Chapter Eight:

“When you hate the world enough… do you watch it burn, let it suffer as you have? Or do you dip it in acid, watch the flesh melt off its bones? Or do you simply… wipe it from existence, so you never have to look back on the land that caused you so much pain?”

I was dragged ruthlessly out of bed by Evie. “LET ME SLEEP!”, I yelled at her before attempting to shove myself back into my dreams.

My only response was getting dragged out of bed again.

I got dressed, annoyed at nothing in particular as I put on the clothes provided to me by the Tower. Afterwards, I exited my room, finding Evie there, tapping her foot. She quickly led me to an open courtyard outside the tower’s main building, somehow having the skill to navigate the mazelike hallways without getting lost.

I looked around at the grassy field, confused. Evie stood with her back to me. Why were we here? I hesitantly opened my mouth, forming a question. Then Evie turned around, holding a dagger. “Summon your weapon.”

My blade formed itself in my left hand. Evie settled into a low stance, and started to slowly, silently circle me. Her legs were bent for balance, and her dagger was held at an upwards tilt, the point unerringly following me. “This is the Stalker’s Stance. It is used for quick reactions while waiting for your opponent to make a move, or for explosive speed if you make a move first.”

I settled into the stance, but it felt subtly wrong. I turned my body slightly, holding my dagger in a backhanded grip. Evie looked surprised. “Well, it seems as though you know how to wield a dagger already. Is this another one of the things your mask grants you?”

I shrugged, though it was probably a reasonable assumption given that I’d never done more with a knife than wildly stab in front of me. Evie nodded, and unbent her knees. “We’ll skip knives, then. Onto swords. I saw you had a sword last night. Summon it for me?”

I waved my knife and attempted to summon the dark energy. It didn’t come. I shrugged again. “The dark energy isn’t coming to change my weapon.”

Evie tucked her dagger into her belt and walked over to where I was standing. “Allina, all magic requires power. Most mages have their power provided by their god. Gods have their power provided by their concept, and what they take from the world. Where does your power come from?”

My brain instantly went to the god who had died for me to live, who had sacrificed himself-

That was it.

Sacrifice.

“I am willing to suffer,” I whispered, too low for Evie to hear it.

Black energy crept into my dagger, lengthening it into a sword for the price of a small amount of my own pain, a willing sacrifice I made.

Evie nodded, unaware of my small sufferings. She held up her own blade, a near replica of mine, only dull to my blade’s shiny, polished surface. She set her feet in the swordsman’s stance I suddenly knew. She blinked at watching me do it perfectly the first time. “Do the dagger stance again,” Evie said “Don’t summon your dagger, though.”

I attempted to slightly turn my body just as I had earlier, but I couldn’t remember anything of the doing. I shrugged and stood up completely. Evie carefully nodded at me. “It appears that any weapon you summon grants you knowledge of its use. But only while summoned.”

I carefully nodded back. She smiled. “Then we’ll teach you how to use your fists!”

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I went to bed bruised that day. I had gone in to hit her, and was thrown away every single time. This showed me the difference in skill between the two of us, even if I had my black energy. So, even while in bed, I practiced. The energy of Sacrifice wove patterns in the air in front of me. I found out that the energy had no physical substance. It would pass through any object it touched. The energy could also be used to improve my body’s abilities, as I’d done last night. I could weave it around my muscles, and it would provide them power in return for pain.

I could also make my body stick to things. I could bond myself with objects, and we would stick together until I disconnected us or the energy ran out. I used this to play a prank on Evie the next morning.

She came into my room again, expecting to need to wake me up. I wasn’t there in my bed, however. I was directly above her. She moved the sheets aside, clearly starting to panic before I fell onto her from above.

This did not go well for me.

I received multiple punches before she realized who I was and punched me all the harder for it. I was soon carried outside, already bruised from her beating, before I was hit even more while she trained me.

However, a couple of days later, I found out I could create metallic gloves that flowed with the movements of my fingers. For the cost of a lot of pain, yes, but it was worth it to see her face when I was suddenly a master in hand-to-hand combat.

Even with my newfound skill with weapons, Evie still won most of the fights because she was yet more skilled than I was. Somehow, she was better than me at every single weapon I tried to use, and thrashed me over and over again.

Slowly, I learned.

Twelve days after I started training with Evie, she led me out to the field once again. But this time, there were other people, and what Evie whispered were ‘pegasi’ alongside them. I eyed the black-coated winged horses, and they eyed me back. “Now, now. The horsies don’t bite. Unless you annoy them. Then they bite really hard.”

I ignored the man who spoke, now glaring at the ‘horsies’, who bared their suspiciously sharp teeth back at me. Evie, thankfully, gave him a response. “Don’t worry about her. The horses can’t injure her any more than you could.”

The man laughed meanly, and my opinion instantly dropped. If Evie didn’t like him, I didn’t either. The horse seemed to agree with me, and finally broke off the staring contest to glare at the person sitting on its back. I looked up, seeing a man with a massive gray beard, multiple missing teeth, and no visible weapons. “Hey gurl, I’m Blackbeard. Ye herd o’ me?”

Evie sighed, turning to me. “You’re being forced to undertake a mission. With these people. I trust that you can take care of yourself, but be careful.”

I saw the message her eyes sent me. I wasn’t to trust my compatriots.

Before any of the other people sitting astride the horses could identify themselves, Evie spoke, leaving no room to mistake her opinions. “Blackbeard there is a priest of the God of Hellfire. In his arrogance, he deems it unnecessary to bring any weapons, feeling that his hellfire will win any fight.”

Blackbeard grinned and flexed. “I have my guns for any kind o’ fight I can’t end with my hellfire.”

Evie turned to the next person, a girl glaring at me with clear malice. There were hastily hidden wounds on her horse, and from how it kept its head down and refused to look around, I could tell who had caused it. If I found a way to push this girl off her horse, I would do it. “This is Minerva, priestess of Envy, husband of Hellfire.”

I looked over her flaming red hair and perfectly fashionable clothes. Her dark green eyes stared at me from her narrow face. Evie directed me to the last rider. “Phosphaline, a High Priestess of Hell himself.”

She smiled at me, seemingly nice. But under the guise, I could tell that she was far less trustworthy than the others. She would be the one to push all of us off of our horses as soon as she could. As I watched, her face changed slightly, to become prettier, kinder, as she looked us over. A shapeshifter as well. She tucked her white hair over one shoulder, brushing a hand over her forehead before reaching down. “Don’t I get my own horse?”, I whispered to Evie.

She shook her head. “No, you don’t, you shy little thing. You’ll have to ride with Phosphaline.”

I immediately understood what she was doing. Evie was setting me up as shy so I could avoid conversation and simply observe the others while preparing for anything they or our targets might do.”Where’s ‘er weapon?”, Blackbeard asked, pointing at me.

Shyly, I pretended to draw my dagger from my black coat-a gift from Evie-before tucking it out of view and dismissing it once more. Then I clambered on the horse behind Phosphaline, deliberately avoiding her hand. Phosphaline smiled and spoke, her voice soft and smooth. “You’ll have to hold on to me as we fly, girl, or you’ll fall off.”

I carefully grabbed Phosphaline around the middle. As we lifted off, I caught Evie’s worried eyes.