(This isn't one of my best chapters, it was kinda rushed, but whatever.)
Ruy watched as the official Dunmer-Vatarian alliance declaration was passed around. All the Vatarian leaders signed off, and the document slid in front of Sarai and Dorian.
Sarai's signature was loopy and official, while Dorian's was straight and legible.
Ruy smiled at his dad as everyone in the room gently applauded and cheered, knowing this alliance was the start of a new era of peace. Arsinoe's assistants picked up the document and went to create copies for everyone. Dorian glanced at Ruy, and Ruy gave his father a true, real smile. Maybe even for the first time.
Maybe, just maybe, things are changing for the better.
"That handles one of the issues. Now, we will have a set time tomorrow to deal with the Inalian Senate's claim of a war crime against the Council, seeing as it isn't the main focus. Fang Guanyu and I have also received some important items that can help us get some insight into the Neverseen plans. We both have experts planning on presenting their research tomorrow when we gather again. But I want to address the civil unrest in Inalia currently."
"We stopped by Inalia," Ruy started, everyone turning to him.
"It seems Grecia grows in unrest." Was all he said. Unrest was an understatement. Sophie knows just as well, the Senate's taxes are insane, and Grecia has been absolutely nailed, while Renisanca thrives off it. When Ruy checked on Inalia as Sophie asked, he watched as people screamed at the tax collectors, throwing rocks and stale bread. The tax collectors were escorted out in worry for their lives. The Anti-Senate rebellion the Assassins discovered when they were revealed to the public seemed to have become more united, and it seems they had another voice whispering in their ear. The Senate was too far up their own asses to realize that... they may soon have a civil revolution on their hands.
"What do you mean by unrest?" The Avriman King asked.
Ruy casually looked at the Senate, "Grecia is starving because of your taxes, Senators. Grecia was always taxed and milked of its natural resources and the rich of Renisanca benefitted. They have begun to grow old of it." Ruy replied.
"It seems like the last of our worries right now-"
"How would a civil war help our fight against the Neverseen? Especially since it will only get worse for them during these times?" Arsinoe asked. Arturo and Fausta started to speak, but Vincenzo spat something out first, "The Pythia stated that we must keep taxes high in order to keep Inalia strong!" Vincenzo started.
"Oh please," The Governor of Cariana rolled his eyes, "That old hag? Your Pythia is a scam, probably a simple puppet whose strings are being pulled by a corrupt senator." He spat, eyeing Vincenzo.
"How dare you!" Vincenzo growled, starting towards him. As everyone struggled to remain calm, King Dorian leaned to his son.
"What the heck is a Pythia?" He whispered.
Ruy tried to calmly whisper back, even though his eyes were on the fight that was about to ensue, "The Pythia, also called the Oracle, is a woman from one of the sacred bloodlines in Inalia, they say this bloodline can tell the future and make predictions. She is a big deal in Inalia, to both commoners and nobles, but she never had any place in the Cyevan guild, so we never consulted her." Ruy answered.
Ruy got up to hopefully help diffuse the situation, but the lights flickered out in the entire conference. Everyone stopped their bickering, glancing around.
"Maybe it is a malfunction-"
Screams echoed through the conference room as a Mirthless Horoa crashed through the window. Fang Guanyu pulled Arsinoe away as the shatter glass shred through her dress, a hidden knife appearing in his palm. He kicked the Horoa when it wasn't looking, stabbing it in the stomach. More Mirthless came though, crashing through the windows along with Neverseen soldiers. Ruy body-slammed a man that charged Sarai, tackling him to the ground and rendering him unconscious.
"How did they find us?!" Kalem asked.
"I don't know! Just move!" Ruy answered, escorting them out the doors as people screamed around them. Ruy glanced down the hall and paled as he saw Lilac desperately running towards Alexios. Mirthless hounded on the lands, their screeching only helping to destroy the palace.
(not my art obvi! If you know the artist let me know!)
"Hathlani!" Alexios cried out, punching away soldiers and picking up his sister.
"L-Lia! The man-there is a man-"
Ruy didn't need to hear more as he sprinted down the hall and ripped open the doors.
Two minutes earlier.
Sophie watched the cogs and springs work through her amulet as it played the familiar lullaby. Sophie always thought it was some fancy trinket, her amulet, she never thought about how long it was really in her family. Maybe even Carrado Morretti held this amulet, the man who started the whole Cyevan guild!
Sophie glanced at the careful piece of paper tucked on the shell of the amulet, remembering her father's calloused fingers delicately placing that note when he first gave her the amulet.
He said she can read that note when life as gone to shit when she felt like she can never fight again.
And even if her life goes off the rails, when it would feel like she has no fight left in her, she still hasn't touched that note. She had a hard time truly accepting he was gone sometimes, and that note? There were words that still haven't been said yet, the wisdom he was never able to give her in person, and once she reads that note, he will really be gone.
Sophie fiddled with the silver key Ruy gave her for her 19th birthday, closing the amulet and wrapping the long leather cord around her thigh, sliding the key inside her waistband. She stretched herself out, whispering the lullaby to herself, clicking her golden claws against the peacock pen in her hand. Maybe Akil was right, she was too much in her head all the time. She did finally play her piano after years of it being dormant, maybe she can pick up some new pieces, get back into it? Maybe even Ms. Ligea will allow her back into her dance classes?
Sophie smiled as the thought of it, the pressure of fighting this war alone being taken off her shoulders.
Then she heard the footsteps.
Light, a child probably, yet fast and steady. They clearly knew where they were going, and they were coming her way. Just then, all of the lights in the entire palace flickered and blew out. Sophie gaped, stiffening and glancing around. Sophie wondered if she was really away from the conference from that long, maybe it ended and everyone was heading home? Sophie glanced at the clock.
10:30. No, the conference isn't over yet, so what as going on-
The library doors burst open, and Lilac came sliding in.
"BEHIND YOU!" She screamed.
Sophie dropped the pen as she whipped around just in time to dodge a man sprinting for her neck. She ducked, scrambling out of the way, her stance battle-ready. The man growled, stepping into the light.
"Elrond..." Sophie snarled. His silver hair and pointed ears conflicting against his dark feathered wings. But his eyes were set on Lilac, his fists clenched.
"How on earth did you know-"
Sophie stepped in front of her sister, Elrond's gaze on her.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't alarm the guards right now. You have heard of Egypitnat's Medjays, they could tear you apart in two seconds." She snarled.
Elrond scoffed, throwing aside the towel he tried to shove over Sophie's mouth. The metallic tang hit Sophie's nose, radiating from the towel, and her stomach dropped.
Limbium.
"Simple," Elrond smiled. His wings unfurled as he gestured to the extinguished lights.
"They'll be too busy protecting the conference room."
With that, the conference room erupted in screams, and Sophie made the mistake to turn around. Elrond took his chance, rushing forward and tackling Sophie to the ground. Lilac screamed, grappling onto the curtains as she stared on in horror.
"GO!" Sophie screamed as she wrassled with Elrond. Lilac was frozen in place.
"GO FIND ALEXIOS! MOVE!" Sophie screamed. Lilac could finally move, and she sprinted out of the library. Elrond reached into his vest, pulling out a small silver device, his eyes watching Lilac run like an animal hunting its prey.
"I have a secondary target-"
"Like hell you do!" Sophie swung her arm around Elrond's neck, hooking her leg around his knee and slamming him into the table, holding him down while his wings flailed. He launched his head back, hitting Sophie in her mouth, a small knife appearing in his hands. Sophie backed up as he approached her, blood dribbling past her lips and onto her golden dress, her mind running a million miles per hour. She ducked and swung her leg out, tripping him. Elrond smacked on the floor as something glittered from underneath the table.
Arsinoe's pen.
Sophie ran to it, quickly hiding it in her palm as Elrond cursed at her to stand still. He swung his blade in an arc, Sophie dodging and embedding it into the table. She took fistfuls of his hair in her golden clawed fingers and slammed his head into the desk, the pen appearing in her other hand. He struck her hand away and grabbed her by the shoulders, but she nailed the pen right into the soft part of his elbow. He screamed as the silver tip pierced his flesh, his gritting face snarling at her only to get her fist to his face.
Elrond flew back, scrambling to regain himself as he slammed into a bookshelf, scrolls and papyruses falling around him. Sophie's heels clicked against the floor as she approached him with the bloody pen, ducking under his cross bodied punch and embedding the pen into his side. He screamed, kicking Sophie so hard the wind knocked out of her and she knocked over a bookcase so tall it looked like it was the size of the Senate building.
It started to keel over, Sophie gaping at it as rows upon rows of books dropped to the floor. Elrond didn't care much though as he grabbed Sophie's wrist, swinging her around and nailing his elbow to the back of her neck. Sophie cried out, pain ringing through her body. Elrond caught her, even as she squirmed and tried to pry out of his grip. Sophie may be trained, but so was Elrond.
"SOPHIE!" A desperate voice called out.
Ruy barged through the doors, people behind him screaming and running for exits.
He swung open the door to find Elrond holding her tight and caressing a knife to her throat. Ruy paled, his throat bobbing as he swallowed down his shock. Sophie felt Elrond look at the crown on Ruy's head, then looking him up and down.
"You're that piece of shit I dropped off before I left the kingdom," Elrond muttered. He stared at the crown, the knife drifting ever so closer to Sophie's throat.
"Unbelievable. Dorian's mutt was a Cyevan Assassin all along?!" Elrond laughed. He pouted at Ruy, his grip squeezing the air out of Sophie, "That must've hurt little old' daddy, huh?"
Ruy's eyes were on Sophie, and how the knife drifted closer and closer to drawing blood.
Blue shields flickered around Ruy's hands, energy flying towards him.
"Let her go." He seethed.
Elrond bristled his wings, hugging Sophie closer to his body, "No I don't think I will."
Sophie reeled for ways to get out, for an escape.
And then she heard Ricin's roar.
Elrond froze, hearing it as well, recognizing it from the Inn. In one quick move, Sophie pushed the knife away from him and threw both of them out the window. Sophie cursed as the glass cut her body and dress, but focused on trying to balance herself. Ruy called out, but Sophie flailed as both she and Elrond fell towards the Fida river. Elrond managed to catch himself, his wings desperately flapping to regain his composure. He smiled as Sophie plummeted towards the river, but Sophie just gave him the bird as she heard the whistle of Ricin's wings.
Ricin snatched her right as she was about to hit the river.
Elrond roared, his eyes setting on Sophie as she quickly climbed on Ricin's back. The chiffon cape behind her was a bit bothersome, but at least she had Ricin. Ruy readied his hands to fight, but Sophie waved him away.
"GO HELP THE OTHERS! RICIN AND I GOT THIS!" Sophie called out to him. Ruy looked slightly hesitant, but he ran back out to help everyone out the building. Now that Sophie was outside and had a bird's eye view, she finally realized what was happening. All around the perimeter of Arsinoe's palace were large holes, mysterious nets crawling up the side of the palace walls and squeezing in. Out of the holes crawled Mirthless, every type imaginable. Sophie paled at the sigh of the Medirasa, Cynna's dying breath echoing in her ears. Cynna... the last time the Neverseen launched an attack like this, they were after power and the Golden Cord Sophie used to communicate with Kynareth. Cynna gave Mansi a golden key, is it possible that they are after that too?
Elrond flew high into the sky, his voice booming across the chaos. He spoke in a language that not even Sophie's polygot powers could decipher, but the Mirthless all understood his words.
"Wiilirk sia rinovup geou svadrav si yenta krikvlic waoli nomeno treskri di aurix vur inik! slither dout idol sari okarthelic, kurik tikil svaust stand persvek dout idol! krikvlic wer treskri waoli mrith dout othi vur gixic, stain wer revini persvek asta iejir!" He called out, the Mirthless growling and cawing in approval at his words. Sophie looked through Ricin's saddle, desperately looking for them.
"No, no, no..." Sophie whimpered. Ricin cooed in worry.
"My riding leathers... they're gone," Sophie muttered. She always had her riding leathers with Ricin, always. Did someone take them?
Luckily, Sophie's mask was still hooked to the side of his saddle. Sophie unhooked it, sliding the dragon helmet over her head, covering her face and leaving only her brown eyes exposed. Her deadly dragon mask with a golden dress wasn't exactly the best combo, but it was all she had.
Sophie scoffed, patting Ricin's side as she took ahold of his scales, readying herself.
"Go buddy," Sophie whispered. Ricin roared, Elrond looking at him in shock as Ricin dived for him. The world fuzzed around Sophie and Ricin, both of them speeding towards their enemy. Elrond flew out of them just in time, but Ricin easily caught himself and darted towards him again. Sophie tried to ignite frost in her hands, tried to hurl her pieces of deadly ice at him, but her powers still dimmed against Kynareth's grip.
She heard people gape and stare at her, cheering as she and Ricin struggled to hold down Elrond. But he was too fast, even for Ricin. He was using his smaller size against Ricin, and it was really beginning to piss both Sophie and Ricin off. Ricin's mouth crackled with energy as he shot lightning at Elrond. Elrond managed to barely avoid the attack, the shot instead burying into a mound of sand and turning it into glass.
This was getting them nowhere.
Sophie was working on a new plan, trying to pinpoint where Elrond was-
"MORRETTI!" A familiar voice boomed over the sky. Sophie turned, but not fast enough to avoid Elrond soaring into her and knocking her off her saddle. She felt the gut dropping feeling as her body flung away from Ricin, but the dragon managed to scramble back to her just in time. Elrond hissed and made another rush towards her, but Zuberi rammed into him at top speeds. Elrond roared as Zuberi threw him into a watchtower.
"Zuberi!" Sophie called out. How did he know she was here?
His face was slick with sweat as he growled at Elrond.
"TRAITOR!" Zuberi roared at him.
"What are you going to do about it?! Have another one of your visions? Run back to Dorian-"
"There is no need!" Dorian hissed as flew to Zuberi's side. His crown was not askew, even though his outfit looked worse for wear. Dorian glanced at Sophie.
"We will handle him."
Elrond chuckled, "You can try."
Dorian clenched his fists, gusts of black wind whipping around them.
"Mentore, GO!" Zuberi cried as the two of them rushed Elrond. Sophie and Ricin zipped through the air as fast as possible.
Sophie and Ricin landed in Arsinoe's courtyard, Sophie hopping off and pulling her helmet up her head.
"Where have you been?!" Mansi asked, running up to them.
"Elrond tried to get me in the library, Lilac managed to warn me in time though," Sophie answered. Around them, Arsinoe's palace crumbled and began to swarm with Mirthless. Mansi snatched Sophie back as a Horoa nearly ripped her spine out, Mansi lighting the stupid pig up with red hot flames.
"We need to get the leaders out of here!" Sophie claimed.
"Nour and Alexios are already on it! They got them all out!" Mansi answered. Sophie tried to ignite her hands with lightning, but it sputtered out in her hands.
"Damn you Kynareth," Sophie growled.
"Uh, Lia? I could use some help!" Mansi snapped as she roasted a Scylla.
"I can't!" Sophie spat, hating that she was so useless.
"What do you mean you can't?!" Mansi asked over the chaos.
"I mean my powers aren't working!" Sophie admitted. Mansi slammed her closed fist onto the ground, fire erupting in a wave around her. She whipped around, her eyes wide.
"Your powers are WHAT?!" She screamed. Sophie was about to answer, but her eyes set on the Neverseen hounding in on the children of the nobles, who were all crying for their parents. Mansi sprinted towards them first, knocking out as many guys as possible, even then, they were too much for both of them. The children cried behind both of them as they held off the Neverseen. Mansi set her eyes atop the limestone staircase and cursed.
"Halt, you fools!" Vespera snapped at the soldiers harassing Mansi and Sophie, her arms held behind her back as she stood atop the stairs. The soldiers begrudgingly moved back, but still hounded around the group. The children clung to Sophie and Mansi's dresses, they're tears loud as they were pressed farther and farther against the wall. In the corner of her eye, she saw Alvar and Maha skid into the room. Alvar stared at his fiance with desperation, looking for anything to help them. Vespera had no emotion as she descended the steps, merely a cocked eyebrow. Sophie hated at how much of Ruy's appearances she saw in Vespera, how the same colored eyes could belong to one person who loved her, and to another who hated her.
"Last time I saw your face was when you stole the Golden Cord from me." Vespera snarled at Sophie. Sophie clenched her fist, her mind reeling at the sight of the witch.
"Leave. By conducting this attack, you have-"
"Oh, Amalia, I know what this attack has done." Vespera smiled. Indeed, because by the running nobles, escaping Vatarian leaders, and screams of the town folk, Egypitnat was starting to crack under her power.
"Take the blonde one," Vespera ordered her guards. The children screamed as the guards surged forward and grabbed Sophie by her hair and threw her to the ground, then holding her arms straight out as she struggled in their grip. She looked around for Ricin, but he was nowhere in the courtyard.
Until she saw a potted plant fall over as if something pushed it.
That is when she realized, Ricin wasn't gone, he was using his invisibility for the right moment.
Sophie squirmed, Vespera putting a finger under her chin and clicking her tongue.
"Such beauty wasted on such a stupid brazen heart." Was all she said. Sophie snarled, wanting to rip Vespera apart. Vespera lazily looked over to Mansi, who was still keeping the children behind her. Vespera just seemed to notice Alvar and Maha as well, and just smiled at Alvar.
"Hello, traitor." Vespera snapped at Alvar.
"Please-"
Vespera held up a hand, quieting him down. And she boringly looked at the children, then to Mansi, before smiling at Alvar. A smile of sinister revenge, the hatred of a traitor standing before her about to get what he deserved.
"Kill them all, and put a dagger through the fire one's heart," Vespera said to her guards. Sophie's heart stopped as the children screamed, their tears flowing as the Neverseen approached.
"NO!" Alvar begged, trying to rush forward but held back by Neverseen. Sophie kicked and screamed in the soldier's grips, her watery eyes set on Mansi. Mansi watched with shaking hands and wild eyes, and in a last-minute move of desperation, she screamed-
"I CLAIM PARLAY!" Mansi screamed.
Vespera stopped in her spot, the only sound being her panicked breathing and the children's' quiet sobs behind her.
"You are as Vatarian as I, you bitch, you know what parlay means." Mansi spat. The Neverseen looked to Vespera, "Parlay?" They asked.
Vespera carefully thought the claim through, but Sophie's mouth was agape. To claim parlay there are only a few specifications, and the only one Mansi fit was...
"Parlay. An ancient Vatarian agreement where you can't kill the victim under three circumstances." Vespera explained to her guards, her voice steady.
"One, the one who claimed Parlay is infected with a deadly disease or severely injured..." Vespera started, counting the first one on her finger.
"Two, the one who claimed Parlay is of royalty or authority and want to negotiate a surrender," Vespera counted on her second finger.
Vespera smiled at the third one, her smile sending chills to Sophie's bones, "Or three, the one who claimed Parlay is carrying a child."
The world swayed around them as Vespera's eyes drifted to Mansi's stomach. Mansi clenched her fists, taking a shaky breath through her nose.
Alvar stared at his fiance, tears dripping down his cheeks as he gently whispered, "You're what?"
Vespera scoffed, waving away her soldiers from Mansi, "Congratulations." She muttered in a bored voice. A child... Alvar's child, in Mansi's stomach... and Sophie put her into battle. Sophie put a pregnant woman in danger.
Sophie almost vomited right then and there.
Alvar was gaping at Mansi, tears dripping on the floor beneath him, Maha standing behind him with her hands over her mouth. Vespera's men slowly lowered her weapons as Vespera glared at Mansi, "Using Parlay to save the children, pretty smart, for one of Amalia's lapdogs." Vespera shrugged, "You are lucky I still honor some Vatarian traditions."
Vespera looked over her shoulder to look at Sophie, "You aren't pregnant too, are you?"
Sophie didn't have the will to respond, struggling to form words on her tongue. Mansi with a child...
Vespera hummed, "Didn't think so."
Vespera sighed, looking through the massive archway to the Egypitnat night.
"Look at this, another Vatarian city, crumbling under my power." She whispered to herself, almost like she was proud. Sophie glanced at Maha, who nodded. Maha wasn't a big fighter, but she knew what to do when it came down to it.
"Let her go," Maha whispered to the guards holding Sophie.
Their eyes paled, a misty haze setting over them. They loosened their hands just enough for Sophie to yank her hand out of their grips and slam her elbow into the other's throat. Vespera whipped around, pulling a melder out of her waistband.
Ricin shifted into view right behind her, slamming his tail into her chest. Vespera screamed as she slammed against the wall, groaning in pain. Mansi and Alvar rushed all the children out of the room, and then it was just Sophie and Maha. They were back to back as Neverseen closed in on them.
"You made me keep a secret, Amalia," Maha whispered.
"And?"
"Can you keep one too?" She asked.
"What?"
"Can you keep a secret, Lia?!" She begged.
Sophie nodded.
Maha swallowed, and then slowly removed her gloves. She stepped forward, her hands extended in front of her. Sophie glimpsed at her bare palms, the first time in forever.
Sophie gaped at the godly marks on the palms.
"Maha-"
Maha roared as she threw her hands out, and the ground shook. A massive pillar of pure sandstone erupted from the ground, wiping away the hordes of Neverseen around them. Sophie gaped as Neverseen soldiers flew around them, but Maha was rising solid metals and rocks out fo the ground like they were nothing. This was no mortal power...
The marks on Maha's palms... they were the markings of the Godly Worksmith Byzanthar.
"Byzanthar's heiress," Sophie whispered as her eyes watched Maha create pillars and walls of solid rock and metal, pulling it out of the courtyard floor and walls. Maha was an Heiress, just as Sophie was.
Vespera put it together just as fast as Sophie did, and she gritted her teeth.
"You... one of the gods picked you?! OVER ME?!" Vespera cried out. Vespera sprinted towards Maha, but Maha created a prison of rock around her. Ricin hurried over to Sophie, helping her up.
"Let's go!" Sophie screamed over the chaos. Maha created swarms of dust and pulled raw metal from Arsinoe's throne, turning into a red hot saw blade with a mere flick of her hand, throwing it at the oncoming soldiers. Vespera crumbled the rocky prison around her, rushing towards Maha again, but Maha managed to land and hit of solid hit into her stomach. Maha exhaustingly hauled onto Richins back as Vespera struggled to get up.
"GO AFTER THEM!" Vespera screamed as Maha and Sophie launched into the air. Ricin turned around and landed a quick last-minute blast into the center of the courtyard, the Neverseen diving for cover.
They ascended higher and higher into the sky, Maha desperately holding onto Sophie. The reason Maha left Avrima, the reason she kept Sophie's secret... she was the same as Sophie.
"You're an heiress," Sophie stated.
Maha was quiet, before whispering, "And so are you."
She knew what Kynareth's mark was the minute she saw it on Sophie's back.
"What now?" Sophie asked.
"We just need to get everyone out of here-"
"LOOK OUT!" Zuberi's voice called out over the clouds.
Elrond seemed to have slipped through Dorian's grasp, but his focus was fixed solely on Sophie. Sophie tried to pull Ricin away fast enough, but Elrond was faster.
He snatched Sophie off her saddle by her neck, his massive hands closing down on her windpipes. Sophie gasped and tried to pry away his hand, but it kept tightening and tightening.
Before anybody could react, he threw her as if she were a rag doll into the endless cloudy sky, his cackling tainting the stars.
Sophie screamed as she plummeted, her dress whipping around her. Ricin roared, diving for her, speeding for her as she approached the blanket of clouds. If she goes through the cloud cover, Ricin and Maha could lose her, and Sophie would end up as a splat on the pavement. Maha extended her hand as they plummeted, screaming for Sophie.
Dorian tackled Elrond, their wings fighting against one another, teeth snapping and blood spewing. Zuberi dove for Sophie however, right behind Ricin and Maha as they both soared for the Mentore.
Sophie felt the cool mist of the clouds on her back, knowing she was about to be lost in the cloudy abyss. Tears fell from her eyes as she flailed, words lost in the howling wind. Ricin whimpered and roared for her, the world bending as he lunged for his companion. Just as Sophie dipped through the cloud cover, her fingertips grazed Ricin's nose, a hair's width away from Maha.
Together, they fell through the clouds.
Zuberi screeched to a stop, his wings flapping and his breath jagged.
Everyone was silent, waiting for any noise.
Nothing.
"DO YOU SEE THEM DORIAN?!" Zuberi called out.
Dorian screamed back, "WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY?!"
No, no... they both should've fallen through the clouds by now. They couldn't just be gone.
The clouds naturally pulled apart, like cotton pulled apart into wisps, and revealed an empty sky. Gods no...
Sophie, Maha, and Ricin were gone, disappeared in plain sight.
Ruy watched kicked away a Neverseen goon as they reached for Cato and Sarai. In the corner of his eye, he saw Keefe desperately protecting Oralie. Cato, Kalem, and Sarai were all behind him as he held back the very soldiers he used to work with.
The words they spat at him echoed through his head.
Traitor, fool, bastard...
Ruy's shields slammed one of the members against the wall, his shields electrocuting every vein in their body. Ruy turned to the sky and gaped as Maha and Sophie ascended higher and higher into the sky. A Scylla charged him, but his shields shoved it back.
He tucked an arm over Sarai as they ran through the Egypitnat streets, debris falling through the sandy streets, mirthless roars echoing through the buildings.
"Where is Cato?" Kalem asked, running up to them. Ruy paled looking through the crowd to find his little brother. Gods, no, no, no... Ruy knows how these Neverseen raids go, Cato couldn't-
"LET ME GO!" Cato roared at Neverseen, dragging him towards a cage.
"Cato!" Sarai screamed, trying to split the crowds to get through the crown. Ruy didn't hesitate, he knew what he needed to do. He shoved people aside, carving his way towards the cage.
"Will you shut up-" The Neverseen soldier was cut off as Ruy clocked him straight in the jaw. Ruy's knuckles ached, but he circled the new members as they let go of Cato. Cato slumped to the round, but Sarai scrambled to him. It was a steady dance of punches and smartly placed kicks, grappling and throwing his enemies to the ground. Not only was his training with the Assassin's thumping through his blood, but his knowledge of Neverseen clicked everything into place for him. Ruy ducked and kneed him where the sun didn't shine, twisting over his flailing body and turning to his next opponent. Ruy parried his short one-sided blade, using his other hand to nail the Neverseen goon straight in the throat.
Ruy didn't know how surrounded he was until Sarai and Cato for screaming for him. He nailed to more guys, but the Neverseen took the opportunity to rush him to the ground.
"No, no, no, no," Ruy growled as he thrashed in their grip. He turned back to the sky, and the world slowed as he noticed Sophie being thrown off Ricin's saddle. She flailed in the air, screaming for Ricin. The dragon and Maha dived for her, Zuberi close behind. Sophie disappeared into the clouds, Ricin and Maha going after her. The world was quiet as they waited for all of them to emerge the cloudy blanket covering the night sky.
Nothing.
"SOPHIE!" He roared, begging for her to reveal herself, for her to be smart. But as the clouds parted, the empty sky revealed his worse nightmare. The sky was clearing, Ricin and Maha nowhere to be found, and Sophie was gone. Like they were teleported or stolen away. Zuberi flapped around in confusion and worry.
Tears stained Ruy's eyes as he threw the guards off him, his crown falling off his head as he reached for the knife in the waistband in one.
He wasn't going back. He wouldn't-
Vespera appeared as Ruy held the blade over his heart, ready to pierce the flesh. She was clearly injured, but she simply overlooked the situation and smiled.
"Put down the knife, my boy," Vespera asked, as if soothing a scared animal.
"I'm not your anything." Ruy spat, his shaking hands still holding the knife closer and closer to his heart. She was gone, she couldn't just disappear, she had to be here somewhere.
"I'm here for you, Ruy." Vespera insisted, stepping closer. Ruy stepped away, his blood boiling.
"I'm not going back!" Ruy roared at her. Sarai covered Cato's eyes as she grappled onto Kalem's arm, mouthing words to him.
He didn't care. He found peace, solidarity, he wasn't going back into Vespera's clutches.
Vespera sighed, but she simply held up a simple silver disk with a menagerie of buttons on it. Her finger hovered over the red button in the center, her face bored.
"I have bombs all over Arsinoe's palace, which still has people inside. They are set around the windows and foundation, the so entire place will crumble if I press this button. If you do not come calmly, I will ignite the bombs and send the whole place crumbling." Vespera explained. Ruy's knife faltered.
But he knew his mom, and he knew that... she wouldn't do that. It wouldn't be practical for her to do that. Ruy took a deep breath and raised the weapon closer.
"Do it." He snapped.
Vespera blinked, "What?"
"Do. It. Blow up the palace." Ruy articulated.
"I thought you cared about lost life?" Vespera asked.
"I do, so press the button. Do it, I'm not going back." Ruy snapped.
Vespera glared as her finger pressed the red button. Everyone around them cringed, ready for an explosion.
But nothing happened.
"I'm not dumb." Ruy spit.
Vespera smiled, "Not as dumb as you used to be," she flung out small copper disks out of her other hand, landing them on his chest. She pressed another button on the control, and Ruy's body went numb as he slumped to the floor.
"But you still aren't open-minded." She smiled. The Neverseen caught Ruy as his body began to shut down, his eyes blacking. Sounds muted and distorted, and the last thing he saw was Kalem dragging away his crying stepmother and brother as he was hauled into the cage.
Vespera's voice was clear as day however, "Don't worry, you will be free of that blond brat's control. You will belong to me once again."
I'm not going to say it again. Stop asking and begging me to update. It's annoying.
Cool.
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_Sibylline_