Chapter 63: Deal. Siblings
"Hello again Little brother..." Eris grinned tearfully as Zeren practically barrelled into her amongst a fluttering of black feathers from his crow form and embracing her in a teary eyed reunion. Glancing at her dear little brother she couldn't help but marvel at how much more mature he had become; aside from growing taller the aura of responsibility that he'd always had now felt more relaxed.
"Eris..." Zeren cried burying his head into his adoptive sister's chest, "I never thought I would see you again. I believe that the only chance for that to happen would be to foster peace between East and West Xadia".
Despite not much more surface level change to her little brothers appearance; aside from becoming older and a little taller, Eris could tell that he was pretty much the same boy quiet boy that had grown up in Xadia but what she could see was a whole load of fresh scars radiating along both his arms and the edges of bloodied bandages peeking out from underneath his tunic.
Feeling her anger welling up within her as she recalled the missive she had received from Mother Aughra; detailing what the so-called militancy had done to Zeren, Eris bit down on her tongue to prevent herself from loosing control of her Sky magic. Her anger towards those who had kidnapped, beaten and tried to indoctrinate her little brother paled in comparison to the sheer rage and vengeance she felt towards the woman whom had raped him.
Feeling Zeren's arms tighten around her, she realised that despite managing to control her magic she was unconsciously emanating an aura of bloodlust and hatred. Running her hand across the human boy's face, she smiled placating his fear that she was loosing herself to her anger.
'So many things have occurred to him...' she internally mused, noticing how Zeren pulled the moon opal pendant and the miniature engraving of his elven family from around his neck to show her how he constantly remembered his time in Xadia, 'both positive and negative that have changed his life'.
"You've grown since I last saw you..." Eris grinned ruffling her little brother's hair before lightly pinching his cheek. "And I bet you're quite popular with boys and girls too" she added.
Feeling his face flush with embarrassment at the obvious truth that his sister had mentioned with half joking-half serous words before she had even met his friends. Although true to some extent; Sarai certainly was important to him - she was his first friend and he knew that he loved her dearly - but then there were also his strong bonds to Thorfinn and Noelle too.
His two other strong emotional connections could be seen by others as either camaraderie or infatuation - to a certain extent - Noelle clearly saw him as an extension of her family (with perhaps a hint of adoration too). Thorfinn had openly called his and Zeren's friendship as a brotherhood; and whilst that had made the primal magic wielder extremely happy to hear, he had also sensed that maybe his best friend had wanted to say something else as well but stopped himself from doing so.
Tearing himself away from his reunion and embrace with his adopted sister and managed to glance upwards though his tear filled vision at her; Zeren was suddenly awestruck by the visage of power, prestige and authority that stood before him.
Adorned in black and silver gauntlets, shoulder armour, vambraces with purple robes beneath showcasing herself as one of the powerful skywing warriors, Eris gave off an aura of justice and determination. And Zeren instantly knew that his sister was definitely on the same level of power as the Arch Mage they had met in Astoria.
"You too..." the teenage boy replied coolly before breaking into a grin. "You're a Sky Warrior! Does that mean Juri is one of the Dragon Guard? And how are Geencha and Otar... erm mum and dad? How is Somerton village doing?" Zeren asked his voice rapidly becoming more and more strained as his joyfulness returned to happy crying.
"You really are such an inquisitive, fair-minded, empathetic person, and a crybaby..." Eris teased pressing a kiss to Zeren's forehead. "We're all doing fine", she replied softly, "the village has grown in size and now rivals the Silver Grove as a large town..."
A sudden movement caused both siblings to spin around; just in time to see SkekVar and devil-Andrei clash against one another in heated combat.
Mirroring her brothers behaviour, Eris immediately created some lightning magic from her fingertips maintaining the distance between them and the two enemies. Moving in front of him to protect him from both devil-Andrei and SkekVar who regained their awareness of their surroundings and faced the elf and the human boy, she noticed that Zeren wore a mournful expression on his face.
"Andrei..." she heard the strained sob break from Zeren's lips as her little brother wiped away tears from his eyes. Widening her eyes in horrified realisation, Eris growled under her breath as she levelled the devil possessed human with a piercing glare; anger and hatred burning away with her.
Seeing Zeren's wide and tearful eyes combined with a small panic attack; probably from reliving the memories of what the Militancy had done to him and made worse by the knowledge that his sole surviving biological brother was their leader. However, at the same time, Eris saw a simmering determination begging to take hold within her little brother as he clenched his hands.
Turning his head away from the reminder of his devil-possessed brother, Zeren grabbed his adoptive sisters hand and squeezed tightly.
"Eris! You've got to come meet my friends… especially Sarai" the boy spoke excitedly, trying to hide his fright behind his sheer overwhelming joy at being reunited with her; and therefore temporarily blanking his sense of where and what he'd just been doing moments before. "I know you'll all get along".
Unfortunately, the two siblings reunion was further interrupted by the sound of ice shattering followed by shrill squawk as SkekVar managed grab a vice like grip around Andrei's neck and fly straight towards them whipping his spiked tail at them. "An elf protecting a human…" the General murmured darkly, "huh... most irregular. Although not unexpected".
Annoyance and frustration surged through Zeren, as he'd just about had enough of beings fighting over him; and he didn't need or want otherworldly beings being thrown into that mix as well. That particular bit made him feel alone and despondent as he recalled Mother Aughra's prophecy.
Deciding that he wanted to send a message to all his enemies that he wasn't going to put up with any 'crap', as Thorfinn would have said, he was about to turn towards the Skeksis and cast 'Fulgur Sanguine', when he felt Eris increase her hold on his shoulder before hearing her anger breathing.
"You don't get to decide whom you play with SkekVar! All your kind is good for is acting as boogiemen for scaring naughty children good. Master Licht may have been beguiled by your kind but Lord Valerian was right all along, we should have killed you at the Battle of Stone in the Wood!"
"Valerian was weak..." SkekVar growled in response. "Whilst I respected his battle prowess and his mind for tactical training, he was unwilling to do what, I admit, you should have done. Instead he gave us quarter. Which we then used to our advantage to later crush elven unification, which is where your kind is now. Devolved and weakened!"
'Zeren, do what I say. Do not fight him the General is not like the others in battle, leave him to me'.
Blinking as he heard the mental plea-stroke-command telekinetically whispered directly into his head, the teenage boy in question repositioned his head to look up at his sister only to see that her earlier joy was replaced by a deep scowl and the fires of rage in her eyes.
Both of which were aimed squarely at the Skeksis General.
"I can help… I've become stronger" Zeren spoke his pleading mismatched eyes begging Eris to not leave him now. However, the older SkyWing elf simply moved her hand from his shoulder to his crown of dark brown hair, tousling it gently as she smiled ruefully.
"I know, I can sense your magical aura. But even so I can't let SkekVar get his talons on you. Mother Aughra told me what has happened to you and I won't let you fight alone anymore" Eris replied sternly.
Visibly shocked by this news Zeren barely managed to avoid completely braking down in tears instead he hung his head and stared at his wrists, which still bore slight scars from the shackles that had bound him to Sienna's desires. "I-I didn't know how to tell you..." he murmured "and as much as I don't want anyone to know…" he whimpered, "my friends almost certainly know from whatever conversations they've had with Captain Khün... they probably pity me now".
Wrapping her arms around her little brother, Eris allowed herself a brief moment to look away from her enemy; and feel relief at being reunited with Zeren again. Pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead she marvelled at how he'd grown from being the small shy boy she remembered to the medium height commanding teenage boy before her.
"I'm sure they don't or won't pity you" she replied comfortingly. "Besides, you're you. There is nothing for them to pity".
"You dare strike me!"
Broken out of their touching moment, the two adoptive siblings narrowed their eyes towards the writhing skeksis, only barely able to move aside in time as the General barrelled past them; still grasping the struggling devil possessed Andrei.
"I am a Lord of the Crystal, one of the Gods of this world! Know your place elf… all lives on this dingy pathetic rock bow to us! So why don't you hand over that boy your protecting as well!"
Desperately wanting to fight side by side with his sister, Zeren tried to turn back around to launch one of his lightning spells at the skeksis calling itself the 'General', however, he again instead felt his sister's arms tighten protectively around him as she practically growled a curt, and yet simultaneously dignified, response.
"You know very well that I won't do that SkekVar. So I guess your Emperor is just going to deal with you failing him again…" Eris was suddenly interrupted by SkekVar roaring in pain, "argh", as Andrei managed to splutter out an attack and stabbed the General in the side with a sword created out of his own blood.
"Sanguis Gladio!"
Suddenly, before he could attack again Andrei let out a blood curdling scream as his body began twisting and convulsing as horns sprung from his head, wings grew on his back, his skin turned to purple with blue scales and his eyes turned blood red.
"He's lost control…" Zeren heard both SkekVar and Eris mutter to themselves.
"That devil has won a corporeal body".
Freeing himself from SkekVar's grip the elder Amari, or now fully transformed devil-host, grinned towards his enemy before him - Zeren- as well as the she-elf for getting in the way.
"Diaboli Unio - Tenebris!"
Flapping her wings Eris swerved right and then downwards evading an explosion of purple flames from the devil's outstretched hands. Removing a bow from her shoulder and nocking back an arrow in place, the female elf was about to fire when Zeren grabbed her arm and pulled it down.
"Eris!" Zeren whimpered, his voice barely above a whispered cry. "Please let me face him… I-I-I have to face my brother…" he pleaded determinedly. "I have to release Andrei from his pain and despair... they alone attracted the devil to him".
Tears slipped down the boys face as he gazed past his adopted sister towards his biological brother, whom was batting to one side the Skeksis General.
Again narrowing her eyes as she took in the form of her little brother's biological brother, whom had been responsible for orchestrating Zeren's suffering, Eris grit her teeth and willed herself to release the bowstring. However, Zeren's sorrowful pleading eyes now burning with fiery determination made her realise that he still loved his brother dearly, despite what he had ordered done to him.
'Hmph'.
Sighing, she repositioned herself towards SkekVar; preventing him from going after the devil-possessed Andrei, and fired her arrow, which immediately became a series of striking orange vines, which doubled as they were cut, wrapping around him.
"Okay…" she replied hesitantly, not quite sure if she was doing the right thing but wanting to believe in her little brother. "Leave SkekVar to me".
"Hurry up dammit!"
Cursing herself for leaving Zeren alone, Thorfinn being with him didn't count, Sarai gritted her teeth and clenched her fist around her glaive. "I can see that bird creature holding that devil-human".
Looking to her immediate right, she saw an equally annoyed Noelle gripping her wand and muttering about 'punishing' Thorfinn for leaving her behind.
"We're coming alright…" Hurrying along the cobbled and rubble strewn street after the two leading girls were by Gyda, Amaya, Mimosa and Jorvik all of whom knew why the urgency was necessary but also slightly put out by the endurance and stubbornness of the leaders.
"Why do we all need to go?" Mimosa wheezed running alongside her cousin, trying very hard to not loose her temper. "I'm sure Zeren and Thorfinn are fine. And erm… by the way I was right I the middle of healing an injured civilian when you two came barging in a dragged me away".
Frowning as she got no response from neither her cousin nor Sarai, Mimosa glanced over at Amaya whom shared her own expression of worry and slight frustration by the actions of her own sister, as well as by her new royal friend.
"It's okay Mimosa…" Jorvik's calm voice easing her growing annoyance. "It's obvious that Sarai and Noelle have picked up a little of Zeren and Thorfinn's exuberance and stubbornness... maybe a little more than they should have".
Feeling her boyfriend's hand clasp her own; which she squeezed in response to indicate her agreement of his point as well as making it clear to the two lead girls that she wasn't as worried for Zeren and Thorfinn as they were. Blushing, Mimosa childishly stuck out her tongue at her cousin whom rolled her eyes in response before suddenly crashing into the halted form of Sarai.
"Sarai… what's the matter?" Noelle asked, brushing her hair out of her face as pulled herself and her best friend to their feet from where they had crashed into each other. "Zeren…" Sarai whispered worriedly. "He and the elf have split up… he's fighting that devil-human alone".
"Okay then."
Turning around both the two girls saw Jorvik and Mimosa both grinning at them, content in their relationship. "Let's split up..." Mimosa spoke, startling the two lead girls. "Sarai, me and Jorvik will head towards Zeren. Whilst Noelle, Amaya and Gyda shall head towards Thorfinn".
Frowning at the idea of sitting up in the middle of an ongoing battle both Sarai and Noelle eventually relented to Mimosa's plan. "You know you're getting quite arrogant thinking that you can order me about, cousin" Noelle grinned. "But I suppose I'll go along, seeing as you always were by the plan maker when we were children".
Reddening in embarrassment, Mimosa pouted before pointing in the direction of Thorfinn's fight against the militants whom were transformed into the smaller humanoid monsters. "Go!" She stomped her foot on the ground with her hands on her hips, trying to lessen her discomfort. "And when you come back…" she called out after her cousin's group had made to turn around, "you and Thorfinn better be a couple like me and Jorvik!"
Not daring to look back over her shoulder, Noelle made a silent promise to get back at her cousin's tease but at the same she also knew all to well how it must appear to her friends that she and Thorfinn simply danced around each other without uttering any confessions or pronouncements.
Initially drawn to each other by their desire to be strong mage knights and the realisation that not all of their societal opposites weren't what they had thought, but since meeting Zeren they both had come to see themselves as more closely bonded than they had thought.
And their unsaid reciprocal feelings were only made more confusing when they realised that they both felt the same way towards Zeren.
Feeling her face flush red, the youngest of the three lesser royal houses of Katolis, couldn't help but feel envious of the bright friendship that existed between Sarai and Zeren. Those two had immediately known that something drew them together and now acted as a couple, despite never having had, to her knowledge, the conversation declaring to one another their feelings.
To Noelle, Sarai and Zeren were the epitome of soulmates.
'I want what they have…'
Shaking her head she instantly felt ashamed. Zeren had been raped by his kidnappers, and Sarai was on a warpath of revenge, whatever happened after this battle with the militancy the peace of the Pentarchy was going to be tied, very quickly, to how fast Zeren could reach the magical power required to follow in Lord Julius's footsteps.
R.I.P:
June Brown. Eastenders Legend.
