Disclaimer: Not mine, 'nuff said.
Pre-story author's notes: This is the companion piece/sequel to Bring Me to Life. You don't have to read BMtL to understand this, but it is always recommended!
Curse you Sora Icefreeze! You put this idea into my head! And now it won't die, so I'm probably going to drag it into a big long story. I hope you are reading this! grumbles
Dusk
Chapter 1: Dreams and Realities
"Please Kel, I did not understand before. You do deserve your shield, you will make a better knight than me. Just, please…I don't want to die alone…"
Kel dropped her glaive with a muffled gasp. The image in her head just wouldn't go away—Joren on his knees, begging for mercy. From her, nonetheless. She shook her head briskly, hoping that the movement would shake the vision away.
"Kel?" a voice said, troubled. Violet eyes regarded her as Alanna the Lioness stood before her, glaive hanging forgotten from one hand. "I didn't think I had hit you that hard—"
"No, I'm fine," Kel replied tersely. She could still hear Joren's cry echoing painfully. She covered her ears, but the sound was inside her head.
Alanna remained unconvinced. Purple fire flowed out of her fingertips, caressing Kel's head to make the ache go away. The younger knight smiled gratefully as she bent to pick up her weapon.
"Are you alright?" Alanna asked concernedly.
Kel nodded. "I just…saw something." She quickly described what she had seen and heard.
The redheaded woman thought hard. "The Goddess often sends me visions of tasks I need to complete. And didn't you say the Chamber has sent you visions before?" Kel nodded again, not wanting to speak and interrupt Alanna's thoughts. "Maybe that has something to do with it."
Kel considered this. It did make sense, as the Chamber sent her tasks through visions as Alanna's Goddess did. But why Joren? He had died almost five years ago. "Last time I had to go into the Chamber again to find some answers."
Alanna shuddered. "I would never go in a second time, much less a third, even if you offered money." When she saw Kel's shoulders sag, she quickly added, "But if you can survive a second time, I'm sure a third won't be any worse."
"I suppose," replied Kel doubtfully. It wasn't that her second time was that painful, or hurt her in any way at all, she just wasn't thrilled at the prospect of running to the Chamber every time she had a bad dream.
The final decision took less than a day to make. With a heavy heart and dreading what she may hear, Kel scratched Jump goodbye and made her way to the Chapel of the Ordeal.
It was deserted now, as it always was except for Midwinter. The disks were polished, as before, but what was surprising was the door was dusted and shone dully…almost as if someone was expecting her.
Drawing a deep breath, she pushed open the iron door and entered the Chamber.
Once more, she stood on a featureless plain. "Hello?" she called out. The now-familiar face formed at her feet.
Most knights only want to meet me once. The face was still unreadable as ever, but Kel thought she detected a hint of sarcasm in the ghostly voice. I'm beginning to think you like me.
No question about the sarcasm there. "I need to talk to you about something. About my…vision." Kel waited patiently, but she received no reply. "About Joren. He was begging me—"
You were what destroyed him.
That explained more than it didn't, but there were still many unanswered questions. Kel thought carefully before she spoke again. "I was what destroyed him…I was his greatest fear?" A horrid thought occurred to her: "It really was my fault he died!"
The face softened fractionally. No. He destroyed himself with his actions long before his Ordeal. You just…helped him a bit. He could finally feel the pain he caused others.
"But it was still I who destroyed him…" The thought sickened her. In some dark part of her mind, she had always hated Joren, but not to the point he would die in the grasp of his greatest fear—her.
You are not to blame for his actions.
Kel remained silent. She was still contemplating the fact that Joren had died because of her, however indirectly. She tried to push the thought out of her head as she asked, "Why am I seeing these visions? There's nothing I can do about his death, not like with the Nothing Man."
Her surroundings shifted suddenly, not at all like the last time she paid the Chamber a visit. Instead of the dreamlike transition between two places, she was jerked from the plain almost painfully.
She stood in the middle of a vast, empty hall. The corridor stretched for miles to the left and right. Footsteps rose and faded away, but she could not see another living thing in either direction.
"What are you doing here?" a voice demanded from behind her.
Kel jumped and twisted in midair, instinct kicking in to grab for the sword she was not wearing. She landed facing the stranger warily. She opened her mouth to reply angrily, but the words died away as she looked at the stranger.
Black curls framed a perfect face, accentuated with a red, plum mouth and sparkling emerald eyes. Kel had listened to enough of Alanna's hero stories to recognize the figure in front of her. "Goddess," she breathed as she dropped to one knee.
Author's notes: Like it? Review it. Special thanks, once again, to Sora Icefreeze, who actually came up with the idea.