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image [https://i.imgur.com/LoYByv0.png]
“Haaah, this place is really boring.” I sighed.
Capricorn threw me out of her personal space with nothing more than a ‘I need to speak to Virgo.’ and flick of her finger.
As I was being haphazardly handled, I saw that Ikuye was sent back through a portal as well—hopefully back to Strea and Tomin. She likely hadn’t been gone long, with the time deviation being so extreme here, but it would be terrible if those two got into trouble without her.
I felt a disturbance in the air nearby and my head whipped towards the spot Hikita and Vita had been before I left earlier.
A blueish portal sprang to life, cleaving the space open with a wild spark of energy.
Hikita stepped through, no longer contained in a magick bubble prison, with Vita following right after. Both of them wore heavy expressions.
“What do we know?” I asked, hesitantly.
Vita’s eyes seemed to look through me, rather than at me. I caught a glimpse of sorrow and guilt hiding behind them.
“Something awful that shouldn’t be.” she replied in a quiet voice.
Vita scrawled something in the air with her finger, seemingly imbued with magick. With a flick of her hand, the spell dissipated.
The familiar scent of cinnamon filled the air as an orange portal erupted in the center of the marble slab.
Capricorn burst her way through before it had even finished forming, tendrils of unrestrained magicka flared out of control. The Goddess drew a sigil in the air and the out-of-control magick fizzled out.
She locked her gaze to Vita, “You’re certain?”
“I am.” Vita replied in the same despondent tone she’d used with me.
“Good news,” Capricorn said, turning to me, “I can save your little friend here.”
“And the bad news?” I asked, scratching at my cheek.
“I suppose you could call it that. The bad news is that your evil king down there is using magick worse than just run-of-the-mill void magick.”
I tilted my head and narrowed my eyes, “What, like super-mega void magick? Meteors crashing down to the earth kinda stuff? Magick from an evil God seems like it should all just be labeled as bad. What is it that makes this so much worse?”
“It’s called the Curse of the Fallen,” Vita stepped in, “A particularly sinister incantation of void-type magick. It’s like a tangled web that rips apart the essence of one’s self once ensnared. A prison that enshrouds a soul and takes away its free will.”
Hikita shuddered as Vita began to detail out a slew of terrible things about this so-called curse.
Her thoughts spiraled, and we were awash in her emotions as she collapsed to the ground. She was recalling all sorts of dark and insidious actions she had been forced to watch herself commit.
I placed a hand on her shoulder and she flinched, snapping back to reality. Her expression darkened further and she wrapped her arms around her knees.
I shot Capricorn a look, “You said you can save her. I take it you have a way to remove the snare around her soul?”
“If nothing else I remain the highest authority on magick.” the Goddess flaunted, “In this realm the curse holds no power. I can simply remove its grasp on the poor girl and cast the foul perversion into the void where it belongs.”
With a graceful gesture, sigils formed around Hikita and Capricorn weaved an intricate spell. The Goddess’ trademark orange-hued chaos magick seeped into Hikita and disgusting globs of slimy purple ooze were expelled from her skin.
She and I both wretched at the same time.
The smell alone was enough to put someone out and I struggled to maintain composure.
Vita’s hands glowed a soft white and the nasty goo began to break down as her magick came into contact with it.
I felt Hikita’s body go limp and I gently laid her down. She was still breathing.
Probably passed out from the stress.
OR THE SMELL.
Capricorn’s spell had finished.
She slithered over to us, coiling her tail on the ground and lowering herself into a seated position.
“I imagine Gemini, the two-faced bastard he is, found amusement in such a macabre creation. That spell’s original purpose should have been limited to only the most terrible of mortal souls, to bind them in the depths of Aver’teria forever.”
I pursed my lips and looked down at Hikita, “The more I hear about them and Aver’teria, the less I understand the order of this world.”
----------------------------------------
Hikita—or rather, her soul—slept for weeks.
In a higher realm where hunger and fatigue didn’t exist, we were all a little perplexed by her ability to sleep.
Capricorn conjured a room for us in her…
What would you call this place? Her home? Sure, I’ll go with that.
I was inspecting Hikita’s status when she finally stirred, alleviating my concern that her soul had been lost or injured somehow.
Since she was technically dead, the window I’d pulled up listed her stats at zero and I was growing more concerned as time passed.
TARGET
STATISTICS
VALUES
HIKITA
The Azure Rose
HEALTH
STAMINA
MAGICKA
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
0 / 165
0 / 220
0 / 800
» ACTIVE EFFECT: BLESSINGS OF THE DIVINE
That active effect was one of the few things that gave me hope she’d be fine.
Hikita’s eyes opened and she gasped, turning over in the bed in a panic. She caught sight of me and a whirlwind of thoughts passed through her mind.
“Ah,” her voice was coarse, “It wasn’t a dream… I’m really dead after all.”
“Yeah, well, not for long.” I said nonchalantly.
“What do you—”
“I was just waiting for you to wake up,” I cut her off, “Mors had done all the prep work necessary, though I’m still hazy on this whole ‘borrowing souls’ business. I can resurrect you once they portal me back, assuming you want to.”
Hikita looked at me, confused.
I could hear all her thoughts, wondering why I’d want to bring her back, what would be the point, what would she do now that she’d been free of Renault’s curse. As she began to spiral down a hole related to being free from said curse, I snapped her attention back to me.
“You don’t have to come back if you don’t want to, but not even the two Goddesses know what would happen to your soul if we sent you on to Aver’teria right now. Pretty big chance you get lost in Tartarus forever, maybe suffering for eternity.”
“Oh.” she said faintly.
“I’d rather you don’t spend forever being tortured by an evil God or whatever awful things could happen while everything is in chaos. So, how about it? Won’t you join my band of weirdos and kill Renault with us?”
Hikita clenched her hands tightly in front of her and nodded vigorously, “Okay! I will.”
“Great!” I said with a grin, jumping up from my spot on the floor and kicked the door open, heading out into Capricorn’s hall.
The noise of shattering glass followed by a series of curses emanated from the room next door—Capricorn’s laboratory, as she called it.
“Why must you make so much noise!” The Goddess cried out. “I can’t focus with you here, you impudent godling.”
“Then send me back already.” I spat back down the hall.
“Send me back already, she says. As if I haven’t asked if you were ready three dozen times now!”
Capricorn appeared in the doorway with a face of severe annoyance. She closed the distance between us in an instant and her sharp nails pierced into my chest as she poked at me.
“If you say you aren’t ready one more time I’ll—”
Sounds of Hikita moving around in her room gave the Goddess pause.
“Ah. You must be ready to go then. Finally. Begone then.” Capricorn hissed, and with a wave of her hand I dropped down into a portal she’d cast at my feet.
I closed my eyes and braced myself for an impact—once that never came.
Cold air tickled my face.
I opened my eyes and found myself atop a tower overlooking the Renaultian district of Axio.
A dark storm was raging just ahead, fueled by giant purple crystal pillars.
“Oh, yeah.” I muttered to myself, “We were in the middle of some shit before I got caught up with Hikita.”
The clatter of metal behind me grabbed my attention and I turned to see all of my armor and other belongings that I’d had on me fall out of a tiny portal next to me.
My satchel had a small note pinned to it, wishing me luck, signed by Vita.
The noise drew the attention of the waystriders assigned to the battlements, and I was surrounded in moments.
“It’s just me,” I said with a sigh, tugging at the straps as I fit my armor on, “Somebody get a hold of Assault-One and tell him I’m back. I also need someone to escort me back down there.”
The Specter team assisted me with getting my armor fit nicely, but I felt a bit naked without my sword. Dáinsleif was with Julius—I assumed, doubting he’d let my weapon just lie on the ground when I was whisked away.
It took me a few minutes digging around my pack to find my communirune.
“Regal-One to Seeker-One.” I opened the channel and called Hanna.
“Oh, thank the Goddesses! Regal-One, this is Seeker-One, go ahead.”
“I’m back in the field, Specter-Seven is my escort. Coordinate a team to replace their position, if you could. I’ll call Assault-One and let him know I’m en route.”
“We copy, Regal-One. We’re glad you’re back.”
I felt the channel disconnect with Hanna and I opened a new one to Julius.
“Regal-One to Assault-One.”
There was a pause, though I felt that the channel had successfully opened.
“Go for Assault-One.”
“Gonna pretend you aren’t even fazed, huh?” I joked, “Is my departure site secured?”
“We’re having difficulties inspecting the crystals, but other than the volatile winds, there don’t appear to be any incoming forces.” Julius replied, his voice sounding calm and collected.
“Collect Hikita’s body for me and bring it to the tower west of where the inner Renaultian gatehouse was. Bring my knights with you as well.”
I got his acknowledgment and I began my descent with the Specter team at the lead.
The Renaultian fortifications were quite a bit different from the inner Maarin walls we’d passed through some time ago and the Vanixian structural style I was familiar with.
We winded through the maze that was the gatehouse’s west tower and eventually came out into a side alley where our forces had set up a forward base.
“Your Eminence!”
A flash of crimson armor darted straight towards me.
My Knight-Captain took off her helmet, revealing a distraught face framed awkwardly by her short blue hair clinging to her cheeks from sweat.
The rest of my knights came charging in after her.
“I’m back, Flik. Sorry for the slight panic.”
“We were certainly taken by surprise, Your Eminence. It was made clear there was some kind of divine intervention once we got a call from Waystrider Tomin, but I was still worried.”
Flik’s posture slumped and she placed her hands over her knees, “Haah! I’m so relieved.”
A small figure broke out from the line of knights and thumped into my body, wrapping small arms around my waist.
“Heya, kiddo.” I said as sweetly as I could, gently drawing my fingers through the mess of pink hair.
“I wasn’t worried.” Akari murmured quietly into my chest.
I let out a laugh, “Oh, yeah? You knew I was safe just like last time, huh?”
“Yeah.” she said, squeezing tighter.
I hugged her back, “Doesn’t make it any less scary though, right? Sorry for disappearing on you again.”
I turned Akari around and slowly waddled forward with her.
“Alright everyone scatter for a bit, I have some work to do. Where’s the Commander?”
I easily caught sight of Julius’ head above the crowd and made my way towards his location. He waved me over as I got close and I was led into a tent.
“She looks like shit.” he said offhandedly as we passed through the entryway.
I was going to question who he meant, when I saw Hikita lying on the floor. She didn’t look great.
Compared to her pristine appearance in the Coil that showed no signs of the battle we’d fought, her real body was torn apart. Blackened skin showed through her dark-metal breastplate where Atë’s magick pierced her in the final moments.
“Well,” I sighed, “No point in putting it off too long. Poor girl’s waiting on me with no company besides one extra cranky Goddess.”
“You’re bringing her back!?” Julius practically screamed.
“Yep.” I replied smugly, “Capricorn resolved the whole, ‘cursed to live a life as an assassin slave’, dealio while I was away.”
“After everything she’s done?”
Julius’ tone was caught somewhere between anger and sorrow.
“You mean, after everything she was forced to do.” I said flatly. “Renault killed Murphy. This girl was just caught up in the middle.”
Julius sighed, “Some of the knights aren’t going to like this.”
“What’s there not to like? She’s really a nice girl.” I said under my breath and began to draw in magicka for the resurrection spell.