Castle Dimitrescu – February 9th, 2021
"And you let him escape?" Bela shouted as she and Cassandra stood beside the Wine Room on the second floor of the Main Hall. Pacing around the balcony, the blonde's temper was rising, and she had her sister to blame.
Cassandra had her back against the wall for the duration of her older sibling's tirade. It was at that final remark that she finally let off and confronted her. "I was just having a little fun with the stupid man! I was about to grab him when he fell through those broken floorboards!"
With a sarcastic nod, Bela showed that she was having none of these excuses. "Uh huh…of course. That's why he got away. Not because you were too preoccupied with chasing him and getting a laugh out of it. He wasn't supposed to escape that room, Cassandra. Do you think he is just some regular man-thing? Mother said that Mother Miranda must be informed about him, do you not remember?"
"Oh, fine!" Cassandra waved it all off. "She'll get her pathetic Ethan, I don't care. He's not going to go far in that dungeon. You know that."
The eldest daughter only appeared to grow angrier at the unfathomable amount of ignorance that Cassandra displayed. Bela's eyelids squinted and her lips adopted that typical, displeased curl she used whenever things didn't go to plan; only amplified more than usual.
Speaking slowly and deliberately, she sought to drive home every crucial implication that this could have, "Listen to me, Cassandra: he is not supposed to die…yet. If he's still down there, he will get killed by those mindless husks. If he does, mother will be furious at all of us. Mother Miranda will be furious at all of us too. Since you're the one who found him out of the room first and chose to chase him around when you could have dragged him back – it all falls on you."
Cassandra's uncaring expression suddenly broke as her eyes widened. Trying to reel it all back in, she closed her gaze and shook her head, hoping to play off the entire matter. Even though she wished to convince Bela that what she had just said didn't faze her, there was no denying that she was terrified now. The pyramid of transgressions she had built over the last week would be crowned with the man-thing's escape at the top.
"Fine!" She groaned, moving to go down the stairs. "I'll go down there and bring him back, happy?"
"No." Bela halted her with her arm. "I'll go. You already had your chance. I'll make sure this is done right. You stay up here in case he does make it out."
Cassandra's face held a fierce scowl as she narrowed her eyes at Bela. "I can find him. I guess you haven't gotten enough recognition from mother today, haven't you?"
"Argh!" Bela curled her fists, ready to scream at her sister. "Enough with all this!"
"Oh, really? 'But I am the one who captured him.' Please…" Cassandra mocked her. "You're so worried about being the favorite daughter. It's ironic how much the mature, level-headed Bela suddenly acts like a distressed child when mother doesn't hold her up in the air. You know I can find him faster than you, but you just want mother's praise."
"I said enough!" Bela shoved Cassandra back, causing the brunette to stumble.
Unwilling to falter, Cassandra regained her stance and charged back at Bela with a shove of her own. "Are you kidding me?!" She knocked her back against the balcony railing.
Both their bodies began to disperse various flies into the air as they stared one another down. Bela breathed heavily as she eyed her sister, who exerted the same effort. It was the thunder that preceded the storm, as both women were ready to tear each other apart. Before her fists could curl any tighter, the blonde spat out a grunt as she stood up and straightened out her hood.
"There is so much that I could say about you, Cassandra. There is so much that I really want to get off my chest. We can have this discussion after I bring that stupid man back up here. If he makes it back up before I do, then fine, you capture him. Until then, I will be in the dungeon."
"Then leave!" Cassandra continued to fire off her anger, while Bela simply shook her head.
"Hopefully you grow up in the meanwhile."
Nearly fuming at the nostrils, Cassandra advanced toward her sister and stopped just inches before her face. Bela was ready to push her back, but once she saw that Cassandra was not poised to strike her, she stood firm and held her position.
The brunette bared her teeth right before her lips pressed into a tight roll. She was still heaving the air in and out of her chest with a forceful push. Bela would not bow to such things, and she knew it.
"Hopefully you don't come back up," Cassandra snarled through her clenched teeth.
Bela's eyelids flickered as soon as she heard it. "Is that what you want?"
"What I really want, Bela, is to never have to call you 'sister' ever again," Cassandra scornfully remarked with a nasty grin. "But I never get what I want. I just get you."
There was no doubt that what she had just said sent a wave of emotional turmoil straight through Bela's head. The blonde looked disheartened, though her own anger was at its peak. Her breathing picked up its pace – the only avenue for the air to escape from was through her nostrils.
Bela's chin lifted as she exhaled one, final huff.
"Goodbye, Cassandra," she said before her body exploded into a dark cloud of insects and funneled over the balcony and out of sight.
Left at the top of the balcony all by herself, Cassandra reflected on everything that had happened thus far. Her entire life seemed to be teetering on the brink of collapse and she could not understand why.
I'm not going to stay quiet about how I feel any longer and she doesn't like that. Stupid, bratty Bela. Ugh, why does she have to be the oldest? She knows nothing. When she comes back up, I'm not saying another word to her. This is done. I am done.
Cassandra rested her hands on the edge of the balcony, mindlessly glancing down at the floor below. She'd stay up there for the time being, hoping that man-thing would come back up so she could get away from all her negative thoughts.
I'll get him. He won't make it past me again.
Locwitary
Milo stood at one side of the chair while Lia stood beside the other – both focused on the woman between them. Cassandra anxiously twiddled her thumbs while the fawn continued to concentrate, channeling her energy from her hand deep inside the brunette's skull.
There was no pain associated with the act; only numbing waves as the blue power Lia exerted vibrated Cassandra's bones. While the recipient of the measure remained pain-free, the one conducting the energy seemed to feel some sort of distress.
Lia's face grimaced as she kept her eyes shut, occasionally twitching her lips as if to shake off the sting of whatever she was feeling. Cassandra had already asked too many questions, and Milo advised her to withhold her concerns until Lia was done.
After another minute or two, Lia dropped her hand with a loud breath before trying to steady herself. Milo peered down at the large scar on Cassandra's temple, examining it with the utmost curiosity. Her amber eyes shifted back and forth between the two; anxiety boiling as she feared whatever it was that would be said.
"Please…" Cassandra begged. "I need to know what is going on."
Lia curled her fingers, using her thumbs to grace their edges before shooting Milo a stern look. "I…I don't know how to describe it," she said. "I've never seen anything like this before."
As Cassandra was about to speak to her, Milo cut her off with a question of his own, "Is it alive?"
What is going on?! What is this thing?!
"No," Lia stated. "At least, I don't think so…"
"Tell me what is happening!" Cassandra pleaded. "Please, I need to know!"
With another breath, Lia placed her hand back on Cassandra's hand and used her other one to channel a window in the air in front of her. In a marvelous testament to the fawn's incredible abilities, Lia was able to project an image of the inside of the brunette's skull.
The blue aura that surrounded the circular window showed a somewhat-blurry display of a grotesque fetus-shaped creature that sported various tendrils along its backside. Oddly, most of the outside of the creature appeared to be surrounded by various flies that appeared motionless – likely deceased.
"How is this possible?" Milo remarked as he looked closer at the findings. Lia shook her head, unsure of how such a thing could come to be.
Nervous as all hell, Cassandra gulped as she placed her fingers around the edge of her massive scar. "And this thing is right here? Behind this?"
Lia softly nodded. "It would appear so."
"Those insects…" Milo pondered as Lia's powers strengthened and allowed the image to become sharper. The strange organism exuded various bundles of flies that channeled around the left side of Cassandra's skull. The bugs at the center appeared to be complete, while the others on the outside edges looked as if they had partially fused with her tissues and bone. "Are they a part of her?"
Lia channeled her powers some more, focusing as hard as she could on one of the flies in question. The insect's left side was normal in composition, while the right wing had turned into bone and its legs an extension of human flesh. No one in the room had ever imagined anything like this before, which left them all just as stunned as Cassandra was.
However, there was one fact that the brunette clung to that may have been able to explain all of this, and it was time to let it out.
"Look," she began, "I must confess this. I'm sure you already know, but back in my world, I could turn into flies. I lied when I said that couldn't."
Lia appeared to be slightly disheartened. Not at Cassandra – but at herself.
"We know. I showed Milo pieces of what I had seen. He saw what your abilities were. I wanted to prove that you were a monster. I should have thought about your privacy, but I did not. I'm sorry, Cassandra."
With a somber glare, she shifted her attention to Milo, realizing that no matter what he had seen, the man still did his best for her. "Thank you for everything that you've done for me." She turned her head to Lia. "Both of you. Please, I need your help still."
Lia offered a small smile to affirm her commitment. "I promise I will do everything that I can for you."
"Thank you," she replied.
Milo tapped on Cassandra's shoulder. "These flies…tell us about them."
"It's hard for me to explain," Cassandra began. "My sisters and I always could channel them. It was natural. They were a part of us. They…were us."
He glanced at Lia before returning his sights to her. "You and your sisters could disperse into these swarms and re-form at will, right? Can you control each individual insect?"
"Of course," she said.
Lia looked over to Milo. "A hive-mind."
He asked Cassandra another question, "When you disperse into these flies, can you see through their eyes?"
"I can. My mind just goes into a million places, but it just makes sense to me. I can focus on what I'm searching for and where I'm going. I just don't know what this could be. My sisters and I were born with our gifts."
Just when this entire dilemma seemed to be going in circles, Lia's intuitive brain sparked her to ask one crucial question, "Were you born with this scar?"
Cassandra peeked up at her, surprised as ever. "Yes…we all were."
Lia and Milo both looked at each other. The man breathed a small sigh before turning his attention back to Cassandra. "What do you remember as a child? Did anyone ever do something that would indicate you were injured at one point?"
"What?" Cassandra was almost dumbfounded. "I was never injured. I was…never a child."
"Huh?" Lia said as she raised an eyebrow, allowing the window to vanish away. "You were never a child? Is that how everyone is born in your world? As adults?"
"No," Cassandra answered. "Everyone in the village that we lived next to were born as children. My sisters and I were born as adults. We all awoke on a bed together with our mother smiling at us and Mother Miranda overseeing…everything."
Wait…this doesn't sound right. I must have said that wrong and – wait, no. That is right. Why…why haven't I thought about this before? My mind seems blocked. I can't think this through too much. I can feel myself asking questions and then they suddenly disappear. Why was Mother Miranda there when…wait, what was I just thinking about?
Milo chimed in again, "Cassandra, what were your mother and this Miranda-lady doing prior to your birth?"
What was Mother Miranda…wait…
"Cassandra?" Lia leaned in to check on her.
Mother Miranda was there when I was born. She was there to watch us be born. Mother told me. No, that doesn't make sense. Mother was standing up and looked clean. She didn't just give birth – uhm, no. What was I just asking myself?
Lia placed her hand on Cassandra's head, doing her best to sense her emotions. It did not take long for her to reach a conclusion – one that startled her to no end. She suddenly released her hand and pointed at the scar while talking to Milo. "I can feel her thinking but something is interfering. Ask her these questions again."
As Milo re-directed Cassandra's attention with a sharp snap of his fingers, Lia returned her hand atop the brunette's head. "Cassandra," he asked, "what were your mother and Miranda doing when you were born? How were you born as an adult? How were you all born with scars in the same places?"
Mother Miranda was in the background with her notebook. Mother was beside the bed staring at us. What was Miranda writing down? She wasn't on the first page. How long –
Cassandra could feel her questions seeping away, but at that moment, something inside her sparked and she found the strength to press on.
How long had she been writing in that book? How long did it take us to be born? Why was she there in the first place? No, this doesn't add up. The thing in my head…I've seen them before!
She recalled seeing her mother's brother, Salvatore Moreau, parading a jar around with him during one of his rare visits to the castle. The contents of the glass container were nothing else but a strange, fetus-like organism called a 'cadou' – as he referred to them. She had only gotten to look at it for so long before her mother put a stop to it.
Cassandra had initially disregarded the whole matter, figuring that her mother was not fond of the risk of him dropping the grotesque thing on the floor. Oddly, she noticed Alcina's eyes briefly glancing at all three of her daughters before fixating on the cadou. It was only then that her voice rose to a thunderous tone and Moreau was once again kicked out of the castle.
"Wait," Cassandra said as she raised her hands to her forehead. "I remember something. I saw that thing once before, many years ago. It's called a cadou. One of my uncles brought it into our castle. He said it was 'Mother Miranda's gift to him' and that it 'was the heart of all her work.' At the time, I didn't care at all about what he had to say. Now, seeing this thing inside me, I…I think…"
She couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence, lest she had to admit to herself the growing suspicion that her upbringing may have been anything but the noble heritage that she thought it was.
Her breathing shuddered as her anxiety mounted, soothed only by Lia's warm hand along her cheek. The fawn was a gracious source of comfort – one that helped her keep her composure in this troubling time.
Cassandra consciously searched for any indication of the cadou's presence inside her skull, but she could not feel a single thing. Nothing was off-balance, nor did the creature present any noticeable weight. The images that Lia displayed to her showed the creature taking the place of the complete left section of her brain, integrating with the organ almost seamlessly.
Of all three daughters, Bela was regarded as the smartest of the bunch. She had studied so many scientific textbooks to the point where she considered herself an expert in the field of anatomy and physiology. While Cassandra did not care to learn about the core breakdown of how the human body worked, she knew a lot about the crippling effects of organ division.
A brain's function was often greatly hindered upon the removal of select portions, reducing the organism to a mindless shell – or a corpse. Splitting the brain in half was a sure bet to ensure death. Why was she still alive and well?
With that thought in mind, she rolled out the end of her statement, "…I think Mother Miranda's 'work' had something to do with us."
It was a hard pill to swallow. She had never given thought to the possibility that she could have been one of the prophet's experiments, but right now, anything was on the table.
"Hmm," Lia narrowed her eyes as she concentrated on her hand. She could sense the flow of Cassandra's brainwaves, noticing the disruptions under certain parts. These interruptions were not due to the fusion of the brunette's brain and the cadou itself, but rather systematic. It was a troubling find – given how deliberate it appeared to be.
The fawn's fingers glided around Cassandra's stubbled scalp, caressing her scar in a circular motion. It was there that the greatest concentration of disruption emanated. "Let me tell you something about how memories work, or, rather, how I can read them. My powers interpret them as particles that run in a chain. The areas of your brain that holds them keeps them in a somewhat straight pattern, though they circulate around one another and don't adhere to a correct sequence but manage to stay within their collected time period."
"What does that mean?" Cassandra asked, bewildered to all hell.
"It means that your memories from two years ago would come before your memories from the last year. The last year can be felt before the last six months. I cannot pinpoint the exact date of their occurrence, but I can discern where they belong in the chain. The bottom of the chain is the beginning, and the top is the most recent," she explained. It was helpful enough to understand what she was trying to detail, but Cassandra needed to know more.
"What are you trying to get at? What is it about my memories that make you mention this?"
Lia paused, almost as if she were unsure how to explain this. Milo, who normally looked prepared and knowledgeable, also appeared to be concerned as well. He was so curious as to what Lia was about to say that it only made the fear of the unknown greater.
"All your memories from the first years of your life are…missing."
The room fell into a dead silence. For a moment in time, there was not a single sound to be heard. No breath. No heartbeat. Cassandra could not believe what she had just heard.
"What are you talking about?" She began to get loud, covering her mouth as soon as she realized how aggressive she sounded. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just…what do you mean? I remember my birth. I remember the beginning of my life. How could I have memories that are missing?"
"It isn't just some memories," Lia emphasized. "It is years. The number of dead portions of the chain is significant. At least a fourth or a fifth of your life is gone. I've only seen similar things in poils who had sustained serious head injuries, to which they suffered permanent memory loss. They could never remember what they used to know, but even I was able to reach in and see the presence of the chain. Despite the loss of memories to them, I could still salvage what was damaged. Yours is…gone. Dead."
Lia continued to move her hand around, doing her best to sniff out any potential openings that she can view. "The strangest part is, these memories are all in the beginning. Usually, the loss is random, but this seems so organized. I –" She didn't know what else she could say, wondering just how someone's remembrance of their past could be so perfectly cut.
Cassandra's eyes glanced at Milo. The man was so intrigued that he could only try to concoct some hasty explanation. However, it was as if all his knowledge got in the way of accepting whatever 'possible' answer there could have been.
He had never seen anything like this before.
"Is there any way you can try and find something? Anything?" Cassandra looked over to Lia, reaching over and holding the fawn's thin forearm.
With a breath and a hint of determination, Lia nodded before she turned her attention back to the scar. "I've been feeling other strange patterns coming from that opening in your head. I know you're not from the same realm as us, and the science of your body may very well be different, but I can work with it."
She pressed her forefingers on the center of the scar. "This may hurt a bit, but bear with me, please."
"Yes." Cassandra accepted the cost. Lia's energy could suddenly be felt funneling in at twice the strength. The powerful flow of waves ached her brain, inducing a painful soreness. She had never felt anything like this before and the urge to knock her hand away was almost instant. However, the need to see this matter to an end overwhelmed her instinct for comfort.
Cassandra chose to endure the pain for the next couple of minutes, clenching her fingers and dashing her feet around in sharp directions. Lia continued to concentrate as hard as she could, sourcing her powers in decisive areas, seeking to uncover any information that was around for her to grab.
The minutes wore on and just when Cassandra thought that she could not take any more, Lia withdrew her hand with a small gasp. The brunette recoiled forward, recovering from the agony of the process, while Milo leaned in to inquire about her findings.
"What did you see, Lia?" He asked.
The fawn glanced at her hand before shifting her eyes over to Cassandra. She was astonished – speechless.
"Lia?" Milo asked again, while Cassandra mustered through what was left of the strain to ask the same question for herself.
"What happened?"
Shaking some breaths out of her chest, Lia's voice was rocky in the beginning before she coughed to clarify it, "I didn't…ahem…I didn't just see some of your memories – I found those of others."
Cassandra and Milo both responded in unison, "What?!"
Lia couldn't believe her own words. They spat in the face of all the science that she had ever been taught. Cassandra's ability to morph into a swarm of flies was enough insanity, but what she had just seen was something else entirely. "Some of your memories trickled into that…cadou. When I reached in to view them, I saw access to the shared memories of some other people. You were in them, as a third person."
It was then that her voice took a more foreboding essence, "Then there were…other things. I do not know much about your world, but what I saw was troubling. I just can't figure out how this is possible. It is as if you are one fly in a bigger horde. Your memories are part of a hive of recollection. Most of all – some of these memories may have been after your death."
Cassandra's eyelids curved as she spoke through parted teeth, "How?"
Lia replied with a quiet tone, "I don't know."
Milo jumped in, "What did you see?"
With a long breath, Lia closed her eyes. "I'll show you." She turned to wave her arms in front of her chest, turning her palms clockwise as she created another window ahead of her. The blue spiral of her magic materialized another glimpse into what had been transmitted through her. As amazing as Lia's powers were, Cassandra could feel a rising sense of dread over what it was that would be shown.
"Now, I must explain…" Lia turned her head to the two of them – Cassandra in particular. "These memories are pieced together. The most recent ones seem to be from a man – Ethan."
Cassandra shot up from her seat. "What did you see from him? Please, tell me!" Milo gently held her by the shoulders to try and calm her down, leaving Lia to furrow her brow as she knew that Ethan was the man Cassandra had mentioned often in the past.
He was the one who killed her.
"Just sit down, Cassandra. I am not one-hundred percent certain of what we may see. Your mind is different than others. I can barely see these memories in my head. My powers should be able to sharpen them but – look, please sit down."
Biting her lip and nodding, Cassandra did as Lia had asked and hesitantly squatted back down onto the chair. Milo maintained a soft hold on her shoulder, hoping that it would be enough to keep her stable. Lia turned her head back to the projection as she sent the energy from her brain down through her arms and out from her hands.
The window projected a distorted image at first of a dark room. A glint of bright light in the background was the only thing that gave shape to the tall figure standing at the center of it all. Shattered glass and debris littered the floor in a setting unfamiliar to any kind of structure that Lia or Milo had ever seen before. From the windows, bright lights shined through, obscured by the smokey gunpowder of dozens of spent cartridges.
"Sorry, Ethan…" A series of blasts rang out as the vision clarified the large man in the dark coat shooting a woman to pieces. Her chest ruptured into spurts of read as bullets pounded her ribcage, seemingly ripping the last ounces of life from her.
Milo covered his mouth upon the sight of the initial carnage that so was easily performed at the pull of a finger. "What is that weapon?"
"A gun," Cassandra replied, watching meticulously as Ethan's journey played out in front of her.
The visions shifted into various flashes of the village itself in the aftermath of the massacre that took place there. They watched as snippets of the church and Luiza's house came into view through the blue circle. Cassandra leaned forward as an image of the village hag passed through; her withered face and pale eyes glaring at the beholder.
"Death…death has visited them all…"
That woman was always so strange…
Voices echoed through the projection, mixed with more visions of the dreary, snow-filled environment. They then transformed into a fiery living room filled with dead bodies – and a wild man.
"Every sorry bastard out there has been ripped in half!" Another man's voice shouted, overlaying the scene of a young woman firing a shotgun at the carnivorous villager.
"No! That place is full of nothing but blood and death!" A woman pleaded. The same voice then yelled out again, just as a blurry inferno appeared on the window, "Ethan, go…save your daughter!" The sounds of boards breaking and a spine-chilling cry for help ended the scene, leaving only the crackles of flame to populate the listener's ears.
Lia's brow lifted as she stood there. "Did all these people die?"
Cassandra hung her head. "Everyone died."
The fawn did not respond, though her expression was somber as could be. More audio played out.
"Heisenberg…" The familiar voice of Mother Miranda could be heard. "The man's fate is in your hands."
The images cut to a view of all four lords standing at the center of the destroyed church. Mother Miranda was in the very back, flanked by the four of her children. Karl Heisenberg, the vulgar, detestable man himself, stood front and center in Ethan's face, staring at him with a wicked smile.
"Let's see what you're really made of…Ethan Winters," he mumbled.
Lia's eyes widened, "What – who are those people?"
Cassandra continued to sound ashamed as she sighed before enlightening them both, "My mother's family."
Milo had taken his hand off Cassandra's shoulder to steady his eyeglasses. Neither he nor Lia could comprehend the grotesque individuals – all of whom were akin to monsters of folklore. The sight of Moreau was the most concerning, as the man's fish-like body was repulsive beyond all measure. Lia practically gagged as soon as she witnessed him approach the window. The doll – Angie – was also equally frightening, causing the fawn to wince as soon as she heard its sinister and obnoxious laughter.
Lia's worried voice spoke out from under her breath, "They do not seem to be of a kind heart."
"None of us were," Cassandra quietly stated.
The visions faded away as the memories that Lia could display were scattered around; few and far in between. The audio of voices was more prevalent, though they needed clarification.
A glimpse of a distorted living room filled with vicious dolls flashed before fading to black. A woman's soft voice spoke in the darkness, "Don't leave…I can't let you…"
Salvatore Moreau's grumbling bellow followed soon after, "Mother wants…her baby back."
"Listen, Ethan, you're being played!" Heisenberg could be heard again. Remnants of Ethan's interactions with the man became center stage as Lia was able to latch onto more memories. Karl's voice could be heard in the darkness as some of the things he had said to Ethan managed to be pulled into the light. As they played out – they painted a very grim picture for the brunette.
"Lady super-sized bitch! Ugly-ass psycho doll! And, that moronic freak. Don't you get it? It's a test, to see if you're strong enough to be part of Miranda's family."
"Do you have any idea how powerful that kid is? Even Miranda is scared of her…"
What kid? Ethan's daughter? What 'test'?
"You and me, Ethan. Together we go save Rose, and then we can use her to grind Miranda into paste!"
Wait…Heisenberg wanted to work with Ethan? Where were the other lords during this? My mother had to have stopped him!
"Last chance. You don't want to find out what's in that hole." The sound of a heavy metallic buzz cut the air. "Your funeral."
Cassandra got up from her seat and approached Lia. The fawn turned her head toward her, wondering what she had to say. "Cassandra…I'm trying but, I can only scrape so many things together."
"Wait." She held her hand out for Lia to hold. "Try this."
With a nod, the fawn gently took her by the palm, interlocking their fingers as she sent more energy channeling through her body and into the window. Suddenly, the images on the display came back, clearer than ever. Cassandra was met with the scene of Donna Beneviento lying deceased on the ground, her body soon crystalizing and crumbling to pieces before Ethan's very eyes. The scene then cut to the sight of Salvatore Moreau thrashing about in his giant fish form, causing Lia even further disgust.
The large behemoth then swelled to an enormous girth before immediately exploding with a sharp cry in the air, begging for Miranda to come to him.
Did he…defeat them?
Scenes of Ethan running through Heisenberg's factory streamed along before the sight of a monstrous being with a rotating chainsaw head came into view. Milo stepped closer to the screen as well, disturbed by what he was witnessing.
"How is any of this possible?" He asked.
Cassandra could not say a single word. She only continued to look on as Ethan's journey seemed to be coming to an end. She remembered what Heisenberg had said to him earlier, and she needed to know what exactly the bigger picture was. What did Miranda really have planned for that child that she so happily took into the village?
The image of Heisenberg – or what remained of him – enshrouded in a gigantic collection of scrap metal, wielding various saws and blades flashed along, right before a magnetic whirlwind in the sky erupted above him.
"Rose's power is mine! Right after I murder Miranda…" His distorted voice proclaimed; spoken through the heart of metal he had now held. A catastrophic explosion burst forth from his body as he shambled along the rainy field outside of his leveled factory that was now in flames.
"No! This can't be the end for me! I…must…kill her!" His final words before he was reduced to pieces in another blast.
Heisenberg wanted to kill Miranda? Ethan destroyed him. How? How did he get so far?
Mother Miranda's voice was the next thing that Cassandra could hear. The brunette stood still the moment that unmistakable tone swam into her ears. "Calm yourself. Rose will be saved. The Megamycete catalogs all of us."
The darkness then cleared as the trio witnessed Miranda's hand burst through the front of Ethan's chest. Milo removed his hand from Cassandra's shoulder and brought it to his chest. Lia gasped, nearly losing focus as she did. It was a frightening display of power indeed, as the extent of Miranda's abilities worried them.
What kind of world did she come from, they thought?
The first-person viewpoint of Ethan Winters came in full display as he confronted Miranda within the confines of the biological fortress she resided in. Cradling a re-assembled Rosemary Winters, the blonde tyrant was nothing short of diabolical as she glared back at the desperate father with perplexity.
"Interesting. Your body certainly isn't normal."
What? How did Ethan survive that?
The image cut to a shot of her bloody face that dripped a black ooze down her voided eyes.
"I spent a lifetime creating this moment…"
The screen flashed ahead – to a mutated Miranda dancing around the area, hurling whatever attacks she could at Ethan.
"You fulfilled your purpose, Mr. Winters. You disposed of my false children and awakened the glorious Megamycete."
Her 'false children'?
The scene cut to Mother Miranda in her hellish form shaking around uncontrollably, wounded and on the brink of death.
"My Eva!" She cried as her body crystalized and crumbled before Ethan's feet, revealing a still-alive baby Rose in her center. The last thing to be seen was Ethan reaching in to retrieve his child right before the memory faded out. Lia searched deeper for anything else that she could find; only managing to pull another set of words and a brief glimpse of a horrific monstrosity staring down at the father.
"Goodbye, Rosemary."
The faint sound of a booming explosion ripped through before any further memories could be accessed. With that, the window faded away after Lia lowered her hand. There was no questioning the result of the entire ordeal.
Ethan Winters had died.
Left to process everything that had been presented to her so far, Cassandra sat speechless in her chair, looking down at the ground. It was all so unbelievable.
He…won. He defeated everyone. He killed Miranda. He rescued his daughter.
Her chest quaked as she drew in a tight breath.
There is no way my mother or my sisters could have survived. I can only pray that they somehow made it out, but…
Cassandra lifted her head at Lia. "You showed me what my world looked like when I arrived here. Can you show me again? What does it look like now?"
Lia was hesitant to try the measure. "Cassandra, I can't promise you that everything will be precise. I can do my best, but time doesn't always run perfectly parallel between realms. I imagine the difference could be days, months, or even years."
The brunette's breathing picked up. Her anxiety was starting to build. She needed answers.
"Please!" She yelled in desperation.
The fawn's eyes dragged around before she pressed her lips and steadied her fingers. It would be another unsure go-ahead, but there was nothing else that she could do to answer these burning questions. She wanted Cassandra to find peace, but at the same time, she believed there was nothing in the cards for her but pure misery.
Another flash of blue light cut through the air and a second window. When it opened and became clear, Cassandra could once again see her castle. Standing tall in the broad daylight, it was still there. Just as she was about to find comfort in the possibility that everything in the village would have somehow returned to normal, her heart dropped once she realized the multitude of outsiders that were combing the region.
Airships and vehicles lay parked all around the perimeter of where the settlement once was. The village had been destroyed – blown to smithereens by whatever it was that may have also killed that towering creature. The aircraft that populated the open land seemed to resemble the same kind of ones that were spotted overhead in the sky when Lia first offered a glimpse into Cassandra's present world.
The outsiders looked to be researchers and military, interested in whatever information was left to retrieve from the debris of the now mass grave. As she watched them walk around and conduct their business, she spotted several groups moving in and out of the castle itself. Her fingers twitched at the sight, knowing full and well that her mother and sisters would have done everything that they could have to curtail such ambitions.
Nobody who entered Castle Dimitrescu would have left alive – if its denizens were still there.
They must be dead…
Lia and Milo gazed at the technological advances that Cassandra's world held. It was leaps and bounds beyond anything that Locwitary could have ever imagined. While the brunette sat there in silence, they took advantage of the closest look they have ever had at Earth. While the progress of man's creation may have been astonishing, they also noticed the grim aftermath of the pure chaos that had devastated the region.
Milo backed away a step, knowing that he was not looking at anything pleasant. "I can sense that this world's knowledge has also come at a cost."
Lia sighed as she waved the vision off, seeing that there was nothing left for Cassandra to see. "There are more horrors in your world than I could have ever thought," she said to her in a soft voice, seeing that her soul was at a loss. "I don't know what those people are doing, but it looks as if the madness has come to an end there. Yet, that also means so has your old way of life."
"Yeah," Cassandra replied as she picked up her head, a small tear forming. "My mother and my sisters did not survive. I can tell. She would have done everything she could have to kill that man, and he made it out of our castle. He defeated the most powerful woman in the world. If he could do that to Mother Miranda, then my mother would have never stood a chance."
She cupped her face into her hands. There was no audible sniffling or crying. The only thing Cassandra resigned herself to be a bitter moment of stillness. She needed to break away from reality for a second or two. There was so much to unpack, and she did not know where to start. Seeing this, Lia knelt and gently touched her shoulder, leaning in as she sought to learn more.
"This Ethan, what brought him to your castle?" She asked.
Cassandra huffed a small laugh as she withdrew her teary face from her hands and glanced up at the ceiling. Her amber eyes, surrounded by a pink hue, bobbed as she recalled everything that her family had done to earn death.
"We…" She wiped her eyes with the back of her forearm. "Our mother was given a part of his daughter by Mother Miranda. I don't know exactly why she had segmented the child and given each of the lords a portion of her, but she did. My sisters and I were informed that he had made his way into the region, searching for her. By this point, Miranda and my uncle had already killed everyone in the village. My mother was told that all our servants were to be killed as well, so, that's what we did. He was the final person left alive to come charging in, and we captured him. Strung him up like a pig and waited for the approval to end his life. He got away and we chased him…I chased him."
Cassandra exhaled as she wiped a second tear away. "I eventually cornered him, and we fought. I lost the fight, and he killed me. That's why he was there, Lia. I died trying to prevent a father from finding his daughter. It's kind of sick, is it not?"
Lia's eyes slowly lowered as she felt the truth of what had brought Cassandra here in the first place. It was a horrible act – one that reminded her of why she had detested the woman so much in the first place. Even Milo could see why the fawn was so hellbent on revealing the truth about her. He thought back to his own daughter and the lengths he would have gone through to see her again. However, he stopped thinking about it when he saw how all of that was not in play anymore.
Cassandra may have done monstrous things – but she wasn't a monster anymore.
Lia withdrew her hand from the brunette for a moment as she touched her fingers against her own chin. "It was very tragic…but, from what I have seen, tragedy was all around your village. It doesn't excuse anything that your family has done, but it seems as though in the end, Ethan was finally able to save his daughter."
She touched Cassandra's face and the brunette stared deeply into the fawn's green eyes. "Cassandra, you have killed a lot of people. I already know that about you. While I do not agree with what you did in that life, this is the place where you can be saved. What is done is done, but you're still here. Remember that."
She nodded with a feeling of reprieve from everything that weighed down on her. "Thank you."
Lia's expression of compassion morphed into a sudden sense of urgency once again as she felt something through her hands. The fawn stood up and placed her other hand on top of Cassandra's head, feeling around for whatever it was that she was chasing.
"What is it?" Cassandra asked in a panic, fearing that there was yet another organism to be found living inside her skull.
Lia was quick to respond, "You…have more memories. I don't know where they came from, but I can feel them! Stay still and don't move!" As soon as she said that, Lia threw one of her hands back out and immediately opened up another window to the past. Sweat had already begun to pool on her scalp, which showed that the use of her powers was beginning to put more stress on her body. Nevertheless, her quest to find the truth would not bow to a lack of endurance.
From the new window, Cassandra could see another snippet of Ethan's memories – this time from Castle Dimitrescu.
Gunshots erupted before Bela's smiling face appeared in view. "Your bullets cannot harm –" She turned around with an expression of concern – her greatest fears realized when she saw the window cracking before her.
Bela…no. That was right outside the dungeon. Please, tell me she got out of that room…
"What have you done to my daughter?!" Alcina's distraught voice boomed as a flash of the chamber hall could be seen. Cassandra felt her chest grow heavy as she learned the blonde's fate. Nothing else in the world would have reduced Alcina's damning tone to a shrill shamble besides the loss of one of her children.
Cassandra could only cling to the hope that it ended there. However, the chances of that unlikely outcome quickly decayed as soon as the memories went on.
"So, you've finally came to see me?" Daniela said as another vision played of her forming together inside the library. Cassandra froze as soon as she realized that meant Ethan had made his way in there.
Alcina had locked the youngest away for that very reason.
No…please don't hurt her. Daniela, leave him be…
"Everyone falls for me in time," the redhead stated as she advanced toward him with a swing of her sickle. The scene cut to black as the memory died out. Forced to piece everything together as the displays went along, Cassandra found herself growing increasingly distraught as reality came crashing down on her.
Daniela's cries were a mix of pain and fear, "I don't wanna die…" Her final breath trailed off as her body crystallized.
Another voice soon followed – Alcina's – broken and hollow as ever, "It was cold, wasn't it, Daniela?"
He killed her…
"Cassandra…" Alcina once again could be heard in the black window. "You've pushed yourself too far."
The brunette's hands tensed as she took in how her mother sounded at the knowledge of her passing. She realized how much she had failed her once again, and in turn, failed her whole family by letting Ethan prevail. As much as she saw how her actions toward the man were born of the malice of her own, bloodthirsty ways, part of her still wished that she had killed him – not out of hate, but out of love for her own.
"The entire bloodline of House Dimitrescu is done in…by the likes of you?!"
We died. We all died, and she was the last one that was left.
The window shifted to the image of Ethan inside the Tower of Worship. By this point, the man had to have collected all four of the masks and navigated his way around Alcina. Everyone in the room watched as his hand pushed open the coffin, revealing the corpse of a villager who had once tried to kill the village lord years prior. In his hand was the Dagger of Death's Flowers.
Milo and Lia shook at the sight of Locwitary's much-sought-after artifact. None of them could believe what they were seeing. Even though they suspected the dagger to have been in the possession of Cassandra's family; to see it lying inside the coffin so casually was absolutely jaw-dropping. There was no mistaking what it was, as various texts and drawings throughout the ages described the weapon in perfect detail.
Milo couldn't help himself. He approached the window, getting as close to it as he could. Lia glanced at him as his eyes peered closer at the image of the dagger.
He steadied his glasses. "That's it. That's the dagger. It's exactly like the books said it was."
Still gloomy as ever, Cassandra let another tear silently drip down her cheek as she commented on the blade, "Yeah…that's it. The source of all this, right?"
As he looked on at the weapon in Ethan's grasp, the sight of Alcina taking hold of him caught the man off guard. He jumped back, just as Cassandra and Lia both reacted to the sight of the tall lady's infuriated glare.
"You've ruined everything!" She screamed, stabbing her long talons through Ethan's side. Lia immediately halted the channeling as she covered her mouth. It was a horrifying view. The fawn could only imagine the sense of fear the woman cast onto those below her.
Cassandra sat there with a quivering mouth that pressed shut, while her eyes stared straight ahead. Teary and shaking, she tried her best to stay together. All she could think about was how much she had lost and the likelihood that it could never be regained. She thought it would have been easier to mentally prepare for the possibility that her family had died, but there was no way she could have ever been ready.
The window picked back up, displaying Ethan's retaliation as he thrust the dagger straight into Alcina's side. They watched as the woman yelped and her face tensed, veins bulging as an unknown power coursed throughout her body. She threw Ethan through the wall, nearly knocking him off the tower itself, while the dagger fell to the depths below. Cassandra could feel her heart rushing, knowing that she was likely about to watch her mother be killed.
I need to get up and leave.
Despite her thoughts, she could not find the strength to rise from her seat and put an end to all of this. Something inside her body was telling her to stay put – commanding her, even. This was the time for all the answers she ever wanted to come out, and there was no backing down now.
The vision of Alcina shambled and cried in pain as the effects of the blade continued to make its presence known. Suddenly, large wings burst out from her back, which carried her away to the side of the wall at breakneck speed.
What…what just happened?
Cassandra's eyes opened wide and she sat forward, astounded by what she had seen. A large tile similar to a dragon's curled into view, right as the tower crumbled to pieces amidst the might of the horrific creature that had just smashed through its walls. With a large head filled with rows-upon-rows of sharp teeth, it looked nothing like the woman who had raised her. But, through the beastly structure of this ravenous demon, the being at the center of its pack held the smallest hint of what it once was. Through the tendrils and the soulless face, the glint of her eyes was all Cassandra would relate to.
The rest of it was a pure abomination.
She shrieked in a distorted voice, "Flesh! Bones! I will devour all of you!" Alcina took flight and the vision shifted to her flying around the castle before landing back on the tower, giving chase to the man who had besieged her family. "You're a lucky man, Ethan. Besides Miranda, you're the only one to ever see me in this form."
The display went back to black, while more shouts from the former lady could still be heard at various distances.
"How dare you talk about saving your daughter, when you've murdered mine!"
"Come on, don't be shy, show me your terror!"
The visions finally cut forward to the mutated Alcina bleeding heavily from the top as the roof of the tower crumbled to pieces. She snatched Ethan up in her claws, just as she made her final fall to the floor down below.
"Succumb to your despair!" She screamed as her body descended, crashing onto the stone ground. "Curse...you..." Alcina cried out in her last breath as she curled up – her body crystalizing in various shards, while the rest of her lay dead on the ground.
Cassandra shook around in her chair, unwilling to accept the truth of what her mother had become. "No! It's a lie! That was not my mother!" Lia's hand fell, shutting down the window as the fawn turned to take hold of her.
"Cassandra! Please, stop! It's okay."
Her hands shook as Lia embraced her. "There has to be something wrong! Maybe those memories are distorted. Maybe, they're something else. My mother would have never turned into that thing!"
Milo said nothing as he stood by Lia's side. He knew it would be best to leave it up to the fawn, as she was an expert at diffusing distress when the situation called for it. She held Cassandra, whispering soft sounds into her ear while the warmth of her hands radiated around the woman's body. "It's okay. We don't have to watch any more of this."
For Milo, something suddenly came to mind that he had not thought of before. The man was so shocked by the presence of Alcina in the visions, that he let the most important part of the sequence fall from his perception. He turned to the fawn, pointing at where the screen had been. "Lia, are these memories in order?"
"I don't know," she replied. "They're more collected than some of the others. I guess so?"
"Then…" Milo hesitated for a second before he glanced at the scar on the brunette's chest. "How did Cassandra get that scar? She was dead by this point, right?" He turned to her. "Cassandra, this was after you fought the man, correct?"
She wasn't sure what else she could say to help Milo. All she could do was simply affirm what she believed to be true. "Yes…"
Milo looked like he was on the brink of discovering something. He turned his eyes to the fawn next to him. "Lia, show us whatever else you can find. If Cassandra was already dead, we need to know how she got that scar."
"Milo…" Lia stood to address him, appearing significantly annoyed as she did so, "Look at her. Do you think any of this is easy?"
Milo's eyes paused as he watched Cassandra. The man felt like an idiot for pressing the matter, as the brunette was already beginning to cry. He put himself in her shoes for the moment; imagining how it would have felt to be reeling from the death of his own daughter and to have someone else encouraging more insight.
He lowered his eyelids. "Cassandra, I'm so sorry. Please, forgive me."
Her amber eyes drifted over to him with a furrowed brow and small, contracted lips. She was emotionally drained, but that did not stop her. "It's okay…I need to know too."
Lia pinched her brow as she gazed down at Cassandra. "This has been a lot for you. Maybe we should leave this matter for another time."
Cassandra peered down at the long scar that aligned the edge of her left breast. She reached up and grazed it with her finger, feeling the ripples and bumps of the mysterious injury. Milo was right – something had to have caused it after her fight with Ethan. It made no sense how the man would have killed her with the dagger if he had not obtained it until after all the daughters were dead.
Something wasn't right and she needed to know how this all happened.
"This is what I've been wanting to find out ever since I arrived here, Lia." Cassandra gently gripped the sleeve of Lia's gown, running her hand up until it wrapped itself above her elbow. "If you can find any memories of where this came from…"
"Stay still," Lia instructed as she held her hand in front of Cassandra, forefingers up high. The fawn then guided her hand toward the woman's chest and down the front of her dress. The thin fingers glided along the soft curve of Cassandra's breast – mirroring the scar's path.
Lia closed her eyes and a blue glow emanated from her fingertips. "I can feel the dagger's energy," said. "Such power. There are still traces of it." She withdrew her hand and angled it ahead, casting another window.
Castle Dimitrescu – February 9th, 2021
The powerful gusts of cold wind battered Cassandra's body as she lay on the outside ground. The walls of her castle towered above her; visible through the many flurries that swam around it. The hole that she had been pushed out from was still in full view, though Ethan Winters was long gone, likely on his way to whatever part of the castle was next on his route.
Cassandra fought to rekindle her horde and ascend back to it, but the overwhelming impact of the cold was too much for her. She could hardly move – her body was locked tight from the temperature around her.
She has sustained too much damage to keep going, and as much as her desire to kill him raged inside, there was nothing that her physical being would do to fulfill them. She understood the ramifications of everything that had just happened. As the seconds wore on and the agony multiplied, she realized that she was at death's door.
This was it. This was her final stop.
Her consciousness went in and out as the white landscape and grey skies occasionally faded to black. When she would wake up, it would be the same thing each time. Whistles and howls of a deceased world. At one point, she had heard the crumbling of some part of the castle far away, but her mind had grown so weak that she could not think about them much further.
She was just waiting to die.
I failed. I lost.
She tried to move her arms but her limbs would hardly budge. Cassandra had never felt this weak before. All it took was a sudden gust of wind and the once fierce hunter had been reduced to a withering insect. Her exposed skin felt like it was seated on a frozen fire. Everything was going numb.
I let him beat me. I was so stupid. He got away.
Vapors rose from her mouth and nose with every staggered breath. She did not know how long it had been since he pushed her out of the castle, but it had to still be morning. The only explanation was that she would never have survived for this long on her own in the elements. It was only rational to think that her continued existence meant that the clock's hands had barely shifted.
I am so sorry, mother. I am sorry, Bela. Daniela…I am so, deeply sorry…
A woman's chuckle broke the screams of the wind as Cassandra heard a series of footsteps causally approaching her. She tried to angle her head and see who it was, but by now, her body was nearly frozen in place. All she could do was wait.
The sound of the footsteps grew closer. As they did, Cassandra glimpsed the sight of a large crow's wings at the edge of her view. The wings soon connected to that distinctive crown and black and gold robes that only one person in the village wore.
Mother Miranda.
Fighting through the pain, Cassandra's wrinkled and split lips coughed a plea for mercy, "Please…save me…"
The prophet responded with another chuckle, looking down at the fallen daughter of House Dimitrescu. The blonde lady's face was in full reveal; her signature mask was nowhere to be found. It left the sinister glare in her eyes open to full display. There was no hiding how amused she seemed to be right now.
Why isn't she helping me?
Mother Miranda tilted her head as she grinned a small smirk. As she watched Cassandra suffer some more, that smile slowly faded away into disgust. "Broken gifts to a failed vessel."
She knelt beside Cassandra, withdrawing the Dagger of Death's Flowers from her side, having discovered it on the castle grounds. The glint of the blade shined as she held it up at the sky. Miranda pondered the weapon for a moment, wondering why it had posed such a threat to Alcina. However, the tyrant's mind held no regard for the shortcomings of her false children.
If the dagger could kill them, she thought, then they were already too weak, to begin with.
Cassandra fought to breathe as the snow strangled her heart. "Mother Miranda…"
The woman hummed as she gazed at the defeated huntress, coyly eyeing her. "I'm normally much more patient, but I was not going to wait all day for Alcina to find your sister's body. I must admit, however, after I placed it in her room, she was well-prepared to disobey me."
Miranda breathed another small laugh as she enjoyed the vulnerability in the dying woman's eyes. "While I understand the love a mother has for their child, I have no place for one who will turn on me. However, she is just as much my false child as you were her's."
Without warning, Miranda slammed the dagger directly into the center of Cassandra's chest.
"So, what does it matter?"
The brunette recoiled from the impact as much as her body would allow. A powerful energy rocked her nerves, ripping them to shreds. Her mouth flew open with a sharp gasp as the betrayal of the woman who had led the village to death became the last thing she would ever know in this life.
Miranda's smile returned as she watched Cassandra's last remaining light shrink under the might of the lethal blow. "One house down. One house closer to you, my sweet Eva."
Cassandra's body ceased all motion before a final cloud of air lifted from her open mouth. Her body began to crystalize around the dagger, which Miranda decided to leave in place before she stood up. Without even a second thought to spare, the woman burst into a murder of crows and took off back into the sky.
In the absence of the prophet, Cassandra's crystalized body was left to rot in the snow. As the soft flakes that were carried in the air began to land on her carcass, the first particles of light began to form from the shards.
It was the display of a link between worlds – between realms.
The dagger would remain where it was left, but the woman who had died by its blade would be carried off to the place of its origin outside the fabric of her own universe. It was the perfect storm of circumstances; ones that should never have been possible.
But her village – and her life – had been home to the impossible.
In life, she had found death.
In death, she would find new life.
Locwitary
Cassandra was ready to crumble as she sat in the chair. Her hands, which rested on the tops of her thighs, rumbled uncontrollably as she continued to stare at the window to the past. Her eyes had gone from pink to nearly red as the blood inside her pulsed at an intense rate of speed. There was so much to process but for once – it all made sense.
She never wanted any of us! She always wanted us to die! After everything my mother did for that woman…
Her head steadily rocked back and forth as she fought to control her breathing. Lia turned her head and saw just how badly the vision had affected Cassandra. The fawn quickly dispersed the energy that formed the window and sent it away, moving to aid the brunette.
"Cassandra," she said as she crouched down to come to her level, "look at me."
We were all just pawns in her grand plan. All of us. We were all supposed to die.
Lia tried again, "Cassandra…"
She's the one who killed me – not Ethan. She gave us the head of his daughter so he would come to find us. If he couldn't do it…she would have done it herself…
Lia closed her eyes and shook her head, mumbling to herself regarding the outcome of these risky revelations. She already regretted having shown this to Cassandra, but there was no going back now. The fawn glanced back over to the woman, reaching over and taking her hand.
"Cassandra, look at me!" Lia tried to call her.
What else don't I know? I'm not in that castle anymore. I can ask myself these questions now. I'm not going to go home without the truth!
"Cassandra!" Lia screamed.
Her amber eyes shot toward her; wide and alert. "What else is there?"
Lia looked so confused. "What do you mean?"
On the brink of a total breakdown, Cassandra cleared her throat with a slow cough. She was so fragile but yet, so determined. There was no backing down from what needed to happen now. "I need you to be honest with me, please. What else did you see?"
Lia knew there was no snaking her way out of this. The fawn was a terrible liar and only ever considered such paths when the well-being of the individual was to be considered. She wanted to keep Cassandra in the dark, but she could feel the woman's emotions through her hand.
The desperation to learn the truth of one's past amidst the tidal wave of tragic truths was harder to bear than the facts themselves. The torture this poor, damaged soul felt was immeasurable, and all of that pain transferred from her palm into Lia's.
The fawn gulped as she tightened her grasp around Cassandra's pale hand. "I'm worried for you, do you know that? I never expected all this to come out."
Through a rattled voice, Cassandra's eyelids curled, pushing out more tears, "I know, but, I'm never going to get this opportunity in my world. I've been lied to. My entire family has been lied to. Right now, I don't know what to believe anymore."
Lia brought her other hand onto Cassandra's, cupping it with the natural sense of love and care that she was destined to provide to those in need. "My heart breaks for you, Cassandra. It does. I can feel the betrayal pulsing through your skin. It stings me. I am worried about what may happen to you if I show more."
She brought Cassandra's knuckles up to her thin, pink lips, kissing them gracefully while keeping her green eyes centered on her. The brunette could feel the energy that the fawn's lips sent into her bones. It was a stealthy attempt to calm her. A natural soothing act birthed by the genuine kindness of such a being.
Lia's lips broke free from her hand. A set of young tears rose from under her eyes. "I believe it will hurt you and I do not want that."
Cassandra used her free hand to touch the shaven part of her own head, running her fingers along the center of her large scar. Her breathing simmered down enough to keep her focused. She would get nowhere if she was a sobbing mess.
"I was told by my mother that our scars were 'an unfortunate blemish of otherwise perfect daughters.' We were told that the only thing we could do about it was to keep it away from the world. She had our robes made with hoods to cover them up. I believed every word of it, and I obeyed her. We all did." Cassandra removed her hand from her old wound, allowing it to fall on top of the hand of someone who sought to help her, instead of burying her.
"We believed everything we were told, and now, I see there were lies. Miranda knew about my mother's…horrible form. My mother was not her child, according to her. She used our family as bait. Now, I want to know what else I do not know." Her eyes broke loose several tears as she firmly clutched Lia's hand. "Please, I don't want to live in these lies."
Lia's sight drifted away from Cassandra and down to the ground between them. She sighed and paused, taking a second to think about what this all meant to the woman next to her. "Okay," she said as she lifted her head, "I will show you the last thing I found. I do not know what it will be, but it is at the end of your dead memories. Whatever it is – it happened before the first thing you remembered about your life."
"My birth is the first thing I remember," Cassandra stated.
"There is something I neglected to tell you about memories," Lia remarked with a foreboding expression. "I said you had dead memories. Dead memories are only ever found in the dead – not the living."
Does that mean…
Cassandra spat out her will, "Show me."
"Okay…" Lia hesitantly stood up while maintaining a connection between the two via one hand. With the other, she extended her arm and prepared to cast the final window to the past. "It is going to demand a lot of me to do this, but, I am going to push through it." She took a long breath to build her strength.
The fawn's brow began to drip more sweat as the energy funneled through her forearm and into her hand. Blue fire shot forth from her palm and created a large window ahead of the trio. Milo stepped around the chair to be with Cassandra, taking her by the right hand.
"We're here for you," he said.
She turned to him with a prevailing smile, "Thank you, Milo."
"Are you ready?" Lia asked as her green irises morphed to a bright blue.
At the forefront of the truth, Cassandra shook her head and looked straight ahead, "No…but that's not stopping me."
NOTES:
Hope you all enjoyed the biggest chapter in this story so far!
So, a lot went down in this one. Cassandra has discovered the truth of her death and Miranda's plan to see the lords killed. Obviously, she's not doing too well, but there is no changing the past – it would seem.
All she can do is uncover more of it.
So, this portion of the story was originally intended to be all in one chapter, but due to the sheer length of it, I'm going to have to split it into two, which is for the best. I was originally only going to include flashes of what the next chapter will be, but I decided to go with my original plan for it when this story came to mind.
I'm sure we all know what we are about to see next – Cassandra's past life.
Don't expect some simple filler. This next chapter is going to be the most tragic, darkest part of the story so far. It's going to be a heart-wrenching take on the origin of our beloved queen of death that will breathe life into one that was so prematurely ripped away.
The next chapter will release on April 1st (the one thing you can trust that day lol)
So, life has been busy, and my free time is devoted to both my stories and my personal life. My schedule gives me half the week off, which is pretty great, but I realize extending the release dates is best to ensure a good balance. In the meantime, expect to see the next chapter of Fragmented Fears to keep your hunger fed.
I thank you all for your patience and continued interest in this writing. I absolutely cannot wait to get these next chapters out as this story is about to take some wild turns and we are getting there. You've all continued to be a great source of inspiration to me time and time again, and you can look forward to more writings of mine in the future! There is still so much ahead, and it is all for you! Hope you guys have had a great month so far and wish you well. Stay safe out there! :)