405. Of chains, fates and a little bit of generosity

Lamia

"I don't want to wake up," I pleaded silently, but the warmth of my dream dissipated mercilessly. It had been a nice dream. I hadn't been alone, it hadn't hurt. If only I could have slept forever.

"…I can't show you but I can tell you if you have to know." The voice was soft, silky, with just a hint of something more echoing beyond its velvety cadence… and entirely foreign. What made me tense though wasn't its hidden strength or the fact that I had never heard it before. No, it was its welcoming tone. I wasn't being screamed at and I… my body didn't ache. I hadn't been hit and nobody was yelling for me to get up and start on my chores. I was warm and comfortable. Was I still dreaming?

Tentatively I opened one eye to squint through the gap. A cave, I thought when my gaze travelled over bare, earthen walls and gnarly roots breaking through the ceiling. I definitely was in a cave and I wasn't alone. Two female, humanoid creatures, both with raven black hair, one about my age, maybe a bit younger, and the other fully grown, were whispering nearby, their voices hushed as if unwilling to disturb my slumber. The older one had sat down in the entrance, her silver tails spread out like a wall, blocking off the cold from the outside. A glowing orb hovered above her, smouldering with red and black sparks. I couldn't see her face though, she had buried her head in her hands, but there was a tiny, burning spirit reclining on her shoulder, its crimson flames dancing across her silvery skin like fireflies. The woman and the girl even looked a bit similar.

Judging from their tails and fluffy ears, one had silver fur the other a light blue, they were some kind of beast kin even though I had never seen or heard of a race with more than two tails. What really confused me though was that the younger one was sitting at my feet, her tails spread over me like a blanket. I was even resting on a dark, fragrant hide that somehow smelled like the night, fleeting and secretive. What had happened to my master? Where had he gone? Was he dead? I could only hope so. But the seal on me was still active. He was still alive. I felt my heart speed up as the familiar knot of fear in my stomach tightened but there was also something else. Something I hadn't felt in a long time. Hope maybe. 

As I was trying to make some sort of sense of the bizarre scene the woman continued. She didn't raise her head but her voice had become much more distant, much colder: "it's difficult to explain, but I was stuck. I couldn't let go, Gabriel would have taken you immediately and I couldn't stay. As strong as her magic was, as adamant as the seals I had cast still were, the realm was crumbling. Usually I'd skip the explanation but seeing what you've become it might do you some good in the future. Time is universal. If you try to stop it, you'll have to bear the weight of… well, everything. I am able to and so will you be, but outside of the Void there's no place that can withstand the pressure. Reality breaks apart and unless you can heal the damage as fast as it appears you're on a clock." She sighed and raised her head to massaged her temples, while the light from the little spirit and the glowing orb illuminated her face for the first time. 

In a daze I froze and to prevent myself from gasping I bit down on my tongue hard enough to draw blood. Her large, bright silver eyes flickered to mine for the fraction of a second and my heart skipped a beat. She didn't react, though, aside from the ghost of a smile tugging on the corners of her mouth, and focused back on the girl in front of her. 

Entirely lost in the memory of her haunting beauty I missed the next couple of words: "… I'll spare you the ins and outs but the amount of energy I unleashed was enough to manifest a tiny fraction of what lies within the artefacts. Magic of a certain calibre and transcendent spells without fail leave an impression of their caster behind, a fraction of their intent. Chaleb, Amazeroth and Lucifer. Three immortals to teach me enough to break my chains before my magic was going to break the world. It was laughably easy, but it came at a price. All it took was a name and the reason why," a strange sensation, as if the world was hiccoughing, came over me and a broken, flickering, silver blue crown manifested on her brow, "this belongs to me. You already know, don't you?" Silence fell and I… I didn't even know what to feel. 

My heart was hammering in my throat by now. Immortals? Time? Reality? Were they mad? Was I? The arctic blue tails around me twitched and a low, almost inaudible whisper barely reached me:

"Amazeroth is much more to you than just another sibling, isn't he? Was he… your lover?" The flame spirit immediately flared up:

"Excuse me?" But her complaints were drowned out by a beautiful, genuine laugh. 

"Oh, you are precious, but I'm not that narcissistic," the woman chuckled and blew a kiss at the spirit. "It would be easier to accept, though. At least it wouldn't weigh as heavily. No, he isn't my lover, but he's still a part of me. Quite literally. He is… my crown, my demonic side, the secret I've even hidden from myself for longer than I can remember. Why I do not know, but I know it's true. As payment for the knowledge I had to relive his… my schemes. I saw it all again, Reia. From the fires that consumed Boseiju to the blood that drowned the streets of Free Land. I watched and I grieved and I suffered. Because it was… it still is my fault. At least I thought so for a while." A shimmering tear trailed down her cheek like a drop of mercury as the fluffy, aquamarine limbs around me tightened. 

"There's light and darkness within us all. What we choose to act on defines who we are," the spirit breathed and kissed away the tear. The eight tailed creature granted her a sad, but grateful smile:

"Don't I know it. I…," she didn't get any further, my living blanket moved and in the blink of an eye the two of them turned into a quivering heap of fur and limbs, the fire spirit caught somewhere in the middle. A family. Somehow I had been plucked from my miserable life by a family.

"Spooky, isn't it," another voice resounded close by. A jolt of fear surged through me and I reflexively raised my head only to see the glowing orb from before hovering above me. "Watching immortals act like that always gives me the creeps. How long have you been awake?"

"I…," I only managed a whispered stammer, the alien language much too intricate for me to replicate even though I could understand it.

"Doesn't matter. You're one of the blighted, right? A phoenix, if I'm not mistaken. Well, let's leave the introductions for later. Why don't you keep on pretending to be asleep? I really want to hear what Cassandra has to say and as soon as they realise you're up they'll be fawning over you for ages." I froze and then I trembled, memories surging like a flood. Desperately I tried to crawl away but I only managed to entangled myself in the silky black hide I laid on. Fawning over me… I knew all too well what that meant…

Pain and humiliation became my only companions after my village had been burned. For longer than even the elders had remembered, our people had lived under the rule of the Qin family, tilling the fields, watering the orchards… fighting when the call to arms had resounded. For generations it had been like that. For their protection and goodwill we had become servants. Valued, treasured servants but servants none the less without a future. The lot of the poor.

My mother… she hadn't been human. No one knew where she had come from, why she had suddenly appeared in the fields behind my father's home, she hadn't even known herself, her memory blank up until the moment she had opened her eyes, but once my dad had seen her it hadn't mattered. She had been his and he had been hers until the very end. 

Whoever she had been, whatever secrets she had run from, she had been strong, burning with an inner fire that had threatened to char the earth whenever it had been unleashed. Her power had been vast enough to attract the attention of our lords and in exchange for her freedom, as a price for their happiness, my parents had agreed to become the Qin family's most loyal vassals. Their protectors and… battle slaves. Until I had been born.

Ever since I had opened my eyes I had been different. My mother's flames had changed me but even she hadn't understood my abilities. My fire… once ignited the flames wouldn't cease, devouring everything in their path, reducing it to ash and sparks. Sparks I could collect. Sparks that brought life just like my fire meant death. And my parents… they had run in a brave, defiant attempt to keep me safe, to keep me away from the greedy hands of our masters. 

They had failed, of course, we had been caught and I had become bound to the heir of the Qin family. A punishment, a perverted gratification and an insurance. A living, breathing symbol that had ensured my parents would honour their pledge. For all eternity. I had only been a year old at the time, but my recollections were as clear as day, even from back then.

In the beginning it hadn't been that bad, I had even been allowed to see my mother from time to time, but the older I had become, the more achievements my parents had earned, the crueller we had been treated. And then the war had come. In a bid for supremacy the Qin family had challenged their neighbours and their victory had cost my parents' life. Theirs and that of uncounted others. Without the need to keep them docile my master had turned into a demon. In his eyes, my parents' failure to protect his brother had to be avenged and as the last survivor of their line it had fallen to me to pay their dues. After that… I had wanted to die. Every single day. But without his blessing I had been denied even that last resort, even that little mercy.

For years he had fawned over me, mockingly calling torture a caress, a beating an embrace. Piece by little piece he had killed my soul until the world had shaken. From one moment to the next I had been somewhere else, alone and confused in utter darkness. For hours I had wandered until I had collapsed from thirst, but I had been content. Finally some peace. Finally I'd see my parents again. But the end hadn't come. Instead I had woken shivering, cold to the bone, with a satchel in front of me. The smell had been irresistible and without another thought I had taken what hadn't been mine. Then I had run, fleeing the enraged cries I had always heard hot on my trail. I had run until my legs had given out in the middle of a strange, new world. I had run until my abused, weak limbs had felt like lead and the warm embrace of oblivion had begged me with its warmth.

Warmth… why was I warm? I blinked through my tears only to recoil. Everything around me was black. Had I fallen into darkness again? Had I… with a silky whisper the raven black tresses slid off my face and a young, bright voice whispered:

"Don't be sacred. You're safe now. As safe as one can be. I… by the Great Fox, what am I supposed to do? She's so thin and she's still crying. Cassy…"

"You're doing all you can," another, richer, fuller, voice replied. Hadn't I just heard it? "Let her cry and hold her. There's nothing else. By god, if they're responsible for her state the ones we caught will soon wish they had died in the clearing. Stay with her. I can't wait any longer. Viyara might set an island on fire if she doesn't hear from me soon. We'll be outside. Call for us when the two of you are ready. No rush. The world we know is ending either way." Footsteps… and then silence, broken only by my ragged breath and a sound that went straight to my heart like a dagger. The girl was holding me and singing softly.

The tremors returned. Any second now her caressing touch would turn into agonising strikes, her warm voice raised as it was going to spew insults and humiliations. It had always been that way. Any moment… I closed my eyes, waiting, dreading, despairing, but…

"Cassy said that you'll understand me if I promise. She doesn't want me to, but she hasn't forbidden it either… listen, we're not going to hurt you, I swear." It was the same torturous line he had used, over and over again. I had thought I'd never again be able to trust in those words, but this time I didn't have a choice. It… something touched me, like a breath from ages past brought to life by the girl in front of me. The… world believed her and so did I. 

Pain. Another kind of pain roared to live in my veins. Burning, cleansing… and with the pain came the tears. Not the hidden, suppressed sobs that had shaken me. No, I was crying openly, freely, like I had never cried since my mother had held me and told me that it'd be alright one day. Fear turned into grief and grief became pain, pain that slowly burned to ashes and all the while she held me, she held me and she sang a foreign lullaby.

Slowly the flames died down, a warm, velvety darkness spread through me and I whispered: "I miss you. I miss you so much." It was the first time I had mentioned my parents ever since they had died. It was the first time I had thought of them without fear. Even if I showed weakness I'd be safe. She had promised… and I didn't even know her name.

As if in response the warm, fluffy embrace twitched and she whispered: "welcome back." With the gentlest of touches she pushed me back until she could look into my wet, red rimmed eyes. I returned the stare and my breath caught in my throat again. I immediately lost myself in a gaze of mesmerising blue, so deep that I didn't even think about finding a way back. A tiny, minuscule spark of silver burned at the bottom of a pond so vast it made the ocean seem like a puddle. Eternity… the echo of eternity haunted those eyes and I succumbed to their alluring promise. Oblivion. My pain, my fear, my sorrow didn't matter as long as I was entranced. And then she blinked and her eyes creased when she smiled.

"I'm Reia. Lilith thinks you can understand us. A part of you power that can't be suppressed. Is she right?" I took a deep, tremulous breath and replied haltingly:

"I… don't know… but I… understand you. Thank… you… Reia. I'm Lamia." Her smile brightened even further:

"Lamia… a beautiful name. It's nice to meet you. You must be starving." I didn't even realise that I nodded like a chicken. With a faint laugh in her voice she added: "I'm going to let go of you. Thanks to your friends we have plenty to eat. I'll fetch something for you and maybe afterwards you can tell me why I found you in the middle of a forest with a bunch of dogs barking at your heels." I immediately stiffened.

"I… stole. My fault. Please, he must be powerful. Don't anger him because of me." She stilled and her smile froze into a frown. But a heartbeat later she began to chuckle genuinely.

"The oh so powerful master is hanging upside down in a tree right now. I think we're well past the angering part and have gone straight to insulting. You needn't worry, though. I imagine he's going to share your sentiment when he wakes up. Depending on my sister's mood that might turn out rather painfully. She's a bit antsy right now. Is he the one who…" I shook my head vigorously.

"I only met them today. Where am I? Is this still a part of the Bronze Empire?" Her frown returned.

"Damn it, the demoness was right," she mumbled to herself before her stunning gaze returned to mine. "This might come as a bit of a shock but you're not even on the same world anymore. In a way, at least. I… I didn't understand half of it, but I think you're from a different realm." Could it be true? Had I run far enough in the blink of an eye? But of course I wasn't that lucky: "don't worry, though. If my aunt is right, the rest of your people will appear as well. We can help you find them."