Chapter 33
CHAPTER
I was burning.
Shame and guilt but also thrill and longing. It was all a mix, confusing me further as we strolled down the damp corridor.
“Why were you put there in the first place?” I asked, trying to end the silence, but my voice broke a bit, making the atmosphere more tense.
“Nicron saw through me, apparently,” he shrugged.
“And you simply walked nicely into the cell?” I snorted.
“Well, I was curious.”
“I hope you’ve changed your mindset… because they will try to kill us again, and I am not curious.” I sent him a glare, but he merely grinned back at me.
Slowly, we began climbing the stairs, me in the front and Malakai right behind me.
I heard him take a deep breath, as if savoring the smell of something, before I reached to open the door.
I was met with a myriad of faces, all of which were aiming guns at us.
I’d never heard of mages using guns… but then I realised, it wasn’t me they were aiming for, anyway.
As their eyes slid past me and they saw the figure behind me, they opened fire. I tried calling on my flames, but they never reached above my wrists; I was too slow.
Malakai’s red threads slithered in front of me, catching the bullets within a web of blood. His hand reached out casually and plucked one of them from the web.
“Three regular, the rest quartz… you were aiming for her, too?” Malakai asked, his voice thick and threatening.
He gathered all of the bullets in one hand, and twisted his wrist slightly.
The bullets shot out of his grasp, each hitting the guards in vital organs, either killing them outright or putting them on a direct path to death’s door.
Michlael stood in the middle, his eyes harsh and focused on Malakai.
“What kind of magic is this?” he asked curiously, yet stern, before his gaze slid over to me. “You didn’t just let him live, you healed him?” The cruel judgement lingering in his voice was undeniable.
An ice shard came flying from the side, but blood swirled around it, shattered it to pieces, before redirecting the shards towards its creator, peppering him full of holes.
“Keep aiming at her,” Malakai warned, giving Michlael a dark look. “And your entire base will be left in ruins.”
For the first time ever, I saw Michlael tense, his eyes burning at me. “What in the hells have you done?”
“Me? I’m not the one who attacks blindly here. You tortured him, one of my people. You are shooting at me,” I barked back.
“No,” Michlael clenched his teeth. “You are the one standing beside a demon, one able to wield magic at that.”
“Because he’s been helping me,” I said, raising my voice. “He told me to embrace being a fire mage, he killed demons, and he was the one to tell me that we should stop fighting amongst ourselves and turn our attention to the real enemy… the demons in the south.”
“While it shames me to say so, it’s not like your base was free of demons before I came,” Malakai teased with a smug smirk covering his lips.
“What?” Michlael and I echoed.
“So you didn’t know? Interesting…” Malakai hummed.
It looked like Michlael had a hard time deciding whether to listen to him, or if he was casting everything Malakai mentioned aside because of his origins.
“How would you know?” Michlael asked. “Or are you simply trying to sow doubt and mistrust?”
“I can smell them, as easily as I can smell a mage’s power,” Malakai shrugged, placing his hands into his pockets.
“The mage hiding at the archway to the dining room is an earth mage. Also there’s a water mage trying to guide a small stream of water towards us, in the hopes of a sneak attack,” Malakai continued.
“I’d advise against it if she wants to keep her head. ”
Michlael’s eyes darted towards the mages Malakai had pointed out, and with the way his eyes narrowed as they settled on Malakai again, I knew he had been right.
“I gain nothing from planting doubt amongst you,” Malakai said. “I do not desire to conquer the world as the demon army in the south do.”
“Then what is your goal?” Michlael cut in.
“Revenge on a very specific demon is a good start.”
They stared at each other in silence for a while, the moment seemed to drag on for eternity under the circumstances.
I wondered what demon he was referring to…
perhaps he still held a grudge against the demon father who left his mother and him, or perhaps he had crossed paths with another along the way of trying to figure out his side.
“We can still fight for a common goal,” I decided to butt in. “If we can end the war between Aetherions and the… ungifted, we can join forces against the demons once more.”
Michlael looked at me again. “And if he betrays us? What if he’s playing you too, trying to hand us over to his demonic cohorts?”
“That won’t happen,” I assured him.
He scoffed, a doubtful smile emerging.
“Not because it’s not possible,” I continued. “Because I simply won’t let it happen.” As if synchronized with my words, flames began dancing around me, displaying my feelings for everyone to see.
The smile died on Michlael’s face, as he nodded slowly.
An explosion rumbled, the earth quaked and the whole building moved with it. Walls creaked, decorations fell to the floor and vases shattered into thousands of fragments.
“What—” murmurs echoed around us.
“It seems, it’s already begun,” Malakai said bitterly.
“Get out there, now,” Michlael commanded his men, as the remaining guards began running towards the noise. “I guess I have no choice but to trust you, for now.” He glanced at us, before he hurried after his men. We followed right behind him.
“Do you know where Lionel and Eve went?” I asked.
“They left?” Malakai glanced at me, studying my expression and I tried hard to not let the hurt show.
Once we reached the doors, the gate had been blown into pieces, the buildings close to it engulfed in flames. I saw familiar figures running up to the path below us, looking as confused as we were. “Ashley!”
She turned and looked wide-eyed at me. I jogged down to her, Nate and Mey, while Michlael and his people kept going towards the commotion.
“I can help put out the fires!” Mey said, darting away.
“Wait!” Nate shouted after her, but she was already moving. “I… I have to follow.” He nodded towards us, before hurrying after her.
“That,” Ashley said, looking at the stone rubble that had once been the gate. “Was one of my bombs.”
My head snapped to her. “What?”
She turned, her eyes cold, the mere sight of her gave me shivers, I had never seen her pissed off… well, perhaps in our first trial when she stumbled upon Eve. “Someone must’ve stolen it from me, and… wait… did you clear the trial yet?”
“Long story short, no, but Michlael tolerates me anyway?”
Ashley tilted her head confused, before she shrugged and turned to the orange sky again. “Well, if they find out it was ours, we might be thrown out anyway.”
“But we didn’t do it,” I objected.
“Didn’t we?” Ashley raised her voice, looking back at me. “Two of us are missing, without so much as a word. Can you vouch for them not doing it?”
I opened my mouth to protest, but no words formed.
She was right, I wasn’t sure that Lionel and Eve hadn’t done it, especially when I knew both of them wanted nothing to do with Aetherions.
They simply remained because of the rest of us.
What if they’d finally crossed a line, where they’d had enough and simply decided to break ties with us?
What if Lionel cut me off? What if he betrayed me?
A piercing pain spread inside of me, it was suffocating.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
“You’re right,” I forced out. “I’m not sure. But I intend to find out.”
I pushed on, past her and aimed for the flames. They were not mine, but I had seen how other Aetherions were able to control the elements around them, even the manifestations not created by themselves.
These fires felt warmer, like they were actually going to hurt me. How did you even soothe a flame in the first place? I took a deep breath as I watched it, focusing. What first seemed like panicked flames clawing desperately for anything to consume, suddenly calmed, swaying like dancing lights.
They arched, bending down from the building, burning a path, slithering across the ground towards me. People close to it screamed and began running away.
They didn’t see what I felt, flames searching for a home, somewhere they belonged and could burn brightly without earning fear or hatred. The first flames reached me, creating a circle around me before slowly and carefully, as if asking for permission, began climbing up my feet and legs.
A small burning sensation came with the trail; it wasn’t as friendly as my own fires were, yet they didn’t aim to scorch me either.
The building, now left alone, was half-burned with only slowly dying embers remaining within the structure.
As the villagers noticed, they slowly crept out from their hiding-spots as their gazes fell on me, engulfed in flames, welcoming the fires.
And as I let out a breath, the flames faded into ashes, flying off into the air, disappearing into nothingness.
“Wow,” Ashley stammered behind me. “That might’ve been one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. And I feel like I’ve said that to you a couple of times over the past few days.”
By the fallen gate, I caught Michlael in the midst of the crowd, staring at me, his jaw tense.
A part of me wanted to smile, if I hadn’t passed his earlier trial, it was clear that I had now. No matter how much he tried to hide it in his features, I had saved his village from the possibility of a devastating inferno.
Sure, they probably had a lot of water-wielders, they would’ve been able to extinguish the fires eventually. But this?
I was declaring to everyone here that a fire mage was amongst them, alive and most importantly on their side. Fighting with them.
I took my time, walking towards Michlael with Malakai and Ashley by my side. My eyes found Nate and Mey next, their baffled faces told me they had seen it too, as they smiled widely, joining our parade as we made our way towards the entrance.
“What happened?” I asked, trying to act nonchalant.
“Someone has indeed infiltrated us, they planted explosives, which caused the gate to fall,” Michlael said, his voice flat, as if not wanting to give me any credit for my achievement. “And I can’t help but notice that you’re down two people…”
“If they did it, we’re not supporting them,” Malakai cut him off, his words making me falter for a brief moment.
“They disappeared before we even woke up,” Nate added. “But rather than accusing them… what if someone set them up?”
“Sir!” a guard interrupted, panting as if he had been running for a while. “We saw a whole group of people running into the forest, none of them from here. I’d assume they were either ungifted or demons.”
Michlael’s brows furrowed as his eyes burrowed into mine. “It’s curious how all hell seems to break loose as soon as you arrive.”
“Pure coincidence,” I snapped. “I gain nothing from supporting a war between Aetherion and the Ashen Corps.”
“You don’t call them ungifted,” he noted, tilting his head. “At least not with a clear conscience.”
“They’re humans just like us. I don’t call any of you monsters, or accuse all of you because a few stepped over a line and brought demons into our world.
We are all human,” I said, taking a firm step forward, meeting his intense gaze head on.
“The real threat is out there, waiting for us to tear each other apart, so it makes their job easier.”
“Guards,” Michlael shouted. “Prepare a group of the strongest wielders to accompany me and the fire mage.”
“Where are we going?” I asked, confused.
“We’re hunting down the group who attacked us,” he informed. “I will hold them accountable for the damage, and you’ll get one chance to convince them to stop the attacks.”
My pulse quickened, he was giving me a chance? He was trying to see things my way, despite the odds and everything occurring here since we arrived. He chose to give me a chance, believing in my words. It felt surreal and I almost felt like hugging him for it.
“Should I bring Nicron?” the guard asked. “Or should I tell him to watch over the village in your absence?”
Michlael shifted, almost conflicted, as if not knowing. I could see that it was a hard decision; gambling to leave the village if another attack occurred, or bringing his strongest mages in order to make sure we were safe in our hunt.
“Bring Nicron,” he sighed eventually. “We can’t afford to lose this chance. Tell Amestele to lead in my stead.”
The guard bowed his head, before running off to deliver his orders.
“Pack only the bare minimum, if everything goes as planned, we’ll be back soon enough,” Michlael said to us.
“Ashley and Nate, go pick up our stuff,” Malakai ordered without turning around. They didn’t question, as they sprinted off, almost racing each other to it. I guess he knew what he was doing when he picked those two for it.
“You think… Lionel and Eve were a part of that group?” Mey whispered.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, pressing my lips together. “But how would they have communicated with a new group? We haven’t seen anyone else during our travels.”
“We won’t know until we confront them,” Malakai said, shutting the conversation down.
“I know but… Lionel would nev—”
“Perhaps you should consider that he is as capable of withholding things from you, as you were from him, kitten,” Malakai cut off.
His words hit hard and I averted my eyes from him, feeling bitter about it. Was it jealousy? That I was defending Lionel and he got mad about it? Or was it his odd way of trying to open up my mind to things I’ve tried to block out my entire life?
“Let’s head out,” I muttered, my resolve breaking for a heartbeat.