4. Leela
LEELA
Leela had never known pain this suffocating. It was as if a fire was burning within her, intangible and without mercy. It ripped her apart—every blood vessel, every vein, every organ—from the inside out.
A dark vortex swirled, trapping her inside her mind. Through the smoky darkness, a woman stalked forward, shimmering into existence. She drew nearer, like a snake slithering forward. Closer. Clearer.
Leela gawked, unable to look anywhere other than the golden waves filtering around the shadow’s curves and edges. She was stunning. She was divine.
And she was inside Leela’s head.
Leeeelaaaa.
Leela’s eyes shot open. She thought she was back at the palace, trapped in a room the maids locked every night, worried she would run.
Except this felt worse. Much worse.
When the pounding in her skull finally eased, silver cylindrical bars came into focus. Sun splintered through tiny holes in the ceiling, heating up the tiny alcove of the cave where they’d caged her.
A low hum echoed in her mind, vibrating throughout her skull. Leela rubbed her eyes and finally glimpsed a man on a wooden chair on the other side of the bars. As soon as she stirred, the man leaped to his feet and disappeared through the cloth covering the doorway, yelling out for someone.
Groaning and clutching her head, Leela stumbled to her feet. Dizziness drove her back to the ground, her legs unable to communicate with her brain. She bit her lip as her knees dug into the earth and nausea seized her throat. She could only shut her eyes and pray for the pain to disappear.
“She wakes.”
Leela shifted her eyes up to Ishaan, standing before her cell with his hands in his pockets and a smirk. She refused to falter under his gaze. She ground her teeth, fingernails digging into the red earth. “Wh—what did you do to me?”
“I gave you your weapon,” he said. “Perhaps she’ll be all you need to bring the lustisha down. Or maybe she’ll simply lead you to what you seek.”
“W—weapon…?”
“You’re now a Vessel. A Flame that can be used in the line of duty. Or, in your case, a weapon.”
Leela’s gut sank. No. This was far from what she wanted to defeat the monster. She’d rather scour the desert for endless days, yet the choice had been taken from her. Again.
Her nostrils flared, and she ground a lump of sand between her fingers. Fuck this. Fuck him! She forced herself to her feet and clung to the bars. “I didn’t want this!”
Ishaan tilted his chin, gaze firm on hers.
Leela glared at the man, lips twitching in anger. If she could get her hands on him, she’d kill him. But she had to keep the bile down first. Her sweat was thick and sticky, and not from the stifling heat of the sun either—but from the toiling emotions through her.
Anger, for having her body taken from her. Regret, for ever having left the palace. Hope, to get the fuck out of here.
Ishaan stepped closer, a shadow of the Raven and another of a man reminding Leela what she needed to do and how she should behave.
Leela whipped around, hoping to see the shape of her shadows, but no light touched the depths of the cave.
“Wishing to know which Flame you’ve harnessed?” he asked. “Do you hear her?”
Her…
Leela gripped the bars tighter. “No.”
“She’s not a quiet one,” Ishaan said, rubbing his chin and smirking. He sat on the wooden chair, interlocking his fingers on his knees. “I have been waiting a very long time for you, Leela.”
In the blink of an eye, Ishaan’s pupils turned into the dark orbs of a raven, and a muskier voice took hold. Despite the searing afternoon sun, a chill ran down Leela’s spine.
“The Viperess wishes for revenge,” Ishaan—or rather, the Raven—continued. “A way to condemn her lover to the pits of the Netherworld where he should have reigned with her.”
Viperess…
Netherworld…
Two things Leela knew about, and the two things she really wished she didn’t.
Another wave of nausea washed over her, and she shut her eyes. She gripped her temples and swallowed down the bile.
No… She didn’t want to harness the Viperess. The very Flame said to have caused all this chaos between the three realms—the earth, Awakening, and Netherworld. The one who ripped the realms apart and scattered monster churning sandstorms across the world.
No…
Oh. Yes.
Leela jolted. A strong, silky voice reverberated within her skull. It coated her mind in hot oil, boiling with a tangible heat.
“Wh—who are you?” Leela whimpered.
Ishaan chuckled.
The Golden Viperess or Divine Flame. You choose, seeing as we will be together for quite some time, mortal.
Leela’s heart raced harder than a sandstorm, bursting against her ribcage and trying to break free.
Leela wanted to break free of the thing inside her mind.
She wanted the voice inside her head to disappear.
What would happen if she didn’t appease the Viperess?
What happened if… if… Too many thoughts swarmed her mind.
She squeezed her eyes tighter, telling herself it was all a bad dream.
No. She wasn’t stuck in a cell in a cave harnessing a powerful Flame.
She was dead.
Surely, she had fallen from the roof and died.
Not dead.
The words ground against Leela’s skull, each hitch on the syllable and drone on the vowel a stark reminder of whom she harnessed. A reminder of the danger Leela had fallen into and now had no way of getting out of. How was she meant to get rid of a Flame? Especially the Golden Viperess.
Her fingers loosened on the bars. There was no escape from being a Vessel, at least until Leela sorted out how to get out of the cave first. She’d only ever heard of Gilded Thorns harnessing Flames and using them for battle.
She didn’t think she’d ever become a Vessel.
“How is she?” the Raven asked.
Leela jumped back as Ishaan stood, a ravenous hunger split in his dark pupils.
“What does she sound like?” Ishaan urged. “Did I do her proud?”
Proud enough. He took his time.
“She’s pleased,” Leela said, unsure what else to say. Could he not hear her too? Or was she just inside Leela’s head?
Ishaan fell to his knees, a tear running down his cheek. “I did as you asked, my queen. I ensured I found someone perfect for you!”
He failed hundreds of times too.
Leela’s pulse raced. Why her then? How many mortals had died while Ishaan tried to absorb the Viperess into a body? The last thought struck fear into her bones. What had she been waiting for…?
“Is she pleased?” Ishaan asked. “I brought her back. I did as she asked!”
“She’s fine,” Leela said. “Happy, anyway. But I don’t want her. Get her out!”
Ishaan snarled. “How dare you!? You should be groveling at her feet. To harness a Flame like the Viperess is a blessing from the smoke. No mere mortal can harness someone like her. No one is worthy.”
“And why me, then?”
Ishaan smirked. “She will tell you when she is ready.”
Tell him to let us go.
Leela winced as the voice clawed its way inside her skull, as if fingers clung under her bone. “She says… to let us… go.”
Ishaan stilled, eyes unflinching. “As she wishes. But first, she must tell me what to do now?”
How dare he demand answers!
“She’s mad,” Leela said.
The light dimmed in his eyes. “Oh, no, I did not mean to displease her!”
“Then let us go,” Leela snapped. If it meant Leela could leave this place, then so be it. She would use the Flame to get what she wanted, as long as it meant not dying in the process. She had come here in search of a weapon to kill the lustisha. But she was leaving here a weapon.
Her dire circumstances would have to wait until she found a solution to get this Flame out of her head and out of this cell.
You may try, mortal.
Try, Leela shall.
Ishaan fumbled with the keys, and the lock clicked. He swung the doors open and rushed inside, helping Leela to her feet.
Leela let him, eyes narrowed. Could she kill a man where he stood?
When it came down to it, no matter how angry Leela was, she knew she couldn’t ever drive a weapon into someone’s flesh. She could never live with having blood on her hands, knowing she had taken their life and taken them away from people who loved them.
“I mean no disrespect when I ask, my queen. I merely wish to uphold your plans,” Ishaan said, bowing at Leela’s feet. “What else do you wish for me to conquer?”
Tell him to stick to the plan.
Plan. What plan…?
The Viperess was silent.
Leela ground her teeth but relayed the instruction.
Ishaan held her gaze. “As she wishes.”
Leela waited for something more to happen, but Ishaan continued to kneel at her feet, the door to her cell wide open.
Escape. You know you want to. I can help you find what you desperately seek.
Leela stilled. What do you mean? How could you know about that?
I am now a part of you. Whatever you want, I do too. I can help.
Leela bit her lip. It was too simple. Too easy. One leap and she was out the door.
Free.
She would be free.
Before anyone could stop her, Leela bolted. She ran. Ran as hard and fast as she could along the ground. She swerved around the corners, bruising her hip at one point and grazing her elbow on another, but she didn’t stop.
She ran.
And ran, until she stood in the area from last night—at least she assumed only a night had passed. Panting, she turned to the sky. The sun bathed her in its rays of heat.
“Wait!” Ishaan yelled. “I need more answers, my queen!”
Leela didn’t have time to stop and think. She needed to escape while she had the chance.
This way.
A shot of warmth ran up her spine, and her legs moved without her commanding them.
Assuming it was the adrenaline, she ran down one of the five looming corridors, praying the Flame knew it was the right one.
Heart in her throat, she bolted into the darkness.
Her feet carried her all the way to a door, and she burst through.
Fear pulled her into the blistering Nihikian streets.