by Logan Jacobs
Something was off, and my instincts bristled as I briefly eyed how locked into the priestess’ grounds I was.
I had heard plenty of tales about the titans, gods, demigods, and deities. They were known throughout the whole kingdom and retold time and time again. Some of them depicted the heroism of these holy beings, but others painted them to be cunning tricksters with a thirst for glory.
I narrowed my eyes at the thought, but it was too blaring to ignore. I felt too blocked into the situation for comfort, and now I was face to face with a descendant whose powers were a mystery to me, and who had the upper hand within her own domain.
And yet, this apparently conniving and vicious woman hadn’t even tried to attack me when she could.
Not yet, anyway.
“I’m not sure I believe you did not know.” Cinis smiled the tiniest bit, but the gesture only made her more intimidating to behold. “I can tell you’re not from around here. What are these horrible garments you wear?”
“I am from the kingdom south of here,” I lied without skipping a beat. “Altaya. I seem to have lost my way in these wild woods. Then I saw the glow of these fields and thought I might find some guidance.”
“I believe you even less now,” she immediately replied.
“You can believe what you want,” I said in my calmest voice. “But I am truthful. I was enlisted by my kingdom to come north and speak to the king.”
“I see,” Cinis murmured, and she twirled her knife’s handle around her elegant hand. Then she backed away slightly, and her smile widened the moment she caught her knife in a firm grip again. “And what kingdom would it be that you’re travelling to?”
“Acadia,” I purposely stumbled.
“Ocadia,” Cinis corrected me.
“Ahh, thank you,” I said with a slight nod, and then I feigned a befuddled glance around. “I’m afraid my journey through the forest has muddled my mind a bit.”
“That is known to happen,” Cinis allowed. “But why would you need to see the king of Ocadia? Atalya and Ocadia don’t converse on friendly terms. They haven’t for decades.”
“I was just told that the king wished to converse with us concerning Altaya’s northernmost border,” I informed her, and I began to wonder again why she hadn’t attacked me. I was playing a sitting duck, but perhaps she was toying with me. “I am nothing more than a messenger, and once I have gathered the king’s word from Ocadia, I am to deliver my findings back to the south.”
“I can see your uniform is from out of town,” she admitted. “But somehow I am still skeptical.”
“I am only lost and meant no disrespect in trespassing here,” I continued. “Can you guide me, perhaps?”
“Your garments are from the south kingdom, but you entered this Ardere from the northeast,” she spoke with a perfectly arched eyebrow. “And from what I can hear, you think I am not smart. This displeases me.”
“No, that’s not--” I tried.
“Silence!” she demanded, and her husky voice grated in her throat as her freckles began to glow a heated orange. “I know this forest, and I know precisely where it is you hail from. It is certainly not Atalya.”
“Miss, as I said, you can believe what you choose,” I stood my ground and prepared to draw my sword any moment.
Cinis’ freckles began to pulsate with her breaths. She looked livid, and I could feel the heat radiate from her body, which meant she was likely too worked up to pay enough attention. In a few more minutes, she’d be blinded by her emotions, and I would strike.
“Well, I believe you are a changeling!” she hissed, and I blinked in immediate confusion. This was not what I expected her to say next. “Your kind are always trying to steal my embers with your filthy hands. I know what you seek. I see through this disguise you wear now.”
“I…” I paused while I tried to decide if I should simply strike and be done with the woman, but my interest was piqued.
I wasn’t a changeling, but mirroring was somewhat similar, and I never expected this woman to guess I was disguised in all my being, not just the clothes. I probably should have slashed her by now, too, but too many variables weren’t in line. The nagging in my mind about this setup wouldn’t let me unsheathe my blade just yet. I needed a clearer path forward. I needed to be certain my actions were necessary.
I wasn’t a blind murderer. I was a professional.
“Miss, I am not a changeling,” I finally replied. “I am only a knight who--”
“Hah!” Cinis barked as she bared her perfectly white teeth at me. “Your foolishness betrays you, changeling. Always thinking you’re clever, always thinking your powers will protect you!”
The priestess stalked closer, but still, she did not brandish her knife at me. She just stooped a little to look me straight in the eye, and I tried not to notice how much more beautiful the god-descendant was at this distance.
Cinis’ eyes actually had galaxies painted in the pupils, and her flaming freckles reflected amber on the apples of her cheeks. Her decolletage rose and fell with the movements of her breathlessness, and in that moment, I swore I had never seen anything that compared to her.
But I was supposed to slaughter her.
“I have news for you, changeling,” Cinis murmured as her iridescent wings bore down on me from either side. “You may try to steal a thousand embers from this place, but you will never gain my powers in doing so. So many before you have tried and failed, but your kind never return home, do they? Haven’t you wondered what’s become of your lost comrades all these years? Haven’t you wondered what I do to the hundreds who have tried to take my life?”
“What do you mean?” I found myself asking.
Cinis leaned in even closer and smiled. “I feed them to the flames, changeling. But I assure you, this is a kindness.”
“I doubt anyone would see that as a--” I began, but Cinis plumped her lips and shushed me.
“I know, it’s awfully wicked of me,” Cinis purred with a mock frown. “But it is your own fault. Your kind are so greedy and simple-minded. You think if you killed me, these fields would somehow continue to burn.”
I furrowed my brow at the statement, and Cinis’ freckles burned even brighter as her expression shifted to one of pure hatred. There was a hint of enjoyment flashing in her eyes, though, and her lips twisted into a deadly grin.
“I am not so easily destroyed, changeling,” she growled. “Even if you were strong enough to best me, the fields would devour you for it. They would turn molten and flood the entire forest the moment you stuck one of those pretty swords into my chest. This is how I know you are a foolish little changeling. You did not even consider the wrath that would descend when you brought so many blades into my domain.”
My stomach dropped at the statement, and I could tell without question that she meant every word. The heat of her powers radiated from her and warmed me all over, and I could see the boulders around us glowing brighter as her wings began to burn a blistering orange.
Then she flapped her wings just once, and the boulders blazed with flames for a brief second.
Cinis was connected to this place, and I had been minutes from flooding this forest with the wrath of her field.
This was a set-up.
I took a gulp and stepped back away from her by a few paces, but the Ember Priestess jumped down from the platform around her shack. Her ample breasts jostled for several seconds after she landed, but I tried to ignore this as she stalked after me.
“I mean you no harm,” I said, and I meant it. “I am no changeling. I am merely lost, but I will find my own way from this place. Forgive me for…”
Cinis chuckled and shook her head before I could finish. Her wings billowed red, and her fingertips gleamed blue. She was heat itself, fiery and full of rage. Then she lunged at me with her knife glowing as hot as she was.
I dodged the attack and swiftly unsheathed my golden broadsword. Then I rushed toward the fence, caught my boot on the wooden slats, flipped
, and barreled straight at her.
The woman was thrown off by my maneuver, but she recovered her confusion quickly. She dove to strike again, and I parried with her smaller blade before I swept my leg around to trip her up. She was faster than I anticipated, though, and she jumped up to easily dodge my leg before plunging her blade down into the ground at full force.
She had only been centimeters from impaling my swinging leg.
“You’re not getting away so easily, changeling!” she hissed in a sultry voice.
“I am not a changeling!” I growled back. “I will leave in peace if you’ll only stop attacking--”
Cinis lunged again with her weapon aimed directly at my heart, but I blocked the attack with a firm strike from my sword. The first hit only caused her to hiss in irritation, but the second landed at just the right angle to force the handle out of her grip,
The glowing knife flew through the air as she shrieked with fury.
Then I saw a hint of nervousness sweep across Cinis’ face as she stumbled backward and looked at the blade I had poised between us. It was only for a brief moment, but she almost looked innocent despite her glowing and batlike wings. She looked cornered and flustered and furious, and my gut clenched at the sight.
I wasn’t meant to be here. This woman wasn’t meant to die by my hand.
Then Cinis’ expression shifted to a livid mask once more, and she raised her fingertips toward me.
They were glowing blue at first, but then flames billowed from her heated flesh. Her wings ignited, and her eyes burned as red as her flames, and it was like something switched in her. She looked like a true descendant of the gods, and she let out another shriek as she sprinted toward me.
And I couldn’t kill her. Not if I wanted myself and all of Ocadia to live through this.
My heart slammed in my throat, and I moved to run off to the side of her path, but she was much quicker than I was. This priestess was blessed with the blood of her holy ancestors, and I couldn’t escape her now. I would have to somehow fight her off.
I swiped my blade backward to throw off her trail, but she deflected it with her wing and kept pursuing. Then I saw her pounce in the corner of my eye, and I ducked, whipped around, and swiped at her legs.
Cinis yelped and stumbled to the ground.
This was my chance.
I chucked my broadsword aside and dove on top of her, and I pinned her to the ground by her arms. My legs wrestled with her violent kicks until I had her legs locked under mine, and she did her best to slash her flaming fingers at me. I could hardly contain her while heat radiated straight through me, and her wings struck forward to pelt me in the head.
“Shit!” I growled as the heat of the wings scalded my cheeks.
They weren’t any hotter than her flesh, but they were hot enough to singe my borrowed hair, and the sharp edges would thrash me to pieces if I didn’t act fast.
More importantly, I’d probably end up mirroring into the spitting image of this woman if I held her much longer. I could feel my powers struggling to maintain my current form, but I gritted my teeth and fought to keep my magic in check.
“I am not a changeling!” I tried once more. “I am only a man--”
“Liar!” she shrieked and bucked.
My hand was forced from one of her wrists, but I yanked my head back to dodge her flaming fingertips. Then I planted my free palm on the wing she had poised to bat me next, and I gritted my teeth against the pain.
Her heat ran through my palm as the wing became hotter, but I couldn’t help but notice they were much smoother to the touch than they looked. They felt like a mix of satin and velvet, and they were both strong and delicate at the same time as they began to scald my palm.
I couldn’t hold her down for long like this. I tried to stabilize myself as she jolted her body forward and backward in an attempt to get free, but the Ember Priestess was truly uncontainable.
Cinis’ fury was mounting by the moment, but I couldn’t kill her. I could only try to stay alive and hope I escaped without either of us losing our lives today, and I tightened my hold on her wing and arm as I glared down into her furious eyes.
“I will destroy you for this, changeling!” the descendant roared at me. “I will burn you in the fires of--”
I released her wing as soon as she was distracted with her threats, and I whipped my shortsword from my sheath before I drove it down directly beside her head.
The Ember Priestess shrieked and flinched in fear, and I took the opportunity to recapture her free arm, pin both her hands to her chest, and lock her wings down with my elbows. Now, I was within centimeters of her face, and she opened her eyes wide as she realized I hadn’t killed her.
The tampered, pig’s blood blade was actually only three inches from her skull, but I’d made sure the blade landed in a way that it couldn’t cut her if she whipped her head around.
“You’re not going to kill me today,” I seethed to the woman beneath me. “I have come too far in my life to die now, and it appears you have, too. My coming here was a mistake, and I--”
“You have no choice but to die,” Cinis hissed in my face. “You can’t stay on top of me forever. You will either burn to death or grow too tired to hold me down. You are a weak changeling, and a thief, and--”
“I am not a changeling!” I roared as my frustration mounted.
“You lie!” she shrieked. “You are too strong for this meager body you possess, and I can sense your deceit! You move too quickly, and you are armed for murder! Show yourself or, I’ll--”
The woman tried to take a bite right out of my nose, but I jolted back and barely managed to keep her pinned.
“Enough!” I snarled and thrust my arms tightly against her, and the woman seethed silently beneath me.
My breaths came fast and ragged as I realized we were both trapped in this situation, but there may have been one chance for an out.
Cinis clearly despised changelings, and it sounded as if she had good reason to. They’d attempted to kill her on multiple occasions, and while I had come here with a similar intent, I had no wish to destroy her now.
I simply needed to live and escape the wrath of this descendant without unleashing a molten flood, and if proving I wasn’t a changeling was the answer, then so be it.
I had never revealed my true form in combat before, but this time, it was my only option. I looked nothing like a hideous changeling in my true form.
“Enough,” I panted in a somewhat calmer tone. “You are correct in some respects. I am not as I appear, and I will reveal myself to you if only to convince you I am no changeling and mean you no harm.”
“Lies,” Cinis hissed once more, but I was already shifting.
I kept my body firmly pressed against her glowing one as my skin began to tingle all over, and bit by bit, my mirrored form began to fade. I felt myself getting taller with less stout of a belly. My lungs began to function better as my jaw realigned to a sterner cut. Then my white hair fell into my eyes as the straggly strands of the burly man vanished, and in a matter of seconds, I was myself again.
The freckles on Cinis’ face abruptly stopped glowing as she stared at me.
I knew my change would confuse her, but I hadn’t expected her to go completely limp under me. Her plump mouth went slack as she stopped fighting me, and I noticed her gaze flick down to my lips and shoulders for the briefest second.
“This can’t be,” Cinis stuttered after a moment. “Your eyes have stayed the same, but everything else about you is different. Powers like that don’t exist around here. You’re… you’re not a changeling. You can’t be. Wh-What are you?”
“I can explain,” I cautiously said, and I tried to sidestep her question slightly. “But first, I must confess I was sent here on purpose, and I am truly sorry I came.”
“It’s dark magic, isn’t it?” Cinis guessed as her eyes flared. “This was your plan the whole time, to change like this so you would see me as startled. Well, I’m no
t startled. Far from it! So what if you can change from someone ordinary into someone very handsome! I’m not going to succumb to someone like you. I will not just falter at your knees! I am too strong for such weakness.”
I tried not to smile at her stubborn fib, but I didn’t point out how very startled she’d looked only seconds before.
It hadn’t even crossed my mind she would have mistaken me changing back to my former self for a ruse, but there was a part of me that bounced with joy at the fact that she saw me as handsome enough to try it.
Cinis was certainly the most beautiful and fearsome woman I’d laid eyes on in quite some time, but I was still more focused on trying to stay alive long enough to leave her presence unscathed.
Even though her ample breasts were pressed so firmly against my arm.
“It’s no dark magic, and I didn’t intend any of that,” I tried to say in my calmest tone. “I only wished to be honest with you. I am a mage. A rare one, perhaps, but only a mage. I swear this to you.”
Cinis stared up at me as her scowl faded slightly, and she eyed me up and down for a long moment while I very gradually eased up my hold on her arms and wings.
I still kept her in hand while I tried to work out how to pull my tampered shortsword from the ground near her head. One wrong move, and she could snatch it and end me right here, but she didn’t look like she even remembered the sword was there anymore.
Still, the Ember Priestess didn’t look tame in the slightest, and she let out a tense breath as she leveled her gaze on me.
“Go on, then, mage,” Cinis snarled in a husky tone. “What are you doing in my domain?”
I drew a deep breath.
It was true I wanted to be honest with her, and I had many questions with regards to this entire job. I had a feeling she may be the one who could answer those questions better than any representative of Ignis would, but she was also capable of melting my flesh with one swipe of her smoldering fingers if she wanted to.
The longer I contemplated all this, the less hostile her eyes became, and I found myself staring into the strange galaxies in her pupils as my concerns slowly ebbed away.
