United Against Hate: Chapter 4

“Concentrate Sofia. You’re better than this!”

They found a patch of ground that was sand free. It was cracked and dry but it was better than getting sand stuck in their pants and their boots. They ate some of their rations which weren’t anything like properly cooked food in the castle but it was better than nothing.

Emeralda was laying on the ground observing them and Sefirin sat against one of her hind legs. Chewing on a piece of dried beef they were both warmed by the fire pit they had dug. The pair of them stared at the sisters as they stood on the opposite side of the fire, training. Not the first time they had done this since the beginning of the journey.

Though what looked like training had turned into a lot of berating from Silva and frustration from Sofie. The younger faerie picked herself off the ground slowly and leaned back, her eyes a muted green and yellow combination. She glared at her sister but she only looked back with muted blue eyes.

“I told you I can’t remember how I did it. It just. It just happened.”

“You have to try remember Sofia.”

“I’m trying!”

“Stop trying and just fucking do it!” she shouted.

Silva stepped forward and brought her hands down. The air shimmered in front of her and the air elemental returned to her side. She cast another spell and the shape of the elemental disappeared from a near invisible body to one of physical definition and oily black metal. A near perfect replica of Daze stepped forward and glared at her.

Sofie struggled to keep her eyes focused and the yellow fear out of them. The imposing figure started to walk and then ran bringing out the black sword. Sofie stood her ground, the first time she’d done that since this had started, and raised her hands.

A gust of wind came to life and blew into the Daze clone. He slid back a step but stepped forward again and growled fighting back against it. He swept his sword out and the wind was split apart and blew Sofie off her feet. She flipped ready to catch herself but Daze was underneath her.

She started to swing her arm at him. Starting to counterattack him and then she looked at him. Saw the hate in his eyes and she was suddenly on the plateau. She was in a cage and couldn’t fight back anymore. His arm shot forward and she covered her face, curling up. His sword passed through her like it was never there and she hit the ground hard.

Sofie rolled across the ground groaning and shuddered. Daze stood over here and then faded back into the shape of the elemental and finally disappeared entirely. Emeralda hummed staring at her partner and then growled at Silva.

“Enough of this,” she said sitting up and startling Sefirin. “This isn’t going to help Sofie learn to use her magic or unlock the faerie magic within her. All it will do is cause her further distress and I won’t allow that to happen.”

“Em,” Sofie got to her feet slowly, still shaking. She panted softly her eyes turning back to green. “I asked her to do this. I asked for this. We need to figure out how to help me use my faerie magic. I did it once. I have to do it again.”

“There needs to be a better way,” Sefirin said.

“Like how,” Sofie said shaking and glanced at one of the few bags they’d brought with them. She saw the books they’d stolen away about faerie magic to study with. That maybe they contained something they hadn’t thought of. “Regular drills and practice has never worked. I’m just bad at this like I am everything else.”

“No one is unteachable,” Silva said after some time. “We just haven’t found the best way to teach you. You figured out wind magic didn’t you?”

“Barely.”

“And how did you understand using the shield magic with Emeralda?”

“I don’t know. It just happened.”

“Think,” Silva said walking toward her sister. “Think about how you felt when you did it the first time.” Silva stood in front of her sister and met her gaze calmly. “Concentrate Sofia.”

 Sofie closed her eyes tightly and tried to focus. To remember the adrenaline of that moment. Of Emeralda and herself fighting against the red dragon. Of the moment she freed herself from Daze’s control. She let out a shout and stumbled backward shaking her head.

“I can’t Silva. I can’t.”

“You can,” Silva told her. “You just need time. Everyone can learn.”

Sofie started to argue but yawned and covered her mouth. As if in solidarity Emeralda yawned loudly as well. Sefirin stretched and walked away from the dragon and toward his sisters. He wrapped his arms around them both, “You two have been working hard together. And we still have a distance to fly in the morning. So lets get some sleep.”

“Sure Seffy,” Sofie said and walked over to Emeralda. Emeralda lowered her head and Sofie hugged her tightly. “I’m tired Em.”

“I can feel that hatchling,” she said. “We have had a long day. And your training not going well is definitely taxing you.”

“Yeah it has,” she grumbled and lay down slowly against one of her legs and leaned against her chest. She felt the warmth of her partner like a comfortable blanket. Emeralda lowered her wing as well.

“Hey Em mind if I grab some leg pillow?” Sefirin asked tapping her hindleg.

She turned back to look at him and rumbled a laugh. “Yes Sefirin you may rest with us.” But she turned to look at Silva and narrowed her eyes slowly. “And what will you do Silva?”

Silva glanced at the dragon and she didn’t miss the veiled hostility from the dragon. She understood part of that considering how their training sessions tended to be rough. She couldn’t help her past resentments coming out when working with her. “You all sleep. I’m going to stay up a bit longer.”

Emeralda nodded slowly and blinked her large green eyes. “Very well. But do not overdo it. We all need our strength for this journey.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Emeralda nodded slowly and lowered her head down. She kept her eyes on Silva for a long moment before finally closing her eyes and relaxing. Between her siblings and Emeralda they looked nice and comfortable. It was surprisingly comfortable and in a lot of ways everything she’d imagined it would be from the stories of Silver.

Silva watched the three of them sleeping and her heart was heavy. She picked up one of the books that had fallen out of the pouch. Faerie magic conceptualization for beginners. The book she’d given her sister what felt like an eternity ago about learning to use faerie magic. Something she’d been given by her own grandmothers to prepare her.

She stared at the fire and wrapped her arms around her legs. Her eyes bled away from the blue to a deep green tint. A green that turned into a deep red. She stared at the fire and tried to remember what her grandmothers had told her when she was only seven years old.

‘Q’una. How will I know when I can do faerie magic?’

‘Pay attention o’lela,’ Olivier had told her. ‘When your time comes understanding the magic that’s inside of you is going to be something special. You’ll feel like something you’ve been missing your entire life is suddenly with you.’

‘What does that mean q’una?’ Silva had asked.

‘It’s something you feel in your soul o’lela.’

‘Luza please stop confusing her,’ Madeline had said looking at her wife.

‘Well how would you explain it then luza,’ Olivier had complained putting her hands on her hips.

Madeline chuckled before going down to her knee and looking at Silva. ‘Inside of a faerie is a star.’ She held her hand up and a bright white orb appeared in front of her. ‘It starts out small but it grows with every passing day. And one day,’ the ball expanded and then exploded showering them in glittering light. ‘It will explode and you will be filled with a light and magic that you have never felt before. And that is when you will know you have awakened as a faerie properly. So bide your time o’lela.’

“A star inside,” Silva said to herself. She held her hand out and manifested a ball of light. Magic flowed differently in this country. She felt it the moment they crossed over but it was still hers. It glowed bright white but it wasn’t the same shade of white as her grandmother’s or the right type of intensity. It wasn’t the light of a faerie. Just the light of a spellcaster.

She looked toward where her sister was sleeping under the wing of her dragon and nodded slowly. “One of us has to have it don’t we Sofia? One of us has to be the faerie. And it’s you.” As she stared into the fire, she pressed one hand to her chest. “I never had the star inside me did I q’una?” she asked softly.

She stared into the fire and saw the faces of her grandmothers and of her mother. All of them looking at her with their calm faerie blue eyes. They smiled at her encouragingly but she didn’t feel encouragement. She felt condescending pity.

“Don’t worry o’lela. I’m sure you’re a late bloomer,” Olivier said.

Madeline spread her arms, “Not every faerie’s star ignites at the same time.”

“You are a talented spellcaster beyond measure lela,” her mother had said. “And you’ll be an amazing faerie. I know it.”

“Right a talented spellcaster. All the talent and power in the world except I can’t be the one thing I want,” she growled and ground her teeth together. She felt her dragon blood waking up and her eyes bleeding into the slitted angry lizard eyes.

She stared at the hourglass necklace she’d received from Sehren. She could see his face and remember his words. To make peace with things but she tore her eyes away from it.

Silva swung her arm out and the ball of light leapt from her hand and blew through the flames of the fire. She shouted unleashing a torrent of fire from her mouth blasting the flames straight into the air. She silently screamed her frustration into the flames until the light was bright enough to hurt her own eyes. Her eyes stung with tears she didn’t want to shed and lowered her head.

“What if you got rid of her?”

Silva’s eyes widened and she turned at the voice. “What?”

“Get rid of her.”

Silva looked around for the source of it but she was alone in the desert. The shadows from the fire were extended far but none of them were the originator of the voice she’d heard. She raised her hands, her eyes forced into that cool blue.

“She’s not powerful nor is talented.”

“She’s a waste of space.”

“So get rid of her.”

“It would be so simple.”

“And then she wouldn’t be a stain on your eyes.”

“You would be free.”

She jumped to her feet glaring at the desert and the sand. She turned around going in circles. Her eyes went huge shifting away from the calm blue that teetered on panicked yellow to an amber dragon. Her teeth turned to fangs as she looked around.

“Show yourself!” she roared. “You picked the wrong time to mess with me!”

She felt a hand on her shoulder and heard the voice suddenly directly behind her. It was like she was paralyzed. More than that it was like she was suddenly not in control of herself. She was woozy and her legs felt weak. She wasn’t sure if she’d keep herself standing if the hand wasn’t there presently.

She heard the voice whispering in her ear, sounding like some mix of her own and something else. Something she couldn’t place. Something she’d never heard before. And worst of all, she couldn’t deny that what it said hadn’t been something that she’d thought. In her darkest moments when she let her mind really wander.

“Look at her,” the voice said and from the darkness, Sofie appeared laying on the ground. Curled up with her eyes closed calmly. She looked peaceful. Comfortable against the ground. “Not a care in the world. Look at her. Meanwhile, you struggle. You can’t find peace. You can’t rest.”

“She stole it from you.”

“Stolen what was yours.”

“She doesn’t deserve to have it.”

Silva stared at her little sister as the words echoed around her and she felt her teeth grind together. Felt the frustration that she’d shoved deep into the corners of her mind start to resurface in a way that was strong and palpable.

“She took what was meant to be mine,” she said slowly.

Her fingers twitched and the sand and ground around her twisted and came to life. It started to swirl and move, growing taller to stand over the young girl. It took shape as one of her elementals, turning to solid rock. It loomed over her and covered her in its shadow as its eyes glowed brightly.

“There you go,” the voice said warmly, like that of one of her mothers as they read her a story to bed. “You’re doing it. The powers were confused. Without the fake there. The true faerie will gain everything that she lost.”

Silva raised her hand as the elemental raised its arms, both its hand closing into fists. The voice continued singing through her ears gently to the tune of an old lullaby her una would sing to her. “Take your time and be precise. Erase this stain from your life. Say the words, the command in your head. Soon your sister will be dead.”

Shutting her eyes, she brought her arm down and flames flashed behind her lids. The sound of a scream and glass breaking filled her ears. She tasted blood on her lips as she turned around quickly and whipped her hand forward. Flames raced to her command filling her vision again but this time in the form of one of her elementals. It had a pair of burning glowing eyes and a wide jagged open mouth.

Silva panted, looking at one of her hands burned red and raw. Her eyes were a deep red and she tried to ignore her pain. Tried to block it out and focus on the man in front of her now. Wearing a sleeveless shirt, a hood pulled deep over his head. He had bronze skin and loose black hair, hacked short by a knife. He slid back his hood slowly, hands heavily bandaged, as he ignored the burning elemental and looked at her. His eyes were just like the sky, a black pit in the center with stars around the edges.

“Huh. You got through that one. Most people your age can’t beat back the voices from beyond.”

Panting Silva winced and looked all around her. The shadows seemed to all but disappear in the wake of the fire. Emeralda had her head down and dug deep into her legs. She could see her brother and her sister as well but now she saw their faces and saw the discomfort in their faces. She wouldn’t be surprised if something was plaguing Emeralda as well. Something was wrong with them.

“Who the hell are you?” Silva snarled.

“A man who has seen things that no living person should have seen. Especially as a mage.” His voice was dry, almost like it came from a cave. From a mouth that belonged to a creature from her uncle’s stories. “I saw the brink of insanity. I saw the edge of reality as we know it. You’re just getting a taste of that.”

“A taste. It tastes like an illusion. An illusion is just a difference of perception,” she said carefully. “My uncle taught me that. And his illusions are ten times better than yours.”

“Keep calling them illusions. When reality sets in you’ll wish things were as fake as the lies you tell yourself.”

Silva blinked rapidly trying to absorb his words and scowled, “What are you talking about?”

The starry eyed man shook his head, “You do magic too but you can’t sense it. You’re not from around here. No wonder he wanted me to come.”

Silva felt unsettled looking at this man so she changed topics, “What are you doing to my brother and sister?”

“Nothing as bad as what you’re going through if that’s what you’re asking. Just something to keep them out of this.”

The flaming elemental leaped forward and brought its fist down on him. The man was split in half by the blow. But she watched his image shimmer and fade away to stardust. She watched him appear slowly again from the shadows his hands behind his back.

“That was close. Is that a demon? No. We don’t have those on this side.”

“What the hell are you? Why are you doing this?”

He didn’t respond. Instead, he started changing and though the language was foreign it felt familiar. She watched him spread his arms and stars start to appear on his hands and arms. They were stars but they were distorted in a rainbow of colors like a haze. It traveled up his body until entered his eyes turning them into a slurry of color. She quickly looked toward the flaming elemental near her, “Pyro. Stop him.”

It nodded and sprinted forward. The elemental brought a fist down on the man and again its fist through him like a shimmering image. Silva let out a louder noise of frustration and whirled around when she heard it. The ground cracked beneath her feet and she was suddenly falling. Falling into the deep abyss of the darkness, stars streaking past her like a meteor showered. She could feel the silent wind rushing past her ears and her heart fluttering in panic.

But she remembered her training. She squeezed her burnt hand into a fist and bit into her wounded lip. The pain grounded her. Let her feel the sand beneath her feet. Let her come out of the illusion. Except not all of it had been an illusion. The sky was suddenly covered by not just one but hundreds of streaking white lights. It was a meteor shower, something she’d seen as a child. Except these were all coming right at her. “Terra!” The ground shifted and an elemental of rock assembled around her to protect her from the sudden rain of flaming stone.

She heard her elemental grunting under the onslaught, its sole mission to protect her. And while it did its job she listened. She sensed with her magic. She looked for the man as he brought the sky down on her head.

“Where are you,” she growled flames leaping from her mouth. She closed her eyes and then sniffed the air. She sniffed again and felt the scales grow along her nose turning it longer and nostrils larger. She sniffed again and finally opened her now amber eyes.

She stared at a dune watching the strange haze that seemed to be just beyond her vision. “There you are,” she growled. “Pyro.”

The elemental seemed to be smiling as it took the order and its flames grew infinitely brighter. It thrust both hands together and sent flames spiraling out from its palms. They arched across the sands and then arched up into a true twister of fire.

She watched the flames as they flashed across her eyes, making them glow. She affixed her eyes on the area but she wasn’t watching the flames themselves. She was looking everywhere else and then she saw it.

A shape dart from within the column bathed in the strange starlight. “Pyro!”

It grunted and looked in the same direction before nodding. It took a few steps then jumped turning into a rocket. It crashed into him with a massive explosion. Her elemental came down, landing on all fours its flames diminished but she watched where the man crashed. Just an unmoving smoking heap.

Silva walked forward slowly feeling her feet dig into the sand. “Show yourself. I know you’re still alive.”

Like the evening darkness coming he pulled himself forward. His clothes were singed slightly and the bandages on his hands were burned away. They were stained like they were covered in oil. Shifting with the color of the flames around them. An oil that she knew intimately. Too intimately.

He dusted the sand off himself. “That was clever. How’d you see through the stars?”

“You can’t hide from a dragon,” she growled and the noises that came from her mouth were anything but human. “Pyro!” The elemental looked at her immediately and tensed ready for another order to fight.

“A dragon? And here I thought I’d seen it all,” He laughed again then flinched. He covered his mouth and coughed into his oiled hand and the cough seemed truly hurt. She could barely make out the blood on his palm. It was dark, the same color as his hands. Except fresh. Her eyes turned a sharp yellow and she whispered under her breath, “Daze.”

The man started coughing again harder than before. He fell down to his knees holding his sides. His face pressed into the sand and it looked like he was convulsing on the ground. Silva wasn’t sure if this was some kind of trick or not but she wasn’t going to fall for it.

“Fucking body is still falling apart. Daze damn near killed me to answer a question and now I’m here suffering his consequences. Sorry your majesty. I’m gonna have to retreat for now.”

He lowered one hand and reached into a pocket of his jacket. He pulled out what looked like a pocket watch. It was black like the same material as his hands had become. He pressed the top of it and it glowed. A dark portal appeared at his back and tore open like a rift in reality.

“Well dragon girl I have to go. But I’m sure me and you are going to meet again.”

“Oh no you don’t! Pyro!”

Silva swung her hand forward and the elemental was racing after him. He stepped through the portal and it disappeared just as the elemental closed the distance. Silva growled and huffed a plume of smoke.

But she looked back toward her siblings and Emeralda and the draconic eyes finally faded away giving way to green and yellow pupils. “Okay Silva. The threat is gone. Now to wake them up too.”

She heard the echoes of the voices in her head and she started to really wonder where the illusion had ended and where her own thoughts ended.