Sly and Lyra removed their weapons, leading everyone to do the same.
“Everyone prepare yourself,” she shouted. “She's not to be taken lightly. Bella the Sovran is very dangerous.”
“Not to mention her companion, Raelina,” Malakyh replied. “Where is she hiding now?”
Belladonna giggled. “Silly, silly. Raelina isn't with me, but I'm here.”
Lyra frowned with a furrowed brow. “Somehow, I feel they don't know you're here. Even if you're a Sovran, you're still a kid.”
“Hmph,” she pouted. “It's not like I'm in any real danger. Finn can teleport us out of here.”
“And what makes you think he will if you disobey an order?” Sly questioned her.
“Croger gets in trouble all the time, and he just gets a scold talking too.” She beamed happily with her hands on her hips.
“She's disillusioned,” Cassandra said. “I don't think anything more we say will change her mind. We'll have to defeat her in combat; at least, we may have a chance.”
“We might have some trouble with her little duplication and copy ability, but I think I have a spell that can bind her. It just needs to be charged. Mind protecting my front ‘Krieger?”
Alivier's eyes seemed to twinkle at the request. “My, we are working on our partnership quickly, and I'm blushing! But of course, of course. As long as Tierney, darling, can you tell us when she may appear next?”
She clasped her hands together and briskly nodded. “O-okay! I'll try my best!”
“I'll protect your front!” Aurora shouted.
“And leaves Sly, Cassandra, and I to charge from the front.”
All the while, as the group planned their coordination, Belladonna pouted and stomped her foot on the railing.
“I don't like to be ignored! If you won't acknowledge me, I'll have to make you!”
With an outstretched hand, purple miasma floated mid-air as the vegetation of nightshade seemed to grow from the metal floors of the Forneus.
At least six Veilspawn emerged seemingly from nothing. Their electrified blue eyes glared at their prey. They opened their muzzle, revealing a gaping blue Void, and roared at them.
“I'll take three of them,” Sly said.
“I can take care of two,” Cassandra also said.
“Have no fear. I can take one on. You girls watch Uncle Alivier and Malakyh’s backs, just in case.”
“Right!” Both girls chimed together.
“Guess that leaves me with Bella herself,” Lyra said. She was bent in a fight stance. She took a shallow breath and closed her eyes. All right, Wellsprings, Lumos, let's do this! She snapped open her eyes, and without as much as a chant, she sped across the deck with Zephyr at her heels.
The initial surprise catches everyone off guard, including Belladonna, but she narrowly dodges away at the last second as Lyra slashes through the air.
“Phew! That was a close one,” Bella said from the other side of the glider to the left. “You really are something!”
It looks like she's going to be in a bit of trouble.
Lyra surveyed the scene to see everyone taking on their own Veilspawn. They were all handling themselves; she just needed an opening or a distraction.
“You never fully explained how you met Blackthorn, or was it Eamon?”
Her face lit up during the conversation. “Yeah, Eamon’s nice, but then Blackthorn bossed his way back in. He can be mean, but lets me do whatever I want.”
“Oh? So you know that they share a body?”
She pondered the question. “Um, I think so. I didn't understand all that stuff that Mister Walsh was talking about. He said lots of terms like Dormant and Homunculus, and I don't get any of that.” with a shrug of her shoulders to add.
“Well,” Lyra took a careful step while she was distracted. “What if I told you that Blackthorn is a mean bully, and he's been mean to Eamon.”
“Bully?” her eyes looked far away now as if her mind was elsewhere and she was thinking of a memory. “Bullies… they aren't nice. They're mean.”
Lyra bobbed her head. “That's right, and we’re trying to stop the Bully Blackthorn.”
“But…” she hesitated. “If I stop what he's doing, everyone will be mad at me. The Master will yell at me. I don't want Walsh to put me back into confinement.”
Hearing her panicked words left Lyra heartbroken at what she could have gone through. She didn't understand how she ended up with Raelina and Walsh, but she was afraid they had manipulated her to do their whim.
“And you won't have to,” Lyra told her. The little girl looked up at her with confusion. “Bella, Right? You're allowed to make your own choices that don't revolve around The Children of Deimos. You have a choice and a voice. All you have to do is look for it and… Ask for help.”
“...I don't need help. I know who I am!”
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“But do you?” She was gambling on the little information she had, but she hoped she could break through on her own.
“I…” she started to say. Her eyes grew watery and then distant, as if she were recalling another memory. “I just wanna go home. I wanna go home. But you are home–this has always been your home.”
Despite Bella using her own voice, she was repeating a conversation that had happened with someone else.
Lyra felt a pang of guilt for the little girl. She didn't know her, but one thing was clear: she, too, was a victim.
She let out a scream and grabbed the sides of her head. Tears ran down her cheeks as she cried in pain. Lyra reacted immediately to go to her aid, but a Veilspawn materialized before her.
“LYRA! The spell is almost complete.” Malakyh shouted from the other end of the glider.
“Bella, listen to me,” Lyra called out. “You can fight it. You have to push through it. What do you want most? Use that as your way to break through!”
The Veilspawn charged For Lyra. She reacted instantly and dodged out of the way of one of their talon claws charging for her. She slashed out with her sword–it gleamed a bright light-and the Veilspawn exploded.
“What do you want most in the entire world?” Lyra shouted at the crying girl. Her eyes filled with tears, and her hands over her head.
Lyra faced the Veilspawn head-on, and the two clashed. They parried each other's movements, but Lyra was faster. She ducked as the Veilspawn sliced A talon through the air. She slashed through The Veilspawns stomach with incredible speed.
The Veilspawn fell to its knees, and Lyra raised her sword over her head and shouted, “All you have to do is ask for help, Bella! We can help you give what you want most.”
She plunged the sword through the Veilspawn. Bella’s eyes widened as she watched it fade away into ashes. Her eyes watered more than ever as Flashes of a village, mountain heads, and blurry faces came into her vision. She couldn't make them out, but they were smiling at her.
“...Home.” She whispered. Picking herself up from the floor. “I want…to go home.”
She stood on the railing now. Lyra’s heart jumped out of its chest, seeing what she attempted to do.
“I have to find…home.”
“No!” Lyra shouted, running towards the girl before she jumped.
“Heads up!”
Ricocheting through the air was a dark purple aura of a boomerang. It shot through the group and entangled itself around Bella, wrapping around her body and making her fall to the ground of the glider.
The Veilspawn disappeared, and Bella lay unconscious. Her eyes closed as she mumbled a few words before falling asleep, “Mama…papa…I wanna go…home.”
•†•
Once Bella was tucked away on a bed, it was time for the next step: to prepare Tierney to go into Eamon’s mind, with Aurora and Malakyh at her side to boost power and protection.
“We’re almost ready,” Sly said to Lyra, who sat at the edge of the bed, stroking Bella’s curls. She hadn't left her bedside since. “She’ll be okay, I promise.”
Lyra sighed. “I know. I'm just realizing how corrupt the Children of Deimos are. They did something to her and must have taken her from her home. No person or child deserves this.”
Sly’s hand rested on her shoulder. “And they won't have to again when we put an end to all of this.”
Lyra nodded. It was her cue to leave. She and Sly left the room to meet with the others.
In another room, everyone gathered around Tierney—Aurora on one side and Malakyh on the other—so they could persist with the plan of finding Eamon through Blackthorn.
“Are you ready?” Cassandra asked for the umpteenth time as worry laced her features.
Tierney nodded. “I'm fine, I can do this.”
“Don't worry,” Malakyh told Cassandra. “I won't let anything happen to her. If Blackthorn does try anything, I'll be there to negate it.”
“And I'll give her as much energy as she needs without overdoing it!” Aurora added.
Cassandra sighed. Knowing she was outnumbered and didn't have a say.
“They'll be fine,” Lyra said before her, a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“All right, all right. Let's do this!”
It didn't take long for Tierney to focus with the added power flowing through to her from Aurora. Even Malakyh, whose presence was only used for emergencies, she even felt the presence of his aura.
She trained her focus on the Escrima sticks like last time.
A surge of emotion and power rushed through her. Her eyes turned white.
“Aurora, can you hear me? It's Malakyh.” The disembodied voice said in her head. “If you need anything, I'm here. Just focus on the Escrima sticks, and I'll make sure there's no danger near you.”
“Got it.” She said, submerging herself deeper into the subconscious.
She finally managed to attach herself to the leyline she had seen before, leading her to Eamon in the first place.
“Malakyh, I see it! I see the connection forming to Eamon.”
“All right, do what you need to do. I'll be here if Blackthorn tries anything.”
She grabbed onto the shining ley line cord. When she touched it, a sharp pain jotted up her arm, but it instantly went away–Tierney assumed Blackthorn was at work– because after that second, it went away.
She figured Malakyh must have blocked the connection between him and Eamon. She didn't know how long it would hold but hoped it was enough time to talk to him.
She tugged on the line again until she was pulled into Eamon's subconscious.
Tierney found herself in an open liminal space. The room was foggy, and black-and-white mist circulated. Nothing and everything all at once pushed the space of the atmosphere, making it almost impossible to breathe.
Her vision adjusted, and she noticed a single person sitting and staring into nothingness.
“H-Hello?” She called out to the person. She didn't recognize the white-haired individual.
When they turned around, revealing red eyes and a seemingly pale complexion, Tierney was surprised at the person's state. Yet, there was something almost familiar about them.
“Tierney?” the person voiced. She recognized the face and matched it with the one she had previously known.
“Eamon?”
He stood, walking over to her. “How did you get here? How’s this possible? You shouldn’t be able to reach because–”
“Malakyh is holding Blackthorn back, and Aurora is lending me some power. We came to find you, to save you.”
His eyes widened. His breath caught in his throat. “We? As in…”
She nodded. Confirming his thoughts. “Lyra hasn't given up. None of us have. She doesn't care what you were before or did, especially if it wasn't your fault.”
Eamon didn't say anything. His head bowed. He listened as she explained; not only were they making sure to rid any regions of Altars, but they were trying to find any clues about where he was.
“...she really misses you. Everyone does.”
He lifted his head when she said that. His eyes gleamed with sadness and…regret.
“I miss her too…everyone.”
Tierney’s heart skipped a beat. “Then, tell us where you are so we can find you and stop the Children of Deimos.”
Eamon nodded. A dark look crossed his face then as if remembering something that soured his memory.
“Yeah, me too. I know where we are; it's some abandoned mansion in Crystalline City to the west.”
A surge of dark energy coursed through the air, making Tierney shudder at the violent sensation. Even Eamon stiffened, sensing the blood lust in the air.
“You have to go, it's–”
“Tierney, we have to go. I couldn't hold Blackthorn anymore,” Malakyh’s disembodied voice sounded strained from the outside.
“Go,” Eamon urged her on.
Tierney nodded. She focused on the ley lines to bring her back.
The effort was more painful as Tierney bypassed any connection that would make her visible to Blackthorn.
She was forcibly thrown back into her body. She gritted her teeth in pain from the hard thrust.
“Tierney!” Her name was called out, followed by hands at her arms and face. She opened her eyes to see Cassandra with a fearful and worried look on her face, followed by Lyra, Aurora, and even Malakyh, who looked worried.
“I'm okay, I'm okay,” she repeated. Ensuring everyone was she was okay. “I saw Eamon.”
Lyra's heart leaped in her chest. Her breath caught in her throat she almost couldn't speak. “Y-you did? Is he okay?”
Tierney nodded. “Yeah, for the most part, I think. And… I know where he is.”