, that I had nothing left really now. Certainly nothing for the drugs to overwhelm, and yet the Phoenix Tears crashed through my system like a tsunami over an island nation.
I was sitting on the couch, facing the voice that had dominated my mind lately. She seemed more familiar than ever and I was starting to put things together. Slowly, as much was still being kept from me, but now I knew for a fact that I was just a tool to be used, a means to an end. “All of this has to do with The Place Between; the gap between the boundaries of each world. When your kind opened yourselves up to the Others, it weakened the barriers against the Chaos. The gap between the boundaries filled with more and more energy and those that have been banished to the Place Between grow stronger for the first time in existence. You and your sister are the tools to stop this, to stop the Banished from coming back.”
It was the first time I had heard anything like this and yet I didn’t doubt it to be true. “Why us, every test comes back to say that although Cassie it powerful, we’re generally unremarkable. So what is so important about my twin and I?”
“Because of whom your parents are; the time and place of your birth, every single thing that went into making sure the two of you lived at all. You appear unremarkable when the exact opposite is true, and it cost poor Edward everything he ever was to keep the pair of you hidden. Just know that you and your sister are necessary to help merge the Realms together. With the barriers properly joined and sealed, no more energy leaks through to the Place Between.” It was the most straightforward I had heard her speak yet, and every word she spoke resonated in my chest like a second heartbeat. Edward had spent my whole life limiting my Magic and stealing memories away. Cassie had none of that done to her, but she was far less a creature of chaos than I seemed to be.
“Cassie is a creature of Life.” My brain had made an intuitive leap and my mentor nodded, her face not shifting through so many different versions any longer. I could even almost recognize her now. “That makes me a creature of Death if we’re to be the balance.” Her face stopped shifting entirely, settling on one very familiar face. I’ve known this woman my entire life; I just never expected to see her here.
It was the middle of the night and I woke up in a bed that reeked of Brenin. Not the masculine musk kind of way, but the smell of sweat and night terrors. Around my neck was a collar that hadn’t been there when I’d been drugged, and my fingers couldn’t find a clasp to pull it off. The memory of the revelation I’d just had buzzed in my head, held away from my awareness by necessity for a while longer. At least now I knew I was being used, but I had to trust myself to see this through.
I climbed out of the bed and drew a warding circle on the floor using a coal from the cold fireplace, sitting inside it when I was done. I couldn’t be actively aware of what I had learned yet, but I was hoping Cassie would be able to touch the knowledge for her own sake. So I sent my consciousness to my twin, knowing that everything would be revealed to her, not just the strange mentor I’d had, but everything that had been done to me as well. And even as I passed the information onto her, I realized that her belly felt far larger than it should, farther along her pregnancy than I expected her to be.
‘Cal, it’s been months since I felt you!’ Cass’s emotions overwhelmed me for a moment and I just soaked it in. Even as I let her take in all that I had to offer. That is how I learned that apparently the Granite Realms runs along a different time sequence than Humans do; it occasionally pulls away and you cannot cross from one to the other. ‘I’m in Ottawa with Alex and Zeke. Barry’s out of the hospital finally, and Sebastien is still in the Granite Realm doing whatever he can to get us word on you.’ I could feel waves of fear and anger, sadness and a whole motley collection of conflicting emotions from my twin. She hadn’t even gotten a chance to process all the memories I’d planted into her mind yet, and I didn’t want to be there when she did.
‘I’m surviving Cass. That’s enough for now, that and knowing that whatever is happening, it’s coming to a head in the next few weeks. I love you.’ If I stayed with her any longer I’d ask about Alex, and that way lay screaming insanity so I shoved myself free of her mind again.
I heard someone sniff impatiently as I returned to awareness of my own body. Focusing for a second I was able to See their energy for a brief second, even with my eyes closed. It was Aerona but she seemed unable or unwilling to disturb me just yet. I was oddly grateful that it was her and not Brenin, though she was just as dangerous. The quick flash of her aura that I had glimpsed made me think that something was bound around her, limiting her in grievous ways, but I didn’t want to look into it right now. “How long are you going to wait until I open my eyes?” I asked, trying to keep my mind in the moment.
“I wanted a chance to speak with you before my brother finished his morning duties.” Aerona’s little girl voice was grave. I stayed silent and just looked at her, knowing my stare had lost a lot of its empathy over the last month or so. “Can you tell me at all how you destroyed that thing? I know your Wild Magic struck for you, outside of your control, but is there anything at all you can tell me about it? I’m trying to help my people, their being slaughtered and terrorized by creatures whose merest touch is death.”
“And yet you have no problem killing those same people I failed, every day for the last however long it’s been.” I hated to admit that I had lost count of the days. But between the time I was drugged and the time of injury induced unconsciousness, I simply couldn’t tell any longer.
“What if I were to tell you that those things were constructs? They’re not properly alive, just simulations that imitate living things.” Aerona leaned forward as she spoke, tone critical.
I wanted to feel relieved, to have the burden of guilt lift off my mind and my shoulders finally. But I didn’t, instead I just felt cold. “Get out.” I demanded instead, not sure I believed her at all. Strangely enough Aerona didn’t argue with me, instead she left without hesitation.
Now that nothing was distracting me I could feel phantom pins and needles under my skin; my body craved the Phoenix Tears now and I had to fight my own self constantly. I broke the warding circle and stepped out of the room, surprised to find myself without any obvious escort. Then again I suspected that the collar I had been equipped with did that without the need of a guard. Deciding to test it before there were witnesses, I tried to call my air up to search the collar for a weakness. And the moment I tried to do that, the collar constricted painfully tight, choking off my air even as electrical jolts cascaded through me, driving me to my knees.
Blackness ate at my vision until the pressure and pain suddenly eased and I sucked in painful gasps of air again. I sat on my knees and coughed, feeling the collar resettled into a dormant state. And Brenin was standing in the doorway of my room. “I see you’re already testing your new decoration my pet. Let me help make some things clearer for you.” He hooked a finger under the collar and pulled upwards, forcing me to awkwardly scramble to my feet. “You’re starting to learn some interesting things and this is my little insurance that you pay attention. Try anything like you did in the arena and the collar will react. Try to escape, and the collar reacts. Try to manipulate the collar, and the collar reacts. It will choke you until you’re unconscious, or until I command it to stop. In the event of my death, the collar chokes until your heart stops.” He stroked a hand through my hair as I clenched my jaw against the urge to bite him again anyways. “I’ve told you repeatedly that defying me only leads to your pain. If you’re a good girl, this collar is nothing more than a bulky necklace. Do what I say, be what I want, and you will be free to enjoy the many things life as my pet will offer you.” He gripped my jaw and put his mouth next to my ear. “And from here on out, little Callahan, you call me nothing but my Owner. My Owner, yes my Owner, if I hear you breathe any other form of address towards me, I have the collar choke you out. It’s time you started to behave properly my pet.” He let go of my jaw and I scrambled away from him, wishing that I felt anger instead of despair.
“Choke me too much and I might just die, are you willing to risk that?” I countered desperately.
“I have other ways of convincing you should I feel choking isn’t working right.” He promised and stalked towards me. The collar choked tight again as I made to flee some more, the electrical jolts locking my muscles tight as Brenin grabbed me, seeming untouched by the collar. The needle I was jabbed with this time had the toe curling rush of a stronger does of Phoenix Tears, and suddenly the fact that I couldn’t breathe didn’t matter to me. Now Brenin was holding me up because my muscles were weak with delight, a fact that made him laugh as he hoisted me up and settled me back on my bed. “You can fight the addiction all you want my pet, but I know the truth. I know your body and how it craves this. When you finally killed the ghoul in the arena I saw the moment of content where you finally let the beautiful rage inside you have an outlet. I’m not trying to turn you into something you’re not pet; I’m trying to show you who you’ve always been. Once you can accept that, it’s easy to accept that your place is with those like you, in the care of someone who knows that feeling, who knows you. Your place is here, as my pet. You are mine.” He whispered as my eyes fluttered under the onslaught of the Tears. He lifted my shirt to run nails over the flesh of my stomach, tracing flesh without any specific design even as he buried his face in my hair, cuddled to my side. “I am your Owner and I will do everything in my power to see to it that you are taken care of.” He promised with a kiss to my temple. The drug turned even my anxiety into a wonderful feeling. “You will come to crave my approval in the same way you crave this drug.” The collar tightened by a fraction, not quite choking but almost too tight for comfort. “You will do anything I ask, simply for the sake of pleasing me.” He growled as fingers scored light lines of pain on my belly, slipping under the fabric of my pants. As horrible pleasure bubbled, provoked by the drug and his deliberate actions I felt tears leak from my eyes. “Call me your Owner. I want to hear it fall from your lips and then I’ll stop. I have no trouble tormenting you like this instead of with pain.” He promised as the collar choked and fingers ventured.
“Mm-my Owner!” The worst of it wasn’t the humiliation of calling him my Owner; it was that even as I stuttered out the words, he’d already proven his control over my body.
“That’s my girl.” He praised as he wiped the tears off my face. “You chose to have this happen to you my pet. I wish you would ask if you needed me in this way, but driving yourself to this point hurts me as much as it hurts you.” He kissed my cheek and rolled off of the bed, leaving the room without another word.