Mageria Talsheir's Story

Mageria shook her head at Ella's entrance. While she appreciated the show of support of the Black Guard, the girl never did learn the art of subtlety. She was there in a simple outfit of wide pants and high collared shirt, all in black of course. With the scars on her face there wasn't much point in trying for anything approaching beauty, but she did think that she managed to carry herself well. Sham was there as well, in a long split overdress over a pair of slim pants. Both were outfits that they could fight in and both carried as many concealed weapons as the could fit under their cloths. Not that they expected anyone else here to be any different.

"Sham, see what you can find, all right?" Mageria murmured over her shoulder. Sham nodded and disappeared into the crowd. Mageria moved off to the side and wound her way through the crowd. She had seen Grim off in the corner and she snorted softly to herself as she walked up, leaning one shoulder against the wall near him.

"You hate parties. And dancing. And just about anything else that's going to happen here."

He didn’t look to Mageria immediately, though he had known she was there.

“When I was a boy, I was taught that Newhaven was the mightiest empire in all of Valcrest. That it was by the guidance of the gods that we were destined to rule these lands in an endless expanse of peace. That Newhaven was unassailable and by the power of its knights, no harm could ever come to its citizens. That was before the first invasion…

My parents… I don’t even remember their names. Two unmarked graves among the honored dead and yet Blake and my Salamanders paid for their sins. I was born in bloodshed and didn’t even know it till it tried to have me killed.

When I had grown some I became the squire to the White Knights. My swordsmanship was under way to become worthy of their ranks, the elite of Newhaven. Then my Enlightenment activated, and three up and coming knights were killed by a child. For the next four years I was kept under lock and key. Iron doors and chains that were bolted to the wall, as though I were some animal and not a child of fourteen years.

Thank the twins for Krander and an outsider that had recently become the Black Knight captain. For without their intervention I would have died in the pit. Krander, whom in his cleverness recognized my ailment as not being possession but an Enlightenment. The new captain even offered an opening among her ranks to take me in.”

There was a bittersweet smile that had found itself on the Blade. Remembering was a difficult thing, and reflecting even harder. There was much pain even since the beginning of their journey, but still he found a great love in his past. For he understood nothing better, sure there were no child-hood trips to fishing holes or cakes or even late nights spent with lovers to recall. For him there was little twinges of kindness so small that many would consider them pointless but he remembered, and cherished them.

“I was trained to kill Wolves, it is my purpose and the excuse used set me loose. Ironically for all their blood I’ve spilled they’re the only ones in all of Valcrest who don’t fear me. They’re proud and brave for assassins.

Now here I stand, and look where we are. I am not Black Knight, or Salamander, or even Raven. Just a man with a sword in the middle of an obvious trap waiting for who knows what. Hoping to make a difference in this damned place before there’s nothing left.”

He shifted uncomfortably, he had learned of many dangers over the past few days. The knowledge of the haywire Enlightenments came to the forefront. Annie had voiced her concerns, and while Grim was fortunate to have lasted this long, he understood it was a matter of time.

“It seems to be getting worse and spreading fast. There haven’t been many deaths yet, but I am safe to say that, however it manifests, it will eventually become fatal for those afflicted.”

“I think I came here for the fight, I wasn’t really sure until now… What about yourself? You owe nothing to Newhaven, and you’ve no personal stake that I know of with Blackpond. What would call you from the camp and put your life in jeopardy?"

"Don't stand in a blizzard and complain about the snow, Grim." Mageria's tone was sharp. "There's a place for you with the Ravens. There has always been a place for you, if you'd just accept it. You regret the lives you took? Look around. Nearly everybody in this room has waded through a river of blood to get here. It's who and what we are. Some of us have taken lives, some of us have ordered others to their deaths. Either drown in guilt or try and be worthy of your legacy"

"As for me being here?" Mageria shrugged. "It's who I am as well. The nobles of Newhaven were the ones who exiled me. The people still need my help. The Black have always stood for the people, not the nobility. I have the same duties I always have. It's just a bit more difficult these days. "

[Blackpond]

"The charge levied against you was imbalanced, everyone believes this. Yet you stay crouched in the middle of the forest hoping to protect the people? I thank the goddess the Wolves haven't grown bold in their hatred. I believe they could take the Nest with little protracted battle..."

Grim wasn't angry, in fact he was feeling more reflective then ever. Still the words were bitter, and just beneath his allusiveness a hint of venom tinted his speech. Holding back likely for many reasons, his respect, his honor, above all his friendship in Mageria. One of the few to ever treat him entirely human.

"Their act endangered Newhaven, by right martial action would have taken priority and the fools should have been forced to surrender or die. They know the laws as well as any knight, their actions regardless yours were wrong. We are all sworn to the highest calling, to say that you did anything less is heresy against everything we know!

If they cannot see this, they deserve death... I would gladly give this to them, but I restrain. I wait, hoping that you'll wake up to the call and answer these accusations the way they should have been all along. Newhaven is my home... "

The angst was balling up gathering speed and ebbing fourth. He didn't hate Mageria or even necessarily disappointed in her actions. The culmination of everything was pent up and breaking now in the person he trusted. Grim had always been a teetering emotional mess, and as his Enlightenment began its strange change, so too had he become imbalanced.

"This land is as you say seeping in blood, and they will not heed. I am their gift, their executioner. There are not many here whom could hope to take War. Fewer still that could fight both the Blade and the Berserker. If it meant peace I'd kill every living thing here in this room, and still I'd bemoan what I had to do for the sake of silence. I pity my hand, it's true... For I have no control over it. Something we do not share Mageria."

Once the words had mulled over and their taste had made his mouth bitter he shook from him the spell of brooding. Snapping attention and locking eyes with his friend. Strange that he found himself grinning and try as he might he couldn't help but laugh a little bit. Snickering just beneath the pretext of such serious and severe thoughts.

"Sorry Captain. Truth be told, it's been a trying few months and not just for me I know. I grow frustrated because I have no enemy to work against. At least not one willing to show itself, and I crave the thrill of doing something self-righteous once more. I am not yet ready to be a Raven, but that day may yet come. First I must find myself."

Mageria snorted a dry laugh. "It has indeed been a long couple of months, old friend." She tilted her head to the side and smiled mischievously. "Although if I've managed to fool you, that means that the nobles of Newhaven haven't a clue what's going on. As it should be." She leaned in closer. "Yes, they exiled me and mine. But what makes you think that I've actually left?" It was true, really. The number of Raven's in the Nest was about half of what it should be, if every Guard had followed her off into the wilderness. While the uninformed might think that the missing members had deserted her, they were actually still patrolling Newhaven. They rotated out every couple of weeks or so, in order to keep from being too noticeable. And they were getting a few recruits, young men and women who had heard who was in the area and come looking for training.

"I've even got a maid or two working for me. That's why I'm here, really. She wasn't able to stop anything, but she got word to me that Ella was on her way. What else could I do but show up?" She pushed away from the wall with one shoulder. "Now, I do believe I have some greetings to make, if you care to join me." Her eyes flashed a deep blue with her amusement. "We all know that this is going to go up in mass chaos soon or later. Why not enjoy it up till then?"

She wove her way through the crowd with ease, noting her silent amusement that for once people weren't scrabling to get out of her way. When the rest of the crowd happened to be know for being just as blood thirsty and psychotic, she was just a face in the crowd. She spotted her target as she swirled out of a dance and stepped up, for once her smile warm and welcoming.

"Hello, Ella. You're looking well."

The party was starting to bustle with excitement again. The whole threat of not being able to leave started to pass around as people began to realize that there was no reason to worry about it. Even the party goers who were known for their panic-happy tirades were calmed by the crowds which acted as their camomile. It was a feeling that put Ella at ease. Despite her careless disposition, she had been in fear of what would happen far before she even arrived at the party. It was probably the reason she tried to convince Dominic into his old, shiny black suit. It acted as a mental buffer to anyone who wanted to try anything dramatic. There was only one person in the entire party that she knew had a taste for the dramatic and she knew that it probably wouldn’t be long. Evin wasn’t going to be trusted to keep the peace for just one night when there were so many different important people in one room.
Regardless of what was going to happen, she had to keep her composure. As a figurehead of Newhaven, she had no other choice, no matter how she felt inside.
“This isn’t going to end well.” Conrad whispered in her ear as their dancing feet slowly marched around the dance floor with rhythmic precision. “We all knew it wasn’t going to go well from the start, but now that there is no escape, we may have to start creating a strategic barrier.”
“And ruin the flow of the party? I don’t want history to write about the coward Queen who, in times of trouble, hid herself behind a pathetic barricade. I only imagine that it will all be embellished into something terrible too. I wouldn’t enjoy that.” Ella retorted.
Conrad stopped dancing, grabbing Ella by both of her arms. “You really are a fool Ella. Who cares what people think about you in the history books? The only thing that matters is that your lineage carries on until you have a child?”
“You are just as foolish Conrad. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you actually care about my lineage—”
“That’s not fair!” Conrad interrupted.
Ella slipped her arm out of Conrad’s grip and gently placed her hand over his lips. “I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, as much as I think otherwise. What do I care if my lineage takes on this job? It isn’t as fun as it may look. I’d much rather be a maid or merchant. Something that doesn’t require me to know every issue in the damned city of Newahven.” She looked around her to see if anyone was listening in. “I love you Conrad, but I just can’t do it. No matter how much you care about my lineage .”
That was all she had to say. Conrad stopped talking and walked off. Ella felt bad for what she did. Just the way that Conrad walked off was enough to tell her that she had said things that maybe she shouldn’t have. A part of her died inside to see him so distraught, but she wasn’t going to let anything ruin this Ball for her. She couldn’t help but feel bad while looking towards Conrad, so she turned around and…
“Hello, Ella. You're looking well.”
“Shit!” Ella exclaimed. “Mageria. I don’t know why, but I’m surprised to see you. I mean, I expected you to be at the party—that wasn’t the surprise—it was just, just that you were right behind me.” Ella decided to stop talking as she felt she was just rambling on. Moving her hand to rub the back of her neck, she smiled and recomposed herself. “Well, uh, thanks! You look good yourself. I actually brought an armour set for you as well, but it’s in the carriage outside and… well we can’t get ourselves out there anymore. Besides enjoying what will probably be the last few hours of this false peace that has plagued the land for the past three years, what is it that you are after by attending this party?”

-----

Within the maze of partygoers, there was one man who found himself lost, not within the ball, but within his own mind. This man was so deep in his mind, that he actually didn’t even notice the whole display of fire that was going on right around him. Alexander’s great strategic mind was too deep into the works of how exactly he would want to take care of things around the ballroom. There were some very good strategic vantage points that would allow for him to take care of a considerable amount of people, even if he was to be outnumbered. There were so many opportunities, but knowing exactly how and where to execute them would be the issue. If he could somehow draw the entirety of his enemy onto the dance floor, he would be able to run up the main staircase for a perfect bottleneck. That wouldn’t be enough. He would need to find a way to create a barrier on the first flight of stairs and then find a way to get the second flight blocked off as well. Actually, maybe that wasn’t a good idea. It could be risky to give them a chance for a two pronged attack, as the second flight of stairs split off in two directions.
That gave Alexander a perfect idea. He would surround them from either side of the balcony, but again, that wouldn’t be enough. He had to factor in that they were all communicating, all the time without saying a word. All they had to do was think, and the others would know exactly what they were doing. From there, whenever it seemed like the power of the Conflict was getting to be too much, he would split them off into small groups. Communication through enlightenment would get muddled at that point. It would also give him a chance to take on Lamya alone. The abomination that she was to him. It was such a disappointment to know that he had created her. She was the biggest concern as she would, needless to say, screw everything up if she was kept alive.

When he was finished with his strategic thoughts, he went over to one of the tables with all the food and whatnot on it. He knocked on it a couple of times to see how thick it was, and then compared it to the width of the staircase. It would do. He grabbed a drink from the table and downed it. At this point, he didn’t care. He was going to do whatever he wanted with these last couple of hours.
Walking down around on the floor, he met eyes with the great beast himself. He walked over to the man, who towered over him with a big smile on his face. “Grim! I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Mageria snorted softly. "You gave your followers the slip. When they couldn't keep up, they got in contact with me and told me what was going on." She shrugged slightly. "I thought it sounded like something that you couldn't be talked out of, so I decided to come along. My people who were in Newhaven couldn't pull out without being obvious.... Oh, I'm sorry." Mageria widened her eyes innocently. "Did I manage to give people the idea that me and mine actually left Newhaven? Sorry about that." She laughed musically.

"And honestly, I don't think that anything is going to happen here. There's far too many people who are armed to the teeth. It'd be a blood bath. Far more likely that we'll be threatened or someone will try and rearrange our minds or someone will be drug off to a dark corner and someone else will copy them and take their place...... Of maybe that while all the major players are here, everything we hold dear is going to be threatened." She sighed deeply, her shoulders moving with the breath. "But I doubt anybody's going to try and kill most of us. It just wouldn't be appropriate."

Balls were not all they had been made out to be. There were loud eruptions and the occasional Oooh and Ahh over someone who entered with a name or rank, the low growl of people’s private conversations and of course the music and dancing. The room was a whirl of colorful dresses and men leading ladies across the floor to the beat of the music, and everyone seemed to be getting along perfectly well. Sweet, comforting, and yet boring as hell. Why Ella would even want to come to one of these was beyond her reasoning. Orders were orders and Ari had followed in secret for the time being to keep an eye on her. Ari stifled another yawn as she rose from her place on the wall, her ball gown swaying over legs as she made her way across the hall. It, like the one she had worn for her induction into the Pack, was also white. The dress was constricting to her hips before flaring out across a floral pattern that split the dress into two parts. The gap was pushed out by white chiffon, the edges of the silk cloth embroidered with silver threads that swirled out. White flowers wound into her hair and draped off her shoulder and a small silver circlet dipped between her brows in a twisted leaf pattern. Unlike most, Ari had also chosen small touch of paint to circle her eyes in a silver mask that was painted on and left her golden hair free to dip back along her waist. This wasn’t exactly her idea of a gown but if Sean had left it for her to wear, then she would. She figured that he would have perhaps the greatest expertise in these situations after all. The Wolf she had gotten it from was pretty adamant that she wear it too.

Absently she rubbed the palms of her hands, little pieces of earth still stuck to them. Ari had no clue that Ella was actually going to the ball and her little run had placed Ella out of eye sight and out of earshot. Ari did the only thing she could think of. It was back into the white wolf, running along the shadows and earth to get to Blackpond as fast as she could. Of course she had forgotten the gown so it was a miracle that one of the Wolves had been waiting outside of the palace gates to greet her with one. Surprisingly the guards had no questions when he escorted her inside, only to vanish once she was safely inside the ball room. Her hands and feet still ached from the mad sprint against time and somehow she was managing to catch her breath underneath the sweltering heat of the dress, and it didn’t help that she was trying to move freely about. The dress was big.

Her green eyes sparkled as she passed by and through the general chatter that came with the whole dancing thing, catching bits and pieces of it. Most of it was general and proper greetings, however, she occasionally stumbled upon the hushed, yet heated conversations of people who would have preferred to have nothing to do with other. These were the conversations that caught her ears, and sometimes even drew her eyes. Her body stopped, the graceful movement of her procession stopped as she caught sight of a women she knew. Dressed from head to toe in black, Ari was damn sure that it had been the woman who was there for the archery competition, who had set up. Ari licked her lips nervously, unable to pull her eyes from the women as she struggled to put a name to the face.

“Staring is rude,” a voice whispered behind her as a hand gently touched her elbow. Ari drew her gaze away to the face she had hoped to never see again. Kirsten smiled down at her gently; his black coat and pants gave his eyes a special glint as he took a small step back.

“Well, I will give you this, you do dress up nice,” he smirked as his eyes roamed up and down the length of the dress.

“Kirsten? What are you doing here?” she hissed quietly, trying to take a step back as well. He was having none of it and he pulled her forward to him as he took her arm forcefully and led her across the hall.

“I’ll explain later,” he growled, pulling her with him.

“I’ll scream.”

“Lower your voice Ari, people are staring.”

It wasn’t until then that she realized that his words rung true and she quietly let him lead her across the floor. Ari bit her lip nervously, her green eyes tingeing gold as Kirsten came to a stop and gently turned towards her.

“Do you trust me?”

“Trust you?!” Ari wanted to laugh, but all that came was a strangled squeak.

“Tonight I am neither your enemy nor a Hunter,” Kirsten soothed quietly, genuine concern flickering over his handsome features, his brow furrowing. Ari realized that he had taken her question as a sign of fear but before she could protest he again took her hand, his eyes burning red as a wall rose between them and the crowd. A moment later the wall was gone as well as the odd couple that had stood there only moments before. Only a few guests saw it fizzle, most of them coming to the conclusion that they really had had too much to drink that night and politely placed their glasses down.

Kirsten felt Ari shiver behind him the moment they vanished behind the tapestry. He couldn’t tell if it was because she hadn’t realized what was going on yet or if it was because he had dipped into her childhood memories to make the wall appear. It left most victims shaken; after all, he had to flip through her memories to locate the fear. It was an invasion, and according to Eric it was like having a dark presence make you watch the memories you hated most while flipping through them like cards. To him however, memories ran like a silver thread through his fingers; fragile when put through too much but strong and smooth though a gentle touch. He smiled as he couldn’t help but compare himself to a seamstress. Thread was easy to work with if you knew how, as were the memories and fears of people.

“Kirsten,” Ari whispered behind him in the dark.

“Hush, were almost there.”

He wasn’t lying, for a few moments later his hands closed onto a door knob and gave it a small twist. A door creaked open and he quickly pulled her inside. The Night Hunters rose, Eric being the first to move forward to pull the girl to her feet. Ari carefully stood, brushing down the wrinkles in the dress as she looked from Kirsten to Eric and then even to Lichen.

“Took you long enough,” Eric grinned, looking towards Kirsten with amusement as Kirsten laughed.

“She was so pretty I didn’t know what I was looking for. It was only the wolf in her threads that gave her away, that and the description of the dress” he motioned to the silver threads on the dress and he watched as she blushed, “Anyways, I do believe, however, that it’s time for you to change.”

“Wha—”

“The person who got you all this was not a Wolf, in fact Sean has no idea that you are here. It was one of the younger recruit’s ideas.”

Kirsten smiled softly as she shook her head gently, nodding toward Lichen who carefully laid a different dress on the table. Ari was resisting, he could see a bead of sweat on Eric’s forehead as he tried to work with the suspicion they placed there. It was very true that Sean did have no idea she was here, but the dress was from a Wolf. Finally she blinked and nodded. Her hands scooped up the dress and ran off to change out of it, leaving them alone as Kirsten grinned. It was no longer the smile of a concerned man, but the triumphant grin of a wolf who knows he’s got the rabbit trapped at the end of a ravine.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When next Ari found herself immersed in the swirl of colors she was hanging onto the arm of Eric. They were caught in the middle of the dance, her face washed fresh and her eyes bright with laughter as he spun her. The new dress moved like water across her skin and the corset let her breathe with ease. The white material fell loosely around her hips and flared as she spun, the golden accents of the string lacing across her chest drawing the gaze of a few people. Her golden hair was spiraled and braided atop her head, her slender neck and collarbone shimmering slightly as Eric pulled her from the dance floor, his own eyes bright as he bowed.

“That was truly magnificent,” he smiled, taking her hand into his before bending to press his lips to the back of it. Her cheeks were hot from dancing and her breath was short as he thanked her again and moved off. Ari smiled and moved to press her back against the coolness of the wall, her fingers moving to touch her heart. She became a wall flower again; content to watch the dancers as she caught a glimpse of Sean out on the floor dancing, Ella talking to the women she still couldn’t name, and she could have sworn that for a moment she had seen Essence out there too. Ari smiled and shook her head gently, obviously she needed air. Carefully pushing herself away from the wall, she began walking toward one of the many windows, turning her back on the whirl of color and organized confusion.

For Blackpond!!

Mageria didn't even think, upon hearing the cry and distinctive sound of a sword being freed of it's sheath. She simply grabbed Ella by one arm and all but flung her towards the nearest wall. Somethings, it seemed, simply couldn't be erased by a change of job titles. She didn't draw any of her weapons, but instead stood in a ready guard stance between the woman to whom she had given her loyalty and whatever danger it was.

"So Majesty, how's the Council been lately? Still upset or have they calmed down any?" She sounded almost bored, but she was almost hyper sensitive to what was going on around her.

When the strobbing effect started, Mageria had dropped back half a pace, closing her eyes to avoid being dazzled out of instinct.
"The Council's forgotten about me huh? Maybe I'll have to come back and visit then. Like, when we get out of this bloody mess?" She neatly kicked a nearby combatant in the gut when he swung towards them, taking him out of the fight without killing him. She was about to say something else when Dominic landed beside her and took up a flanking position. Evidently he also decided that they weren't safe enough where they were, and went to grab Ella and take her to a more secure position. At least that's what Mageria assumed was supposed to happen; however he made the mistake of grabbing her arm instead and pulling her away. Mageria actually restrained herself from gutting the man by the barest of margins and only because she knew who he was. She didn't even bother with responding when he finally realize his mistake, mostly because she had been occupied with twisting around to try and keep Ella in sight. Years of battlefields had served her well; that and knowing what crazy idea was most likely to slip into her liege's head next.

"This way." She grunted, slipping between the individual fighters like a fish through water. She was headed, not to where Ella had been, but to where she was most likely to be headed. Which would be the Alpha of the Wolfpack, Sean. And there the little lunatic was, headed towards the man and slipping a small dagger out of her sleeve.

"Majesty!" Mageria just knew she was really going to regret this. With one hand she reached out and firmly grabbed the back of Ella's gown, pulling her backwards and out of the way. "Not the time or the place!" Mageria spun slightly, placing herself between the two of them. Times like this she really missed her old armor. There was a roughly equal chance that either of them was going to do their best to gut her in the next instant.

It only took a moment for Ella to realize it, but something was pushing her backwards. She stumbled back, nearly tripping, but not quite. She felt a bit of pressure on her stomach as well. It was just her hand hitting her on the way back though. It knocked the wind out of her, but she caught it back quickly enough to realize who it was.
It seemed that Mageria had caught her just in time to save the life of the rat bastard Sean, a man who truly didn’t deserve it. The excuse that “it wasn’t the time or place” was just a load of horse manure. Ella and Mageria both knew it. The party had gone to shit already. It was only matter of time before the rest of the fight came to her and Sean and Mageria. She didn’t really care if she was the spark. It had to be done.
Ella looked up at Mageria. She was very close to her. They were so close that the two of them would have to take an effort to look at each other from anywhere below the bust. Ella attempted to let out a word, but nothing happened. Her look said it all, but when she couldn’t speak, it made her a little more panicky than anything. That’s when she noticed the pain. An agonizing pain that forced her to cringe and collapse to the floor. She grabbed at her stomach, where the pain was emanating and she caught another pain in her hand. Something had cut her when she tried to grab at the pain. It took less than a second to realize what had happened.
Letting out an earth-shattering scream, she bellowed in a manic inflection. Tears started falling from her face as she realized that she had no chance in hell at this point. There was so much blood on what was once a beautiful dress.
She finally managed to get a breath. “Why? Why couldn’t you just let me kill him? At least, when I was killed, my death would ha—”
Her voice was cut short by a single breath, expelling what was left of her sentence. Her skin quickly turned an ashen grey and she went limp. The Queen of Newhaven was dead.

Where did the Queens and Kings of old go when they died? Did they go to the same place as everyone else or did they go to a special place? They had to go somewhere. Whether they were more important than common folk or not was something that was beyond intellect or wisdom. If the children of gods went to Hell, it would probably dictate that Kings and Queens, people who were less important than the sons and daughters of the Twins, were also only deserving of a regular afterlife. What a droll thought, living a regular afterlife. The kind of life that should only be fit for a commoner. The things that the common man did were far from the grandeurs that a King and Queen took part in.
For one Royal, the common afterlife would be a handsome reward. The only logical thing was that Ella would as well live that droll afterlife. She would revert back to the world that she once knew, the common life: the one life she always wished on herself. The only difference was that now, it would be after her living life. For once, she would feel normal again, like the little orphan girl who imagined a magical world beyond her knowledge. The life of the Queen killed that for her. It would be great to be back.

Sean was a little torn between venting his frustrations on the surrounding hired thugs, or keeping his attention on the words exchanged between his new acquaintance, Ebony and the man she was with. He had done his research on the woman and her ‘business’, but there was a difference between knowing some things and hearing them first hand. Sean couldn’t quite understand how Dani could actually accept a contract from someone like Ebony, and the more he thought it through the more he felt the little bit of respect he had left for the woman start to rapidly decrease. The conversation managed to distract Sean into standing perfectly still, his eyes registering the movement around him as if politely awaiting a physical altercation to take place; it didn’t take a great amount of perception to understand that that’s what was about to happen there.

"Smart men...know how to treat a Lady...Maybe I’d play nice, if you got on your knees for me..."

There was a subtle, very subtle hint in Ess’ words, but it was more than enough of a hint for Sean to catch and as the woman finished speaking the assassin immediately got down on one knee, feeling something possibly very sharp pass through the spot where his head was just a split second ago; blood spatter hitting the ground moments after. Things went messy and violent after that, and while Sean was somewhat eager to take down a mercenary or two, he suddenly found himself freezing in place as he felt something brush against his shoulder as he got back on his feet, as if someone was walking past him; only he couldn’t see anyone there. In the small moment it took Sean’s mind to process what he already knew was happening, he saw a man go down, and then another, both seeming untouched except for one small dark little metal needle poking out from their necks; Sean wouldn’t have seen it if he wasn’t looking for it, his eyes instinctively searching for someone he knew wasn’t able to see. This was curious, to say the least. In his stupor Sean had absently moved to get out of the way of two men fighting, noting that one of them seemed a bit familiar, but he wasn’t quite sure where he’d seen the guy before.

Oddly enough; the lights going off were the thing that caused Sean to snap to attention as if he’d been startled awake. His hand reaching for a weapon instinctively as all the fire in the room went out at once.

“Uh, Sean, you still there? Would you be a gentleman and help a lady out? I can’t run in this thing..”

A flicker of violet light caught the Alpha’s eye as he turned to Ess with a slightly questioning look, unsure if he should laugh at or not at her request. He couldn’t help but feel amused. “I’m pretty sure helping a woman you barely know out of clothing in the dark is far from any definition of ‘gentleman’, but then... For the most part so am I.” He replied, not hiding his amusement at the situation. His attention wandered from the woman however, momentarily as the lights flickered back on, then off again, then on again, as if sudden bursts of flame were exploding all around the ballroom, Sean started looking around, examining the movement of the crowd as if expecting for something particular to happen; he had a bad feeling about this and it became clear why when he heard a familiar voice speak just behind his back, causing him to turn away from Essence, his grip tightening around the hilt of his still sheathed dagger. Struck a little by surprise by the last person he would expect to actually manage such a thing. The fact that Ella was actually attacking him there and then caused him to momentarily flinch, but not enough to actually catch him off guard.

What happened next was as unexpected as it was confusing. Sean expected Ella to attack him, but something held her back; or rather someone. Mageria didn’t seem to be too far behind the escaped Queen and pulled her back before she could reach the Alpha. It seem like that would be the end of it, but no... It wasn’t... Not for Sean anyway. Ella turned to face Mageria, and Sean couldn’t hear what she said, but he slowly realized what was happening; the woman’s face went pale. and it was noticeable even in the flickering lights, and then she went limp... It was so quick that Sean had to check that even though he had drawn his blade on an instinct; it was clear of any blood. The Queen hadn’t been touched by his blade, but Sean knew that wouldn’t matter. Funny how sometimes no matter how much you try to avoid something, if it’s meant to be, it’ll simply happen to you anyway.

For a moment, it could have been just a second or a full minute, Sean simply stood paralyzed but once that moment passed he looked at Mageria, slowly lifting his clean knife to where she could see it. “Been a pleasure, Miss Essence.” He spoke calmly, not bothering to waste the one moment he had for words on the former Black Knight in any way; sheathing his knife and taking the opportunity to make himself disappear the moment the lights flickered out again. He had to find a way back home as fast as possible. He wasn’t sure what had just happened there, but he was absolutely sure it was going to cause him trouble no matter what.

Mageria sighed wearily, every line of her body sagging in defeat. She had been struggling to hold the wound closed, but life had seeped out of her Queen in a red tide.
"You stupid girl. You stupid little idiot. You couldn't have laid a mark on him no matter what." Gently she reached up and closed Ella's eyes. She was a veteran of the battlefield and to the effects of those who survived one but never really left it. She could tell the difference between a wound that was inflicted purposefully and what it looked like when someone stabbed themselves. She knew what had happened and whether it had been an accident; or the hand of fate, reaching down to make the impossible happen, to bring Valcrest to the brink of destruction, she didn't know. But she knew what was going to happen.

They were surrounded in a strangely still moment, a bubble of serenity in the chaos. Slowly, Mageria looked up at Essence, her eyes shading from a verdant green to empty black. She was very quiet, holding everything that she was feeling inside. Once again, a monarch of Newhaven was dead and once again the Wolfpack would be blamed. Once again, it would be for the wrong reason. And she didn't think that she could stop it this time.

"Valcrest will burn.......And there is nothing we can do to stop it."

People were running in all directions, as hypnotizing bursts of flame gave Essence mere glimpses of faces and shadows; Tala was lost trailing what Ess caught as Ebony’s salt and pepper hair disappearing in the strobing reality, almost catching fire. Ess couldn’t help but laugh, tearing jagged rips of her gown to just above her knees. Then, instead of following immediately after Ebony and Joffrey, Ess froze. Her jaw fell in utter awe, staring, at what felt like was slowly dawning on her, the Queen falling lifeless to the floor. Holding her blade at her side, she didn’t look away but acknowledged Sean’s departure with a nod. “What....the hell..just happened..?” She breathed, moving to leave because her mind was screaming to pursue Ebony while at the same time her eyes locked upon Mageria and she couldn’t move. Essence wouldn’t just walk away now, yet her gaze strayed past the Captain and found herself being stared at by the boy who had introduced himself as Darren except now he was wearing a hat. Tipping his hat he signaled a silent departure, quicking looking from where he last saw the wolf run off to and back at Essence. It was as if the boy knew what Ess was thinking, “I’m on it..” Darren grunted, before running off after Tala, Ess still wearing a dumbfounded look on her face.

"Valcrest will burn.......And there is nothing we can do to stop it."

Essence kneeled down beside the Captain, lightly resting a hand upon her shoulder a bit hesitantly. “I don’t understand..” She whispered to Mageria. “...There has to be something we can do...I mean you saw what happened, right?” Ess cleared her throat, standing once again, her blade hovering at her hip in a subtle defensive stance. “Captain...we need to find a way out of this room...but not before I lose that haggard bitch...not again..” Still Ess didn’t move, as if waiting for permission to leave the Captain’s side while at the same time she most definitely didn’t trust to leave. Everything was chaotic but things were going to crumble and cascade into insanity in the next few seconds.

Darren had been weaving in and out of the crowd, ducking random bursts of flame which made it fairly difficult to keep track of the silver wolf and the prey it was pursuing. The strobing light paused out of sorts and it was dark for the better part of a minute before a violet, blinding array of light suddenly came into a view in what Darren could only recognize as the sun flying towards him. To avoid the ball of fire, Darren dove towards the floor, unintentionally taking down a figure in white, who had been beside him unexpectedly. Not to say there wasn’t people all around, but most were either engaged in some sort of conflict or making their way towards the walls and blocked exits in vain. The dark haired boy opened his baby blue eyes, straining through muttered apologies as he unshielded the form from himself, rolling to his side. The first thing Daren saw was an attractive, young lady with jet black hair and adoring brown eyes, and for a moment he forgot the chaos around him and simply stared at her as if there was nothing else in room. His eyes flashed an indigo, purple, several images flashed quickly through his mind that he was ignoring mostly in an attempt to clear his thoughts. “I’m sorry-” Darren gasped, feeling something or someone grip him by the collar and hoist him into the air before he could finish his sentence, an angry glare penetrating his own confused stare. Darren held up his hands defensively, as he rushed to catch his breath. “Whoa...least let me catch...my breath before the beautiful lady takes it away again...Guy...wait..you don’t understand..” He tried to explain, one eye still on the woman in white, feeling a bit ashamed to have not even helped her off the floor. “Ah..is this your boyfriend, Miss?”

Silently, Sham materialized at the side of her Captain. She had seen most of what had happened from a perch high up nearby and had spent a bitter few moments worming her way through the crowd. She didn't know the Queen well enough to feel the grief that Mageria was obviously battling, but she felt a kind of frozen pain none the less. She looked up at Essence. "Go," she whispered. "If it's that important, just.... go while you can." She knelt down as well, looking at the wound. An accident. A stupid stupid accident. "Captain," she reached out and shook Mageria's shoulder. "We need to go. Now." Mageria didn't move. Taking a deep breath, Sham reached out and slapped the woman smartly across the face.

Mageria's head snapped up and she felt the frozen grief holding her start to crack. "Aye," she whispered. "It's time and past to leave this place." She brushed her fingers over the weapons she had never had a chance to draw. She shifted slightly and scooped up Ella's body, noting absently that it seemed lighter than it should. She stood up, easily bearing her weight. For an instant she felt a wild storm of grief and anger that made the room flash red, and all unwilling a wild howl of anger broke from her lips; one that rang from the very rafters of the ceiling. She choked it down in the next instant, locking everything down into an icy silence. She walked, bearing her Queen's body, toward the nearest side room, searching for shelter from the madness that was the ball room. She walked ahead of her Captain, moving people from their way.

“Annie Turner... And who might you be?”

The noise around Darren dissipated briefly, his mind focusing on the woman’s voice, baby blues flashing curiously as he noted the way her shoulders bounced when she giggled. A small smile took over his trance, bowing low in return while removing his hat and holding it tight against his chest. His eyes never left her as he spoke, his free hand gently taking her’s and turning it so that his lips lightly grazed the top of her knuckles. “..Darren. Darren, Hearst..Miss Annie.” He whispered, his deep blues reflecting a purple hue that faded just as quickly as it appeared when he squinted, pushing back against a dull pain between his eyes. Instead of releasing her hand immediately when he felt his enlightenment take hold and mere flashes clouded his vision, he gave a slight squeeze, his fingertips lightly massaging the palm of her hand. “Turner?” Darren chuckled, politely releasing the woman’s hand. “Why do I have the feeling I’ve already met one of your relatives..” He stated matter of factly, more so than as a question.

Darren’s amusement faded, taking on a somewhat sympathetic expression as Annie dark locs faded into view. Tilting his head forward he raised his hat, letting his longer strands hide away beneath the leather interior, slowly standing up straight once again. “...I’m so sorry...” He began, adjusting his hat. “..She was a very lovely woman...You look like her..” Darren cleared his throat a bit awkwardly, quirking a brow as something crossed his mind suddenly. “..So...you’re into puzzles?” He muttered, hinting more at the images that had just flooded his mind. It wasn’t enough to make a lot of sense out of but he saw images of an older, similar version of the young lady who was now in focus before him. He had heard her name whispered within the camp and upon hearing the girl’s name he made the simple connection. Then, there was the flutter of pages covered in odd groupings of numbers that seemed to go on forever. It reminded Darren somewhat of his father’s journal but at the same time it couldn’t have been more different. Needless to say, it was intriguing and it moved him to ask something else but he didn’t even get to open his mouth when he heard a sharp echo of a wounded animal, causing chills to shake down his spine. Darren stepped back, sighing some as his distraction left him and was brought back to his original purpose. “Apologies, I had a prior...engagement...” He winked, tipping his hat and without another word he trotted off in pursuit of the grey-haired hag and the wolf that followed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Go," she whispered. "If it's that important, just.... go while you can."

Essence froze, staring at Mageria in silence, lips parting to speak but words never finding life through her dizzy array of thoughts. Nodding absently to Sham as if she heard her words, Ess yet remained kneeled as she watched the woman pick up what was now only a shell of the Queen. It wasn’t the personal pain of loss that gripped hold of her insides, but of the ideals and reminders of what the Captain must now be feeling; it was in her eyes. An icy breath of death which mocked those left untouched, yet again and helpless to prevent what happened in mere seconds before their eyes. In that moment, Essence felt torn. It was something she normally would not be so conflicted with; the pursuit and killing of Ebony. That, was something she long desired ever since it was realized that woman still drew breath and she had never let anything hold her back to any similar desires before, but now things were changing.

‘There’s nothing to be done now..’ Essence told herself, trying to ease the guilt she felt as the Captain moved away in a grievance, hypnotizing state. She knew there wasn’t much to be said, at least not now. Yet, she felt like there had to be SOMETHING she could do, and perhaps continuing her pursuit of Ebony was all she was able to do at the moment. It wasn’t just about her own personal vengeance and her self righteous feeling of justice. Ebony had wronged many, many people all in the name of money and her illusion of power. Essence had spent a good portion of her young life, fueling that illusion, like a dog begging for scraps but too afraid to reach out for them. That had been part of her control over Ess which she had believed to have been shattered long ago, yet remanence of past pains still thrived through her veins. That anger, as if only just discovered in that exact second, began to trickle down in discreet, reddish streaks across her face as she pushed herself to her feet and slipped fluid and wispful like, as a wraith, her features shifting in a confusing blur of those she passed so that her ghost-like form was faceless for a moment. Essence knew she had no control over the life that was lost right before her eyes, but she knew she would have control over the life that still mocked her from across the room.

Taking advantage of the shrill screams of confusion and fear amidst the teasing of light, Ess slipped through the occasional darkness, straining to hear the distant growls and barks of her furry friend who had not hesitated to corner Ebony and Joffrey, pinning them against what use to be a window, now a melted barricade that slightly resembled a tombstone. ‘How fitting.’ Joffrey was growing weak, his movements stiffening as the paralysis began to take hold but not quick enough it seemed. Ess came upon the two, Tala in mid lunge for the man’s throat; Ebony too scared to move. Essence wasn’t even able to shout out for the wolf to be still when a blade sliced through the air and cut the animal along where her shoulder connected with the scruff of her neck, silver fur spotted with crimson. The wounded yelp of the creature was drowned out by an angry scream which Ess didn’t realize was coming from herself, until Joffrey looked upon her in surprise, that pause long enough for Tala to rip off his bladed hand.

Holding out her own blade, not taking her eyes off of Ebony, Ess’ free hand inspected the wound upon her wolf as Tala turned to drop the emaciated limb at her feet as if it were a gift. The gesture caused her to smile, barely noticing how Joffrey screamed like an infant longing for milk. He wasn’t going anywhere now, Tala able enough to stand guard as Ess reached down for the hand and playfully smacked the man hard across the face with it before whirling it in Ebony’s direction, the woman barely dodging the hand. Ess’ features were still once again, a manic glow flickering in her eyes accompanied by a series of giggles.She hit the woman with the hilt of her dagger again and again, causing her to fall upon her knees so that she was now at blade level, staring up at Ess in a wild panic.

“You can’t kill me, Pigeon! If you do, you’ll never know about your son...or your brother...I know where he is, you know..You NEED me...” Ebony stumbled over her own words with a hint of desperation mixed with that illusion of power that still hung about her. It would have been somewhat amusing if not for the Bitch’s words that simply caused Ess to press the blade harder against her throat. It baffled her to see how delusional the woman was up to her very end. As if considering what the woman had to say, Ess loosened her grip and took a step backwards.

“Your words, are poison....I ‘NEED’ you...like I need a hole in the head...” Ess snarled, her leg snapping outward to kick the woman onto her back, falling forward to pin her upon the ground.

“You’ll never be anything more than a toy..a plaything! It’s all you know! But if you list-” Ebony’s words were suddenly cut short by a chorus of angry screams as Essence was overtaken by a blood frenzy, her dagger stabbing the woman in the chest, neck, and empty eye socket over and over until it painted her white skin in the woman’s blood.

“I BELONG TO NO ONE!” She bellowed, screaming insults and curses, refusing to acknowledge anything further that wretched woman had to say. “I AM NO ONE’S TOY!” Essence didn’t even hear the voice behind her that had actually yelled out an objection to the act, disappointment at not hearing what the pile of flesh beneath her knees, had to say. “Lies...lies...all you ever said were lies...I can find out the truth WITHOUT YOU! Stupid bitch...there...is no...coming back....from this...” She continued to rant, thrusting the dagger into flesh each time she spoke. Her anger wasn’t relenting. There was no comforting release as she witnessed the body go limp, her blood spilling across the floor, quickly thickening against the chill. Her pain and scars would never leave her but there was a certain amount of satisfaction knowing there was one less child abusing, witch in Valcrest. Still, it wasn’t enough to calm her rage and even in the woman’s death, Ess wouldn’t stop. She couldn’t. It was as if she were temporarily possessed by one of her inner demons from her drawings; never sating the hunger that was fueling her need for blood.

Darren could have cared less for the blond who had passed out upon the floor from a gruesome injury, leaving him with a ragged stump where his hand should have been. His attention upon the wolf who was now sitting on her haunches, appearing as if she were trying not to lie down in the small puddle of blood slowly forming at her side. He immediately noticed the wound and after a few seconds decided it wasn’t life threatening but it didn’t look like it felt too good at all. Tala rumbled with a defensive growl, eyeing Darren, suspiciously sniffing in his direction. Very carefully in slow, calculated movements, he kneeled down a few feet away from Tala, causing the wolf to snarl and spit. Darren froze, “...It’s okay, girl...” He whispered, hesitating before he inched and stretched his fingers outwards. Again, she showed her teeth but no noise accompanied the gesture this time. Both the wolf and Darren’s attention were drawn away from one another when Essence screamed and began brutally stabbing at Ebony a few feet away. If Darren had given himself time to think on it, he wouldn’t of objected as much as he did as he found himself yelling for the woman to stop. A look of defeat slowly turned into a mix of shock and awe when he saw how the woman pressed on, noting she must have pierced Ebony more than a couple dozen times now and soon he lost track. For the first time ever, he hesitated to speak to a woman, somewhat afraid of the crazed look in her eye as she kept pace, not growing tired in the slightest as the blood splattered and dripped along her face.

Mageria found an unnoticed corner of the ballroom, out of the fighting and containing a small banquet table. Sham cleared it with a sweep of one arm and Mageria gently laid out the body of her Queen, reaching down to straighten a lock of hair. Everything seemed to be very far away and she felt so very....cold. She could hear and see everything with a clarity that she had never achieved before, although it all seemed to be very far away. It was as if she was freezing from the outside in, icy shards reaching inwards to dull the pain. In a few minutes, she didn't feel anything at all.


Just..... Cold.


Sham shivered slightly as she watched her Captain. She could see Mageria's eyes slowly getting darker, until they were an unrelieved black, dark as sorrow and twice as bleak. It was as if the woman in front of her had been replaced by a living statue carved of ice and she half expected front to form on her as she breathed. She had know the Captain for all of her adult life and she still found herself taking a step backwards.

Essence had set her sights on the Captain, all noise drowning in and out around her as she passed nonchalantly by chaotic expressions and screams. Her focus was locked on Mageria as she laid the Queen down upon a table, taking note how stiff the Captain appeared, the woman’s eyes hardening. Ess didn’t know exactly what was hidden behind the darkness shaping the details, lining Mageria’s face, but it still caused her to hesitate from taking another step.

“Miss Essence....We meet again!”

Ess’ view was cut off and blocked by a familiar figure who appeared to sway slightly as he came to a stop. She smiled, giving a playful curtsy and exaggerating the flare of her arms as she did so, still obviously on a high from the excitement only minutes earlier. “Good Evening again to you, Handsome.” Glancing down at her attire she shrugged at the comment of less clothing. “I suspect this wouldn’t be the best weather to run around like this.” When Dastan draped his cloak across her shoulders, her fingers reached for the seams to pull tight around her neck, brushing warmly across the man’s arm. She relaxed her stance a moment, not expecting the gesture and looked back over her shoulder to acknowledge Darren was still with her. “Oh, the Kid? Common enemies tend to bring strangers together, it seems..” Ess smirked at Ali’s comment on Tala ‘not trusting Ali to keep an eye on Ess’ and sighed. “I think she had an agenda all her own. I actually feel like I am the one having to keep an eye on her...” Bending down the woman inspected the animals wound again, noting how the blood was already soaking through the rag and decided that being on her feet was only going to agitate the wound further. Quietly she slipped her arms beneath the wolf, careful to cradle her and not put pressure along her slightly swollen belly, the cloak encasing both of them as she lifted the wolf to her and stood back on her feet. Tala whined in protest but was silenced as Ess shot her a glare.

“Name is Darren....” The boy said matter of factly, facing Ali in his response but also speaking towards Ess. He bowed his head politely. “Not “Kid.” Nice to meet you Ali finally. Wandering around in camp, surprisingly we hadn’t run into one another yet..”

Ess quirked a brow at Darren. “You’re from camp?”

“Uh...well I kind of arrived recently with friends...speaking of Irvin..” He muttered, glancing around the room searching for his friend, yet his focus was still on the company before him. “So, Miss Essence is it? I could give you a hand...with Tala there...”

Ess was already in motion, back on the path towards the Captain, “It’s fine. She may be a bit more bitey with the wound and all...It’s best I carry her. Besides, I feel it’s time to say our farewells and thank our Host for such an extravagant event..” Her tone was light and airy, contradicting to the malicious grin spreading from ear to ear. Essence quieted as she approached the Captain, pausing a few feet away to not crowd the woman and waited until she was sure Mageria took notice of her presence. For a moment she thought she caught a flicker of light behind the Captain’s dark eyes. Ess let her smile fade and stood tall, still holding Tala in her arms.

“Your orders, Captain?”

The death of a Queen or King once stood for something. It was the end of an era. The end of an era of treachery, pain, agony was the ones most remembered. Then there were the golden eras of joy, wealth and posterity. The least common of the eras remembered were those consisting of normalcy. That was mostly what Ella would be forgotten for. No matter where she did end up going after death, there were no real changes made under her rule. Most scholars would probably say that her ideology was that if she did nothing to change the world, she could do nothing to screw it up. The real problem was inexperience. It was as if she was placed in the middle of a chess game without knowing the mechanics of the pieces. The relations between nobles, the country and their cities were like these mechanics. This was the reality of being someone who didn’t grow up in the environment that would have allowed her to learn these mechanics. It wasn’t her fault. If anything, it was her mother and father for creating these circumstances for her. How were they supposed to know what was to become of their daughter in the years to come. It was a simple mitigation—maybe an evasion.
“Wake up girly!”
Ella tried to open her eyes to see where the voice was coming from. At first, with a calm temperament, but quickly it changed to a franticly fruitless effort. She then tried to move her arms to see what was wrong with her eyes. Those weren’t working either. In fact, it was almost as if she didn’t even have any arms. This strange and surreal feeling followed through across her entire body… or lack thereof a body. Laughing echoed through the corridors of open space.
“Death couldn’t even experience this without killing herself. It wasn’t until Death’s son searched for immortality that this experience could be documented. When I heard about him showing up a couple years back at the siege of Newhaven, I decided that I could give it a try. From what I can tell, it seems like the process worked out pretty well.”
“What in the Hell…” Ella exclaimed.
“No, not hell. You know, it is surprising how well Death’s son was able to describe this place. ‘It is the void in which voids are created. Living within this void, one discovers that which not even the sprit can be found. Rather, it is the birthplace of empirical logic as we know it. It creates the supernatural in which the natural comes from. True darkness only lightens up when the spirit interferes…’ What a brilliant place.”
Ella didn’t understand what this voice was saying, all she could think was “Who are you?”
Somehow, Ella could tell that the voice was smiling. “I’m Lazurus, the new owner of your body. Only reason you’re here is because of the other life you possess. That marking on your hand was supposed to do it, but I messed that one up. Good thing too, because I don’t think I’d be here right now if I you didn’t have that extra life.”
“Extra life? What is this? Why do you seek immortality?”
“I don’t seek immortality,” Lazurus quickly said. “Immortality comes at a price. You lose your humanity when you seek immortality, much like the son of Death did. He was described as a demon in the last 200 years of his life. What I seek is much simpler. I just seek a life long enough to break down the constructs of society enough for anarchy to take over. How much easier could that be than doing so it as Queen?”
There was a moment where Ella didn’t know how to feel about this, but quickly, she started to figure it all out. Ella tried to be mad, but she couldn’t even do that. It was just like when she tried to move her hand; it was as if the emotion didn’t exist.
“Ah! Relax there Girly. Good to take note that you may have a hot temper. Now tell me more or face an eternity of excruciating pain.” Ella didn’t know where it came from, but a pain rang through her non-existent body as if she was being torn apart. It was worse than the pain she felt when she’d stabbed herself. There was no way that she was going to ever deal with that pain for the rest of her life… or whatever exactly she was feeling.
“Ok, I’ll tell you anything you want to know about me.” Ella screamed in a frantic huff.
She spoke for what felt like an eternity about herself. Any question that Lazurus had, she would answer. He waited until he got a profile big enough to be able to properly portray Ella. To her, this was a bigger defeat than her death was. Unable to emote about it, she went immediately to a thought that had been lingering on since she ‘woke up’. “What do you mean by my extra life?” She asked, but it seemed like Lazurus was gone.

The first thing that could have been noticed was that Ella’s wound had disappeared. The only thing that remained as a reminder was a scar. A scar right around where her pancreas would meet her stomach, just below her ribs. It was a pretty damaging spot to have a cut as it probably hit right through her renal artery. This would have been what caused her to bleed out so fast.
The next indicator was that her eyes started to flicker. It could be seen that her eyes were moving underneath her eyelids, but it grew into a full flutter of the eyelids, at which point, despite being slightly stiff, Ella rolled out of the arms of the person holding her and onto the floor. She slowly got onto her feet, ignoring any reaction she might have got from those around her. It was only moments after she got up that she looked at who was holding her. Mageria… We are going to have a problem with this. Lazurus thought to himself.
You sure are. Ella replied.

-----

To Rita, the whole night had become exactly what she pictured it would be. Although she didn’t have that good of a sense of time, she would guess that by this time, it was probably the earlier hours in the morning. If the sun hadn’t already risen, it would be rising in the next few hours.
For her, she wanted this whole thing to end. Maybe Lamya was telling the truth and maybe this guy she was fighting was actually who she said he was. Maybe this would be the beginning of a long needed reformation of Blackpond. The end of this fight may not only mark the end of a really shitty party, but it could also possibly mark the end of everything she was fighting to end. The idea was just too alluring to let it go.
Rita blocked, parried and dodged her way through a defensive technique that she believed would work to her advantage. She was going to tire out the man, who looked really warn out to begin with. He was a hardened fighter, but he couldn’t fight forever. It was easier to take the defensive than to be the aggressor. This technique didn’t seem to work this this man though. There was an issue here. An important detail in this man’s fighting style that seemed uncharacteristic of someone who looked as beat up as he did. He seemed to hesitate, which meant that he wasn’t using up his energy. Was that what he wanted her to think, that he was hesitating? It was likely that he was waiting for her to realize that and then try to take advantage of that.
In a book supposedly written by War, it said that war was deceptive.
Rita decided to take the risk. She went on the aggressive and right away, she knew that there wasn’t any deception. Two quick blows knocked him back with an unexpected surprise flowing over his face. She then cut his sword arm. He dropped his sword, but without hesitation, he tackled her. It was a gut reaction. He was on top of her and her sword slid across the floor. She didn’t have anything to defend herself but her body. She tried to throw a punch. It was ineffective as he just blocked it with his good arm and then placed his bad arm over her neck, pushing down with his bodyweight and blocking her windpipe. There was nothing she could do but flail her arms for a few seconds. It took all the energy that she had to focus and relax enough to flip Alexander off him. As she tried to get up, he grabbed at her ankle and she fell back on the floor, head smacking against the floor with an audible crack.
The world turned completely black for a moment. She could see nothing and there was a loud ringing in her ear, she even felt as though there was a lack of any smell. Quickly, her sight began to come back, but it was grey. When things were clear enough, she noticed that Alexander was on top of her again. This time, there was a dagger staring her right in the eyes. Despite her inability to think strait, her instinct to live kicked in. She grabbed onto his wrist as the dagger dropped down. With what strength she had remaining she tried her best to avoid the tip from cutting through her already damaged head.
The man shook his head and moved his mouth, but only an obscured mumble could be heard through the ringing. Her sight cleared up a little more as she started winning the fight for her life. Color started coming back and she started to feel the blood running out of her head from where she hit the floor so hard.
Finally, it was far enough away that she could expend energy somewhere else and not be afraid of losing control of this knife fight. She used her knee to kick into his crotch. It was enough to make the man keel over and drop the dagger. Rita grabbed the dagger and finished the job. One quick stab to the heart and then another and another. All until she was conscious enough to realize what she was doing.
It all suddenly started to feel like an outer body experience. As she was overlooking the battlefield and able to see things that she hadn’t seen before.
She then realized what she was actually seeing. For the entire time she had fought with Alexander from the moment that he knocked her to the ground and her head hit the floor until then, she was looking at the battle as if she was a third person. It was surprising to her that she actually missed the fact that she was seeing things from a different angle, but in the moment of a battle, any the distracted are the dead. Especially when it comes to such a struggle to hold onto one’s life.
Rita took a moment to watch herself from the outside. She could see the cut on her forehead. It looked pretty bad. Then she moved to look down at herself and Alexander from above. She wasn’t done her job yet. Rita would be able to examine this new point of view at a different time.
She looked down as she waded through the personal belongings of Alexander’s coat. In his coat pocket, there was a book. She moved her vision in to focus purely on the book. It took her a moment to adjust to this new view. She could no longer see herself, only her hands. Learning how to move parts of her body which she is not even connected to would be a challenge, especially when she couldn’t see her body. She fumbled with the book until she looked at the final page with writing in it. It was a journal. In the final page, it was Alexander’s last account. She read the entirety of that page to see exactly what his motives were. By the end, she made the shocking realization.
Her view moved out so she could no longer see the words on the pages. She was looking at herself. Her eyes whited out as if she were a drowned body. In that moment, looking at herself, she could describe her exact emotion, even if she was a complete outside observer. In one word, she would call it droopy. Every single wrinkle and line seemed to want to fall from her face in this unbelievable sadness. Then, behind her, she caught Lamya’s gaze and that frown tensed up into a scowl.
She moved her view so that she would get the perfect view of what she was about to do and then she turned around. “You bitch!” She yelled loud enough for the entire ballroom to hear her. She picked up her sword and walked right up to her. She didn’t get close enough to be able to use the sword on her, but she got close enough to say, “you knew,” without anyone hearing.
“What of it?” Lamya asked.
“You are so fucking lucky. You wasted my energy from that fight. You fucking knew.”
Rita just turned around, this time sword pointing directly at her intendie. Heyden. Pointing it directly at his throat, he could tell that his moments were numbered. A woman in her state was not to be reasoned with. She would do what she wanted. “Let me out!” She said.
“Bevel can do it for you m’lady.”
“Bevel, let me out!” She yelled again, running up to him and pointing the sword at his throat.
He didn’t say anything to her. He just smiled as if to say, “as you wish,” and then his eyes brightened. A swift gust of wind appeared out of nowhere. Quickly the pressure in the room grew and everything felt heavy. In the next moment, his eyes stopped, but the pressure continued, then with a whooshing noise, the high pressure air formed in a single point and literally cut through the ice and then through the metal door. It was an incredible sight. The natural light finally let itself into the room. The sun was beginning to rise.
Rita’s expression didn’t change in any of this time. It didn’t even falter as she plunged the blade slowly into Bevel’s windpipe. It was only enough that he would eventually choke to death. It was going to be slow and painful. None of the Conflict moved against her as she walked out the castle doors.

-----

Lamya let out a loud yell to the cheering crowd as they all walked out the door. “Be sure to give the guards at the doors your weapons before leaving. Valcrest needs protecting after all.”

-----

Simon had given up on the fighting that had been going on. Once Rita got involved, the use of the Conflict was no longer really needed. What concerned Simon more was the whereabouts of Luckas and Rick. First off, Rick wasn’t to be trusted around anyone, but neither was Luckas, from the little he was able to gather from him. With the situation in the room dying down as the doors opened to let people out, there was a quick calming of everyone’s mind in the room. Tension that was once there was gone… or fleeing the scene and it allowed Simon to work harder on the things that needed work.
Luckas was there somewhere. If he could concentrate enough, he would be able to find him through reading the outer limits of his mind. With Rick, it wouldn’t be that easy. With the change in his patterns, he would have to rediscover the things that made Rick’s mind tick. It was an arduous task, but one that needed doing. If he could actually see where Rick was in the room, it might make things easier.
Where is Rick? Simon asked through the channels for the Conflict. There was no response.
Frustrated, Rick stepped out towards the door himself. There was only going to be one way to find Rick, and that was to personally confront him where ever he found him. The sooner, the better because he was practically useless in the frame of mind that he was in at the moment. Simon needed to catch Rick before someone else, such as Luckas, caught him so he could do his best to allow Rick as normal a life as he could possibly give him with his corrective mind work.
Let’s see all the good we accomplished today. Lamya’s voice suddenly stirred to meet Simon’s thoughts.
The commander is gone, Rick’s gone insane, Ella’s dead, relations with the Wolfpack have probably been sullied and Rita has left. Another of the Conflict said.
And what of Lazurus? Another bellowed.
There was a moment of silence. No one was sure if Lazurus had managed to do his job, but then, an unexpected voice came through. What the hell is going on?
As you can hear, Lazurus’ voice echoed in the hollowness of Simon’s mind, with the voice of Ella speaking to you, I’ve managed to plant the seed.
Good. Now we have a choice that must be made. Lamya said.
Before the conversation could go on any further, Simon spoke up. What of Rick? Where has he gone?
That isn’t priority at this moment Simon. We are more concerned about our next target. Lamya replied.
Mageria or Crystal? Vorso spoke up, knowing that the job would be appointed to him and his team. Not sure. Both of them could get in the way of our accomplishing what needs accomplishing. I’ll sit on it for a couple of months. Let things pan out and see where things take me.
Simon scoffed, as no one else seems to care, I’ll be after Rick. Think of it as an attempt to preserve the chain of command.
The chain of— Vorso said before Simon cut all his communications off with the Conflict. This would be the last time that they would use Simon’s form of communication for a while.

-----

“The chain of command?” Vorso slyly remarked under his breath.
Vorso grabbed a glass from the table that hadn’t been ruined by the fighting. He took a sip from the glass so that there was exactly a third of the drink as there was in the glass before. He placed it back onto the table and then started walking off into the heart of the castle.
He knew that there was some truth to what Simon had just said. The Conflict’s chain of command was in shambles. Lamya was only first in command by title as she really did nothing that could be described as organized. This left Rick in charge of organizing things for the most part. Since he’d gone insane, he could no longer attend to his duties the way he was supposed to. Lazurus was an interesting story. The man who was alive, but dead at the same time. The second that he was done with Ella’s body or he could no longer control Ella’s body, he would himself be dead. That left only one person in the chain of command that was in his way of taking the role of active leader of the Shadow’s Conflict: Simon.
Vorso stopped when he reached a small dining room it wasn’t in any way lavish. It was more or less used by the slaves who had been commissioned to work for the King. It had a table and a couple of chairs. Only big enough to hold about six or seven people, five if one wanted to be comfortable. That was what made this room perfect for Vorso’s needs.
Four men walked into the room. The four men were the elemental users of the Conflict. The one’s that Vorso had power over.
“We will keep an eye on Mageria, but for now, we have more pressing matters. Simon needs to be eliminated.”

-----

Evin looked around the room. He wasn’t sure what had just happened. The woman who was just in the fight against the man who had instigated the biggest conflict in the ballroom was angry enough to force the party to end. On top of it all, the crowds were rushing to get out of the room as quickly as possible. Only about five people could fit through the doors at a time and with the crowds all bunching up right there, it could take minutes to actually get out of the castle. Evin decided instead to sit back.
If there was one thing that he knew for certain, he knew that Jake would also wish to sit back. Jake was observant and what better time to observe people than when they leave a place. Usually, people feel less like they’re being watched when they are leaving a place, or at least, that was how Evin always felt when he left places.
Evin was just about to speak aloud when he was interrupted. “Not quite the party that I was expecting, Evin.” Jen sarcastically remarked as she approached him.
“It might not have been, but it sure was my kind of party.” Evin said.
“You must be insane.”
“More unafraid.”
Jen laughed. “To me, they’re the same thing.”
“Fine then. Call me crazy, but then I’ll call you crazy for being unafraid of the blissfully ignorant life you’ve been living.” Evin retorted.
“It wasn’t by choice!”
“Are you afraid of it?”
Jen paused for a moment. The only reason Evin could imagine her doing so was to look for a witty comeback to what he’d just said. With a sigh of defeat she said, “fair enough.”
Evin looked into Jen’s eyes for a moment. The two crystalline spheres flashed in and out as her eyelids closed and opened. It was a special ballet. A ballet where only the truest of onlookers would know exactly what the performers were trying to say. Soon, the crystal grew even clearer and they sparkled leaving Evin in wonderment and then consciousness. “Don’t worry.” He wiped the tears away. “I know what I have to do to solve everything.”
“Will you ever be able to solve yourself?”
Evin scratched his head. “What do you mean?”
“I’ll never be able to settle down if you don’t settle down. The only way you will ever keep me safe is if you stop protecting me.”
“There’s no truth to that.”
“Just hold me, Evin.”
Evin did exactly that. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close until they were united as one. Nothing could break that bond between them. Jen rested her head on his shoulder and she just let her emotions fly. All Evin knew to do was to rub her back and let her deal with the rest herself. Relations were never his strong suit.
“Jake. I know you’re there and I know that you want this to end just as much as I do.” Evin’s voice started to tremble. “He’s tried to hurt people we love and now he’s killed a queen. I’m going right to the camp after I’m through here.” Evin wasn’t finished, but he felt a cough coming.
He grabbed for the tissue he’d been using for his cough, which had been coming and going since he met up with Jen. Covering his mouth with the cloth, he let go. The pain from this cough was above a normal pain. He didn’t let anything show, but he sure didn’t like the feeling. When he uncovered his mouth, the cloth revealed something troubling. Blood. He looked at it for a moment, but then put it back into his pocket.
“It all ends in the next couple of days. Whether you are involved or not, Jake, it will end. If you join me, the odds will be better in our favor though.” Evin stopped talking. It was all he needed to say.
Evin stayed with Jen for as long as she needed. When she was done, he set off for the Wolf camp.

Mageria had been standing there, feeling the ice of shock and grief slowly work it's way through her chest. She couldn't move, all she could do was stare down at the body of the girl she had sworn to protect. The slightest movement caused her to tilt her head to the side slightly, reaching down to where Ella's body lay on the table. The death wound was no longer there. She stooped slightly, sliding one arm behind Ella's shoulder's to see if she could detect any breathing. The .... body shifted, sitting up and moving of it's own accord. Ella stood up, turning around to face her fully.

The brutal clarity of shook was immensely useful at that moment. Mageria felt nothing. Her mind coldly flipped through a series of observations and deductions before coming to a conclusion.

Ella had been dead. There was no doubt about that, she had faced too many bodies, friends and enemies, to mistake that state for anything else.

There had been no sign of an Elightenment being used, no shifting of eye color or other wise.

When Ella looked into her eyes, she saw a different person looking back. Blackpond was known to have a necromancer in it's employ. Somebody who could put on a body like a suit of cloths.

This was not Ella.

Mageria's expresion never changed. Her eyes still as black as midnight, she flicked her wrist slightly to the side, a small dagger suddenly filling her hand. So fast that it was a blur, she drove the dagger with all her might towards the thing's neck.

Lazurus knew in an instant that Mageria knew the truth. But of course she knew the truth. The truth was lying right in front of her, dead only moments before. It wasn't even a change in the eyes that clued him in. It was the change in the tension of her cheeks. A tension that could only be seen by the slightest twitching. Lazurus ignored the twitch and continued looking right into her black eyes, waiting for something.
The strike came quickly and with only the warning of sound. A skilled Knight as she was going to attempt for the killing blows right away. Which made him do the only thing that he could imagine to do with the time he had to react. Ducking below the strike, he immediately started backing away. With the people leaving the room now, there was far more room for him to move and he knew that Ella wasn't much of a fighter. If he was to start pulling off some incredible displays of strength and be so nimble that only an assassin could really pull off the moves that he was going to do, no one still left in the room would believe that is was really Ella in this body.
"Stop Mageria! What are you doing?" The sweet, soft and elegant voice of Ella came out with Lazurus' words.

Mageria turned smoothy, almost inhuman in the preciseness of her movements. She was past the point of being able to speak. Past the point of being able to let her emotions get any hold of her. Tossing the blade in her right hand up and catching it in her left; she brought her right foot up and grabbed the knife tucked in her boot, drawing it smoothy as she stalked forwards. She would kill this monster or prove to everyone in the room that this wasn't her Queen. Lips pulling back from her teeth in a slight snarl, she leapt forwards, blades gleaming in the surviving flames.


Lazurus didn't bother to think about what he was going to do. He knew that even if he continually just tried to avoid her, that there would be no hope in winning a fight. He didn't want to fight, but it seemed as though that was the only option that he was given.
You had to have come here with a blade you bitch! Where is it? Lazurus thought.
Ella's reply was slow and controlled. She didn't seem to care too much about the impending danger of Mageria. It wasn't like she really knew that there was any impending danger to begin with... or did she? My heel turns into a blade. Good luck figuring out which one it is.
"Bitch." He whispered as he continued to watch Mageria approach. He turned around, completely to face the staircase. and kicked both her shoes up to the top. Mageria was taking her time with the approach, so he knew that there would be time to run up the stairs and figure out the heels.
He ran up, and grabbed both of the shoes in his hand. It didn't take much detective work to figure out which one was the right shoe. The sole of the left shoe looked slightly deformed as if it were modified. He flipped the shoe to look at the heel. The heel was the handle. He broke the heel off until he heard a clicking noise and then drew the blade. It was no bigger than Ella's foot, but it would have to do.
He turned around to see Mageria almost right in front of him. Before he even gave her the opportunity to swing her blade, he attempted a slash at her abdomen. It was blacked with her dagger and then a quick counter came back at him with the larger blade. In the dress, Lazurus had little mobility, but he had enough to be able to dodge the attack. The blade cut right through the side of Ella's dress though, shredding it in an ugly fashion where cloth was hanging on barely by a thread in places.
Again Lazurus backed away as quickly as possible to avoid any more strikes against him. Much more of this fighting and it would give away the fact that she wasn't actually the Queen.

Mageria was done allowing even the slightest opportunity for her opponent to fight back. She darted forwards, dropping her left blade in order to grab the necromancer's left hand in her own. She twisted slightly, pulling it forwards and turning so that she could slam her right elbow into the thing's stomach. She twisted back, dropping the wrist lock and grabbing the necromancer's throat in her left hand, she slammed it backwards over the banister, pushing it off balance enough that it wouldn't be able to strike again. Gazing down at what had been her Queen, she struck a final time; a quick clean blow to the heart. It was the last service she could perform for Ella.

Ella didn't know what was going on. All she could decipher was a few slight emotions that would rush through her mind. Lazurus was obviously flustered with something, but what he was flustered with was something that she couldn't figure out. Without anything else she could do, however, she thought it the only good way to pass the time.
While trying to interpret the fight, she felt a pain. It was in her stomach, but she also felt Lazurus feel the same pain as well as another entity. There were three different minds interpreting the exact same thing. This didn't make sense, until when she felt another pain on her back. Lazurus felt the same pain, but the third entity didn't.
If Ella could express herself in any way, she would have made the biggest expression of shock ever. Now she understood.

Lazurus was on his back. He had gone over the railing and fallen is such a way that he knew he would be fine, but it still hurt so much. He let out a scream of pain forgetting that he would sound like a woman when he did it.
Before he could get back up, he felt a wieght pile up on him. Mageria stared daggers at him. Then the blade came for what was hoped to be a final blow. Desperation was what saved him. His hand lifted up and blocked the blade. It blocked it in the most painful of ways. The blade went right through the hand. Letting the tears flow completely naturally, Lazurus twisted the hand with the blade still in it so that Mageria would loose her grip. With the other hand, he grabbed Mageria by the back of her head and pulled her close enough so that he could whisper to her. something.
Blood was pouring from her mouth as he had bit his tongue when the blade came through the hand. He spat blood into Mageria's ear as he stuggled to say. "If you kill me, you kill the baby."

Mageria snarled, an vicious animal sound as she pulled back from the necromancer's hold. When she spoke it was as if the sound was torn from her throat, as if something so civilized as speech has no place in her mind. "Lies..." Her right hand snaked back and grasped one of the ornamental sticks holding her hair in an elegant twist. She flipped the slender stake around so that she held it like a wooden dagger and plunged it towards the necromancer's right eye.

Lazurus moved his head before his beautiful face became a mutilated mess on the floor and then yelled back his reply. "But it's true! Mageria, if you have something against me please find another way! I can't stand to die like this when I'm expecting! I can't just let my baby go like this!"
The yelling wasn't exactly to try to convince Mageria anything. Mageria was beyond repair. Lazurus wanted the right people to hear this. And they did. The dead weight of Mageria fell over on top of Lazurus. It was a face that Lazurus recognized as the guard who was there when he had first attacked Ella a while back. You had sex with one of your personal guards? It makes sense I guess. You've probably had more alone time with in than anyone else in your life. Naughty. There was no reply from Ella.
"A baby?" The guard asked. Lazurus nodded. The two kissed passionately. "What should we do about Mageria?" Conrad pushed away to ask.
"We'll bring her back to Newhaven where we will find a proper cell for her." Lazuras said in enjoyment. That would get her out of the way.
"No!" A voice spoke well over the volume needed to be heard. "The two of you will leave and I will personally escort Mageria safely to Newhaven where she will be given back what was rightfully hers."
Lazurus moved the head to see probably the tallest man in the room in Black armor staring back at her. He wasn't going to take no for an answer and Lazurus didn't want to see what the Black Knight would do if he did say no.

Mageria slowly sat up, reaching around to touch the raw lump on the back of her head where she had been knocked out. She stood smoothly, turning to look around at her people standing around her. They stood staring at her is various stages of shock. She tilted her head slightly and closed her eyes, drawing the icy calm around herself again.
“The Queen is dead. That person, was a necromancer wearing her skin. We will stop her before she gets back to Newhaven.” With that she strode out, her people falling in step with her as they swept from the hall.