Thousands of memories flooded her mind as they checked her pulse. Hundreds of lives flashed before her eyes as she felt herself going mad. So many dwarves and warriors of stone gallivanted in her new memories. The barrage of life and death with a new voice in her mind collapsed her sense of self. The dark chuckle seemed to enjoy her panic. She needed more power to fight against him.
Mira grabbed Em's wrist and harshly bit into it. They winced but her teeth clamped down hard enough to draw blood. When that wasn’t enough, she ripped the skin away and firmly grasped their arm to keep the blood in her mouth. Her eyes glazed over as she boosted herself with the elf’s power.
“Lady Mira, you have to let go!” They pleaded, “Zrud is trying to connect. Let him. Accept him!”
The intense pressure threatened to burst her head open. Em’s blood soothed the sensation and made it bearable enough to live. She would not let go if it was the only thing that helped her. She growled as they tried to pull away her from her source of relief.
“Stop fighting against it!” Em slapped her with their free hand.
Her mouth opened and they pried their arm away. They held Mira’s face as she started to convulse on the ground. Her instincts told her to flee but the silvery elf stood in her way. She tried to throw them off, but they kept a firm grasp on her.
Mira slapped them with her full strength. It was enough to snap the neck of nearly anyone else but not another blood mage that could reinforce themselves. The elf sneered at her and moved to attack. The remains of the furniture in the room clattered against the ground as they struggled with each other.
“Focus on something that will help you get through it!” Their face morphed into Jonen’s and they spoke in his voice, “Focus on me. Focus on my voice.”
“I told you to never use his face again!” She threw the fake Jonen through the wall to the adjoining room.
Her fingers turned into claws as she swiped at the elf. Em dodged and tackled her back to the ground. Her frantic state gave them the advantage. The two tussled before they finally pinned her down.
“I didn’t want to have to do this,” Em straightened themselves, “But you’ve left me no choice.”
Mira felt her skin ripple beneath the energy rushing through her body. One of their hands touched her throat and the other snapped. Her world turned black instantly. She heard thunderous footsteps cycle around her and she summoned her favored weapon. She slashed at the empty darkness around her. She felt hands press against her shoulders and pin her down. Mira screamed and ripped herself away.
Something was wrong.
Mira couldn’t see anything. Her own senses were gone. The senses she received from Encante were gone. She couldn’t even hear the dragon in her head.
It was at that moment, she could completely relax. Her tense body released tightened muscles.
Mira never felt more serene. She floated in this endless nothingness with only unseen hands holding her in place. The eerily familiar feeling of her dreams crawled across her skin like a warm spider web. She stopped thrashing and gave in to the calmness.
“Focus,” A voice echoed into the void, “Focus.”
His familiarity caught her attention. She turned towards it. She felt the ocean of hands rotate her and take her towards the voice.
“You can’t fight it anymore, Miradash. It will only hurt the more you resist,” He warned, “Open your mind. Once you do, it will be easier.”
“It hurt,” She whimpered like a child, “Can you make it stop?”
“You can trust me, Miradash,” His words soothed her, “We did it once. You can do it again.”
Mira felt something burn against her chest. Her hand went to the stone that stole heat from her body. She then recognized the husky voice.
“I will protect you,” Encante encouraged her, “Just as I always have.”
She decided to trust him. In that moment, the hands released her. She plummeted into the inky waters of her dreams again. The refreshing chill floated her from the pain that boiled her alive.
Mira felt something crawl into the back of her mind. The new voice spoke faintly to her, but she couldn’t understand him. She tried to focus on the words.
The invader wormed its way into her waters. She felt something solid brush against her leg. She gripped onto it. It ripped her from the void. Then, the pain was gone. She didn’t feel any different than before she entered the room.
Mira gasped as her eyes opened. Em uncomfortably straddled her. Their hands pinned her arms to the floor. Noth were covered in cuts and bruises from their scuffle. The elf visibly relaxed as she blinked into consciousness.
“Are you with me?” They panted, “Are you ill? You stopped breathing.”
“What did you do to me?” She wheezed as she caught her breath.
“You were overwhelmed,” Their emerald eyes stared into her, “You started convulsing so I… drained your senses completely. It helps with the process.”
Her senses slowly came back. She felt the debris of the wall sticking to her wet sweat. Instead of moving, she continued her interrogation.
“How?”
At first, Mira thought the elf wouldn’t spill the secret.
“I might be an illusionist, but I know how to fight. I strike when my target is weak or distracted,” They wiped the sweat from their face, “I can use their emotions to my advantage and manipulate their minds.”
Their lack of hesitation was surprising, but it didn’t change her mind.
“Cowardly,” She coughed the black sludge from her throat onto the floor, “But admirable.”
The pair panted after their struggle. Mira relaxed as the pain turned into a subtle throbbing. The snowy elf studied her before they spoke again.
“You have not asked me to move. Is there a reason why?” They titled their head, “Do you wish me to stay here for a few more moments while you calm down?”
Her hands grabbed their wrists, “Again.”
“What?” They blinked in surprise.
“I said,” She stared into their emerald eyes, “Do it again.”
“L—Lady Mira,” They stuttered nervously, “I don’t think you understand what you are asking of me.”
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Her fingernails dug into their bleeding arm. She siphoned more energy from the elf’s blood. Something told her to go back to the serene place. She needed the oddity she found. As she spoke again, Encante’s voice echoed her own.
“Again.”
Em nodded obediently. They leaned closer to her. Their faces were only a few inches apart, but Mira did not flinch or fight. Emerald thought of her mother and contemplated if Calosa would ever allow them to do this to her. They had a small crush on her for half a century but never imagined being this close to her. They knew Encante would not permit any other to touch her unless it was absolutely necessary. With Mira, they wondered what the future would look like. The dragon seemed almost uninterested in his lover’s offspring.
“Is something wrong?” She raised an eyebrow
“It works better if I am in touch with you,” Their emerald eyes studied her, “How powerful do you need my spell to be?”
Mira looked down at their bodies. They straddled her and held her arms in place on the floor. She wondered how much more they needed to send her back.
“Strong enough that I cannot fight against it.”
“Very well,” Em brushed hair from her face, “I am sorry for this.”
They quickly pressed their lips against hers. The forceful kiss surprised her. Before she could form a complete thought or react, Em pried opened her mouth to deepen the kiss and the world evaporated.
Mira dropped back into nothingness. She plummeted through the icy waters and to the stone floor underneath. In the darkness, she patted the surface until she felt the oddity again. She grabbed it in her hands. She pulled it towards her. It ripped her from the waters. She took in the hot air and fell to her knees.
She felt the pounding feet approach her. A lilac hand lifted her chin upwards, and she saw him with her own eyes. He lifted her to her feet and patted her constantly until she moved.
“You can actually see me?”
Mira didn’t know what to expect when she thought of him but the man before her fit him well. Encante’s shimmering scaled skin looked more like a snake than she thought it would. He towered over her at the wraith’s full height. His long, feathery white hair flowed around his shoulders and fluttered at his waist as he moved. The black horns that twirled back from his head were what caught her attention the most. She reached up and touched them. It reminded her of antlers.
“I cannot hear your words here. You must speak to me.”
“You do not have satyr legs,” Mira studied him, “Why?”
“You did not give them to me,” He tilted his head curiously, “Your mother gave me those legs. She gave me this face. I know you have seen this face in my memories –her memories. So, you gave it to me again.”
“It suits you,” She nodded, “I think you are better with pants.”
“I will take whatever form you chose for me,” He hesitated as his hand reached towards her, “You look… so much like Calosa.”
“I heard.”
His hand fell back to his side. The two stood there awkwardly facing each other for a few minutes before she held her hand towards him in a friendly manner. He grabbed her hand and shook it.
“Is this fine?” She asked.
“I would be alright with more friendliness,” He nodded, “Your mother is the only love of my entire existence. Also, I have been connected to you since your conception.”
“Does… does that make you, my father?” She furrowed her brow.
Both Mira and the humanoid Encante shook their heads at the thought. They realized the eerie similarities between their personalities and wondered what exactly they should say to each other, now that they met face to face for the first time.
Encante stood there awkwardly until he decided to make the first move. He hadn’t had any physical touch since Calosa was kidnapped and dispersed his physical form. His missed the warmth of another person. With her this close, he could feel that warmth again.
“Then…” Encante held his arms open, “Will this suffice, dear Vessel?”
Mira didn’t hesitate to hug him. He squeezed her against his rigid body. It felt oddly natural to them. They were connected for so long that she knew he was not a threat to her.
Encante placed his cheek on top of her head and his horns uncomfortably pressed into her scalp. His familial presence calmed her greatly.
“I am sorry, Miradash,” His low voice reverberated through her, “This is not what she would have wanted for you.”
Encante was sickly cold compared to anyone else. He felt like chiseled stone that took the form of a man. As he doted over her, she felt the other pair of eyes on them. She turned to see a pile of stone and earth take the shape of a large dwarf.
The ripples of rock and dirt gave him distinctive facial features that mimicked that of a stern fatherly figure. The mossy hair braided more as she stared at him. The crown of metal and stone weaved into the moss as he finished forming. Roots of unseen plants wrapped around the stones as he moved. His skin hardened into swirling marble of grey, green, and brown. She heard the myriad of stony pops as the earthly titan stretched. She only came up to his knee.
“Ho ho,” The grumbly voice chuckled, “Are you not going to introduce us, cousin? I’m excited to know the new goddess.”
Zrud knelt to her and held out a finger. The marble man’s face smiled, and a beautiful white lily grew from the offered finger. She picked it up and looked back up to him.
“My name is Miradash. Those that I value – my friends – call me Mira,” She tucked the flower behind her ear, “We are going to save them.”
“Are we now?” A mossy eyebrow raised.
“If you are not going to join me, Zrud,” She gripped his finger in her hand and the stone cracked, “Then I will consider you an enemy.”
“You may have your mother’s face, but you lack her kindness,” The stony dwarf chuckled, “That goddess said my revenge would come if I waited.”
“I do not –”
“Alcante slaughtered my earthlings. He turned my mountains to boulders, boulders to pebbles, and pebbles to sand,” Zrud stood, “I have been trapped inside of a tiny, claustrophobic rock for millennia. I have not seen my other cousins in hundreds of years. I have been resting as I waited for the prophesized one to come. I am done waiting.”
He stuck his hand out towards the tiny woman. She grabbed his finger. He compacted himself to her size. As Zrud cracked his back, the much younger and smaller form shook her hand enthusiastically. Mira couldn’t place where his face came from, but he felt familiar. She wondered what dwarf he took after.
The marble man grinned, “What are your plans?”
“I do not have any.”
“Lies. What would you want me to do?”
Mira knew that this would now be unavoidable. The damn prophecy doomed her again. She needed to come up with some plan to distract Zrud for now.
“You will speak with Prince Krission and convince him to do whatever I want. Search my memories now and learn what you need.”
“As you wish,” He flicked the flower in her hair and the stem metallized into delicate crown, “You always pick the fun ones, dear cousin.”
Mira felt Zrud scour through her in an instant. She wobbled at the sprint through her memories. Encante caught her before she fell. Her vision blurred and she felt herself rocket upwards.
Mira opened her eyes as Em pulled away from her. She launched forward and grabbed the elf by their shirt. A knife appeared in her hand and pressed against the elf’s throat.
“Lady Mira!” They coughed.
As her blurred vision cleared, she let go and scurried back against the broken wall. She checked over herself over as she felt a weird sensation. Dozens of flowers and gemstones were woven into her hair as if they were grown there.
Mira pried the now inert crown from her hair. It ripped the vines of flowers away. Her hands frantically patted the ground around her until she found Bo’s ring and slipped it back onto her trembling hand. The calming numbness spread through her, but it wasn’t quick enough. Anger overtook her as she stared at the elf that did this to her.
Em wiped the salvia from their lips and studied her sudden transformation.
“Sorry, Lady Mira,” Em studied her face to see how angry she was with them, “You could hear him, couldn’t you”
Em thought that it would’ve only looked more natural if she had stepped out of the garden herself. Nymphs from the isle weren’t as natural as her now. She couldn’t deny that Zrud spoke with her and accepted her as his Vessel.
She flung the crown back at the elf, “Never again.”
“You will become the Vessel of the other Guardians as well.”
“I refuse,” She threw the door open, “Never again!”
Bobabano rushed towards her. She was covered in debris and forestry. He grabbed her and held her still. He didn’t know what was odder to see with her fancy gown covered in dirt, the uncut gemstones wrapped in vines or white and green flowers braided into her hair.
“Wh—” He stuttered, “What happened?”
“Get off of me,” She threw his hands off and stomped to the prophetess, “That was a dirty trick!”
“You cannot just yell at–” Dravicka stepped between them.
Mira shoved her out of the way and grabbed Talia’s dress. The girl only smiled maliciously at her. She dropped her and stormed towards the stairs.
“I did not want to force it on you,” The girl called as Mira flew down the stairs, “I tried to play nice!”
“Mira!” Bobabano chased after her, “Wait!”
He saw the mist radiate from her as she stormed down the stairs. Her eyes flashed between the honey yellow and a mossy green as she looked back at him. He reached towards her as she disappeared into thin air. Bobabano grabbed into the disappearing mist and cursed. He walked back up the stairs and opened the door.
“What happened in there?” He looked to the prophetess, then to the priestess he knew was Em.
“What? Your little girlfriend can’t –hlegh!” Vernent grabbed his throat after Bo punched it.
“Lady Mira is okay,” The priestess curtsied, “I can assure that. She did not…enjoy her trial, as I’m sure none of you will.”
“Then, take me next,” He stepped forward, “So that I can go find her after.”