literature

The Price of Vengeance, Ch. 2

Deviation Actions

Windseeker04's avatar
By
Published:
3K Views

Literature Text

No.  No way.  This had to be some elaborate trick from the Dark Spark, some sort of ruse.  This couldn't possibly be-

Claire's thoughts of denial were cut short as the spirit presumably turned to face her, and she could have sworn her heart stopped from that alone.  To her surprise, it seemed to nod in her direction - respect?  No, this thing practically radiated malevolence and sinister intent.  Was it mocking her - silently thanking her for freeing it?

Freeing it.  That was exactly what she'd done, wasn't it?  Both Ceriss AND the Dark Spark had tried warning her not to do it, but she'd done it anyway.  She'd killed the murderer... denied her life... and effectively threw open the door to the spirit's prison.

She tried to collect her thoughts.  No, she couldn't freak out.  She had thwarted the Dark Spark, killed her.  Surely this spirit could be so easily defeated?  She'd crushed that sinister little spark all that time ago; surely she just needed to apply that to a larger scale.

When she moved her arms outward, palms opened and facing the spirit, she noticed that it seemed to suddenly freeze in place.  She wondered why that was, but decided not to dwell on it.  She channeled her magical power through her hands, called upon the earth beneath the spirit to rise up.  It obeyed, and two large walls of earth were hovering on either side of the spirit.  Claire then moved her hands together as swiftly as she could, intent on catching the spirit between both walls and extinguishing it as surely as-

A split-second before her hands actually made contact, however, the spirit was suddenly and practically upon her.  She was in mid-gasp before she felt something resembling a hand lash out and wrap around her neck, and struggled to breathe as it tightened around her throat and lifted her off the ground.  Her tail flailed beneath and behind her; she eventually tried lashing it out at the spirit, not really seeing how it would help.  As if it were protected by a force-field, her tail practically bounced off of the air immediately around the spirit's constantly shifting form.

Once, she had been treated to a brief jolt that had numbed her body.  Another time, she'd experienced excrutiating pain for two seconds.

This time, she could see the dark lightning arcing from the spirit's 'arm' and into her.  She would have screamed, had she the means, but she could only suffer in silence as that powerful blast of dark lightning coursed through her body.  This was beyond excrutiating; Claire didn't think a word existed to describe how agonizing this pain was.  She eventually found herself wishing she was dead; that way, she wouldn't have to suffer this pain.

She didn't know how long she suffered for, but when it stopped, it felt like it had been hours.  She couldn't feel her body or move it in the slightest; when the spirit dropped her, she collapsed limply to the ground, the faint groan of pain escaping her throat the only sign that she was still alive.

Too strong.  It was impossible for Claire to defeat this thing, this spirit.  She wondered what was going to happen next.  Was it going to let her live?  Would she be forced to live through whatever this spirit wrought upon the world, knowing full well she was responsible for setting it loose?

She could barely make out the horrified shriek that came from Ceriss.  That, in turn, made Claire's blood run cold.  She had completely forgotten the princess was here - and worse yet, still trapped in that earthen hand.  She was a very easy target for the spirit.

"D... don..."  The lamia was desperate to form words, but none came easily.  She was trying to command the spirit to leave Ceriss alone, but all that came out were pained squeaks as her throat failed her time and again.

Another horrified shriek was soon replaced by a scream of utter agony, and Claire found herself somehow managing to wince.  Was the princess being treated to the same pain she'd been subjected to moments ago?  It wore on for several seconds, and then stopped suddenly... too suddenly.

"C... er...?"  Gods, but how she wished she could speak clearly...!  If she had gotten Ceriss killed, she wouldn't be able to live with herself.

Another otherworldly shriek tore the air, and again, it threatened to rupture the lamia's eardrums.  Was the spirit reveling in its kill?  Was it celebrating something else?  Its freedom, perhaps.

Its freedom.

Claire was starting to feel tingling sensations along her body again.  She was very slowly regaining feeling; she was able to move, albeit sluggishly and clumsily.  She did manage to turn her head to face in Ceriss' direction.  Above all else, she had to make sure she hadn't accidentally condemned her closest friend to death.

It was too faint for her comfort, but Claire could see the princess' limp figure twitch every so often.  She was still alive, then... but for how long would it stay that way?

The spirit was before the lamia again, its body still that raging storm.  She wondered if she was about to suffer another round of indescribable pain.

Instead, she heard what sounded like a low, guttural voice that echoed through the air.  Whatever it might have been saying, she recognized none of it.  She wasn't sure she wanted to know what it was saying, either.

She did, however, know that there was only one chance - and she was going to take it.  She drew a slow, ragged breath, then forcibly pushed herself upon her hands.  Her arms trembled uncertainly, muscles still mostly numb from the dark electrocution.  She wouldn't need all of her muscles, though; she'd only need her fingers.

They worked well enough, she supposed.  True, they twitched quite a bit, but she had some degree of control over them once more.

At least she was able to curl them inward without much difficulty, dragging her fingernails through the dirt beneath her hands.  She silently whispered arcane words, slowly conjuring a dome of earth to sever the spirit and herself from the rest of the world.

She had freed it from its prison without realizing it.  Now, she was determined to try and lock it in this new prison of her own design... unfortunately, it would only last as long as she lived.

A chilling sound resembling laughter echoed through the interior of the now-completed dome.  The spirit was... laughing at her.  Did it find her attempt to contain it amusing?  It was all she could do right now, though.  She definitely couldn't destroy it; she'd tried, and paid quite dearly for the attempt.

In an instant, her throat was seized again, and she was once more lifted off the ground.

"Please... no..." she whispered, hoping against all hope it would recognize her plea and spare her the electrocution again.

Of course, she knew better.  Agony again coursed through her entire body; strangely enough, she was aware of her voice screaming this time around.  Had she screamed the first time?  She couldn't remember.  Why did this hurt so much?

What have I done...? was Claire's final thought before her world faded to black.

--

If she was being honest, she wasn't expecting to wake up.  Her entire body was sore and felt as if it had been numb for quite some time.  It ached to even try and move, but Claire forced herself to move her arms and try pushing herself upright.  Her arms gave out four times, causing her to land on her front with groan each time; she eventually gave it up.

"Was it worth it?"  A voice Claire wasn't familiar with met her ears, and she managed to turn her head so as to glance up at the speaker.

A woman with long silver hair, pulled back into a ponytail stood before her.  Her long black robe - assymetrical, the lamia noticed - looked rather elegant but sultry.  Disapproving blue eyes gazed down at Claire; to avoid them, Claire found her attention focused instead upon another feature that was only slightly surprising.

"Well?"  The elf - as revealed by her long, pointed ears - crossed her arms over her chest and stared down at her.

"Wha'ppened...?"  Claire mentally cursed herself for sounding like she slurred her speech, and she took a moment to try and recover further.  Once she felt slightly more lucid, she tried again.  "Wha... happened...?"  Close enough.

"I asked you first, lamia.  Was it worth it?"  The elf enunciated every word in her repeated question, showing she was expecting an answer.

"...No..."  Claire tried pushing herself up again; to her relief, only her left arm gave out this time.  She managed to shift her upper body just enough to keep herself upright and upon her right arm before she would have otherwise fallen down again.

"How fortunate, then, that I was able to contain the spirit."

Claire blinked at this, and looked around.  "Where...?  No... what...?"

"I sensed the explosion of power as the spirit that possessed Thyssian got free," the elf began, "and I came as quickly as I could.  I arrived just in time to see your pathetic little earthen dome crumble, and saw the spirit itself.  It saw me, charged at me..."  The silver-haired elf allowed herself a smirk.  "Unfortunately for it, negating energy is something of a specialty of mine.  I was able to drain its power and render it incapacitated for a time."

Claire wondered just who this elf was, but couldn't find it in herself to ask.

"All the same, this is a temporary solution," the elf sighed.  She moved a gloved hand into view from behind her back; clutched in it was what looked like a stone as black as the midnight sky, but it pulsed with a color reminiscent of that dreaded dark lightning... as if it were a heartbeat.  "It will eventually regain its strength and burst forth again.  I only depleted its power; I expended quite a bit of my own to do so.  If it recovers soon, I won't be able to stop it again."

"...Need... to contain it permanently..." Claire mumbled.

"True, but that's a hell of a burden to bear."  The elf paused for a second.  "Thyssian understood that better than any of us, and she still bore it as best she could."  The elf's glare down at Claire made the lamia shrink back.  "At least, until some bitch blinded by hatred decided to ignore her warnings and killed her."

"I know I... screwed up," Claire muttered.  A thought crossed her mind briefly, but she contemplated the consequences.  "What... what if... I took the burden in-"

"No."  It was Ceriss' voice who reached her ears now, and hearing the princess once again reminded the lamia that she was there.  "Not only are you unfit to do such a thing, I have... another idea."  Claire couldn't see Ceriss, but imagined she turned to face the elf.  "Seleth?  If I may?"

"...Be careful, Ceriss," the elf replied.  Claire surmised 'Seleth' was the elf's name.  "That spirit could-"

"I know," she cut in.  "I know, but I still have to try.  There's only one person here who can accept living with the spirit possessing them."

Claire's mind spun.  Surely Ceriss wasn't about to let that malevolent fiend possess her?  Surely she wasn't about to become the next 'Dark Spark'?

"True," Seleth began slowly, "but... she's dead, Ceriss."

"I know," the princess repeated.  "I just... need a moment."

"Wait..."  Claire managed to conjure a short earthen pillar beneath herself, then propped herself upon it so she was more or less upright.  "What are you... doing...?"  When was this weariness going to leave her?  She was tired of having to pause for breath every so often.

"None of your fucking business," Ceriss shot back.  The glare she delivered the lamia was one filled with pure hatred, and made Claire shrink back.  Had she just made an enemy of the princess?  "You've done enough damage, snake.  Stay the FUCK out of this from now on, or so help me, I will fucking MURDER you in the slowest, most gruesome way I can dream up."

Those words more than stung the lamia, but she did hold her silence.  Ceriss hated her now.  Perhaps she had disliked her before, but they had always managed to get along.  Now?  Now, the pink-haired princess despised her.  That alone broke Claire's heart, and it showed as her eyes started to water.

"Seleth, if you could?  I'd appreciate having back-up from someone I TRUST.  If that thing awakens while I'm doing this..."  Ceriss was seemingly content to ignore Claire now, for her expression softened instantly as she looked to the elf again.

"I promise nothing, I'm afraid, but I'll do my best," Seleth replied calmly.  "Do what you need to, Ceriss."

The princess nodded, then set the stone upon the chest of the Dark Spark's corpse.  The stone seemed to pulse a little quicker upon contact with the body, and it even trembled just a little, ever so slightly swaying this way and that.

"It can sense what you're up to," Seleth noted.

"Good.  Let it realize its foolishness a bit longer," Ceriss replied.  Claire had some feeling - and a mild hope, given the 'a bit longer' - that it was also indirectly aimed at her.

Claire's thoughts were interrupted when the air around Ceriss swirled and darkened, and her jaw hung open.  She had so many questions to ask, but didn't dare.  What was Ceriss doing?

As soon as the veil of darkness had thickened enough to effectively hide the fallen princess from view, Claire had extreme difficulty seeing past the veil.  She could very, very faintly make out the outline of Ceriss reaching a hand out toward... something.  A very faint and quick flash of light managed to pierce the veil, but was quickly subdued by it once more as it faded.  The veil also began to lift, allowing the lamia to see Ceriss clearly as each second passed.

Another flash - this one the color of dark lightning - came from the Dark Spark's body.  Something seemed different from the previous time, however.  This time, there wasn't a seeming storm erupting from the corpse.  Instead... was Claire mistaken, or did she see her enemy's chest rise briefly...?

A gasp greeted her ears, and a grim expression set upon her face.  She watched as the Dark Spark slowly raised a hand to gingerly touch her chest.

So Ceriss had the ability to raise the dead?  No... this didn't seem to be necromancy.  Was it true resurrection, then?  She wasn't sure what to make of this.

"What..."  It was definitely the Dark Spark's voice - and it sounded as normal as usual.

"I... I set your body right," Ceriss said softly.  The princess reached down and gently slid her arms around the Dark Spark's stomach.  "And then I forced the subdued spirit into your body.  It tried to escape, but I put a failsafe in place, upon its core."  Claire could hear the pride in the princess' voice.  "From now on... whenever you would die, and it tries to escape, all it will succeed in doing is restarting your heart and giving you new life."

Claire's eyes widened at that.  Ceriss had that sort of power?!

"At least until I can figure out how to purge it," the Dark Spark said slowly.

"Exactly.  It won't get free again, not until I let it."

A bolt of dark lightning bolted, seemingly unbidden, from the Dark Spark's fingers and arced straight at the princess.  A veil of darkness moved to shield Ceriss from it, however, and dissipated shortly after striking it.

"I'd be careful, spirit," the princess warned.  "Kill me, and that lock I placed on your core?  It will NEVER come off.  You will ALWAYS remained trapped in such a case."  She smirked a bit, which unsettled Claire just a little.  "Which means you now have a reason to actually PROTECT me."

"...Um..."  Claire was so lost right now, and wasn't afraid to admit it to herself.  Uttering that single sound, however, turned three sets of eyes upon her.  Seleth's gaze was disapproving and scornful.  Ceriss' gaze was filled with hatred and anger.  The Dark Spark's gaze... Claire couldn't read it so well.  "Just... what exactly...?"

"None of your damn business, snake," Ceriss shot back.  "Get the fuck out of here.  Be a good little pet and go back to Wind's manor," she added with a sneer.

"Ceriss, wait."  It was the Dark Spark who spoke up.  Her expression was still unreadable.  "Claire, answer me truthfully.  Do you regret what you did?"

Claire didn't know.  It had been so very satisfying to know she'd killed the Dark Spark - however briefly, at that.  And yet, doing so had ushered in a greater problem she wasn't ready to deal with.  She'd also been taught, by that same token, that she'd been told the truth all along - and that she'd simply chosen to ignore it.

"Of course she doesn't," Ceriss snapped.  "If she did, she'd have said so by now!"

"Try placing yourself in her position, Ceriss."  It was Seleth who spoke now.  "Can you imagine your worst enemy telling you that the crimes they committed against the ones you loved were caused by some other force?  How would that make you feel?"

Ceriss affixed a hate-filled glare upon Claire, who shrank back yet again.  There was no mending that burned bridge, not anymore.  To her credit, however, the princess' expression did soften ever so slightly.

"I suppose I'd feel the same way," Ceriss admitted.

"She thought she was in the right.  She obviously found out she was wrong.  We can't exactly forget that she tried to contain the spirit, either; she realized her mistake and tried to correct it."

"Claire."  The Dark Spark offered nothing more than the lamia's name and a blank look.

"...You still need to face judgment, Dark Spark," Claire finally said.  "Just... it's no longer my place to pass it."

Apparently, that was good enough for the Dark Spark, for she let a faint smile grace her lips.  She then said four words Claire never thought she'd agree with.

"We need to talk."
At long last, Claire has avenged her fallen kin.  The Dark Spark lies dead before her.  And yet, what price may the lamia sorceress have to pay for exacting vengeance?

--

Withholding comments about the story until the last part is up - which will be coming up shortly.

--

Claire is my OC, and should not be used without my permission!
Ceriss is my OC, and should not be used without my permission!
Thyssian (a.k.a. the Dark Spark) is my OC, and should not be used without my permission!
Seleth is my OC, and should not be used without my permission!
© 2017 - 2024 Windseeker04
Comments0
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In