396. Of friendships, weapons and a little bit of remorse

Cassandra Pendragon

And the plot thickened. If there was an underwater gateway to the sealed realm as well I'd know for sure that one of my siblings was lurking beneath the waves. I hadn't taken Sera's worries overly serious, aside from the meagre clues, why would an immortal spend their time here pointlessly, but with this little tidbit of information…

"There are." I quickly looked up and down the corridor, making sure that we were truly alone. Luckily nobody had thought it necessary to post guards near the brig with all of us in there and the crew was more than busy dealing with the heavy cannons. "I'll explain in a second but could you show me the entire scar?" Aglaia nodded nonchalantly and dropped the straps of her dress with a graceful shrug. When she stepped towards me my gaze lingered on her skin and I extended my hand. "May I?" When she nodded again I gently ran a finger from her neck down to her navel, following the angry, red line. I tried to ignore the goosebumps erupting in the wake of my touch and listened, felt, remembered…

By the Abyss, I knew that taste, that sting of transcendent powers brimming with darkness and cold. Gabriel. She was here. That seal had been her doing and now I was actually willing to bet that she was sitting somewhere in the depths, waiting, watching... she had been for years. Oh god, we were so screwed. A knot of fear tightened in my stomach and I had to swallow dryly. It must have shown on my face since the next thing I knew were Reia's tails wrapping around me:

"What is it," she whispered. What was it, indeed, or rather who? If I had been the arbiter of our people, she would have been the warden. The cells in the Silver City were her doing, as were the walls. She was… a creator without any qualms about what her genius might bring. The trident… something was tickling the back of my mind but I just couldn't put my finger on it. Luckily I didn't have to. When she had sensed my distress Ahri had immediately abandoned everything else and focused back on me.

"Her weapons," she hissed, "her great creations. The trident and… your spear. Don't you remember? She only kept one for herself." And my memories surged…

It was dark and cold, the drag of my gown rustling over frozen gems and ice crystals as I made my way deeper into the cave. My sister had called and I had answered. It had been millennia since last I had seen her. Come to think of it it was most likely also going to be the last time. I had grown tired. It was time to change. With a silky whisper my wings manifested and I crossed the remaining distance in the blink of an eye.

A massive cavern opened up in front of me, strange, glowing mushrooms and arcanely sparkling gems provided enough light to illuminate the white blue anvil and the hunched over figure leaning against it. The tang of sweat, blood and power diluted the crispy air and I came to a halt a few steps away from the raised platform where my sister rested. "Lucyfera," she rasped. "I didn't think you'd come."

"When my family calls I answer. It has always been that way." My voice was warm but brittle, the weight of this life had crushed the hopeful spark I had been born with. I was tired.

"Has always been that way," she echoed hoarsely, her wings, curtains of sparkling snowflakes and ice, scraped against dark stone as she heaved herself up. "It won't be in the future? Has your time come?"

"Soon. I've lived for longer than I could ever have feared, even in my nightmares. It's time to rest but there are still a few things I have to take care of. You included. Why did you call me, Gabriel?"

She chuckled dryly, the sound reminiscent of splintering rocks. "To show off? But there's not much satisfaction to be had in impressing a walking corpse. When?"

"In the next century. I don't know yet, but it's approaching fast. Does it matter?" She shrugged.

"I like you. Don't know how your next incarnation will turn out. It's always a gamble, isn't it? Where's your fiery shadow? Has she allowed you out of her sight?"

"She's paving the way," I replied sadly. I wouldn't see Aurora again with these eyes… we had said our goodbyes a few years ago and she had already been reborn. Before my change I'd find her, ensure that I'd be close by when the memories were going to resurface. She was going to do the same for me once the time would come.

"A pity," the frozen angel replied quietly. "I actually liked her, too." Sighing she glided closer, her arms spread wide. We hugged and I felt a freezing cold tear touch my cheek.

"It's not the first time, Gabriel," I said quietly. "I'll be back before you'll even have the chance to miss me. Besides, haven't you been asked to create a dungeon for our home? That will keep you busy for far longer than I'll ever need to regrow my wings."

"You don't know that," she chuckled forcedly. "Maybe you'll get lost… or be reborn as a dimwit."

"With my powers," I breathed through a comforting smile, "even an idiot would reach the end of the road. What's happened to you? Why are you… sad?"

"I'm not sad. I'm tired. Maybe I'll join you. I don't think I have it in me to create something new. Not like this, at least. I've spent too much, the fire has petered out. But it has been worth it." With a gentle push she stepped back and gesticulated towards the anvil. "Have a look. You're the first who'll see them. Maybe even the last. If I die in this place you'll be the only one who knows their location and if you're gone, too… it'll take decades for us to remember."

Three objects leaned against the anvil. A silvery spear, a blue trident and a white, crackling sword. As soon as my gaze fell upon the weapons I could feel them, could taste their power. Those weren't just transcendent artefacts. She had poured her very life into them and they were… awakening. I felt a faint desire, a wish to become whole, to acknowledge a master to serve, but it wasn't pronounced, yet. More like the yearnings of a dreaming child. Once they'd come into their own they'd have to find an immortal to bind to or we would live to regret it. Even by the standards of our race those… creature were dangerous. 

Unconsciously I stepped closer, the whisper of my wings turning into the thrum of eternity torn asunder. "What have you done," I muttered, the impulse to destroy them growing like a wildfire with every heartbeat I stared. She could create and I… I could destroy, clean up after her. Maybe I had to. She truly was my sister. The little sibling I had to protect from her own bad choices.

"No," she hollered, her voice sending rivers of transcendent ice through the cavern until it was swallowed by a hackling cough. Without thinking I soared to my sister's side and caught her before she could collapse. "Sissy," she croaked into my flowing, ebony locks, he breath crystallising on my silver skin. "Please, don't hurt them. Take them, if you have to, but don't hurt them. They're… the best of me." I kissed her cold cheek.

"No. You're the best of you. But I'll honour your wish. I wouldn't even have been here if you hadn't called me. What do you want? For me to hide them?" I shivered when she shook her head, her silky hair tickling my neck like the touch of a winter moon.

"Take two with you and… seal this place when you leave. Properly. I don't want my core to escape to the river. I want to be reborn as I am. I want my soul to stay in charge. I've put too much effort into this life and I know I'm not done. But I can't continue. Not like this."

"Gabriel," I warned as I allowed her to slide down my side and come to rest in my arms. She blinked in surprise and even pouted when she realised how I held her.

"Don't Gabriel me. I know what I'm doing. I'm not yet that old. I've just spent too much. It left a scar. I need to heal, not to be reborn. Or are you afraid that I might come to hate you for it? Don't worry, even if this ends in pain, I won't hold you responsible. I promise." A promise she shouldn't have given and a request I shouldn't have fulfilled. Time passed.

"Kill me, Lucifer, do it!" Her screams echoed through the void like the breath of a dying star… but I couldn't. Not now. Not anymore. I… damn it all to the beginning and back, I had come to love her like a true sister. She was… she meant so much to me I couldn't even put it into words. I had failed, all those aeons ago, and now she had to pay the price. We had to pay the price and I couldn't own up to the bill. What the hell was wrong with me?

My fingers tightened around my spear… her spear, my wings filled the emptiness with the crackling of eternity, harsh, infinite light burst from my eyes and… I faltered. A silvery tear filled with bluish flames ran down my cheek. "I… I can't." In front of me she hovered, twisted, contorted… in agony. Eternal, inexorable, inescapable, unbearable agony. Her core… oh god. Flames, ravenous, tormenting flames were gnawing at her, eating away, ravaging her from the inside out, but to extinguish them I'd have to devour what she was. Blood, rich and cold and beautiful, surged form her nose, her eyes and her wings chimed like a frozen bell before they shattered. She cried and I… I couldn't do it, even though her soul was crumbing and poisoning her core.

"Lucifer," she pressed out between her bloodcurdling screams, "I need you, please…"

"It would kill you," I pleaded, "destroy what you are. Don't…" Another convulsion silenced her.

"Lucifer," she finally choked out, "Lucifer, I can't. Death is a mercy. I can't do it, nobody can… but you. Please…"

"Stop wasting time," Aurora ordered through our tattoos. "You can't do it and you can't let her be. She'd destroy everything in her path. Seal her. Seal her off and once we find a way to repair the damage we'll come for her." "She'd suffer, Aurora. She'd suffer. Alone… in the dark…"

"What else is there? If there's no other way…" my magic was already taking shape and she felt it.

"Don't," Gabriel's desperate plea reached me when she realised what I was doing. "Please, don't. No… Lucifer, I won't forget this, I'll…" she was gone and I… I cried. 

I was on the floor, heavy, silver tears streaming from my eyes like a river. They were born from fear and remorse. Remorse for what I had done and fear of what she'd do, now that she was free again. I remembered… I had sealed her in the very cave she had used to forge her weapons. A cave… now a few hundred metres below the surface of the ocean, a couple of hundred leagues to the north from where we were. By the Great Fox, why hadn't she killed me yet? She must have lost her mind in the dark, agony her only silent companion for aeons. And I had condemned her to her fate. Condemned and forgotten her. Oh gods, what had I done? Were all my debts coming due?

Heat, hungry, searing heat burned my skin as silvery blue flames charred my arm around my stamp. The rich taste of my blood filled my mouth when I bit down on my tongue, trying to swallow my startled scream. A flash of light, the flames petered out and a perfect, silver cube hovered above my bleeding hand. Another rune raged furiously on one of its sides, its energy a palpable nimbus of frozen, angry light. Trembling I watched, torn between fear of what reckoning my sister might have prepared and the overwhelming panic when I imagined what my magic might do to the ship and my family. A fraction of a second later the rune flared brightly and the suffocating worries became insubstantial as the mists of times long gone swallowed me whole.

"Promise me," I grunted, my wings an inescapable prison around his restrained limbs. "You owe me that much, Chaleb. Promise me. Before we enter hell you will set her free."

"Get your head out of your arse," he spat. "You hold me like a kitten and still you are afraid. What do you expect me to do? I won't even be able to scratch your seals, never mind contending with a broken angel that has you cowed like a child in a thunderstorm. She'll brush me aside and then she'll go looking for you. We can't risk it, not now, not with…"

"I. Don't. Care. I owe her and you owe me. Set her free or I'll turn around right now."

"A hollow threat. You'd never…"

"Try me," I snarled. "I've lost everything I care about. Just try me. See if I won't turn my back on all of you, all of creation. I've never done it before but so help me, I might just…" I felt a tug on my awareness as he tried to raise his hands but I wouldn't budge. He'd only get out once I had his promise. It wouldn't bind him, but I trusted him. He'd stick to his word.

We stared at each other, the darkness of the void slowly being torn asunder by silver and red. "Fine," he suddenly erupted. "You want to risk everything to salve your conscience? Be my guest. But after this, Lucifer, I expect you to do what's necessary. No matter the cost. Do you understand me? No matter the cost."

"Don't lecture me. I know very well what's at stake. Maybe even better than you." Quietly I added: "it won't be the first time I challenge heaven and hell, even if I'm the only one who remembers." Time passed.

A beaten, bloodied demon swayed in front of me, his body riddled with cuts and holes that just wouldn't heal. "She's a bitch," Chaleb stated through a suppressed groan, "but she isn't gone. Here." With a grimace he reached into space and reality distorted. A second later three items dropped to the ground and my eyes went wide.

"She… surrendered her weapons? Why? And what's that," I added as my gaze fell onto a silver diadem made of moonstones. 

"A prison and a lifeline," he coughed, his axe materialising for him to have something to lean on. "It's a… I didn't understand half of her lunatic gibberish but I think it's a… world, a prison. A place where… where my essence can go once…"

"Once I kill you. Clever, they'll think I've devoured you. But how could she know?"

"Beats me. She's crazy. You know what they say about crazy. If it allows me to survive I'll even forgive her for the punches below the waistline." Judging from his hunched over posture he wasn't speaking metaphorically. 

"And the weapons," I asked. "I left the trident and the sword with her. Something to cling onto in the darkness. Why is she giving them up?"

"She isn't. She expects you to return the trident, as soon as you remember. As for the sword… it makes me want to puke to even relay her words but she said the sword has never been for her. The sword and the spear need something only two angels possess at the moment. Don't make me say it. You know whom it's for. Apparently it always has been." I sighed.

"Fabulous. Unfortunately chances are Aurora will attack me on sight and I'm not going to deliver a weapon to her when I might have to fight her."

"Can you even?"

"Who knows? I bloody well don't. If it were just about me I know I couldn't bring myself to harm her. As it stands… that's the gamble. If I get caught I don't think I'll be able to fight my way out and I won't run. Incidentally… if I snuff it completely you realise you'll be gone, too, don't you?"