“She’s been holding a spirit since she was ten years old. You remember how stressful it was to hold Serac when you were young, don’t you?” Piers argued.
“That excuse ran out of merit long ago,” Aless declared, “and because you’re still my friend, I’d appreciate a little bit of sympathy sometimes.”Watching Selena emerge from the monastery, approaching Aless and Piers, he muttered, “Speaking of the demon herself….”
Piers turned to face Selena and giving a small wave as she approached. “Lena.”
Selena looked between the two, giving Aless a particularly nasty glare before turning to fully face Piers. “Kateline wants to speak to you tonight, Piers. If anyone asks, I’ll be in the Wind Temple all night.”
“Noted,” Piers replied, giving her a thumb up. “We’ll miss you this evening.”
Selena walked away, not bothering to acknowledge Aless.
Aless rolled his eyes. “See?” he asked. “She only looked at me for the purpose of glaring. That is not fair.”
Piers turned around, sighing. “I know it may be hard to believe but she really does have a reason for being the way she is.”
“A soul darker than Alvah himself?” Aless suggested.
“A stressed-out little girl,” Piers corrected.
“We’re all stressed. It’s the nature of being a guardian. If she wasn’t ready for it, she shouldn’t have accepted Zephyr,”he retorted.
Piers lowered his voice. “Look,” he muttered, glancing around him, “I’m not supposed to say anything about this… but, I don’t want you to continue hating Selena for no reason….”
“Just say what you need to say. I’m tired of being kept out of things that directly impact me,” he answered.
“You know those moments when Serac is deciding that he’s gonna go off and be annoying you in your head? Like, trying to tell you to attack things, or to kill things?” Piers asked.
“Of course I do,” Aless said.
“And you know how stressful those moments are? Like something’s trying to burst through your skull?”
Aless rolled his eyes. “Yes.”
“For Lena, it’s always like that,” Piers stated.
“You can’t be serious,” he stated. “She has far more mana than the rest of us, how can Zephyr be constantly bothering her? He’s the weakest spirit!”
“Technically, I’ve already said too much….” he trailed off, pausing again. “I need to go off and meet with Kateline, but just think about it. Also, if you haven’t noticed, Lena has a nice neck, try looking at it next time you see her.”
Aless stared at his friend, giving the pew an especially hard kick and finally shattering the wood.
Chapter 16
CORIN walked toward the library, stretching his shoulders along the way, wincing slightly as he heard a loud, popping noise. He was more tired that he thought. He hadn’t successfully slept from the time he had left the library until the time he was required to meet Kateline today.
Earlier that day Aless had popped in for a little bit, climbing into Corin’s bed and spooning the younger man for a few hours. Corin was thankful for this fact—he really hadn’t been up for training in the morning, but he didn’t want to give up spending time with Aless either, so this was a happy medium. In the afternoon, long after Aless had left, Selena had popped her head in, but she also left without a word, assuming Kateline had been forcing him to study all night.
He pushed the door to the library open, taking a moment to mentally prepare himself to duck through the crowd. Last time he had gotten lucky, having been able to catch Kateline fairly quickly. However, the guardian was immensely busy with her studies, as far as Corin could tell, and finding her would be a challenge in itself.
Corin tried pushing through the crowd, only to find himself shoved back by a Scribe of Corona calling to another scribe in the crowd. He turned to a girl reading a large scroll. “Excuse me,” he interrupted, touching her shoulder. “I’m looking for Master Petra.”
“She’s in her private office. She said she was waiting for someone,” the scribe answered, frowning. “I have some translations she told me to rush and now she doesn’t even want them!”
“I could give them to her,” Corin offered.
The scribe passed him a scroll. “Are you the one she’s waiting for? I’d hurry up if I were you—it seems urgent.”
“Thank you!” he called out, pushing himself through the crowd and toward Kateline’s private room, quickly opening the door and sliding in, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, lest a scribe scold him for barging in.
Kateline sat at a table, large piece of parchment laid down on it, and the book she had given Corin placed idly to the side. The Earth Guardian had large bags under her eyes, and Corin wondered just how long she had stayed awake finding this. “Ah, you’re finally here,” she muttered, standing up. “I think I’ve found some information that can help us.”
“Before we start, one of your scribes wanted me to give you this,” Corin said.
Kateline rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes. They always have something to give me,” she murmured, placing the scroll beside her desk, topping off a large pyramid of them. “Either way, last night I went to the Forbidden Archive to investigate the other documents from Central,” she began, gesturing to the page on the table. “This was the only one that matched up with the letters on—” She gritted her teeth, hissing.
“Are you okay?” Corin asked, stepping forward.
“Just a headache,” Kateline insisted, taking a few breaths and turning back to the page, “but this document a-also—I’m fine.”
“If you like we can go over it a bit later…?” he suggested. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“No…. No, we need to—”Suddenly Kateline let out a loud scream.
It all happened in a moment, one that Corin would’ve missed had he blinked his eyes at the wrong time. Kateline arched backwards, and the black and gold restraints from her arms began crumbling to dust.
“Kateline?” Corin called out, reaching forward.
“No, no—stop! Shut up!” Kateline screamed, and suddenly the restraint on her neck shattered.
The dust flew all over the room, blinding Corin. He clutched the doorframe, trying to balance himself. He scratched at his eyes, prying them open and desperately trying to get a glimpse of Kateline.
Kateline didn’t look like herself.
Her eyes were bright green and her marks were glowing prominently on her skin. No restraints covered her arms or neck, and Corin stepped back toward the door, the wood against his back. “K-Kateline?”he asked, desperately trying to grasp the doorknob.
Kateline turned around, large smile exposing newly sharpened teeth. “She’s gone,” Kateline hissed, glaring at Corin.
Suddenly Kateline raised her arms and vines burst through the wall and floor.
Corin immediately panicked, suddenly catching a glimpse of the paper on the table. He slammed his fist onto it, shaking off the vines that had begun to wrap themselves around his wrist, pulling it toward him and tucking it into his robes.
Kateline laughed at this, fangs still hanging out of her mouth. “Stupid human, you believe you can really stop this?” Kateline asked, causing the vines to suddenly grow thorns, wrap around Corin’s leg, and pull tight.
Corin screamed in pain, blood seeping from his wounds, staining his pants. He attempted to flare up his mana, to pull the vine away, to do anything to get the vine to leave him. He continued scrambling to grasp the door handle, a vine almost crushing his wrist.
“You humans forget that we spirits exist to destroy. Crushing you would be one of my greatest pleasures. I wonder if I could tug your limbs off with vines, or feed you to a living plant….”
Corin cringed. “We gave you vessels to stop this!” he insisted, casting a few useless wind spells against the vines. He needed to get to the door, needed to get the—
“You trap us in these useless human bodies and use our po
wer to strengthen yourselves!” Petra replied, razor sharp leaves beginning to fly through the room, slicing apart various tapestries and scrolls, sending paper flying everywhere.
Corin squeezed his eyes shut. He was goingto die here, he was sure of it. None of his spells did anything. Earth always had the upper hand to water, and air wasn’t powerful enough to make a mark on the stiff, thorny vines.
He suddenly remembered something, his eyes flashing open briefly. It was a long shot and he had never been able to really successfully cast it, but….
Corin suddenly managed to release a burst of fire against his wrist, remembering a spell Piers had tried to teach him. He instantly used his free hand to grip the doorknob, turning it and falling back against the door, collapsing into the crowd of scribes.
“Kateline’s restraints broke!” he screamed, pulling himself out of the room, the vine still tearing into his skin. “P-please get someone!”
A Scribe of Corona stepped forward, focusing fire on the vine attempting to sever Corin’s leg. Another scribe stepped up, and together they focused as much heat as they could to destroy the vine.
Petra stepped out of the private office, still in Kateline’s body. “You think I’d fall for your fire trick twice?” he asked. “This will be your downfall.”
Petra suddenly summoned a whirlwind of razor sharp leaves. He smirked, raising his hands and sending it toward the crowd in a violent gust.
A few Scribes of Zephyr attempted to use wind to hold the leaves back, but Petra was too strong, and they couldn’t stop him. The leaves cut through numerous scribes, causing loud, pained screams to emit from the crowd. Petra immediately followed with a cloud of dust, effectively blinding the crowd.
Corin rolled onto his stomach, moving his uninjured arm to cover the back of his neck, murmuring. Kateline’s restraints had crumbled. It was almost unthinkable. The dust hadn’t had any effect on him, thankfully, and he could see some the carnage from his angle. Numerous scribes had been decapitated, blood staining the walls and carpet in the library. The few that were still fighting seemed to be losing, as far as he could tell, especially after the vines came.
The smart ones had ducked, fled, or pretended to be dead already. A Scribe of Alvah fell right beside him, blood flowing out of multiple wounds. He was going to die, Corin realized, tears flowing down his cheeks. He had so many years left, so much he still wanted to do—
“Petra! You will stop right now!” a loud voice called out, drawing the attention of the survivors still in the room.
Corin looked up, unable to contain a smile as Master Selena stormed in, a nervous scribe following behind her. She immediately cast a gust of wind, sending the dust and leaves against the sides of the room, away from the crowd.
The vine suddenly loosened around Corin’s leg, and he scrambled away as soon as it did. Selena walked throughthe crowd, doing her best to ignore the corpses strewn about.
“A human threatening me?” Petra teased. “Isn’t this precious?”
He raised his hand and sent a vine toward her.
Selena glared at this and a dark infection seemed to suddenly cover the vine, making it dissolve into black goo and fallto the ground. “You aren’t stupid,” she declared, holding her stance. “You’re not strong when in Kateline’s body. You know you can’t win this.”
Kateline’s body strained, trying to send more vines toward Selena. “I’m a god!” Petra yelled, throwing another bout of razor sharp leaves.
Selena seemed to be dodging effectively, but a few of the leaves nicked her arms. Selena ducked down, quickly pressing her hand against the floor, focusing energy onto it before standing back up.
“Do you think I’ll let you get away with that twice?” he screamed, throwing the leaves against Selena once again.
Selena rushed forward, ignoring the spirit’s words and attempting to sidestep the leaves. She closed her eyes—now all she had to do was outlast the spirit. Unfortunately what she had sent was tiring to her, preventing the frivolous use of spells for distraction.
She rushed forward, managing to land a hard punch against Kateline’s gut before the spirit sent a vine around her wrist, bending her arm back at an unpleasant angle. Selena bit her lip, looking out of the corners of her eyes. Just a few more seconds, she reminded herself, hearing a painful crack come from her shoulder, a few more seconds….
She suddenly smiled, seeing the infection move up Kateline’s leg swiftly.
“W-what did you do?” Petra asked.
“Paralysis spell,” she explained. “It wouldn’t affect a spirit in any normal fights, but human bodies? They’re weak, just as you said.”
Kateline’s arms stiffened, and she suddenly let out a loud cry. Her body collapsed onto the ground, frozen.
Selena spared Corin a small glance before she addressed the remaining scribes. “I need to trap her inside the Earth Temple, but I expect a full casualty report delivered to Master Alvah this evening.”
“Will she be okay, Master Zephyr?” a scribe called out.
“What should we do?” another asked.
“She isn’t dead, but she will not be allowed out of the Earth Temple. All of her restraints are gone,” she answered, examining Kateline’s body. “Right now, you should all report to Master Cyril. Scribe of Alvah, please help me take her to the Earth Temple.”
The scribe walked over and picked Kateline up, swinging her over his shoulder. “You’re sure she won’t be able to attack like this?”
“The paralysis is strong,” Selena replied. “If it doesn’t work for long enough, I’ll do it again. Before I forget, are you all right, Corin?”
“I-I’ll be fine,” Corin insisted, pulling himself up, stumbling on his injured leg.
“I’ll be in the Earth Temple, but if you’re in a lot of pain, come find me. I can heal you.”Turning back to the scribe, she said,“We need to head off.”
CORIN crouched in the hallway, his back pressed against one of the walls. He lowered his head, replaying the events of the day. Kateline’s restraints had crumbled! He remembered what Master Selena had said, that they were all turning to dust, but he never expected it to look like that.
He looked down at his mangled leg. He wished he had asked Master Selena to heal it before she rushed off. It really hurt. At the time, he hadn’t felt any pain from his injury, having still been caught in an adrenaline rush, but now that he wasn’t concerned with simply surviving the event, or reporting the casualties directly caused by Kateline, he was feeling a significant amount of pain.
“I hear you had quite a scare today,” Aless commented, offering his hand to Corin.
Corin stood up, stumbling slightly on his weak leg. “I’m just happy it’s over.”
Aless wrapped an arm around Corin’s waist, trying to steady him. “Are you okay?”
“I had a thorny vine crushing my leg for a long time. Master Selena offered to heal it, but I didn’t think it was this bad,” Corin confessed, leaning onto Aless’s body. “Are you sure it’s okay for us to talk here? Master Selena could be—”
“Selena,” Aless replied, giving Corin a quick kiss, “is busy sealing Kateline in her temple. She’ll be gone all evening.”
Corin buried his face in Aless’s shirt, enjoying how secure he felt in the older man’s arms. He thought again about the day, how he had been pinned against the door, how he had felt as though he would die. What if he hadn’t been able to cast that fire spell? He’d be dead right now, wouldn’t he?
He felt tears well in his eyes. He wrapped his arms around Aless’s chest, pulling him closer. “It was terrifying,” Corin muttered. “I was so weak. If Master Selena hadn’t arrived….”
“Stop putting yourself down,” Aless scolded, rubbing circles onto Corin’s back. “You did all you could, and you survived, didn’t you? Most of us couldn’t take on a feral guardian—you aren’t expected to be able to handle it.”
“More than half the scribes died,” he countered, stumbling again on his inj
ured leg. “I should have been able to help.”
“We need to heal that,” Aless muttered, placing a hand on Corin’s thigh and attempting a healing spell. “How long have you left your leg untreated? You could have gone to the infirmary.”
Corin shuddered in relief. Even if it wasn’t perfect it was drastically less pain than before. “I didn’t want to bother them, many scribes were worse off than me, and Master Selena healed my wrist, but she had to run off with Kateline’s body…. I can’t believe how little I was able to do.”
“You did all you could—” Aless countered.
“I couldn’t even fight off the vines for a second!” Corin insisted, pulling away from Aless’s chest. “I’m so weak. She would’ve killed me if that spell didn’t work! I need to become stronger.”
Aless sighed, leaning over and giving him another peck on the lips. “You aren’t weak. Haven’t you felt how much you’ve been improving this week?”
“Spar with me,” he demanded.
“What?”
“Spar with me,” Corin replied, flustered. “Prove that I’m not weak! I need to keep improving. I almost died back there. I….”
Aless smiled, placing a hand on Corin’s shoulder. “It’s fine, but you do realize we’re on lockdown right now? No one enters or leaves. We can’t go off near the river.”
“You said Master Selena would be gone all evening. Just… just for tonight. Please?” he asked, looking up at Aless.
“I can’t resist you,” he replied, kissing Corin again. “We can spar, but if your leg acts up….”
“I know. I’ll tell you,” Corin replied, following Aless out of the main temple. “Thank you, Aless.”
Chapter 17
SELENA stared into the Earth Temple’s well. Kateline was almost completely shrouded by darkness, though Selena could hear loud screams every few seconds. Vines were already slinking up between the well’s rusty grating. Selena grunted, attempting to push the stone cover over the podium. After the strenuous paralysis spelland sending immensely powerful gusts of wind to protect the scribes, she simply lacked the energy to heal her shoulder. She clenched her jaw, attempting to work through the pain.
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