Chapter 29
CHAPTER
Since Eve wouldn’t let me near her wounded leg, we couldn’t continue the trial until past noon. The only way we got her going was when Lionel offered to support her, since she apparently couldn’t walk fully on her leg.
Perhaps it was true, she had been bitten by pretty large teeth after all and the wound looked nasty, but I still hated her for making it play out exactly how she wanted.
Hag.
“You want to tell me what that argument was about earlier?” Ashley asked, sneaking up beside me.
“It’s stupid. He’s stupid,” I muttered bitterly.
“Clearly,” she snorted. “But at least tell me why we hate him.”
“He doesn’t believe I’ll catch a demon,” I sighed.
“Nah, that’s what you’re thinking,” Ashley shrugged. “He’s probably worried you’ll get hurt doing it.”
“I thought you of all people were on my side,” I murmured, glaring at her.
“Oh, I’m your number one fan,” she smiled widely. “How’s your shoulder?”
“It’s a bit stiff, hurts when I move, but I’ll survive.”
I glanced back at Nate and Mey. “How is she?”
“Not great, feels like something happened when that thing bit her,” Ashley said cautiously, lowering her voice.
She looked exactly like before she began using her magical abilities. Pale and sick, as if she had a narrow time limit on her lifespan.
“Eve is more energetic, but she’s not a mage,” Ashley added, pondering the thought.
“This is all my fault,” I said, shoulders sinking.
“If catching a demon was easy, it wouldn’t have been a trial,” she said, patting my shoulder. “So… you know, break a leg.”
“What?”
“No, not like literally, like… oh never mind.”
I chuckled confused and she smiled back.
“About your flames…”
“Don’t,” I shook my head, shame creeping in.
“We’re not judging, it’s new to all of us, even you,” she continued, ignoring my comment.
“You didn’t see,” I sighed, my voice lowering. “They feared me.”
“They failed to understand you,” she corrected. “None of us knows what it’s like to be connected to magic like that, not even Mey seems to have the same connection with water as you do with fire.”
“Sorry for eavesdropping, but…” Nate came up on my other side, Mey’s arm draped around his neck as he acted as a pillar holding her up.
“I apologize, Ethalyn. Your flames closed Mey’s wound after all. It must be hard learning it all by yourself.”
“Apology accepted,” Ashley answered for me, crossing her arms.
Nate furrowed his brows at her, before he huffed amused. “Didn’t know you came as a package deal.”
I chuckled lightly. “Thanks, Nate.”
The forest was calm, thin rays of light finding their way through the tree canopies, the wind carrying us forward.
Still, it was too quiet, like something was waiting for us, or watching us from the underbrush.
I felt my skin prickling, my eyes kept darting to the sides, trying to find out whatever was making me feel uncomfortable.
“Am I the only one who feels watched?” Eve muttered from behind.
“I thought I was the only one,” Nate added with concern. “Guess something’s following us?”
“It feels… ominous,” Lionel said.
“I don’t… feel so good,” Mey panted and we all turned towards her.
Nate placed her down on a rock, as Mey scratched the side of her neck.
Slowly, I stepped forward and pulled at her bandages.
Black markings spread around her wound, like it had corrupted her blood, spreading through her veins.
My eyes widened and Nate gritted his teeth.
“What the hell is that?” he whispered, disheartened.
“I… I don’t know,” I stammered.
Malakai pushed between us, his hand ripping the bandage away in a quick motion.
“What are you—” Nate shouted, before the sight of the wound made him quiet.
It was blackened, the entire wound. Mey’s eyes flickered towards something off to the side. I followed it but saw nothing.
“Temptation demon,” Malakai declared. “It’s trying to win her over… I’m afraid this is a battle she has to fight on her own.”
“What do you mean?” Nate’s voice grew more desperate. “It’s inside her?”
“No, the bite and the temptation have nothing to do with one another. The temptation demon has simply followed us, taking advantage of her weakened state to attempt to corrupt her.”
Nate grabbed Mey’s face, forcing her attention to him. “Hey, look at me. Stay with me, you hear me?”
Her eyes seemed dull, distant, as if she didn’t see him at all.
“Fuck,” Nate exhaled, his body vibrating as I heard his breath turning ragged. He was panicking, rightfully so, what were we supposed to do!?
“We can’t just idly watch her disappear,” Lionel cut in. “There must be something we can do?”
Malakai’s eyes swept over the glade. “Well, if we can figure out where it’s hiding, we could always kill it.”
“Say no more,” Ashley nodded, pulling out her bombs. She took three long strides away from us and then threw one randomly, hoping to get a lucky hit. The ground quivered in response to the explosion, sending a shockwave towards us.
“Shit, wrong one,” she chuckled embarrassed.
The heat of the blast tickled against my skin, as fire slowly began climbing my skin. “Perhaps, I have a better offer for it,” I said coldly, focusing on keeping my flames alive.
“Ethalyn, don’t,” Malakai warned, his voice laced with sharp steel. I had grown a bad habit of not listening to my superior, and I wasn’t about to change that anytime soon.
Whispers slowly found my ears; laughter, sweetness, the promise of being heard, seen. It was overwhelming, special, precious… Then, it disappeared, leaving me empty and cold, I gasped as if I had been stabbed. But there was no blade, no marks, only the promise of more.
“Ethalyn, stop it,” Malakai’s voice pushed through to me, his voice stern and angered.
“What’s happening?” I heard Mey’s faint voice.
“She… she’s baiting it?” Lionel asked, confused.
I looked down at my fingers, my flames burning bright, warming me, and comforting me. “We could be so much more, together.” In my flames, I saw figures, more like shadows, moving. Children with magic playing together with ungifted, united.
Farmers and earth-wielders were working together, growing crops for the small villages, ending an era of starvation.
“What do you want in return?” I whispered. A delighted hiss sounded in the background, smoke sweeping around me, closing out the shouts, the voices that tried to reach me.
“Malakai,” the voice slithered in my ears, sweetly, addicting.
From the cloud of shadows, a hand appeared, holding it out as if wanting to help me, offering support, offering my hopes and dreams. “Never alone, never starving.”
Slowly, I stretched out towards the hand, my eyes tracing it. It was humanoid, sculpting a body without a face. It was completely blank, missing parts. Even if I felt a quick sense of panic welling up inside by the sight, it was soon covered with a smooth calm.
I couldn’t help smiling at it, it felt right, it felt normal. Then, right before I touched it’s hand, my flames ignited, as I shaped them like a rope once more, latching around the being’s neck.
The creature shrieked, the humanoid shape disappeared and instead a creature colored bright red took its place. It had long ears with sharpened ends, jagged teeth, and horns. Its eyes were like molten lava, burning hot as if trying to scorch a layer of my skin off with its mere gaze.
It wore tattered wings, along with impossibly tall legs, and a tail flailing around wildly behind.
The illusion it had made me see slowly disappeared, as I forced the creature into the real world with me and I heard the others gasp in fear as they witnessed it.
“What the—” Nate shouted first.
“What is that thing!?” Eve shrieked.
The creature began lashing out, pulling against my fire. It tried to claw at us, but I tugged at the flames surrounding it, and it hissed in response, not able to move as my flames wrapped around its arms as well.
“It seems,” Malakai said, his voice radiating with respect, “—that kitten has gotten herself a little temptation demon on a leash.”
Walking back wasn’t the problem.
It was maintaining my fiery shackles—picturing that thread, the rope of my power around that demon. If I were to lose focus, it might overpower me and escape, perhaps even kill us all in revenge.
Mey looked better already, she had regained some color and was walking on her own. She was still weakened, but we took whatever victories we could at this point.
“I wonder what they’re going to do with it,” Lionel said, constantly looking back at the creature, probably to make sure it was still tied up and under control.
“Maybe they will kill it as soon as we deliver,” Eve said, not especially fond of us traveling with a demon, keeping her distance from the group even more than usual.
I glanced back at the creature, its abominable scarlet body looked like it had been mutated from a human. The scorching eyes were locked on me, its jagged mouth snarling, threatening to devour me if I made the slightest slip.
“It sure is ugly,” Ashley snorted, walking right in front of me. “But I bet we look like walking steaks in its eyes.”
I snickered at her, she always had such a strange way of looking at things. But she kept our moods lighter in an otherwise grim world. “I was wondering how many lives it’s taken, now it’s finally meeting its own fate.”
“It was very convincing,” Mey said, her voice hesitant, perhaps it was hard to admit it out loud, in front of everyone. “It was promising me a calm life, where neither I nor Nate would ever have to suffer…”
“He didn’t happen to tell you where this life was to be found?” Ashley sneered, earning a snort from Nate.
“Let’s just head back and get that thing off our hands,” Eve hurried, picking up her pace.
It had been tempting, I could not argue against that, no matter how pathetic it might’ve sounded. I wanted a peaceful life too, a world without war, a place where I didn’t have to feel like a traitor.
The whispers the temptation demon had uttered, so smoothly, so soft… were somehow familiar. I remembered when I was locked up in that cell back at the Ashen Corps base, I had heard whispers, but no one ever answered me when I called out…
What if that was a demon trying to lure me too? My eyes darted to Malakai in an instant. He had placed me there, he was a demon. Was the hate he carried for me because I had resisted his attempts too?
As if he felt me staring, he glanced back at me, our eyes locking. My heart fluttered, and I cursed myself for it. I had no information on what kind of demon he was, or what he was after… but somehow, he had slithered inside of my head all the same.
I hated how I noticed his mouth curving.
I loathed how it made my pulse quicken.
But most of all, I feared how much he had begun to mean to me. Teaching me how to accept my fires, coaxing me into taking a stance, standing up to be the change I craved, staying by my side when my head was a storm. Why was it him? Why did it have to be a demon that now had my attention?
Malakai began closing the distance between us, each step making my skin prickle. His eyes never left mine, and I tensed, his presence making me nervous.
I hated how I didn’t hate him.
The silence stretched, no words left him, his hand lifted and pulled out the hairband from my hair again, making it fall down.
“What—”
“I like it better down,” he said flatly, and that was enough to stop me from arguing.
Why did I even care? If I was of sane mind, I wouldn’t have, because he was a demon.
When had he begun to watch me with such tender eyes? At what point was I no longer his prey? These questions filled my mind, driving me crazy.
My gaze slipped for a breath, down to his lips. Heat spread across my cheeks as I realised, jerking my eyes back up.
Too late.
His grin stretched, slow and merciless—he had caught me red-handed.
“Careful, sweetie,” he purred low, only for our ears to hear. “That looked an awful lot like an invite.”
I averted my eyes, looking straight ahead as we continued, but his arm was close enough to brush against mine.
Perhaps I was the fool.
Maybe he never failed his attempts… right now, it felt as if he had perfectly captured me in his web.
The question was, did I really want to break free?