The more she stared at her, the more familiar the mist felt. She was having serious Déjà vu. She didn’t realize that she’d tried to take a step toward Alicantas until she felt Alyson holding her in place. She looked over at Alyson, who asked “What the hell is wrong with you?” She was confused. “What do you mean?” Alyson responded, “I’ve been calling your name for like two minutes now with no response. You look pale.” She shook her head. She hadn’t realized that she’d been staring at the mist that long. It only felt like a few seconds. He opened her mouth to explain but she heard a voice that felt like it was right beside her crooning, “There you are.”
Viri whipped her head and saw a form in the mist. She saw the golden blonde ringlets dropping near her waist and as the mist parted, her pale skin shone in the sunlight. She gaped as recognition settled into her. Alyson followed her gaze, asking “Who is that?” Alicantas smirked at her. “I take it you’ve realized who I am.” She snapped her fingers, and she was instantly in the same outfit that she wore in the jewelry store the day she asked Viri to find the jewel. Viri growled, “You.” Alicantas laughed – a light, fluttering sound. “You seem perturbed. I thought you’d be more grateful towards me for helping you find your long-lost daddy.” She took a step towards Viri and Xylas jumped in front of her. She opened her mouth to yell for him to move. He didn’t realize who he was up against. Ephraim had the same idea because he took a step toward Xylas, but neither of them were quick enough.
Alicantas grabbed Xylas by the neck, lifted him off the ground, and squeezed. He disintegrated instantly. Viri was stunned. She was silent as she processed what happened – as she watched the pieces of Xylas float away like ashes in the breeze. She watched Ephraim drop to his knees and saw tears streaming down his face. His mouth was open, but if he was screaming, she couldn’t hear it. Alyson was screaming beside her, but it sounded like she was in a faraway tunnel. Viri couldn’t make sounds. She couldn’t comprehend that Xylas was no longer there. She was still waiting for him to reappear. They still had to leave here and figure out the next steps of their life together. He had to reappear.
Alicantas took another step towards her, and she slowly drug her gaze towards Alicantas’ face. She was stunning. Breathtakingly beautiful. She wanted nothing more than to kill her with her bare hands. Alicantas smiled. “Oh, you’re upset. Do you want to fight me? Here I am. But at least let me explain why I had to do all of this. I do love a grand reveal.” She took another step towards Viri, slashing Ephraim’s neck in the process. He dropped to the ground, bleeding out. Alyson screamed again. Viri still couldn’t form sounds. Alicantas took another step towards her, and Alyson tried to pull Viri back to run away, but Viri’s body felt like a brick. The fever was ravaging her, and her limbs were barely functioning. She couldn’t move. She looked around and saw the Ifrit being killed one after another. Some were outright fleeing at this point. She looked at Alyson, who was crying and begging her to run. She wished she could listen to her. She needed to move, but she couldn’t. She mouthed for Alyson to run. Alyson sobbed harder. “I can’t leave you.” Viri’s heart broke even more at the sight. “Alyson, please.” Alicantas’ voice interrupted them, closer now than it had been before. “Isn’t this sweet? But no honey. We can’t have anyone leaving.”
She snapped and Alyson froze. Viri felt her heart racing so fast that she thought it might break through her chest. Not Alyson. Please not Alyson. Alicantas laughed and the sound made Viri’s stomach turn. “Oh, don’t be so dramatic. I merely needed to make sure no one tried to take you away. I’ve grown rather tired of the dramatics of this little battle. I just wanted to have a chat for a second. But you look faint dear. Did you eat something bad? You humans do tend to do that, now don’t you?” She snapped her fingers again and two chairs were brought over by one of the goblins. Alicantas sat. Viri wanted to curse her out, but she had begun to sway, and the chair caught her. Alicantas stared at her. “You’re terribly ill. I wouldn’t have imagined that would be a side effect of you seeing the jewel. After all, you are Anzel’s daughter. Maybe since you got no power from him, it’s affecting you differently.” Viri hid her surprise. Apparently, Alicantas didn’t know that she was the reincarnation of the Vermillion Queen. Or maybe she was just fucking with her. Either way, she wouldn’t be the one to bring it up.
Her voice sounded like gravel as she spoke, “So you killed all of these Ifrit simply because I'm Anzel’s daughter? Even if I have no power? That was worth it to you?” Alicantas smiled. Well, calling it a smile was a stretch. It was more like baring her nonexistent fangs. “See, this is why I wanted to talk. So that you’ll understand. Even if you’re only human, you’re still a violation of our rules. My siblings and I made a pact, eons ago, that we would never have children. We couldn’t risk the power play they could grow up to be, and Anzel broke that rule. Anzel out of all people. Even after he came up with this amazing plan to kill our mother for the very same reason.”
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Viri went pale. She never would’ve thought the Vermillion Queen was their mother. There was no love in that memory Viri was shown. She wanted to puke. She very well might. Alicantas went on saying, “So, you see why I have to dispose of you. It wouldn’t be fair to those of us that let go of petty wants like children and lived our lives in solitude.” Viri arched her brow at the word dispose, but she didn’t have the energy to go back and forth with her. She barely had the energy for the overwhelming sadness she felt. Instead, she realized that this may be the only time she’d get a straight answer to her question, so she asked it.
“Where Is Anzel?” Alicantas looked at her for a few seconds, assessing her before speaking. “Anzel is locked away underneath the mountain that serves as our home base. He’s been there since the night you were born, and I've looked for you since, but I could never seem to find where that cursed Ifrit took you. Not until one of my subordinates caught your scent in that little antique store. But I had to be sure it was you. So, I glamoured you to see if you had supernatural abilities, and when it turned out that you didn’t, I pretended to need you to find his jewel. I needed to see if it would let you near it and it did. I felt the energy surge between you two when it noticed you. I really do hate that it must end here for you. I did a lot of research on you, and you have so much spunk. I would’ve rather enjoyed having a niece like you. But the time has come to get rid of you and all of those who can tell the story of your demise.”
She snapped her fingers and Alyson disappeared. Viri couldn’t see. She couldn’t hear. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe. Alyson was gone. Alyson. Who she’d spent her life with. Alyson. Who she planned to spend the rest of her life with. Her best friend in the entire world. Alyson. Her chest felt like it was caving in. The grief felt like a weight she couldn’t move. It became mangled with another emotion she’d grown to know.
Rage.
She saw red. She saw Alicantas’ face go from smug to terrified. She knew that Alicantas finally realized who was sitting in front of her. She knew that she’d made a full transformation. That was about all that she could process. Her vision was still red. She couldn’t even feel the weight of the grief anymore because there was so much anger. She didn’t care about the searing pain she felt in every part of her body. She opened her mouth and flames sent Alicantas flying backward, burning right through her clothes. She’d definitely become more powerful, but she’d also immediately reached her limit. She shouldn’t have completely transformed while she was so ill, but she couldn’t control it.
She dropped to her knees, realizing that she was in her human form again. She tried and failed to summon even a fireball. She had the magic, but her body’s energy was depleted. Alicantas struggled to get up. When she finally did, she realized Viri was powerless and sneered at her with so much hatred. Viri mustered up the energy to smirk at her. At this point, she didn’t even care if she died. She’d be with Alyson. She’d have a future with Xylas. Wherever they were, she’d be there too. Alicantas made it to Viri and grabbed her by the throat. “You,” she spat out. “He didn’t just have you with that human scum because of love. He created you. He played us all so that he could have the power for himself. Well, I can’t wait to see his face when I tell him how I killed you.”
She squeezed and Viri felt the breath leaving her body but couldn’t feel the pain of it over the pain she was already feeling. Everything hurt. She closed her eyes and prepared herself for death. Alicantas was still talking, but she tuned her out. She saw a blinding white light, even with her eyes closed, and she felt a peaceful warmth come over her. Was this the afterlife? She wasn’t a bad person, but she expected to be doomed for at least a few months. There were things she needed to repent for. Or maybe it was because she was a god. Oh shit. What if gods ended up somewhere different that regular people? She was so fucked.
The light dimmed and she could tell there were no longer hands around her neck, but she heard Alicantas swearing, so she realized she wasn’t in the afterlife yet. She opened one eye, and a woman who was equally as gorgeous as Alicantas was before her. Her features were softer and her white hair and fair skin looked almost angelic. She took Viri’s hand and spoke softly, “We don’t have much time. I only stunned her. We need to go.” Viri was confused, but the woman whistled, and a guy who looked like he walked straight out of a magazine scooped her up. The woman looked back at Alicantas, who was still shrieking from the blinding light, before snapping her fingers and sending Viri through what she imagined time travel to feel like. She was in a lightspeed tunnel with colors everywhere. It lasted a few seconds before the colors went away and she was suddenly in a house, still in magazine boy’s arms, with the woman standing beside them.