Consciousness is an illusion.
I don't remember the last time I was awake or the drifting between states.
What I do understand is the difference between dusty marble and cold metal against my back. My chains are now just shackles, pinning me down. They hold my elbows locked and twist the skin.
Blinking in frustration, I manage to adapt slightly, enough to see what can be made out in the dark. A crack in the ceiling with light peeking through, some debris and a scolding ash mark.
A tiny smirk lifts my lips.
He tried to drag me in here unconscious, thinking it would be safer.
The very mechanics of a God long forgotten.
Only so much can be thrust into a vessel on this planet. We do not pretend to have full control over our own manifested gifts. What I can do while awake is sufficiently less than once I am asleep, unconscious, or in a world of grave peril.
Lord help this man if he manages to cast my soul from this body.
He will need it.
A gust of wind floods down from the crack above me.
A similar hissing as before with less definition.
"Making manifest seems to trouble you, friend."
A laugh ebbs into existence, fizzling in and out. "What would you know of it?"
"A great many things, perhaps," I pause for a minute. A question this time at least, refreshing from the mindless insults of a young ghost. "I did birth the very world you've adopted."
The ground shakes with frustrated ignorance. "So you think, Goddess. Yet perhaps it is mere coincidence, did you not ever wonder?"
"Nope," I snort, laughing at the idiocy. "For I have known of more powerful things, more wistful experiences than anything that could ever roam this planet. What have you experienced, Creature? You are nothing more than a ghoul with the skin of the wind at your back."
We are utterly alone in an empty chamber. Nothing stirs beyond for maybe a mile in any direction. The silence fills up like water, pooling and pushing at the surfaces it is contained in.
The voice turns into a long, resonant hum. Familiar, as though a mother reflects reluctantly back towards her child. "You've been held for a year now. Your companions are dead."
A tiny pang of fear hits, a little seizure tightening my heart and releasing it just as quick.
"I am time, Demon. It couldn't have been more than a week and a half from the smell in the air alone."
Lies.
All of these lies.
I cannot bear to process any other alternative. Whether I am to completely rely on my senses or the mana within my own veins. These words are lies. Daniel escaped and Remi is safe with Meika.
What becomes of them now might be a mystery, but they are safe.
They have to be.
"Your nephew was killed shortly after your collapse... He attempted to ward Kiel off the track from the girls but I cannot say his attempts were successful."
I take a deep breath and numb out the rampaging thoughts in my head. When this being spews more twisted tricks about the world being invented without our creation, there is nothing to believe.
My eyes close and I focus on the sensations around me. The cold metallic table, the moist air in the room, the faint aroma of wet earth seeping in from somewhere nearby.
Steps slip against the pavement outside.
"He's here to end you now."
"You do realize you contradict yourself, Demon. If it had been a year, surely one of you bumbling peasants would have managed to kill me already."
The door to my left screeches open and the hissing wisps of smoke escape from the ceiling again.
Kiel's figure slips in wordlessly, his hands careful and movements measured. He shuts the door and locks it tight behind him, toting a back that lands carefully on the floor. The dark hair fades in and out of focus, dim light shuddering when a small lamp is placed on a table in the corner.
No greeting, no threats.
My fingers run over the grains and scratches from previous thrashings to the metal. Some fairly old and others rather new.
I inspect him, words failing to come out of my mouth while my eyes squint into the faded black looking for clues. No sharp tools come clattering out onto the table, no machines with awful noises and enchantments, not even the blade summoned to be used on me.
A bottle appears eventually. A thin, yellowing paper taped around it with words far from english. The liquid inside rolls like molten iron, with blue glowing edges and specks of swirling greens.
Pausing for a moment, he looks to the side almost as if to stare back at me in acknowledgement. Kiel sighs in wonder.
"I've learned a great many things from studying witches," he mumbles softly. "Which animals have magic in their blood, which plants can save you from sure death... Somehow they're always obsessed with Necromancy and the ingredients to eternal life as if living hundreds of years isn't already enough for them."
Kiel steps aside and traces a circle of Mana around my confinement.
"They'll use whoever they want to meet their ends, trust very few in their own coven, and dawn their appearances according to rank. Scared of few beings, they find attacks that don't require being present, but instead stealth like any human assassin... I find them absolutely fascinating, you see."
A dome of translucent blue light crowns itself over my head and seals downward in a burst of green flame.
"Surely very similar to your obsession with the Fae of our world, whose bloodline runs as close to ours as any other entity can get. Speaking of you Darling pet, I have something of hers."
I swallow, looking around to make sure it doesn't involve grotesque body parts or obscene contraptions.
Though surely, Meika would rather that.
Phasing through the door like a ghost, a silky white haired frame steps toward the edge of light. Their pupils are completely dilated, lacking all color. Small features like scars and lashes are completely absolved.
Haunting memories of a tirade in their wake scrubbed clean.
I am looked through rather than upon.
My breath leaving me in astonishment.
"How..."
"Everyone is just a pawn in my game, sister. Even your precious little Fae Witch. Surely you've met Shai'rune before, yes?:
My throat tenses and I cough. "That is not... What have you done!"
"I'm not entirely sure what you mean... Our friendly Familiar is always happy to serve us."
My voice aches and scratches when I throw my head to the side. "What the hell have you done to them!"
My brother chuckles and nods to the empty vessel in front of me. Shai'rune turns back to the exit and leaves again. No recognition in their eyes, nothing. Void of all emotion. Absent of presence or personality.
He laughs harder at the panic in my eyes, shaking his head as if I were a funny child throwing a fit.
My eyes are glued to the spot the Familiar had left through.
Kiel steps through the fortifying barrier and leans down over me. His eyes line every inch of my skin, tracing me and watching as goosebumps rise and fall. Memorizing the reactions as if it will be the last taste he ever has.
"I have good memories too, you know..." He relents again, going back to this soft, troubled voice. "Memories of building the planets from scratch like some odd baking competition, jokes, joy, I remember that love existed in those moments. Like when Lindon taught us all how to reverse a black hole... Distant memories."
My soul burns into his eyes, veins lighting up with flames of rage and destruction.
"Causing him grief will be a regret of mine, though it won't last..."
A sadistic grin spreads over my lips. "You're still so sure of yourself? You think you can kill me right here, right now? Then I suppose it is I who has the last trump card."
Kiel's smile is sad, but hauntingly cold. He takes the bottle up into his hands and grips my jaw roughly. "Don't be so sure," he says, pouring a few drops onto my skin and lips.
The serum tastes like ancient honey before it melts into hot goo.
I spit out in his face and growl. "How terrible can your aim be?" I scoff.
Blue as if the ocean swarmed through my body and into my bloodstream, begins to glow. I feel the nausea set in and vomit the taste of seasalt and lava rocks.
I gag again, throwing up off to the side. "Damn, you couldn't have put this in alcohol or something?"
The light amalgamates towards the center of my chest and shines through my skin. Kiel holds out his hand and manifests a dagger. My eyes blur away the ancient writing carved alongside, but something different is scribed this time.
I smirk, watching him arch his back and attempt to slam the blade into the heart of the fluorescent glow.
His blade cracks, a piece chipping off the side.
Eyes wide, he throws his whole body into it a second time.
The most I feel is a pin prick.
A blast disturbs our small sanctuary and I watch as the third time completely breaks his sword into pieces.
Nothing can stop the compulsive laughter erupting from me in a matter of moments, body consumed with shaky movements and ridiculous pleasure washing over me.
Sweat drips from his brow, shock consuming him.
"Do you want to know what always fascinated me, Brother? Arrogance. Well, that and people's complete and utter inability to listen. I shall spell it out for you as there is nothing you can do about this. My own heart is not inside my body, Kiel. It is hidden, somewhere else far, far away. When I say you cannot kill me, I especially mean that here in this moment, you are absolutely, without a question or doubt incapable of destroying my life."
Kiel looms silently for a moment, a dead look washing over his features. The facade of compassion and sadness slip away into apathy and frustration.
"We'll see about that."
In seconds of quick and deliberate motions, Kiel flicks his wrist around in symbols that etch themselves into the dome of Mana, encrypting them into the very magic he'd tried to murder me with.
Turning his back to me, My brother stops at the door and turns back for only a brief minute. "Is your mind as strong as your soul, Dear sister?"
He doesn't wait for an answer, slamming the door in his wake.
Hey everyone!
Long time, I know. My whole goal was to finish in time for the Wattys - which is still my goal. However, I got off track because of covid. Either way I'm here now. I'm determined lol.
Let me know what you guys think of this chapter, I'm reaaaaaally curious. There are plenty of twists to come. So don't forget to vote and comment if you enjoy 💕.
Have a great day everyone!