Wronged

---Aaron---

The memories flashed as the scene changed. The trio returned to the Academy as heroes. There were huge celebrations and ceremonies to award them with the highest honors. Bianca and Victor reunited with happy tears. Marcellus gave the orb to the Elders, who planned a meeting to figure out how to destroy it once and for all. Everything seemed great. Because Marcellus, Annalise, and Victor needed to be present in many of the meetings with the Elders, they were assigned their own little cottages in the Elders' village for ease of travel. The trio was also able to avoid unnecessary publicity, especially from their peers, since entering the Elders' village without permission was a severe offense.

Lord Victor began narrating again. "It was two weeks after we returned. We made no progress on destroying the orb. The only thing we were able to conclude was that the orb contained great power, which made it more imperative that we keep it in a safe location lest it fell into the wrong hands. It was kept under lock and key and secured with magic within the village, in a place only the Elders could enter."

The silvery memory playback suddenly darkened. I saw Victor quietly walking around the village on a moonless night, looking around and calling out softly: "Bianca? Bianca?" He was getting more worried and agitated with each passing minute.

At this point, Lord Victor walked closer to the projection and away from where we were lying on the floor. Katherine crawled forward a little bit. Lord Victor kept talking. "I was supposed to meet Bianca that night. We had not been able to spend a lot of time together since my return, and we missed each other greatly after my two-year quest. I should have never let her come. I should have been the one to sneak out, not let her sneak in."

The memories showed Victor hurrying toward a small hut in the center of the village. Candles flickered inside, and the door was open. He peeked in, only to see Bianca bleeding out on the ground. A small knife protruded from her chest. The orb hovered on a stone pedestal beside her, glowing dimly.

"Bianca!" Victor rushed in and knelt beside his beloved. "How did this happen? Never mind that, I'll take you to the medic right now. You're going to be okay. I'm here now."

Bianca feebly grabbed his arm. "Listen to me," she gasped. "Elder Kendric…I saw him trying to take the orb…"

"What?" Victor focused on Bianca, who was fighting to get her words out.

"He…was muttering spells…to open the enchantments….He wants the power…" Bianca coughed, and blood trickled from her lips. "He saw me. I tried to run, but he was too strong…"

Victor in the memories and I in real life came to the same horrifying realization at the same time: Bianca accidentally saw Elder Kendric attempting to take the orb's power for himself and was caught. To ensure that no one knew about this, Elder Kendric fatally wounded Bianca.

Victor took Bianca into his arms. "We'll deal with him later. Right now, I need to get you to a medic."

Bianca shook her head. She looked up at Victor, her eyes wide and sad. "I'm not…going to make it…I'm sorry, Victor. But I'm happy…you came for me…"

"What are you saying? You'll be okay. Just hold on a little longer, Bianca." Victor stood up with Bianca in his arms, carrying her bridal style. A tear rolled down her face.

"I love you, Victor. Please…be careful…" With that last whispery sentence, Bianca's hand, which was trying to caress Victor's cheek, dropped. Victor froze.

"Bianca…?" He looked down at the girl in his arms, disbelief etched in his features. "Bianca!"

A loud clamor came from outside. A man in his fifties skidded to a stop at the open door, followed by a group of torch-bearing and weapon-wielding men and women. The man was surprised to see Victor standing inside the room but quickly wiped the expression away. "Right there! That girl was trying to take the orb's power, and I just barely managed to stop her."

"Kendric, you lying son of a bitch!" Victor snarled. "You know that's not what happened; it was you who—"

"Victor, that is no way to speak to an Elder!" Another man spoke sternly. "Why are you here? Are you conspiring with the thief?"

"Bianca is no thief!" Victor exploded. He glared at the group of Elders. "Kendric was the one who was trying to take the power! He killed Bianca because she saw him!"

A collective gasp rose from the group. Elder Kendric was the first to recover. "H-how dare you accuse me of such absurdity!" He pointed a shaking finger at Victor. "Why would I want the orb's power? I've dedicated my entire life to eradicating the evil lord and his minions! How dare you—how dare you—"

"That's right! Elder Kendric has been tirelessly working to find a way to destroy the orb for good. He would never do such a thing!" A woman agreed.

"I think you're the one who wants the power, Victor!" Another man pointed an accusatory finger at Victor. Murmurs of agreement rose from the crowd.

Victor was shaking from anger. He charged toward the door with a roar, but because he was outnumbered and still had Bianca in his arms, he was quickly overpowered. As Victor disappeared in the middle of the angry group, the scene shifted once more.

"They condemned Bianca as a traitor and locked me in prison. On the day of my trial, no one even listened to what I had to say. I don't know what Kendric did, but he managed to fabricate more evidence against Bianca. I had no eyewitnesses, no physical evidence, nothing. It was my word against a respected Elder's. Who would believe me?" Lord Victor said bitterly, watching his past self shout up at a circle of Elders sitting on a raised platform in front of him. His fists were clenched. They ignored him. They decided to punish me for false allegations and attempted harm towards an Elder by sentencing me to prison. Fortunately, I still had Marcellus and Annalise."

In the memories, I saw Marcellus and Annalise visit Victor, who told them everything. They believed him entirely, for they had seen Elder Kendric hanging around the hut before. The three of them devised a plan to break Victor out of prison at night and steal the orb back. Then Victor was to hide somewhere far away while Marcellus and Annalise remained behind to gather evidence against Elder Kendric.

"It should have been a foolproof plan. I was the mastermind, after all, and Marcellus and Annalise were powerful people. While Annalise went to steal the orb, Marcellus got me out of prison successfully. We were going to rendezvous outside of the village, but Kendric was lying in wait for Annalise. He also had the local militia on his side."

As Lord Victor spoke, the memories showed Annalise stumbling and trying to fight her way out. However, she was heavily wounded and her spells were faltering. Marcellus and Victor rushed towards her, but they were outnumbered a hundred to two. Annalise cast one last spell before she went down to levitate a small cloth bundle and send it flying to Marcellus. As he caught it, the wrapping fell away to reveal the cracked orb.

"Go! Take Victor and go!" Annalise yelled as the militia converged on her and she disappeared from view.

"Annalise!" Marcellus tried to charge back, but Victor held his best friend back.

"You can't go back; you'll be captured too! There are too many of them!"

Indeed, more militiamen and Elders were running towards them. One of the Elders was using fire spells to counter Marcellus's snow powers.

Marcellus gritted his teeth. "We'll come back for you, Annalise! I promise!" He tore himself away from where his girlfriend was and summoned a blizzard to obstruct their pursuers' path as he and Victor escaped with the orb.