Chapter ten

A dark ending

"It's finally mine!" Malic's hand launched downwards towards the girl's chest as her dual color eyes opened. She let out a loud scream. Her young lungs allowed her scream to be so loud that it masked a crossbow bolt slicing into the crazed man's wrist forcing him back while dropping the dagger to the ground with a metal clattering. Malic clenched his wrist uttering a hissing curse before looking up, pulling the bolt from his flesh. Kiko unsteadily moved from the stone slab falling to the floor as her body felt unable to work right.

When she looked up after her fall she came face to face with Selena's corpse that stared back with eyes that could see nothing. Her lips were slowly turning a pale blue and the look in her eyes was foggy and far from clear. The sight of someone dead before her face made her let out another scream before two hands, gloved in black grabbed her from the floor and helped her to her feet.

Still unsteady, she wobbled falling back into someone who stood behind her. Kiko looked up finding it was her mother, Yennefer who'd snatched her from the ground. Peering around her mother she saw Geralt, Ciri and the other Sorceresses standing near the entrance but blocking Malic from getting to Kiko again. Malic's one eye darted from face to face of those who dared stop his ritual to take the young child's eye.

The look on his face was disgust, then anger as he watched the black haired sorceress pick the child up from the ground and kept her held close; protective and caring. The witcher aimed his crossbow at Malic with a ready to fire bolt, while the red haired young sorceress's hand was ablaze. He noticed even the young ashen haired girl had a blade in hand similar to the one in the Witcher's other hand.

"Using a Doppler to get your hands on Kiko, especially in my form," Philippa seemingly snarled. Kiko looked up towards the blind sorceress and for once realized how she could see. In the dim lighting of the flickering torches upon the wall, she saw how the eye patterns glowed on the blindfold that covered what everyone knew was her empty eye sockets.

"You threatened the life of our student, one we swore to protect," Margarita narrowed her eyes at the male mage who simply straightened his back, cracked his neck and smirked.

"I waited and searched for so long… her eye belongs to me, one to fix the damage her foolish father caused to me years ago," He said in a chillingly dark but calm tone.

"What are you talking about?" Geralt growled.

"An argument that led to her father pulling a dagger and blinding my one eye so for his act I ensured that very blade was shoved into his neck before claiming his unborn child as mine in payment for what he'd done. Her mother refused, and abandoned her young when I was to return and take what was mine. I lost track of the girl but made sure to… end her mother's suffering. I killed her, her older son and the new husband before I returned to searching for her… for my niece," The sudden news of Kiko being related to this crazed man had several in shock. Even Kiko was shaking her head, unsure if he was lying or if the reason her mother left her was to hide her from him. Had she actually cared but died protecting her from this man? She had an older brother? "Yes, my niece. I slew my own sister because she denied me what I claimed, ignored me about marrying the man that started all of this…"

"SHUT UP!" Kiko pulled away from Yennefer and moved to stand between Ciri and Geralt. "You are not family to me! How could you… how could you kill your own sister; my mother?! You took away my birth parents for what? An argument…" Her fists were clenched tight; so tight that Ciri beside her noticed blood starting to drip from between her fingers. Her nails had cut into her palms from how angry she was; how hard she clenched her fists. Malic stared down at the girl, unmoved by her show of strength by yelling at him.

"…You look just like your mother when she was angry. I remember her own red eye blazing like fire when she stood strong,"

"You've no right to speak to her; you tried to kill her," Ciri shifted herself to keep Kiko at a safe distance from him, putting herself a bit more before the younger one. "Her dream was warning us about you," Malic's gaze flickered from Ciri's face to the blade in her hands. He realized her stance and saw how she was ready to strike at a moment's notice should he perhaps even flinch. He raised a hand which made Ciri go more upon the defensive as well as Geralt, with Yennefer grabbing Kiko back behind everyone.

"I doubt it truly warned you," with a flick of his hand to his right the weapons Geralt and Ciri had in hand were flung to the side clattering and hitting hard on the hard floor before he pulled his hand back and thrusted it forward launching the two into the back wall hard enough that Kiko heard, even saw Cirilla's right shoulder dislocate against the stone. Triss hurled a fireball at him only for his hands to come up creating a barrier that took the attack's blow. "I will have what is mine," He swiped his hand through the air quickly that launched Triss right into the Witcher who caught her but fell back into the wall again.

Margarita, Fringilla and Philippa used their magic together to form a barrier as Malic started blasting away towards them. The Barrier was taking most of the blows but it was easy to see how the sheer force behind his attacks, were draining upon the women and so quickly. Yennefer quickly moved to add her own magic to the barrier to keep it strong enough as Geralt had to resort to his other blade since the Steel was out of his reach and in a dangerous zone where Malic could strike. Triss staggered to her feet, moving to assist in putting Ciri's shoulder even somewhat back into place and all the while Kiko was stunned at everything.

Her uncle was trying to kill everyone just to get to her or better yet to gaining the eye from her. She shook her head repeatedly as a throbbing pain jolted through her skull. Her ears burned with the sound of the loud angry buzzing that came from whenever his magic blasts hit the barrier the sorceresses had up, her red eye felt like it was suddenly on fire. The girl clenched her head from all the pains clashing together at once with her vision becoming a color distorting mess. She felt like she could see sound and that made her eyes burn worse. Her hands moved to clasp over her ears; stop the loud noises from hurting her head.

The buzzing felt to only get louder, adding to the sound of cracking like glass. Slowly the crack was inching; growing. The Sorceresses, she could tell were tiring out. They couldn't hold out much longer if his attacks continued. Kiko was nearly doubling over in pain as the red coloration of her one eye spread. Everything white was bloody red now with the spiral starting to elongate, growing to follow the expanse of red. A trickle of something came from her lower eyelid, streaming down her face was not tears of pain but blood that was so dark it looked near black. Kiko's head flung back as she let free a scream loud enough to make one's ears ring for days…

Everything fell silent, motionless as she dropped to her knees and looked up. There was no color to what she saw, just grey and black and white. Before her she saw what was and there lay bodies; those of the sorceresses, who were battered, bloody and motionless on the floor. Blood was pooled under them collectively on the stone floor. There was no way they were alive; she saw none drawing breath. She couldn't reach out to touch her mother's motionless hand laying inches from her. The glove was damaged and badly torn up as were her clothing while the same could be said for the rest of the mistresses of magic.

Margarita had seemingly caught Fringilla as she fell only for them both to perish with one lying partly upon the other. Triss was face down but from her back one could tell a hole was torn through her chest as the blood staining her clothing was almost black. Philippa sat slumped against a wall, blood streaming from her mouth coating her paling lips red. Kiko turned her head to see Ciri on the floor with her sword in hand but she too lay motionless in a pool of blood while Geralt nearby was impaled by his own blades to the wall. One through his throat and the other in his chest, there was none; not even a witcher who could survive those injuries.

Yet Kiko noticed something, everything was so still that even the air didn't move. All she herself could move was her head, as her arms were useless and legs failed to stand. Her breathing was echoing in this colorless, motionless world. What was this? Perhaps a strange hallucination, or was her eye showing her what was to be? Yet then why was Malic missing from the view? Had he done away with everyone, taken her and left?

Had he truly won?

Kiko started to fight the unmoving limbs she possessed soon her fingers flexed, toes twitched and she could move even slightly. The motion however only was to collapse forward with her face peering right at Yennefer's.

"Get up," Kiko heard an echoing voice that felt out of place in this motionless world. "You must get up," The voice felt to be getting closer; sound brushing by her ear until a soft hand touched her back. She turned her head to see a figure too bright to see features upon but from what she could tell it was a woman. "Only you can save them from this fate, but you must get up… stand Kiko,"

"Who are you?"

"You would never believe me if I told you… though here hours have passed but outside your mind everything's frozen,"

"Frozen?" The brightly lit woman pulled Kiko up to her feet as she herself stood. "Are you saying time's frozen?"

"Your eye's power in a time of great stress and pain unlocked a level that uses time based magic because unlike many sorceresses your magic is two things… Earth and time, two of which go much together…" Kiko staggered on her unsteady feet peering up at the woman.

"How can you know all this? I have only begun my training as a sorceress…"

"You asked me who I am, but believe it or not… I'm you," It felt like the light faded off the figure revealing an older Kiko. Her hair was longer and her one eye was completely red with the spiral spread across the blood color, she bore a scar on her left eye brow that looked to slice the brow in two; the one end 'cut' away from the rest. The streak of white blonde had seemingly grown to more strands and her hair was a bit lighter from perhaps being out in the sun.

"You're me…?" She found herself questioning her sanity just then. How was this woman her? She was at least in her twenties or maybe if she was a mage she was older but just looked the same as a young woman. It was entirely possible seeing as sorceresses do live for many years. Take any sorceress for example and you'd see how they look so youthful yet they are centuries old; centuries wiser than any common person.

"Yes or at least what you can become if you save them, your eye can slow time even stop it should you wish it but be warned stopping time will make your eye bleed as such a spell causes the organ great stress, while using it too much… could be fatal, so be careful how much you use it and when you use it," Kiko found it amazing how she was… talking to herself but something had her doubt that was how she'd look, maybe her mind had created this version of her to get her back onto her feet and help her see her potential. The older Kiko reached out her hand. "Stand Kiko, protect that of which you love and end the crazed man that would kill a child for an eye,"

Kiko glanced to the older one's hand, a tattoo marking lay in her palm of an Elven symbol for strength. She reached out slowly setting her hand into the palm of the other with the older Kiko firmly grasping her hand. From their held hands a light emitted from the palms bathing over young Kiko, blinding her while the other seemed unphased by it. When she opened her eyes she was on her knees in the stone ruins still with every sorceress still battling to keep the barrier up.

Cirilla was crouched beside her when she noticed Kiko had opened her eyes. Kiko gave no words as she stood moving towards the sorceresses and peering around them to Malic who was smiling; seemingly enjoying the fact that the sorceresses were putting up such a fight. He suddenly froze as his gaze moved to see Kiko but more importantly the way her eye appeared now. He'd never seen it like that before; not even read about it. He felt like he suddenly couldn't move or as if the young child's gaze alone stiffened his muscles. What was this? What was making him immobile like that? His bones refused to move, muscles didn't even twitch on command but his eyes moved; darting around as if he was trying to figure out what was happening to him. Then he realized it…

It was her gaze alone.

It was cold, and filled with hatred enough to stop his movements. With the blasts no longer bashing the barrier the Sorceresses had a chance to mend it in case he started to strike again. Geralt and Ciri quickly grabbed their swords keeping their gazes locked onto the man.

"Put the barrier down…" Kiko stated.

"But it's the only thing—," Margarita began to say as Kiko held up her hand almost physically stopping her from continuing.

"He can't move, not when he's stopped,"

"Stopped? What do you—wait your eye! What happened to it?" Triss was amazed at how Kiko's eye now appeared, and being they suddenly all turned their focus onto her the barrier went down as she demanded.

"It's… a long story," She turned to Geralt and Ciri. "Kill him and quickly, if the time magic wears off we're all dead. I know we'd be dead if I didn't stop him,"

"How could you have… that's why the eye looks different? It's grown, but it's never been documented to have done such a thing before," Margarita shook her head as Geralt and Ciri cut down Malic with a bisection and beheading at once. When Kiko looked back to him and blinked slowly his body fell to the ground, in two with his head rolling away.

"I think… I think the ghost eye's true power is about anything that has to do with Time… but it's dangerous even to me…" Kiko reached up slowly wiping away the thick streams of blood that started pouring from her eye. "Maybe that's why it was never documented further… it was feared to use it as such…" Yennefer watched the head roll by them before she crouched down turning her daughter's head towards her.

"When you use its powers… will it always bleed?"

"I don't know maybe just stopping time causes it? Who knows what else I can do with it… but I can't use it all the time because what if it hurts me worse? Kills me when I least expect it? It honestly seems to scare me about what it can do…"

"Don't think like that," Fringilla crossed her arms with a sigh. "Maybe there's a way around it or maybe from you we can document what it does, your eye is a mystery to the world. Could it grow more or will it remain like this? You could only see the past and future from touching someone or something before but now… you stopped a man's time just by glaring at him,"

"Not glare, I had to think about him being frozen to stop his time," she responded as Yen pulled a cloth from her side and wiped away the blood that still trickled down her daughter's cheek.

"Even so, your eye is unique and powerful. You truly are a prodigy child,"

"Margarita's right, and perhaps in time she will even rival our magic if she hasn't already," Philippa nodded slowly.

"Think she'll become a sage, Phil?"

"It could happen, Triss, we can only help guide her and see where she ends up," Kiko smiled as her mother finished cleaning away the blood before leaning into her, feeling Yen's warm embrace curl around her while she buried her face in the curtain of curly black hair. She was drained both physically and emotionally from all this that transpired. From being kidnapped by a Doppler to nearly dying and then saving those who she saw as friends and family. Her mentor's all were impressed and continued talking to themselves about what happened while Kiko... she just allowed the delightful scent of Lilac and gooseberries wash over her, wafting from her mother's hair.

That smell was home to her enough that it was what calmed her so that she couldn't help but fall right to sleep in Yennefer's arms. She'd always remember the smell; the smell of love and caring compassion she's come to know from her mother. With the firm embrace easing her into a gentle dream while the real world drifted away for now, letting her sleep; a sleep she deserved…

Hey everyone! I loved writing this chapter here which I was trying to ensure it wasn't too graphic but still getting my point across. So reviews would be nice!