For months she had been searching, searching for her master, her Lady… her mother. Daeluin had been slowly collapsing around her, falling to a void, a time warp, a worm hole, a… something. it had slowly disappeared behind her as she searched for her Lady Angela. She had disappeared close to a year ago now and still the apprentice Lilithrie searched. Nothing could stop her. She missed her with a pain indescribably to another human being. Every second, every breath drew her in deeper.
And then it happened…
She had turned for the millionth time in the halls of the seemingly suddenly abandoned temple of Earth on the world of DeaLuin and found nothing… except a crack in the wall…
this crack it was something new…yet something so old she barely remembered it…
She was three maybe four years old when the stranger that was a true stranger managed to penetrate the bubble of a town she lived in, echoing one warning into her mind that had stuck all of these years. Beware the cracks in the wall. This had scared her for years as a child but she had gotten over it. Now it had come back to her, a slight echo but it was there.
The cracks
The warning
everything was falling into place. For too long had it seemed like something bigger was coming for Daeluin, for too long had she stood by and only voiced her fears to her Lady The Red Queen Angela Rose.
And now things were in motion yet her Ladyship was nowhere to be found. She had searched every inch of both Sein Amar and Mein Amar and many places not mapped yet upon their maps but had found no simple logical clues to as where her (in a way) adoptive mother, could be. Simply the thought of losing her only family made her start to hyperventilate.
Not again Not again, I'll find her and the twins and everything will be alright. I won't lose my family again. She thought as rocking back and forth upon her cold bed in the now abandoned Temple of the Earth Avatar Angela Rose. Everything was silent, colder, darker, without her ladyship here to brighten the day with just a smile.
That's when she glanced over and saw it again… The Crack she remembered vaguely seeing it in her childhood and then suddenly felt like something…. something important was missing but she could never identify what it was…
She stared at the crack in confusion. Then her confusion became utter amazement as she slowly edged her way closer. All the answers to everything she could, would, or ever have asked became known. She reached out and touched the slightly glowing crack in her wall and instantly a horrendous pain enveloped her whole body, both faster than she could think and slower than anything she had ever experienced. She could feel her very being dissolving, being erased from time and space into a singularity one molecule at a time and it was overwhelming. S much pain, horror, disaster, everything all at once lasting forever and just a moment. Time seemed to mean nothing here. She could still feel her body, mind and soul being disassembled in one place and assembled in another yet that other had its own memories and experiences. together they clashed and raged, fighting for dominance in a place none could win. Was everything she had experienced, everything she had done going to be for nothing? was it all useless and just dust in the wind here in this place? She felt her mind being drawn to and settle in a corresponding mind of the same individual frequency as hers and couldn't help but let it do so…
Blue eyes fluttered open and a thin frame shot up from her bed panting. Had that been a dream? If so it was the most realistic dream she'd ever had, and longest. She dreamed of another life, another her to be more specific. It started off quite boring, a small child into a teen, then to her current age, 22, in a monotonous town where everything stayed the same. Until one day meeting some strangers, which were unheard of, and suddenly being torn from her little life and exiled from the only world she knew. She had lived in a literal bubble and was now thrust into reality. Then there was meeting Lady Angela Rose the avatar of Earth and becoming her student and almost like adopted child. The feelings of adoration, love, respect, etc flowed through her as she could imagine Lady Angela's face. But the waking world had recognized that face and felt hatred, loathing, resentment, and betrayal. Avatar of earth? No, no, no, that vile woman was the goddess of fertility and the cornucopia.
Back to the dream though. She had met a handsome man, a knight by the name of Sabishii, they had a bit of a fling but it was cut short when she had to embark on a secret mission for Lady Angela where she traveled to a great city and convinced them to pledge their allegiance to the avatar of earth. She had also learned how to fight in a way that worked for her body type. With both speed and magic.
…Magic… In reality she had been informed long ago that she had no chance of ever being able to wield magic, something to do with the wrong kind of lineage.
Back in the dream though she had specialized in lightning magic and healing and was starting to delve into the other elements. Anyways she had returned to find her fling had gotten back with an ex wife but she didn't care and just decided to have him more like a brother… Yeah, kind of hard if we slept together she thought before continuing to remember her dream. she then was showing off her new skills to that knight, then she was searching in the highlands for a beast terrorizing followers of the avatar of earth when she came across the twin's father….
The twins? it took a moment before the visions of them flooded into her. Adorable little Luci and Nezzie. A warmth enveloped her and she couldn't help but smile. They may not have been her children but she had treated them as so. Children? The reality seeped in again. There was no chance of that, having children, in her family… not anymore. When she was an infant her grandfather had done something, she was not sure what, that had cursed her family with infertility. Of course this hadn't been known for quite some time. Not until her elder brother Brom had gotten married and was trying to start a family of his own and couldn't. No matter how hard all of the family prayed to that Rose Goddess she had never answered, if fact she had done even worse. She had blessed everyone else connected to the family with more children. This drove her brother's wife to chat on him with his best friend and become pregnant then after calling him every name in the book left him, taking everything, for his best friend. Her brother had been so distraught and fell into such a deep depression that no one and nothing could seem to get him out of that he had killed himself. The loss of his only son, and with no hope of ever having another to carry on his name had caused a similar fate for her father, and now her mother was in a similar downward spiral ever since the grandparents had died of broken hearts as well. Their family was doomed to die, the curse was spreading to the aunts, uncles, and cousins now, and it was all Angela Rose's fault.
Hot angry tears fell down her face now. She clenched her hands on her blanket and tried to control herself. It would do no good to cry, not now. She refused to go down that path. She would not become like her family, she had to survive just to spite the retched goddess. The twin's father. That thought rolled across her mind and she shuttered. She was afraid now, but didn't know why, not until she jumped back into the dream and remembered…
The highlands, dead bodies dressed in fancy armor and white cloaks with golden stag on them. No, not just dead bodies, torn apart, slaughtered, mutilated. But these were bodies a month old at least… that is until she could almost feel the splash of blood on her face, see the crimson eyes and bloodied smile with fangs with fresh corpses scattered around her and there she was lying on the ground unable to move, to help herself. Vampire. The thought terrified her. There was a small clan of vampires terrorizing her neighborhood, leaving their work painted across the walls and through the streets. No where was safe. Those demons were everywhere, it was only a matter of time.
Demons? Another face flashed before her eyes; a man in his late twenties with one eye a crimson color. Rhen "Like the bird only spelled differently." She said quietly then got a strong feeling of deja vu. She felt like she had said those exact words before but she had never met someone named Rhen before. What was going on?
That's when she heard what everyone in the neighborhood feared hearing at this time of night. The sound of breaking glass and her mother's screams made her jump out of bed. She wore short black shorts and sleeveless top that clung to her form from sweat. Any color that had been in her face had instantly drained as she darted barefoot to her mother's room and flung the door open…
But she was too late
The scene before her made her go numb. There was her mother laying limp in the arms of a burly man…no, not a man, a vampire… his face was at her mother's neck which looked like it had been snapped whether on purpose or by accident she didn't know. All she did know was that she couldn't look away as her mothers glassy dead eyes seemed to stare at her, to blame her for not being there in time to protect her somehow.
She somehow felt the presence of another person in the room rather than saw or heard them. It was strange, a sort of warning flare sprung up in her mind and she turned just in time to see another lanky vampire lunge at her. She let out a scream and fell onto her back. Her leg seemed to instinctively come up and use the vampire's momentum against him to hurl him over her and into her mother's tea cup collection. She scrambled to her feet and backed up to the door. The burly vampire was looking at her now. Those red eyes…Nemesis Her mind said but she shook her head, it wasn't him…wait but he wasn't real it was just a dream. He smiled a bloody smile at her and discarded her mother like a rag doll. She backed up through the door and ran down the hallway trying to make for the front door, but vampires are a lot faster than humans. He easily caught up with her and yanked her by her left arm. She let out a yell as she felt a stabbing pain from the strength of his grip on her.
"Where ya think yer going little lady?" The vampire said, his glowing red eyes boring into her hungrily.
"Derik this one's for me, you got the older one aye." the lanky vampire said strolling casually out of her mother's room like he owned the place.
"Ah my bad Chase." He said and tossed her like a toy in his direction.
She fell to the ground at his feet. She was in shock. Tears were streaming down her face but she didn't make a sound, her eyes were wide. She struggled to her hands and knees, feeling bruises starting to form. "S'ok mate, ya know how i like to tenderize my meat" The lanky one said and kicked her in the stomach, sending her rolling down the hall towards the big vampire again. She lost her breath there and struggled to breath from the pain as she clutched her stomach while in the fetal position.
What's happening?
The vampires both laughed and the bigger one kicked her from behind sending her towards the other again. She ended up on her stomach.
This can't be real
She struggled through the pain and clenched her teeth as she tried to pull herself away from the demonic pair. The lanky one put his foot on her back and said in her ear quietly, "Where ya think yer going lassy, we're just gettin' started." Then grabbed her by the back of her neck and threw her down a flight of stairs that led to the kitchen and living area. She fell and rolled banging against the walls until she landed at the bottom hitting the back of her head hard against the wall that faced the stairs. Her eyes glassed over a bit.
Is this how I'll die? Just a toy for those stronger than me?
Her consciousness faded into the back of her mind and she heard a quiet humming there, and a small voice "No" it said and the humming became louder, she could feel it now. How come she had never felt this before? What was it? In her mind she seemed to fall into a pool. She instinctively held her breath until she could hold it no longer. When she finally gave in she was surprised to find she could breath in the pool. She looked around slowly. What was this place in her mind? The water, or that's what she thought it was, seemed to absorb into the very core of her being and filled her with an unfamiliar strength. A humming from within her, an ever burning flame, the ominous feeling of an oncoming storm felt like it rumbled inside her and was coming towards her. "You will not die here. Not so long as we have strength." the voice spoke to her again. The storm inside her became a shape, a human form but made out of thunder and lightning. Instantly she recognized this…thing. In her dream she had made a contract with something like a living entity of electrical magic that was born inside of her. In the dream though communication was nothing like this, it had been feeling based, and the entity had no form. What the hell was going on?
In the real world her eyes cleared as she was thrust forth into consciousness. It felt like it had been minutes since she had been thrown down the stairs but she realized it had been seconds as she tilted her head up to see the lanky vampire followed by the other strolling casually down the stairs, knowing they had complete control over the situation. Her heart quickened. Somehow she managed to get to her feet with support from the wall. Her breaths were shallow and quick as she looked over the vampires cautiously. They were laughing at her now, why didn't she just give up. A punch meant to knock her out and end this little game was thrown. Without even thinking about it her stance changed and she dodged the blow and managed to spin past the vampire and stumble towards the kitchen. How did she know how to do that? What is this humming in her head that she can feel pulsating throughout her body? She grabbed the kitchen door and reflexively her hand darted back as she received a large static shock. She grabbed the door again and thrust it open and stumbled inside. She lurched forward and yanked open a drawer, ignoring the shock she got from it. What the hell was going on with her?
She plunged her hand into the drawer and clasped her hands around the hilt of a knife just as she was yanked backwards. A small flash lit up the room for a millisecond followed by the lanky vampire yelling, "OW! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" Almost instinctively she was in a fighting stance again and spun around with a slash oh the knife at his midsection. He backhanded her then pulled her to her knees by her hair and yelled angrily, "YOU LITTLE FUCKING CUNT I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU SUFFER!" The other vampire was laughing at him.
He started yelling at the laughing vampire but their voiced faded into a murmur. She could hear her pulse loudly, and her breathing. And then there was the humming again…growing louder, a pressure felt like it was building inside her chest. It hurt, her chest hurt… Her breathing and pulse quickened from the pressure. Something was wrong, she felt like she was going to explode. She started trembling, she dropped the knife with a clang and clutched at her chest. The trembling became more like a vibrating, perfectly in time with the humming. Oh god it was so loud now, that's all she could hear. The pressure in her chest kept growing, into intensities of pain she never knew existed. Her blood felt like it was burning as it coursed through her veins. The vampires could tell something was wrong with her now. The lanky one let go of her hair and backed up a few steps unsure of what was going on. Strange glowing marks appeared flickering over her just under her skin. They looked similar to lightning flickering everywhere. She took a large intake of breath and threw her hear upward with her mouth open. The light could be seem down her throat and a crackling. Her eyes were wide and glowing a bright blue. Sizzling sparks flowed out of her tear ducts. The vampires saw this and fell over themselves to get away. But it was no use. Her body shuddered violently.
A moment of absolute silence enveloped the whole city, as if sound seemed to just vanish for a good three seconds. Followed by a sudden, deafening booming, crashing, roaring noise as the girl seemed to just explode into a pillar of light that enveloped the whole house. Bolts of lightning shot off in every direction from the pillar as it roared and incinerated everything. It lasted a good ten seconds before everything went eerily silent and the pillar faded into just a few little lightning jumps here and there. All that remained of the house was charred stone and ashes and in the center of it, Lilithrie, her clothing half burnt off and still on her knees with her face towards the sky and eyes wide.
I can see the stars
That was the single thought that echoed in her mind for a while as she seemed to be fixated into her current position.
Then everything came crashing back into her. Memories, emotions, and pain, so much pain. Her skin felt like it had been peeled from her bones. Her knees gave out and she fell face first onto the ashes. Everything in her mind was swirling around, she couldn't grab sense of who she was anymore, she was too tired, hurt too much. The dead face of her mother flashed before her then the face of Lady Angela. What one was real? What one was meant for the word that was struggling up her throat? With tears blurring her vision her eyes closed as she uttered a single word filled with sorrow, pain, longing, just a call for help to feel safe…
"Mama."
