The Price of Power

4

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Eydis, the Queen of Shadows, stood amid a sea of damp lavenders, their frail stalks bowing in submission to the crisp breath of approaching winter. She tilted her head skyward, her golden eyes catching the moonlight’s feeble attempt to outshine the storm clouds.

To the people of this realm, it was another ordinary night: weather doing what weather does. But to Eydis, it was more.

Much more.

There was a time when she had dreamed of owning it all: a world alive with uncertainty, where light danced carelessly as if peace were owed, not earned. The people basked in their ignorance, mistaking balance for permanence.

Now? Now, standing beneath the storm’s reluctant retreat, she felt none of the longing that had once moved her. Instead, something darker simmered beneath her skin: a slow, seething rage.

Eydis closed her eyes for a fleeting moment—only for memories of Archmage Gidion Swan, the original bearer of Greed, to slither unbidden into her mind. They struck like venom, distant yet piercing. The pain was visceral. But somehow, she had forgotten…

Forgotten how raw it could feel.

She drew in a slow breath, forcing the ghosts of the past to recede. The scent of lavender was now undercut by the earthy aroma of rain-soaked soil. It was nothing compared to what was coming, though.

Raven.

They had evaded their fate once, forcing her hand into an impossible choice. But this time—this true reckoning—she would deliver judgment herself.

“How… dare… you…bind…us,” the thing that had been Noah growled, its voice a jagged discord of two voices merged into one.

Eydis turned lazily, her lips curling in a slow, taunting smile. "Welcome back, Raven. Strange. I didn’t realise rabid carrion fowl required consent before caging.”

Noah’s neck snapped sideways with an audible crack. Dark veins pulsed beneath his skin, his flesh cracking as though something monstrous was clawing to be free.

When his eyes met hers, they glowed with ancient, calculating malice. Twin ravens of obsidian flame, circling a rotting carcass of what once was Noah Blackwood’s humanity. These weren’t merely eyes that had witnessed the fall of empires; they were eyes that had feasted on their bones, dined on their marrow, and thought: All this, and still… not… enough.

“Raven? Carrion fowl?” the fractured halves of Greed—once divided between Noah and Thomas—spoke at one. “Do not presume to bind us with such paltry names.”

"I wouldn’t give you a name at all,” Eydis mused, her raised eyebrow giving way to a quiet smile. "Raven isn’t an insult, on the contrary. I had always disagreed with him. But now….”

“My, my…” Greed purred, their presence seemed to pierce through her veneer of indifference. “Such sharp wit. But beneath it… ah, yes… we taste it. Bitterness. Anger. Fear. You know us well, don’t you, little girl? Did we carve into you so deeply?”

“Fear? Oh, darling,” she drawled, tilting her head. “I nearly forgot you existed until you started squawking again. Memory, you see, is so annoyingly selective.” Amusement gleamed in her golden eyes. “But you wouldn’t know what you don’t remember, would you? Like how those shared moments with your bearer would dissolve the instant your binding shatters.”

“A bearer.” The creature snarled. “Ah, these mortals from the shadow realms. Always so presumptuous, thinking themselves more than motes of dust in the cosmic wind. And yet..." Its head cocked, mirroring her. “You trapped us. Saw us for what we are. Yet you wouldn’t bind us. Weakness, or cowardice? Which is it, little queen?”

Her gaze flicked to the talons sprouting from Noah’s fingers, the grotesque transformation painting his form with all the subtlety of a nightmare. A knowing smile tugged at her lips.

“Bind you? Don’t mistake my disdain for inability. But if you’re that desperate for an answer…” Her eyes sharpened. The air shifted. The twin ravens stilled, their dark eyes glittering like black onyx as they sensed her rising power.

Eydis moved, graceful and deliberate. Her arm carved through the air, gathering raw power in its wake until it took form—a shadow-serpent. Its scales shimmered with a light that bent all light around it, twisting through the air with deadly speed, its jaws splitting wide to reveal fangs forged from the deepest night.

"Allow me,” she said, her voice as calm as death, “to demonstrate what happens to those foolish enough to cross the Queen of Shadows.”

The ravens rose to meet her challenge, unfurling shadowy wings that burst from Noah's back. The wings spread wide, eclipsing the fragile moonlight above.

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“Arrogant fool!” they hissed in unison, their voices overlapping in an otherworldly harmony. “You wear a crown of ash and call it power. We who feast on gods will savour the taste of your hubris!"

“Hubris? How unoriginal,” she taunted. "Are you sure you’re capable of swallowing Pride? Though I’d enjoy watching you choke on it.”

Dark energy, like liquid corruption, erupted from them and pushed against her power. The air itself screamed as their clashing forces tore through it, the lavender field trembling under the weight of their battle.

Noah’s head jerked to one side, his neck twitching, analysing. Without warning, the corpse abandoned the magical clash and plunged downward, talons whistling for her throat.

But her grin only widened, anticipation gleaming in her eyes. A casual flick of her wrist birthed another shadow-serpent, its scales rippling with void-light. It struck the creature mid-air, raking venomous fangs across Noah’s face, leaving behind shimmering trails of shadowlight that hissed as they seeped into dead skin.

“This pathetic shell,” Greed sneered, wiping at the cut with gloved fingers, smearing the venom like war paint. Their eyes blazed as sewage water churned around them, forming into a thousand grotesque, writhing tentacles, lashing toward her.

Eydis raised an unimpressed eyebrow and conjured a barrier of shimmering violet light. The tentacles struck with a roar, but the barrier held firm, the water hissing and evaporating into blackened steam.

“Sewage water? Really?” she said, sidestepping a particularly rancid splash. “I expected at least some creativity from you. No diamonds? No golden rain? Don’t tell me you blew your entire budget on plumbing.”

“Wealth moves nations,” Greed snarled, their tentacles hammering harder against her shield. “It doesn’t waste itself on inconsequential gnats like you.”

"And here I thought fear moved nations. Silly me.” Eydis’s lips twitched into a sly smirk.

"Bold words," the Sin purred, drinking in the minute tremors in her stance. "But I see beyond your sharp tongue, Queen of Ashes. Your mana bleeds out faster than your wit. Tell me, how many more quips can you manage before that fragile shield cracks?”

“You’re right,” Eydis said as she deliberately lowered her barrier, the shimmering violet light dissipating like mist.

Greed lunged, sewage tentacles surging forward, eager to seize the opportunity. But just as they closed in, her shadow-serpent materialised. Its sleek, glimmering body split into two, then three, each serpentine form trailing frost in its wake. The purple petals beneath its path crystallised into delicate shards of ice before shattering.

The serpents weaved through the writhing tentacles, slicing them apart effortlessly. The sewage constructs disintegrated, its remains oozing onto the lavender field. The ground hissed and bubbled, darkening as patches of earth burned away.

Greed recoiled, snarling in frustration as the serpents closed in, slashing at their wings. “Envy… is that it? Such a pedestrian Sin,” they spat.

“Funny, I could say the same about Greed. But…” She flung her arm forward, and the serpents merged into one massive, sinuous beast, wrapping itself around Noah. “My familiar is mine alone to insult.”

“How reassuring, Your Majesty,” Envy drawled.

Eydis’s eyeroll was brief, but her focus sharpened as she watched Greed’s struggle. The Sin thrashed within the serpent’s grip, their black wings beating violently, each futile attempt punctuated by the bone-snapping crack of constriction.

“Clever girl,” Greed said as fresh waves of sewage tentacles surged forward, each lash more vicious than the last. “You were right about one thing. I’ve already turned the Senate race into my personal jackpot, feeding on every greedy bet they placed. You really think you can call my hand?”

Eydis stepped lightly aside, her expression calm as her shadow-serpent absorbed the brunt of the attack. With a final, crushing twist, Envy constricted, forcing Noah’s body into a violent spasm. Black water seeped from his broken form, hissing as it charred the lavender field. The wind roared, swallowing Noah’s agonised scream.

When the wind stilled, silence descended. The lavender field lay in ruin—crushed stalks and frost-rimed petals scattered like ash, their scent barely clinging to the storm-torn air.

Eydis stepped closer to Noah’s lifeless body, her sharp gaze assessing the wreckage. But before she could inspect him further, his mouth wrenched open, spewing a torrent of corrupted water. She hastily conjured a barrier. The force slammed into her, sending her skidding back.

The sound of cracking bone filled the air as Noah’s mangled body moved once more. He rose, joints twisting and snapping into grotesque angles, his smile stretching wide enough to split his stolen face. From his throat came Greed’s voice, layered and rippling, each tone more sinister than the last.

"Is that all you've got, Shadow Queen?" They flexed their fingers, and shadows dripped like fresh ink from their skin. "Because every blow you land just feeds the flood."

Eydis steadied herself, blood trickling from her split lip, her golden eyes narrowing as Greed’s laughter filled the air.

“You asked me why sewage water… Allow me to indulge your clever little mind,” Greed’s voice twisted, the black liquid at their feet rippling with malice. “It never runs dry. Always filling, always overflowing. Just like this realm you cling to… abundant, bloated, wasteful.”

“It was a rhetorical question,” Eydis murmured, wiping the blood from her lips with the back of her hand, her chest heaving as she straightened. “But fine. I was hoping you’d put up a fight.”

“Two of us, one of you." The Sin's voice deepened. "Did you really think we came in pairs by accident?”

Her silence cut through their laughter.

“Ah… you knew,” The grotesque grin on Noah’s face stretched further, skin splitting along his cheeks. Greed’s words dripped with cruel satisfaction, savouring the pain they sought to drag to the surface. “Someone you cherished surrendered their precious soul to bring us forth, didn't they? A soul powerful enough to birth another me.”

“Cherish?” Eydis’s expression hardened, her arms outstretched in command. “There’s no such person.”

“Oh, we both know that’s a lie,” Their tone dipped into a silken purr. “Tell me, Shadow Queen—how sweet was their sacrifice? How much of it still lingers on your tongue?”

Eydis answered with action. Envy surged forward like a midnight tide, slamming into the corpse. Ribs splintered. The serpent constricted—tighter, tighter—until something inside Noah gave way with a wet crunch.

Yet the corpse twitched, jerked, lived. Again.

Sewage water bubbled up through split flesh, weaving through shattered bone and knitting mangled tissue. Noah’s head snapped upright, empty obsidian eyes locking onto her.

“How uncharacteristically rude," they chuckled. “Where was I? Ah, yes… no sacrifice comes without a price, does it?” they continued. “And the price they paid—oh, how exquisite it must have been. How I wish I could remember the taste. But no matter. The past is meaningless now.”

They spread their arms wide, black veins crawling beneath the skin. “Do you see it now? Greed can’t be destroyed. We will never end.”

“We are the game.” A smile split Noah’s stolen face once more. Their shadow expanded, their wings unfurling like gaping voids that consumed the night. “So tell me, foolish queen… are you ready to pay the price?”