When Painful Secrets Finally See The Light.

Keira eyed her dough, seeing that her brother and sister had the better technique. As much as she tried she just couldn’t get it right. Her father’s booming voice cut through the air. “Knead much more strongly, Keira.” She watched as his big hands took her dough, moulding it with an ease that she couldn’t master. She breathed in, seeing her younger sister smirking and her older brother looking annoyed, as per usual. She looked up seeing the young Mogwai in the window looking in. The creatuer had a long stripe of white on its head going down its back.

Her father took in a deep breath. “I keep telling you, child, not to feed those things. They are magical vermin.” He moved, bashing the window with his hand, watching as it ran away in panic. “You also should have not have saved that thing and given it back to the nest, they never leave the bakery alone now.” Keira breathed in painfully. “It was going to get eaten. It was alone.” Her father breathed in deeply, folding his arms. “Things eat other things, child. It’s just the nature of this world. You would do well to learn that and your place in it.”

Keira felt the pain as she opened one eye, slowly followed by the other, painfully as the memory from when she had been nine seasons old faded away. She groaned painfully, pulling herself in to a sitting position, watching as everything came in to focus. She looked down seeing that her armour padding was in place but not the rest of her armour. It had all been taken off and put close by in the dark cave. There was a camp fire burning close by.

She looked down, realizing that her hands were tied with magical rope, much to her annoyance. She moved her hands, trying to get them off, only to hear a weird sound behind her. Her heart started racing when she realized what it was. She turned, seeing a huge spider on the wall behind her, moving its mandibles as its yellow and green eyes stared at her. Keira found herself crawling as best she could across the floor, trying to get away. “Don’t worry, she won’t hurt you.”

She watched as Elysande appeared, moving past her and over to the huge spider. “She’s very friendly.” The other woman moved her hand petting its head gently as she fed it a large dead insect. “She’s somewhat misunderstood.” She turned, seeing Keira move up against the wall opposite. “Kind of like you and I are.” She turned speaking loudly. “She’s awake. You’re not in danger anymore.”

Keira eyed her in disgust. “So, you trapped me here with your fucking spider that’s going to eat me if I don’t tell you what I know.” Elysande rolled her eyes, watching as the others appeared. “No, I tended to your wounds, which have now almost healed and I had to tie your hand in case your powers came out again.” Agomais moved, not thinking as he grabbed Keira, pulling her to her feet and moving her around slightly. “Me on the other hand, I’m pissed as fuck at you!”

Keira felt the blinding pain as she was punched in the face, only to fall back painfully on the floor as Agomais’ voice hit the air. “You broke my horn!” His hoofed foot came down close to her. “I can’t channel magic right because of you! I’ll have to buy a channelling horn cap with another stone in the next town, as my magic is not powerful enough to counteract it!” Keira felt the blood run down her chin. She turned, spitting it out as she snarled at him, only for an inhuman growl to come out. “I don’t remember breaking your horn!”

Elysande moved to stand in front of the Minotaur raising her hands. “Please, stop this! You’re not helping, she doesn’t remember.” Bastian moved to sit close by, watching as Keira got up, painfully, as Agomais sat opposite him. He could now see his best friend for who she really was, and her true form, and he didn’t know what to think anymore. Had any of their friendship been real? Was her past all fabricated?

He eased up the book he had found in her pack, which had been a collection of recipes for mixing potions, she could mix potions and she had never told him. Plus, she was magical and a Paladin even though she claimed to hate Paladins. He eyed Agomais. “Look, I want to hit her too, but I would first like to hear her side of the story. After reading all her notes it’s clear she lied and she can mix potions and do magic, and she’s a Paladin, namely a dark one, but still a Paladin.”

Elysande looked at the armour, with its purple hue it was no longer glowing, as it had been fully disconnected from its owner. “She’s not a dark Paladin, she’s something new. I know I’m a War Mage, but what she is it’s either very new, or used to exist in the ancient times but the information on it was lost.” She moved over to where Keira had sat up, though she looked really angry as she wiped the blood from her mouth with her padded sleeve.

She carefully sat opposite her, watching as her glowing green eyes locked on to her. “Tell me, was Liliana the half elf really nice to you? Did she promise you wonders? Give you a great time in bed?” Keira blinked in confusion as she eyed her. “Are you here to take me to the Mages? Did they send you?” Elysande breathed, in realizing the other woman just wasn’t getting it. She was still so wounded emotionally from magic suppression that her mind was full of mental illness and anger.

She breathed in, pulling her armoured front plate off and pulling back the padding, watching as the others looked over. A merged, glowing blue and yellow stone came in to view as the others moved closer, to look at it with deep shock and curiosity. “Why would I ever want to turn in the only living person who is like me?” She looked at Keira, who for the first time since she’d met her seemed genuinely shocked. “So you see, I have no interest in ever turning you in.”

She slowly covered it again with her padding and armour plating. “So please, answer my earlier question, because that same elf has tricked thousands of races and sent them to early graves. She tricked me too. I wasn’t anything special, my family and I were very poor farmers living on the edge of Arken Stone, or the desert region that was nine seasons ago.” She breathed in, sadly. “My parents, my friends, they all died because of her. I got to live because this strange magic turned me in to this.”

Bastian turned, looking at her. “What are you? I’m curious because she is clearly as werewolf mixed with a demon.” Elysande felt the pain in her chest as she spoke. “I’m a vampire mixed with ghoul. Unlike vampires, I hardly have to drink blood, only now and again. It was a ghoul Mage who put this merged stone in my chest and she died for her troubles, it killed her before entering me.” She looked at Keira. “I assume the demon or werewolf who made you it was the same. They died, but you lived. Right?”

Keira breathed in as everything slowly sunk in. She looked down, sadly. “It was a demon Mage. He died creating me, the magic even shattered his horns to dust as I was created. I was a nobody, just a junior Paladin. It caused an explosion that killed a lot of people and I was blamed because I couldn’t control the magic.” Elysande laughed, coldly. “Did they now? Well that’s not the first time I’ve heard that bullshit. My explosion killed everyone in the room, yes, including me; but it never went beyond the room.”

Keira eyed her. “I was in a mine filled with active Coralight gem stone, so regardless of what you say the reality is I may have still killed those people. It’s why the Mages want me so badly, because I’m a fucking abomination in my other form and because I killed those people!” Elysande eyed her. “Let me guess, though: they found Liliana’s bones in the rubble, all charred up, and blamed you.”

Keira pulled up her hands, about to speak, only to stop when Elysande moved a little closer. “She used you, tricked you and got some good bed time with you, Keira. It happened to me as well. I was human, I had weak magic, my prospects weren’t good as there had been a long drought and our crops weren’t growing. I saw the prospect of her leading me to a better region as a great thing. I took my family and friends and it cost everyone their lives. Whatever she is, she is not a half elf…”

Agomais raised a clawed finger. “So you weren’t born a vampire?” Elysande shook her head. “No, I was just a regular human though my magic was very weak. I do have a vampire ancestor that I always knew of.” She turned to Keira. “Was your ancestor also a demon or a werewolf?” Keira looked down, sadly. “My great grandfather was a werewolf, but none of my recent family became werewolves. But, when I became this, it mixed with the demon and it activated, somehow.”

Bastian raised a clawed hand. “That explains, then, why you’re so strong even for a human.” He paused. “So this is the real you.” Keira pulled up her tied hands pointing at her scarred face. “Yeah, I look wonderful, and all thanks to you and her! Everyone is now going to know who I fucking am now!” Elysande shook her head sadly, looking at Bastian. “Your friend has been overdosing on suppression magic potions, as well as ones to change her form, for a very long time, Bastian.”

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She looked up slightly. “Her anger is now about her coming off her addiction, which is giving her magical mental illness.” Agomais laughed as he eyed Keira. “You fucking hypocrite! Always going on that you don’t want my Spice when you’re a worse addict than me… we’ve seen your other drinking tankards, they were in your pack. I smelt the magic on them, you didn’t even water the product down, you were drinking it straight, which could have killed you, which is offensive to me and shows your incompetence.”

He folded his arms. “Plus, all those time you could have helped me and Bastian but you clearly chose to hide your skills, you’re a selfish asshole of a Paladin!” Keira eyed him, feeling her teeth grind together. “I’m not a Paladin… I stopped being one a long time ago.” Elysande looked at her for a long moment before speaking. “Yet you saved my life at the cost of your own to the gulper snake, which tells me you still feel things in your heart.”

She breathed in, sadly. “I’ve spent nine seasons searching for someone like me. I’ve come across countless charred bodies in every region. Anyone who lived, though not for long, always pointed out the half elf who led them to their doom. Then I heard a story that a female werewolf demon had fled the capital seven seasons ago, and I had to follow countless tip bits till I found you. It was only when your boss at the mines showed me your picture that I knew it had to be you, I felt it like a pull in my soul.”

She raised her hand. “Now here you are, finally, another living, breathing merged of two races just like me.” She felt a warm smile form. “You’re a stunning living creation, a marvel of new magic, and you’re so different to me.” Agomais snorted in annoyance. “Oh yes, great she’s, just a stupid uncontrolled werewolf hybrid addict who can’t even control her own magic.” He paused. “Along with being a mean grumpy asshole who lies.”

Bastian ignored him as he moved closer to Keira. “Tell me, was our friendship real? Is any of your past true?” Keira breathed in painfully. “Yes, my friendship with you was real, I could just never tell you my past because when the Mages caught me they tried to kill me, to find out how the stone in my chest worked.” Bastian moved closer. “Please, let me see it.” Keira lowered her hands. “Just pull away the protective padding.”

Bastian moved his clawed hand, pulling the padding back, watching as the merged crystal stone with blue and red came in to view, along with the glowing patterns on her chest that all paladins had, though hers looked different. They seemed more decorative, more artistic even, and less mathematical. The patterns were given once a Paladin gained their armour and it was bound to them forever, regardless of race, through their soul, and those same patterns channelled through the armour.

These patterns helped them channel their magic better and made any extra form of channelling they had stronger. Although every race had magic and channelling stones, all had other devices they could add to channel better from the body. Demons, Minotaurs and beast men used their horns; while frog people, lizard people and crocodile people marked themselves with special magical tattoos embedded in their scales.

Elves could channel through their ears like orcs. For werewolves and vampires, ghouls and undead, it was their teeth. For skeletons it was unclear, they seemed to get their magic elsewhere. In his race it was the teeth, though the Seers also used their horns. Dwarfs though only used stones, but it was believed that their armour, like the Paladins’, was magical and bound to them until death in the same way.

He carefully put her padding back in place, stepping back. “Is anything you ever said about your childhood true?” Keira nodded. “Yes, it was. I’m a failed baker’s daughter whose brother and sister were better at everything. My father was a retired guard, he and my mother were human and we stoked all the bread in one of the regions of the capital.” She felt the pain sting her chest. “My parents saw me as a huge disappointment, and the happiest day of their lives was when they sent me away to the Paladin training when I was thirteen.”

Elysande looked up in surprise. “Why did they send you away that young? Training for Mages and Paladins is normally sixteen.” Keira felt the painful sting of her tears. It felt like an eternity since she’d last cried, but it was more the raw emotional build-up “I blew up a storage house with magic, and let all the local Mogwai in, who stole everything….” Agomais laughed as he eyed her others. “That’s funny… I did the same with my parents’ out-house, but they didn’t send me away.”

Bastian sat back down, watching as Keira wiped her tears away, clearly trying to hide her deep emotional pain. “How did you get the scar on your face?” Keira sat back on the stone, suddenly feeling drained. “The demon Mage who died gave it to me for misbehaving, since his magic wasn’t working on me. Only on the other two Paladins I was with, though from what Elysande is telling me, the half-elf, despite the fact I slept with her, wasn’t a friend.”

Elysande stood up, moving over to the spider, stroking its head again. “Well, I did too. It’s not that you’re stupid, it’s more that she’s very manipulative.” Bastian looked at Keira. “Well, I prefer your form better now, at least it’s the real you.” Keira sneered, looking away from him. “Please, you don’t have to be nice. I know I look ugly as shit, at least under the transformation spell I didn’t have ugly scars, glowing eyes and wolf teeth and my hair was a better colour.”

Elysande stroked one of the spider’s mandibles. “I tried that. Never worked for me either… the magic from the merged stones is really strong.” Keira eyed her. “I wasn’t interested in your opinion, since you just ruined my life! These two never needed to see the real me!” Elysande closed her eyes, knowing it was the magic withdrawal, and she was going to have put up with this until Keira was clean and her magic had stabilized and her mind was better, which could take a long while as magic withdrawal could be very bad. “You weren’t living your best life Keira. Hiding in a mine, pretending to be someone else you’re not, with very little money… that’s no life.”

Bastian clapped his clawed hands. “She’s right! I wanted to leave the mines ages ago, the pay was pathetic.” He turned to Elysande. “Why did you want the other stone, though, when you have Keira?” Elysande turned slightly. “I needed the stone from someone who wasn’t living, as taking these out people kills them horribly.” She paused, eyeing them. “I apologise to both for the deception. I just had to know for sure that you were good people and that you wouldn’t sell me out.”

Agomais looked up. “So you and Keira are not dating then?” Elysande shook her head in confusion. “No, I am not dating your friend. What gave you that idea?” Agomais scratched his nose. “She just gets to sleep with all the good looking men and women from both races, along with Bastian…” Bastian folded his arms, raising his tail. “No I don’t!” Elysande breathed in, looking at Keira who was now being very quiet. “The truth is, I needed that stone so my parents could test it safety.”

She leaned against the wall. “There, in Trius Amaya, they have been trying to work out what these stones are and how they are created.” Keira eyed her ropes. “I’m not going with you! I’m not going to the land of the dead!” Bastian and Agomais looked at each other before Bastian spoke. “Ignore her, she’s still high on suppression magic among other things and we would be happy to lead you there.” Agomais raised a clawed hand. “I’m already in trouble with the law so I need to go elsewhere for a while.”

Elysande felt a warm smile form. “That’s very nice of you both. We may have to get mounts in the next town or village. I have the coin, and it could take a long time to get there. Know though that if I flew you there I’ll be spotted instantly, so would Keira. Although in her other form she can clearly fly, she is not mentality well enough and it will take a week or two for the magic side effects to wear off from her abusing potions.”

She paused. “Only after that she will be well enough to train to sync mentality with her other form and gain control over it. That’s what my parents can help her with, since they helped me. The reason she can’t currently, like I can, is the potion abuse.” Keira eyed them all in disgust. “Do I get a voice here!?” Bastian eyed her. “No, because you’re an addict who is high and you need to get better.” Agomais eyed Keira. “Plus, you are a wanted criminal so I doubt you want to stay here in this region. You did fight Elysande in your other form while she fought you in hers and you set fire to a grain mill.”

Elysande moved over to the spider, stroking its head again. “Plus, my friend here can get us to the nearest village, she just can’t go in herself as they are afraid of her.” Keira turned, eyeing her. “You talk to her…” Elysande turned slightly. “Yes after my incident I can understand what some spiders say. Not all, mostly just the frost spiders.” Keira looked at the creature. “What makes you think she won’t eat you in your sleep?”

Elysande turned to her. “Because I saved her as a baby, many seasons ago. She was going to be eaten by a hydra and didn’t see the danger, she’s always been grateful and never attacked me since.” Keira turned away slightly. “Things eat other things. It’s just the nature of this world.” Elysande shook her head. “Yes, they do; but it doesn’t mean we as people need to be as cruel. We should treasure all life in this world, young, old and undead.”

Keira looked at her for a long moment. She could almost see her idealistic thirteen-year-old self in this woman and it was getting under her skin. She turned away. “Are you going to untie me?” Elysande shook her head. “No, because you’re still a danger to yourself. I won’t be untying you till we get to the next village, as you’re not in control yet. You’re still very much a danger to us and yourself, we need the violence to wear off you fully. Don’t worry, we will put your armour back on tomorrow morning. Your body also needs to heal fully from the stress, and as you’re a werewolf, sort of, that part of you is healing up slowly.”

Keira looked down slightly. Great, she was now stuck with all these people who probably hated her. She couldn’t leave or run away. She had to now travel with them even though she had lied and been dishonest with them. She didn’t see why she needed to be cured, she was fine! The cure she needed was not to control this, it was to get rid of it so she could be normal again. Maybe then the Paladins would welcome her back, maybe then she could return to her old life and no longer be a fucking monster!

End of part 9

Silvermoonlight