When Avar had returned to Aetherium, she was met with horror.
One could hear that word and think a hundred things, each so different in their making. A horror can be of any origin, and represent many emotions. Avar’s horror was not the monster you prayed wouldn’t break down the door, Avar’s horror was not the darkness that encroached upon one’s bed in twilight hours. Those were the horrors attributed to a child.
Avar had lost any childish notions after that expedition. Her youth betrayed her and left her to rot. When she arrived at the rendezvous point, she was quickly raised up over Aetherium’s walls; none of the guards questioned her as she was transported up towards the walls. She barely even registered the clouds passing by her and falling below her, looking up as Aetherium grew larger and larger in the skies as she grew closer and closer.
Levitation was a common occurrence of innate magic, it was one that allowed the user to manipulate the air underneath anything or anybody. As a result, they could condense or intensify that wind into a powerful gust or cushioning breeze. It was versatile in its practicality, but nigh useless in the throes of combat. It was the same innate magic that Levi had inherited.
She was certain he was dead. She didn’t want to believe it, but as she was raised through the skies, she couldn’t help but think anything but. It made her want to puke, the thought of never getting to speak to him again. She loved her mother, but Levi was the one who actually took care of her. Levi made her feel loved, like a daughter would feel from her father.
Now that love was dead and cold in the bottom of a cave, likely burned alive. The thought was gut wrenching, as she began to hyperventilate. One of the guards ran over to her when she arrived on the outer wall, a concerned glance. She waved him off, having recovered quickly.
She looked behind her, watching the moon as it cusped the sky with its all enveloping light. She thought back to her first time on this wall, and the world below that she had now stepped into. Her body shivered, and she once again had to stop herself from puking.
It had taken her over a day just to get back into Minerva, by the time she had, the moon was shining brightly above the sky. People didn’t give her even a single glance as she trudged through the town square, not that there were many people to begin with. Her armor was broken from the back, a result of her makeshift landing. She could feel the area growing wet with blood.
She didn’t care.
Minerva was a town of few attractions, the ones that stood out were full of life even during these dark and dreary hours. The tavern for one, was full of laughter and life, Avar strode past it, her thoughts swimming as the yells and jovial cheer assaulted her ears. She wanted to bring the building to the ground, burn it all, maybe even the people inside so they’d finally be quiet, forever.
She flinched, as the cold air assailed her head, knocking sense into her once more. She was drifting into bad thoughts once more, she sighed and continued forward.
Eventually, she found herself at the knights’ quarters. For the higher ranking members of the order, such as the town’s leading officer, this was their place of rest. She climbed up the few steps leading past the porch and rested her hand on the door, voices piercing her ears, causing her to freeze up and pause.
It was Saevus, and what sounded like a second person, their voice was cold. Avar had heard the cruelty of Saevus’ own taunts and remarks before, but in response to this other person, he seemed meek and timid. It was a voice that demanded authority and power, was it Minerva’s leading officer?
She pushed the door very slightly ajar, peering in with one eye. It made no noise, something she thanked the gods for as she stepped back. The sight which she saw was one that carved horror into her mind. Saevus was looking down in his own fear, as he tried to speak. “It's not exactly something that we can pry from him, it's his personal belongings after all..”
“A dead man doesn’t have any personal belongings.” The second voice said, standing off to the side, the entire room was empty save for those two. “I agreed to your little revenge plot because you promised me that the sword would be retrieved prior. Do you understand how valuable that blade is?” The man stepped forward, placing a hand on Saevus’ shoulder.
“No, Commander.”
“Very few weapons are forged with the power to channel mana so flawlessly, it is a symbol of our triumph in spite of conflict.” The man squeezed Saevus’ shoulder, what looked to be a playful squeeze was anything but based on Saevus’ groans of pain. “Levi’s blade is far too valuable to be left behind, you will go to retrieve it, along with both of the bodies.” Avar’s breath caught in her throat, and she stepped backwards again.
She nearly screamed, but was silenced by her own misstep, causing her to fall down the stairs and onto the hard cobbled path. Her back screamed for her, sending electric tendrils of pain across her body. But she couldn’t think about the pain right now, as she scrambled to her feet. Hearing similar sounds coming from the quarters, she pushed herself up to run away. She couldn’t let herself be seen after hearing that, there was no way she would be left alive.
Shouting erupted behind her, as Saevus’ voice came out clear. “Somebody was listening in on us, capture them!”
Avar ducked between houses, squeezing herself into one of the small, claustrophobic alleyways that dotted Minerva. As she did so, she heaved, feeling everything that she had been holding up fall apart. She slouched down, deep in thought. The man she had seen was Siegfried, a powerful man in King Ether’s personal court. Why would he have orchestrated this mission?
Levi’s sword was so special, that they’d have him killed just to take it back? She knew the weapon was unique, based on its making and its difference from the weapons she and the other knights were forced to wield. Still, to such a degree.
She curled up in that dark alleyway, as lights and men in armor surged past it, looking for a spy they had no image on. Saevus’ revenge, that was what had gotten Levi killed, Siegfried must have taken that as an opportunity.
She was meant to die in that cave.
“It's not fair.” She said aloud, whispering as she clenched her hands into fists. “I just wanted… to let my mother live easy…” She was afraid to get too loud, but as the sounds of footsteps disappeared, her voice only grew greater in volume. “Is that wrong?” She nearly screamed, staring up at the sky. For a little dispute as knights, Saevus had nearly gotten her killed.
“There are some things we just don’t deserve, that’s avarice.”
She twitched, drops of water running from her eyes as she looked up at the sky. “Was I too greedy?”
Was that avarice? Did she not deserve even a happy family in her life?
She didn’t know the answer. What she knew was something else entirely. If a life as a knight was too greedy, then she wouldn’t pursue it.
She would simply try to live.
She grasped strands of her hair, ripping it out and looking down upon her hand after. This green color would have to go away, it was too obvious. She needed to live after all, she needed to survive.
At the age of fifteen, Avar began a life with only that single goal, to survive to the next day, everyday.
Surely, that would be okay. Surely, that wouldn’t be too greedy?
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Yet now, auburn locks framed her frail face as Avar stared into the eyes of her own grim reaper. She felt that perhaps even the mere notion of living was far too much for her to consider. Basil’s hungering eyes stared into her own terrified ones for what felt like years, as he seemed to gauge her fear.
The man that she had encountered in Minerva’s Mark and the man that stood before her felt like two polar opposites. The rather mellow and cocky aspiring knight to be as opposed to the cold and ruthless killer that sat staring at her now. Like night and day. He sized her up one last time, before finally opening his mouth to speak again.
“First question.” He declared, his arms crossed while his gaze did not dare to shift away from her. His voice echoed like an explosion in her ears. “This trap, it's smart, a bit too smart for me to believe you could have pulled it off. Not to mention having to scout out this cave to begin with.” It wasn’t an opinion, he was stating facts, Avar knew it too.
It's not like it was her death trap to begin with.
“Did you make this plan yourself, or are you doing somebody else’s dirty work?”
She recalled when she was given the job, assigned by a mysterious person whom she had no direct contact with. The reward to her was to be a ridiculous sum of money, enough to sustain her for months on end. For a desperate kid like her, even murder didn’t seem that bad in return for that reward. Still, it was her honor as a former knight, and her code as a hired hand that meant she wouldn’t dare tell him anything.
“It's my plan, I don’t know why you’re so doubtful of my intel-” Avar barely started before Basil cut her off, raising his hand in what seemed to be a wave. She didn’t understand the signal, until she heard it.
The wyvern roared, as flames erupted from its maw. The searing and licking heat encroached upon her body instantly, and she didn’t even have time to scream. Her first encounter with the beast flashed before her mind, and as a result she almost instantly broke down from the fear.
Pain roared across her arms, as she felt her heart pound and her mind meltdown.
Then it stopped.
She nearly fell forward, exasperated and still feeling the extreme pain that came from her arms. She hadn’t been able to see how, but even the rope was completely untouched. The flames had somehow only burned her skin, and specifically that of her forearms. She let herself scream in anguish, as she tried desperately to rip herself out of the rope and tend to her smoldering flesh.
“The truth shouldn’t take nearly that long to be spoken, please at least lie more effectively.” Basil remarked callously, his hand long since lowered as he clasped his fingers together, leaning forward now. “I will ask you again, and this time I expect the truth.”
Avar wanted to cry. She didn’t care for her code or honor anymore, she was just a kid, wrapped up in this ridiculous murder job that she never should have taken. All her body and brain were telling her was to do whatever it takes to survive this encounter. It wasn’t a matter of want, she had to survive this encounter, she refused to come this far just to die to this maniac of a man.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Basil smirked, something that was off putting to her. “It seems you’ve started to properly care for your life. It's a bit ironic, considering how innocently you sent me off to my supposed death.” He denoted the act as if it was hers to do, and truthfully she didn’t know what to say in response. She didn’t know if she even had the right to a response, regardless of context, she couldn’t condone the murder of somebody like this, could she?
How did she fall this far?
“First question, who put you up to this?”
“It was a mage.”
She looked at his face carefully, trying to see if she had misspoke. Basil only seemed bemused by her swift response, to which he spoke again. “Well then? What did this mage look like? What magic did he wield?” Avar shook her head, and willed her tears to not flow. “I don’t know, I never got to see or meet him, all of our interactions were done indirectly.”
Basil’s expression was cold and empty once more, as he nodded slowly. “I suppose that's unsurprising.” He slowly raised a hand, and Avar quickly completely gave up, closing her eyes as hard as she could in bracing for the fiery death that came for her.
When no flames came forth, she opened one eye, and then the other. Basil was merely holding two fingers up, as he waved his hand up and down nonchalantly. The playful action was contrasted by his deadpan grimace. “Second question, did this mage choose the method?”
“No, I picked it myself.” Avar stated, choking out the words as she was still recovering from her closeness to death. The wyvern looked at her with disdain, and she willed herself to not look into the beast’s eyes, lest it recognize her. To have to encounter it a second time was worse than she thought.
“Brings me to the same problem, you scouted out such a cave with such a beast hiding inside?” The moon was blotted by the sky, leaving them both in the darkness. Avar could still see his cold, ruthless glare, looking her over in his mind. She shivered involuntarily from the cold, but quickly answered to avoid some undesired heat.
“I did not scout out the cave, the trap has been used before.”
“By you?”
“No.” Avar immediately responded, and Basil nodded again, his expression one of deeper thought and not emotionless judgment. She tried to hold back her sigh of relief. At the very least she was able to get out that she wasn’t just a killer and that he wasn’t just the next target on the chopping block. Perhaps that would save her, though she wasn’t out of this just yet.
The air was frigid, as Basil pondered her words. “I suppose that really is it.”
Avar sighed.
“Third question.”
She tensed right back up, as Basil got onto his feet, dusting himself off without taking his eyes off her. “When you brought me to this death trap, you did so when speaking about revenge.” His eyes were once again full of that unforgiving hunger, as he kneeled down before Avar. “You wanted revenge, was that a lie?”
Avar didn’t know what he was looking for, she couldn’t begin to guess what he wanted. She thought back to their first conversation, and the dramatic display he had created when that word was brought up.
Revenge was the thing that had brought her life to the ruin it was in now, it was petty revenge that had left her at this man’s mercy. She was seething inside, at the thought of even daring to declare her desired revenge after what it had done to her. Yet, compared to Saevus’ petty reasons, was she not justified?
She took a deep breath, letting her fear fade to the back of her mind for a moment. For just a few moments, she wanted to speak with full clarity, and understanding of herself. It was here where she realized she didn’t care what Basil wanted to hear, even if these were to be her final words, she would speak the truth.
She looked up at Basil, the two had something of a height difference. Yet now, he kneeled before her. There was no such disparity, the two were eye to eye, one’s long burning hunger compared to one that had only just begun to roar.
To get her revenge on those who had destroyed her life…
Was that too greedy?
“No.” She spat, her voice full of venom that coated her every word. “I want revenge, but not against you, or that stupid wyvern.” The beast growled, as she looked over Basil’s shoulder at it, the monster’s eyes suggested it had finally recognized her. She didn’t care anymore. She looked back at Basil, the two falling into a deep standoff.
“I want revenge against Aetherium.”
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Basil had been angry, his rage had been boundless towards this girl. To be toyed with and having his motivations used as a way to manipulate him, it aggravated him to no end. His memories of their entire conversation seemed to blur, as he could barely recall what he was doing, save for the questions and the answers he had received in turn.
It was only after hearing that accursed word from her mouth, did he come back to himself. He didn’t move his gaze from her for a moment, trying to remember what exactly had happened. This state that he had gone in and out of, they barely allowed him to recall any of the acts he had committed.
Last time he was lucky, having merely cut off a person’s arm. Based on the way Avar was shivering, and the smoke that wafted off her bound body. He had to assume he wasn’t as considerate this time, he cursed himself for being so careless. To harm a child was beyond what he considered right, it was a disgusting act. Still, the last thing she needed right now was to see him showing such self-directed hatred.
Basil exhaled sharply, but smiled softly. His demeanor shifted rather dramatically as he looked back over his shoulder. A little ways away laid the dagger Avar had previously held to his neck, despite her skills, he had to wonder how hesitant she was about that decision. The act of a cold murderer, while it felt real in the moment, it seemed superficial thinking back.
When he thought of Avar, he opted to throw away those actions, and instead recall the vengeful girl who had so peacefully slept and smiled on their short journey here. No matter how he saw her actions, was she not the kind of person he wanted to protect? Those whose lives had been scarred?
He refused to let another one of those lives be thrown to hell.
He glanced back at her, observing as tears began to drop from her eyes. “Back then, your facade was almost perfect.” He remarked gently, as Avar looked up in confusion. Overwhelming fear still dictates her expressions. “Except, unlike a certain other fellow, there was zero killing intent.” He explained it in thin whispers, thinking back as he looked up at the moonlit sky.
Avar’s voice made him look back, as she choked on her next words. “Killing intent?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Basil responded quickly, as he untied the ropes that bound her. “You were pushing yourself the entire time.” He looked down at the ground, recalling Levia and her own situation. His maid who had been turned into a pawn to fix a broken family name…
He threw that thought of the past away, instead looking at the present. The smoke that he had seen earlier was clearly coming from her body, not the rope itself. He grimaced as he looked back at the wyvern, the beast was looking at him with a blank stare, as if blaming Basil for the wounds. Of course, it was right, and Basil knew that.
“Give me your arms.” He requested softly, and Avar groaned in pain as she raised the limbs up for his inspection. As he saw the injuries, his eyes widened at his own actions. The burns had caused her skin to change color, the originally white flesh becoming a smoldering dark red.
He had let himself go into his anger, and caused such severe harm. Using water to redirect the flames directly to her arms… Was he that obsessed with how he had been played?
His anger was for somebody else, but he had hurt a young girl in his quest to satiate that anger. That alone was enough for him to curse his own stupidity once more. He clasped his hands over her left arm first, and closed his eyes. Water flowed from his fingertips, the liquid coalescing over the seared and still lightly smoking flesh. “I’m sorry.” He said in a whisper, unable to give any rebuttal for his actions.
Avar didn’t seem to respond, wincing from the pain that she was experiencing. Yet as the water lit up between his hand and her arm, her eyes widened with a mixture of amazement and realization. “You’re a water mage?” Avar’s surprise was vocal, and Basil smiled.
“Have you heard of us?”
“Never thought I’d ever see one.” Avar responded, but terror had filled her eyes once more. “So that's why, you also want revenge on us.” Basil paused, but chose to focus on his technique. Burns like this that are recent are easily remedied by applying cold water to the wound, thankfully they weren’t so serious that he couldn’t mostly heal the injury.
He healed the other arm afterwards, and watched on with a bit of happiness as Avar was able to move her arms freely again. In all his time since leaving his home behind, it was the first time he had gotten the chance to genuinely help somebody. It was refreshing, even if he was the source of their pain to begin with. “Why are you healing me? We massacred you.” Avar queried, to which Basil shook his head.
“You didn’t do anything.” He brought his hand to his chest, grimacing as his body tensed up. He was still not anywhere near fully recovered himself, and using his magic for such a purpose was taxing on him. He groaned, nearly falling onto his side as his legs numbed out again. It was Avar that caught him this time, the girl setting him upright slowly. “This conflict… is between us adults.”
“But, isn't this too much?” She said immediately afterwards, and Basil looked at her with concern, as her voice grew shaky. “I tried to kill you, and toyed with your emotions, but you’re helping me instead of hurting me.”
“You didn’t want to do any of this, you just needed to survive, right?” Basil remarked, to which Avar simply looked down at the floor. Despite her age and the grim job she had taken, she was still nothing more than a kid. “I don’t know your circumstances, and I’m not asking you to explain them.”
He got up, slowly and carefully standing up to prevent himself from falling back down.
“You had to do what you had to do, and from here on, I’ll make sure you won’t have to do any of it anymore.” Avar looked up at him, tears still accumulating in her eyes as she stared with confusion. “What do you mean?”
“You and I have coinciding goals, so it makes sense that we help each other out from here on. Plus, I can’t just let you go after you tried this, right?” Basil smirked. “You’ll be in my ‘custody’ for a while.”
He looked down as she slowly got to her feet, stumbling slightly from being bound for so long. “You help me, and in return I’ll fulfill your revenge.” He explained, before then outstretching his hand, and Avar walked past it. He tensed as she slipped past his offered handshake, he had forgotten how subtle and swift the girl was.
He flinched as she wrapped her arms around him, her face falling against his chest. Her sobs were quiet, but he didn’t need to hear them to respond in kind, wrapping his own arms around her in a makeshift embrace. The feeling he got was stark and unique from anything he had ever experienced, save for the embrace of his own father a long time ago. He never thought he would be on the other end of such an exchange.
It was nice.
“I’m sorry, I-” He stopped Avar’s words with a hand on her head, her auburn hair disheveled and in chaotic disarray. He matted it down gently. He wasn’t very experienced in this kind of thing, but he had at least his father’s own methods as a blueprint.
“You’ve been pretty strong, going on for this long on your own. Who knows what Aetherium did to you, you’ve remained steadfast.” He whispered gently, and closed his eyes.
“Right now however, right now you can cry.”
Avar continued to sob into his chest, and he took a deep breath as he let her vent her emotions outward. For a moment he put his plans and his goals aside, and tried to be the backbone for this distraught girl. For a moment he put the idea of revenge aside, and let her cry. It's what his father would have done for her.
Some time passed, and eventually the tears subsided. Though Avar did not let go. Nor did Basil push her away.
“You remind me of somebody else.” Avar said gently into his chest, her voice resounding across his core. “Yeah? What was he like?” Basil asked softly.
“He was a gruff guy, and he didn’t like Aetherium much either. Still, he was really nice.”
“I don’t know about being nice, but I’ll try.” He whispered, that was really all the reassurance he needed. He had known that King Ether was a corrupt man, but to think that Aetherium was so rotten that it would leave people like this. “I’m sorry for whatever you had to go through.” He said afterwards, and Avar didn’t respond. She didn’t have to, he understood.
He felt anger flow through him, but calmed it for the time being. Unlike himself, he had the opportunity to give this girl what he had wanted ever since beginning his maddening quest. A guardian.
And as her guardian, he was going to slaughter whoever brought the girl to such a sorrowful state.
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Even if it was greedy.
Even if it was sinful, Avar didn’t care.
For the first time since Levi, she felt like somebody cared for her. There was no malice or hatred, completely different from the cruel and cold man who had been interrogating her a while ago. It was almost impossible to believe or trust, but she wanted to. Even if it was fake, she wanted to believe in this feeling of kindness.
Even if it was just for a little while.
She was going to be greedy for just a little while.
Call it avarice.