Greetings all!
Been a reasonible week, and I hope all of you have a good one. The last time we left our heroes, one of their number had disappeared. This cause Adiran to disappear as well. What will today's update bring us?
Magna was in pain. Every fibre of her being felt like it was being ripped apart. She wanted to cry, scream, call out for help but nothing she had once been in control of was under her control. Eventually, she managed to open her eyes and all she saw was darkness, with speckles of what she first thought were lights, but after some time she realised they were stars.
She tried reaching for them but found her arms firmly bound. She twisted her head to see her right wrist draped in a midnight blue cloth. She quickly looked to her left and saw that her wrist had a fiery cord around it. Looking down rewarded her with the same materials on the respective legs.
“What is this?”
It’s awake.
Finally!
Magna was startled by the voices and looked all over to see where they may have come from, but there was nothing but darkness.
So much like her brother. She will soon join us.
That is not up to you to decide. She is mine if the brother is yours. You have played this game for too long and now I want my piece.
One of the voices cut through her head, and the other felt like a stab in her chest. These weren’t people talking, these voices belonged to something far older than what she had come to know.
They are a set. She is mine.
No. You get one, I get the other; that is called balance.
“Neither of you gets her!” roared a new voice.
Magna looked down and saw her uncle appear. He looked furious. She had never seen him look this angry before. He was bathed in crackling energies and seemed to be holding something in his left hand. She wanted to call out to him, but as soon as she opened her mouth it became filled with dust.
“Release her!” demanded Adiran.
Ho! And you’re here. Didn’t think you’d have the guts, boy!
Another one of your toys? Then it’s only fair I get the girl!
“Release her or I will destroy this portal and you’ll have to spend another thousand years trying to get back here.”
Oh, the anguish of the secret that burdens your soul. It feeds me!
“Keep your mouth shut.”
Now, this is interesting. What is this in your head? Ah! A blood link, a close one-
“Magna, listen to me. You have to break out of this alone. I can only shield you for so long!”
The voice hurt her ears and she was confused. What was this place? Where was she? Who were the voices?
Much closer than you think. How about a wager Adiran? That is what you call yourself in this time, correct? Adiran, the uncle.
“Magna!” Adiran shouted at her again. “You have to trust me!”
Trust you? She doesn’t even know who you really are.
And who is he? He doesn’t seem in tune with the girl, but close. Is he like you-
“Magna!”
Magna shook her head and tried to spit the dust from her mouth. She knew she had to escape, but she didn’t know how. What did she have to do? She tried to reach for her uncle, but her limbs remained bound.
She is my plaything now. The rage hidden within her heart is delectable. So many times has she been overlooked because she is female. Women make the best hosts to rage.
She isn’t yours yet, she is more inclined to-
“No! She is touched by neither of you. She is free, she can still make a choice.”
And what of you Adiran? Do you have any choices left, or are you using the girl as you have in the past?
“Magna, please, you need to fight!”
Adiran was starting to lose the anger in his voice. Something else was creeping into it now. Fear? Horror? He knew these things, and they knew him. Why were they saying these things?
Perhaps I should tell her who you really are?
Adiran’s head shot up to look at her imploringly, “Please Magna, it’s not time yet. I swear I’ll tell you everything when you’re ready, but not now, not like this.”
More secrets, they were all hiding secrets from her, as if she were a child, unable to help with anything. First Mortis and now Adiran, was there anyone she could trust?
Yes! The anger! See? She is marked for me. She is mine!
“Over my dead body!”
Energies crackled through the air, and for a moment, just a moment, the world was lit up all around her. She saw strange, coloured orbs floating around her and for a moment she was unsure of what she was looking at. Then a force collided with her chest, and then she was free-falling. She felt a set of arms wrap tightly around her and then more sheering pain.
“I have you, trust me, you have to trust me.” Whispered her uncle.
Then he started another incantation. The last thing Magna saw before the strange dark world disappeared was a set of grinning mouths and one whispering, “Ask your uncle about his twin.”
Adiran struggled to stem the bleeding on Magna’s left wrist when they reappeared at the intended destination.
“How dare they.” He muttered as he pressed his cloak against her wrist. “How dare they take you.”
All their companions piled in around them to ask what happened. Magna ignored all of them and looked at her uncle for the first time in a new light. He was hiding something. She didn’t know what, but she needed to find out. She couldn’t risk any more surprises.
“What was that?” she demanded.
“Not now, Magna.” Adiran turned to Helga and said, “Get me bandages.”
Magna was done. She was tired of having everyone dismiss her when she had done her best at every turn of this insane adventure. She was not going to have her uncle dismiss what had just happened. She asked the question the disembodied voice had told her to.
“What happened to your twin?” she whispered.
Everyone fell silent and turned to Adiran. It felt like the entire world held its breath waiting for an answer. The mage, while clamping tightly onto his niece’s wrist turned to her with tears gathering in his eyes to say, “She became what you fought.”
Magna knew her uncle never had a twin. Her father had told her that her grandparents only had two sons. She squared her jaw and asked the final question burning in her mind.
"Who are you?"
And here is Adiran's test. Will he be able to tell his niece or will he continue as he always had. I guess that decision is up to @zakludick
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Mortis Custos Parts
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