A searing pain lanced through Eydis's arm, jerking her awake. Disoriented, she tasted blood mingling with the acrid scent of the S-Class beasts. The green mist, once menacing, now seemed almost mocking in its indifference. It was the echo of the mental battle that truly burned, the distorted laughter still a sickening mantra in her skull.
"Eydis!" Astra's voice, usually sharp and steady, cracked with fear. Her hand grasped Eydis's, the warmth offering a stark contrast to the icy dread creeping through her. "You were out cold. Are you...?" The question remained unspoken, but the concern etched on Astra's face spoke volumes.
Shaken, Eydis stumbled upright, the adrenaline of the mental struggle coursing through her. "Elias…" she choked out, her voice hoarse, "He's possessed by God." Her gaze fell on the unconscious figure nearby, his form pulsing with an ominous green light, the revelation heavy on her tongue.
A flicker of confusion crossed Astra's face, momentarily eclipsing the worry for Eydis. "First Melissa, now… How?" she whispered, her voice tight with apprehension.
Eydis winced as divine energy coursed through her, healing the wound but not the growing apprehension. Pieces were falling into place. This connected to what Indigo mentioned... "It's starting to make sense," she muttered, her voice shaking despite her forced calm. "I promise, as soon as we're safe and I can process this, I'll explain everything. Right now, we need to get back to Indigo before..."
A raspy, almost desperate plea interrupted her. "Find... Adam... please..." Elias' voice barely scraped above a whisper, weak and devoid of its usual defiance. His eyes fluttered shut as the green light faded from his form, leaving him drained and vulnerable.
Damien knelt beside him, his brow furrowed. With a grunt, he slung the weakened Elias over his broad shoulder. "We can't stay here. Maybe..." He trailed off, a grim silence settling over the group. Eydis flinched at the unspoken implication, the telltale crack in Elias' armour a chilling confirmation.
And for once, in this world of darkness and uncertainty, she wished, with a desperate ache in her heart, that she was wrong. But the sight that greeted them upon reaching the dank dungeon shattered all remnants of hope. Mages, likely of Sylvanwood, lay sprawled lifeless on the stone floor. Amongst them, a figure – a boy, barely a man – shattered Eydis' worst fear into a thousand agonising shards.
A scream, primal and raw, tore through the dungeon, shattering the suffocating silence. Elias collapsed beside the charred remains, clutching at the only familiar detail – a scrap of Adam’s worn tunic, singed black at the edges.
Tears, like shattered diamonds, cascaded down his cheeks, tracing paths of grief through the soot clinging to his face. He held Adam as one might hold a precious, broken vase, afraid to breathe lest the fragments scatter further.
Eydis sank to her knees besides Elias, the world tilting sideways on its axis. Not Adam. Not their gentle soul, with his quiet wisdom and kind smile, now reduced to an unrecognisable mass. Her fingers trembled as they grazed the rough fabric, the last remnant of warmth replaced by the chilling touch of ash.
"Adam," she choked out, her voice a broken whisper lost in the echoing emptiness. "Please… tell me it's not you." But silence answered, heavy and suffocating, pressing down on their grief like a tomb. The weight of their mission, the cruelty of their reality, crashed down on them in deafening waves.
Love, Eydis realised with a wrenching clarity, wasn't just a weakness. It was a beacon, a vulnerability exploited in this twisted game. The God-being had snuffed it out, not just a life, but a piece of their very souls. A flicker of rage ignited in her chest, fueled by the cold ashes of loss.
Astra, her eyes blazing amethyst, stood frozen, fists clenched so tight her nails drew blood. Why Adam? The rules were clear: the champion faced the Emperor, a chance to end this madness. It was meant to be her, not him.
Last year, they were tantalisingly close. But then, Ares inexplicably collapsed, derailing their plans. But this year... everything had gone wrong since the start. Was it a trap? Were they all pawns, their bonds manipulated into weapons against them? Melissa, and now Elias… Were they the true targets all along?
The elaborate battles, the mind games - a cruel orchestration to unlock their potential, making them… ripe for manipulation.
Sensing Astra's turmoil, Eydis reached out, intertwining their fingers. Her voice, barely a whisper, trembled with a single tear that traced its way down her cheek. "I think I understand," she said, her resolve hardening with each word. "What it is, and how we can end this… for Adam."
Astra, despite the storm raging within, nodded. She trusted Eydis with her life. As Elias's cries faded, replaced by a chilling emptiness in his vacant, emerald eyes, they knew the true battle had just begun. And the end, they both felt, was closer than they dared imagine.
**
Chaos engulfed the academy like a tidal wave. Adam's death hung heavy, a storm cloud casting a pall over the abruptly halted Grand Trial. Natalia, her grief a tangible shadow, conceded, crowning Astra victor yet again. But victory tasted like ashes in her mouth.
Their plan, meticulously crafted for years, lay in tatters. Ares, their sole link to God’s core location, was unreachable. This was beyond anything they anticipated.
Indigo, usually radiating quiet curiosity, was etched with raw pain. Tears mirrored the despair choking his voice as news reached him. "I... it was my fault," he choked out, guilt clawing at him. "I shouldn't have dragged him into this."
Eydis, ever pragmatic, placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "The God had its eyes on Elias from the start, Indigo. It saw his potential, even then. Adam's fate… it wasn't your doing." Her voice was a soothing balm, but even she couldn't erase the doubt and self-recrimination flickering in his eyes.
"But… we could have seen it coming," Indigo insisted, rubbing his temples in frustration. "We were so blind. I've spent years studying this academy, trying to understand its workings, to find the being's core, to unravel the magic's restrictions, observing patterns... and yet, I remained clueless."
"You took a necessary risk," Eydis acknowledged, her gaze flickering towards Astra.
Astra's nod was curt, her voice rough with exhaustion. "Centuries of battling and killing this entity, yet it returns, tightening its grip with each cycle. The Emperors rarely leave their ivory towers, except for the Trial. This was our chance."
"A chance that slipped through our fingers," Indigo murmured. "Ares is slipping, descending into madness. Perhaps God has chosen a new vessel."
Damien's growl rumbled, his usually calm eyes blazing with fury. "Perhaps, Ares is already dead. And Prince Adrian is God's new link."
"Adrian is our only lead," Eydis nodded, her voice laced with an unusual uncertainty. “But he doesn't feel… hollow.”
Indigo looked up, confusion etched in his weary eyes. "How are you so sure, Eydis?"
"Intuition," she hesitated, a shiver dancing down her spine. "A flicker of the real Adrian beneath the icy facade. But you're right. We need answers. Capture him. Maybe he holds the key."
Astra, her victory tasting like defeat, agreed with a curt nod. "The celebration ball it is."
With a sigh, Eydis murmured, "And I figured out God's plan, its purpose."
Wide eyes met hers, urging elaboration. "The elaborate trial isn't just to draw out the champion's potential," she explained, "but to find our weakness, our gap to be manipulated. Starting with Melissa, her weakness... was her pride."
Realization dawned on Indigo. "So when she almost lost to the much weaker… Adam," he choked, grief raw, "... God began to manipulate her?"
With a sad smile, Eydis nodded, “Adam… was being used more than once. First, with Melissa and next… Elias.”
Astra growled. "Then who is its next target? Is it randomly going through us as an experiment, or was there a larger game at play?"
Eydis frowned. "Perhaps there is, and maybe, Adrian will shed some light on this."
As they huddled over the palace blueprint, a deep dread coiled in Eydis' stomach. The dream, the chilling premonition, felt closer than ever. A desperate wish gnawed at her – for Lionel's survival, for Theomund's sanity. The reason behind this was crystal clear. She knew God had a plan, but so did they. And for the first time, she wasn't sure which side would prevail.
**
Natalia linked her arm with Eydis, their footsteps leaving heavy imprints on the soft snow. Lionel spoke first, his low voice shattering the oppressive silence. "It's been a while since we walked together, Miss Eydis."
Eydis offered a ghost of a smile, but it faltered before reaching her eyes. They remained shadowed, their amber depths dimmed from their usual vibrant glow. "Memories," she murmured, the word catching in her throat. "A fickle beast indeed." A specific one flickered behind her closed lids – a dream, a terrifying clash with Duke Theomund, his eyes ablaze with a deranged fire, and Lionel, still and silent. The mere echo of it sent a tremor through her, a stark reminder of the horrors etched into her mind.
"Almost a year," Lionel breathed, his breath forming a cloud in the frigid air. "And now you're back… It feels like a whole circle closing."
Eydis nodded, her gaze fixed on the frozen lake, mesmerised by the deep blue reflection of the glacier-capped mountains. "Much has happened, Captain Lionel. But please," she added, her voice turning serious, her eyes locking with his startled crimson ones, "be cautious around Duke Theomund."
Natalia, sensing the shift in tone, perked up her ears. "What did he do to you, brother?" she asked, concern lacing her voice.
Lionel chuckled, shaking his head dismissively. "He's just been his usual self, running off to the capital every now and then."
Eydis sighed, her brow furrowing. She pressed a strange, gleaming crystal into Lionel's palm. "Keep this with you," she said, her voice urgent. "If the Duke… tries anything, use it."
A playful pout escaped Natalia, momentarily shattering the tense atmosphere. "Not fair! I want one too!" she whined, channelling her inner child with an exaggerated stomp of her foot, sending a puff of snow flying.
Eydis managed a soft laugh, a flicker of amusement warming her eyes. She moved to clasp a similar necklace around Natalia's neck. The Inferno girl blushed crimson, stammering, "O-oh, thank you."
Lionel let out a genuine laugh, the sound echoing across the frozen landscape. "Ever the charmer, Miss Eydis. If you were a man, I'd have some stern words for you already," he chided playfully, brushing snowflakes off his shoulders.
Eydis smirked, a playful glint returning to her eyes. "Don't worry, Captain. Your little sister isn't exactly… my type."
Natalia nudged her playfully. "You always have a weakness for the brooding, mysterious types," she teased.
A soft chuckle escaped Eydis's lips, momentarily easing the tension radiating from her. "Perhaps you're right," she admitted, her gaze drifting towards the horizon. "We do seem to have something in common."
"We? Who?” Natalia's curiosity piqued.
Eydis offered a knowing smile, her eyes unreadable. "Me and..." she paused, her voice dropping to a low murmur, "another me." Then, with a final, enigmatic look, she turned and walked away, leaving Natalia and Lionel standing in the swirling snow, their minds buzzing with unanswered questions.
Lionel frowned at the odd exchange, but he knew better than to pry. Eydis had always been an enigma, a puzzle he could never quite solve. They continued their walk, watching the faint glow of the setting sun paint the frozen lake in hues of orange and pink. A moment of fragile peace, before the storm ahead.
Silverkeep howled under the relentless grip of a winter blizzard, its icy claws scraping against the stone walls of the grand palace. In the hushed corner of the infirmary, a young woman's screams echoed, her mind shattered by an unseen horror.
Not far from her tormented cries, Elias, a desolate island in a sea of white sheets, sat rigidly in his hospital bed. The sapphire ring in his palm felt cold and heavy, a stark contrast to the weak sun filtering through the frosted window. He refused everything: food, his friends' worried faces, even the warmth of the sun's meager touch. His gaze remained fixed on the swirling snow, replaying the night's events like a macabre film reel. Adam's desperate pleas, unanswered, echoed in the hollow chambers of his mind.
Grief, a serpent coiling around his heart, squeezed tighter, threatening to crush him. A voice, insidious and smooth, whispered in the back of his mind, a mantra of chilling calm.
“Wake up to your true potential.”
“Wake up, Theomund!”
Theomund jolted awake, the remnants of a nightmare clinging to him like sweat. His bloodline, eradicated before his eyes by the witches of Mythshollow Woods, the scene replaying in his mind with brutal clarity. Revenge flickered in his chest, a cold ember, but a new, unsettling dread had taken root. Something ominous lurked in the shadows, a silent serpent waiting to strike.
Groaning, he pushed himself up, the frigid air biting at his skin as he stepped onto the balcony. Since Adam's mysterious demise, paperwork and dread had become his constant companions. What had gone wrong at the trial? Why so much death and despair? Was an unseen hand orchestrating the chaos, perhaps the very witches he swore to bring down?
The afternoon sun cast a soft glow on his winter garden, the snow falling like a silent ballet. He pulled out the pendant, a cool kiss on his lips as he touched the crystal. Did Eydis understand the power she held over him? A single gift, enough to bind him to her will. He almost wondered if he could abandon everything, if she would let him.
Then, he saw them. A sight that shattered his constructed reality, even though he knew he had no right. It was chaste, a mere peck on the cheek when Eydis thought no one was watching, but it was enough. The amber of her eyes seemed to ignite with a fire reserved solely for Lady Astra. His heart lurched.
He had known there was something between them, a subtle shift in Eydis's demeanour that spoke volumes. Yet, he dismissed it as mere friendship, clinging to self-denial. But now, as Eydis nuzzled her nose against Astra's ear, the truth slammed into him with the force of a battering ram. The way Astra smiled, the gentle caress of her fingers through Eydis's hair. This was a bond far deeper, an intimacy Theomund had never glimpsed in Eydis' interactions with anyone else. And with chilling certainty, he knew what it meant.
Love.
A tide of fury surged through him. He ripped the pendant off his neck, flinging it across the room. The serpent within hissed, slithering closer, its eyes burning with an unsettling gold. The calm, chilling voice returned, whispering promises of power and potential.
"Wake up, Theomund," it said, its words a siren song in the void of his grief.
“Wake up to your true potential.”
