“Something tells me…” The long white hair waves as the wind gently blew. Many wrinkles are visible on his face, clearly telling he’s not in his prime. And with old age, surely one must enjoy the time remaining with a smile, but his face tells otherwise. A frowning face while sitting down on the chair that partners the design of the tea table stands on the balcony of his room, “that a storm is raging.” The glass doors behind gently open as he sips down his tea, and a black-haired woman with pointy ears that seems to be a maid bows down in respect. The cold yet refreshing wind continues to blow, a bit stronger this time.
“Your excellency, Elder Leriv Lynchelf.” The elven maid stood up and took a few steps forward, letting the dim sunlight make her face glow, her dark blue eyes reflecting some light as she looked at the elder. “Your daughter, lady Lynya, has arrived at the palace early this morning.” She replied without any emotion and silently waited for his reply with a cold glare.
“Ahh, her. No wonder I feel uneasy.” He closed his eyes in relief of finding out something that's been bothering him for a while now, he doesn’t get why he feels that way though. He stared down at his cup and looked at his reflection in the tea while pondering. Shouldn’t I be happy now that she has returned? Something isn’t right. He thought, with one of his hands on his chin, It’s probably just my imagination, I need to see her quickly. And shrugs as he begins to stand up from his chair and faces the inexpressive maid, “Very well, where is she right now?” he asked with his left eyebrow raised.
“She’s waiting in the palace lounge, milord.” The maid answered without any expressions yet again. She opens the glass doors as the old elf walks back into his room, and follows him exactly three steps away to show respect.
Leriv looks at the huge mirror on his right placed above the dresser made of wood. He noticed how wrinkly he is and it made him a little insecure about his image for a second, it made him remember the time where Lynya would run away from him while he’s looking for her back when she’s just a kid. “Delphinium, step out and let me change my clothes please.” He stares at her, waiting for her to leave.
“Yes, milord.” Delphinium bowed and started walking out of the room, still without a smile or any changes in her tone. With her gone, Leriv can finally start cleaning himself, though it’s kind of weird for Delphinium not to leave until said so because he thinks that she knows that he’s going to get ready. Doesn’t she know? What a weird elf. He thought while stripping down. Closing his eyes and focusing on himself, and casts “[Cleanse],” on himself, cleaning any dirt and dust that settled on his skin from the morning breeze during his tea time. Delphinium quietly stood before the door standing in the middle of the huge hallway, designed with preserved plants with exquisite designs and golden pillars that keeps the whole place standing. With nothing to do, she turned around to face the window, seeing the vast forest that reached the end of the horizon. Looking down, houses built around the trees and hundreds if not thousands of different looking elves can be seen, with smiles across their faces, “A usual city day, as some may say.” she mutters, not being bothered by the noise, the view made her smile lightly. She rests both her arms on the handrail, and would only hope that this kind of scenario would go on every day.
After a few minutes of sightseeing and being lost in thought, Delphinium’s eyes slightly dilated the moment she hears a light click, putting her out of her trance state. The elder is coming… She told herself and quickly dusts her clothes off before standing properly as she quietly waits for Leriv to step out of the room. She saw the usual clothes of an Elder, white robe with green cuffs and yellow placket, made with the finest fibres this Sovereignty can produce. No matter how many times Delphinium has seen this uniform, it never ceases to amaze her, as there were some rumours that every thread used to create it is enchanted with protective spells against almost any form of spell or physical attacks.
“Let's go, Delphinium.” Leriv finally breaks the silence when he looks at her and starts walking towards the other end of the hallway, but that’s it. Silence entered between them again beside the light footsteps and constant wind that’s shuffling the trees. “It’s very rare to see elves with black hair in the city, are you perhaps from the fallen Thalax town?”
Delphinium flinched upon hearing a fallen town that was supposed to be her home, the place that once flourished for its abundant source of seafood, gold, and pearls. She can’t help but recall a vague, distant memory. A face similar to hers, smiling and calling her, Sister… with an arm reaching out; there were flames everywhere. And instead of running, she’s just standing in front of a house, as if she's destined to burn with it. Delphinium's hands clenched unconsciously, and her eyes started to get moist. She gently shakes her head to snap herself out of it and responds with a nod from the question. “Yes, I was very young when my hometown got destroyed and I can’t seem to remember much about it.” She replied, looking away with her eyebrows lowered, “Except… My sister.”
“You don’t have to continue any further if you don’t feel good about sharing it.” Leriv halts when he finally reached the end of the hall. The silence of waiting for Lynya is rather unnerving, however, he is determined this uneasy feeling will be gone once he saw her again. Two huge doors with golden finishing and a huge green flower in the middle, splitting it in half when Leriv finally opens them. His eyes slightly narrowed upon seeing how bright the sun’s rays are shining at the centre, giving light to most parts of the throne room. The two elven guards wearing full body armour are standing and facing each other at the other end of the room, where another door with the same finishing as the one behind Leriv stands. He starts to walk towards his throne and looks at the guards. They hurriedly stood up straight when they made eye contact with the Elder. Their quick change of behaviour let Leriv sat down with a sigh, and decides to let this through, “Just leave already,” He placed his hand in his temples to calm himself down from the disappointment and the lack of discipline he witnessed. He waits until the irritating clanging from the armour of the guards' walking out disappear. And looks at Delphinium, standing beside the throne glaring at those guards, he finds it kind of amusing, enough to make him chuckle lightly. “Delphinium, please fetch my daughter.”
“Yes, your excellency!” With a quick nod, and not wanting to disappoint him any further, she starts to thread through the room, Lady Lynya is supposed to be in the lounge, I hope she wouldn’t do anything stupid and wander anywhere else. And upon hearing a light click, she quickly opens the door… “!!–”
Delphinium suddenly saw an innocent smile by the door. “Lady Lynya! You– you surprised me! Haha…” She laughs nervously with a drop of sweat rolling down her face. What’s strange is that her ladyship’s expression remains the same. Also that her usual taste of clothes which shows more skin than usual, now wearing a worn-out cloak, as if she's trying to hide something. Have I done something wrong? Why is she smiling like that? Also, this isn’t something my Ladyship would wear… It’s making her worry about what she might do to her. Not that she had done something like that before, but Delphinium knew something changed in her, making her tremble lightly.
“Del–” Lynya quickly opened the door, “phin–”, and approached the maid, “nium~” however, a piece of her cloak got stuck behind the door, making her stagger. Delphinium loses her composure and squeal, but instead of doing nothing, she quickly attempts to catch her, “My lady!” Lynya’s arms plummeted on Delphinium’s hands, preventing her from tumbling. She’s… L–light, it seems that she hasn’t been eating. And suddenly noticed heavy abrasions on her arms, “My goodness! My lady, what happened?!” Something is wrong. Something doesn't feel right– noticing how strange she is now, Delphinium is worried that Lynya might do something against her father, the elder. She quickly fixed her posture, and noticed the abrasions in Lynya’s legs too, but they were of no concern if Lynya turned out to be a traitor. She holds her waist to feel the hidden knife under her maid uniform, and the moment she felt it, she attempts to jump. However, Lynya quickly grabbed the maid’s arms, stopping her from jumping away. She pulled her closer to her face, and lifts her point finger to her mouth, adding an eerie “Shh.” she whispered in the maid’s ears, and made her whimper, “Don’t be so rude to your lady, it is still me after all, Lynya Drottmadison Lynchelf, the only daughter of the elder Leriv Lynchelf.”
After seeing Delphinium calm down, she immediately lets her go and starts to walk towards her father, still without him knowing anything yet, he silently waits for her to approach him. “Oh father, I have returned with delightful news~!”
“Y-You!!” Leriv shrivels in his throne as he trembles in fear at seeing her daughter, his intuition never fails him. He knew earlier that something was not right, but what he’s seeing right now, is far from a mere intuition. “you're not LYNYA!!” a sinister aura emanating from her daughter, no wonder he had goosebumps when he saw Lynya’s innocent smile from afar. “What did you do to my daughter?! [W-Wind Blade]!” He suddenly casts a spell, he is too blind from fear to see that he’s attacking his daughter. But the winds that have supposed to cut her dissipates, sounds of bone clicking only meant that a skeleton appeared out of nowhere and blocked the spell for Lynya.
Although Lynya’s smile didn’t disappear, she didn’t even get worried or scared, as if this was simply a part of her plan. AS EXPECTED!! Her eyes dilated and her grin grew, “Fear not father, it is still me, after all~” She looks at her father in the eyes and removed her hood. Her once pure, and white hair, now stained with black strands waving as the wind blew stronger. Oh, death… She looks at the hole in the ceiling, with her eyes narrowed in happiness, you’re brighter than the sun’s rays, oh lord, “Now back to what I was saying, I… I have received REVELATION!” and starts giggling while she turns around to face the maid.
With trembling hands and her legs almost giving out. Delphinium felt like she used all of her strength just to take her knife out. "M-my lady, please… Don't make me do this and move away from the Elder!" She knows that she must protect the elder, even if it costs her own life. But the fact that the one she's up against is someone who has grasped the power to toy with life and death, leaves her worried.
"Oh Delphinium, I'll just give my father an embrace, no need to show your fangs to your owner~" Lynya's ominous aura reeks so bad, everyone even with the lowest magical affinity can end up shivering in fear. She just became a necromancer, I can win this. She aims the knife she's holding at Lynya's head, followed by a quick fling. However, the strength of the throw is greatly weakened, because her hands are shaking. And even with a skeleton beside Lynya, it didn't do anything against the knife, letting it pierce through her cloak and skin, but not deep enough to damage an organ, although the pain made her stop in her tracks and cause her eyes to dilate, the huge grin in her face didn't disappear.
"You left me no choice, I told you to get away from the Elder." Delphinium threw two more knives, but Lynya didn't even flinch with each knife thrusting through her back, the sound of her flesh tearing made Delphinium squirm in disgust. It feels like she enjoys it more rather than getting hurt by them. But now isn't the time to waste any more seconds, she must get the elder out of this place before she takes her on, "Elder, please run away!" She's still out of it, I'm sure he can flee before anything else happens–Arghkk!!!
She heard another sound of tearing flesh, but she knew that it was her own. The excruciating pain made her eyebrow twitch and fall to her knees, she looks down only to see the handle of her knife on her stomach, the whole blade is inside and pierced through more than just muscle. She wants to scream, she wants all the pain gone. She wants to punch the shit out of her lady, though she doubts that it'll change anything for the better. She felt the blood rising to her throat, and seconds later, she spits it out. Her remaining courage from earlier, completely replaced by fear. Am I gonna die? What's going to happen from this moment on? Is the Elder able to escape? I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!! Her eyes were wide, still staring at the embedded knife. The wind blows, but the sudden footstep snapped her back in reality.
"LYNYA! That's enough!!" Leriv's voice almost echoed, but Lynya didn't stop approaching the maid. He's too terrified to do anything against her, it feels similar to being dethroned. What happened to her? Is she really the Lynya I know? A drop of sweat ran through his cheek as he wished that she would listen to him, not as an Elder, but as her father.
After Lynya finally reached the maid, and she looks at Leriv with a disgusted gaze, "Fine, I'll leave…" She suddenly grabs Delphinium by the hair, which causes her to freak out and whimper. "But I'll take this one with me." And continued walking towards the door that leads to the hallway of their rooms.
Delphinium holds her hair, trying to make Lynya let go, but the more she fights, the more her grievous wound becomes unbearable. So she had nothing to do but to be dragged away. But still holding on, she stretched her other arm, trying to reach out for the Elder, and tears start to flow. "You-your excellency! Please help me!! Don't let me be taken away PLEASE!!" Her plea grew louder as they got closer to the door. But all is lost the moment she saw the elder avoiding eye contact, but with a final push, she lets out a mumble, "Fleashe… my liord…" Still, without any response coming from him, Delphinium's arms finally drop down from all the struggling and gave up, This… This is it… Her inspired dark blue eyes were now empty, and her face became emotionless, like a prey losing its will to live once a predator got them between its maw.
Leriv clenched his fist in his throne while looking down on himself. WHAT, WHAT WAS THAT!? His eyes, still trembling from the sight, and trying to forget the scene, but the image of death staring at him when he faced Delphinium, felt like the skeleton that was standing beside her would multiply to thousands, and their blades would pierce through him the moment he tried opposing her decisions more. But will he remain complacent with his life by leaving Delphinium in Lynya's hands? He sighed with his hands rubbing his temples, trying to think of what he could do as a way to save her. What should I do… I need to plan something in order to save her!
He quickly stands up from his throne and rushes back to the hallway to check what Lynya is doing now. At the other end of the hallway lies another huge door, but it made him quite worried about how the door's corners are slightly glowing purple. Here goes nothing. He clenched his fist from his qualms, what if Lynya really has hundreds of undead at her disposal? He can't help but recall the sight of blades against his head. No, I must at least take her away from that one hell of a monster, whoever she became. He mustered his strength and barged into the room, seeing Lynya standing in front of Delphinium while chanting a spell unknown to his knowledge of magic. "Lynya! What are you doing?! Stop it!" The huge magic circle below the maid is giving Leriv a bad feeling. What is she trying to do this time? I had enough of this nonsense!
Lynya's chanting finally stopped, and the circle disappeared, she turns around to face Leriv. With him expecting an eerie grin, his eyes expanded to see a nasty glare. "I believe that dear father has done enough games for one day." The strong bloodlust made Leriv step back in instinct, and the way that her daughter made him feel like he's just dancing in her palm starts to replace his fear with anger.
Without a second thought, he quickly put his hands together, "I tried to let this through, but that's it! It seems that I don't need a successor! [ripí tou Theoú]." A concentrated wind forms between his hands and takes a shape of a one-sided blade. He then closes his hand to grab it and lets out a battle cry as he runs toward Lynya.
A loud clunk echoed through the room, with Leriv's blade of wind being intercepted by a skeleton's rusty sword, preventing Lynya from getting cut in half. Leriv responds with three quick swings to the skeleton's head, shattering the skull and dispelling the magic within. The remaining bones limply fell over and gets crushed almost to dust on the weight of his feet when he takes a step forward to Lynya. She, who was just sitting beside the emotionless maid calmly while checking her wounds, finally sighs after Leriv’s effort to take her summon down. “so weak for an elf's bones…” She looks at him with curious eyes and a light smile. "What about High Elves?"
Three more skeletons have risen up from the ground, however, they feel different now. The hairs on Leriv's arms stood up, and his eyes dilated upon seeing each of the skeleton's magic aura. Each one of them is just as strong as me, probably even stronger!… That means they really are high elves! Dangerous! This is very dangerous!! He glared at Lynya, trying to get her attention while watching the skeletons. However, he finds it weird that they are doing nothing against him, it's as if the skeletons are just guarding Lynya against him. She took a quick glance at him and stands up to continue Delphinium's ritual. "They won't attack unless you do first."
A sudden change in her expression made Leriv shudder, "That is why, try not to do something stupid if you value your own life. Father~" followed by a giggle, she starts chanting. "Flowers of life, wither in time. But without death that guards this soul, for it will be bound by my chains, and my life, serve me forevermore and there shan't be withering flowers…" a large pentagram reappeared below Delphinium, who's still semiconscious.
"[Soul's Shackles]"
Anger bursts out of Leriv upon hearing the spell and starts running to Lynya. "LYNYAAAAA!!!" The skeletons blocked his way, stopping him in his tracks, and starts attacking. Their stronger bones made their attacks quicker and much stronger than the skeleton he trampled earlier. He saw a blade coming to his right, fortunately, he has enough time to black it with his wind blade, but the strength of the swing is so strong that he is getting pushed back. He starts seeing long purple chains rising from the pentagram, Damn it!! "Aaaarrggghhh!" He screamed as he swung his blade towards the nearest skeleton. Thinking that he'd at least get to bring one down. His anger quelled when his blade of wind disappeared. Dumbfounded, he was left staring at his hands, having his magic leaving not even a single scratch on them. Without any second longer, the skeleton kicks Leriv behind his knees, making him kneel and groan in pain.
"AHH~ HAHAHAHAHA!!" Lynya suddenly laughs hysterically as she watches the conclusion of the fight. Every loud clunk she hears as the shackles on delphinium closes feels euphoric, it starts clicking on her feet, and then her arms. Everything went as planned!!~ Father being dethroned, delphinium being enslaved, and THE SEAT IS FINALLY MINE! FOR… FOR!!... She inhales loudly as if she's struggling to breathe, and chuckles the moment she can't help but to let her thoughts out, "FOR YOU OH DEATH!! ADELRAM! THIS IS ALL FOR YOU~!!"
Leriv flinches upon hearing a name, Adelram…? Who's Adelram? He looks at her with disgusted eyes, "You're, you're crazy." He turns his head on his left and spits, as a sign of disrespect towards Lynya.
Her laugh stops seeing the shackle on Delphinium's neck, which is the last, closes. Following a bright glow, the chains together with the shackles disappear, completing the spell. "I still remember." She kneels down to Delphinium so she can check for any irregularities that happened on her body when the spell was being done while recalling what happened back at the cave. As if it was just an hour ago, for every detail she remembers made her shiver. "There was something so pleasant about that place, the revelation. Have you ever been in a place, where death is already strangling your soul?"
Ever since she returned, for the first time, she looked normal. Leriv was almost appalled at the sight of Lynya smiling as if it were a normal day, her impeccable sangfroid made Leriv sigh, knowing that all of this is just another one of her demeanours. "As I was about to die, I saw something…" Lynya starts to tremble, "It was darkness. However, it's not the darkness where death shatters your soul, but a place that feels like a sanctum for the chosen." Her eyes slowly widen the more she recalls, "There's unfathomable power within! UNTAPPED POTENTIAL!!" She found herself standing, but she couldn't contain the excitement she's feeling. "But what's more, all that magic came from a single person! A SINGLE PERSON! HE IS A GOD AT THIS POINT~” She groped herself and starts letting out muffled moans, her eyes narrowed from the pleasure. "I want it… I WANT THAT POWER!! THE SOULS KNEELING BEFORE HIM RECEIVES SUCH GIFT!! I WANT TO JOIN THEM OH I REALLY DO! AHHH~" Her adulterated acts made her eyes almost tear up and moan once more, louder than before.
Leaving Leriv speechless, this is the perfect chance for him to strike. While she's lost in her own euphoria, although this won’t work twice, it’s better for him to try than doing nothing at all, "[Wind Blade]!!" He casts the spell and a blade of wind in an arc shape flies from his hands and towards the raptured Lynya, you can't dodge this now! "Your high elves are useless! There's no way they can make it! Think of this as giving you what you want."
"Delphinium~" Just as the spell was about to reach Lynya, the unconscious maid appeared in the way of the spell and blocked it with her arm. And not long before the spell hits her, her hands start to get mauled by the winds. However, even with mangled hands, her face remains unchanged, her eyes still empty and staring down at Leriv. Lynya suddenly laughs from the sight, "Who said that I would only have high elves!? HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Leriv was frantic with worry for Delphinium, nobody followed his attack nor tried to hurt him, only Leriv’s unsteady panting and the sound of Delphinium’s blood dripping can be heard in the sudden halt of their fight. Soon enough, the tranquil atmosphere together with what’s left in his sanity and his instinct telling him to stop giving him the realisation of what he did. Tears started flowing down his face, the fact that losing two important people in his life was unbearable even for someone like him, one of the most respected elders. "I'm sorry…" his wailing made Lynya flinch, placing her hand in her mouth with a shocked expression, obviously just one of her demeanors. “I failed, I failed miserably. I even tried to kill my own daughter. And I ended up hurting Delphinium as well.” His cries went louder.
Leriv suddenly felt a warm hand pressing gently against his right shoulder, and when he looked up to see, the face of Lynya smiling sweetly to him made him forget everything that had happened earlier. “Everything will be alright.” She whispered, without Leriv knowing that she casted [Charm] beforehand. “Please, rest easy father, and keep your eyes on me. hm?” She steps back while staring at him, her command ringing in his ears.
Leriv didn't realise his position and is solely focused on Lynya, too blind to see the blades coming to him. Seeing Lynya waving her hand once as if she wants something cut, he starts seeing the ceiling without his knowledge, and he finally snaps out of her charm. I… was beheaded? His final thought let him tear up one last time as his consciousness fades away while his head falls down, creating a slight thud that brought pleasure to no one but Lynya.
Delphinium watched the whole scene, but did not falter. She couldn't care less about it, the only thing that matters to her now is serving whoever takes the chains that binds her. Be it Lynya, or someone who frees Delphinium from her, she's reduced to nothing but a puppet on a string. Looking at Lynya and waiting for her command, she stood beside her with her eyes empty and her movements almost compared to a dead body— it was stiff, predictable, and lacked any decorum. Lynya giggles at the fact that Delphinium didn't stagger despite the way she moves, and as she reached her hands out to hold Delphinium's warm cheeks, the maid flinched from how cold her hands are, but she accepts it nonetheless. "Now, Delphinium, we have a country to take care of, for Adelram." Delphinium doesn't have any idea who Adelram is, but if it’s someone her master praises, she shall as well. She waits until the cold hands on her cheeks let go, and bows without saying anything.
