He’d broke off from the marksman, stating he’d needed to take care of something before joining the others. In truth.. he had an urge, one that needed to be filled and not done so in command of another. Once Tremaine was far enough down the road with the toad, West broke into a run. He ran until his legs threatened to give out, until his lungs burned, he pushed through the pain and kept running until he couldn’t, crashing through the trees and coming to a stop on a grassy hillside.
Huck laid their for some time, trying to catch his breath while staring at the sky. When he felt ready, the mage got shakily to his feet and dusted himself off, removing the enchantment that hid his form with an almost lazy wave of his hand. He remembered this area as he looked around, there was a small settlement not far from here, he decided to go there and see if a cure for the urge screaming for release might present itself.
“Weston?” A voice came to him, causing the mage to pause and look about only to find a woman that appeared to be more plant than human. “Weston what’re you doing here? How.. you’re.. you’re alive.. how are you alive!”
Suddenly he was wrapped in the woman’s arms and pressed tightly against them, confusion began to trickle in only to crash to the surface when they quickly pushed him to arms length, one of their hands coming to rest over his heart. “No.. no, no, no.. we.. we got rid of it.. how.. how did you find it again? What did you do?!” The woman began shaking him. “Why do you have the stone?!”
Shit.. Weston.. he’d not heard the name in so long he’d forgotten all about killing the man, then again he didn’t have the list until after he’d returned from the island. “It actually found me...” He began. What was this blasted woman’s name, he’d been certain to remember all of Weston’s associates before killing him. “Ayalah..” He said the name softly at first, it stirred something in the back of his mind, a young woman, a campfire, he had lute in his lap. The stone hummed in his chest. “Ayalah! Bloody hell it’s good to see you! I didn’t even know you’d passed.. when? What happened?”
She looked confused, placing a hand on each of his shoulders, eyes narrowing. “You.. you don’t remember?”
Damn.. this was probably a moment Weston would remember, likely saw it happen. She must have passed before he’d been lost at sea. “Things have been.. foggy.” He said, the lie tasted sour on his tongue. “I’ve been trying to put the pieces of that time together but most of it is a blur.” Not much of a save, but the look of concern on her face made Huck believe he’d managed to at least convince her.
“When we tried to free you from the stone.. you.. attacked us. Before we were able to subdue you.. you managed to stab me. We’d thought I would be fine thanks to Matteo’s gifts but.. it wasn’t enough. You.. don’t remember do you? You held my hand as I took my last breath..” Ayalah’s hands squeezed his shoulders.
Images flashed through his mind, memories he couldn’t place, pain, loss, sorrow, cracking, breaking, broken.
“I..” Before he could speak.. her face, her true face before this land changed her, filled his thoughts, banishing the cloud that fogged his mind. He remembered the stone, locked away in a chest, a chest wrapped in chains. He remembered holding Ayalah’s hand as the chest was sent away. Promising her he’d do whatever he could to ignore the pull it had over him, squeezing her hand as the life left her eyes. He’d left the others then, needing time to process what had just happened, swearing he’d never go looking for the stone again. He’d meant it.
Ayalah’s fingers squeezed his as West felt new memories shatter their way into his thoughts, even as he felt this the stone in his chest hummed, burned, demanded his attention. Here was a perfect cure to the urge, here in his hand, it had come to him willingly, who was he to refuse such an eager offering. “NO!”
West pushed himself away from her, holding up a hand, “Stay back.. please..”
“You have to get rid of it... you have to.. you haven’t been the same since you found it. Please, Weston, please..” She was coming closer, the anima stake twitched in his pocket as West struggled with the urge to kill her and this foreign need to protect her.
West blinked rapidly, he knew those voices.. “No.. I.. I can’t..”
The mage held up a hand as Ayalah stopped a few paces away from him, “Don’t listen to them..” Her voice cracked as she spoke, sending a wave of memories through him.
Another boy, a girl, and him, hardly much older than Lyro, a strange stone discovered in a cave. The other two wanted to leave it but he.. he felt something when he touched it. Power. For someone with nothing, the promise of everything was too great, the boy, Matteo, and the girl, Ayalah, reluctantly agreed to let him take it.
Suddenly everything was simple, West’s fingers curled around the anima stake in his pocket. “You’re right, Ayalah.. I need to get rid of it.” The hand held out towards her turned, palm facing up as she came closer. “I’ll find a way.. I promise.”
“They were whispers at first.. I.. I remember you telling me. You were scared. But then I’d find you awake by the fire, talking to yourself. We were worried, you were... different. Violent. Matteo and I were scared to stay with you, scared to leave you, we were just scared.” She was almost close enough, her hand reaching out for his, just a step more and he could pull her in.
“It’ll all be fine..” The words left his lips and Ayalah stopped, her hand hovering in the air, all he had to do was lean in and he could grab her.
“Your hold is too strong, isn’t it.. there’s not even enough left of him to fight it.” She let her hand fall to her side, her face calm, she seemed to welcome the fate she’d unwittingly walked into.
“He hasn’t had the fight to resist since you died.. we found him again soon enough. Helped him craft a new life, a better one.” He heard the words leave him, but they came from far away, even the view was changing, like watching Ayalah from down a long tunnel. Then everything faded away.
Thank you for your deposit. Goodbye.
The words from the stake snapped him back to reality. He was was breathing heavily, he didn’t recognize his surroundings, Ayalah lay beneath him, the stake buried in her chest, her body nothing more than a husk.
“No..” He was back. And everything was violently crashing down around him.
We had enough. He knew the voice, he’d not heard it in years. His mentor.
You were straying from the objective. Another familiar voice, one he’d always associated with Whitemane, the worgen that attacked him when he was a boy.
“This doesn’t make sense.. None of this makes sense.” West gripped his head, trying desperately to focus on Ayalah in his mind before the fog that threatened to cloud his thoughts once more consumed him.
You were broken when we found you, weak, you lacked guidance, discipline. We took you from nothing and made you who you are.
Focus, boy, you need to get back to the others before they know you’re missing. Return to Tremaine before he finds them. Go.
West shook his head, “You’re the reason I’m a monster.”
Get it together, hide the husk and move before someone finds you here.
Do it or I’ll do it for you.
We’ve been with the stone for what feels like an eternity.
Your mind was the perfect home. Fresh. Unbound by the restrictions other hosts possessed.
“You mean I was young, easily manipulated.” West pulled the anima stake free from Ayalah’s husk, running a finger along its surface. “Why do you sound human if you’ve been with the stone so long.”
Would joo be so open tah suggestion if we sounded like dis?
Joo’d ah’ve been scared, boy.
Trolls.. when he’d found the stone again as a man he’d suspected it had been from the old world, before... everything. “And the stone?”
It be our home. An’ you be dah roof.
Laughter filled his thoughts, they found it amusing. He turned the stake’s point towards himself.
‘Ey! What yah be tinkin’, boy! Joo do dis and we all be gone to de other side. Don’ be foolish.
Dis place be playin’ tricks on jah. Jah mind’s all twisted up here.
“Actually.. it feels like I’m thinking clearly for the first time.” West aimed the stake over his heart, the crystal humming angrily in his chest. He could feel it, their desperation, West wondered if that was the strangeness he’d felt when Grekk gave him the stake in Oribos. The edges of his flesh that met the crystal began to tear free, he could feel it trying to push itself out. They weren’t talking anymore, their only goal was to get away.
“I should have left you in the cave..” He hesitated, the last of his flesh still pressed against the stone came free before he pulled the stake towards him with all his might. It struck the stone as a gong reverberated through the air. A force threw him back, the stake leaving his hand.
When he came too, West was staring up at the face of one of the fae, the creature looked worried. The mage tried to sit up but the pain in his chest nearly blinded him. “No, no, stay down, let yourself heal.” They said.
Huck looked down to see the fae’s hand hovering over the open wound in his chest. “I’m.. alive..”
“We’ll see!” It said, the damned things sing-song voice grating his ears. “You had a lot of little shards all inside there. They felt bad. BUT! I took them out!”
“You took them.. out?” West shook his head, trying to remember what happened after trying to kill himself with the stake.
“Yep! They tried to get away but I smashed ‘em! Never seen anything like it.” The fae went back to focusing on his wound while the mage struggled with the realization of everything that came with the knowledge of his.. perhaps.. survival.
“I.. I need to get back to my people. They will be worried.” And he was worried as well. What did he tell them..
...should you lie to me again I will consider you an oathbreaker.. He owed them the truth. Let them decide his fate. After everything he’s done.. his fate shouldn’t be in his own hands.
“Welp! Did all I can, good luck!” West blinked rapidly as the fae just flew off, giggling to itself. The mage forced himself to his feet, his chest still hurt, but he didn’t have time for pain. Collect the stake, return to Tremaine, find the others. That was all that mattered right now. The rest will come.
