Chapter 60

Sighing heavily Hickarama stared around the cage Mertieha had erected to contain her. It felt strangely unfair that her supposed half sister would treat her with such indignity. Especially when it became clear Mertieha was expecting some kind of reward for it. Pacing the two and a half steps each way she could pace, she slowly clenched and unclenched her fists, wishing beyond anything the cage wasn't magic proofed.

'You know you're not going to wear a hole through the bottom of the cage to escape by doing that, right,' Mertieha appeared to take great pleasure in telling her, 'because I've reinforced the cage against that.'

'Why am I not surprised,' Hickarama glared at her. 'You seem to have reinforced this man trap against everything.'

'I'd hardly call it a man trap,' Mertieha smirked, 'unless there's something you've not been telling me Hic.'

'Don't even pretend like that's funny,' she growled, 'or else when I get out of here I'll…'

'You'll what,' she laughed, 'hunt me down and kill me? Because if that's what you're planning then I can tell you now it won't work.'

'Won't it?'

'Of course not,' she shook her head, 'because by the time you're let out of there I'll be helping to lead the most powerful force this world has ever known. And what's more I'll have the one thing all of us bastards crave more than anything.'

'And what's that?'

'Daddy's approval of course. His recognition. His admittance that we are his.'

'And who exactly has promised you that?'

'The person who bid me to take you away from the nasty influence of those Veronsen-Vii.'

'You mean the person who tricked you,' Hickarama rolled her eyes. 'The person who promised you a pack of lies to get you to do their dirty work.'

'Oh it was no trick,' Mertieha shook her head. 'You could sense this person was capable of what they said just by being in the same room as them. No other force could be so… intoxicating.'

'I still say you were tricked,' she glared, 'just don't come crying to me when you find out.'

'Tut, tut, tut Hic,' a voice sounded out of the shadows, making them both half jump out of their skins. 'That's so uncaring. You should show a little more respect towards your sister.'

'I'm showing her the same amount of respect she's shown me,' Hickarama gritted her teeth, not wanting to admit this person was clearly powerful. 'And just who do you think you are anyway?'

'I think I am a lot of people,' the shadow's voice was steady, 'but right now I think I am the person who owes a great debt.'

At that she shifted her way out of the shadows, not only revealing the mundane, if slightly eccentric outfit she was wearing, but the crossed through circular marks puckered into her skin on her forehead, chest and left shoulder. And the eyes. The eyes which appeared completely black apart from a catlike slit of white which pupiled them. Cold shivers instantly ran up and down Hickarama's spine. This was more than just a powerful force. This was something like no demon had ever faced in a long time. This was…

'The Symbiotic,' Mertieha breathed strangely, 'it can't be. No one's successfully been able to do that and not completely lose their mind to the beast,' she slowly started backing away. 'This isn't possible.'

'It is possible if the beast wills it so. I owe a debt and this is how I am to repay it.'

The forces seeping out of the Symbiotic were turning Hickarama's blood ice cold. This was someone you didn't want to mess with. This wasn't even someone you wanted to be in the same room with.

'Now what was it I promised you again?' The Symbiotic turned towards Mertieha.

'P-p-power,' Mertieha stammered, 'a-and recognition.'

'Oh yes,' she grinned something more than devilish, 'that's right, I did.'

At that she lifted her right hand flat towards Mertieha and Hickarama could only guess the same mark lay upon it as on the other three points. What happened next could only have taken at most a couple of minutes, but felt to Hickarama to take a lifetime. A beam of energy, at first no more visible than dew mist at dawn began seeping out of Mertieha's forehead. As the amount of energy increased the beam became thicker and darker, oozing blood into a consistent mark upon her forehead.

With each passing second Mertieha's eyes became wider and more vacant, until they appeared almost lifeless in their affixation. Her whole being then stiffened into a rigid, doll like state, from which almost no breath could be seen rising from her body. Finally, with the same kind of vacant speed, the stream of energy stopped and Mertieha fell helplessly to the ground. As she did the Symbiotic lowered her hand, the look in her eyes becoming something human and all the marks but the one on her forehead disappearing.

The remaining mark now appeared to be glowing with a strange kind of energy, as the Symbiotic just stood there watching the blood run endlessly out of the matching mark on Mertieha's forehead. She then knelt down beside her and lifted Mertieha just enough so she was able to heal the wound by running her fingers lightly over the mark. Then, for what felt like the first time in an age, Hickarama witnessed Mertieha taking a deep gasping breath in.

'Why did you do that to her,' Hickarama found herself half screaming, as she watched her half sister fall into unconsciousness, 'this isn't what you promised her at all.'

'You're wrong,' the Symbiotic glanced back towards her, revealing the glowing mark on her forehead was gone now too, 'this is exactly what I promised her. She is now a part of the greatest force this world has ever known,' she rose to her feet, 'and she has her father's recognition.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'A long time ago your father begged the beast to lend him its army; it said it only would for the minds of his bastard tribe leaders. He refused to even recognise any of you then, but he's recognised all of you now.'

'So Mertieha is just the first, you're going to go after the rest of us now.'

'Actually little Hic,' she half smirked at her, 'Mertieha was the last. Why do you think only three of you tribal leaders turned up to hear out the little Veronsen-Vii?'

'How long ago did Ni agree to this,' Hickarama couldn't help but gasp.

'He agreed to this the second he took that little Vii Sen in,' her voice was steady and calm, 'and now the beast has them all.'

'It doesn't have me,' she protested, half wondering why she was being so stupid.

'The beast doesn't recognise your authority,' she shrugged, 'Ni made sure of that when he made you a female heir. Consider this your lucky day.'

'Lucky how, when it just means I'm unrecognised.'

'Or that you're more recognised than any of the others. Your father knew this day was coming and he saved you from it. If that's not love, then I don't know what is.'

'He saved me?'

'Yes,' she nodded, 'and for that, I need you.'

'Need me how?'

'You'll see little Hic,' as she spoke her body broke down into a thousand blue-purple butterflies, 'you'll see.'

End.