Chapter 547: A Red Blizzard
Every noble sitting in the main hall looked on in confusion as Lynette pointed her at the Katag family and their guards.
“What are you doing!?” yelled Evelyn.
Elise Veres looked her dead in the eye. “Protecting my family.” She turned to Stryg and offered him her hand, “Are you with me, cousin?”
Stryg looked at her and the way her lips curled in a confident, half-smirk, the same way as Callum’s. He nodded hesitantly and grabbed her hand.
She tried to pull him up from his chair, but he didn’t budge. Stryg stood up on his own and yanked her to him with a simple jerk. Elise stumbled into his embrace.
He leaned into her ear and whispered, “I don’t trust you.”
The wine rippled in their glasses as he spoke and the air grew still.
Elise wrapped her arms around his back, embracing him in front of everyone. “You don’t need to trust me,” she whispered. “You just need to trust that I will do everything to protect House Veres from ruin. And right now that means getting your womanizing rear out of here.”
The haze around his mind was getting worse, he could feel his chest burning with an icy heat that only kept growing. Stryg wasn’t sure what to think, but he couldn’t see what options he had left. Elise was family, but she was also someone who had reasons to hate him. Then there was Cly…
“Stryg…? I think we should go,” said Plum anxiously.
“Right…” He nodded slowly and released Elise’s hand.
Elise inclined her head and stepped back. “Thank you,” she said lightly. “If you two could follow me, Lynette will cover our backs.”
Plum didn’t waste a moment and hurried to her side.
“Not without Tauri,” said Stryg.
Tauri shook her head, “I’m not going anywhere. This is my House. I must stay.”
Her words sounded sad. Stryg should have comforted her but all he wanted to do was tell her how beautiful she looked and kiss her red lips.
Now wasn’t the time. That much he knew, even through the haze.
“...Do you hear me?” asked Tauri. “I said go.”
The wine glasses began to shake slightly, though none noticed.
Stryg frowned at her words. “No.”
Tauri squeaked in surprise as he easily tossed her over his shoulder. “Stryg, let me down!”
“No. You’re not safe here.”
“This is my House! I’ll face my consequences, now let me go, you insufferable—!”
“I won’t let them hurt you.”
Tauri faltered. “Stryg… this isn’t the time!”
“Unhand my sister!” yelled Lucas.
Tauri tried to roll off him, but Stryg gripped her bottom and held her from squirming.
“Where are you grabbing!?” She shouted angrily and kicked his side with all her strength. It felt like kicking a stone wall but she refused to stop.
Stryg grimaced faintly, the tip of her sharp shoes kept digging between his ribs. He sighed and channeled Grey mana.
Tauri’s eyes widened as she felt her energy being sapped away. “You bast—ard…” her voice grew sluggish and she fell limp over his shoulder.
“Kidnapping a daughter from a Ruling House and threatening her family, what could go wrong? Oh, I don’t know, getting sent to the fucking shade wall,” Plum mumbled to herself.
“If you two are quite done, follow me,” said Elise.
“Veres!” Krall’s voice boomed across the main hall.
Elise, Plum, and Stryg stopped in their tracks and slowly looked back at the giant of an orc. His shoulders heaved with every breath. His expression was hardened and his amber eyes were steel. Brown magic curled through his veins, the berserker within only a breath away.
“Do not do this,” said Krall coldly. “Whatever slights have been dealt can be sorted out. Come back and sit down.”
Stryg hadn’t expected the man to act so rationally. He glanced at Tauri’s pale face hanging over his shoulder. What am I doing?
The burning sensation in his chest was only getting worse. His irises had widened and expanded across the whites of his eyes, leaving his eyes more like a cat’s than a goblin’s. The world was dyed in hues of black and outlines made of silver strings of light.
Before Stryg could open his mouth, Elise spoke, “I’m certain we will, but not here, Lord Krall. Somewhere neutral that benefits both Houses. We will see each other soon, farewell.”
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“Stop,” said Krall. “I cannot let you leave with my daughter.”
Elise glanced at Stryg with a mildly troubled expression, “Cousin. If you’d be so kind, please put the damsel down.”
Stryg shifted Tauri off his shoulder and carried her in his arms, nestling her head on the crook of his neck. She was sleeping soundly, or at least, unconsciously. “They’ll hurt her…”
“Probably, but they won’t kill her. She’ll be fine,” said Elise reassuringly.
“I’m supposed to protect my tribe,” Stryg muttered.
“What if you’re the one hurting them?” said Plum quietly.
Stryg looked at her in surprise. Hurt… Tauri…? He would never. Well, he had bitten her butt and drawn blood that first night together. Actually, ever since that first time, he had bitten her in all sorts of places. Her blood was the sweetest he had tasted. But he always healed her afterwards as she rested in his arms. That wasn’t really hurting her, was it…? He would never hurt her…
The fire in his chest blazed to life and sent icy needles through his veins. The voices ringing in his ears faded away. His mind was in a jumble, he tried to focus but all he could think of was blood.
He’d heal the wounds. The bleeding would stop...
Stryg was suddenly in the ruined courtyard of Mora Manor, rain pouring over him, wind howling in his ears, his mother lying on the ground, blood seeping from her chest. He tried. He had tried to stop the bleeding. But no matter how much he tried, the bleeding wouldn’t stop.
His mother was dying. Aurelia was dying.
Queen Ananta’s voice shrieked in his ears like the clap of thunder, “The World Soul is dying! Aleirune is dying!”
“Cousin…?” Elise asked slowly.
“Shit, he’s not all there,” Plum muttered. “Stryg, focus!”
“Enough!” Lucas drew his sword. “Guards, save my sister!”
Lynette bared her fangs and hissed, “You will try.”
Krall grabbed his son’s shoulder and shook him hard, “No! Stand down!”
“But Father—!”
“No! You’ve said enough.” Krall turned to his guards, “Stand down! I said stand— down…?”
Drops of wine rose from the glasses of everyone present, a scarlet snow dancing to a silent melody. A blizzard of red, the wine flowed through the main hall like a storm, and at its center stood Stryg, eyes burning with an inner light.
~~~
Holo stood atop the shade wall, where the dragonbanes had breathed black and white flames and burned through the city’s protective spells and melted a chasm through the ebon wall. Now the ebon color was gone, the soul magic that had bound the shades broken, leaving the magestone wall a hazy grey with white fractures, like ice cut from a frozen lake.
Where the chasm had been now sat a hundred feet of pearly white stone. Even in the moonlight, it seemed to shine with an otherworldly luster. Holo crouched and ran her hand across the white stone, it was warm and smooth to the touch, like glass.
“The dragons did a decent job fixing your wall, all things considered,” said Melantha.
Holo glanced at her sister, leaning on the parapet behind her. “Manifestation magic has its uses, but it doesn’t work well with the ethereal nature of soul magic.”
“You mean you won’t be able to imbue the city’s wall with thousands of shades again so long as this piece of dragon work stands.”
“That’s a gross simplification of the hundreds of spells weaved into these walls, but yes. My city’s wall might as well just be a hunk of stone… for now.”
“Cheer up, it’s not like you have an Ebon Lord to help cast the shade spell anyway.”
Holo sighed. She hated to admit it, but Melantha was right. Even though she had a dedicated circle of true black mages ready and waiting, she still needed an Ebon Lord to help lead the spellcasting with her.
“So long as the shade wall is inactive this city is unprotected,” muttered Holo.
“From whom?”
Holo stood to her feet and looked out to the dark horizon. “Everyone.”
“Can you two stop talking for one moment?” growled Lunae. The goddess of the moon was in her humanoid shape, sitting cross-legged, head tilted up. Her long silver hair floated around her, forming a crescent shape reminiscent of the moon in the night sky.
“Apologies, Watcher,” said Holo.
“Have you found anything yet?” asked Melantha impatiently.
“If you mean have I found Ananta, then no,” replied Lunae. “The titan queen has ways of hiding in the shadows, even from my sight. And it seems she’s cloaked those near her as well.”
“What about the dragonbanes? Surely, Ananta can’t hide them all,” said Melantha.
“She can’t, but she doesn’t need to. A dragonbane’s void aura obscures my sight. For some of them, I can sense their general area, but that’s about it.”
Melantha nodded. “Then we go to where they are congregated and—”
“The dragonbanes are spread out. And even then they are slowly disappearing from my sight.”
“Dammit all,” Melantha cursed under her breath.
“So what do we do?” asked Holo.
Lunae opened her silver eyes and stared at her palm. “Ananta can use her shadows to hide from my sight, however my bond with Solis runs far deeper.”
“What if he doesn’t want to be found?” asked Melantha.
“It would hinder my sight, but even then I should be able to locate Solis, the fact that I can’t see him even now means… he isn’t in the Ebon Realm.”
“You’re saying Solis found another way to travel through the realms?” asked Holo. “You said Bellum protected the last chrome gate, you saw it yourself.”
“I did. The gate has remained unopened,” said Lunae.
“But if they didn’t use the chrome gate nor the Ebon Tower, then how?” muttered Holo.
“There are other ways to travel, sister.”
“The Branches?” Holo shook her head, “No, they’d get lost. Unless— Unless they had one of us to guide them. But why would one of our siblings help them?”
Melantha shrugged, “Who knows? For all we know it could have been Father himself.”
“A Traveler’s abilities are powerful in the darkness of the Branches, but there are other ways to navigate through them,” noted Lunae. “Ananta is the daughter of the titan queen Love and the primordial Unildyr. If anyone can find a way through the Branches it is her.”
“Shit,” muttered Holo.
“Shit indeed,” agreed Melantha.
“So what do we do now?” asked Holo.
“We wait,” said Lunae.
“For what?” asked both sisters in unison.
“The full moon. My powers will be at their greatest. I’ll be able to widen my sight far enough to reach the other Null Realms.”
“You’ll be able to locate Solis?” said Holo with a glimmer of hope.
“My brother doesn’t want to be found, but I should at least be able to see which Realm he resides in. Beyond that? I’m not so certain.”
Holo sighed. “It’s a start I guess. Thank you, Lunae.”
Lunae suddenly jerked her neck and frowned.
Melantha was at her side in an instant. “What is it? Did you find them?”
“No… It’s Stryg. Something’s wrong.” Her silver eyes went wide, “The Astral Light…!”
The sisters glanced at each other, Holo paling at Lunae’s words. Melantha’s expression darkened, “Where?”