The fact that they were mages was all I could discern, and only because of the robes they wore. As they reached the post, they gathered around the broken queen, spreading out in a perfect circle around her.
Without a word, they began their ritual, arms held aloft almost in praise, fingers mere centimeters from brushing up against the mage next to them as they began to chant. I saw their mouths move, but even if I could hear the words, I wouldn’t be able to understand them.
They kept up the chant for several minutes, an impressive feat on its own, but to combine it with the magic they were building up was a truly frightening prospect. As the spell reached its finale, a Script circle formed above their heads. The bodies of the mages perfectly formed the outline of the spell.
A small pentagram formed in the center. Framed within a circle, on the outside lay a constant stream of swirling letters. The words shifted and changed in a haze as they danced in lazy fashion. As the spell grew, it shifted, going through each color of the elements. Most stuck with only one element. This one, though, had already gone through five of them and didn’t seem to be stopping.
At this rate, it would be the most intricate spell I’d ever seen. It shifted from icy blues to fiery reds, every color of the rainbow. As the spell went through the different colors, it slowed and settled on one I’d never seen before.
The spell shone with the light of the moon. Soft, soft white light illuminated the hazy square. As the spell chose its final color, the circle glowed even brighter, and it grew so bright that it hurt to keep looking. I averted my gaze and tried to follow what was happening through squinted eyes.
It condensed on itself, flowing in until it turned into a single blinding point. A small glowing white dot—a miniature moon suspended in the courtyard. It started to grow from a small dot the size of a marble to the size of an apple. It grew until it was well past the size of a full-grown man.
The queen stared at the minuscule moon above her head, her eyes still gripped within her madness. I even saw Eris lift her head to gaze weakly at the sight of it.
It pulsated, tendrils of pale light pierced through the smoke that drifted through the courtyard. They struck the ground with abandon. Indiscriminate beams of light that melted through the very street wherever they touched. One beam lanced out and shone upon the queen. She was bathed in the pale radiance that stopped just before her face, sparing her bare flesh.
As the light hit the chains, they bubbled and hissed, succumbing to the intensity of spell and melting under the gaze of the moon. It quickly worked its way through the shadowsteel and even burned away the powerful binding magic that held her. The light shifted, moving from her pale skin before it could burn her.
Her chains dissolved in an instant as the light faded.
She was free.
Even in her insanity, she took advantage of the opportunity to lunge out of the discarded remains of her bondage. Through her mania, she held a look of victory, hope having sloughed away some of her madness. As soon as she was free, she changed.
Black chitin formed from beneath her skin, pouring out like oil to form and shape itself to its master’s whim. In an instant, she was wearing a full suit of armor. Glossy black and oozing malice. She formed plate armor that seemed to be painted on, as her curves were still plain to see. It was a little bulky and firm over her chest to protect vital areas, but light and flexible enough that she could move without hindrance. With a breath of viridian magic, the armor shifted. Black spikes rose across her frame—jagged edges across her arms and legs. Her armor formed itself in under a second, and both of her hands formed massive swords before she rushed the helpless mages.
She never made it.
A burst of moonlight rained over her as she lunged, guided by fate or perhaps a less fickle hand. When the light faded from her, she was in pieces.
Bisected neatly at the waist, the searing heat from the moonlight cauterized the wound, boiling away what little blood escaped. The queen fell to the ground and tried in vain to rise to her feet. She didn’t seem to comprehend why her feet weren’t responding. Her body didn’t seem to understand it was no longer whole.
Having been cut off from half of her mana stream, the black chitin armor dissolved back under her skin; she no longer had the mana to maintain her devilish form. Her remaining mana would now be trying to repair the sudden damage that had been done.
The queen finally realized the severity of the situation and looked down to find her neatly hewn legs, several feet from where they should be. Even though no more light rained down from the moon, the spell was far from finished. It seemed once the spell touched a living being, it started to work its magic from the inside.
The luminosity from the spell was bright and hot enough to melt through one of the most durable materials I’d ever found, but it seemed to have a second even more insidious method of destruction. Bright white light started to drip from the severed halves of her body. It seeped into her blood and began to work its way up through her veins.
It burned as bright and hot as a star as it crept steadily toward her heart. Burning her away from the inside.
The pain, it seemed, was more than even her madness could contend with because she screamed. A twisted, tortured scream that pierced through the vacuum of silence. The first sound I experienced in this vision grated against my ears and throughout my mind. A sound no living being was meant to make. She ripped her vocal cords from yelling, and I was thankful to be returned to the silence.
This was a pain that went beyond mortality. It was a purifying light of the heavens, which brought the torment of Hell.
The white luminescence reached her heart and started to glow radiantly. All the while, the queen kept screaming wordlessly in utter agony. At the sound of her mother’s cries, Eris seemed to regain a sense of herself. She railed against her chains, trying desperately to free herself. Complete misery was plain on her face.
No child should ever have to witness a parent go through that. Being made to watch as her mother was burned alive in this manner was akin to cruelty beyond measure.
Her mother may have deserved her fate, but Eris had done nothing to deserve the pain she was being forced to endure.
We both stood transfixed at the horror in front of us.
The radiance within her chest grew in its brilliancy. It burned a hole right through her, taking her heart and most of her chest with its heat. Her screams died as the light entirely consumed her. Once more, I had to avert my eyes as the heat washed over me, taking away the chilled air that had surrounded me since I had come here. When it finally died away, nothing remained of the queen.
Nothing but ash.
Eris slumped against her chains in defeat. The remaining life seemed to drain out of her. She returned to stare at the ground, though tears dripped down her face. They landed on her dirt and bloodstained bare feet, washing away some of the grime that had accrued and dried on her legs.
A swirl of bright green smoke rose from the ash pile of what remained of the queen and drifted toward Eris. It flowed into her mouth, and she jerked, her eyes going wide. She panicked for a split second, before she paused, staring at the ashes of her mother.
The mages held a posture of superiority about them as they watched Eris sob. They weren’t satisfied with just the annihilation of her mother as guards marched over to the cage that held Eris. Her time had come.
The casters nodded at the soldiers next to her cage. They unlocked the chains and the door simultaneously. No longer held up by the chains, Eris fell to the ground and curled in on herself. She didn’t even put up a fight as she was dragged out of the cage by the men.
The mages started speaking to one another, but from the way their mouths moved, I could tell they were speaking normally, and not the convoluted language of Script. Though I could not hear what they were saying, the veil that prevented sound from reaching me had returned in full, and I was grateful for the reprieve.
As the soldiers dumped Eris on the groun
d right next to the spot where her mother was destroyed, she kept looking at the ashes as they drifted about in the breeze. She wouldn’t look up from the ground; one of the men yanked her by the hair to force her to show her face to the mages.
Her eyes were empty. The head mage spoke directly to Eris. She stared weakly at them, though she didn’t seem to be present enough to understand what the man was saying. The mage produced a crystal from within his robes and sat it on the ground in front of Eris. It was the same crystal that I had found in the loot room. This was the prison that Eris was sentenced to.
They quickly formed their circle around Eris, who wasn’t even chained, huddled on the ground. Uncaring.
The coven of mages all raised their arms in unison and began to chant once more. As they worked their way through the many different verses of Script, their hands started to pulsate with an obsidian mist. Heavy black clouds of smoke rose from their palms and drifted toward the ground.
As the first tendrils of mist reached the ground, they crept along drawn toward the crystal, and toward Eris. When the first cloud of smoke reached the crystal, it seemed to glow with ethereal light, but the light was continually drawn back into the void.
Once the first part of the ritual had been completed, the head mage spoke to one of the soldiers. A younger-looking dwarven male. He seemed to have some semblance of sympathy for Eris because he was gentle when he walked over to her and picked up one of her limp arms.
The young soldier drew a small knife from his belt; it was double-bladed and elegant in its construction. It was more ceremonial than functional, more of an athame than a dagger. He swiftly and as gentle as he could be, sliced a thin groove through her wrist. He moved her dripping arm over the crystal. A ruby red drop welled from her wrist and dripped onto the obsidian gem.
It hissed as it landed; smoke rose from within the crystal and devoured the blood. Once the drop was gone, the smoke changed color, now a verdant green. More dripped from her arm. Before it could land on the ground or the crystal, it changed. It shifted into the same green mist that rose from the dark glass.
Faster and faster, her blood turned to smoke. Then it reached her hand, and it too dissolved. It ate her away, slowly turning her entire body into a whirling green cloud, suspended in the air by magic. Then, as if the wisps were magnetized, it was drawn toward the crystal. The green and black smoke merged into one inside the shard of crystallized void.
All that remained of Eris or her mother was ash and a pretty bauble.
The head mage calmly walked over to the prison that housed Eris, picking up the gem and slipping it inside the folds of his robes while the rest of the coven drifted back out of the square. I was left alone, and the edge of my vision blurred one last time. Bringing an end to the memories.
My sight was slowly taken from me, plunging me into darkness, a place where light never shone.
I expected to be shown another memory, or be taken out of the hallucination, but neither happened. I stayed in the perpetual darkness for a very long time. What could have been hours or days passed in utter darkness. I felt, for a time, what Eris must have experienced for all those centuries, trapped in the void.
It made me see her in an entirely new light. Eris had endured more than any one person should ever have to bear, had gone through such tremendous pain. And yet she could still find the strength to smile. To hold out hope for love when I myself didn’t know if I could love her back. My pain paled in comparison, but that's the thing with pain. It doesn't care what someone else can endure. It only cares about how much damage it can inflict on you at that moment.
If Eris can find the strength to live with her torment, maybe it's time I do the same? If only it was so easy.
I sat alone with my thoughts, but just as I was truly about to feel despair, a strange presence flicked through my consciousness. Whoever or whatever it was brushed lightly against my mind. It was gentle, and I felt kindness in the touch. The figure lingered beside me, close enough that its hot breath brushed the nape of my neck. Warm lips pressed themselves to my cheek. Incredibly soft, which left me feeling a sense of peace that had eluded me for many, many years.
The voice was familiar to me, one I hadn’t heard in a lifetime. It reminded me of my mother as the figure whispered in my ear.
“Save her, Sam. If you can.”
As the presence pulled away, tears welled up in my eyes. I didn’t want her to leave me.
Not again.
It couldn’t have been my mother, but even a facsimile was enough. I tried to speak, but no words would come. I couldn’t say any of the things I had wanted to all those years ago, the things I never got the chance to. With one final brush of fingers over my cheek, she was gone.
Chapter 21 - The Compass Kingdom
When I came back to my mind, I was caught between the two states of being, and I jerked up out of reflex. I stifled my racing heart and wiped a thick sheen of sweat from my forehead. As I laid back, I sank into comfort; I was too comfortable to be lying on the floor.
I shifted, finding myself in Eris’s lap. She was staring at me with a mixture of confusion and concern in her eyes.
She was confused at my reaction, taking it to be shaking off the remnants of a nightmare. “Shh, it’s okay, love. You just had a bad dream.” She spoke softly, running her fingers gently through my hair, and trying to reassure me.
No doubt, she could feel my conflicting emotions through our bond.
Eris smiled down at me, but it was sheepish and filled with chagrin. “Looks like we got out of hand last night.”
“I’ll say,” I said as I sat up again.
I’d been lying in Eris lap, and as I looked at her, the events of the previous night flooded back to me. I froze and looked at her neck. The blood was gone, and she was wearing the same clothes she had on last night.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
She nodded. “I’m fine now. I drank the health potion you left out last night, and the pain went away quickly.”
Good. I stood from the floor and helped Eris to her feet. The room was still in disarray, and there was absolutely no saving the bed from the bloodstains. Eris went over to the mirror and inspected herself, trying and failing to fix her bedhead. I smiled as I watched her, but my smile quickly fell as she tilted her neck.
The morning sun fell across her face and throat. It was plain as day and unmistakable; outlined roughly just above her collarbone was a silver-white scar in the shape of my teeth.
“Godsdamn it!”
We left it untreated for too long. Her body’s natural healing had already started by the time she drank the potion.
Eris turned, confused at my outburst. “What’s wrong?”
“Just look at your neck. That scar will never fade away completely, not for the rest of your life…which could be for a long time.”
Disgust writhed in my chest and sickened me. We’d lost control, and Eris had paid heavily for it. I didn’t know how long entomancers’ lifespans were, but even if it was the same as a human lifespan, it was too long.
Eris picked up on my words. “We live for about five hundred years or so. Longer than the dwarves, but not nearly so long as the elves.”
Five hundred years was a long time to bear such a noticeable scar. It wouldn’t be so bad in the shadows, or inside a building, but in direct sunlight, it would be hard to hide. I walked over to her and ran my fingers over her neck, tracing the scar. Eris shuddered at my touch and leaned into me, laying her head against mine.
“I’m sorry, love.”
It was all my fault. I’d hurt her. As soon as the thought entered my head, the ice-filled smoke inside gripped its talons into my heart. Ice water filled my veins, and pain radiated through my body.
“Poor knight. You brought harm to your queen. An offense punishable by death, but lucky for you, there’s no one left to dole out your sentence. No family left for the last cast-off wretch of the Hive.”
That’s your queen you’re tal
king about, Aspect. Watch yourself!
“Once, perhaps, but I find myself blissfully unburdened as of late, so I should thank you for that, knight. You have some use after all,” the Aspect replied, laughing darkly.
What are you talking about?
But whatever it meant, it refused to share, only to chuckle in the back of my mind before fading away. It stayed silent and left me in confusion.
Eris could sense the emotions inside me, and she was worried about me. I knew as soon as she looked at me that she thought that I blamed myself for what happened. She reached over and held my hand, intertwining our fingers.
“I don’t blame you for this, love. And you know, I actually like it a bit,” she said, grinning slightly.
I chuckled softly and shook my head. I couldn’t think of one good reason to bear such a noticeable scar, especially since I had yet to see her wear any clothing that could reasonably be considered modest.
“Mind explaining why?” I asked.
Eris stopped and looked down, blushing at the question. She fidgeted with her hands, as I went in the bathroom in the hall and cleaned myself off. She’d wiped away most of the blood, but there were still some trouble spots. I cleaned myself off as best I could with the bucket of water next to me and went back into the room to change clothes.
I was out of fresh clothes, so I chose the cleanest shirt I had, a dark burgundy that clung tight to my chest and my black canvas pants. They’ll just get dirty from the East Kingdom roads, but I’ll buy some new clothes when we get to Central.
By the time I’d dressed, Eris had picked up all of our stuff and handed it out to me. I stowed it in my inventory, and we left the safe house. We were only a few miles from the Compass Kingdom, and breakfast could wait.
Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) Page 31
