“You’re not alone,“ a voice spoke up, delaying the frost-bearing warrior and bloody woman’s impending battle. A man wearing loose, baggy clothes and goggles around his neck walked over to Grovalt’s side. “I won’t let you take her, either.“

Raum extended his right hand in a grasping motion, and in the blink of an eye, a large staff materialized within it. The staff was adorned with dozens of feathers and a bird skull at the top.

“Then, let it be so,“ Imeldra muttered, “where a warrior falls, so too must a crow upon his corpse.“

The still night air was cut in twine by Grovalt’s mighty blade. Air is all he cut, though. Imeldra managed to dodge Grovalt’s precise flurry of strikes and back away from both men to a safer distance. As Imeldra’s skills lay in ranged attacks, it was wise for her to stay as far as possible from Grovalt at least, who had already demonstrated unmatched close-range abilities.

As Grovalt advanced on Imeldra several times with piercing strikes with his blade, Raum slowly raised his enigmatic staff and pressed his other hand to his chest. A bright light began to swirl around him. Not a second later, white birds manifested from the light and flew straight at Imeldra with unwavering precision. She raised her dainty hands and made quick slashing movements with them, spawning blades of blood in mid-air to slice some of the birds in two. Many were cut down, their split bodies falling and dissipating into fluttering light before hitting the ground. There were a few, though, that made it through the floating blades of blood. One by one, they penetrated Imeldra’s chest and blasted her torso with blinding light.

“Enough…“ Imeldra uttered. The blood from the painted beasts Grovalt slew moments before had begun to rise in the air and coagulate in a ball above Imeldra.

“Watch out!“ Grovalt warned. A nova of blood shot out from Imeldra’s every direction, coating the room in a thick red liquid. The blood only hit Grovalt and Raum, though Raum was only lightly affected. At the last second, Grovalt had jumped in front of the weakened Ceres, taking the attack full force. The aura had felt like a hundred needles entering the front of his body, jabbing him incessantly before flying backward into the wall. He nearly went unconscious, but fought the drowsy feeling with everything he had left.

Imeldra was beginning to look quite drained herself. She siphoned some more blood from her wounds and the last of the beasts’ blood and fashioned it into a long sanguine rapier.

“Mistress, I ask you to obviate this path you walk,“ Raum pleaded with the red-eyed woman. “This will only lead to more death.“

Imeldra’s eyes had turned a different shade since facing Raum’s magic and hearing his words. She no longer appeared as sinister and sadistic, and looked more sad than anything. The blood that covered her and the room had fallen the same route, going from an ecstatic red hue to a dark red shade. She looked down solemnly, and her grip on the blade she had just conjured seemed to lessen.

A painted world, just for me.

A mesmeric plain, for our family.

A cage of ink, for the beast that haunts us.

A swift death, for he who betrayed our trust.

An illusory veil, for the love we had was spent.

A falling lily, for the cause of our lament.

A poem chimed in the heads of all who sat and stood in the ruined manor. Flashes of the past flitted across their irises. A blackish blue aura began building atop Imeldra’s form, filling the foyer with ink. The paintings on the walls began to fall and sink deeply into the black tide, disappearing within it. Grovalt, Raum, Ceres, and the now awakened Nakir all fought for air as the ink enveloped them all. As it consumed Imeldra, it consumed everyone along with it. The world was stained black and the minds surrounding the area were brought to a time long passed.

“Mama! I wanna paint like you when I grow up!“

“Really, now? What would you like to paint? There’s an infinite number of things to create in this world, my love.“

“I wanna paint us! I wanna paint all of us, together.“

A flower’s falling petals make no noise.

And the same was true for a flower such as you, my love.

“The Archmage has entrusted me with the tome. Me! I can’t back down now out of fear of what might happen. Look, when I make a breakthrough, we can all go into town together as a family. We could even get that cat they’ve always wanted. Please, honey? Can you work with me on this? This could lead to magic that could bring everyone, not just Azanites, to a higher understanding of our world.“

“What about Outlanders, dear?“

“Well, we’ll see. I’m not so sure they deserve something like that. Imeldra, there are those that are gifted in this world to do great things, and there are those who serve those people. Do you understand that?“

“I suppose…“

Love is a precious thing.

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Not just because of its value, but also because of its fragility.

“Mother, have you seen the cat? Lily was asking about it earlier, and I was wondering the same thing. I haven’t seen it around the house in a while.“

“Actually, my dear, there’s something I have to tell you about that. Keep this from your sister for now, though.“

Life, in essence, is parasitic.

Just as a living thing can create something, the same being can also serve as the fuel to create as well.

“Where is she?“

“What do you think? She’s in her room, crying.“

“In time, she will understand. She is of our blood, after all.“

“...“

“Don’t be like that. You’re the one who told her the truth. I told you to keep it from her until the time was right. This was why. Honestly, I don’t understand why you refuse to listen to me sometimes.“

“What about Lily?“

“What about her? She’s sleeping soundly. Just don’t tell her, or we’ll never hear the end of it.“

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.“

“Imeldra, there is nothing I love more than you and the girls. The cat was a lamentable sacrifice, I’ll admit, but it produced grand results. We are on the verge of something awe-inspiring. World-changing. You’ll see.“

Finally, I had given up.

His once gallant and warm words had become cold and emotionless.

Another ‘lamentable sacrifice’ had been the final nail in the coffin.

Either way, he had long been dead inside before I slit his throat.

Darkness. The swaying darkness of a deep sleep. As the dawn burns the night away, so too does the sunlight across the blackened mansion. The waves of ink seemingly vanished, and in their midst was a dying Imeldra, the blade she had conjured melting into nothingness by her side. Bloody tears streamed down her pale cheeks, revealing small bits of beauty beneath the marred blood. The sky was painted in a dim orange hue that grew brighter with each passing moment.

“Blood is so versatile a paint. It can even cloud the eyes with the afflicted bearing no notice.“ Imeldra heaved a bloody cough.

Ceres limped over to her sister’s captor, and sat down beside her. The anger that had roared in her heart had been pounded into dust within so little time that now, she felt nothing more than the need to see her sister once more.

“I am sorry, truly, my dear. Once my kind spills blood, it is a tumultuous challenge to shake the thirst for it. My love for my dear Lily must have driven me to do such a horrible thing…“ Imeldra hacked up more blood. This time, it was deathly black. Her face was losing color rapidly as the sun began to shine across the hilly grasslands.

She raised her right hand towards the top floor that stood above them. Only one portrait remained on the crumbling wall, and it was of Asteria herself. With the flick of Imeldra’s finger, the portrait fell to the floor with a loud clacking noise.

Ceres dragged herself to the grounded painting and shook it desperately. “How? How do we get her out?“

“One moment, dear. I can release her-“

Imeldra stopped mid-sentence, as her eyes had met a figure taking slow strides into the ruins they were all gathered in. It was a woman with long, raven-black hair and cruel eyes to match. Her face showed a mixture of disgust, resentment, and calmness. She wore a long, ornamented cloak that was wrapped with belts and armor bearing strange symbols. Her arms and legs were wrapped with pale white cloth. In her hand was a terrifying weapon; a mix between a powerful staff and a razor-sharp sword. Her attire in full was an onyx black that commanded the utmost attention and fear from any living thing that could bear witness to her.

Ceres turned to face the woman, then began to slowly back away. She noticed that her eyes were trained solely on Imeldra, and thus her movement also reflected that. She stopped suddenly when she peered down at Imeldra at a closer distance.

“Nia, my love. You came back-“

“Silence, cur. I have done nothing of the sort. Do you really think I’d come back to you willingly out of love, after you abandoned me to that damnable hell?“

Everyone else, too weak from Imeldra’s reminiscence from earlier, could only manage to keep their eyes trained on the situation before them.

Imeldra’s face darkened for a moment, then relinquished into a solemn smile. It was the face of a mother gazing upon her child’s face after a long time apart. It was also a face of realization. “Daughter, please listen to me. This cycle I… we’ve perpetuated will only keep going as long as we keep it so. It started with him, but it can end with us. Please, don’t make the same mistakes I have. Don’t-“

“Lily can’t be saved with inaction. I had hoped that you’d understood that, but I see now that you’ve given up entirely.“ The Black Sorceress turned to look at Ceres and Asteria’s portrait. “Without the Aspect, Lily’s death can’t be reversed.“

“Lily would have wanted you to forgive your father. Even if his sins can’t be expunged, that doesn’t mean you can’t live a life free from his mistakes.“

“Wrong. For you see, mother, an existence without Lily is no existence at all. It is nothing. Nihil. I’d sooner rend this world to its core than give up on her. No matter the cost, no matter her wishes.“

“What end do you wish for yourself then, my daughter? A world burned down to the ground with thee and Lily as the remainder? That is a terribly lonely existence.“

“Nothing can compare to the loneliness you left me in. For that, I will never forgive you.“

Though Imeldra already lay dying amidst the rubble of their once beautiful home, Nia jabbed her blade into her mother’s stomach regardless. As blood ran onto the rubble below her, she gradually went limp. Her dying words went inaudible, and the scarlet in her eyes faded away in the light of the morning sun.

“Let this serve as a warning to all of you. Be grateful my mercy graces you all today. Including you, Nakir.“ The Black Sorceress turned to Ceres again, and though Ceres tried to fight her, the portrait of Asteria was ripped from her hands. With an iridescent slash, a tear in the fabric of reality seemed to open by Nia’s weapon, and she walked through it, vanishing without a trace.

Tears coated Ceres’s eyes as she fell to the ground limply. Grovalt peered across the ruins at her heaving body with despair in his heart. Nakir’s weakened state forced him into human form, and his battered body laid against the far wall, unable even to stand and comfort Ceres. Raum looked onward, past the ruins, past the city, past the mountains, and past the sun to somewhere far away.

“...Grovalt. Grovalt. Can you hear me? Human? See, Maxra? This is why we can’t trust humans. They’re too weak. Mentally and physically. It’s just not practical.“

“Zenzi?“ Grovalt replied to the voice in his head, putting a look of confusion on most of the others’ faces.

“Finally. I’ve been trying to talk to you forever. What happened?“

“I’ll explain later. First, can you help us get back to Aza?“