Lysandra's Point of View
Her mother was raging. They had blocked the oceans completely, and now the armada was rendered useless and immmobile. One point had been lost to the God-Born and Lysandra had begun to worry that they would lose this war. And given she was a Crimson,that would be unimaginably bad.
She had barricaded herself in her room but jumped as Empress Medea of Kallias threw a chair at the corridor.
When her mother raged, her mother truly raged. Later she would find the words her mother had scratched onto the walls with her fingernails:
SELENE CHARLIZE
Selene was the one responsible for this whole mess. Lysandra was slightly annoyed to have the elf's name etched onto her door, but oh well. Complaining to her mother would not go over well, and she had no intention of having Lysandra etched onto some other wall in the palace.
It was a good thing she was away during her mother's rage, Lysandra thought to herself. Her meeting with Lucifer was well-time. A cloak and hood were an unfortunate necessity of the meeting; her face was well-known, like Aaron's, Markus' and the Empress'.
She slipped into the story of who she was meant to be as easily as she slipped the black hood on her head. She hide the smallest DarkMirror-really just a sliver of glass-in her pocket in case this got messy. A dagger was gleaming in a sheath and her magic was ready to be called. Check, check, check. She would have been fine with only one of them, really, but she liked to show off.
It was kind of her motto.
Lucifer waited for her in the café and it seemed so strange to meet him there that she almost laughed. They spoke quietly, but everyone here seemed engaged enough in their conversations not to care.
"I suppose I should thank you," Lucifer said slowly. "For saving my life. I suppose you know who I am,"
"Yes," Lysandra smiled. "You're in the rebellion, from Cobalt. You've been part of this for five years now, a messenger between the spies." He nodded.
"You have spies of your own, no doubt?"
"I have my methods of getting information," Lysandra admitted. "I am here to help you."
"Why?" Lucifer asked. "You're a noble. That's the only way you could have saved me. Could have known everything that you did."
"And because I am a noble I cannot see right and wrong?" She asked. "Because my father aided the Empress to power I cannot bring her down?"
"There is no advantage to you," Lucifer answered honestly.
"That is what I thought," she lied. And still think. "Then the Empress killed my father because he became a nuisance." Probably true. "I am here for revenge. I can help you in ways that your various spies cannot."
Yes, all very true. She was there for revenge against her brothers for being sun-blasted idiots, and yes, she could help, if she choose to. How wonderful. She had qualified for the rebellion without even having to lie.
Lucifer smiled at her, seemingly truly happy.
"I am sorry about your father." He said sadly. "But I am glad that you have found your way to us." Lysandra smiled back at him, glad that this had gone so well.
"There's a deposit in your account at the nearest bank," she told him quickly. "Go there. I know the rebellion is low on funds."
"We couldn't-" he began, but she cut him off.
"Do you have any idea of my personal fortune?" She asked him. "I thought not."
"How can I thank you for what you have done?"
"Mount Medea's head on a pike. I'll meet you here Tuesday?"
"Yes," he sighed.
She was gone.
The donation had left a dent in her allowance, but that didn't really matter. All it meant was resisting the temptation to get some new dresses from her favourite tailors. Even if there was that wonderful new fabric...she would cope. Maybe.
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Aaron
Aaron Crimson was staring out of his window, his mind going over the same thing again and again. He held the chicken bone in his hand, examining its every inch. Was it possible that something so simple might hold the key to everything? That something so simple might still hold onto a scrap of life?
He looked down at the writhing shadows he had caught in a jar. He flinched at the sight of them. Not like ordinary darkness. The pure antithesis of fire, fire that all humans loved so well. Unlike his family, he had no shadow magic to corrupt that love.
The shadows clamoured to escape, but he made no move to let them out. They were Theseus' of course, because Marcus, Erik, Tyton and Perseus would have refused to help him without knowing his purpose first. And his purpose was just so far-fetched, so impossible, so unlikely that he could not bear to tell his brothers what it was. They would laugh at him.
There was a determination in Aaron's mind that drove him forward. This could be done. And if-when - he achieved it, his mother would be so proud of him that it would drive away any doubts that had followed his humiliating attempts to achieve the cure-all: months and so much gold spent on something that could not be done.
He quickly checked to see if anyone was watching him. It was a stupid thought, of course, because no one was allowed in this corridor or even the this whole wing.
His mother had been very careful to ensure that the secrets of alchemy could not be learned by anyone else. If someone else managed to replicate what they had done than all that Aaron had worked for would be diminished. Everyone could be as wealthy as they, making gold out of lead and immortality out of thin air if they ever managed to capture Crimson shadow. It would force them to either stop using their magic in public or suffer the consequences of alchemy being free.
He unsealed the jar, dropped the pearl in and closed it again as quickly as blinking. The shadows writhed around the pearl, and his heart skipped as they began to take shape. A strange shape, a lumpy sort of creature, but a creature nonetheless. He watched, motionless, as the shape turned into something clearer, and more distinct. Not quite an animal, but an animal-shaped shadow.
He blinked. It was a chicken.
He did not really need any more confirmation, but he unsealed the jar anyway and picked up the shadow-oyster with care. He felt for its heartbeat and listened to it, a grin growing on his face.
Beat. Beat. Beat.
There was a knocking on the door, and he turned to see his sister.
"You're not meant to be here," he told her, then glimpsed the strawberry yoghurt and gingernut biscuits. "You're especially not meant to be here with food."
"Is that a chicken?" she questioned.
"No," he said quickly and put it back in the jar, sealing it tight. "We can have the cookies in my room."
"Who said we were sharing the cookies?" Lysandra replied. They were. Of course they were. She had gotten Aaron's favourites especially.
"I've been working on something," he said at last as they walked through the corridors, leaving cookie crumbs on the floor. "It will really be a game-changer this time."
"Haven't the past two been game-changers already?"
"Yes, of course. But this might just be even bigger."
"Bigger than immortality and endless gold," she mused. "You're setting your sights quite high."
"I should probably tell mother first," Aaron said cautiously. "But honestly, I need to tell someone, and I don't want to let her down."
"Things go poorly when people let her down," his sister agreed and he frowned slightly. She was right of course, but he did not like it. "So tell me. What are we cooking up now?"
"I think I might be able to Animate shadows," he said quickly, happy to get it off his chest.
"Animate shadows?" Lysandra asked. "That sounds more like magic than alchemy, since you keep insisting they're different fields."
"It's somewhere in between," he admitted. "The actual life-giving process is alchemy, though. Or at least, alchemy is the most accurate definition."
"So how does it work?"
"I take a piece of the creature I want-let's say a pearl for an oyster, cat teeth for a shadow Sabran-and I put it in with the shadows. It forms the creature." Lysandra nodded.
"But this is what mother tried before. Forming the creatures."
"But she didn't add the piece from that creature. Hers didn't have heartbeats and that was how we could tell they weren't real. Mine have heartbeats-a little unsteady at first, but stronger as they go on."
"Are you sure it's not necromancy?" She asked, her eyebrows raising.
"Well, it might be. Alchemical necromantic rebirth."
"We're making up words now, are we?" she grumbled.
"They're real. I checked the dictionary."
"Check another one." She replied.
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Lysandra
What her brother had done left her mind spinning like a leaf in the wind. He had somehow created life from alchemy and shadows. It shouldn't have been possible. It certainly wasn't natural. Neither, she supposed, was the fact that she would live forever and live wealthy off something that began as lead.
But this was greater than all of that, far greater.
The elixir was difficult, and could not bring those who had already kicked the bucket. The value of lead had skyrocketed as thousands attempted to sell it to them. Aaron could not grasp the raw power and potential of this because all he saw was a way to impress their mother.
But this would change the course of the world. Because now her mother was no longer limited to humans born to her empire, weak and unwilling to fight. Her mother wasn't even limited to humans at all. If she got her hands on elfin, valkyrian bones...burning sun, what if she could do this to some of the Elfin Lords and Ladies? Or Myra Isidore and Layla Swallow?
But this was her mother, the woman she was planning to inherit everything from. Perhaps anyone would expect her to be pleased. But it did not please Lysandra at all. It terrified her. So even if it broke Aaron's heart, even if it destroyed his chances to please their mother again, even if it denied the Kallian Empire the chance to become truly invincible....
She had to end it. Not just temporarily, but so completely that it would be completely wiped from the earth and the minds of all its peoples. This could never happen again. If it did, then the person who discovered would posses more power than any mortal should have. And if she couldn't hold that power...she certainly wouldn't let anyone else.
This would have no limits, unless she ended it now.