“All ready for you, Madame.” A metal worker spoke politely to Elektra.
“Thank you, dearie. Go now,” She responded. The maid left the small room and shut the door behind it. In the center of the room, Chelle sat in bindings. The all metal chair had clasps around her wrists, ankles, and neck. Lucelle and Caviere stood in the corners of the room simply observing. Chelle had sweat running down her face and her eyes showed a mixture between feigned confidence and fear.
Elektra stood in front of the prisoner. “So, Tracker, what do you know about Isyae Domni?” Chelle stayed silent, so she persisted, “Maybe something about your friend’s progress towards summoning such a monster? Maybe you know how he plans to do it, who knows?”
“I do not... know anything,” Chelle voice was low and quiet. She slightly cringed as Elektra stepped forward and flinched when she leaned over to put her hands on the back of the chair. Elektra’s hands were right at the sides of her head. “Nothing about that...”
Elektra smiled, “I’m sure you must know at least a little bit. I’m not in the mood to fight with you.”
“Why do you not just do it already?” Chelle spoke defeatedly.
“Do what?”
“The stories say that you can pull apart someone’s mind with no effort.”
Her Elven ears twitched, then her smile grew a little more. “Wonderful idea.” She lifted her hands and then pressed them against Chelle’s ears. Within moments, Chelle began to cringe and cry out in pain. Arcs of what appeared to be purple energy shot from one finger to another against her head. Elektra’s eyes began to glow with a bright light, the natural reaction of powerful magical usage. After casting the spell, she pulled her hands away from her head. Chelle fell back weakly against the chair while breathing heavily while Elektra stepped away, seemingly contemplating what she just experienced.
In her mind, Elektra saw a series of memories that came in flashes. Akan’s bedroom is in the second floor from the top. The summoning circle is a two-layer with an abundance of magical substances. Loved a Trapper, hated the Beast, and some affection lingered around for... Emily. She turned back to the barely conscious Chelle. “Thank you, my dear. We shall arrange for your quarters immediately. Caviere,” she flicked her head to the left. “Make it so that our guest is treated exclusively by our brilliant staff.” Looking over at Lucelle, she added, “Please do make sure she gets some dinner, thank you.” With that, Elektra turned on a heel and slid her glided her way to the door, exiting as hastily as she just spoke.
Lucelle turned her head towards Caviere. “What do you think she saw?”
“Probably best not to ask. You,” he gestured to an entering maid. “Please take her to a guest room without windows. Arrange for her to receive dinner and then stay inside the room. She will not leave the room unless you are told otherwise by myself, the Lady, or her,” he pointed at Lucelle.
The maid nodded, “As you wish, sir.” She moved to begin undoing the clasps over Chelle as the other two went to leave the room.
Lucelle, out in the hall with Caviere, persisted, “Don’t you think it is a little invasive to go into someone’s mind like that?”
Caviere waved it off, “I don’t think much about all that magic mumbo jumbo, Lucy. If she thinks it’s best, I would let her do her work and I wouldn’t think much else about it.”
Lucelle looked down at her feet while walking. “I’m not sure I agree with that. I guess it takes a bit more than just doing your job to be a good leader, huh?”
“It isn’t about doing your job to be a leader. It is about making sure others answering to you can do their jobs. Without whatever information she just extracted, what would our inside men at the fortress have to look into?”
“I guess you’re right. It just feels wrong is all,” she concluded.
“Like I said- you can keep your magical philosophy to yourselves.” They continued on to a room nearby Elektra’s bedroom. It was the same they were going to be in before the interrogation, the one with the chairs around the large table. Elektra was already in there pulling together a mystical map. Emily was sat at one of the chairs looking down at her hands. In them, there was a little wisp of black flame. “Don’t hurt yourself, Lady Emily.”
Emily lifted her head. She smiled, “Oh, don’t worry. Mother knows how to deal with it if I mess up.”
“You know I won’t be around all the time, Emi,” Elektra softly spoke while building the map.
“I know, I know.”
“Did your mother teach you all of your magic, Emily?” Lucelle sat down in a chair across from her while asking.
“Mhm.”
“Nonsense, I showed her the basics,” Elektra added. “She figured out the rest on her own. A naturally born mage.”
“She is insanely powerful, Lady Everlock,” Lucelle telekinetically sent to Elektra. “You know this, right?”
“She will learn to control the power she has, don’t you worry about that.”
“Where did she get such power from? The father?”
“The father? Doubt it.” Elektra dismissed it quickly.
“Is there something you’re not telling me about it, my Lady?”
“All you have to know is that she has to be kept safe from using the Dark Arts for truly evil uses, Lucelle.” Elektra finished building the map and sat down. Emily peeked up to see that it looked a whole lot like the one back in Akan’s castle. There was a blue sphere over a point in the bottom of the map while a red sphere was held over what she assumed was the castle, way up near the top middle of the map. Plenty of the map was shaded red while little bits near the bottom were shaded blue.
“Alright, here is what we know,” Elektra began. “Akan controls a whole lot of the land, but isn’t going to come close to here unless he knows he can beat us in a fight. However, he knows my small force can destroy his armies in days without sustaining more than five to ten casualties. Therefore, he is looking to summon a Great One.” The map flew into the red sphere to show a detailed layout of Akan’s fortress. A room near the bottom lit up and red circles lined the floor of it. “The Great One is going to be summoned here and will be given its full power outside of the building to minimize initial destruction. A powerful ritual circle has already been made for it.”
“What is stopping him from summoning Isyae Domni already?” Caviere inquired.
Elektra snapped a finger towards him. “Great question. He is missing an important piece of a sort of puzzle. There is an artifact designed a millennium ago for this exact purpose. It is called an Ancient Keystone and it holds more magical power than you will find in almost anything else in Mercelon. The legends say that it, just like the demons, was gotten rid of. While the demons perished, the keystones were split up into three parts each. No single part of any keystone was the same as another, so you have to find the exact three pieces for the keystone you want to use. Akan has two pieces of one and one piece of another.”
A knock awoke the door, then it opened. Nagin/Lergen walked in, then another woman stepped in as well. This new woman wore light-looking leather armor. It was colored a light gray which matched her off-white skin. Her ears were normal for a human, yet her eyes were bright pink-red, like a Dark Elf. Her hair was very long and very silver, reaching down nearly to her lower back. The cross guard of a rapier stuck out of the right side of her belt and her white gloved hand rested on the top of it. Her stance after fully stepping in and slowly closing the door emitted pure self-confidence.
Elektra watched the two enter, “Ah, nice of you to join us, Nagin. Thank you for coming, Ysella.” Lergen plopped down in a chair and crossed one leg over the other while Ysella stayed standing. Elektra looked back at the map layout of the building and continued with her explanation. “So we need to stop Akan from finding the pieces to those keystones. The upsetting fact is that he already knows where the final piece probably is.”
“You are sending us to interject, my Lady?” Nagin spoke up.
“Precisely. The five of you will be enough to stop the forces, I’m confident.”
“Are you sure about sending Emily, my Lady?” Lucelle sent to Elektra.
“I know how well she did against Der’Jak. She can defend herself.”
“Um... I have to go?” Emily mumbled.
“You would be a great addition to the team, Emi. Your magic is unrivaled, you know.” Elektra seemed unfazed by the idea of sending her daughter off into dangerous territory.
“Alright, I guess so.” Emily had other feelings about the decision.
“Do you know what she actually did to Der’Jak?” Lucelle held a concerned expression in her chair.
“She took care of it. She got what we wanted.”
“Is that good enough, though? She could have killed him, or worse.. Aren’t you worried about her mind?”
Elektra was moving parts of the map back into place to reform the large overview. “I’m worried that she still depends on me.”
Lucelle looked down. Well, then... She crossed her arms and thought about what Elektra said. She isn’t wrong, but she is a bit harsh. The girl just spent the last month thinking her mother was dead, and when she finally gets to see her again, she does this? She glanced over at Emily, who was staring down at the black wisp in her hands. It was flickering back and forth, as if being on a tormenting line between extinguishing and staying aflame. She finally decided to close her fist. The flame went away instantly.
“Well then, you are a bunch of sunflowers, aren’t you?” Nagin pestered them. “Let’s get this thing done now, why don’t we?”
“Here is where you are going,” Elektra instructed while pointing out a yellow dot on the map. It was far into the red-shaded area and way off to the right.
“We set out by morning, the-”
“We leave after sunset,” Nagin interrupted Caviere’s words. He glanced at the other four, and then walked out without another word.
Caviere sighed, then went to leave as well. “Leaving at sunset, wonderful.”
looked to Elektra, then the two of them went to hold hands, as if it were some foreign greeting. Elektra closed her eyes and, after a few moments, let go of her hand. Ysella nodded and went to exit the room the same way she entered.
Lucelle stood up. “Emily, do you want to come see where my room is?” Emily looked up at her, then at her mother, and then nodded to Lucelle while standing up as well. The two of them left Elektra to her devices and walked out into the hallway. Lucelle sighed after they turned the first corner. “She isn’t really how I expected her to be, you know.”
“Mother always had a way of surprising people,” Emily spoke quietly.
“You don’t still think she doesn’t want you, do you?” She sounded very concerned as she asked the question.
“Well, no, but I hoped she would want to spend more than at least a day with me before not seeing me again.”
“She wasn’t wrong about you being a good addition, Emily. You’re very, very powerful.”
Emily eyed the paintings on the walls and the decorative bookshelves with their fake-looking vases and flowers. “Guess so,” she mumbled. The two of them stopped talking for the rest of the walk. They turned a few more corners, ascended some stairs, and ended up in front of a large wooden door. Lucelle retrieved a key from a bag at her side and stepped into the room. She held the door for Emily and shut the door right after both of them were inside.
Comments (0)
See all