A Taste of Mercy (A Recipe fo...

Even with the drug still merrily churning in my blood, I felt cold and shaky. More tears spilled even though the Phoenix Tears kept me from truly feeling the emotions propelling them and Aerona found me curled up on my bed, eyes nearly swollen shut from the torrent of them. “Oh hey… another object lesson Callahan?” she sounded sympathetic as she crawled onto the bed, curling up to face me. “The Phoenix Tears aren’t stopping yours now anymore are they?” she brushed a few of the droplets off my face, her touch not as repulsive as Brenin’s. “Come with me, I know where I can take you that’ll help cheer you up.” She pulled me from the bed and I followed along like an ambulatory marionette.

The cold that had hit me after Brenin left only grew as I moved around, not so much chasing away the bemusement of the drug, but somehow merging with it so that I felt completely unreal; filled with static instead of life. Aerona seemed oblivious to my odd state as she led me out of the Castle proper and to a building that managed to warm my spirit out of its despair. A Goddess Temple, one of Her great houses. Worship can happen anywhere but there is only one major great Temple in each Realm for the Goddess in Five Aspects. Huge structures that act as both Fortress and University, forbidden to only the Priests and Acolytes, this one taller than Le Notre Dame du Paris, and sprawled out twice as wide. Inevitably it was pentagonal, one wing each being dedicated to an individual Aspect with the center a combined space for worship. Most rumors claim that there are riches beyond imagining within the halls of each great Temple, probably spurred on by the heavily decorated exterior, matching the Aspect the interior section dedicated to. I currently faced the wall paying homage to the Reaper, the Aspect I gave devotions to. On one corner there was a woman whose face was unseen, clothed only in her long hair as she danced. The opposite corner had an identically nude woman but she held an old soul in one hand and a new one in the other, this time her body clothed only in splattered blood.  In between these two images were depictions of all the things this Aspect claimed; shape changers danced with corpses, were seduced by Karon, and given new life. So many concepts were mixed and combined and yet this was only one of her Aspects. And despite my resolve to avoid all thought of the future, I knew that someday I’d have to bring Cassie here so she could give dedication to her Aspect, the Mother. It just felt right to consider the two of us being inside there, as if it would close a circle that had been left open.

“The Priests of the Temple reached out to us, somehow knowing you were and who you are. You are invited to enter at any time you chose.” Aerona’s voice helped me shake off the strange thoughts I was having.

“I’ll have to thank them for that. Though something tells me it’ll be later, on my own time.” I replied with a casual shrug.

“Yes. As beautiful as the Temple is, I wanted to bring you to the Hall of the Gods.” Aerona led me onwards.

The Hall of the Gods were much more plentiful than Temples were and covered not just the Goddess in her Five Aspects, but also housed altars to other major Gods. Inside could be found the Roman next to the Norse, the Hindu sharing space with the Granite Diety, and a Higher Power lurking in the shadows. Although many people simply prayed to the Goddess, sometimes one found themselves needing to pray to a very specific God, with a very specific purpose and offering a sacrifice that would gain them favour. Norse gods loved offerings of glory, sometimes violence and war, sometimes epic tales of heroism. Greek gods were more lured in by baubles of worth and rarities, spun sunlight or silvered opal were both accepted. In this Hall of the Gods there were many more Demon Deities than I could recognize, and we walked past worshippers that were as varied as their gods were.

“These are the gods my people pray to when we cannot pray to the Goddess.” Aerona explained, and I suspected she needed to talk about this more than I needed to hear it. “There are nine Lesser Blessed that are specific to the Granite Realm; Gluthien is our god of prosperity and often called Lady Luck. Jovive is the god of emotions, impulse and instinct. Tantrevin is the god of fertility, the great consort to the Matriarch Aspect of the Goddess. Warwick is our god of violence, she is passion and insanity and blood lust; my personal goddess under the Goddess in Five Aspects. Sociphim is the god of the home,  of belonging. Enfini is our god of death, the bridge between death and new life. Lastly there is Imagus, the god of imagination and logic.” She fell silent as we finally walked out of the Hall and back towards the Castle.

“Why did you want me to know all of this?” I finally asked, deciding not to beat around the bush.

“Because no supplication from anyone so far has gotten us as much help as you’ve been able to provide. Our gods are failing us.” Aerona bluntly replied. “We need you. There is something about these attacking forces that are just a complete abomination to all, and that says a lot coming from me.”

“You’re not the only Realm getting attacked.” I finally admitted, remembering what Cassie was able to explain to me. “These monsters are appearing in the Mortal World as well, though there they bring plague instead of death. A lot of people have died there as well, and very little is known about how to stop the spread of illness. I suspect that Underhill and the Higher Plane are likewise under attack, no doubt one is dealing with famine and the other war.” As I spoke it out the details made sense to me. There had to be a reason that humanity had so many stories of apocalypse, that the four horsemen that brought doom were the perfect counter to each of the Realms. Death for the undying Demon hoard, Pestilence for the Humans who have so much life, War for the Angels who are stronger united, and famine for the lands of Underhill where many will fall to dust. It was a little poetic. “All of us are under attack, and if I am useful here then it goes to suggest that others need me just as much as you seem to.” I was chasing an idea down, not really able to think it out now that the words were coming. “I think all the Realms need a truce, find a way to come together to meet each attack as a unified strength. If I was more effective at killing your monsters, you might be more effective at killing the monsters attacking the Elves. You should extend an offer of aid, pool your resources. It sounds insane but necessity is the mother of invention, and this might be the best chance any of us have.”

I could see Aerona actually thinking about it too, which was almost as much of a shock as it was to hear me suggest a truce in the first place. The Realms were willing to operate with each other insofar as it benefited their own baseline, but this level of truce would be a lot more unifying. “I’ll think on it, talk it over with my brother.” It was better than I could have expected, and I felt an almost thrill of excitement. If there was even a sliver of a chance at getting out of here peacefully, I may have just found the way to do so. “I need to clear of my head of all this stress. Between the attacks on my people and the demands my brother have made on me for your edification, I need to be the dark thing I am. And you’re joining me tonight.” That sounded far more ominous than I wanted to endure but even as I considered objecting, I could feel the collar around my neck. So it became a question of surviving the lesser of two evils; the sister’s violence prone insanity, or the brother’s twisted intimacy. “It won’t be bad, I promise. You’re just going to see how Demons let loose at night; you won’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.” Aerona seemed to have sensed my hesitation.

I missed my old life suddenly; dancing at Faerie Tales with Cassie and Barry, Alex’s orange eyes sparkling with amusement as I once again call him an over bearing ass, even Edward’s laughter as Cass and I attempted to outdo each other on some silly little task. All of it hit me at once and my heart ached so badly I thought I’d black out, fighting to stuff it all away again. I was going to go crazy and lose everything if I kept thinking about my past and my future; I had to live in the moment if I expected to survive. If I ever wanted to see them again, I had to do what was necessary. “What is it exactly that you’re taking me into?”

“Hopefully nothing you won’t enjoy. Let’s go get you into a better outfit for it though; time to put our best foot forward my friend.” Aerona’s nearly chipper attitude was making me feel uneasy, but I didn’t argue as she hooked her arm through mine and marched back into the Castle as if we truly were gal pals.

I ended up in a body hugging dress that was sparkly and yet only a few shades off my own skin colour, so from a little distance I looks spectacularly nude. It wasn’t uncomfortable, though I wondered if the dress was an indication of the night I was about to endure; not quite what it seemed but not necessarily in a bad way. Aerona’s outfit was a dark plum coloured leather cat suit that had no place on a body of a twelve year old, and she wore it like I used to wear my leather pants; all swagger. Sadly enough it seemed almost conservative compared to some of the outfits I spotted as Aerona led me back out towards the Hall of the Gods amongst a crowd of Demonkin.

“Tonight is our night to give devotion to any and all the gods. The offer what little we have to them and hope that what is returned to us is so much more than the sum of our parts.” Brenin’s voice boomed out over the crowds and I instinctively flinched, hunkering down in the hopes that I wouldn’t be spotted. Thankfully he was far away and high up on a stage so all his subjects could see him, but I was hidden in the simple mass of bodies, next to Aerona who seemed to know my unease.

“No worries, I have you for the night. He’s much too busy with the necessity of being King to bother you right now. No object lessons today.” Aerona gave my hand a comforting squeeze. How sad that state of my life had become that the torturing, blood lust filled demon was my friend and safer to be around then the supposedly controlled King. “As I promised earlier, you do nothing tonight that you don’t want to do. And tonight I get to do everything I want to do.” Aerona offered with a saucy wink. And that’s when the noise started.

At first I thought it was some kind of cannon fire, the loud booming became regular as other sounds started to spike in. It was their version of music, bodies started to thrash around and I realized that this was an energy pit; a way of worship similar to how I gave devotions through dance, only on a much larger scale. For sure there’d be more than simply dancing going on down here, there would inevitably be lust and violence as well, but many if not most of the patrons seemed content to simply move. The music started to get louder, throbbing through the air and smashing into my chest, stealing my breath and crushing my heart with its frantic energy. It reverberated with an almost visible wave and I felt a nearly predatory grin spread across my face as I realized that I was the lone mortal amongst the monsters. I could see Incubi, Imps, Vampires and Trolls, all creatures that were out of my league to handle and yet the part of me that had picked fights with Alex wasn’t as beaten down as the rest of me. I was food to these creatures and being here was a terrible idea but I was dreadfully tired of feeling like prey. I was a force to be reckoned with; filled past the brim with Wild Magic and more than a fair share of insanity, so I let that pressure build up inside of me. I’d once forced several very angry shape changers into submission by using the training I’d survived in University; this time I was just giving everyone a fair warning that I was done being toyed with. I flung that built up pressure outward and it washed over the crowds, sinking into each a little and giving me a taste of everything I’d touched. I was not food, I was not sport, prey, or bounty either. I was not to be provoked, and without a doubt I knew that no one would attack me tonight. So despite how crazy it seemed, I started to dance as well.

It wasn’t the same as when I danced at Faerie Tales, and it was just a little different than even when I danced for the Goddess. In one instance I am dancing for everyone else, in the other I am dancing wholly for Her; now I danced for me. I danced for the tears I couldn’t shed yet and for the blood I’d already spilled so much of, for the future that was now ash in my mouth and the past that was a painful reminder. Each movement reminded me of the scars I bore, the finger I’d lost and the fact that I was nowhere near done fighting to survive yet. As the need for a drug I did not want started to sign its siren call inside my blood I pushed myself harder, feeling the constraint of a collar around my neck become lighter as I simply stopped caring about anything at all but the movement I made right here and now.

The energy the crowd was raising almost had a taste to it, a flavour of spice and cinnamon. It wasn’t visible to the eye but I could still See it, a miasma of colours and lights lifting above the collective bodies. It was hideous and yet captivating, too many different parts to be unified and yet that was exact what was happening. These people, although they were Demons, were desperate for salvation from an enemy they had no power against. How was it any different than the Humans I cared about?

Why do I have to suddenly develop a moral conscience for these people? I asked more of myself than the voice in my head. Because death does not discriminate. The reply was simple and unsettling because I wasn’t sure if that was my own revelation or not.

By the time what passed for dawn here crested, even the enthusiasm of the very best had waned down to exhaustion. The crowd remained, awaiting some signal somewhere but I was done with being a part of this. Yes, I felt compelled to help save this Realm as well as all the rest if I could somehow help, but I was not compelled to do it in the fashion of those trying to control me. I was still fighting against that. I was finally beyond withdrawal, beyond fear or anger, beyond even despair. Some part of me knew that things would unfold in a certain pattern until I made a choice, and everything else until that moment was just biding time. The voice in my head assured me that right now, the only thing I could do was wait for the right Time.

It was a novel experience to wake up after a day with no bloodshed. I awoke feeling much more refreshed than I expected to, and my day only got better when no one barged into my room to drag me to violence or violation. I’d been spending weeks being forced into fighting until I killed, and then once I had done that, things only escalated into more violence. Despite my best efforts now, Brenin knew how to manipulate my behavior for some things. The deal was that if I got a piece of information out of the creatures I faced now, I would be left in peace. No more drugging, no more touching, and if I did what I had to do, I would get days off of the violence. It made me feel like I’d sold my soul because even though I could now have the space I needed, the addiction still had me craving the drug. I swear Brenin was just biding his time until I caved and asked to be drugged willingly, and I don’t want to guess what his price would be to satisfy that demand. So far I had managed to avoid calling him my Owner by simply never directly referring to him at all in a verbal manner. If I was with Aerona, I’d simply tap the collar to refer to him, and if I was speaking to him directly, I’d just keep silent as much as possible.

It had been too long since the last time I’d allowed myself to connect with Cassie and suddenly I needed to feel her again. Even with everything I’d done in the last while, horrors I’ve committed, I knew she wouldn’t deny me that peace. So I reached out to her. ‘Cass?’

‘Callie, oh by the Mother.’ Cassandra’s mental voice wrapped me up in a hug and I couldn’t be strong against that, could hold nothing back even though I needed to. I sank into the peace of my twin’s mind and sobbed like a child in their mother’s lap. It was an emotional breakdown I hadn’t been expecting as I’d been operating on a numb level for the weeks since I’d last spoken to Cassie. ‘Callie, I miss you. I hate that you’ve been their prisoner for so long. I’m so sorry that we’ve failed at rescuing you.’

‘Cass, its ok sweetie. You’re trapped in a world literally plagued with monsters and I’m trapped surrounded by ones that bring death. You could do nothing to free me of this, trust me. I was put here for a reason, even if I can’t really explain it yet. How are the babies?’ I found myself saying the words without realizing the implication of them.

Cassie hung onto my forgiveness like I clung onto her peace. ‘As you’ve somehow guessed, I’m eight months pregnant with twins. They’re doing fine but I’m a beached whale now.’ I could feel her smile even if I couldn’t see it, and I knew she would be one of those women who glowed while pregnant.

‘What else do I need to know?’ I asked, realizing that despite the joy of just being with her, we both had roles to play in the events that were soon to come.

‘You’re greatly missed. Somehow you even managed to talk the King of Hell into truce talks though, which is not something I’d ever expected.’ Cass sounded hesitant to admit.

‘I can hate whomever I want as deeply as I want, but I talked to Aerona about the need to face our enemies as a united force. I can’t let these people suffer for the sake of vengeance against one; Edward raised us better than that.’ I felt Cassie’s sorrow at the loss of our guardian and I was grateful that I’d missed his funeral. It would have been hard enough to attend knowing that I was the one that had killed him in the end, but worse yet to understand how he had been made into a puppet and forced to play a part he didn’t want. I knew it was a taste of mercy I’d given him when I ended his torment but it was hard to convince my guilt. ‘How’s Alex?’ I asked before I could stop myself.

‘Impossible to deal with; I had to tell him Callie.’ Cassie admitted and I felt a lurch in my chest. He knew what had been done to me, what I had done to survive, all of it. ‘The Changers are immune to the plagues and illness so they’re helping clear out the dead. Everywhere has been hit; it’s a global pandemic. Here we’re actually holding our own against it, mainly thanks to Alex and the Changers. The bodies are infectious even after death so people were getting contaminated even once we thought the danger was gone. Quarantines have been set up in overlapping circles, making passage anywhere slow but it’s greatly reduced the exposure rate. At first one in three would get infected, with half of that number dying. Now it’s one in seven that are sick and half of that dying. Amanda took Dominic to Underhill to keep him safe but they’re facing a famine there. Almost no food and the water has spoiled somehow. Others aren’t getting sick, Casters survive the odds better, but all of our allies are as wracked with problems as we are. True Humans would be having a field day with this if they’d survived. They tried to quarantine their followers and one of their Believers brought the illness with him. Four hundred scared, confused people retreated from the world and less than one hundred escaped. I’ve been on the field for most of this, under hazmat procedures, but I’m out of it now that I’m getting close to delivering. Zeke has taken over organizing the Demonkin in Ottawa, getting what refuges make it from the Granite Realms to here into an organized unit that is assisting the shifters. Amanda is working with Jensen to get food and water shipped to Underhill and in return the Fae are offering whatever medical services they can, almost all of their Healers have come through. Nikka brought Raphael here to help and she’s been a huge asset, helping teach several new techniques that are really working, but it’s an uphill battle. Is the truce from the Demon King legit Cal?’ Cassie went business mode on me and I smiled softly.

‘Aerona seemed to understand the need and she can be very persuasive. It’s got to be legit Cass; the people here are in as much danger as everyone else it. This is something major going on and I think the fact that all of the Realms are coming together is going to play a huge part in keeping us all alive.’ I soothed her fears. ‘I love you Cassie; now go take care of those babies, the ones in your belly and the ones running amok in the city.’ I pulled myself away before I could start to get emotional again.

There were tears drying on my cheeks when I opened my eyes, thankfully still alone in my room. Something had changed since the day that the collar was put onto me, and it was time I pressed the issue to find out exactly what it was that was different. There were no guards outside of my room, and the sight of me walking the hallways unescorted was a familiar one to many now. I had been here long enough that I was a piece of furniture to most of the eyes that saw me, familiar and not out of place at all. My feet took me to Aerona’s room and I knocked on the door, wondering if she would be sober yet. Since the night of the Demon devotions, Aerona had been spending many of her nights drinking in wild abandon, often with me in tow. I was trying to escape the reality of my current life and she was just having fun. My hands shook with withdrawal as I pounded harder on the door.

A very hung over little girl answered the door, naked and covered in bite marks. “Callahan why, oh Goddess why, did you let me drink so much last night only to come and knock on my door at ridiculous am?”

“Because I need to know that you’re honest about your peace talks. I got word from my people that things are coming to a head in all of the other Realms and that means it will be here too. Are you truly going to join us or are you just waiting for the most opportune moment to betray everyone?” the demand left my lips in the bluntest of honesty possible. Aerona gave me a sharp look and opened the door more for me to slip in. “There’s an unconscious Incubus handcuffed to your bed.” I stated the obvious, not even sounding surprised.

“I didn’t bring my toy box with me.” Aerona replied with a shrug and pulled on a housecoat over her nakedness. I felt fine tremors spreading up my arms as a sudden spike of need hit my system, screaming for the Phoenix Tears. “The truce is real Callahan. Even if Brenin didn’t want to offer it, he’s not so stubborn that he would put his ego over the needs of his people. It might not be the kind of King you would willingly follow Callahan, but he’s the kind of King my people need.”

I nodded curtly and had to clench my jaw around the desire to ask Aerona if she had a dose I could use. I wouldn’t admit that weakness, the fact that the addiction was getting harder to resist the longer I went without it instead of fading away like I hoped. “I have a theory on why they’re breaking into our reality at some points and not others.” That got Aerona’s attention like nothing else would have. She focused all of her attention on me and I hated that I knew my need for the drug was written in the lines of my face. Focus on the task at hand, then leave and lock myself in my room, that had to be my game plan because anything else would lead to me losing my willpower. “Look into all the places where your kind used to be able to cross over into other Realms but are now no longer active. Those are weak spots in the barriers between the worlds. Even if they no longer open, there might still be cracks in the metaphorical walls where a rather nasty draft is creeping in.”

“That’s entirely possible. Actually that makes all too much sense.” Aerona almost seemed to be talking to herself more than me at the moment, a habit she was falling into more and more as she let her guard down around me. As the Incubus in her bed woke up she smiled at me. “Let me think about it a bit more, there might be a way to test your theory out.” She dismissed me with a smile and I grinned back at her. The Incubus had found himself still handcuffed and apparently didn’t mind his predicament one bit. I left the room before I could witness anything that would traumatize me more than I already was, being chased into the hallway by the sounds of a high pitched squeal of delight and a throaty chuckle.

Some instinct warned me away from going to my room so I followed my gut feeling down hallways I’d had no need to inspect before. It felt strange, like I was obeying the call of something far too arcane to put a description to and I found myself in an actual reliquary. The walls were lined with shelves displaying various magical implements and trophies, a great table set up holding only a single tome that looked far too slender to be anything special. And yet I couldn’t help but feel it reaching out to me with power that wasn’t demonic at all, nor was it human, Fae or Angel. It was just purely raw power, greater than I had ever encountered and clasped between two plain leather covers. The word scrawled across the cover wasn’t in a language I knew, but the moment I locked eyes on it I couldn’t look away. My feet shuffled across the floor, not even able to trip over carpet as I was pulled into the seat in front of the Archive. I blinked as I suddenly understood the writing and my hands reached to pick the slender tome up.

The pages were empty at first but words started to appear like freckles under the sun, filling the page at the same rate I read. I am the Archive. All written knowledge is contained within me but not all can survive that knowledge. To read me is to touch the Chaos and risk one’s very soul. If you assume that risk, you must offer a gift to trade for knowledge.

I had to offer the repository of all knowledge something it didn’t already have. I didn’t own anything here in the Granite Realms so there was nothing I could sacrifice, and there was no special knowledge in my head that I was able to swap for more. I absently flipped blank page after blank page and hissed as one of the corners sliced, a paper cut that bled a few little droplets onto the page. And were immediately absorbed, disappearing from existence. Words started to appear seconds later, as the gift of my blood seemed to be a suitable, if unintended, gift.

A hi온라인카지노게임 of Beginnings and Endings.

At the heart of creation and time is chaos. The power of renewal is fueled by the progress of change, sustained by the permanence of creation, and results in the everlasting power of the Source. But even as things are created, others must fall to ruin. Life is balanced by death, creation by destruction, order by chaos. Life as the Realms existed is the embodiment of order, the Place Beyond is the embodiment of Chaos, and the two cannot exist in the same place. In the search of power, one opened a fracture that allowed order to leak out and chaos to leak in, shattering the Source and expelling the Realms from each other, all to seal off the breach. As the words flowed in front of my eyes, images formed in my mind as if I were seeing an eyewitness account of the hi온라인카지노게임. All of our hi온라인카지노게임 was wrong is so many ways. Demons saw themselves as solitary, Angels were aloof, Humans were many and simple and the Fae were varied and flighty. But we had all started as one species. According to the Archive, there had only been one Realm, and it divided as the Source broke. More than just the factual knowledge of what had come before, I could feel it all. The emotions of those that had perished, the ambition of whomever it was that had opened order to be poisoned by chaos, and the agony of those forever sundered from the world as they knew it. I had to swallow all of that down before I could continue on, and my Wild Magic rumbled against the sensation of the Archive. The writing on the page in front of me shimmered slightly and I was suddenly LOOKING at the Archive with the entirety of my gift. It was like looking at a solar eclipse through a telescope; beautiful and blinding. It lashed out at my mind and I felt the Wild Magic shudder again, ripping into the Archive and tearing reality into shreds around me. Before I had been held as observer to the hi온라인카지노게임 of the Archive but now I was a part of it.

The one who opened the breach was on their knees, the blood cooling as the ritual ended. Hope and fear, agony and despair, all of it washed away as the cool nothing of void seeped into the air. There was a sound of shattering that was more visceral than it could ever have been. Each particle of their soul was stretched and pulled, twisted apart until ultimately they seized to exist and were Banished into the Place Between and Beyond.

Time dropped and slipped, I felt the Archive scramble as I was drawn away from even its vast power. I dug fingers into my white couch and wondered how I had managed to end up here at this time. The will of the Archive tried to chew me up, absorb me even here and bind my pitiful existence into its overwhelming power, breaking me apart and spitting me out again when it was done with me. I was just a mortal, and although I had done some great things, there were still so many beyond my abilities. The only reason I didn’t go screaming out of existence was that Something dragged me back from the brink. “The Time is coming. You are not ready yet. Make the Archive relent.” My familiar voice demanded of me, holding me anchored to life once again. I stared at her as I realized that the face changes she’d had before were all to show all the ages at which she died, went back and changed her own hi온라인카지노게임 to create hope in the future. As she had said, Death is not bound by Time.

Burning hot hands pried my fingers off the Archive and my bones creaked with an unimaginable cold. My eyelids slowly blinked open and I saw Aerona struggling with one of my frozen arms while Brenin pressed his hands to my forehead and back of my neck. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, my ears filled with white noise that slowly turned into my own heartbeat. Eventually the muted sound of their voices started to penetrate my understanding, a distant muffle of sound. The Archive was still revealed to my Sight but it no longer burned so intensely, instead it beckoned like a favourite novel would, promising greatness within its pages. I closed my tired Wild Magic down and felt the terrible allure of the Archive ease away.

Brenin was forcing heat into my body, trying to warm me from my deathly chill. I felt so tired but couldn’t sleep with them fussing so much. If I could just get comfortable I knew I’d slip into a restful slumber; I’d been so tired lately. Aerona and Brenin lifted me out of the chair and laid me onto the ground. When she prepared me for CPR I realized that I still had to breathe and finally sucked in some air. That breath anchored me back into my own skin and the numbness melted away, skin prickling with hundreds of bloody drops beading on the surface. The air felt laced with acid but I forced myself to keep sucking in more until I felt my blood pumping again. My throat and chest felt wrapped in hot barbed wire, though I absently noticed my dreaded collar discarded on the floor. I had died a little bit it seemed, or at least had a heart beat low enough to trick it off of me.

“We need to get her to the Temple.” Aerona growled as she started to help me to my feet.

Brenin stayed hunched away from me, as if he had to keep himself from rash action. “Go. She’s helpless, bloody, and exuding serious Power, I cannot guarantee my control around that combination.” He warned even as Aerona slipped in my blood and nearly dropped me. The impossible speed he’d always used to batter me into submission was now used to catch me before I collapsed to the floor, but it only served to cover him in more of my blood. His hands clutched at me, as if he had changed his mind as wasn’t going to let me go but then he shoved me away. Weak as I was, I still managed to stumble backwards without falling, instinct screaming at me that the King of Hell was about to reveal his purely monstrous side. His skin started to split wherever my blood painted it, the scaly skin underneath spreading to shield him. Bony protrusions started to press out from under the skin and formed a short ridge up his spine, others pressing free into jagged talons. The shark teeth I rarely encountered bulked his jaw up and adrenaline surged through me as his eyes locked onto mine.

Aerona grabbed me and hauled me out of the room, racing towards the Goddess Temple even as the Demon King finished his transformation. We had made it halfway to the Temple when the sounds of his rampage reached us and Aerona shoved me onwards, turning to delay her brother. He looked like something that had crawled out of the darkest deep of the churning ocean. Without missing a step he crashed into his sister and they tore at each other with volatile abandon. My back hit the Temple Wall as I stumbled, and for some reason my Wild Magic sent tendrils out. I wanted to cry out a warning, but nothing emerged as the tendril struck out, wrapping around Aerona and stabbing through Brenin.

A clear fluid drenched Aerona, thick and clinging like slime. A film of rot raced across her skin and her jaw opened impossibly wide in a graveyard grin. Under the rot her body swelled, filling out in a mockery of aging as her power shimmered, burning off the restraints that had been holding her back. With nothing holding her back, Aerona launched herself at Brenin with gleeful fratricide in her eyes.

I opened the door to the Temple and fell through, kicking it shut to close out the sight. The Wild Magic curled up and lashed at me, burning me up and freezing me out, fluctuating out of any control. This is what was supposed to happen when someone went Wild, and it had held off for so long that I had believed I would escape that fate. Blood slowly dripped to the floor as I crawled along, marking my passage. When I bumped into one of the altars I pulled myself to my feet, looked up into Her Reaper Aspect and passed right out.