Sorry for the delay! I might have overscheduled myself this month... The chapter is rather short but I thought it's better than putting it off until goodness knows when! I see this ending soon. Maybe in 5-8 chapters? We'll see. Enjoy :)
Loop, I
"So Lilith promised to return your family to you," Isa states. "It's the reason you stayed—"
"I chose to stay." Marcus's declaration is firm.
"You love Lilith?"
"I love her as I would my own blood," he says. "I stayed because she needed me. Woe to the queen with an unruly Guide."
"Are queens still burdened by such cumbersome things?" Isa arches a brow.
Marcus inclines his head. "You may be more powerful—enough to punish Guides who are disloyal. But you are connected. His pain is your pain, your pain is his pain. Killing a Guide—your channel—ruins your power."
"And freeing him—..."
"Requires the complete relinquishment of your power." Marcus's gaze is piercing.
"I accept," Isa says without hesitation.
"Dying before the end of your cycle would mean the destruction of your soul. Many will try to kill you once you are queen."
"At least my death would end this farce!"
Marcus's expression is pitying. "What makes you think so? The splitting of your soul has a purpose in itself—to forcefully rip another to take your place in the event of your untimely death."
Isa's curls her hands into fists to hide their trembling. "I can force your hand, Marcus. I can bend you to my will."
"You will do no such thing."
It's Lilith, her image distorting, stepping in front of Marcus.
It's the first time Isa has seen her be anything but stone-cold.
Her glamour flickers, and her body transitions back and forth from young to old, old to young, and back again.
She's a crippled old woman with wild hair, gnarled fingers and a creased face, moving only by her weakening telekinesis.
"You can't protect him from me," Isa says, closing her fist. The beads behind her snap from their threads and burst violently, tiny shards of glass cutting clean through the several fragile layers of walls made from the queen's mind.
Lilith only grins, flashing startling rows of sharp, white teeth. She curls a bone-thin arm around Marcus's neck, her paper lips brushing affectionately against his cheek, and then, in a movement that seems oddly gentle, she kills him.
The ashes of his body drift with the wind, scattering over the terraces. Lilith's power dims further. She no longer glides but supports herself feebly against the railings.
"It's just you and me now," she breathes, gripping the metal. "Just me... and... you."
Isa was wrong.
Lilith's power isn't dimming—it's gone.
"You've killed Aro too," she realises.
Lilith steadies herself, her faded blue eyes piercing. "A clean break from the past," she licks her lips. "All fresh, just for you."
"You promised to free them and to return what they had!"
"I did and I will." The insane queen cackles with laughter that blends with hacking coughs.
Isa stares with utter disgust until Lilith looks up. Those worn blue eyes—they're sharp, cognizant, daring her to take the last step.
Drain the queen.
Isa closes the distance between them, studying the powerless creature before her. Killing her would be easy. Too easy.
"You want this to end." It isn't a question and Lilith doesn't answer. Isa has felt so much hatred that now she feels empty of it. Her emotions have been swept away by the vastness of the circumstance—feathers in the wind. "I'll end this for you if you tell me how to free my Guide."
Lilith raises a crooked finger, beckoning her closer. Her lips move, whispering words whose meaning are quickly grasped and just as quickly lost.
She's useless now.
Isa reaches out and drains the essence from her body until she's nothing but a husk. They crumble under her touch, disintegrating with the rest of the stark white walls.
The surroundings fade away, the time voids released, and the vast deserts that have become their world dissolve, replaced by rich soil and the smell of grass. Dark skies lighten to a clear blue and Isa finally understands Eleazar's meaning.
A game that ends before it begins.
A game that leaves no trace in the running of time.
A game that, once won, resets itself.
The queen exists throughout eternity. Pandora, Eve, Lilith... The many names are interchangeable because each had replaced the other in all the timelines. The selection itself with the Acolytes is erased, time transitioning smoothly from one ascension to another. To everyone else, the old queen never existed.