Chapter 75

They consumed her, those flames of hers. They wrapped themselves around her completely until there was no part of his lovely mate left for Nuriel to see. And he trusted Aurelia and had complete faith in her but this was his mate. And so he couldn't help but get worried and call our to her. The brightness of the fire so intense he struggled to even keep his eyes open, and his eyes now glowed with worry as well. 

" What's happening? Is she well?" Andres asked but got no response. 

" M'eudail?" Nuriel called out harshly. Not even knowing why he was directing the anger towards her. He wondered where she had wanted to be taken. Those little wisps had merged into one and were now part of the fire that had swallowed her up. 

The room was hot beyond measure and his own hand still hurt. He stared at the scarring and realized how slowly it was healing. It ought to have gotten much better by then and the pain should have already dissipated, but it still hurt. 

He had been burnt before but that was a new level of pain even for him.

And her screams....

Those would never leave him. That sound would from that moment be a source of his horror. It was a sound he had no desire of ever hearing again, but one that had already implanted itself into his subconscious.

" Should I link the others? " Barin asked but Nuriel was too busy calling out Flame's name to hear him, so he went ahead and did so. Telling the others that something had happened but not being clear on the details because he still had no words to use. 

" Please tell me it's not another death, " Kael sent back and Barin assured the young angel that it wasn't.

" It's the queen... something's happening, she's..." Barin suddenly kept quiet. He could feel the suspense of his brothers through their link but he was currently too stunned to say anything. Even through his mind. 

" M'eudail?..." Nuriel called out as he looked around the room nervously. She'd literally just vanished. Without a sound that too.

" M'eudail!" He shouted louder than either Barin or the warriors had ever heard him shout before. 

" She's what? Barin?" Drexel asked, and the others asked him to go on.

" She's gone, " he sent. His eyes narrowing as he slowly turned around on the spot. But she truly had disappeared.

⭐🌟⭐🌟⭐🌟

A blink was all it had taken. And then somehow, somehow Flame had found herself in this foreign place flooding with darkness. She let out a sharp breath as she looked around. She was no longer in flames but the five wisps still danced around her. Looking around, all she saw was the shadows of what seemed to be trees. A lot of them. So she concluded that she was in some sort of forest. 

Aurelia was gone from her head, but that feeling of power still thrived. And she knew so because she didn't feel any of the fear she knew she ought to feel. The old flame had loathed the darkness. Had related it to her initial life if suffering and torture. This Flame however felt oddly normal as she stood in this remote place where the darkness was thick and pouring over. 

She was used to the darkness, she realized. 

She had spent so much time locked up in it that it could no longer spook her. Reaching out, she touched one of the wisps and watched in awe as it landed on her finger and stayed still.

A bright orange firefly is what it looked like. Only that these ones were hers. They were made of her and they existed for her. 

The other four began to move in the darkness and Flame slowly followed behind them. She had told them to take her to that monster, that disgusting creature and it appeared they were doing just that. She held onto her long gown, carefully making her way last the many branches and the hanging trees. 

And a moment later the wisps suddenly stopped moving. She could hardly see, narrowing her eyes, she struggled to make out her surrounding. Then it was like someone lit a lamp, everything became into clear view. Glowing a golden yellow. As if it were being illuminated by a nonexistent source of light. 

And she knew that the source came from within her. 

Grateful for the advantage, she looked around once more. Then she saw this cave that was the pure definition of eery. 

Crickets chirped everywhere around her. And slowly, she began to walk towards the cave until she reached the entrance.

Then she stopped and listened in. There was no sound coming from within. It was risky, what she was doing. And she knew without a doubt that her angel was definitely going insane wondering where she was. But he couldn't continue to treat her like a wounded bird. 

        " He loves you, but he's enabling you as well. He must learn how to let go....I handcrafted your bond. Chose you for him myself, so I know that if anyone can help you grow then it is him. "

Those had been the last words Aurelia had said before her presence in Flame's mind vanished.

Flame swallowed, then she continued to step into the cave after her wisps did so. The little fires giving the dark space some much needed light. And the second she turned to the corner, she was met by eyes of darkness, of evil. Eyes built on hatred and shed blood. 

There was however no shock in them.The goddess sat on the floor, angling her head to the side as she observed Flame. Then slowly..oh so gently, she rose. There was blood all over her gown,Flame noticed. But she didn't seem at all hurt. 

"Well well well, isn't this quite the surprise, "

Her voice that of a seductive serpent. Soft yet cunning. 

Flame took one more step in. Watching the females movement with keen eyes.

" I'm impressed, " Phoenix stated. She had honestly not been expecting that. 

" Perhaps you're not as clueless about your abilities as I had initially assumed."

" You're in my lands. "Flame said.

Sounding confident and sure. She eyed the red haired female with unhidden rage. Thinking of all the innocent beings that had suffered at her hands.

Phoenix began to approach her, stopping a few steps away. Then she laughed. It was more of a cackle, this evil sound born of pride.

" Your lands you say?"

Flame didn't respond. And she thought of all the different ways she would love to hurt Phoenix. To make her endure the same pain she had inflicted on so many others. 

Then she watched as the darkness began to gather around the female, wrapping itself around her like strips. And she seemed to marvel in it. 

" I need you alive and for that reason alone you still walk, " Phoenix infirmed her. 

Pure blood freely given, Flame thought. 

And it seemed almost absurd. 

" I know what you want, but I'm afraid I'm currently not in the business of association with your kind. I won't be caught dead giving you even a drop of my blood!"

Phoenix shrugged dismissively, a smile on her face.

She would eventually get what she wanted. She always did. Taking the few steps that would lead her directly in front of the fairy, she reached forward with her darkness and watched as it touched Flame's cheek. It was like the touch of death and Flame shuddered, turning her face to the side. 

They were testing each other out, slowly pushing to see what the other was capable. Phoenix believed herself stronger but she also knew that her entire race had been wiped out by a fairy. It had been the queen which meant she had been more powerful, but one could never be too careful. And the fact that Flame had found her only proved that she was unaware of the true limits to the fairy's power.

She smiled on noticing the fairy's reaction to her dark touch. It meant she could feel it. And so she let it loose and watched as it made its way to Flame and began to wrap itself around her neck. 

Flame gasped. The darkness was an intangible thing, but she felt it as it began to squeeze her neck tight. She chocked, her eyes closing and her breathing being cut short. 

But she wasn't planning on letting the goddess intimidate her, she summoned her flames, and they came with more force than before. Phoenix gasped and stepped back, but she didn't dare flee. Flame had thought that the darkness would leave her but it remained, she clawed at her neck but all she felt was her own skin. She was suffocating, but she knew that she wouldn't die, such a small thing wouldn't kill her. And she decided that if that was how Phoenix wanted to handle things, then two could easily play that game. With gritted teeth, she eyed her wisps from the corner of her eyes, then she turned back to Phoenix and commanded them to strike.