United Against Hate: Chapter 25

Alison opened her eyes and she had been transported somewhere else. She was standing on neat cut grass, with trees along her path. But in front of her was a building made of stone in front of her. The sky above was a blue one with the sun just out of sight. The air was warm and comfortable.

“Where are we?” she whispered. She was the only person in the area despite how open it looked. If anything, she thought this place aught to have been filled with people. What kind she wasn’t sure, but at the very least some commotion belonged.

“This is the inside of that girl’s mind,” Penny said materializing beside Alison like her dark shadow. “And somewhere here we will find her.”

Alison looked beyond the building but it was just empty space. Even the grass that was around came to an abrupt stop. “Why isn’t there anything else here?”

“One doesn’t create an entire city to be their inner sanctuary. Just where they feel comfortable or safe. Or in control.”

They walked the steps slowly and watched as the pair of doors opened to them. But as they walked through them, instead of stepping into the heart of the building they were walking into what looked like a singular classroom. The desks were against the far wall with a curving rise so that students could sit and see the head of the room.

On the opposite was a long chalkboard and a few tables for demonstration. But more to the point the pair saw that there was one figure in the room itself. She was standing in front of the chalkboard, moving her hands and creating lights and shapes in the air. Complex constructs that looked like they belonged in the structure of a building instead of a classroom.

Her eyes burned with a bright white light that was second only to the smile on her face. She created a bright star with intricate rings, satellites, and more. She held it aloft on her palm and frowned hard looking closely at it. “What should I call this? A star is too simple for how extravagant this truly is. It needs a proper name.”

“Silva?” Alison asked as she walked into the classroom.

The faerie girl looked at her star a moment longer then smiled brightly at her. “I remember you. From Isal. Your name is Alison correct?”

“It is. And this is my partner Penny,” she motioned to the demon who only stared at the girl.

Silva’s eyes widened slightly flashing green but she smiled and then returned to white. “Hello Alison. Hello Penny. Have you come to watch my demonstration?”

“Watch your demonstration. Don’t be ridiculous,” Penny started to berate her but Alison held her hand out carefully.

“What kind of demonstration?” she asked instead.

Her eyes seemed to glow at the question and she moved quickly past them and climbed the steps of the desks and pointed to the wall. Penny and Alison followed her slowly and looked up. “That.” She was pointing to an old grandfather clock made with white wood, a smooth clock face, and a clear glass center where all of the inner workings were exposed. From every gear to cog to rotating piece of metal.

“A clock?” Penny asked.

“A clock made entirely from my magic. I had a thesis that faerie magic was the most complex form of magic out there. Most magic is sustained by the caster but this. I crafted and created each piece of this clock from scratch. And it’s been running without my intervention for almost a month now. I haven’t felt the pull of it on me and when I really looked closely. I found that it wasn’t draining on me at all. It was self-sufficient.”

“Self sufficient?” Alison repeated. “It could power itself.”

“More than that. It was creating power. I can siphon from it to fuel my own magic for more and more complex things.” She grinned at them. “Do you know what this means?”

“I can’t say I do,” Alison said.

“It means perpetually this can grow and grow. Faerie magic can power anything. Spells that are physically impossible for normal spellcasters or even the most powerful faeries. Nothing is off limits.”

“Infinitely gaining power,” Alison said and looked at Penny. “What are the odds that this is a real thing and not just a part of her mind.”

“Who knows. Anything and nothing could be true here. I barely know what a faerie is.”

“I guess we’ll find out once we get out of here,” she said and turned back to Silva. “Silva what you’ve managed to uncover here is amazing. But we need to go back home. Your parents, your brother, and your sister. They miss you. They want you back home.”

Suddenly the classroom was infinitely colder. Alison took a step back toward Penny and Silva stared at the ground. The glow that permeated her faded away until it was like a black void of space. “My family doesn’t want me. And why would they?”

She swung her arm and the white light of her magic lashed out startling bright. “I can’t do this. I’m not like any of them. I not a faerie like my una or my sister.” She threw her other hand out and growled scales covering her mouth for a moment. “I’m not a dragon like father or my brother. Why would any of them want me around! At least this way. They can all still live.”

She walked away quickly and shoved past the two of them going right to the clock. She pressed her hand against the face, feeling the hands tick underneath her palm, and closed her eyes tightly. Instead of the room getting brighter though another presence made itself known.

“You really think that trying to talk to her is going to make her leave this place? Trust me I tried.”

They both turned to watch Titanya strut through the classroom every bit the dark alter image of Silva. The demon walked toward the spellcaster they inhabited and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. But she didn’t seem to react to the touch or even acknowledge her presence.

“Look at her. She built all of this in her mind so that she could live in denial. It’s precious if not grossly tragic.”

“Get away from her,” Alison almost shouted and glared raising her hand. But her own magic didn’t come. Scowling she nodded. “Right. I’m not really here am I?”

Penny shook their head, “No. Our power doesn’t affect someone’s subconscious unless they want it to.”

“And right now she doesn’t want anything more than to live in this fantasy.”

“You’d enjoy that wouldn’t you. Would let you keep her body,” Alison said shaking her head. “You can’t run from it forever Silva.”

“And why should I face it!” She whirled around and both of them were thrown into the wall and held there by magic they couldn’t beat. “Why should I face a reality where my worst fears have finally come true!”

Silva floated forward her hands glowing and her eyes dripping from white into a deep black. It darkened her face more and she glared at them. “Neither of you. Any of you! Have any idea what it’s like! To be raised believing that you’re supposed to be great and then watch it be stripped away!”

She swung again carving scratch marks into the wall like massive claws raking through the stone. Her eyes turned draconic and her teeth grew as she snarled at them. “And then the moment I finally start to accept it. The moment I think maybe I can live a different life. I have the very thing I sought ripped out of me!”

Flames exploded out of her incinerating the desks and destroying the chalkboard. The clock continued to glow white light despite the darkness around them. As she spoke Titanya moved to stand behind her and wrapped one arm around her shoulders again. “And now I share my body with a demon. So why would I want to go back to reality? Why go back to reality when I can live here and have exactly what I want in peace?”

“Because you’re alone here,” Alison said softly. She looked up slowly and met Silva’s black eyes. “You love your brother, your sister, and your parents. You offered yourself up to Daze to protect your sister. None of them have stopped looking for you. I can’t pretend to understand how you feel or the pain you’ve been dragged through.

“But I know that the thing that mends that pain best is having my boyfriend, my daughter, my brother, and my family with me. Even my father.” She took a deep breath and looked back at her. “They don’t make the pain go away but they help soothe it, massage it, and eventually one day make it so you can face it without fear. But you have to let them in. Let them try.”

The flames dissipated slowly around them and both Alison and Penny fell back to the ground. They were both wary but as they looked at Silva, she nearly fell but Titanya pressed held her up. Silva looked at them and then looked down at the ground.

 “I don’t want to admit it. Admit that it’s gone.” She shut her eyes tightly and shook her head. Alison walked toward her slowly and took her hand lightly.  “How can they accept me as this? How can they look at me the same way now? How can Sofie forgive me for what I’ve put her through?”

“Being a faerie never mattered to them. They miss and love you, Silva. You. And they just want you back with them,” Alison said softly. “Especially Sofie.” And then slowly she hugged the girl and said, “I’m sorry Silva. But I’ll be there with you. I’ll help you get home and with your family again. I promise.”

Silva didn’t cry but she held onto her tightly. She took a deep breath and just kept ahold of her. But as she hugged her everything around them slowly began to fade away. The walls fell down, the desk disappeared. The only thing that remained was the silver clock, still ticking behind them.

When Alison took a step back, she looked down at Silva, and watched the black of her eyes fade away until they were blue. A softer blue than her eyes used to be but not quite the color of ice. They were a clear blue like the gentle seas.

She looked at her hands and they shook but she closed them into fists and lowered her arms. But Alison looked past the girl and looked at Titanya. “That just leaves you.”

“That was almost amiable. And here I thought you were going to blame me for this.”

“I know better than to judge a demon on their existence,” she said glancing at her partner. “But the question becomes, what do you want Silva? Sharing your body with a demon isn’t something to be chosen lightly. And you didn’t choose this.”

Silva looked up at Alison but focused her new blue eyes on Titanya. “So gonna get rid of me? Try to purge me?”

Silva stopped and turned to her demon, “Why didn’t you try to kill me?”

“What?”

“I was too weak mentally to have fought you off. If you wanted to devour me and take my body. You could have. Why didn’t you?”

 “Didn’t want to,” they shrugged which was so strange for Silva to see her own body do. “I’m not that old of a demon. And not that strong either. I just wanted to see the living world with my own eyes. See it without becoming a hungering monster like those calamity demons. And then Daze grabbed me and put me inside you.”

“I remember,” she said steadily as she remembered the process in which a demon was forced onto her own soul. Even in her numbed state, it had hurt. “You’ve been wielding your power as if you were a faerie. How?”

“It wasn’t hard. It’s your magic and your knowledge. I was just thinking outside the book and adding a bit of my flavor to the mix. Like it?”

“Yes. So, I offer you a contract,” Silva said and the three around her widened their eyes. “Allow me the use of your power and be the faerie I never could be. And in return, I give you access to my body. I’ll show you this world. Reditus, Nerodala. Xye. Arkoria. All of it.”

Titanya laughed bordering on a cackle as they nodded their head, “I like you. I like you a lot. I accept your terms, Silva Niess.”

With those words, the clock toned. They watched the silver of the clock turn black. The wood a deep lacquer, the hands glowing to raise off the face. When the color finally enveloped it, the world faded into nothing entirely and they along with it.

Alison’s eyes went huge as sensory overload hit her. She coughed into her hand and gasped for breath but she felt the hands at her back. She looked up and saw Vincent looking down at her. The sun was starting to break over the edge of the sky though a proper dawn was definitely far away.

She started to sit up properly and winced letting out a soft cry. “Hey hey. Easy. It’s me. You’re back. Scared the fuck out of me.”

“Sorry Vince. We haven’t done something like that before. At least not to that extreme,” she rubbed her forehead slowly and remembered where she was. She was on softer grass near the edge of the water and could just barely hear the water.

As she looked around them, she saw her brother looking over to them and relief flood his face immediately. She smiled back at him to let him know she was okay. But at her feet she saw Silva start to stir, getting up slowly. She groaned softly and held a hand to her face as her silver hair shrouded her face.

“Hey take it easy Silva” Alison said softly.

“Follow your own advice,” Vincent mumbled keeping his arm around her waist.

“We are Vince. We promise.”

Silva raised her head slowly to look at them and both of them were shocked. Her eyes may have been blue still, but the whites within them were entirely black. Silva touched her face and blinked slowly as the black disappeared, “So this is what it’s like for us now. Our parents aren’t going to like this.”

Vincent scratched the back of his head, “You get used to it pretty fast. But we still gotta address that.”

He pointed across from them at the temple proper. The Zodiac and sanguiknight’s stood together but they were standing mostly like a perimeter and it was around those that came there with Daze. Alison didn’t know any of their names but from what she could tell the one that was probably their leader was on the ground. “What happened?”

Vincent sighed, “When Daze left, he dropped something. Whatever it was made their leader fall to the ground and I think he’s unconscious. Leo took it and they’ve been trying to get it back since.”

“Give us that core now! Or this fight starts again,” Roxanne snarled.

Leo stared at her and shook her head in disbelief, “You’re Lyrian aren’t you?”

Roxanne’s eyes narrowed, “So we are sisters in more than one way.  Now hand it over!”

“I don’t know what this is but if it’s something that you crave so bad maybe I should hold onto it. Or maybe I’ll destroy it and rid us of this conversation altogether,” she said flames jumping from her mouth as she glared.

Roxanne hissed, her ears flattening. Her mask was already forming over her face as she took a step forward. “You dare threaten our king in our presence. You’ll die for this.”

“Come then. My flames aren’t sated yet,” Leo said calling her sword as the constellations of stars swirled in her hair.

Before either woman could move forward Cancer ran between the two of them and held out his hands. “Roxanne! Mom! You don’t have to do this!”

“Step aside Cancer!” Heine growled from behind the mask. “You know we won’t hesitate to go through you to protect them.”

“I know. But a fight doesn’t have to happen.”

“You’d side with the people who killed your father over your own family,” Leo said no accusations in her voice. Just hurt. Cancer looked at his mother and the pain in her eyes hit him to his core. And it showed on his face as well.

Gemini ran forward and looked at his twin. Cancer tried to smile at him but the real feelings in his heart were reflected painfully on his brother’s face. Not just that but he saw the face of a man he’d never met before. But from the broken heart in his chest, he knew it had to have been his past life’s best friend.

“Don’t make my mistake Cancer,” he heard barely as a whisper.

Gemini reached toward him and Cancer took his hand. They squeezed one another’s hands tightly meeting one another’s eyes and then hugged each other. A weight lifted off Cancer’s chest and Gemini broke out into a broken laugh.

“I missed you.”

“Missed you too.”

Leo looked at the two of them and all at once the flames left Leo’s visage and the stars winked out one by one. She stared at her sons together and her shoulders sagged exhausted. Her sword flashed and returned to the necklace around her neck but she didn’t relinquish hold on the core. “Talk son. If it’s from you, I’ll believe.”

He felt weak almost falling over but he kept himself standing by the strength of his brother, “Thank you mom.”

Shutting his eyes tightly he shook slightly. “After they dragged me and dad through the portal, we were restrained and imprisoned in a temple. I was with dad. When he was killed.” Leo stiffened looking at him and just remembering it was hurting him as well. “Daze stole the power from Silva,” he looked toward her. “And then he stole the powers from dad and he died in the same moment.”

Leo looked like she’d been struck and Gemini stumbled backwards. He looked as if he would fall over when he split apart and both of his halves kept him upright. But Cancer, despite staring at the ground, held onto his brother. “Badou told me he didn’t know what Daze would do and I believe him. More than that he fought Daze and risked his own life to stop Daze from taking me as well.

“These people,” Cancer looked back and lingered on Badou’s unconscious shape. “They’re just as much victims of Daze as we are.  More than that, they’re going to be the ones to help us kill him.”

“You expect the people who helped and worked with Daze to suddenly turn against him?” Morrigan scoffed. “Have you no loyalty?”

“We have loyalty,” Julie said coming forward and pointed with her sword. “Our loyalty is to that man. That’s our leader. Our king.”

“He’s the real leader of Noria. We’re not interested in replacing him,” Frost said.

Roxanne scowled, “Not exactly a graceful way of wording it but that sums it up.”

Alistair looked toward the rest and finally Leo. “The core. What is it? Truly?”

Miles looked at Roxanne who was still at attention but then to Julie and Frost. Frost nodded and Julie gave a slow nod as well. Miles faced them saying, “It’s the core of our king. A second heart. If something happens to it our king will die.”

“Please mom. Give it back to them. Badou has. An idea. A plan. That can fix things. And whether or not it works, he can’t try if he’s dead.” The other guardians looked at him shocked. But Cancer was only focused on his mother.

Leo looked at him. Really looked at him and she shut her eyes. “I’ve never known you to do something without a reason. Nor without thinking it all the way through. And I know your father. I know Pisces would tell me the same thing.” She turned her amber gaze past them onto Roxanne and tossed the core.

All at once the demon’s mask faded away and she jumped forward, cradling it against her chest. The moment Roxanne landed she sprinted back to Badou’s side as did Miles. Frost and Julie kept their eyes on the others, but it was obvious their attention was split.

It wasn’t much of a ritual to return the core to Badou. The core wanted to be returned. The moment it hovered over his chest black energy erupted from Badou’s body grabbing the core. Slowly it dragged it down, melting into his skin. And just as quickly, Badou’s eye flew open.

He jerked upward gasping, his mask partially formed and fading. Badou held his chest tightly taking in huge lungfuls of breath. He looked first at Roxanne who looked on the verge of tears. He touched the top of her head and she wrapped her arms around him tightly, purring loudly.

Frost laughed rubbing his eyes and bowing his head, “Welcome back my king. You had us worried.”

“Seriously. Thought we’d get a replacement,” Julie rubbed her eyes.

“Sorry everyone. We didn’t mean to scare you,” he laughed but looked past them to Leo. “And I’m sorry to you.”

“Don’t apologize to me,” she growled. “I spared you because it was my son’s request. And no more.”

Badou nodded slowly and started to stand. He wobbled and Roxanne protested but he shook his head standing upright. “I take it we’re all in agreement that Daze needs to be stopped.”

“That goes without saying,” Morrigan folded her arms.

“Good. Because for what Daze is going to do next, we’re all going to need to be on the same page.” As his guardians gathered around Badou frowned hard. “Daze gave up the leverage he had over me and us. Meaning he doesn’t need slaves to do his bidding anymore.”

“Then you know what he’s going to do next?” Alison asked as the three of them finally rejoined the group.

“I think so,” Badou sighed looking at each of them. “We need to go back to Arkoria.”