Chapter 2
Reyan
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's, Energy Magic, and Ideas
.:+:.
"Now, Members of Corialein please take your seats, the Meeting will soon be under way."
Hurried footsteps echoed over the grand, pale marble halls as a young man raced through them, stumbling and arms full of papers, scrolls and tomes as he huffed, his pale grey eyes glinting and out of breath. He rapidly passed through the carefully cut marble and stone hallways, the sun dripping through the pillars to his left that let the free air and sunlight filter in. To his right he passed heavy, oaken and stone doors of different sizes, and other hallways that lead deeper into the building and it's center, but for now he continued on straight ahead. He hissed, tripping slightly on his tan colored sash as it came undone from around his torso slightly, though he continued through the halls, his long dark ash brown hair disheveled and looking panicked.
His hurried movement caught the attention of several other people lining the halls, discussing amongst themselves, or fingers twirling as a quill floated on the air and wrote down upon parchment at their command. They all wore similar attire to the running man- tunics of various hues and robes, coupled with pants and leather boots, as well as a sash of either a navy, green or yellow-tan hue hung about their persons. Many of them were adorned with thin bracelets and earrings, they smiled slightly and shook their heads in slight exasperation as the man hurried past them.
"He's late again." A young woman sighed, shaking her head to the two men behind her, both of them wearing long tail coats. Like the others, they wore a sash draped about their torso's, but the color differed- theirs being a color of pale blue lined silver. The woman wore her own, which was pale blue as well, but lined in purple. Her eyes and the men's followed the rushing man as he passed them hurriedly, she sighed while her companions simply scowled slightly in annoyance. "It's a wonder how he managed to get this far, there isn't a lot of room in Kelen for people who can't manage to be on time."
"Tch... if he doesn't watch it, he'll be thrown out."
"... Oh... Felle...!" The young man snapped, his pale grey eyes glinting as he rounded a corner, stumbling again on his sash as he struggled to hold on to it, and everything else he was carrying all at once. "Calinn is going to kill me...!" He stiffened, struggling to adjust course again after rounding yet another corner, and almost immediately running right into a tall, burly man with russet colored hair and dark blue eyes.
"Oi! Watch it!" The man snapped in surprise,
He sidestepped, barely avoiding the other man as he stumbled, and continued forward. "S-sorry!" he called back breathlessly, but he didn't dare waste a single moment- he was behind enough as it was.
Felle... This morning isn't going well already...
By the time he slowed down he had come upon a sudden upsurge of people as they made their way out of one of those large oaken doors, the ring of conversation hung on the air as he slowed up, eyes glinting in impatience as he hurriedly managed his way through the crowds.
"Pardon me... Sorry... I'm just trying to get through... Ouch.. I apologize!" He murmured in exasperation, nudging people roughly and stepping on toes, an array of grumbles and growls of agitation rose up around him in his quake, eyes flashed his way.
"Watch it Mord!" A girl snapped, her voice high in agitation, the young man cringed slightly under the voice, sweatdropping.
"Sorry... I'm trying..." He mumbled.
He broke free from the crowd, several of the papers in his hands falling as he bent to hurriedly pick them up again. Grumbling he scooped them up and straightened, his pale grey eyes immediately meeting an intense orange stare from a man who stood before him, his arms crossed over his chest and his deep purple sash that was lined with gold. He raised an eyebrow, his lips pulled into a tight line, his robes were of a dark brown hue coupled with darker pants and black boots, a thin beard traced across his jaw and his dark sandy colored hair was well groomed. Sunlight glittered from the golden studs lining his right ear, the young man blinked a little, stiffening.
He looks less than amused...
"... Talarrk... good morning." The young man said slowly, straightening up as he met the older man's gaze only slightly.
"Hmm... Indeed." The man muttered- Calinn as his name was, though calling him that directly would be disrespectful from the young man's lower status. "I'm surprised you noticed, Mordren. I fear your head is stuck so high in the clouds, that it must certainly be the reason that you are late, again." The young man flinched just slightly, his eyes falling.
"Forgive me, Talarrk..." Mordren murmured softly, "... I do apologize for being late, I was pulling my research together and lost track of time. Deneos ze..." Calinn simply let out a small breath, Mordren would assume that he was agitated, though he couldn't feel that from the man himself, but it was a good guess none the less.
Calinn; Tresta Keistea uf Enogeastae. Or perhaps, more formally understood in the common tongue (and to be honest, more easily understood by him as well. Few people even knew the Dragon Language, even the nobility, and few could speak it fluently... Honestly he didn't actually know of anyone who could speak it fluently at all. His knowledge at least, was reduced to honorary titles, and a choice few phrases he had picked up in his study) outside the halls and the royal buildings of this country- Calinn; True Master of the History of Energy Magic and It's Origins. One of the few master scholars inside of Kelen; and the only place where such masters could be found in abundance, even in this country governed by those who worked and served for that Power of Creation... who served and lived by Energy and Energy Magic itself.
And in Kelen, alongside these masters were those seeking (and fortunate enough) to study that wondrous Power themselves. Kelen was what people would refer to as a 'College' of sorts, and inside these grand halls and rooms filled with immense knowledge there gathered people looking to learn and know every inch of knowledge they could of Energy, and it's role and power in the world around them. Energy was one of the oldest powers in the world, and thought by many to be perhaps the oldest, and most powerful. People spent their lives delving into the secrets and mystery that came with this force so unknowable that everything about it couldn't possibly be known in this life time, or perhaps ever. But still, people tried. They gave their lives and worked to harness its power, to study it's place in the immense puzzle that drove the world and all life itself.
Like Calinn, and everyone else in those walls they had pledged themselves to Energy. Every ounce of their being went into understanding it, harnessing it, worshipping it maybe. Scholars who knew more about Magic and Energy than they did living, or farming as the rest of the country held so deep in their hearts. These people were the true academics, the brilliant people who made groundbreaking discoveries in the line of Magic and Science. Scholars, Priests, Students... And even more. Kelen was a powerhouse in the country, and it produced and cultivated the most brilliant of minds and intellects, but it was nothing compared to that grand, immeasurable shadow that rest on the mountain above it.
Kelen lay at the base of the Valley of Seletiin, in the very heart of their country and raised above the grand and bustling city of Coriisette. The great, and noble capitol of their country of Adgnei, to which all people and most of the countries commerce ran through, housing millions of people and at the forefront of Magical trade, and elite economic power in a world, where outside of their closely guarded boundaries, was the beginnings of a war. A war lost to time and knowledge and never heard of in history.
At the very head of the valley, outlined by the horizon and set atop what the land had made into its own version of a pedestal, there sat Okeal, the very head of the country. There the Members of Corialein, Adgnei's government senate resided, those nobility and power of the country that created law and controlled judicial and economic proceedings, and votes on the countries action under the gaze and approval of the Valkeren, and Adgnei's one true leader, Drennios.
The Valkeren were Adgnei's most fearsome warriors, the four people in the entire country who could not be defeated. They had mastered the very essence of Energy Magic itself, and knew more of its secrets and its true power than anyone else could ever hope to. No army, no country, and no amount of enemies could contend with their sheer strength, each one could take dozens of armies all on their own, they had earned their titles in every way imaginable. They could not be beaten, they were respected, adored, and feared. Their word and their action was law, they took it upon themselves to enact the truest of justice, and in their hands they held authority and power to command every soldier, army and mage in the country- and every single one would obey. Laws passed through and proposed by Corialein were approved by them, and enforced.
But even these powerful warriors bent knee to Drennios. Drennios, the head of the Valkeren and Corialein alike, title given to the truest, wisest and most powerful of them all. He who had learned and become so entrenched with the secrets of Energy, they had become an extension of the force itself. Drennios was not seen, their word was passed on through the Valkeren, and every word was law, every order obeyed without question, everything that happened in this country was a direct consent of Drennios, and few people seldom ever came into contact with him. So much so, his true name was unknown, and nothing of his appearance or otherwise was known either... there were even a few myths about Drennios, some say he is just a phantom, others a puppet set up by the Valkeren, no one knew.
But in the world one thing was true, their country of Adgnei was not a country to be opposed lightly. Their land teemed with the true power of Energy itself, Magic and knowledge were cultivated here, ingrained into every fiber of every being, and with that came power. Immense power, no other country dared oppose them for fear of being wiped out, and in this country, Energy Mages were the true leaders. They held all power, all prestige, everything. There was no one above the users of this unbearably powerful Magic, and every soul knew it.
And this country... this was everything he had ever known, and yet he knew so very little.
"Focus, Mordren." Calinn snapped lowly, breaking the young man from his thoughts instantly. Calinn scowled slightly, looking bemused and perhaps ready to snap a few choice things, though he seemed to stop himself.
And here, in Kelen... He was a student. A student who was low in the line of authority, and by no means nobility, or anyone of any standing at all. While most of the students and scholars here came from noble and wealthy families to study and to learn, he did not. He had worked his way here, struggled, and still struggled. He was by no means the best, or most intelligent student, in all means he was fairly average. An average, commoner-born student who hoped and dreamed for more, and who knew enough to realize he would never go as far as he dreamed... and still he would dream.
Mordren, Mordren Nadege. Student with unattainable dreams and only average intelligence, living in a world and a country far too extraordinary for anyone like him, and in a time lost long, long ago.
"Ah, yes Talarrk." He murmured, shifting the things in his arms again and sweatdropping. "I have my scrolls finished on the Forces of Creation that you were waiting for..."
"Hmph, you're still on about that?" Calinn sighed, "I appreciate your... tenacity, but perhaps you would be better served looking into things that have a certain degree of actual evidence."
"... I appreciate the advice, Talarrk." Mordren murmured, "I would appreciate if you were to read them, however..." Calinn simply looked at him for a long while, seeming to be mulling over the request. Mordren simply looked back, expression neutral and fighting the urge to fidget. He wished he could tell what the older man was feeling, he wished that a lot... And that wish was attainable, just not for him.
Energy Mages, the most respected and powerful of any citizen in the country- they could feel such things. They felt emotion, as if it was some color that suddenly danced on the air from a person, they could feel in their own bodies the feelings of others, effortlessly. He had read all about it, studied Energy Magic extensively- as a student would, but his interest was perhaps more than academic.
It was foolish of course, he was a student. He had no affinity for Magic, not even simple ones that most anyone was able to use- he was rather Magicless, and considerably talentless too. What they referred to as 'World Sense', that skill he had... it was just so faint and weak it was nearly useless to him. He scowled inwardly at the truth of it.
"... Fine." Calinn grumbled, holding a hand out as Mordren scrambled to shift through the papers and grab hold of the specified scrolls. He managed to sort them out and handed them over, Calinn tucking them under his arm and eyes closing. "I will read what you've managed, you are free to research what you will, even if I do think it is a waste of time- and time better spent on something else."
"Thank you." Mordren murmured. Calinn cracked one eye open,
"Will there be no convincing you to look into something else then?" He asked,
"I'm afraid not, Talarrk." Mordren replied softly, Calinn sighed again, a regular habit when he was around Mordren, as Mordren had noticed. Calinn waved a hand toward the younger,
"Very well... You had best be off. Gweo will not be as forgiving as I am if you are late for your other duties." Calinn grumbled, shuffling passed Mordren with a huff. "As I understand it, you have been tardy the last few times. I think perhaps he will be ready to transport you to the middle of a volcano this next time." Mordren sweatdropped, swallowing slightly at the thought.
He certainly would not put it past him... Gweo was his superior and in charge of deliveries around Kelen and Okeal. Seeing as how Mordren wasn't from any royal family, he had to pay his own board and food and supplies, and for it- he was working for Gweo to deliver things. It felt more like indentured servitude than it did a job.
"... R-right..." He mumbled, hurrying off again through the hallways and leaving Calinn behind, who glanced over his shoulder with a shake of his head.
" 'Forces of Creation', hmmph... A ridiculous notion."
The icy chill of the water sent waves of shock and chilly spasms racing through her body and mind, her skin on fire and her heart racing, shivering and shaking as she struggled at the frothing waves, pushed out of the vision, out of what felt like his head, and snapped back into the Reach in an instant... A painful, agonizing instant.
She was trying to keep herself above the water, but each minute above the surface was each second her body was racked by waves of pain that tripled what it had felt like to have Jynx tap her in the White Plane... To have the ghost reach out and touch her soul, as she was now, so painfully aware was shattered and stained... A dark, festering blackness that made the pain all the worse.
This was torture... torture beyond even what torment Kasumi had subjected her to.
The water churned and bobbed around her, her arms hooked to what surface of the water that felt solid and unmoving despite the rest of it trying to consume her, straining and struggling as the water lashed against her face, washing into her eyes and into her mouth as she coughed- and hissed at what pain that brought with it, it was like she couldn't breathe... No, she really was suffocating, slowly, on and on with no end.
"You resist, Malurey."
Her eyes snapped up, the blurry, massive form of Naraka appearing before her, standing atop that water that was desperately trying to bring her under.
"Do you not wish to know your own history? The History of the Magic you embody?" He asked lowly, softly almost. "Or is it because that history is so tightly wound with him? The Black God?"
She hissed, feeling herself wrenched downward, her hands and arms shaking as she did her best to hold on... but she was getting weaker, she could feel it. She was having a hard time keeping her eyes fixed on him.
"... You do remember now? Who you are?" Naraka went on, "... but do you know how you came to be? What lead to all of this... what started it?"
"E... enough... Naraka..." She gasped, her voice hoarse and wavering badly. Her arms slipped, her fingers curling as she strained, gasping, trying to keep her head above the black waves. "... this... I can't... I don't..."
"... You do not have a choice, Malurey. What time we have left... it is time you know, all of it... Regardless of what I want."
Frea felt herself wrenched downward, her body blazing in agony as she lost her grip, the water engulfing her, drowning, battering... pulling her farther and farther below as she felt all will to fight begin to drain, all strength... Her head tilted up, her eyes dim in the darkness as she reached upward, up toward the surface she couldn't reach.
Plunged further under the waves.. and further into some hazy, vivid vision she didn't want to be a part of, in a land and a time long, long ago... and in a life she didn't want to witness. Truth she didn't want to see, hear... Know.
"... That woman... Heh, she wouldn't know modesty if it bit her in the ass... that woman."
The hours turned to days, dragging by slowly, agonizingly... no one wanted to leave, very few left for longer than an hour or so, regardless of their exhaustion, regardless of how broken they felt. They couldn't stay away, not for fear that if they came back and found...
They couldn't sleep, what dreams that came were nightmares. They hardly ate, hardly talked, nor even looked at one another, they were falling in on themselves one by and one and there was nothing to be done. The waiting, the not knowing, the fear and the worry, it was breaking them down, leaving behind pieces of themselves they doubted they would ever pick back up again.
The storm hardly let up, the rain ceasing for only a few hours at a time, but the clouds still amassed above. The streets flooded, the town pulled in on itself, no one dared venture outside, even the citizens. And then they all shut themselves back in, as the rain pound down over their heads once more, keeping them all in a state of dismal, grim darkness.
The promise Makarov had made to her had been abandoned... He couldn't find the will to move on from this, not if he were to lose her... And it was so painfully clear that he would.
They had come in waves, trickling in and out of that room, silent and grim faced the lot of them, hardly able to make the words, or lift their eyes... but they all knew this waiting likely had just one end, and that end broke their hearts all the more.
Wendy and Sherria had tried, oh so many times those days. What strength they managed back they spent it instantly, pushing themselves both past the limit too far- but even Porlyusica hadn't the heart to stop them completely. She only stepped in to stop them when it was clear their Healing Magic wasn't making any difference anymore, it wasn't helping... she was just too hurt.
That shattered Wendy's heart, and even broke Sherria's too. They didn't like the idea, nor did they want to admit it... but they knew. They'd known and yet still kept trying, fruitless or not. But now, they stopped, regardless of how much they hated themselves for doing so.
And now they were just waiting... waiting for what they knew was coming, and the thing they didn't want to happen with every inch of their beings.
She was beautiful... utterly, breathtakingly beautiful. He had never seen someone like that, someone who earned his eyes, riveted and hardly breathing as she moved in front of him, her long, pale blue hair flowing in the wind that sent the thin, lace that served as her robe fluttering nearly as much as her hair was, tied about her neck and hanging from her shoulders loosely, a cut moving up the middle and her skin so utterly naked underneath the thin fabric. At her waist was that familiar purple and silver laced sash that all members of Corialein wore, her robe slit up the side and leaving her legs bare from where it stopped at her thigh, her feet free and without shoes of any kind. The sunlight filtering through the grand colored windows danced across her dark, tanned skin, dazzling on what gold jewelry and piercings were in her ears and woven into her hair.
Mordren found himself staring, and unable to look away, nor move. He felt his heart flutter when those striking, pale green eyes moved, and landed on him- him of all people, the most boring, and utterly ordinary person to probably ever step foot in those grand, magnificent halls of Okeal. An ordinary, non-Mage, a commoner, standing in those halls with his arms full of scrolls and letters, looking a mess probably- and she looked at him, and she smiled.
"Oi." She smirked, he jumped slightly, his eyes wide as she turned toward him and... and started walking to him, oblivious of what people were following behind her like silent statues. "You there, you're from Kelen, yes?"
Mordren jumped, quickly nodding his head as he bowed to her, struggling to hold the papers but managing as he looked down at his feet, heart thumping in his ears.
"Y-yes, my Lady." He answered quickly,
The Lady... a Valkeren, the fiercest of them all... High Energy Mage in all of Adgnei. Most powerful Mage in all of the country... the one, and true Energess.
Lady Reyan
And he was in her presence, it was overwhelming... never in his wildest dreams did he imagine to meet her, not ever. Nor to address her, speak with her. He knew who she was in an instant, he had heard so much about her, her power... She was like a god to the common people, some fierce, mythical force of Nature they could only ever dream of... he felt as if he was in a dream, she was so beautiful, it hardly seemed human.
"... i.. I am here to deliver letters to Corialein, my Lady..." He replied softly,
"Ah, then you're here for me." Her voice was light, almost amused in a way and yet so silky smooth... His heart fluttered again, and he swallowed against it. He stopped, his heart following suit as he failed to stop his head from snapping up in her direction in utter shock at the affirmation, he stared, seeing her smiling slightly at him.
"... ah... I'm sorry..?" He mumbled, his eyes leaving her only sparingly as he looked to the letters in hand, searching for sign or name of who was actually supposed to receive them, he hadn't time to look before he was transported here in the blink of an eye.
Energess, Lady and High Valkeren of Corialein
His heart jumped again as he spotted the address posted in neat wiring on... on every single thing he was holding.
"... I... I mean... Yes, it seems... I am to deliver these to you... ah, my Lady." He stammered and stumbled for the words, looking back up toward her slowly, hesitant and unsure what to do. He certainly couldn't just dump the entire loud into her arms, that thought was mortifying-
His body went rigid, his face heating up as his eyes landed back on her, she had stepped forward, smirking slightly as her finger curled under his chin, leading and gently making him turn her way as she stepped past him,
"Follow me, you can set those things away in my office." She smiled, her green eyes glinting as his breath caught in his throat, a prickling, warm sensation like electricity racing through his body from the simple, light touch of her finger under his chin. Her finger grazed over his skin, leaving his person as she stepped past him, tendrils of her hair tickling his arm in the slight breeze as he had to fight hard not to drop what was he was carrying, stunned suddenly.
He felt it, in her presence, some large, phenomenal pressure... He knew little of how to determine what faint sense of Energy he was allowed, but he knew this feeling... her power.
She cast a glance over her shoulder, looking so calm and yet maybe slightly amused as she tilted her head away from him.
"Come along." She ordered gently, Mordren started forward quickly, walking a respectful distance behind her, the sound of her accompanying guard behind him. "Ah, Kullui, you are dismissed. I doubt our dear messenger here will be of any harm to me." The sound of feet behind him faded, coming to a halt as he glanced backward to see the collection of neutral faced guard stand still, but otherwise obey.
His eyes moved back, falling on Lady Reyan's back as he followed her, heart racing at the realization he was going to be alone with her... this day, this... it was an honor he didn't deserve.
She never faltered as she started down the hall's, never cast a glance back to see if he was following, she just strode through the halls confidently, looking ethereal as she passed through bathes of multicolored light ahead of him, heading deeper and deeper into Okeal.
"What do I call you, messenger?"
His heart leapt again as he was addressed, his eyes wide and sweatdropping at the sudden question- unfathomable... why would The Energess want to know his name..?!
"... M... Mordren, my Lady." He replied quickly, "Mordren... Nadege..."
"Mordren." He shivered, his name on her lips sending a rush of energy and emotion through him he had never felt before.
He did not see her face, she did not turn to him, so he did not see what small, curious smile passed her lips, and intrigue that lit up in her green eyes in that next moment.
"Hmm... Mordren. What a unique name."
Mordren couldn't move, he hardly breathed, his heart slamming to a halt, his feet planted to the floor an unable to move a single muscle as he looked in what modest, small confines of a room that served as his place of residence. It was barren and simple, with parchment and quill and ink strewn about in a mess on every table, surface, chair and even the floor, topped only by the old tomes and heavy bound books that had come to call the small confines a home as he did.
It had been weeks of his same, mundane struggle in Kelen... Weeks since his trip to Okeal and his unlikely encounter with the woman who had since haunted his thoughts. Weeks of being ordered about and scoffed at as he always was, of Calinn berating and grumbling on his work, of the other students and teachers shooting him those agitated, unhappy looks he had become oh so used to. Life in Kelen was not easy on him, he had to struggle and work hard to stay here, and he was looked down on for his lack of noble status. Not that he cared mind you, his mind was in his work and in his studies... in dreams he knew would never come to light, dreams and thoughts and wonderings where that beautiful, goddess of a woman trailed at the corners, small flickers of her blue hair catching at the edge of his mind.
Mordren, commoner-born, ordinary student, who lived in a small room in the deepest, most pushed back corner of Kelen... that small, humble mess of a room belonging to someone too ordinary it was painful, that room was now suddenly enjoying the honor and the unbelievable presence of that same, god-like woman.
Lady Reyan, Energess and Valkeren of the Country of Adgnei, was sitting in the sill of his one, small window with her foot propped upon it, her hair falling in pale blue waves around her shoulders, a small, amused smile creasing her lips as she glanced toward him and his arrival. In her lap rest a few, carefully rolled scrolls, her fingers tracing the edge of the parchment absentmindedly.
His heart was beating rapidly against his ribcage, so fast and so violent it hurt and for a minute he panicked- it was like he couldn't breathe. His mind was racing, unable to understand nor fathom why-
"Mordren." She smiled, her voice cool and steady- a shiver ran up his spine as she dared to utter his name again. "Hello again." She smiled, her hand moving as she held the scrolls in her fingers lightly, "I believe you accidently let your research get mixed in the letters you delivered to me." Her lips twitched in a ghost of a smirk, seeing the shock and realization dawn on his face- he had been missing the scrolls to which held the first few volumes of his research on the Forces of Creation, he had thrown this room upside down trying to locate it, but never in his wildest imagination had he fathomed the idea he had accidentally given them away to Lady Reyan.
"M-my sincere apologies, my Lady!" He murmured quickly, bowing his head to her and completely flustered. "I did not mean for that to happen, or to waste your time-"
"Ah, take a breath Mordren. You don't have to panic," She cut him of easily, her eyes shining as she waved a hand at him. "You're so tense around me... mind you most people usually are, but you are even more so." She chuckled and he swallowed, blushing slightly.
Yes... Energy Mages could feel emotion, and this was Lady Reyan- the Energess... she could probably feel every inch of emotion, on so deep a level she probably knew better what someone was feeling than they did themselves.
"As for wasting my time." She smiled, he spared a small, cautious glance her way- only to see her hand wave as shimmering gold appeared around the papers, he felt the small faint flicker of pressure in the back of his mind increase.
She flicked her hand lightly in his direction, his eyes riveted to that beautiful gold light of her Magic as the scrolls floated over toward the desk to his left, and she used her Magic to carefully set them on the top, her green eyes glinting as she watched his gaze follow her Magic with the utmost attention and awe.
"You didn't waste my time at all." She assured lightly, her foot falling from the sill as she stepped off of it, her hand falling to her hip as her Magic faded and he looked up toward her again. "I was actually intrigued with your work, and went ahead and retrieved the rest of you gave to Calinn."
She... she what...?
"The Forces of Creation are not a new concept to begin with. But there are few who put any stock into the notion, or even acknowledge it." She didn't give him time to even think about what she said, she went on as she slowly approached him, stepping lightly through the mess with ease. "You've put quite a bit of thought and effort into it though... your ideas are interesting, and quite in depth for someone who doesn't actually use Energy Magic at all. You talk as if you know the Magic so well, as if you know the inner depths of it- though you've never used it." She smiled slightly, stopping before him as he remained so utterly still, mind racing and heart jumping.
"I reviewed your other studies as well... you are actually quite intelligent, and perceptive. Especially so given you lack what early education everyone else in Kelen has." She told him easily, his mouth fell slightly.
Was it possible... She was... she... She was complimenting... him...?
"If you've managed this far all on your own, it's left me to wonder what you could do if you had someone willing to teach and guide you?" She smirked, her green eyes flashing as she reached forward, her finger curling under his chin again as faint inklings of mischief made its way into her gaze. "Dear Mordren, with the World Sense ability so faint I barely feel it- but when I touch you, I can feel your connection with the Land ever so very, very strong... Commoner born Mordren with no Magic and left to struggle your way in a world filled with such power... and yet even when the world is determined to knock you down and dismiss you- you still hold to what you believe."
Her hand moved forward, not just her finger but her hand curling under his chin and jaw as she leaned in, her body pressing so faintly against him, his heart racing and electricity dancing through his soul at her touch, at the feel of her breath against his face, her hair trailing across the bare skin on his arm.
"What could you do, if I were to nurture that odd, unique Energy you have?"
The world tipped on its heel that day... and nothing, nothing was ever the same again.
Her body slammed against the chill, icy water- breaking the surface with a wrenching splash as she was hurtled underneath it, forced back to the Reach as the visions and the memories broke apart in an instant. She coughed out, her yell of pain lost the water and the crushing silence, her body on fire and her mind ebbing away more and more by the instant... The Memories did not cease though, they raced through her head regardless of what she wished, regardless of what agony it put her through... his memories, forced into her head. Too much information and too much at once it was hard to make sense of what mess of images and sounds and feelings that were racing through her, making her head ache and feel like it was going to split open.
The water's of the Reach kept getting darker, her body getting weaker as she sunk further and further down, still trying... still failing.
Her eyes opened, blurred and dull as a shimmer of gold reflected in the water above her... A woman, with pale blue hair and green eyes, surrounded in wisps of gold that made her shine like the god Mordren saw her as...
A ghost of someone long, long ago... And someone who changed the fate of the world, and her Magic as she knew it.
A ghost who unknowingly doomed her entire people, who stepped down a path she could not see the end of, and brought into being the very thing that might have destroyed it all.
Lady Reyan
It felt odd, and slightly disrespectful to even think of her as anything less than 'My Lady' It felt rude and crass to refer to her by her actual name... as if she was the mortal no person, least of all he- saw her as.
She could level countries, mountains. She was the most powerful being that was tangible in all of Adgnei, and probably in all the world. She commanded armies were she needed none to destroy any enemy. Everything could be annihilated, all in a flash of dazzling, beautiful gold that shone more brightly than all the riches in the kingdom and even the sun. Power unlike anything the world had seen, living and breathing in someone too beautiful to be anything less than some mythical goddess. Even when she walked it was like the world slowed with her, time and space stepping aside as she passed them all by. She was untouchable, immovable- not a thing could compare nor stand against her.
How could something so grand and so inhuman ever even think of looking twice at something like him? A lowly, common, weak little mortal... who now found himself in that striking green gaze of a beautiful, powerful goddess.
She was intelligent, wise. She felt things, sensed them long before they happened. When she looked upon other people it was if she saw right through them, saw only their innermost workings, their power, their thoughts, their emotion. She waded through that sea of Energy and Power and held her hand to the current of color, bending and shaping Magic and sometimes it seemed reality itself to her every whim. In times of war she was ruthless, in times of peace she was kind- and yet she was ever so graceful watching her felt like being in a dream.
She was kind, and charming, and though he had never considered the idea- she was crass and liked to tease. Something about the way she smirked at him in amusement or the subtle, soft brush of her hand against his arm made her seem all the more radiant, and yet just a bit more human to him. She had no reservation on contact, or space, she didn't care what nervousness she could feel spark in him when she reached out, she didn't care how highly inappropriate the rest of the world would deem it.
The Energess dared to reach out, touch and hold, to teach and speak with someone so low, someone so below herself and her status, and she did not care. She took him under her authority and her tutelage and did not care what the rest of Corialein, the Valkeren, or even Adgnei thought of it.
There had never been a single person in all his life he revered, nor respected as he did this woman. Not a single person he adored, cared for, nor a single person he feared more than her.
But caring for her felt wrong... it felt a sin to wish for something more from someone so... Radiant.
"... You wouldn't get it... You can't feel compassion, or empathy... You don't have a clue what it feels like to love someone... to want to protect someone... or why you'd be willing to risk your life for someone else... you're numb. You're empty. You have nothing, nothing to hold on to, or to fight for."
But there... there in his core was the one thing Frea hadn't been able to feel from him. He'd been a twisted, violent, dark and cold mess of a monster... And yet this. This person she was seeing, floating in images and watching his life transpire before her very eyes... this man was not a monster. This man was human, and flawed, and weak... and he loved her.
Truly, utterly loved her.
"... heh... my teachers were never so compassionate. Though, that was fortunate, compassion will get you killed."
No, she wasn't kind... She was hard on him, she pushed him to every breaking point, she made him work and work until his body broke down and didn't show a shred of compassion through every ordeal... Or at least not in the middle of the training itself.
But she had been kind to him, he knew it, Frea saw it... the way in which Reyan would hold his hand lightly, the gentleness she had when she pulled his arm over her shoulder after having pushed him till he could hardly stand. The small, soft smile that replaced what amused smirk she usually settled him with, her green eyes glinting as she let him lean on her, and slowly, ever so gently lead him back to Okeal with her.
How nicely she would let him fall from her hold, laying his broken, battered and gasping form onto the bed that was meant to be hers. How her fingers worked to trace lightly over every wound, every broken bone, gold flashing under her touch and across his skin in the most pleasant wash of warmth he had ever felt. Her Life Energy flowing into him as she mended every wound, stitched every tear, her green eyes soft as she smiled, ever so faintly- and watched over him in quiet silence until he came to again.
And when he woke again, when his strength came back she would push him harder, farther... But in the end that just made him stronger. She never let up, and he grew, his Magic formed from nothing. All until the day he unlocked what power festered inside of him, his eyes riveted as he watched that sickly, pitch black color mold and mix with the dazzling gold of Reyan's own Magic. Swirling between them like rivers of tumbling black and gold sand.
He'd seen it in Reyan's face as Frea saw it, the warmth, the happiness... she was proud.
Frea didn't think Reyan had ever imagined she could or would... But Reyan loved him too.
She'd raised him from nothing, watched him fail and break under her command, and yet he still went on. He pushed forward, stumbling after her and he did it... his Magic was nothing anyone in Adgnei had ever seen before, there had been no Energy before, in all it's shapes and colors and nature's- there had never been any Energy so black as his. So overwhelming and so precise, moving on it's own like millions upon millions of individual particles, it was unique- just as she knew it would be.
He'd been loyal and listened to every word she said, obeyed every instruction and order. He had followed her oh so very obediently, as the rest of the country did... and yet he was different too.
He was so nervous when she drew near, but he also watched her with such riveted interest and intrigue she had never seen in anyone else. He followed her yes... But he also shared his thoughts, his opinions- even when they weren't called for. He was intelligent and clever and he asked her oh so many questions, he was curious and he held onto every word she told him- and still challenged her ideas all the same. It had taken him a long while after she took him under as her student to have him willing to voice his opinion without being asked to. It had taken a while for him to outwardly challenge her opinion's, but he did- he relaxed around her, ever so slowly, and they grew close. He became bolder with her, and that had Reyan's interest in a heartbeat.
No one dared challenge her thoughts or her words before, she was too powerful, too many people feared her, respected her... And Mordren did. He respected her like no one else, he feared her, and yet he still voiced his beliefs to her freely.
Reyan found herself reaching out more, drawing her hands out and touching him, getting closer- because she loved how much sheer nervousness flared from Mordren when she did. And she loved how much happiness spurred from it too. She knew he was holding himself back, he always did, but she was chipping away at him and she loved doing it. It was a challenge, and one she intended to overcome... and she did. For the years and years they spent together, Mordren growing in Power and ever under her watchful eye, as Mordren rose in ranks and became one of the most powerful Energy Mages in all Adgnei.
Years she spent with and knew him, years they were never apart... years of drawing him in and Mordren dismantaling what wall was keeping him back.
Years where she dragged him along beside her, to every meeting, to every celebration, every meal. She hooked her arm around his shoulders as they stood before the other Valkeren, Corialein itself- all too aware he was blushing under the contact. All too aware of what disgruntled stares Mordren received behind his back, the glares and the scoffs of those who had known him before, old teachers and peers.
She'd pull him closer, smirk in the direction of whoever dared to talk behind his back, her green gaze murderous and his eyes downcast. One look from Reyan had the murmurs die on their lips, Mordren knew what she was doing... Confused as it made him, he loved that part about her too.
Years passed, eventually he no longer stiffened nor blushed when she hooked her arm around his shoulders, or placed her hand around his waist. He simply smiled slightly, not looking at her but smiling none the less, acceptant of what contact that had taken him so very long to get used to.
Reyan knew what the feeling was in her chest long before the word ever made it into her mind. She knew what warmth that radiated from Mordren was when she was near, long before he ever dared consider what it really was, or if he had any right to wish for it.
The most pure, powerful emotion Frea had yet to feel amongst sadness and pain and hurt... even happiness and relief and hope.
And she felt it in both of them, saw it in their faces, their eyes, their small, faint movements with one another. In front of her flashed years upon years of images and memories in rapid succession, so much time passing all in front of her eyes and too fast to understand every inch of it... but this she saw, easily.
"Love is weakness." He hissed back, his tone flinty. "Love is a lie, there is nothing in the world more important than power. Power is the only truth, the only thing that lasts. You, Malunafrey, you will die, and for nothing but a lie."
"... that's a lie." She murmured, Mordren stiffened slightly. "You... there's disdain coming from you, pain and rage... And uncertainty. You're lying through your teeth, Mordren." Her eyes narrowed, and he scowled. "... For the first time... You don't believe yourself. You're lying to yourself, even after all of this. That, that is the first time."
"Be quite." Mordren snapped lowly, "You know nothing." Frea lift her head, stepping back to catch herself as she suddenly swayed, but her eyes never left him.
"... What you are, what you've turned into... is it all because of a lust for power..? Or was it... Something like... Pain, suffering...?"
He had lied... he had felt love before, kindness, gentleness... once upon a time he had been gentle. Once upon a time... He had been someone good.
But how? How could someone who loved that much, and was loved in return ever fall into such darkness as he had? Become so utterly, dreadfully evil? Enough to incite... Incite such violence, slaughter...
Adgnei was burning, right in front of her.
She was rigid, motionless as she watched the massacre rage on. What proud buildings and homes that stood were now rubble and ash, the fire blazing and the beams ripped apart by such fierce, overwhelming Magic. People littered the streets, crimson running like a river over the cobbles, crushed or ripped apart by thousands of small, compact shots that made her body ache in agony at the sight of it.
Droves of people, hundreds, Wizards and non-Mages alike, they were gunned down in the streets, their bodies littered in holes as they screamed and tried to run for their lives, but it was useless.
Every Energy Mage, in Kelen, Okeal, in all of Coriisette and further beyond. They rose up to face him, what shadow and dark that had descended over them- and each one fell, all of them, lying limp and lifeless, their fight futile as they were murdered under what immeasurable power and brutality he had. He didn't flinch, nor cringe at what gore covered the streets, what lives he snuffed out, he didn't feel a damn thing... he smiled, a cold, twisted smile that sent shivers down her spine.
He turned them on one another, those he didn't tear apart himself with his Magic. He took control, turning what were once allies, friends and families on another, their hands running red with the blood of the people they once loved- and then falling dead themselves, a blast of Mordren's Magic tearing through their body in a hail and a sudden shower of sheer gore.
Everyone, dead.
And he turned that dull, emotionless gaze on her, for once- the first time, she looked terrified when she looked upon him and what destruction he wrought.
"Mordren... what have you done...?" The words trembled off her lips, her voice breaking as she stared at him, her green eyes flashing, searching desperately for any hint of the man she had fallen for, the one she'd trained, cared for.
"I've done only what I always intended to do." He smiled wickedly, "I've delved into the inner workings of Magic itself, and now I control every living thing. There's not a single person to stand against me, not an Energy Mage, nor Dragon or God... and not you, Energess."
Reyan's eyes went wide, sweatdropping.
"You... You what?" She stammered, "... You did not. Mordren... tell me you didn't-"
"What?" He cut her off coldly, "Took hold of the power you kept hidden away from me? You hid that power out of reach, hoarding it and all it's secrets for yourself. What gave you right to be the only one to hold it?! You couldn't even control it!" He smiled, eyes flashing as Reyan's face fell, terror seeping into her heart as she watched him, riveted. "But I can, I am! I am the true Master of Energy itself- the true God!" He flicked his hand out, the smoldering and ruined figure of Okeal around them still alight in flames as he smiled wickedly at her. "I've destroyed this country that worshiped Energy, and destroyed all those who wrongly believed themselves masters- all of them, but you." His finger moved toward her, eyes dull and flashing with a dangerous light as she stiffened.
"Mordren, listen to me." Reyan hissed, her usually stern and level voice was wavering. She felt it, Frea felt it... that darkness that had seeped into his very being.
"I didn't keep you from the Tomb out of spite, I wasn't keeping it to myself! I was trying to guard everyone else from it!" Reyan said quickly, taking a few steps toward him as his smile fell slightly. "It's dangerous, concentrated, wild Magic, it tears people apart, twists them and changes them... Corrupts them." Her eyes flashed, her voice catching slightly. "... I wanted to keep the world safe from it. I wanted you safe from it... It's corrupted you, can't you see that?"
"Corrupted me?" He laughed, coldly, and she flinched back at the sound. "You're a fool, Energess. It did not corrupt me, it showed me the truth of Magic, of all Creation! I've been struggling and grasping at straws for oh so long, and you knew all along didn't you? That I was right, you knew all of it, from the very beginning?" He smiled, his eyes flashing as he felt the fear and guilt prick from Reyan in the next instant. "You've lied to me all this time, but no matter- I see the truth now, and I know what I need do."
Reyan went rigid, her eyes flashing as his Magic swirled up around him.
"Once I have destroyed every last one of you, and left myself as the only Master of Energy, I'll take hold of the true Magic- the Magic of the One." Mordren smiled, Reyan sweatdropped. "And you'll be long dead, and unable to stop me."
Reyan didn't want to fight him, the idea of it made her heart shatter- Frea could feel her fear, her pain, her sadness. Even with everything he had done, all the people he had murdered, and how far he had fallen... Reyan was still searching, hoping in vain to see any sign of the person who had held her heart.
What destruction that came in their fight was leagues beyond what had happened when Frea fought against him. Two, unbearably, insanely powerful Mages, the two last and most powerful Energy Mages of anyone, ever... they fought for hours, striking away at eachother, what words Reyan called to him, trying to bring him back did nothing. There was nothing there, he didn't feel it anymore, it was dark, he was lost, and Reyan knew it... still she tried, and soon enough- that beautiful, goddess of a woman was fighting with less mire, less conviction, her heart falling to pieces inside her chest as the tears fell from her eyes.
Frea stood in horror, riveted and shaking as Reyan was thrown backward time and time again.
Reyan jerked back, a powerful shot of Mordren's Magic ramming into her already bloody and broken body. Frea watched, silent and unable to breathe as Reyan moved at the last second, the shot ripping through her shoulder. She was hardly standing, the light in her eyes fading fast as Mordren stood in front of her, eyes dull and face expressionless as Reyan reached out for him, her hand trembling and shaking, blood dripping past her lips as her trembling fingers brushed against his cheek and under his jaw, leaving smears of red of her own blood painted on his skin. Her tears fell from her eyes, splashing against the ground as she smiled, oh so painfully, her entire existence filled with nothing but sadness and heartbreak Frea felt herself hardly able to breathe under the feeling of it.
A woman so powerful suddenly bloodied and defeated, a woman who could move mountains and destroy armies with a wave of her hand, brought to her knees and weeping as she struggled to touch him, hold him.
"... i... it's alright, love..." Reyan gasped, "... The dark that's... seeped inside... you can't fight it... I know... I know... this is... not you..." Her lips twitched, smiling as he simply stared at her. "... I only... e...ever wanted... to keep you safe... Selfish of m... me... maybe... All I wanted... was y-you..." Her hand fell, her thumb tracing over his lips lightly. "... y... you are right... I a...alwa...ys knew... I never... told you... because I didn't... want to lo...se ... y.. you..." Her hand fell entirely, Reyan swayed as she struggled for air.
"... it's alright... L...ove." She smiled, sadly, her tears still falling. "... It was worth it... To know you... I j-j..ust...regret... I could not... k..keep you f-from... falling."
Frea yelled for him to stop, knowing full well he couldn't hear her, knowing full well this was memory... and it happened regardless of how much she didn't want it to.
Mordren had lift a hand, formed in the shape of a gun as he pressed his finger against her chest, his eyes still so dull and devoid of any feeling.
Scarlet sprayed out behind that woman like a fountain, the stone stained and slick with it as she fell back, her pale blue hair a bloody mess and her body no better.
Frea was gasping, her heart racing an terror and pain racing through her entire core as she watched, helpless, eyes riveted to her lifeless form as he stood still before her, his eyes falling.
She felt it, so utterly, agonizingly painfully... She felt him, in so much pain it was blinding her. So much grief and disbelief and regret she was gasping at the waves ramming into her.
Mordren was screaming on the inside, tearing himself apart as he drowned under what sheer evil had crept into his soul, kept him unable to stop himself, to keep himself from doing all he had- he lost all control, he fought for it and never regained it again.
What will he had to fight against that corruption died the minute he tore a hole through her chest, and he became what he had been when Frea knew him.
God... monster.
Frea had fallen to her knees, her body trembling and gasping as the image flashed away, Mordren and the fires that consumed everything died... and Reyan still lay there. A ghost, unable to be touched, as Frea found her fingers fumbling to try and reach her, a wash of emotion, pain and sadness so deep and sharp tearing through her body.
She'd never seen anything... she couldn't fathom... how could it all have gone... s...so wrong...?!
This hurt, all of it hurt... She knew these people, though she had never known them. She'd witnessed their lives, felt their pain, their feelings... all of it, so deeply ingrained in her mind and her body, and seeing her murdered like this... she was crying, and she couldn't stop herself.
Frea's head snapped up, someone else had come into the vision... a man, scared and bleeding, a man she recognized... Gweo, Mordren's old boss, when Mordren still worked to deliver things in Kelen...
Gweo rushed forward, looking haggard and frazzled as he threw himself down beside Reyan, his eyes wild and brimmed in tears. To his chest he clutched a small, battered piece of parchment, looking absolutely terrified as he reached a shaking hand out toward her, "M-my Lady..."
Reyan's chest was suddenly heaving, moving from stillness as she took in painful, desperate gasps of air. Frea felt her heart leap, and Gweo jumped nearly out of his skin at the sudden display of life in a woman who's body was barely holding together, and lying in a pool of her own blood. Those dull, green eyes fluttered open, waves of incredible pain ramming into Frea as Gweo took Reyan's hand in his, his tears falling silently.
"My Lady!" He exclaimed breathlessly, his eyes searching her expression for some sign of cognition. "... please... You sent me a message, you... you hid me from Mord... why... Lady Reyan...?"
Both Frea and Gweo stared, their eyes falling to a faint glow of gold, seeing a small Magic Circle of some incredibly intricate design suddenly flare across the skin of her stomach.
"... the last... of... M...my... Magic..." Reyan's voice was so low she could barely be heard, Gweo leaned in as Frea remained rooted to her spot, eyes shining. "... i... I cast... The Lifeward... Spell..." Her eyes fell closed, a single stream of tears running down her cheek. "... it will keep me alive... Until... He's ready... To e...enter... This world..." Gweo went utterly still, sweatdropping as his face paled. "... Y..you must... protect him... when he comes...m... my... son..."
Frea's heart fell into the depths of her stomach, her hand clapping over her mouth as she stifled a strangled gasp, her breathing quickening so much she felt she was about to hyperventilate. She felt sick, her stomach twisted in knots for so long suddenly twisted tighter.
"... m...my Lady...?" Gweo stumbled for words, Reyan was fading fast though.
"... It... doesn't... m...ma...tter... if Mord... What he... any of..." Reyan gasped, her voice fading by the second. Her arm moved up, shaking and hardly able to move as her hand rest lightly on what blood covered the skin on her stomach. "... This... my ba..by... boy... he des...erves... to live... no matter... The cost..."
"... y... you... must..."
Gweo looked horrified, his eyes riveted to her as Reyan fell back into what awful, horrible stillness she had trapped herself in with that Spell. She would endure months, unaware, never awake- and yet in so much pain it would have been a blessing to die... and yet she forced herself into it without any second thought to herself. Gweo felt her hand fall limp in his, his eyes flashing as his tears started falling faster.
"I-I promise, my lady!" He whispered, his voice cracking painfully as she pressed his nose against her hand, "I-I swear... I will not... fail you... M... m-my lady...!"
A single last tear fell from her already closed eyes, splashing against the bloodied stone.
Frea felt like her heart had been ripped from her chest, she couldn't breathe, not for what wash of emotion rammed into her and coursed through her body, making it hard to breath, her mind racing as the image shattered before her very eyes- and she was plunged backward into the waters of the Reach again.
Her body smacked painfully against the surface of the water, now rigid underneath her as she hunched over on her knees, trembling and gasping as the tears continued to spill past her eyes without end. They splashed against the dark water underhand, rippling the surface as she gasped in panicked, pained breaths, her heart and mind in a million pieces and swirling amongst a sea of emotion that rammed into her like a train. What wash of memory and vision that raced before her now seared in her head, history and years beyond years passed that point- too much, too many people, generations.. and it all slammed to a halt, no longer vision of someone else's past, but now it reached into her own.
There was no end to it, not to the pain, the rage, the grief...
"... I never... I never knew."
Frea's heart stopped, her eyes snapping open to the sudden voice- that voice she knew on instinct now, a wash of fear and panic running through her core as she looked up, seeing him standing there not far from her, his grey eyes lift to the surrounding darkness, seeing what she had been forced to, and most of it for the first time... he had long since forgotten it all, buried under the darkness that consumed him.
Frea stumbled to her feet, lunging toward him as she drew her fist back, swiping out as she caught him roughly across the jaw, silver eyes flashing and still streaming in tears.
"How could you?!"
He stumbled back a few paces, looking stunned but unangry, as she stumbled forward and smacked against the surface of the chill water with a painful thud, her body trembling and in too much pain to keep herself upright. Frea hissed, her teeth gritting as she hunched, her forehead resting upon the water's surface as she held her body in her arms.
"... Damn it! How could you do that?! She trained you! She taught you your Magic, looked after you- for years!" Frea hissed, her voice cracking as the tears refused to stop. "... How could you do all of that?! How could you betray her?! She loved you! She loved you with every inch of her being, so much so she wouldn't- couldn't- force herself to beat you! She couldn't bear the idea of harming you, she let you beat her to an inch of her life, and still she fucking tried to believe in you! That you... that you could come back..!" She hissed, her jaw clenching as she shut her eyes closed, body heaving and shaking under what rush of anger and grief rammed into her- fear too.
"She loved you so much... She let herself lay in agony for months, floating in limbo, and on the edge of death just so... just so your child could be born!" She snapped hoarsely, "... how could you... You killed the one person... who loved y-you... More than anything...!"
Frea held her stomach tightly, leaning over and sitting on her heels as her tears splashing against her knees in a steady stream, her entire countenance shaking with every sob she tried to stifle.
"F-fucking... damn it...!" She hissed,
If he... if he fell that far... If he fell so far he... he murdered and killed s-so... so many... and he... He couldn't... stop himself... From... n..no...
"... I-i... I want to hate you..." She stumbled for the words between gasping for air, hunching more in on herself as she held her torso tighter. "... y-you... You did so much... Bad... so many.. awful... unforgivable... things...! ... you killed... so many... y-you k...killed her... you... y...you couldn't stop... You... I felt it... Y-you... You were t-trying... So... hard... It... I felt it... Trying... trying to... Stop... You were... in s-so much... Pain..! And she... R...Reyan knew it... she knew... She... She... L-let you... she knew... It would... let y-you... Stop... Hurting...!"
"... h-ho...w... am I... s...supposed to... hate you... Knowing... K-knowing you...That I..." She coughed, feeling her throat burning, her tears spilling faster as she trembled, gasping the words out only just, feeling that sinking sense of sheer terror work its way among all the pain and the rage and the grief.
"... t-that... I could... b-be you...? T-that I could... I could fall... that far...? T-that... I c-could... become... s-so... so d-dark...?"
She'd almost lost it, fighting him. She lost herself and in those few minutes, what darkness has seeped into her soul, it clouded her mind, twisted her, took over... she hadn't been her, she'd been something worse, something that looked at Chase when he grabbed her... something, someone whose first thought... it had been kill. Murder.
She'd become something... that could and would kill the person she had trained, the person she loved and looked after... The very idea of it made her heart shatter, and she hated herself. She was afraid of herself.
If Mordren couldn't stop himself from killing the one person he loved more than anything... h-how could she possibly keep herself from falling that far...? What if... what if she lost? What if she became that monster... and killed...?
The pain she felt Mordren was a million times worse than she had... What if it got worse? Festered and hurt more and more? What if she couldn't take it?
Especially now... Now that she had already killed someone she loved so dearly..? She'd already cost... c-cost Chaitanya her...
She couldn't stop herself from crying, she never cried and this was a torrent of it. She was sobbing like a baby, she could hardly breath her lungs were hitching so much and so painfully. She'd never felt anything so painful, so heartbreaking all at once... never been forced to live and feel that wash of immense emotion that rammed into her with the visions. It was too much, it was too much before she was suddenly hit with her own fear, her own thoughts, she just... couldn't handle it...
... W-what... what if this... This was better...? That... that she wouldn't go... back...?
"... I'm not you."
She hardly heard him outside her harsh breathing, but the words made her stiffen all the more.
His voice was low, and soft... gentle. The same gentle she had seen in him when he was with her... with Reyan.
She flinched backward, hearing his footsteps draw closer over the surface of the water, refusing to look up at him, she didn't want to hear it. Not from him... not even if he was no longer what twisted mess of evil he had been for oh so long.
"... I understand it means little... Coming from me." His voice went on, "... but you're stronger... You beat me." He sighed slightly, "... You resisted the fall into Darkness too, even when it started to consume you. You brought yourself back... I could never do that."
"...n...no..." She hissed, "... I... I didn't... Chase did that... but... I could... If he hadn't... I might... i-I might not have... been able... T-to pull myself... out... I m-might've..."
... I could have killed him... or someone else...
"... I know... I know I did this."
Frea stiffened, her eyes snapping upward toward him as he said the words.
He looked the same as he had when she first lay eyes on him, same clothes, same hair, same scar running across his nose... but his eyes, they weren't dull nor emotionless any longer. They were that pale, light grey color they had been when... before he lost himself.
Mordren looked down at her with a soft expression that bordered pain and guilt, his cheek bruised slightly from where she had hit him- but that was it. No wounds she had inflicted, no ragged clothes... He was a ghost, or something like it, and yet this was the purest form of himself that had existed in centuries upon centuries. The part that had long since been forgotten and lost... the part Reyan had loved.
"... the Magic in the Tomb at Adgnei, the one Reyan tried to keep me from... it corrupted me, stained my soul, twisted and broke it, consumed it in pure, sheer Evil, Negative Energy that I couldn't fight against. It was like a beast... Something alive that clamped it's jaws down and never let go." Mordren murmured, his eyes flashing as he looked down at her. "... It took control, shut off my will to feel... anything, once I fell to it completely. I could feel it though, swirling, eating away at me... it had a mind of it's own, and a part of that Dark, Evil Power... it struck out and latched on to you, when I wounded you in the place you call Hilshine." His eyes fell, looking pained a minute. "... A part of it moved to you, stained your soul... and it's been slowly eating away at you since. It won't ever stop, and it will get worse... Eventually it might consume you as it did me. And it will be torture to resist it."
Frea's eyes fell, biting the inside of her cheek as she tried to steady her harsh breathing.
She knew it though... she already knew what happened in Hilshine. She knew whatever Magic had corrupted Mordren had passed on to her when they met in Hilshine, that's why the wound had resisted healing so long, why it hurt at the most random of times... and she knew it was that foul, Evil Magic that made her lose to Tomaru. She had felt it festering more, after that... But she'd ignored it, as best she could. She hadn't wanted to admit it, not until she was forced to come to terms with the idea... when she almost fell to Darkness when fighting Mordren.
And he was right... That Magic was still there, she could feel it gnawing at her very core, sheer icy cold in the pits of her being, like poison, or some sickness that was slowly getting worse, and the more she resisted the cold that came with it, the more it hurt.
That was why... Why she was scared. Terrified... Because she knew it, he knew it- this was a Magic and a Power that had festered and corrupted Mordren to the point he had become a monster. A monster of a god, who could and would have thrown everything to the most sheer, unbelievable chaos... had he won, Darkness would have reigned, terror would have filled the land, murder, plague, famine... strife the country and all countries around it would have never fathomed.
And now that same Dark Power was inside of her, corrupting her, eating away.
And now? With what insane Power she had reached? Now that she had allowed herself to step over that line she had been holding herself back from for so long?
The very thought of what she might do if she were to become as dark as him... She felt her heart stop, she couldn't breathe under what icy, chilly terror seeped into her very core.
"... but you are stronger than you know... If there is anyone who could resist such... pure, malicious evil... It is you, Frea." Mordren went on, his eyes flashing as he swallowed. "You're will and drive to protect those you hold most dear... it's stronger than mine. Your love, and want to protect your loved ones are stronger than anyone else's I have ever seen, even in all my centuries. It was your will to protect your Family that allowed you strength to defeat me, yes?"
Frea stiffened, her eyes trailing back up toward him, slowly.
"I saw it in you, the sheer emotion that fueled you. You were.. you are so bright. So good." He smiled slightly, looking sad. "... the Light Side of Magic could not have a better soul to represent it, or protect it. This Darkness corrupting you... I know you could win against it." His eyes fell from her, "... I do not deserve forgiveness, I know I have committed too many crimes to ever come over them... I will never be forgiven, not by anyone, or myself."
"... but I am sorry, for all of this... what pain I've caused... I wish I could take it all back. I wish more than anything... I could stop myself, from hurting you, all those souls... what atrocities I committed over the ages... Adgnei and Nvindorr... And Reyan..."
Frea's eyes widened, her heart skipping a beat as she watched the tears fall at his feet, though his face was hidden from her view now.
The Black God... is crying
I... why can't... I...?
"...w...why can't... I should... I should... h-hate you..." Frea stammered, her voice low and broken by her harsh breaths, riveted as she stared where those tears were falling. "...B-but... I..."
There was anger there, yes... she felt it burning in her core, the sharp prick of pain and sadness too... but there was sympathy, there was no burning, hot, sharp hatred stirring in her, she didn't feel it... But it should have been there.
"...w...why... why can't... I h-hate you...?" She whispered, her tears spilling silently as she looked up, his face coming into view again, those grey eyes filled with tears as he... He smiled at her, softly, gently.
"Because you're too kind to really hate anyone, Frea. You're the brightest, most Light person I have ever had the pleasure of meeting."
... I didn't matter what he said though, it didn't matter how her heart fluttered at the words, or what small, spark of warmth ignited in her core. It didn't matter how much she cried, how much it all hurt, how much her head and heart felt like they were falling to pieces... In the end it didn't matter how much she was afraid of herself either.
She wasn't going back... she wasn't.
She fell, the water plunging over her head as all will to fight and to listen faded to nothing, she saw his eyes light up in sadness as he faded from view, and all she could see was the dark of the water... and that was quickly growing more dim. She... She couldn't breathe, couldn't move..
She was drowning, and she hadn't the will to fight it anymore.
Alright Guys! I hope you enjoy these first two chapters! They will be the only ones up for a little, so I hope you liked the quick updates while they lasted!
Thank you all so, so much for the support and kind words you've posted about the story! I am super excited to keep sharing Frea's story and writing, this book is sure to be interesting!
Please, Follow, Fav and Review! Thank you!
(Ah, and 'Lemon Man'- there will not be any Frea's Lemons. Never. Nope. Sorry~!)