Chapter Twenty-Seven
Clipped Wings
|ii.|
Noé had only seen the other side of the wall one other time. She never thought she would live to see it for a second.
Dread seeped in at the sight of the transparent wall that stood before them. Slight fear pricked her skin at sensing so much energy around her. Yet she knew her fear wasn't from the wall itself despite the way it towered over them as tall as the Grand Oak. It came from what awaited on the other side. Every single erred step she'd taken, every choice made in rashness and panic, and all their outcomes would be waiting for her over the wall.
Those were what had the hair at the back of her neck standing on end.
"Everything will be alright. You'll see."
An incredulous chuckle escaped her lips at Muu's sudden words, squashing doubts that had gone unspoken between them as if somehow sensing her unease. He probably had, much as he had for a long while now.
Noé set those ideas aside for another time before climbing down from her crimson lion with a bit of his help. Her body had slowly been regaining its strength over the couple of days it had taken for them to reach the wall. So when he asked her if she could stand, Noé knew herself capable of that at least even if it was in somewhat trembling legs still.
"Fit as a fiddle," she jested with a half-smirk. Though it bothered him by the apparent frown on his snout, he didn't say anything against it. She supposed the fact she could stand by herself was enough consolation to not argue about her well-being for the moment.
It was then that those crimson eyes so sharply delineated with black markings glanced over to the wall at last. Noé followed his gaze at the next obstacle in their way.
"You've gone through this before." It was as much a question as it was an assurance. If for her, himself, or the both of them, she wasn't quite sure.
"It's somewhat uncomfortable," she confessed with a grimace. "It doesn't wish to let me through just like anything else. But because of the Gift I carry, it cannot forbid me passage, either. That's how magic works apparently. Hierarchically."
"Have you had enough rest?"
Noé shrugged one shoulder but exchanged her grimace for a slightly more reassuring smile. "Can't say for sure but if nothing else, it'll just mean that I have to rest a few more days before trying again."
Muu nodded. "You should go on first then."
"What about you?" she asked with a bit of surprise that she let show through her furrowed brow.
"Yunan and I suspected you wouldn't be strong enough to breach through to the other side once I found you. He gave me a spell to help me cross while you focus your own rukh on yourself to get through. So don't worry about me. I'll be right behind you."
They did? What's more, Yunan helped him. The shock was brief though knowing the wandering magi and his idiosyncrasies. The man could be everything and anything, but one thing she was certain he wasn't was the rancorous type.
Just to make sure, though, I'll thank him once I get across. And apologize, too.
This would be the last time she would ever raise a hand against her very first friend and magi.
Tossing Muu a broad grin to reassure him was enough to calm her nerves as she carefully took the last few steps that brought her just at arm's length from the wall. Hand splayed across the transparent solidness blocking her way had her immediately sensing the way whatever forces separated both lands stirred. It wasn't pleased about being touched, much less having someone wanting to cross it. Noé didn't care what it wanted.
All she wanted was to go back home.
Would appreciate a little hand here, if you would.
The warmth on the side of her face returned somewhat lukewarm as the seal brightened upon her face. Beneath her hand, the wall wavered. It fought against Grace of Sunlight and that was when the beating began. Noé could feel the way it drained her of whatever little stamina she had recovered in the past couple of days. Yet somehow that little bit seemed to be enough. The wall wavered only for another second before the energy composing it rippled like water, its waves rolling outward as an opening showed itself. Noé knew better than to linger, her energy barely enough to crack that bit open, and stepped through.
As she did, a blinding light engulfed her vision and as it began to take her other senses along with it, Noé heard something. Or at least she thought she did. Enough to have her turn back just as the light took her up completely.
First, it was a blinding light, then it was the sharp contrast of absolute darkness. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust back. Flashes of white were still blinking before her eyes when she heard the distinct tapping of wood against solid ground. It took a moment for those flashes to disappear and when they did, Noé could only smile wryly at the one standing before her a few feet away surrounded by small floatings lights that ebbed in their luminosity.
"Yunan…I—"
Noé cut herself off with a sharp purse of her lips. His name left her like a soft prayer. As if saying anything more would shatter the kind picture she beheld now. She didn't know what else to say, either. And she feared that if she whispered even the slightest slight that the heaviness that lingered in her chest would only grow once proven right. That his outright rejecting, even when completely justified, would be enough to prove to her that some things just weren't forgivable.
A bitterness struck her at the irony of such a feeling. Of the judgment she now feared being the same one she easily dealt to another without so much as a second thought 200 hundred years ago.
The magi stood leaning against his staff, one hand tipping his green-rimmed hat back to get a better look at her. A smile came to his lips at seeing her—it was small and if anything a bit melancholic.
"Welcome back, Noé."
That was it.
No reprimand, no disappointed look in his eye, not one ounce of hatred. It was only Yunan and his ever-forgiving kindness despite what had happened between them. Despite the harm she had caused him so very much on purpose.
That fact alone had her hobbling over to him, tripping on the last step and having him sprint forward to meet her halfway and catching her by her forearms. A soft chuckle escaped her at the awkward beginning but upon meeting his gaze, so calming and kind as it had always been despite all he'd been through, the heaviness in Noé's chest grew. Unable to keep it to herself any longer, her head fell along with her weak smile. The words dripped out of her lips with abandon as a string of thoughts propelled her forward to speak them.
I've had enough. Enough of telling lies. Enough of pushing others away. Enough of bearing this on my own.
Not when I'm not alone.
"I'm sorry," she whimpered, tears brimming her eyes at how much she had hurt him, physically and emotionally. "For hurting you, for destroying your cottage, for breaking your trust, for—for everything I did when all you've ever done is believe in me! I'm so sorry, Yunan!"
She didn't get to hear his answer. Not when instead of replying, all the magi did was lay one of his hands atop her head and patted it. Emerald eyes grew wide at the simple yet all-encompassing gesture as she met Yunan's blue eyes that glimmered with the soft smile he gave her.
And that was all she needed to wrap her arms around his shoulders and embrace him. In one last show of forgiveness, and an everlasting show of gratitude. Yunan's chuckle tickled the feathers behind her ear with them being so near him and had her pulling back with a smile of her own.
"I'm glad you're back…and healthy once more," he said as if barely noticing that the dark miasma that had been clinging to her no longer did.
Noé nodded in agreement, wiping away at her eyes. "Muu and I—you won't believe what we found on the other side. Fanalis and Vastago." His brow furrowed at the mention of her people and Noé knew she would enjoy telling this particular story.
But before that…
Turning on her heel, Noé stared behind herself waiting for something to happen. For some kind of flash or spark that gave away the telltale signs of a spell. Anything that gave away Muu's arrival. But as the minutes passed on and Yunan finally asked her what she was waiting for, her brow began to furrow, her smile falling.
"For Muu." As if that had been the obvious answer, she turned to Yunan with an incredulous lift of her eyebrows at such a stupid question. "He said he didn't want to risk me overexerting myself by crossing us both through, but that he'd be right behind me. That you'd given him a spell so that he could cross the wall in case I wasn't strong enough to cross us both…"
The more she spoke though, the more Noé saw the disbelief in his expression change into utter despondency with every word and had her slowing to a stop. The heaviness in her chest grew once more, this time, however, for an entirely different reason as Yunan's expression fell and he shook his head.
"Noé, I didn't give Muu any spell. There is no such spell to cross the wall."
What?
"But…Muu said…"
As if the most brilliant epiphany struck the magi then, those baby blue eyes widened before once more showing a pity that was making her sick to her stomach. "He didn't tell you?"
"Didn't tell me what?" Anger tinged the last word. At whom, she couldn't tell. "Yunan, didn't tell me what?"
He pursed his lips and after a brief pause explained.
"The last time Muu crossed this wall onto the other side, I had to pull him out using magic. He was young and his rukh was volatile enough that I managed to drag him out, but just barely," he explained. Noé felt her heart sink with each word and completely shatter at the words Yunan finished with. "I told him I wouldn't be able to do that a second time. If he ever chose to go back, there would be no way for him to return to this side once across."
No. That…can't be.
"I'm sorry, Noé." Had she said that out loud? She couldn't tell. Not when everything in her head was ringing and shouting and screeching at what those words meant. "But Muu, he's—"
Noé didn't let him finish. She didn't dare let him speak it and manifest it into the world. Her sharp pivot turned her completely around as she sprinted towards the wall. Crashing right into it with her whole body, Noé leaned her weight upon it and slammed her fists against the sturdy wall. Energy rippled through the transparent barrier but wouldn't cave. What openings rippled when she forced her powers through were little more than dents easily closed.
Noé forced the cry down her throat and conjured Grace of Sunlight, the seal burning hot on her face as a light emanated from her in stark contrast to the all-consuming darkness around her. But like a light flickering out, the seal sputtered off as fresh blood coated her throat forcing her to her knees to throw it out. Yunan rushed to her side then as the crimson liquid spilled from her lips, tears mixing in as they spilled down her cheeks. The magi's reassuring whispers doing little to assuage the pain that struck her either.
Because Yunan hadn't heard it. He didn't hear what Muu said to Noé. She herself barely caught a whisper of it as she crossed the wall. Words that had warmed her heart and breathed in an air of hope into her lungs.
"I love you."
The fact that they had been tinged with an echo of sadness stung Noé.
He had known that he wouldn't be able to cross again. That he would be left on the other side away from his country, his people, his family, his friends—everything—and he had crossed it. For her. To return her to a world that she had forsaken.
You colossal, idiotic mutt.
Noé cursed him.
It was all she could find in her heart to do to voice her pain. She cursed him in her mind, out loud too if Yunan's quiet words were anything to go by, but it was all she could muster to do. It was difficult to hear the wandering magi as he attempted to comfort her, assuring her that he had done what he did with the knowledge that he wouldn't come back. He chose to save her, to bring her back to the other side, to a Reim that sorely needed her help now.
Tears streamed down her cheeks still but her ears were open enough to hear what he said long enough to give her pause. Blinking them away, those emerald eyes, reddened and glistening with unshed ones, turned towards Yunan.
"What do you mean…Reim needs help?"
A thin line came to Yunan's lips and his baby blue eyes darkened, something striking in the already obscure valley. He nodded back towards his cabin before saying, "Come inside."
Noé brought herself to her feet but as Yunan took a few steps towards the brightly lit cottage, she hesitated on her own, unable to rip her hand away from the wall. Turning over her shoulder, her hand grasped at the transparent wall impeding her way. Her fingers dug into it, nails ripping through what most would see as nothing more than a thin veil if they could even see it. Light sputtered to life before dying out just as her fingers bore holes into it and to which she gripped tightly because she knew if she let go, they would just as easily disappear. Bile rose to her throat at the impotence of what she couldn't do, what she had left behind, but Noé swallowed it all down before stepping closer and pressing her forehead against it.
"You're getting the earful of a lifetime when I'm well enough to cross again."
Because she would. Eventually. Even when he couldn't anymore, she would tear her way through with the dull claws god gave her to find him again.
And now more than ever, I'll protect them when he's unable to.
Her grasp loosened at last and she stepped away, her fingers releasing their grip and the holes in the wall easily closing as she strutted towards Yunan, eyes red, throat sore, and heartbroken, but ready to face whatever threatened their home.
"What happened?"
|iii.| Reim, Regia's Temple — A week earlier. |
The quietude of the temple was deafening compared to the outside. Seraphina's ears felt like bleeding after hours on end of prayer. It came suddenly, the request for the priestesses to pray by the people, but it was a request they couldn't deny.
So even when the Sindrian warships had set sail from Parthevia's shores now, she along with the rest of the Regalia remained through the day.
Well, as much as someone could call a time without the sunlight 'day', anyway.
The sudden loss of the sun—or more precisely, the sudden cloaking of it by something—had caused panic to many when it occurred though not quite outright. It was an occurrence that had happened once in a while and had been recorded across time in many a history. It was always spontaneous and it always deprived them of the light of the sun for hours at a time. Never days on end, however. This was what caused the sudden rise in turmoil amongst the people and what had her and her fellow priestesses praying, something she knew would change nothing.
No divine hand had caused this, after all. Just the sudden disappearance of a certain half-Vastagian champion.
The phenomenon was known by many different names across the world. Some places like Balbadd knew it as the yawm bila nujum. Eastern plains closer to Kou knew it as the wújìn de yèwǎn. To Reim and its territories, it was known as aníliagi méra.
Her master simply called it a solar eclipse.
All because Noé—the sun itself—crossed the threshold separating the Great Rift into the piece of land left of Alma Torran. Without her, the sun could not exist nor could any Light magic be performed, and so its counterparts thrived. Without her as the vessel of all Light magic, there was no light.
I suppose it wasn't named the Grace of Sunlight for nothing.
It was of no consequence to her, however. Her magic was rooted elsewhere. Even once Noé returned Grace of Sunlight to their master and the eclipse remained until their task was done, it would not hinder her mission in the least. In fact, with the world in such a commotion trying to understand a phenomenon that would by then be the norm, it would be far easier to pursue her master's wishes.
It's all a matter of time. Soon, she will need one less Gift and I will have my due. My masterpiece—
A brightness suddenly struck her closed eyes. Opening them made Seraphina look away from the radiance. And then the shock.
The sun was returning.
Around her, the Regalia rejoiced as they saw it as their pleas for the long night to end being answered. Seraphina could hardly hear their reverie. She couldn't have cared less for it. Shock still kept her stunned in place, kneeling before Regia's monument in the sanctuary's garden, and rendered her speechless. Even when her fellow priestesses questioned her about what the matter was, she couldn't find the words to respond.
The sun had returned.
But that was impossible.
Once her meistras retrieved Grace of Sunlight, the gray days would begin and go on until her task ended. Once her task ended, she was to take her reward. Her just and promised reward for all these years of blood and sweat devoted to their cause.
But if the sun returned, then that meant—
"Seraphina."
A deep chill ran so quickly down her spine that it brought Seraphina to her feet with a jump. The mark between her shoulder blades pulsated at the deep tone of her master's voice, almost as if exposing the rage she so diligently tried keeping at bay. Her hands trembled as she bowed her head piously.
Master?
"Noélia has wasted the last of my patience."
Seraphina knew that could only mean one thing: Grace of Sunlight still belonged to Noé.
"She will reach the other side of the Rift soon and surely return to Reim," she continued. "Lay waste to it and leave it in ruins."
What?
Master, destroying Reim wasn't part of—
"Are you questioning me?"
Her back bent forward at the sudden pain that struck her forcing her head to touch the grass before the effigy's feet. Breathing labored, the Regalia felt fear crawl underneath her skin at the menacing tone.
"N-No...never."
"Then do it." A cold touch lingered on her back before it slithered across it and over her shoulders. It was almost like someone was snaking their arms over her and laying themselves against her back.
The chill was unbearable.
"Lure her in. Cause all the chaos you need to do so. Once you have her, I allow you to take what is yours. What was promised."
Suddenly, the cold felt numbing as her mind sharpened at such a prospect. "You truly mean it?"
"When have I deceived you so?"
A small grin began at one corner of her lips.
"I may do whatever I please with her?"
"Yes."
"Even hurt her?" she pondered, pushing her boundaries to see what this sudden change of heart was all about. "Kill her?"
"Anything your little heart desires to do with her, I allow, my child. What is more, I grant you all the power you may need to accomplish anything. All I ask for in return is once you are done for you to take Grace of Sunlight and return it to me."
"Of course…" Seraphina breathed blissfully. Not even the pounding on her back could distract her from the sudden overwhelming elation that started spreading from her chest. "You will have it. Once I'm done, master, I shall go and present it to you myself."
A deep and quick chuckle echoed in her head. The cold suddenly disappeared from her back but the numbness remained. It wasn't hurting anymore.
"I shall be waiting then," her master's voice echoed. "Until then, revel in your wonderful craft."
The mark on her back pulsated again, each beat spreading further and further across her fair skin. As it began to take over, Seraphine finally heard the other Regalias's concerned words directed at her and stood but paused before turning. Her eyes lingered upon the image of Regia.
Their savior. Their goddess.
But you are no god of mine.
There was only one god that answered her prayers. Only one that granted her power. Only one that allowed her the freedom she so desired.
Fingers lurked under the folds of her clothes and grasped the small wand in hand. It was as she turned to finally face her worried sisterhood that her arm brandished outward as she did. Her wand changed in that brief turn, turning from nothing larger than her forearm into a fully grown staff with bark as black as night.
Seeing her made her fellow priestesses cower back whimpering. The sight of them retreating fueled her sudden joy further.
"You're all such simplistic fools believing in false deities that will never answer you."
Twirling on her heels, Seraphina watched the statue for a brief second before slashing downward with her newly made staff. In the blink of an eye, the end of her staff was encased and formed a sharp blade of ice. Sharp enough to split the goddess' statue in twine. Gasps of horror erupted from the women as the upper half fell at a slant and crashed onto the grass below.
"All that will change today."
As she turned once more towards them, from the lower half remaining, swarms of her dark djinns rushed outward as a sea of shades, bringing with them the bitter bite of winter's air.
Beautiful seafoam eyes glinted in the new day's sun but once giving it her back, the shadow revealed what lay beneath.
Nothing but the brightest of cyans.
"Allow me to introduce you to a real god."
|iv.|
"Please, Skata. Hang in there."
Beneath him, the sabertooth whimpered, exhausted yet determined to maintain its pace. Three days had already passed since they ran from Reim's capital. They hadn't dared look back after crossing the borders. They were crossing the plains separating Parthavia from the southern parts of Reim territory now after three days of nonstop travel. Skata would slow down at times but with encouragement and handfed nourishment, the sabertooth managed to take them this far.
Maahes wasn't certain they would make it to Cathargo at this rate, though, much less the Great Rift.
There has to be a faster way.
"There isn't."
Saffiro's voice was deep and solemn with its bad news and made Maahes lips into a thin line.
It wasn't only the sabertooth that was exhausted either. Maahes had to remain awake alongside it to keep them on track. Rhea could manage maybe a few hours here and there but with her being the only one able to detect if those dark amalgams were closing in on them, her being awake was also indispensable.
The thin arms wrapped around his waist tightened their hold before Rhea hung back with her head sticking outward to one side. He heard her sniff the air a couple of times before she turned behind them.
"Maa-nii!"
Her warning was short-lived when suddenly from nearby shadows a torrent of those dark creatures shot out against Skata. Maahes gritted his teeth, holding onto Skata as tightly as Rhea did him while the sabertooth skidded to one side, not fully falling but losing some of its momentum before sprinting off again. But it wasn't the only one. One after another came torrents of those parasites from the shadows, their bright beady cyan eyes visible only briefly before they rushed out. Both more aware of the ambush now had Maahes and Skata working together to weave their way through the onslaught of parasites that came after them.
Oceanic blue eyes gave a brief look back at the sea of black that gave chase and felt a chill run down his spine. Turning back, Maahes gripped Skata tighter and urged him forward faster. The sabertooth tried to heed his call but could only give so much after having spent the last three days going nonstop.
They were just beyond Parthevian territories now, near the borders separating both countries. No man's land.
There would be no help here.
Dread filled him as the wave of parasites gained more and more on them while all he could do was urge Skata forward further each time. But there was only so much the sabertooth could take. Exhaustion caught up to him faster than anything else and in its attempts to avoid the swarm, tripped on its own front legs and fell forward. Maahes felt himself being shot out of Skata's back and did his best to grab Rhea and protect her as the sudden stop propelled them out of their seats. Rolling to a stop, Maahes and Rhea could only watch as Skata struggled against the parasites that quickly began to engulf him.
"Skata!"
Maahes didn't let go of Rhea when she tried to go save the sabertooth. Even when she could so easily toss him aside, the young Heliohaptian yanked the Fanalis and ran in the opposite direction. There was no telling where or how far they could feasibly get—Maahes knew it wasn't much, but he couldn't let himself think that far ahead. All he knew was that they had to try.
They made it only a few minutes before the squeaking of the amalgamates started looming closer by the second. Feeling dread consume him, he yelled back at Rhea.
"Rhea, go!"
Her one word was a struggle to get out. "W-What?"
"You're the one with Andromalius! You have to get to Miss Noé! You can get there by yourself, to the Great Rift. You're a Fanalis!"
"But Maa-nii, you'll—"
"Forget about me and go!"
Suddenly, there was no time to argue. The swarm was on them as they took a great leap forward as one. Instinctively, Maahes held onto Rhea to protect her, his eyes tightly shut, anticipating the worst.
But instead of the pain he thought would come, all Maahes felt was intense heat that suddenly erupted around them.
Astounded, oceanic eyes opened wide to see the circle of flames that surrounded him and Rhea and watched as the swarm that had threatened with ambushing them went up in those same flames. Their bodies consumed by the fire let out a high-pitched cry that ended with the fire becoming an incandescent blue from the immense heat.
Covering Rhea as the flames intensified around them and focusing on her safety made the sudden realization that hit him take a minute longer than it should have. Despite how hot he could sense them being, Maahes noticed that the flames were only hot after the parasites' bodies began burning. As if noticing his epiphany, Saffiro hummed in agreement.
"Touch it."
Maahes reached out his hand carefully and stopped short before the wall of blue flames surrounding them before he let his fingers through.
Cold.
The fire was cold to the touch. Yet it was clearly burning the parasites to ashes.
It took a few minutes before all of them were engulfed in the bright blues flames, but once they were all gone, the fire dissipated, ending in wisps of white as they disappeared and left the two of them in what had been a grassy plain now half burned to the ground.
"Maa-nii, what happened?"
Maahes shook his head slowly. "I…don't know."
"Thank goodness that I reached you when I did. A second later and they would've gotten to you. Are you both alright?"
Maahes looked back, ocean eyes having to narrow from the brightness that suddenly illuminated his vision, but as it adjusted, could make out the faint silhouette of a man.
A man enveloped in blue flames.
—{iv}—
Maahes breathed a soft 'thank you' to the kind older woman that gave him a warm mug of tea. She smiled back—Mennie, she offered as her name, and he could see that same kindness she showed him shine in those large brown eyes. Maahes took the mug at first to warm himself more than anything. He wasn't particularly fond of tea, but after three days of nonstop travel through near-sleepless nights, he wouldn't complain.
Rhea had long fallen asleep. Even after a good hour of saying she couldn't waste the time resting, the young Fanalis succumbed to the same exhaustion that ate away at Maahes. How he wished he could join if only for a few hours. But the man before him, their savior, had wanted an explanation as to who they were, what they were doing there, and why in hell's name were they being chased by amalgamates.
That last query itself was what had him awake at the god-forsaken hour even in spite of his weariness.
"You know what those things are?" he asked before anything else after a couple of sips of his tea. The boy—his name Luca from what the older woman, his mother, seemingly called him—returned from somewhere in the empty tavern with a large blanket and draped it over his shoulders.
The man who'd saved them leaned against the wall next to the roaring fireplace, dark eyes bordering black scrutinizing him as his wife and son tended to him. Oceanic eyes roamed the man for a brief moment before his eyes came upon the sword resting against his hips.
A sword whose pummel was a dragon's claw holding a blue-jeweled egg.
It had been well over a year but he still recalled from where he heard the tale of a sword resembling a dragon's claw, the fire djinn within, and the destitute man that conquered her.
"You're Nikotis Ramal. Sitri's master."
Almost instantly everybody around him stopped and the atmosphere turned heavy. Those dark eyes narrowed upon him.
"How do you know that?"
Despite being intimidated, Maahes somehow found the courage to not look away from that fierce glare.
"Miss Noé told me about you. About her time in Maladh and what she did here." Maahes could recall that day from memory. Each and every one of them, actually. Noé had always been a very captivating storyteller. "And about you, the man she helped conquer Sitri."
Those black eyes locked on him and it took everything in Maahes not to shift in his chair. Thankfully, he didn't have to stand it for long when Luca suddenly interrupted, inserting himself in the conversation with wide eyes that appeared to sparkle lightly.
"You know Miss Noé?!" It took him aback, the sudden enthusiasm, but Maahes eventually answered within a few seconds with a curt nod. Luca turned to his father then, grin wide as could be and eyes now truly shining. "Did you hear that, dad? He knows Miss Noé!"
Nikotis offered his son a half smile, a gentleness he didn't extend to Maahes as he turned once more towards him.
"Did she send you here?" Maahes vigorously shook his head. "Then explain why you're here and what is the reason the amalgamates were chasing you both."
That question again.
"Dear, we should let him rest," Mennie said, one of her hands resting on Maahes's shoulder startling him a bit and making him jump in his chair. "You saw how exhausted the girl was. He must be too."
Before Nikotis could decline—as he surely would from the look on his face—Maahes shook his head again, turning to Mennie. "Thank you, but I can wait a little longer." Turning back to Nikotis, he continued, "We're looking for Miss Noé. She left Remano four days ago and we know she's headed south to the Great Rift. It's urgent that we find her."
Mennie's brow furrowed closer together, "You mean since the eclipse began?"
Beside him, Luca said, "We've seen this before, y'know. When dad and Miss Noé went into that dungeon to conquer Sitri the sun hid behind the moon, too."
It did? A year ago… Maahes vaguely recalled an eclipse around that time. Was it connected to her disappearance as well?
"Grace of Sunlight isn't just all Light magic," Saffiro's soothing voice told him. "It holds true to its name, gracing this world with the light of the sun."
"That doesn't explain why those parasites were after you," Nikotis pointed out, bringing him out of his inner thoughts with Saffiro.
It took Maahes all of a second to weigh his options and choose the best one.
"We have her Metal Vessel," he simply said. "Those things were chasing us because the one controlling them wants it back."
It might've been wise to have kept that information to himself since he wasn't only exposing them but also Miss Noé's apparent powerlessness at the moment. Damn that, he sourly thought.
They needed help.
So Maahes didn't spare any detail. Beginning with what had happened at the Summit to what they were now dealing with with the priestess after them. Though horror was clearly etched on most of their faces, Nikotis's expression remained pensive after the initial shock had worn off. Maahes could see him thinking behind that furrowed brow and askance gaze. As he was finishing his tale and noticed dawn coming over the horizon through a window, he got to his feet. Rubbing those oceanic eyes, his determination took over as he turned to them.
"You have our deepest gratitude for saving us, Master Nikotis, but Rhea and I must head out."
Nikotis shook his head, coming off from where he leaned on the pillar behind him. "Getting to the Great Rift is impossible right now."
The color drained from his face at those words. "Why?"
"Mandates came from Reim a few days ago that stopped all transport passing through their territories," Mennie answered him. She spoke quietly not wanting to wake her son who had fallen asleep sometime through the night despite wanting to listen to Maahes's story. "Cathargo was in utter chaos when word reached them. We managed to get back from a business trip by boarding one of the last ships to leave before the embargo took full effect. Regardless of how much of a hurry you're in, they won't allow you passage through the sea to get to the Dark Continent."
His disappointment was tangible but it only lasted a minute before his determination once again set on his face and he snatched his satchel from where he'd placed it on the table.
"Embargo or not, we're not stopping. We'll swim across if we have to."
Getting Andromalius back to Miss Noé is what matters most.
They all were ready to object. They would have too had the doors to the inn not burst wide open, letting a burly old man rush into the place. Maahes stepped back and came closer to Mennie and Luca, watching from a safe distance as Nikotis caught the exhausted man by his arms.
"Uncle Shambal?"
It took him a moment to recognize the old man as the leader of the Yambala tribe that resided in Reim. Had he escaped as well? And by himself?
"My boys," the much older man tiredly cried out to not just Nikotis but to the other man, Ares, someone Maahes had come to know as the former's brother. The latter hurried to help his brother sit their exhausted uncle down on a nearby chair. Mennie hurriedly went to fetch some water, leaving her son with Maahes as he stood back. "I'm so glad you're all safe."
Ares shot out instantly with the questions. Why was he there? Why was he alone without escorts or even Toto whom he usually brought over to Maladh? Why was he so out of it? It took Nikotis telling him to wait with the questions for them both to allow their uncle some time to catch his breath and satiate his thirst. But it was while the old man gulped down his third drink that Maahes asked the question that had been brewing in the back of his head, not willing to wait any longer.
"How did you get out of Remano?"
The silence was thick as the veteran Yambal warrior finally put down his cup, smiling down at the young man. "It certainly wasn't easy. Not without help, anyway."
"Who's help, uncle?" Nikotis asked.
The doors opened again, this time much calmer as they swung gently on their hinges, allowing the one who entered to do so with much less of a ruckus. None recognize the one who passed through. None except Maahes who didn't attempt to even hide his animosity that showed clear as day on his grimace.
"What a charming welcome," said the lilting voice.
|ii.|
Getting to Remano's borders with Yunan's magic was faster than what she had wanted to do, but faster was good. Especially after she heard from him what became of the capital city.
Seraphina.
It didn't make sense. What could the young Regalia possibly gain from this coup? And even if she planned it, there was no way in hell she alone could pull something of this magnitude on her own. Which brought upon her next biggest question: who was helping her?
All the while these questions ran around in her head, Yunan took the liberty of telling her what he overheard of the borders' current state. Security had more than quadrupled. All to find her where she to set foot on Remano.
"Why me?" she asked after finally taking her eyes away from the wall keeping them out of the city. With its gates locked and guards on it around the clock, they decided to hide a good distance away while still being able to keep an eye on things from where they were.
"I'm not sure," Yunan said, concern clearly etched on his brow. "There's little word going around about her since she overtook the capital. From what I hear, she hasn't shown herself to the public since the embargo. Remano's being kept on a strict curfew, as well."
"And Goldilocks?"
Yunan shook his head. "No one's heard anything from him since Seraphina's take over, either. It seems he managed to get some people out but other than that, there's been no sign of him."
Asking about Margo and Titus's magician friend, Sphintus, yielded much of the same. Those three along with most of Remano's population were still there as nothing more than hostages. Not only them but all of Reim as a whole with the sudden embargo placed around the globe where they held trading posts. Seraphina had effectively created an insular country in less than a week. An unsustainable one at that. Something told Noé that she did it knowing very well that such a state of being wouldn't last them long, too.
She doesn't care about the people. She's using their lives as bait to lure me in.
And though it would've been a rather questionable choice had it only been Reim's citizens, she also took the little magi. Now that she wouldn't let slide.
Standing from where she'd been squatting the last few minutes, Yunan stood with her and tilted his hat back to ask, "What's the plan?"
"First and foremost, get Titus out."
If they wanted to have any chance of getting Seraphina to surrender and retrieve Reim back, they would have much better chances with two magi rather than just Yunan and herself. And even then her contribution would be rather mediocre at best. Yunan made sure to make the same point as well.
"This would be much easier with Andromalius," the magi pointed out.
"Also part of the plan," she assured him, "Though a much rather tenuous one. Seraphina isn't stupid. She probably has Andromalius's Metal Vessel on her. That'll make getting her back that much harder. So out of the two, I think getting Titus first will be easier."
"Far from it," he said.
"Still easier," Noé reiterated before nodding off towards the cliffside nearby. "Let's get going while we got the night with us."
Yunan nodded and offered his arm to her. Readily taking it, Noé let herself be transported towards the cliffside where she'd told Yunan beforehand that the backside sewers were located. The stench hit her immediately and with her sensitive nose, it took her a good minute to get over it, though she didn't let it show. Yunan, delicate as ever, grimaced while putting his sleeve over his nose and mouth.
"Remind me why you can't flash in there again?" Yunan asked.
"She'll notice the rukh springing to life if I flash anywhere inside," she reminded him. Going around to the grate, Noé gave each bar a good shake before completely tearing off a few with well-placed cuts from her steeled feathers. "Besides, this'll lead me straight into the colosseum. I can stack up on weapons there before heading out into the city."
Once enough space was made for her to get through, she put one foot through the opening and clung to it as she faced back at Yunan.
"Could you do me one last favor?" The magi's brow furrowed but he nodded after a moment. "Head to my cabin and take as many of the lilies in the garden back to the valley as you can, roots and all, and get them back over the wall. Give them to Muu. He'll know what to do with them."
Noé could tell how odd this request sounded to him but he nodded all the same. As she crossed the grate and was about to head further into the sewers, Yunan stepped forward.
"Be careful, Noé. Whatever's in there, whatever is helping that young priestess, isn't normal. And whatever she's become because of it…it isn't the same girl you knew."
I know.
By gods, she knew that, but Noé hadn't wanted to come to terms with that just yet. She didn't want to think that the girl she had known back then and even now had all been a clever ruse to reach this point. All the same, she nodded at Yunan to reassure him and somehow try to convince herself of the miserable fact.
She offered a faint half-grin before hurrying further into the sewers and leaving him behind. The labyrinthine gutters were difficult to get through. Without her sense of smell as a guide, it took her a good while to find her way through, but in the end, she pushed one of the many grates that led into the colosseum. Quietly, she paused beneath it, letting guards pass by before setting aside the sewer gate and passing through and leaving everything just as she found it before rushing through the dark corridors. All the weapons were where the gladiators prepared themselves for each match which meant heading underground to arm herself was first on the itinerary.
Yes, having full control of Grace of Sunlight without the pesky interference of the parasite was a big plus, but pushing her body when it was just barely starting to recover from all the abuse it had suffered wouldn't be wise on any level. Which meant that this time, Noé would have to resort to her old but faithful methods of fighting. And despite how much she wanted to take as much as she could carry, it'd be impossible to do so with the stealth mission she was on. So she decided on carrying only the necessities.
Reaching the armory, she quickly took the first bow and quiver she could find along with a few daggers and even a sword for good measure.
An echo of voices suddenly caught her attention. Tilting her head, Noé carefully followed the sound deeper underground and stopped as she reached a corner, peaking over it to find the source visible on the other side.
The prisons they used for the monsters they pitted against the gladiators were here, but now, instead of being filled with beasts from all across the world, they were filled to the brim with the Fanalis Corp and the Yambala gladiators. The worst of all was who guarded them.
So that's who's been helping you, Sera.
Ira's amalgamates, the same ones she had encountered in Maladh almost a year ago, patrolled the hallways right outside the cages. The speed with which Seraphina took over the capital and country, even taking down its magi, made sense now. If Teosa was helping her with those amalgams, it made sense how she could so easily corral the Red Lions and the warrior tribe without them picking a fight. They weren't stupid; they most likely started out fighting back but when they realized what the amalgamates were capable of, could do nothing else except back off.
But that was only because they didn't have something to fight them back with.
Noé took a deep breath before rushing into the room. Before any of the beasts could see her, Noé jumped over them, shooting steeled feathers overhead and stunning a good portion of them. Instantly turning upon her descent, she spun with light daggers in hand, stabbing the first couple that rushed at her right between where their eyes would be. Screeching, the creatures fell into a heap of black before dissolving into cyan particles altogether. The few remaining shook themselves out of their stupor and charged after her. With her bow and a few arrows at the ready, Noé strung back a few normal arrows and struck a few on their legs, slowing them down. The opening allowed her enough time to conjure up a few arrows of her own and strike them down with swift arrows to their heads.
It took no more than a few minutes to bring them down.
Noticing who it was that came in to save them, Noé could hear the rowdiness from the Fanalis mounting but before they could all readily give her position away, she rushed to their side to quiet them down. They were all unharmed for the most part, it seemed. Cutting through the crowd of them, Noé couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when she spotted Myron and Lo'lo, along with the other more familiar faces from the corp, rushing up to meet her through the bars.
"Miss Noé, Seraphina! She—"
"I know," she quickly interjected, quieting them down with her own tone. "I'm getting you guys out of here and getting to Titus."
"M-My brother, where is—"
"He's…he's safe, My. I promise." She didn't have the heart to tell her what became of her brother, and besides, now wasn't the time nor place. "Is everybody well enough to get out on their own?" Quiet affirmations came through. For those who couldn't, she instructed others to take care of them on their way out. The Yambala were much the same, uninjured for the most part.
Good, she thought with relief. One less thing to worry about.
"Little lady," Lo'lo suddenly came through, gripping the iron bar tightly, most surely leaving the imprint of his fingers on the fragile metal. "My sister, is she with you?"
Noé hesitated at what his question implied. "Rhea isn't with you guys?"
"She was gone even before all this. I thought she'd gone out looking for you when she heard you'd gone missing," Lo'lo said, his worry clearly etched on his expression. "I didn't have time to search for her before all hell broke loose here."
"I-I haven't seen her…"
"That means you're as powerless as I left you then."
The sound of her voice made Noé react almost instantly, but it was far too slow to avoid the sudden rush of amalgams that tackled her against the iron bars of the prisons. Noé managed to push them off of her but only long enough to turn around and barely begin to summon Grace of Sunlight. Before she could cast it, however, magic shot through the room and struck her, freezing her legs and arms against the iron that bit back from the cold.
Caught in a vice grip by the bitter ice and unable to move surrounded by amalgamates, Noé could do nothing else except watch as even more of those creatures stepped into view as they flanked the culprit of this all.
Seraphina entered with all the delicate grace of her upbringing but in fashion she had never seen anyone in this world use before. It wasn't hard for Noé to recognize the white clothes as those of the magicians of Alma Torran. In one dainty hand, she carried a staff she had never seen of her before but that resembled the wand Noé remembered her using. Her long platinum hair lay loose behind her, decorated with bright red flowers that contrasted with the neon cyan markings that traveled along her arms and chest. Unlike the grotesque way her own parasite had functioned, whatever latched itself onto Seraphina was more delicate and appeared more akin to intricate latticework than anything else as it displayed in beautiful swirls and whirls across her fair skin. As they traveled up her neck and reached her eyes, Noé could notice in the faint torchlight the way they tainted her seafoam green eyes with that bright cyan.
Staining them like dark ink on water.
But if that thing was just like the one I suffered with the parasite then…maybe…
Noé began fighting against her constraints again, not caring how the creatures surrounding her hissed back at her actions. All she wanted was to come closer—gain even an inch—so that Seraphina could hear her clearly.
"Seraphina—Sera, listen to me!" she cried out, her emerald eyes pleading with the girl before her. "Don't listen to her. Whatever she's telling you are lies. She just wants to control you, like the parasite that was trying to take over me."
"You mean master?" Noé froze at the one word and even more at the small smile that spread across those full lips. "No, Miss Noé, you're wrong. Master doesn't control me."
Seraphina's head tilted but the smile on her face never faltered as she twirled in her clothes. As she did, it was then that Noé noticed the blatant core on her back that glimmered a deep cyan as the roots sprouted from it, digging into her back and shoulder blades and expanding outward like the roots of a weed deep in the ground.
"Master gave me this power to do what I've always wanted. And now with her permission, that is exactly what I'll do."
"Whatever you want she can't give you," she hissed.
"That's where you're wrong."
Suddenly, Seraphina began walking towards her. The Fanalis reacted then, growling back at the priestess and warning her to stay back, but the amalgams were enough to keep them at bay as she came but a few steps before Noé. Her free hand reached upward and cupped her cheek. Noé could do nothing else but flinch at the sensation of it against her skin.
Cold.
Those beautiful lips formed a smile that Noé would've thought like any other—just as sweet and kind—were they not in these circumstances. As she peered into the eyes she once thought so lovely, all Noé could see was a vacancy where all the light had been drained from them. It was at that moment that she could realize—that she had to force herself to admit—that the Seraphina she knew, or at least thought she knew, wasn't the same one she saw standing before her now.
It was as that truth began sinking into her that she let the question slip from her lips. "Why are you doing this?"
"I was promised my reward."
"What? Destroying Reim?" Noé asked.
Seraphina shook her head. The hand on her cheek slip from her face and around her neck as she stood on her toes to embrace Noé. And as that coldness engulfed her from just the proximity of her body, a chill ran down her spine at the single word that she whispered into her ear.
"You."
What?
Quick as could be, the seriousness of the situation fell as Seraphina stepped back and held her staff against her bosom with an expression of airheadedness to her.
"How rude of me. With everything going on right now, I completely forgot today's matches are still happening. Why don't you join me, Miss Noé?"
It wasn't a choice.
Noé couldn't fight against the amalgamates that tore her from the bars and held her aloft between the two of them as they sauntered after Seraphina. Through her peripheral, she could see the rest that had entered with the Regalia remained behind to replace their lost guards. As if nothing had happened. It was then that she realized all of this had been planned. Seraphina figured out she would enter through the colosseum and that she would find them all here. And because of her bleeding heart, her best chance to ambush her would be in an attempt to help others.
Biting down on her lip, Noé hated the helpless situation she suddenly came to find herself in. All the same, she took note of every corner they turned and every person they encountered. What people they didn't would be more accurate though. There were no other people around. Only amalgamates roamed the halls of the colosseum and even guarded her every move as they came to one of the boxes that looked down upon the arena.
Sheherazade's box.
Seraphina stopped at the edge of the balcony and as the amalgamates brought her closer, Noé finally heard another human voice. Many, actually. From the looks of things, almost all of Remano's citizens were packed into the colosseum as spectators. All of them cheering at the top of their lungs at the supposed match that was ongoing beneath them.
Emerald eyes peeked downward to find the two gladiators duking it out beneath. A Yambala warrior and a Fanalis. She recognized them both by name.
"Why are they fighting?" she asked.
Beside her, Seraphina giggled. "It's surprisingly easy to manipulate them once their mental shields are stripped."
It took Noé a bit of time to see it, but once she caught a glance of it, it was difficult to miss the parasites that clung to them. The fact that they were still alive despite those things easily transforming normal people was either because of their will alone or Seraphina's doing. Considering how much pain she'd been in when the only thing keeping her from turning was Grace of Sunlight, either option was hell.
"It's taken a bit of time, but once they start cracking under the pressure they easily give into their most primal instincts."
That last part was easy to see when the match ended after the Fanalis viciously ripped the head off the Yambala's shoulders as easily as plucking an apple from its branch. As the head rolled across the arena, the crowd roared to life. Just as Noé thought that maybe one of them would be able to survive at the very least, Seraphina tapped the end of her staff against the ground. Like throwing a match into oil, the parasite took over with the signal, engulfing the young Fanalis and turning it into an amalgamate. The realization of where exactly this surplus of beasts was coming from suddenly turned her stomach.
Nothing, however, was more deafening than the cheers from the crowd as they reveled in the massacre. Were they also under her control? Were they under threat of losing their lives just like the Fanalis and Yambala were? It was hard to tell, especially when she could see them from her place splurging on delicacies and wines while screaming for the next match to start. With how things stood now, Noé didn't want to know the answer.
All the same, she couldn't keep her mind from wandering, the cheers too reminiscent of those she heard when entering the sanctum after defeating Persius only to find her son slaughtered at the people's feet.
Shaking away the horrid reminder, she snarled back at Seraphina who had called forward the next set of gladiators: three Yambala against a single Fanalis cub.
"Where's Titus, Seraphina?" her voice so deep resembled more a feral growl than anything.
"He's safe for now." Noé fought against her constraints at her assumption but all that gained her was a tighter grip from the amalgamates. "I promise you he is. I need him to help me bring Reim asunder, after all."
"What do you mean?"
Seraphina turned to face her and leaned against the parapet that kept her from falling back toward the arena behind them. "Because of your cheeky little barrier, my master's reach has been cut. That however doesn't hinder my plans, it only slows them down. Without her source of magoi, it would take ages to build up the hoard of parasites that I am to set free upon the country. But any source works so long as it has just enough power to feed them."
"You're going to—" The amalgamates could do nothing more but push her down against the stone banister to settle her but even that couldn't stop the temper that boiled under her skin at Seraphina's implications. "It'll kill him!"
The Regalia's expression remained impassive, however, as her head tilted to the side. "I don't see why you fret so. We are all going to perish once Master is unleashed upon the world." Turning to the crowd, her arms spread out to take in the entirety of her little theater. "What I am giving their pathetic lives is purpose before the end! Glorious purpose as fodder for my lovely creatures that will ravage Reim and all the lands beyond it."
The manic look in her seafoam eyes brought upon Noé a feeling she recognized now after everything she'd gone through, unease…and dread. Every instinct in her told her the same thing. Seraphina was dangerous, she was volatile, and she would do exactly what she was planning to do without an ounce of hesitation.
Behind them, the crowd reignited their applause. Noé's eyes began moving to peek beneath but knowing only a dreadful scene would meet her all the same, she forced herself to avert her eyes down instead. The heavy scent of blood permeating her nostrils told her everything, either way. Her eyes stung.
"Take her away. Chain her up in the deepest dungeons underground, where no sunlight passes through. Leave no lights whatsoever. Not even torches."
The amalgams moved to heed her words and as they turned to take her away, Seraphina spoke over the enthused crowd behind them.
"Seven days," she announced. "That's how long the egg I'm hatching will take. It's a beautiful specimen from what the Master told me, the Zaibo Paukstis." The color from Noé's face drained at the mention of a creature she thought was long dead and gone. "I also heard it gave you all quite the battle in Alma Torran. I'm hoping some modifications of my own will make it just as if not more ferocious and unstoppable once it's born here. Let us have fun until then, Miss Noé."
—{ii}—
Noé had forgotten what being kept underground like a prisoner was like.
The first time had been hell. This second time was no picnic, either.
Food was scarcely given, water much less. What was worse was that they kept her shackled to the point of immobility with her feet latched onto the ground with a short, seemingly nonexistent, chain while her arms were splayed-out taut by shackles that engulfed the entirety of her hands in iron. There was something about her bindings—magic, more than likely—that kept her from flashing out of them. Not only that, but the iron shackles themselves kept her from conjuring any kind of Light magic into her hands, too. Whatever these bindings were, they had been designed specifically to keep her held in place.
By the time they took her out, almost a day since they first placed her there by her count, they brought her out by her shackles, joining them by a latch between them to keep her hands bound. The short chains around her ankles were only long enough to give moderate steps as she was corralled along by no less than six amalgamates at a time; two in front, two beside, and two behind. Struggling wouldn't yield anything fruitful with them around, but that didn't keep her from trying as stealthily as possible.
Time didn't allow her much progress though as they soon arrived at what she recognized as one of the many entrances to the arena. Through it, she could hear the echoing murmurs of the crowd seemingly awaiting the next tourney. As she came out into the night, Noé sensed her gift begin to function anew as it dimmed out the torches around the colosseum and immediately parched her throat in return. The change being so sudden had her hacking out patches of dried blood as she spat what fresh one came out to the side.
Not even a day and I'm already like this.
Above them, Seraphina's delicate voice boomed throughout the colosseum as she announced Noé as their prime gladiator. The amalgamates gave her a breadth of space, only enough to showcase her to a mindless crowd that senselessly clamored at her appearance. Nothing more than puppets playing to the cheapest seat of them all, hers.
"And now, for her opponents!" At her call, three different gates lifted as those on the other side stumbled toward the center of the arena. The sight of them alone had Noé grinding her teeth. "Remano's greatest warriors, the Fanalis Corp and Yambala Warriors!"
The crowd erupted into life as the infected gladiators stepped into the dim torchlight. Noé didn't need to be told to know that they were infected by parasites already. They weren't fighting of their own accord. That in itself brought on another problem. No matter how much of a threat to her life they posed, she couldn't kill them.
Peachy.
Weighing the range of movement as the chains on her ankles were unlatched, Noé weighed her options alongside them. The amalgamates were watching her like hawks; there was no plausible way for her to reach Seraphina any faster than they would catch her. That wasn't even taking into account the Fanalis and Yambala under her control. If the amalgamates didn't catch her, they certainly would. Flashing was still a no-go as well.
That only left one viable option for the time being.
"Begin!"
Noé didn't hesitate. Despite the shackles weighing her down, she rushed towards the Fanalis first. The man dodged the first kick she gave, but not the second that came with just as much momentum. It fazed them very little though. Easily, he caught the chains of one of her ankles and brought her down against one of the statues in the arena. The deafening cries from the crowd numbed her along with the hit. Noé, however, didn't let it deter her.
Shaking the stupor off of her, she caught sight of the Yambala jointly attacking her just in time to avoid one while using the shackles around her hands to her advantage and using the chains to divert the other's attack. Wrapping her legs around their waist as they stumbled, Noé put her whole weight into tossing them backward and hard enough to knock them out.
The other two didn't give her room to breathe and charged right at her. Seeing she couldn't dodge without letting the Yambala she knocked out cold get hurt, Noé took the brunt of the Fanalis's punch and felt bile rise to her throat as the hit sent her across the arena. Blinking fast to get rid of the pain, Noé spat out the nasty residue before blocking the incoming kick from the Yambala and wrapped the chains around his leg to use them as a shield against the Fanalis that was charging fast.
That itself served to knock the Yambala out cold, but before she could think of anything to finish the Fanalis off, her emerald eyes widened at what she saw happening inches in front of her. The Fanalis was writhing in pain as the parasite latched onto its side began engulfing it completely. Crying out against it, Noé rushed towards him not having the slightest thought of how but wanting nothing more than to stop it. It all proved useless in the end when the parasite took them over before she could even reach them and created an amalgamate.
Noé watched on in horror as it broke and locked the joints in its newly formed body and stumbled to its feet after having fallen onto the floor. Not far behind her, she heard more cracking and breaking and turned just in time to watch the other two she had left unconscious begin to rise on feeble feet.
No...
Knowing not what else to try, Noé tried summoning Grace of Sunlight but felt a jolt of pain wracked her body at the slightest stir of her powers that left her out of breath long enough for an ambush by the newly made amalgamates. One was enough to bring her down in the state she was in, pinning her down against the ground as the other two kept close by.
All that was deafened by the people as their cheers roared after a silent moment. It took another for something to quiet them down before Seraphina's voice once again boomed above everything.
"Alas, we cannot dispose of our prime gladiator, my good people. Who else is to provide us with the greatest entertainment in our remaining days?" The crowd's muttering rose after her question which she seemingly quieted without so much as a glance. "Rest assured that she will receive the punishment deserving of her defeat. She shan't return to tomorrow's match without it."
That promise alone brought the people enough calm that their incessant accolades returned with greater fervor than before. Without warning, the beasts holding her down grabbed her by her chains and hauled her underground once more.
But unlike the large prison she had come to know for the last few hours, Noé found it incredibly crowded as her feet were shackled into place while her hands were simply held aloft together by one simple hook keeping her arms taut above her. Unlike before, her little cell was now lit dimly by torches around the circular room and kneeling before her were twelve different people, Fanalis and Yambala alike. Some she even recognized as people she'd trained and spent time with. They were all beaten and bloodied but conscious enough to know that obeying was better than becoming one of these monsters.
Dainty footsteps gave Seraphina away as she stepped into the prison. All of their heads jerked upward to meet her as she stepped between the row of people lined up and Noé and faced the latter with that empty smile plastered on her face.
"I'm astounded, Miss Noé. You held against them without Andromalius and Grace of Sunlight quite well," she admitted with a facetious clap of her hands.
Noé fought against her chains and got close enough to Seraphina's face to snarl, "Where's Andromalius?"
"Charming," the priestess drawled. "I don't understand what you're asking such a thing for. Prizes are for winners, and from what I recall, you just lost your first match."
Seraphina tapped her staff against the ground, and at her beck and call, another amalgamate appeared. This one, however, was different than the rest. This one appeared more humanoid than the rest, it could even stand on two legs without stumbling like the rest did, but what worried her more was the fact that it had what looked to be sharp, serrated blades instead of hands. Noé was about to growl back at Seraphina when a grimy rag was suddenly shoved into her mouth as far as it would go by one of the other amalgams.
"It truly is a shame that Muu didn't return with you." Seraphina stepped around the row of Fanalis and Yambala kneeling behind her and took a comfortable seat on one of the creatures that bent down to suit her need. Crossing one leg over the other, she let her staff rest across her lap, hands neatly resting atop it, as her seafoam eyes stared intently back at her. "I would've simply loved for him to have been in their place instead. But they will do just fine."
Noé's attempts to shout through the gag in her mouth were all in vain when a sudden sense of dread ran down her spine as what felt like scarred hands grabbed at her shoulders and ripped apart her robes. Exposing her back, those same hands wrenched her limp wing from its bindings and before she even knew what they were doing pierced it through with a hook near the tip.
The groan that escaped her was short-lived though when the whole room dropped a few degrees faster than she could sense it. Before her, Seraphina's smile and stare never wavered.
"This isn't just your punishment, Miss Noé. It's another step into making you into the masterpiece my master promised me I could have." The pain starting to numb already, Noé managed to make out what she said but couldn't make heads or tails of its meaning. "Try not to scream."
There wasn't any time for her to even think about what that petition meant. Not when almost immediately afterward one of those sharp blades pierced through the skin on her back and began cutting at the base of her wing.
Noé screamed instantly, letting the rag fall from her mouth.
The blade stopped, a wave of pain remaining after it did.
And just as Noé could feel the pain beginning to become but a numbing sensation a loud crack resounded in the empty room.
Emerald eyes widened at the scene before her. A thin icicle had pierced right through the throat of the one kneeling to the farthest right; a young Fanalis. They fell over, gurgling as they suffocated in their own blood for a good minute before dying. A different pain blossomed in her chest then, one that tightened it to the point that she swore she'd stop breathing.
"As I said, Miss Noé, this isn't just your punishment. They all were quite the pest when I took over. They must be shown an example of what happens when they fight back. So I thought there would be no better example than to use them as practice," Seraphina said, entirely unfazed as the light of her staff dimmed after having shot off the icicle right at its target. "Here is the deal, Miss Noé. Your screams are perfect for enhancing my creation—all that tension, all that panic—but they do me no good if released. They must remain inside of you. So for every scream…" Her staff shone once more as the ends began to ice over. "I try again."
Stunned beyond belief, Noé did nothing but gawk at Seraphina's sweet smile as they shoved the rag into her mouth once more and she said, "Ready?"
It was a question Noé could not answer. She didn't have an answer. To hear the beautiful person she had come to know after all this time seating before her still as gorgeous as could be while there was this deep-seated malice that her Vastagian senses could feel was staggering. Was that it? Had she been as blind to Seraphina's heartlessness and wickedness as she had been to Teosa's?
The cruel reality of it all struck her as the blade once again began hacking at her shoulder blade.
A scream threatened to leave her, but the pungent stench of blood and death had her biting down on the rag and holding her breath as the pain wracked her body. She bit down harder, the grime slipping between her teeth and souring her tongue as the serrated blade cut and cut and cut. Her stomach turned. Bile rose to her mouth and choked her to the point that she spat out the rag along with the vomit that came rising up her throat, burning it all the more.
And as she choked and the blade continued to cut, she screamed.
The ice hit with a resounding thwack seconds before the second body fell. Noé was too much of a coward to see who Seraphina struck. The creature gave her no time either. No one replaced her gag this time. Noé bit down as the blade continued its work. Her teeth felt like they'd break. Her body shook, the chains rattling above her the only tell of how badly it did so.
With another scream, another body hit the floor.
Noé couldn't keep count of how many times she'd screamed. Of the times she passed out only to be doused with cold water and rudely awaken for the torture to continue. She didn't even know how long it had been when it all finally, finally, ended.
Couldn't even tell the difference when the weight that had followed her since her birth finally fell.
"Ah~ It's magnificent."
Seraphina fawned with a sweet tone to her voice that Noé barely registered. Her blood thrummed too harshly against her eardrums to discern much of anything anymore. Through her rather blurry vision and lightheadedness from all that blood loss, she barely made out the girl's feet as they stepped around the bodies scattered before her. Her feet stepped on the fresh blood without a second thought, leaving footprints in her wake of the massacre of innocents she had committed.
"I always knew it would be beautiful," her soft voice said closer this time. It sounded closer to her ear even. "It'll be a wonderful embellishment to the final piece. Now, let's stop the bleeding. You need to be presentable for tomorrow's match."
What?
Noé didn't have time to do anything but let out the last blood-curdling scream she had in her when the scalding iron pressed against her tender shoulder blade.
Ice-cold water followed after the briefest of reprieves as she yet again passed out. A cold hand brush back the wet auburn curls sticking to her face, fingers lingering too long on her pale skin before both hands cupped Noé's face and lifted it.
Seraphina's face was too unfocused so up close but as she spoke, she became clearer as her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room once more and focused on those seafoam eyes. They were tenderly looking down at her, caringly even, but vacant.
Another facade.
"Oh, Noé, don't. Anger doesn't become that youthful face of yours." Noé wished she had the strength to bite off a finger or two that caressed her face. "For as barbarous as that was, it was a necessary step towards my promised reward. Still, I appreciate you very much, Noé. So much so that I must admit that what Master wishes to be your fate is far from what I want for you."
What she meant to come out as a 'what' came out of her lips as nothing but a gurgling mess.
"I am still merciful, whether you believe it or not," Seraphina went on, ignoring her poor attempt to communicate the disdain she was making an effort to demonstrate through her scowl. "I do not wish for you to be harmed any further than this. You're too precious to me for me to want that. And you can make the process so much simpler, Noé. You can save yourself the trouble and the pain by just doing the right thing. Give me Grace of Sunlight."
This time the gurgling mess that became her voice served to push blood from her throat and with what little strength she could muster, Noé spat it at her face. Seraphina didn't flinch when the blotch of red hit her face. She didn't even seem fazed. Instead, that unsettling calm remained as her small hand went about wiping away the stain from her porcelain skin, her eyes never once breaking contact with hers.
"You may think I want it for myself like Mister Rakah did, but on the contrary, I have no use for it. I have all the power I need." Face clean, Seraphina placed her hand upon her cheek and caressed her eyelid with her thumb. "If you give me Grace of Sunlight, I'll keep you from suffering any further and even release the remaining warriors from the colosseum."
"Liar!"
"I have no reason to lie," Seraphina corrected with a shake of her head. "What happens to them is of no concern to me. Setting them free would do me no harm, either. I would even spare those I've already infected. Gladiators and spectators alike. I'll let them go and stop the matches."
Noé stopped herself from even considering the option. No matter how much she wanted to keep the Fanalis and Yambala from killing each other, from becoming more of those things, giving up Grace of Sunlight was something she wouldn't do. Even if Seraphina didn't want it, it only meant that her goal was to give it to that creature behind the gilded cage, to Ira. And after everything she went through to keep it away from her, Noé couldn't justify letting it go.
Not even for their lives.
No matter how much the decision haunts me for however long I have left.
Noé gurgled again and spat blood at her feet as her answer.
"Pity," Seraphina mourned.
She and the amalgams left shortly thereafter, leaving her room once more in utter darkness and with a half-cauterized wound. Noé let out a rage-filled shout that echoed against the stone walls of her prison, the sound only dampening when bouncing against the blood-drenched floor or against the decaying bodies Seraphina left behind. There was no way for her to see them in complete darkness, but she could still smell them. Not only that, she could still see them as phantom reflections dancing in the dark that her mind concocted.
There was no need to close her eyes to see those nightmares.
—{ii}—
Something startled her awake. The rattle of her shackles, which they had bothered to return to their place so her arms hung tautly to either side, echoed briefly.
It wasn't until the echoes stopped that Noé recognized the vague sound of footsteps.
There was a faint scent of something familiar with it, too. Beyond the blood that saturated her cell, there was something else. Something she couldn't pinpoint.
It just smelled…of that clean, crisp smell that came before a springtime rain.
Noé tried not to react when the footsteps passed her and quickly became audible behind her. At the sensation of something reaching for her back, her body instantly stiffened as she tried her damnedest to keep them away. Their movements ceased for a moment. When they moved again, they moved away from her back and towards one of her arms hanging overhead.
Something wet touched her then. A cloth. It was now that it was closer to her that Noé could distinguish the smell of antiseptic and herbs.
Are they here…to heal me?
She didn't want to believe it at first. Perhaps this was just another one of Seraphina's tactics to torture her. To bring out whatever twisted sense of 'beauty' she kept talking about. Another way for her to bring her guard down and break her all over again. But the longer the stranger smelling of springtime rain stood there and simply kept the cloth against her arm, the weaker her resolve became.
As if sensing her dismissal, the cloth moved down her arm and slowly made its way to her shoulder blade until it finally came into contact with the open wound. The heavy sting of the herbs on the wound made Noé flinch and with it, the feathers behind her ear bristled and steeled. Pain wracked her back at that exact moment. The hand holding the cloth stopped in its tracks when Noé let out a heavy groan at the pain and waited until it had passed to begin anew.
But again it happened. By the third time, the pain from both the herbs and the severed yet still functional nervous ends on her back dulled. The medicine was taking effect. But as it went away and Noé sensed the extent of the damage from the contour of the hand as it cleaned her back, an emptiness took its place.
What had been a burden to her for so long and had weighed her down innumerable times was gone now, and it left a vacancy she couldn't comprehend. That last tether connecting her to her past, to her world, had been taken away.
And now that its absence finally took hold, Noé couldn't stop the tears in her eyes that had pooled from the pain as they rolled down her cheeks.
A/N:
Finally had time to finish this one! TwT So happy about it too because I have good news.
I've already outlined the remaining chapters of this story and by my count, there will be 2-3 chapters left after this one. I'm debating whether to split the epilogue or keep it with the chapter after next, but that's a problem for future me.
It's sad to think TM and Noé's story will be ending soon, but also exciting with everything else I have planned for the latter half of this series. That being said, if you guys have any scenario you want of Noé before the story comes to a close, let me know! Like with SL, I'm more than happy to write some extra short scenarios for this story.
I'm leaving this short and just saying that my plans before the end of 2022 is not just to finish TM but also to begin 2 new stories, one of them being the next installment for this series. That being said look forward to those too!
For now, I'll leave it at that! I'm so happy to be back writing more for you guys despite the back pain it brings me xD (terrible posture problems lol). Thank you everybody who waits for my very sporadic updates and loves these stories all the same, you're the bestest of the best 3
Hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you stay tuned for the next update!
Lots of love,
— Evie