The Stormsender’s Daughter | Chapter XVII | Apex Predator
Chapter XVI | Chapter XVII | Chapter XVIII
Warnings: None
Word Count: 1,126
A/N: Italics represent past events.
Midnight.
The manor shrouded in silence.
But not a single tranquil soul rested within these marble walls.
There was a thirst for blood in the air.
The smell of it boiling.
Dion merely assumed it was his new fortunes coming into fruition.
Birdie merely thought it was his greed.
But there was a greater threat in the midst.
The apex predator…
…hidden in the grey.
The kitchen down the right hall.
There were no windows and the walls were thick marble.
It was surrounded by a large dining room and one of the guest halls that no one was permitted to enter during night hours, unless by direct order of Dion himself.
Galahd had no chance of getting caught in here if the girls knew what was good for them.
And they undoubtedly did.
For her plan to run smoothly, all Galahd needed was to remain out of sight.
Ever so often, in small pockets where her culinary preparations needed no attendance, she would step outside the kitchen for 20 seconds. Shutting the door behind her.
In the silence of the manor, a concentrated ear could easily hear the sound of agitated gagging and pleasurable moans.
Deciphering each pitch and tone with a person was tricky in the beginning, but eventually became like clockwork for the burdened child.
Dion was not complicated.
Certain trophies were good for certain tasks.
Some were better for quickies or primarily subtle fellatio.
Some he enjoyed to role-play with or any form of BDSM.
Every girl had a kink and each one had a particular talent that Dion would exploit for his own pleasures.
Every girl sounded slightly different while getting their throats stuffed.
The few with no gag reflexes were the most difficult to identify, but…lucky, this one did.
The sound of the gags resembled an obnoxious chirping.
Birdie.
Good. That meant she’d be occupied for a while. Dion liked to take his time with his favorite.
A lot. Of time.
Galahd re-entered the kitchen. Pots and pans still stable. She continued stirring the contents within them, seasoning, garnishing. Everything needed to be perfect. Down to the very last detail.
A special trust was needed to be gained. After all, the Pythoness was not so simple as to fall for anything. If everything Dion and Birdie have said are true, then trust wouldn’t be as simple as talking about.
She couldn’t just rely on her disheveled appearance and clear impairments to pull her through this.
No. That would be much too easy.
She had to form a bond. A bond that would make the Pythoness sick at the thought of betraying.
Galahd’s physical state already sent a spear through the wizard’s heart...before being pistol whipped before her teal eyes.
But an entire banquet of a feast, solely prepared by her alone...with no intention of partaking?
There was no doubt this would be enough to tug at anyone’s heart strings…
…let alone a wizard on the run to save her family’s reputation.
However, before that, she had one more task to complete. And judging by the time, 12:27am, this one required haste.
With dinner preparations completed, Galahd re-emerged from the kitchen.
Statuesque in the darkness, she lended her ear to make sure the cost was still clear.
The gags had ceased, but Dion’s moaning had not.
Birdie’s significant lack of sounds clearly indicated she was not enjoying herself, much to Galahd’s amusement, but she didn’t have time to delay.
Making her way down the hall, she passed by the guest rooms.
She briefly reminisced on multiple clean ups she’s had in there.
Not just of arrogant Nif soldiers...as well as a few rule breakers.
Despite the fact it was off-limits during night hours, there have been a few of there own lost to their own stupidity...a ripped off breast here and a tongue there was no surprise.
But what few brains the still living girls had, they had enough to not make the same mistake.
With how far these rooms are, it wouldn’t be easy for an intruder to be detected.
The only way for one to know is if they knew whose room was beyond these.
None of the girls did and they still aren’t sure who could’ve possibly ratted out their friends.
And because of their fear of being discovered, they never paid attention to where a ever so beauty bird would fly off to after her master sent her away for the night.
Upon entering Birdie’s room, vacant of course, Galahd ever so silently made her way through in the darkness.
It wreaked of the woman’s bitter perfume and hairspray. Not that that was anything new.
This wasn’t the first time she snuck in so she was quick to find what she was looking for.
One of Dion’s strange fetishes was hearing Birdie sing.
It sounded like a chocobo having sex with a cactuar, but nothing those two did was in any way wholesome so she was no longer phased.
Digging into the side table of her bed, the girl removed a tape recorder. As well as one of the many unmarked tapes scattered about the drawer.
Upon setting it up, Galahd made her way toward Birdie’s closest.
There was a scarf the woman adored highly, a gift given to her from her master, made of the thickest and most expensive wool.
She always kept it to the left side on a small satin hanger behind her many corsets.
She knew for she was the one that would be forced to clean it and after many moments of scanning as Birdie returned it to its home, Galahd was able to pinpoint its location.
Removing the scarf from its designated spot, the girl wrapped it multiple times around her mouth before returning to the bedside where the tape recorder resided.
Taking a deep breath, she proceeded to test her theory.
“Chancellor Izunia”.
Her voice heavily altered by the wool. Like a deep monotone.
“Alright”, she whispered before finally pressing record.
12:39am.
Galahd exited the room, returning to the darkness that shrouded the hallways of the manor.
The contents of Birdie’s room were replaced just as they were. Not a inch out of place.
All, but a single tape clutched within the girl’s hand.
Now labeled “S.R.”
Standing completely still for a moment, Galahd could still hear faint delight coming from the office on the far side.
The devil still abusing the rare strelitzia reginae. It should’ve been a crime...
...but the world is full of injustice, wasn’t it?
Phase 2 of her plan was complete.
“Now”, the girl softly mumbled to herself. Her expression blank as she began to make her way down the hall.
Warnings: None. | OC’s: Muerlinian Zephyr | Word Count: 1,396
A/N: Part two of holiday fic.
A/N: Super late, but sleep was of the essence.
Darkness.
Like he was outside.
But with white.
That’s right…the snow.
But…he could barely feel it.
It was like...it wasn’t even really there.
Hard to believe this sleeveless gent was suddenly used to the freezing temperatures.
His mind raced in his slumber.
He remembered the freezing cold.
The ice bombs attacking his friends.
His men…
…Talcott…
…that blinding flash of light…
“…Muerlin…”, the man mumbled in his sleep.
“Yes?”
Prompto choked himself awake with a sharp gasp, leaning forward into a sitting position. Panting heavily.
“Woah, woah there, jumpy”, that familiar silky accent floated through Prompto’s itching ears. Those charcoal black hands gently holding his body steady.
His indigo iris’ lifting to view those teal lagoons he longed for these past 2 years.
It wasn’t a dream.
“Muerlin, you...”.
Prompto longingly reached toward her face, running his fingers through her silver locks.
It was longer than before...everything about her seemed brighter.
“Doc said you shouldn’t move so much”, she explained with a smile.
Rising from her seat next to the bewildered plebe, she made her way toward a pot of tea that was still steaming. “You all were ‘bout an inch away from frostbite”.
“Us...all?”, Prompto raised a confused eyebrow.
“Yeah. All your men are safe”. She began pouring the hot liquid. “The ones that are awake won’t pipe down about you so at least I’ll have some satisfying news for them now”, she chuckled.
But Prompto’s conscious wasn’t clear yet.
“What about Talcott?”
“Little Talcott? He’s fine. I took care of that ice bomb before it could do any damage”.
Prompto’s eyes nearly popped from his skull.
“Wait…”.
That blast…it wasn’t an explosion.
“That was YOU?!”
Muerlin grinned at the shocked man and giggled.
“Well, of course it was. What, you think I’ve just been wanderin’ around Eos healing folks?”
She returned beside the bed and to her seat, handing him his cup.
“I’ve got a few new tricks up my sleeve”, she sighed as she took a sip. Prompto following suit. “Kind of didn’t really have a choice anyway”.
“What do you mean?”
The wizard lowered the cup to her lap, staring at the steamy contents inside.
“After…Gralea”, her hand gently placed upon her lower abdomen. Prompto’s heart sank as memories of that fateful day flooded through his mind. He never wanted to ask her exactly what happened to her in that horrible place…all he knows is that that bastard hurt her…and somehow used him to do it…just like with Noct.
He remembered her blood squishing in between his fingers as he carried her to safety…the wound was deep…to this day, he wishes she would just come out and tell him what happened, but in all honesty, that would probably make him a hypocrite.
…because the whole while he was panicking and scrambling to save her life, all Muerlin could see was the cuts and bruises that coated his body…the grief that burdened her eyes when they found each other again was far too much for Prompto to bare.
She begged him to tell her what had happened after he fell off that train, but even now, he wasn’t sure how she would take it.
The last thing the world needed was a reason to fear her...again...
“...because of it...”, the wizard spoke once more. “I swore to never fail so tremendously again”.
Prompto began to shake his head. “Muerlin-“.
“You know what they call me, right?”, the wizard cut the man’s words. “The ‘New Oracle’”.
Prompto’s eyes fixed on those deep lagoon pools.
“Tch...the real Oracle is the one that should be here, not me”.
“Hey...”, the ocean eyed plebe spoke up at his love’s negative words.
Muerlin’s gaze now lowered to her charcoal arms.
“It probably would’ve turned out better if I was the one rotting at the bottom of the sea”.
“Hey!”, Prompto lightly shouted toward her, pulling her vision upward toward his own.
Their pupils locked.
“You fought hard just like the rest of us...and like us, you have the scars to prove it”.
Despite their battling emotions, Prompto couldn’t believe he was finally able to hold her once again.
He wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms and reaffirm his undying love.
However, she seemed preoccupied with something else...her eyes locked onto his bare chest.
Her heart sank upon viewing the many scars he had accumulated over her absence, delicately feeling their gravity against his freckled flesh.
“A scar for every man that calls you ‘Captain’ I suppose....”, she nearly whispered. “...and then some”.
“...I have to protect them”, Prompto firmly declared, feeling the weight of Muerlin’s sadness. “Like I promised to protect you”.
“I’m the one that’s supposed to be protecting you...”, Muerlin shamefully sighed, placing her hand upon Prompto’s as it rested against her cheek. “...and everyone else”.
Prompto could feel the somberness within her usually bright spirit.
“Everyone I loved”, Muerlin retorted, her tearful eyes staring directly into Prompto’s, “...and love”.
“That’s not up to you”.
With Prompto’s callused palms pressed against her temples, Muerlin couldn’t help, but feel a peace brew under the chaos that warped her mind.
“There’s a reason why they call you the ‘New Oracle’”.
“I’m not Luna...”.
“No, you’re not and you don’t have to be”. His tone softened with a light smile.
“You’re the Pythoness. Raised by the Oracle, watched over by the Oracle, sister of the Oracle, but still the Pythoness...still Muerlin...”.
The lagoons twinkled in the warming embrace of the oceans tide.
“...still you”.
Prompto brushed a few strands of silver from her freckle dusted cheeks.
“And it’s you that Eos needs right now...that’s out there roaming from place to place in this Hell to bring hope and strength to the entire world. That’s opened Willownoire’s gates for the first time in centuries to treat the sick and the helpless. That’s bustin’ daemon heads left and right with literal friggin’ LIGHTNING like a total BADASS”.
Finally forcing a giggle out of the woman.
“And you’re the one that I love...”, his gaze so heavily sweetened, “so so so much...that seeing you again has literally been a dream I’ve had for so many months. I can’t get you out of my head!”
Muerlin melted into his grasp.
Prompto just staring in awe at the beauty he had longed for all this time.
“Well...”, Muerlin smiled toward him, “...consider it payback for keepin’ me up all night”.
Prompto chuckled lightly as his eyes began to dart between her eyes and her grey glossed lips.
Muerlin’s cheeks flushed at the pleasant anxiety roaming through her.
2 years of anticipation and yearning.
These few seconds feeling like an eternity compared to that.
The familiar warm of their breath ghosting each other’s lips before impact.
An explosion of ecstasy the two had pinned for for so long was enough to nearly bring them to tears.
It was too good to cease.
Roaming her silky locks, caressing his blonde stubble, intertwined with growing passion.
Trailing fingers down her back that was mostly bare, admiring the strength in his neck and his chest.
Their tongues in synchronized dance.
Prompto could feel the heat of her flushed bosom as he inched closer and closer to Muerlin’s body.
His thumb passing over her nipple inviting a sharp gasp into her throat just barely pulling their lips apart long enough for their eyes to reconnect.
Panting against their swollen lips, a loving smile painted upon Muerlin’s face followed by a light chuckle.
“New Oracle or not”, Muerlin started as she finally stood from her seat. “I should follow some sort of ethics and not sleep with one of my patients”.
That familiar laugh widened the woman’s smile.
“Fair enough”, the plebe captain complied. “Buuuuuuuuut...”, he added, gently pulling her closer, lightly trailing his fingers against her waist toward her rear.
“...afterward, Doc, I gonna have a bone to pick with you”. His exaggerated rusty country accent making it nearly impossible to keep a straight face. “A BIG one”, he added waggling his eyebrows.
Muerlin threw her head back in a light giggle fit before wrapping her arms around her beloved chocobo.
The Stormsender’s Daughter | Chapter XIX | Amat Victoria Curam
Chapter XVIII | Chapter XIX | Chapter XX
Warnings: None.
Word Count: 1,566
A/N: Italics represent past events.
The silence returned.
For hours and hours.
It felt like an eternity.
Only because of the anxiousness that rattled Galahd’s bones.
4:29am.
The silence made it easy to hear the pitter patter of Birdie’s feet on the marble floors.
She enter her room over an hour ago. The pipes still roared within the walls. She was still in her shower.
There was not a single stir otherwise.
Dion was stationed in his office, the girls still in their wistful dreamland, the Pythoness tossing in her bed.
Asleep, lightly. She was on her guard.
Good...that means the escape will be quick.
And she had little reason to doubt.
The Nifs will find the letter soon. The window would be short.
This depended on how long Birdie showered.
It needed to be at the right time. Where there was a zero percent chance of suspicion of their battered young maid.
All focus had to be on the devil and his bird.
Success depended on who was in the midst of the chaos and who wasn’t.
And to succeed, the Pythoness needed to be furthest from the chaos…
…and that was what was to happen as soon as the pipes settled.
She sat still.
Appearing lifeless in her sitting position, Galahd’s mind was steady.
Her breath light.She couldn’t miss her marker. Any moment now.
Time blended together.
The roaring overtook her entire psyche. Growing louder and louder every moment. Her heartbeat becoming faint against it.
Her feet planted firmly on the ground waiting to pounce.
This was life or death.
No second chances.
And she was not going to die here.
5am.
Galahd’s eyes popped open as the roaring within the walls ceased. Like a spring, she leapt from her seat dashing from the second pantry, satchel in hand.
Birdie was definitely exhausted for she heard nothing, but silence from her room. The fireplace to Dion’s office just barely illuminating the floor against the sunrise through the windows of the foyer.
It was only slight, but Galahd could see the sun raring to peak its head over the horizon as she raised up the stairs to the second floor.
By now the empire has found the envelope and will be contacting Dion fairly soon. If it involved the Stormsender’s precious daughter, the Chancellor would definitely get involved. They didn’t need to be here for whatever Dion did to his Strelitzia Reginae, let alone what that insane Chancellor would do to Dion for losing his trophy.
This was a short window, but the sooner she got to the Pythoness, the sooner she’d be out of here. Finally.
First thing’s first: angel face.
__________________
She was right though, Muerlin was definitely on defense.
As soon as the wizard heard the door swing open, she wasted no time slamming the girl against the wall by her throat. It took everything in the girl’s power to keep quiet as the air in her lungs was abruptly forced out.
“G-Galahd?”
Muerlin pulled back from the coughing servant. “I’m sorry, I thought you were-”.
“No time!”, the girl suddenly cut off the wizard’s apology. “We’ve gotta hurry and get you out of here!”
Muerlin raised a confused eyebrow. “Whatddya mean? What’s wrong?”
“Dion”, the girl panted in between her words, appearing to be in panic. “He…he’s told the Chancellor that you’re here”.
Muerlin’s heart sank to her feet. “Dammit all…”.
“They’re coming for you now. They’ll arrive at the manor any moment”, she continued. “You have to get out of here. NOW!”
“Right”, Muerlin nodded as she pushed open the large window aside the bed, “come on”, she gestured to the servant to follow.
“W-What?”, the backed up slightly toward the door, “b…but…I can’t or-”.
“You’ll get pistol whipped again?”, the wizard interrupted.
The girl just stared at the wizard, fear and uncertainty in her milky eyes.
“Not on my watch”, Muerlin declared with an outstretched hand, “now come on”.
The girl hesitated slightly as she took the wizard’s hand before Muerlin sent them soaring through the window onto the manor grounds below.
Upon landing, Galahd peered toward the rear of the manor. “That way”, the girl pointed toward a village against the horizon by a mountain range, “we’ll be safe there for a while”, she insisted.
“Gotcha”, Muerlin heaved the girl onto her back. “Hang on tight”, the wizard instructed with a wink before dashing toward the horizon at top speed. Leaving Dion’s manor to fade in the dust.
_______________
6:30am.
Roaming about the village, Muerlin examined the occupants with a confused eyebrow.
Most of them seemed to be female and they were all most or less dressed like Galahd was when they met. Just…older and…extra voluptuous. Peering toward Galahd, she didn’t seem to acknowledge anyone.
Her expression was stoic, much unlike how she was in the manor.
Much less timid and…seemingly fragile.
She looked like she could stomp out everyone here.
“Galahd”, Muerlin continued to suspiciously stare at the girl, “where are we going?”
“I know a safe spot for us to lay low”, she firmly replied.
“Really now? And you know this how?”
“Just trust me”.
Muerlin retuned to viewing the residents. They were all staring. Actually, more like glaring.
“They don’t seem really happy to see us”, Muerlin lightly whispered.
“Hm”. Muerlin just stared at her as she continued to followed. Her suspicions still high, but she wasn’t going to learn anything without a little digging and that could possibly require a little cooperation.
After a while of walking, they came across a small tavern.
“We’ll stop here for the time being”, Galahd instructed as she walked in.
“No sense in objecting, I suppose”, Muerlin smirked as she followed. They took a seat at a table in a far corner and ordered drinks. “What now?”, Muerlin finally raised her voice after a brief period of silence.
“The point is to not draw any attention to ourselves”, Galahd replied with a light glare. “We’ll be able to move soon. Just be patient”.
“Hm”, Muerlin smirked, “whatever you say, captain”.
After more drinks, minutes turned into a couple of hours of mostly silence.
By 9:30am, Galahd finally stood from her seat.
“What’s up?”, Muerlin asked with a raised eyebrow.“I’ll be back”, Galahd insisted as she pushed her chair back in.
“And where are you going?”
“Fetching the way out of here”, Galahd replied before abruptly storming away.
“…Right. We’ll see about that”, the wizard mumbled to herself with a smirk as she finished her drink.
_________________
8:45pm.
“I swear, I don’t know where she went!”, the shaky barkeep stammered, “you have to believe me!”
“I don’t HAVE to believe a word you say, simpleton”, Ulldor snarled at the man. Imperial soldiers holding him and the patrons at gunpoint. “We got a call specifically to search this location and here you are calling my intelligence false. Are you insinuating that I am lying?”
“N-n-no, sir! I would never”.
“Then I would suggest you start answering my questions or I will be legally obligated to try you for treason!”, Ulldor commanded.
“Sir!”, an underling solider shouted toward his superior, “the Chancellor gave us permission to search the rest of the village!”
“Well, what’re you waiting for?”, Ulldor growled toward the man, “Start searching immediately! We cannot allow the Pythoness to escape!”
The village remained in peril all night with Imperials searching through various homes and businesses for the fugitive wizard, but to no avail. By the next morning, they seemed to have all, but given up until…
“E-excuse me…sir…?”, a young child hesitantly waved to get a soldiers attention. “I…I think I saw the Pythoness up there…”, he pointed toward higher ground, “…toward the caverns in the mountain beds…”.
With a light nod, the solider informed his captain leaving the child, whom in turn darted in the other direction toward his home, a large handful of gil in his grasp.
________________
A light fire crackled against the echoing silence of the cavern.
Galahd’s hands warmed against the flame’s aura as she sat upon a discarded log. She shook with light anxiousness waiting for her window to leave the cavern and evacuate the village. Just like before, she had to time it perfectly. Success required remaining out of the chaos.
She just needed to be patient.
As her window approached, she proceeded to prepare herself. Her mind and sense closed off to the rest of the world.
She would succeed. She would not die here.
She could finally relax. She was free.
Standing from her seat, the girl’s window opening, she headed toward the opening of the cavern.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you”.
Galahd’s heart felt as if it had halted in her chest at the sudden echo from behind her.
But...she was just sitting there...facing that direction.
However, thinking about it further, the fire didn’t cover the furthest end of the cavern.
There was a gap of pitch darkness in that particular space.
Slowly turning around, her eyes nearly popped out of her skull upon seeing a figure sitting in the darkness.
“There’s some sketchy shit going on out there”, the figure spoke. “No place for a helpless servant”.
Her body lightly trembled once she noticed the figure’s twinkling electric fingers.
The Stormsender’s Daughter | Chapter XX | The Wolf
Chapter XIX | Chapter XX | Chapter XXI
Warnings: Human trafficking (only talk).
Word Count: 1,205
Checking her cuticles in the silence, the young former slave rose her nonchalant gaze to the wizard perched on the log across from her.
The fire still scorching in between them.
Muerlin’s twinkling fingers still at the ready.
“Well,” the impatient girl stood, dusting herself off.
“From that weird look on your face, I’d guess you’re out of questions so, I’ll be going now”.
“Actually,” the sounds of sparks and magnetic energy echoing throughout the cavern stopping the girl in her tracks.
“I’ve got quite a few more,” Muerlin spoke up as she rose to her feet.Galahd sighed with an eye roll before facing the wizard again, arms folded in frustration.
“What else could you possibly want to know? I figured I spelled it out pretty well for you, or is the Pythoness lacking in intelligence as much as she lacks self control?”
“Oh, sure, laugh it up,” the wizard chuckled as she slowly approached the girl. “I’m sure the imperials would love to hear about your little escape stunt. What do you think they’d do to you then?”
“Nothing,” the girl confidently replied, “because, if you were paying attention you’d know, I haven’t done anything”.
Her smile was sinisterly cocky.
“The bird bitch did”.
Muerlin’s eyes narrowed. Galahd didn’t waver.
“And I don’t think the oh, so gracious Chancellor would show much mercy to the man that allow his magical sex toy escape,” she continued with a smirk.
“I mean, with Dion planning to betray him anyway, it would’ve caused a skirmish IN the Empire itself, but his favorite poodle selling him out for the payoff? PFF!,” the sly pre-teen chuckled. “It’s like everyone’s favorite x-rated crime story come true. Of course, for that to be the case, she had to do something stupid to give herself away. Like accidentally exposing her identity.”
“And S.R.? That was just Birdie’s accidental mistake to give away her identity with the politically correct name of Dion’s favorite flower?”
The girl smirked at how quickly the wizard called bullshit.
“Aww, did the demi-wizard grow a brain cell or two?”The corner of Muerlin’s mouth merely raised into a light smirk at the girl’s attitude.
“What’s going to happen to Birdie?”
“Tch! Fuck if I know,” the girl snorted. “Unless Dion kills the plastic pin-up bitch, hell if I care. She’s better off fed to the albinogins,” she returned to looking at her nails.
“Although, knowing Dion, he’d probably rough her up a little first,” her voice shallow and uncaring. “He’s a pretty twisted fuck like that, but by now, she’s probably long dead”.
Muerlin’s voice lowered in light shock.
“So, you’re guess is that your whole elaborate scheme killed Birdie?”
“No”, the girl replied with light sass, “my guess is that DION killed the bird...and it was HER failure to keep that sewage rotten smell of her worn out chewed up pussy,” the girl approached the wizard, savagely recalling the horror of her past with the two,” out of my face...every time...one of her glittertit cock guzzling cumdumpsters had their polyester panties torn off by some horny imperial scum. Like that wasn’t what they were getting paid to do in the first place”.
Her milky eyes resembled a grey flame. Her aggression higher than it had ever been. Like a lone wolf clouded by hunger and rage.
“So, to hell with all of them...they can all rot together,” her voice softened. “But me?,” she began to pull away. “I’m done here”.
As the girl grabbed her back, she hastily began to storm out of the cavern. Muerlin’s gaze fixed on the ground.
“Or!,” the sparks and pulsating grew louder. “What’s stopping me from just taking care of you right here?”
The girl turned back toward the wizard to see a unsettling grin on her face as she inched closer to her. Her hands completely swarmed in lightning. Like it could actually blow a crater through the girl’s chest.
Muerlin didn’t know what to expect as a reaction from this. Fear, anxiousness, panic, but she hid her surprise to the small chuckle that floated from the girl’s throat.
“Well, that would be downright stupid for you to try”.
Her laughter rose the corners of her mouth into a smile as she shook her head.
“I mean, where do you think we are? Or has it not settled in yet?”
Muerlin just stood in silence, curious, as her hand remained steady and ready to strike.
“I mean, did you even wonder how it was so easy for me to have Imperials after you? Or why most of the women here look like absolute dolls? Or even why this place was so easy to get to from the mansion?”
She inched closer to the wizard as she taunted.
“Well, ask yourself this, oh great sparkly one, where do you think Dion got all of his girls?”
Muerlin continuing to stare her down.
“There are 10 villages like this surrounding the manor. Each one a breeding ground for a girls and each one profits off a particular type of girl for His Horribleness. I mean, why did you think they all looked so poor? Just because humans can fuck like rabbits doesn’t mean they can conceive like one. These people are only able to dish out no more than 5 girls a year and as far as trafficking goes, the pay is pretty shit”.
Muerlin’s expression unchanged.
“Imperials are stationed here to keep an eye on the merchandise and there are more stationed in this one than any of the others. Know why?”, the girl’s cocky smile getting on Muerlin’s nerves.
“Because this one just so happens to be where Dion got his precious bird”.
Muerlin’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“This place has security out the ass and I’m the only one of us that knows the way out. Plus, I’m sure you don’t need another murder on your godly hands,” she smiled mockingly.
“You’d see a dead enemy, but what would the world see? The monster that everyone already thinks you are has just kidnapped and taken the life of an innocent girl...in cold blood”.
“Cute,” the wizard retorted in a near growl, “and if I said fuck it and try anyway?”, her hand hovering aside the girl’s face.
Her expressing hardened.
“You’d fail,” the girl responded, her tone solid.
“You think just because you’d get a pleasant tickle from sticking your finger in an electric socket that you’re special? Everyone else may think so, but mark my words, I see through you. Clearly”.
“You’ve been running from and evading the Imperials left and right for days, I trickled you AND had you following me in a place where I have absolute control over your freedom in a number of hours. You don’t know me. Or what I am. What I could do. You’re at my mercy now...wizard”.
Muerlin winced at the sweat forming on her brow. Confusing her for she felt no fear, but an overly excessive heat.
“And, if anything, you will know; I will not die here”.
Muerlin noticed Galahd’s fist clench.
“I’m sorry...,” the wizard rose her gaze back to the girls milky stare.
The Stormsender’s Daughter | Chapter XVIII | Ghost of the Grey
Chapter XVII | Chapter XVIII | Chapter XIX
Warnings: None.
Word Count: 904
A/N: Italics represent past events.
1:05am.
That took longer than she initially planned.
It happened mostly how she thought it would, but...if she said that she was prepared for the Pythoness to share the feast, she’d be lying.
This didn’t put much of a damper on the plan, however, she felt the ever so slight feeling of guilt of dragging the Pythoness into this.
This mostly just annoyed Galahd for she was aware that mere acts of kindness did not automatically make someone good or worth trusting.
She should know this all too well.
But this didn’t matter now.
What mattered was the mission. That was all that mattered.
Upon returned the tray of cleared dishes to the kitchen, Galahd hastily made her way to the second pantry.
She took a brief moment staring at the cot.
If this plan worked, she would no longer be forced to this small space her room.
However, if it didn’t...she still wouldn’t...her new bed would be within multiple albinogin stomaches.
But it was too late to retreat...the last seed was in her grasp and just needed to be planted.
Which was the phase of her plan.
As she grabbed a small coat hanging upon the wall and a scarf to wrap around her face, she returned to the hallway, peering to the right while returning to her statuesque form.
The light from the office fireplace still barely illuminating the corridor and the subtle moans continued.
Galahd just shook her head in silence before she returned to the Bird’s cage.
She made her way into the bathroom. The plush rugs squishing under her feet.
Her milky eyes planted out of the window above the tub.
Birdie only took baths on few occasions.
Her birthday, lower business days where her extraction services weren’t needed or when Dion was busy entertaining guests, in whatever way he saw fit.
Other than that, she only showered and if she was the prime source of entertainment, they were exceptionally long.
At least an hour which a trip to her bed immediately followed.
During those long showers, Birdie liked to keep this small web shaped window open to invite in the cool night air.
The latch was old and rusted so it always stayed unhinged.
And knowing this would be one of those fateful nights for the poor bird, it was a sure way of her source of absence being undetected.
After climbing in the tub, with a heave, Galahd hoisted herself up to the window leaping from it head first landing in a somersault on the hard grounds below.
It was a 35 minute walk to the nearest Imperial Base on the main road, but with a short cut through the woods, she’d arrive in 15 minutes flat.
Wasting no time, enveloped tape in hand, she dashed toward the blackened woods shrouded by a grey fog.
The vapors so thick, the moon barely shown through, but she could see her way.
Navigating through the darkness in swift silence. Her light footsteps not steering a single leaf out of its place.
Her breathing seemingly non-existent.
Like a ghost in the grey.
15 minutes on the dot, she arrived at the base. A camera patrolling the entrance slowly turning between the left and right side.
It had to be timed perfectly as to not set raise alarm.
She awaited just outside of the camera’s view on the side that covered the most ground.
As it began to turn away, she sprinted fiercely to the entrance placing the envelope on the pavement before swiftly turning her heel and returning to her original spot.
Turning to see the camera’s light just now pass over the envelope.
She was undetected.
1:30am, Phase 4 was officially complete.
Still she had no time to rest in triumph, although the hard part was over, she still needed to get back to the manor.
After that, the rest would be cake.
_______________
1:46am.
Galahd stood outside the manor. Staring up at the window in silence, she surveyed the atmosphere.
She heard not a soul, no subtle breathing, no footsteps. The room was shrouded in darkness.
The coast was clear.
She backed up just far enough.
With a deep breath, sprinted toward the window, using the momentum to carry her up the wall until she firmly grasped the window seal.
Light pain from her sharp grasp emitting into her fingers.
Ignoring it, she hoisted herself forward slowly pulling her body through as to not make a sound lowering herself into a handstand position in the tub.
Tilting her body backward and correcting her stance to an upright position over the edge of the tub onto the floor.
Hastily making her way out of the Bird’s cage, Galahd steadily made her way toward the kitchen. There was little need to worry, but the sooner she could make it into the kitchen, the better.
Peering toward the office for the final time, the fireplace light still illuminating the floors and Birdie’s body still being used to the devil’s will.
A light smirk rose to Galahd’s face as she entered the kitchen.
Returning to the second pantry, she removed her coat and scarf before planting herself onto the cot.
The Stormsender’s Daughter | Chapter XII | Third Eye
Chapter XI | Chapter XII | Chapter XIII
Word Count: 5,114
Warnings: None.
A sudden pulse like a solid punch to the chest ferociously yanked Ceres from her meditation.
Taking her breath away, leaving her in a heavy pant.
She clutched her chest in slight fear by the random sensation. Cautiousness and curiosity filled her mind.
She had never felt such a reaction from her daily routine. Especially since her meditation period was meant to keep her emotions at bay. Or risk her Third Eye leveling the entire kingdom.
The stress of a Queen was not like any other.
Once she began to catch her composure, Ceres examined the bruise upon her chest.
Despite the light pain it caused, somehow it was...heartwarming.
What about this particular spot made her feel such a nurturing acceptance toward the impact?
As she scoured her memories to learn what the great Ramuh was trying to tell her, the only one she could pinpoint was one day some years ago...
...a gentle presence gracefully resting upon her breast...
...it was the day she lost...
“Muerlin...!”
It had been 14 years since Willownoire lost its princess...
14 years since she was taken away from the family that loved her dearly.
Those years had not been too kind to the Zephyr’s.
Sure, they were beloved by all who knew them throughout the kingdom, but losing Muerlin caused a strain on the family.
The sorrow within the hearts of Silvanus and Ceres weighed heavy on their 4 remaining children.
Ein, being the eldest Zephyr child, was proper heir to the throne, but declined it at a much younger age. Instead he join the kingdom’s military forced at 17 and at 24 has climbed the ranks to Captain of Willownoire’s Glaive.
He had always been a straight forward and no-nonsense character. Unfortunately his upbringing made it difficult for him to really enjoy his childhood.
He rarely spoke of Muerlin for he was aware of the main purpose he joined the military rankings. Muerlin was the Pythoness and the prophecy state that the Stormsender’s Daughter would succeed the throne.
His job was to make sure his little sister had the support system she needed to do so...whether he was here or not.
He was one of the only two of the Zephyr children that was aware of his potential fate. Yes, the kingdom was prosperous now, but the Zephyr’s had previously concluded that their days of serving Niflheim were over.
...and Ein was prepared to protect his sister’s legacy by whatever meant necessary.
The second eldest Zephyr child, had a different approach...
Gaea had spent most of her adolescence despising her parents for what happened to Muerlin.
She saw them as cowards for letting the Nifs take away their own flesh and blood and seemingly replacing her with two more children.
As she grew, that resentment wained, but forgiveness was a much bigger step.
At 21, forgiveness was knocking upon her door. Though she hated the idea of her parents potentially trying to replace Muerlin, she understood what was at stake during that time.
But she still wasn’t about to sit by and allow her sister to return to a ruined kingdom.
As Ceres grew older, she was less able to keep up with the forests and the gardens.
Gaea gladly took upon the role of Guardian of the Forests. She scours the kingdom watching over the inhabitants of the forests. Keeping the wildlife in good health, the trees, the soil, the rivers.
As the Zephyr almost always on the prowl to better the wilderness, seeing her around House Zephyr was rare. As well as seeing her around the cities at all.
Younger children throughout the kingdom made up rumors of her existence and she became a model of protection in the kingdom.
it was rumored by the children that if you ever saw her, you were immune to daemons.
For the Guardian would always protect you.
This fine morning, Gaea had just finished her first sweep of the east forests and was taking a break perched in a high tree top.
The air was crisp emitting a delicate breeze that very much pleased the young princess’ senses.
Weather in Willownoire was usually nice, but today...it was especially lovely. Gaea didn’t think much of it for a moment until...
...a light growl in the distance interrupted her trance.
She pondered it for a moment for it wasn’t like anything she heard before.
“Wait...no way...”, she lightly exclaimed before bolting in the direction of the growl.
As she approached the sound, she remembered a story she was told as a child...
When Asteria was young, she played with all the creatures of Willownoire. Then one day Ramuh asked her which was her favorite and she said the behemoths.
So Ramuh found the purest, most gorgeous behemoth he could find and gave it to the little girl as a present.
The night she perished, he infused part of his life force into the creature making it immortal and sending it into hibernation in a cave far from the cities...
...and it was only to awaken when the Pythoness returned to the light.
Gaea had never really believed the story as more than an old fairytale, but the more she grew, the more she hoped it were true.
And sure enough...at the far east of the forest...emerging from a monumental cave...the more spectacular behemoth Gaea had ever seen. It towered the size of the average full grown beast. It’s eyes were a crystalline teal...just like Muerlin’s.
“It can’t be....”, Gaea’s shock still overcame her senses as she watched the beautiful creature take its first steps in centuries.
“Wait...”, she paused. “That must mean...”, a sharp gasp escaped her throat as a smile stretched across her face.
She finally had a reason to go home. The wind carrying her at light speed.
As years passed, Silvanus spent most of his time in a constant brooding state. As King, his responsibilities were to his people, but his depression grew and grew.
Ein and Gaea were usually busy and rarely home. Though he had his wife and two youngest, Talon kept mostly to himself and tiny Heira was so oblivious to the chaos within her family that he felt constant guilt when he was near her.
Losing Muerlin did not only plague him to the brink of sickness due to his failure as a father, but showing his family love seemed so fake that he couldn’t bare to look them in their eyes.
A father giving away his little girl is supposed to be a momentous occasion of hope and joy as he gave someone who adored her for everything she is and gave her the best love she could ever feel the keys to his heart.
But this...
He never even got to look her in her eyes for the first time and tell her how much he loved her.
How much she meant to him.
And protect her like a father really should.
How could he prove to her that she was his everything when he gave her absolutely nothing?
Every night he imagined what she could’ve possibly looked like. What color were her eyes?
Were they his lavender hues or Ceres’ celeste?
Did she have Ceres’ full cheeks?
Her crooked grin?
Her quips and quirks?
Who was his little girl now?
At 14, she must know, wherever she is, she doesn’t truly belong...she must know she’s different.
Does she know about him? Her family? Did she hate him...?
So many questions.
So many what ifs unanswered...and as far as it looked for him, they never would.
Until...
“King Silavnus!!!”, a light shrill startled the tortured king, lifting him to his feet.
“What is it?”
“It’s...it’s Lady Ceres”, Yurin, one of the loyal servants of House Zephyr, and personal friend of the queen, panted in-between her words.
“What’s happened?”, Silvanus’ youth beginning to rush back at the worry of his wife.
“She collapsed in the east corridor. She told me to fetch you right away”, the panicked servant explained before Silvanus rushed by at a full sprint, Yurin following behind.
“CERES?!”, the desperate king called out toward his wife before he found her on the floor of her meditation chamber panting and wheezing while holding onto her chest.
Frantic of what could possibly be ailing his wife, rendering her immobile, he hurries to her aid.
However, when he reaches her, he notices that her face is drenched with tears.
“Ceres, what is it? What’s wrong?”, Silvanus takes his wife into his arms. To his surprise, upon lifting her gaze to meet his, he realized...she was smiling?
“What the devil...?”, the stunned king thought out loud.
“I-It’s her...”, the overjoyed queen replied between sobs, “I felt her...”.
“Who?”, Silvanus’ confusion still evident.
“Muerlin”.
At that moment, the king felt his heart stop with one booming beat.
“But...but how is that possible? How could you know?!”, he spouted in disbelief.
Unable to contain her excitement over the matter, she began to shake.
And, honestly, who could blame her? Certainly not Silvanus for he yanked his elated wife into his arms for the most warming embrace, no longer able to hold back the tears that had built in his ever so tormented lavender eyes.
Their daughter was finally returning home.
After a moment...
“My King”, a low firm voice echoed through the meditation chamber catching the attention of the royals and Yurin.
“Sir Jerith”, Yurin gently greeting the elder whom merely glanced at her with a stern eye.
Jerith Atrium was the head councilmen of Willownoire and Silvanus’ merciless, no-nonsense advisor.
“Ah, Jerith”, Silvanus greeted the man catching his composure. “What brings you out of your cave?”, he teased the ever so stoic man.
“Our meeting to discuss new policies on the military academic programs. It was meant to start nearly a half hour ago”, the elder stated, seemingly irritated by their king’s forgetfulness.
“Oh, dear...”, Silvanus sighed. “Is it that time already? It completely slipped my mind”, he cleared his throat as he stood from the floor, assisting his nearly calm wife.
“Um...I shall be up momentari-”.
“THE BEHEMOTH IS AWAKE!!!”, an abrupt shriek filled the room halting the king’s sentence, also startling the grumpy elder.
All eyes were on the panting, virtually exhausted Gaea.
“Lady Gaea?!”, Yurin gasped as she had not seen the princess in multiple weeks.
This was the first time she had graced the palace with her presence by her own will in quite some time.
“What is the meaning of this, Lady Gaea? You are completely covered in sweat”, the elder nagged the young woman.
“What I just said, Jerith”, she retorted. Not having any of the man’s sass. “The behemoth hidden away in the east forest!! It’s awake!!”
“You mean...”, Yurin began in disbelief, “from the stories?”
“Impossible”, Jerith spouted toward the young adult like she was delusional. “That story is only an old folk to pacify children with fears of the dark”, he continued receiving an annoyed glare from Gaea. “Besides, if the behemoth of legend was real, it would only awaken if-”.
“If the it sensed it true owner; the Pythoness. MY sister”, she retorted.
“How are you even certain that you didn’t just see a lowly behemoth prowling about?”, Jerith continued to goad the Guardian. “There is a possibility you were patrolling the forests in the west and didn’t even know it”.
“Oh, just because I’m not an 800 year old asshat with rank prune breath, I can’t tell direction?”, Gaea mocked the elder as she stepped toward him.
“Gaea”, Silvanus called toward his daughter.
“I know what I saw!!”, Gaea spouted toward her father.
“She is right”, Ceres’ soft voice sliced through the tension as she finally recollected herself. All attention now on the queen’s stern gaze.
“Muerlin is alive. She is returning to Willownoire. I received a message from Ramuh himself. She has been sent down the path toward home. Only time will tell when she will arrive at our gates”.
Silence filled the room as the gravity of the realization settled within everyone.
With a shake of his head and light eye roll, Jeirth finally surrendered.
“I will postpone the meeting”, he released in sighed.
That night...
The eldest Zephyrs gathered in the drawing room.
The only light within the room was the subtle glow emitting from the fire place.
The only sound was the crackling of the flames until...
“So”, Ein broke the silence in a hushed tone, “...Tenebrae, huh?”
“Yes”, Ceres confirmed. “That was the direction of her essence resonated from”.
“It’s been 14 years. How was she able to hide out there for so long?”, Gaea curiously asked, starring out the window by her seat to the starlit skies above.
“My guess would be the Nox Flueret’s...”, Ein replied in turning his gaze toward his mother whom emitted a light smile.
“Oh, Sylva...”, Ceres softly chuckled, remembering her dear late friend. “Always full of surprises...”.
“So, what do we do now?”, Gaea turned her gaze toward her family. “Niflheim troops are most likely looking for her. Shouldn’t we find a way to go get her?”
“Unfortunately, we cannot”, Silvanus replied. “It would only threaten her safety more”.
“How? We’d be going to keep her safe from the Nifs. Couldn’t Ein send his men on a retrieval mission or something?”
Silvanus shook his head. “That would only make it worse. The presence of Zephyr’s outside of Willownoire would cause suspicion. Suspicion will cause curiosity. Curiosity brings chaos”.
“But she’s walking from Tenebrae and no one’s even heard a peep”, the Guardian protested still not understanding her father’s point.
“And why do you think that is?”, Ein chimed in. “The Nif’s wouldn’t want anyone else knowing that she’s alive. There would be worldwide panic”, he explained.
“Well, if the Nifs don’t want her being discovered, why would they allow her out of Imperial Territory? They had to know she was there...right?”, Gaea turned toward her mother.
“Not necessarily. Sylva would’ve taken precaution...for Muerlin to not draw attention to herself, she had to have a life outside the palace”, Ceres explained. Plus Niflheim is a large place...as well as Tenebrae...I’m sure the Chancellor kept her mostly a secret from a large portion of his army as well”.
“Precisely”, Silvanus agreed with his wife. “The fewer people that know of your treasure, the less likely you are to lose it”.
The thought of his sister being a trophy in Niflheim’s treasury burned Ein to his core. “Hmph...bastard...”.
“Okay...so they didn’t know she was in Tenebrae”, Gaea shrugged. “Still, it seems weird that she would be able to just walk out like it’s nothing”.
“That is true”, Ceres agreed lifting a pondering finger to her chin.
“Maybe they found out...”, Silvanus thought out loud.
“...hmm...it would make her departure more plausible”, Ein confirmed. “Despite being Imperial Territory, the longer she remained there, her powers would be nulled to a dormant state. Her appearance being all that set her apart from the norm...unfortunately...if her hand had been forced, she may have had no choice”.
“But how?”, Gaea asked. “If her powers were in a dormant state, wouldn’t that mean she couldn’t use them? How could they have found out?”
“Well...”, Ceres began to explain. “Her powers being nulled don’t exactly mean she couldn’t use them. It’s like the Third Eye. My abilities are driven off emotion so it’s imperative that I remain cool and collective at all times. Even if there was an adversary at hand. I meditate daily to keep myself in this state. If not, I risk losing control. The Pythoness’ power ranges at a much larger scale than mine so Muerlin will have a lot more to keep in check. Plus....there is the daemonic essence she harbors from Asteria. This essence is constantly battling her psyche for control. If she isn’t subjected to understanding her abilities, she is more susceptible to lose control...and the consequences could be apocalyptic”.
Understand this, horror filled within Gaea’s heart as she imagined what could’ve possibly happened to her sister. “Do you think...”.
“...it’s possible”, Ceres concluded.
The atmosphere shifted to a more somber state as the family mulled over the potential turmoil that their beloved Muerlin must’ve faced to result in her departure from Tenebrae.
“Not to change the subject, but...”, Ein began as he turned toward his father with a stern eye. “...if we conclude that the Nifs forced Muerlin out of Tenebrae, we must address the possibility that they will proceed to make their way here to find her”.
Silvanus sighed at his son’s remark. Although he did not want to admit it, he was correct. Chancellor Izunia would most likely assume she would be returning to Willownoire and would expand his efforts to retrieve her once again.
The ladies turned their attention toward the king.
“Ein is right...if Muerlin is not apprehended on her journey, the Chancellor will most certainly turn his attention to us to draw her out”.
“So, what do we do?!”, Gaea exclaimed. “We can’t just sit on our hands and wait for him to show up! The citizens; they wouldn’t stand a chance!”
“Gaea is right...”, Ein chimed in. His tone more stern than usual. “Muerlin is top priority, but we cannot allow the Chancellor to lay waste to the entire kingdom”.
Ceres couldn’t help, but smile in pride of her children. “Besides...how is Muerlin to return home if she doesn’t have a home to return to?”
Silvanus couldn’t smile despite the determination of his family.
“Still”, he began. His tone as heavy as his heart. “...determination and courage is one thing...but situations of this caliber often end in sacrifice...”.
Ceres was fully aware of this notion, Silvanus knew, but what about the other two?
Ein and Gaea locked eyes for a moment.
Despite Muerlin’s importance to Willownoire, she wasn’t the only child the king and queen cared for. “
“The weight could be too great...”, Silvanus spoke up against the silence, “...you two may have each other and your younger brother and sister to look out for”.
“They depend on you”, Ceres lightly added.
“So, if it comes down to it-”.
“We will see it this through until the very end”, Ein cut off his father.
“No matter the cost”, Gaea chimed in expressing to the two adults they were not fearful of their fate.
“Ein...Gaea...”, Ceres lightly pleaded toward her children, “this isn’t your burden to bare”.
“Like hell it isn’t!”, Gaea rose from her seat. “Those damned Nifs destroyed our family! Made us resent each other AND ourselves!”
“They need to learn whom they are toying with”, Ein added. “Muerlin is not the only Zephyr they need to worry about...they will pay...whether it’s Muerlin...or us”.
Despite the horror of the situation, Silvanus and Ceres can’t help, but feel an unfathomable warmth and pride for their children’s tenacity.
“Alright...so it’s settled”, Silvanus concluded the meeting. “Gaea, would you mind making sure Talon and...”, a sudden creak from the door behind them hushed the king.
After a moment, the azure gaze of Talon came into view.
The four remained silent upon his entry.
The somberness of his stare broke their hearts.
Did...did he hear the whole conversation?
“Talon?”, Ein broke the silence, shifting the young boy’s gaze to his older brother on the couch. “Is something the matter?”
“...Heira had a nightmare and woke me”, he murmured.
“Oh, dear”, Ceres responded in attempt to sound like her normal cheery, collected self. “Perhaps, you’d like to-”.
“She’s in her room...”, Talon abruptly interrupted his mother before taking his leave.
Ceres returned her gaze to Silvanus in worry. He definitely was listening to them.
“I’ll go check on him”, Gaea volunteered to ease her mother’s mind on the matter disappearing from sight as she ventured through the pitch halls.
Talon’s room was in the south wing of the castle on the second floor.
Although Gaea was rarely home, she knew how much he preferred his privacy for his door was almost always locked.
She hadn’t been inside for about 4 years. She didn’t really know how to approach him anymore, but she was already standing in front of his door so backing out was not an option.
“Here goes nothing”, she sighed before gently knocking upon the door. “Talon?”
No one answered.
“Talon, it’s Gaea...”, she tried again. “Can I come in?”
Silence.
She glanced down toward the door handle, biting her lip anxiously. She had no idea why she was so nervous about this. He was her little brother. This shouldn’t be this stressful. It should literally be cake, but for some reason it wasn’t.
Regardless, it had to be done...so, swallowing up her fear, Gaea turned the knob, gave it a light push and...
“...Talon?”, she whispered into the abyss only welcomed by more silence. “Are you in here?”
Flipping the switch to illuminate his room, it was determined that it was barren.
Her anxious mind had egged her to close the door and wait, but her curiosity drove her mad.
Talon was now 13 years old. Gaea hadn’t really seen him since he was about to turn 10.
Even at that time, he had distanced himself from the rest of his family.
He began to let go of the cheerful, optimistic, goofy child he was in the past and absorbed the darker aspects of what the life as a Zephyr was truly like, but judging by what Gaea saw by entering his room...his love for one thing hadn’t changed...
Muerlin.
His walls were cluttered from the ceiling to the floor of portraits of a girl with teal iris’ and silver hair.
They all had subtle differences like the facial structure, hair length, but they all looked like their parents in some way.
The Guardian was torn between marveling in her brother’s unbelievable talent and mourning for his saddened soul for the longing of their sister.
“What’re you doing?!”, a growl startled the young woman.
She quickly spun around to see her younger brother standing at his door, completely mortified by Gaea’s intrusion.
“Talon...did you draw all of these...?”, Gaea asked in absolute awe. “How long...have you been doing this?...Is this why you’re always in here?...”
The teen had nothing to say...his innermost feelings and possessions have been discovered.
As much as it burned Gaea’s heart that the lad would keep such a talent hidden from the rest of their family, it hurt more knowing that he was hurting so...
Noticing a few incomplete sketches on his desk, she approached to get a better look.
“Talon...why didn’t you come to us?...You’re hurting...why won’t you let us help?”
“...you wouldn’t understand”, the boy replied, holding back bitter tears.
“Talon...”, Gaea’s voice softened, “we all miss Muerlin. You can talk to us about it whenev-”.
“No, I can’t”, the boy spouted. His pain beginning to take over his emotions. “I can’t talk to any of you about it...”, he insisted.
“The only person that could understand is Heira.....and she’s too damn stupid to know anything because you try so hard to protect her from the truth...”, he lightly growled, his gaze turning into a heart wrenching glare.
“But she’ll learn when Niflheim blows us sky high...”, the boy mumbles, confronting his sister over the earlier meeting, much to her dismay.
“Talon...”, she began hoping to explain.
“Just get out!!!”, the boy shrieked as he dashed toward his sister and began to shove her out of his room refusing to allow her to view his tears.
“Talon, please, just listen to m-”, Gaea desperately tried to explain before having her brother’s door viciously slammed in her face and bolted shut.
As much as Talon wished his family could understand what he felt, they couldn’t. His parents, along with Ein and Gaea got to see Muerlin. Got to actually welcome her into the family.
Talon and Heira never got that privilege, but he was barely a year younger than his estranged sister.
He felt his existence was merely to shroud the fact that she was taken...alas, he grew up feeling outcasted because of this.
The affection from his family never felt real. It felt forced...and the older he got, the more it took effect.
He grew up seeing his mother’s tears more than any of his siblings and as much as it pained Silvanus, there were times where even looking at his son was difficult.
He wished he could go to them and express how he felt, but it would only bring out the only thing he ever really gave them...sadness, so he remained in his room.
Locked away to dwell on the fact that the person he longed for most in this world, the only one that ever made him feel as if he belonged, would never know him as he gazed upon the hundreds of portraits he drew of her, unable to tell which one was really her before lowering his head against the wall...his gentle sobs filling the room.
On the lower floor of the south side of the palace...
11 year old Heira gazed from her window toward the moonlit sky, wide awake before the latch of her door caught her attention.
“Hello, sweet-tart”, Ceres pleasantly greeted her youngest daughter.
“Hi, mommy”, Heira yawned as she rubbed her eyes.
“What seems to be the matter?”, the queen asked as she took a seat on the bed next to the child. “Talon said you had a nightmare”.
“No, I didn’t”, Heira replied with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh...?”, Ceres asked realizing her son had lied to cover the fact he was eavesdropping, but with a sigh changed the subject. “Well, then why’re you awake? It’s late”.
“I know. I was just counting the stars”, the little girl admitted with a smile on her face.
Being 3 years younger than Muerlin, Heira had almost no emotional attachment to her older sister. She barely remembered her existence most of the time.
This helped the king and queen cope slightly since to her, the gloom was normal so it didn’t feel like anything was amiss, but the guilt in their secrecy was still prominent.
The only one that was oblivious was little Heira.
As Heira grew older, it just became routine to shield her from the horrors of the Zephyr family making her innocence both her best and worst quality.
Especially now...the whole legacy of the Zephyr’s could crumble into dust within the coming months and she had no idea...but how would she, as a mother, explain to an 11 year old who’s lived with a falsehood of perfection that everything she knew and loved could be destroyed because of someone she never knew?
Was there even a way?
“What’s wrong, mommy?”, the delicate child asked her mother, her majorelle iris’ glistening in the night’s hue.
“...Nothing, pumpkin”, the woman lied, upon pure instinct much to her sorrow, as she pulled her daughter into her lap and watched the stars with her. A single tear rolling down her cheek.
“Nothing at all”.
Deeper into the night...
Little Heira had finally drifted to sleep sending Ceres on a tearful walk toward the master chambers.
Upon entering, she was surprised to see Silvanus fully dressed and packing some of his belongings.
“Silvy?”, the queen addressed her king, catching his attention. “Where are you going this time of night?”
“...Insomnia”, the man replied after a deep sigh.
“WHAT?”, Ceres loudly whispered as she rushes toward her husband. “Tell me you’re joking!”
“Alright. I’m joking”, the king replied planting a light kiss upon her cheek.
“Now say it like you mean it”, she demanded in light irritation.
“See, that’s called lying and I’ve sworn by oath never to do so to you”, the man attempted to joke to ease his wife’s worry, of course, to no avail.
“Silvanus Zephyr, do you have any idea how dangerous that is? What could you possibly need to go there for? You tell me this INSTANT or I swear on Ramuh’s grave, I will-”.
“Alright”, the king reluctantly complied to ease his fuming queen. “Alright”.
“Well?”, Ceres egged him, growing inpatient with his silence.
“Look...we both know that the day will come when Izunia seeks our end and will stop at nothing until he makes it so...”, he admitted with a sigh, discouraging Ceres despite the fact she was also aware of this.
“Whatever happens to us, we cannot allow him to find Muerlin...at least not until she’s ready”, he continued.
“So, what is your business in Insomnia?”, Ceres asked with a raised eyebrow.
“To keep her safe as she prepares for the hardships ahead...”, he finally admits. “Sylva kept her from him long enough for her to find her way home, but she will not be safe here for quite some time...and we must be prepared”.
“...but...what if he comes before she returns?”, Ceres asked in slight worry.
“I was speak to Regis of this. The point is, in her current state, she cannot stay in Willownoire”, Silvanus concluded before he finished packing. “I will return soon”, he said in-between a gentle kiss upon his wife’s lips as he exited the room, making it all the way toward Willownoire’s portal gate before...
“WAIT!”
The king turned to see his wife desperately running to him in tears.
“Ceres, what’re you doing?”, Silvanus exclaimed in concern.
“Let me go with you”, the queen begged. “With the two of us, we could watch each other’s back”.
“Ceres, you are needed here to keep the rest of them at bay”, Silvanus denied her request.
“They’re be fine. Ein and Gaea can watch Talon and Heira, it’ll be fine”.
“Ceres”.
“Please!...I won’t be able to live with myself if I lost you too...”, she sobbed, finally admitting to her worries, melting the old king’s soul.
Placing his hands upon her shoulders, Silvanus gazed lovingly into his wife’s crystal eyes.
“Ceres Hova...my love...I promise...I swear...with every ounce of my being, if I am to die soon...it’ll be aside you...protecting Willownoire”, he gently wiped her tears with his thumb before pulling her into a loving embrace.
...and with that, the King of Willownoire bid his kingdom farewell as he set off to The Crown City to ask his dear friend for one final favor.
The Stormsender’s Daughter | Chapter XIII | Devil’s Gold
Chapter XII | Chapter XIII | Chapter XIV
Word Count: 4,118
Warnings: Sexual situations, physical abuse, murder
As the sun finally rose against the horizon…
Muerlin nonchalantly enjoyed her nutritious breakfast, a couple pieces of bread and canteen water, perched on a large hill near a small village.
It had been nearly a week since her journey began and so far, it could’ve been worse considering.
It took forever to make it away from the city to the more rural areas where people stayed, but that wasn’t the main problem at the time.
The biggest issue was making it through town with tattered clothes and a shirt that was covered in bullet holes and blood…with no wounds.
Lucky for her, most of them didn’t have radios so there was no way for them to assume she was the Pythoness rather than some kid that was having a reeeeally rough day.
So the villagers were more inclined to assist her. Among finally having an actual bath, she was given new clothes as well as a small satchel for her belongings as well as a holster.
Even though all she had on her at the moment was a canteen and the switchblade she received from Lunafreya, she accepted it nonetheless. At least the ankle holster would be useful.
Muerlin was at a comfortable distance from the city to relax for the time being, but she couldn’t afford to fully lower her guard.
If she knew one thing about the Empire…and their gracious Chancellor…is that they were persistent. Nothing was going to steer him from his search for her…and she knew it.
She could hear them scrambling in the distance foraging through caves, trees, in the most random nooks and crannies they could think of.
Jeez…she thought to herself with an eye roll. Just because she was a wizard didn’t mean that was a reason to throw all practicality and logic clear out the window, but she figured she should be grateful that they weren’t really experts on the matter.
After everything that happened leading up to now, she could use a break from her Imperial stalkers.
As the sun’s rays began to finally blind the lagoon eyed maiden, she took it as her cue to trek on.
Dusting the dirt from her bare thighs and shorts, Muerlin leaps down the hill, sticking a firm landing upon its base.
Once she stood from her crouched position, the young wizard turned to view the actual height of the hill. It wasn’t the tallest she had ever seen, but anyone under her age falling from it would definitely be in some serious shit.
Ever since Muerlin received a larger dosage of her power from the Fulgerian, her overall senses and abilities, as well as her reflexes and nerve activities have heightened to great proportions.
She could already sense the presences of people as well as animals in her vicinity, but with her enhancements, she could detect any disturbances within a radius of 40 kilometers with minimum focus. 60 at max.
Though much concentration was required, her field of vision was nearly 360 and, unlike before, everything stood out to her. She noticed every motion of every object and creature.
Her audible range had extended both in loudness and in pitch. From the lowest frequency possible almost reaching to that of a dolphin, hence how she could even hear the Nifs from so far away.
Yet because of Asteria’s overall animalistic nature, these heightened abilities wrecked absolutely no havoc on her physicality, which she would gladly thank her for.
Somehow her pain tolerance had heightened as well. Pain was, of course, still evident, but it seemed her entire body had underwent a complete rewiring.
I mean, should she expect anything less from a God?
However, despite the beneficial factors of finally accepting her true self, there was still a matter of addressing the elephant in the room…
The daemonic essence within Muerlin’s veins was still very prominent and continued to slowly make its way up her wrists. Her hands were still pitch black so she was still forced to keep them covered in some sort of way.
Her general disguise was a good way to keep the imperial’s off her scent, but these markings would be a dead giveaway. Especially if a lowly, gullible villager decided to rat her out in hopes of some sort of payment.
Lucky for her, the marks upon her feet barely reached her ankles so that was one less thing to worry about.
So as long as she kept moving and stayed out of trouble, she’d be fine.
Heh…easier said than done.
Hours went by…
Muerlin, however, paid little attention until…
*growl*
“Ugh…”, the young wizard groaned in frustration toward her roaring stomach. “Now? But we just-”, the girl suddenly paused upon looking toward now setting sun.
“Ohhhh….dammit”, Muerlin cursed herself under her breath.
She hadn’t eaten since that morning and the despite the daemon energy creeping around in her bloodstream, she really didn’t think taking on a swarm of daemons alone would be the smartest idea.
Looking around, she noticed there was not a haven to be found and it’s not like she really had any decent camping supplies. It had just been easier to find places to sleep in towns. Unfortunately, she was miles from one.
But a good ways in the distance, she suddenly noticed a light flick abruptly. Centering her attention on the anomaly, it was suddenly revealed to be…
“A house?”, she chuckled with a puzzled eyebrow. “All the way out here?”
Judging by their location, it seemed to be the only one and it looked rather huge from this distance.
Normally, the sketchiness of the situation would warrant an alternate solution, but she could feel the evil presence of the daemons preparing to rise from below.
Sighing out of frustration, the young wizard reluctantly made her way toward the house.
What Muerlin was not aware of is what immoral deeds were done within this mansion...
All throughout the inside was plush and polished and roaming about the halls were pristine young women dressed in sequins and glitter.
Tutu skirts, and tight shirts, most without the support of a brassiere. The halls riddled with countless doors, all leading to a chamber unique to the previous.
...And within those chambers, were numerous Niflheim soldiers lavishing in the pleasures of the women’s “forbidden dances”.
“Ugh! I TOLD you that motherfucker would do this!”, a ravishing young platinum blonde, only sporting a pink lace thong and black stilettos, shrieked as she her prized physique bounced furiously as she stormed down the hall. “BIRDIE!!!”
“What?!”, an older, yet youthful strawberry blonde haired woman raced from a separate room to confront the screaming from the hall. Intercepting the young blonde, her baby blue eyes pouring with angry tears over her plush rosy flesh, “Crystal, damn, what’s the problem? Where’s your top?”
“That piece of shit did it again!!”, she shouted. “I told you, he’d tear it! I told you!”
“Oh, hell, again?”, Birdie sighed trying to keep the angry baby faced girl calm. Her plump cherry lips curved into a frustrated pout. “I made that one too”.
“He grabbed it from the collar with his giant sausage fingers and tore it off from the center!!”, the girl whined. “And I really liked this one!!!”, she whimpered with a stomp, the bottom of her shoe clicking against the solid floors.
“I know, shug”, Birdie gently reassured the girl trying to soothe her, “how ‘bout this? Why don’t you head to the dressing room and find yourself a new outfit? I’ll handle our rude guest”, she smiled toward the saddened doll before she stomped off toward the dressing room.
Birdie’s gente myrtle gaze darkened to a vengeful glare as she made her way down the hall toward the soldier’s room. Each step more and more fierce and prominent than the last.
The force of each stomp rattling her porcelain cleavage within her emerald corset dress. Her strawberry locks bouncing at every strut. Her raging aura growing more and more intense as she closed in.
So potent and toxic that it woke the soldier from his slumber. His heart rate increasing at an alarming rate as the doorknob turned before...
“Good evenin’, sir”, Birdie’s silky voice slithered throughout the room upon her entry, leaning against the doorway. A lustrous scarlet red smirk on her face. “Seems like someone got a little too frisky, eh?”
The soldier merely stared at the woman in confusion as well as light arousal as she looked toward the shredded blouse on the floor.
“Oh, dear”, she facetiously pouted. “That was such a nice top too...”.
“Poor poor Crysie”, the woman continued. “That was the 5th stop she’s lost in the past two weeks...y’know I made them”, her voice began to take a more vicious tone.
“...it takes a lot of time...and effort to make these girls look nice for worthless pigs like you...and this is the thanks I get?” The man’s heart skipped a beat upon the click of the lock as the fear of the woman in front of him rose through his abdomen.
“Looks like we’ll have to teach the young man some manners, won’t we?”, Birdie grinned as she slowly approached the man. Her curvy hips swaying back and forth with every step as she shut the door behind her.
“L-Look, lady...”, he whimpered as he scooted against the headboard of the bed, “I...I didn’t mean to ruin the shirt, hones-ghk! Auggghhh!!!”, the man was abruptly silenced by a sharp backhand to his jaw, Birdie’s pointed nails leaving a vicious gash against his face.
“Oh, no, no, no”, the woman’s soft sensual tone returned. “It’s too late for that now...but don’t worry...it doesn’t take much to teach a man...”, a she smirked as her petite hand slid down the front of his pants, intruding his boxers, light whimpers erupting from his throat.
“Please...”.
“All it takes...is a little....persuasion”, she whispered before a blood curdling scream echoed throughout the halls, even to the dressing room at the end.
“There...”, a dapper man in a gold quite delightfully beamed, as he consoled the still mostly bare Crystal. “Sounds like he got his taste of the Strelitzia Reginae”.
“W-what’s that?”, Crystal asked the man.
“The Bird of Paradise”, he grinned. “Daddy’s favorite flower”.
Moments later, Birdie emerges from the room. Her hand, up to her wrist, gloved in crimson as well as a few droplets that stained her dress.
“Ugh...gross”, she sighed upon the few before shouting. “GALAHD!!”
Followed by a brief silence, the woman began to check her surroundings. Noticing no one, she began to call out once more. “GALA-”.
“I’m here”, a small yet firm voice sliced through Birdie’s yelp, startling the woman.
She spun around to see the girl she was addressing already in the room, beginning to place the torn flesh into a trash bag.
Birdie never liked the girl. She was always so quiet, and quite frankly, it creeped out the older woman as well as all of her girls. Her clothes were worn and she never wore shoes, but the main reason why they were fearful of her...was because of her milky grey eyes.
Not that it was anything new. Her eyes had always been this way...ever since the incident...but because of how they frightened the girls and put them on edge, Birdie demanded for them to always remain hidden.
They were always kept hidden away by her hair so she trudged about doing the bidding of anyone in the mansion with any authority over hers.
A slave to their unholy cause.
“Well...make sure you replace the sheets. And get that blood out, ASAP, y’hear? I don’t wanna see none of that nastiness when I check later”, she commanded to the girl.
“Yes, ma’am...”, she mumbled dragging the castrated and maimed corpse off of the bed to get into the bag.
“Good girl”, Birdie nodded before an abrupt knock on the door captured her attention. Glancing at the child clean up her mess, she began to shut the door to conceal the smell before approaching the front door leaving the girl alone in a dark room with a rotting corpse.
Although, her senses remain unhindered.
A light sigh escaped Muerlin’s nostrils as she took in the vast flamboyancy of the mansion as well as it’s size.
The doors were way too big for this to be a regular home. Especially with it’s random placement in the literal middle of nowhere.
A slight shiver crept up her spin as one of those giant doors slowly slid open with a loud creak.
Staring toward the dim red lighting beyond the doorway, a shadowy silhouette of a woman appeared.
“Can I help you?”, Birdie greeted the silver haired wizard. Light sass in her voice.
“Um...sorry, I hope I’m not intruding”, Muerlin’s lightly accented voice fluttered through the woman’s ears. Upon closer examination of her, she actually noticed the silver in her hair as well as a random shading upon her wrists under her glove.
The woman’s eyes suddenly lit up upon her realization of their new guest’s identity and her attitude took a complete 180.
“Oh...”, Birdie smirked, her delightful tone making the microscopic silver hairs on the back of Muerlin’s neck stand at attention. “Not at all, deary. How may we be of service?”
“Well...”, Muerlin began to explain with a light chuckle. “I’m just traveling through the countryside and seems I lost track of time and ventured too far without any proper plans for food and shelter for the night”.
“Oh, you poor sweet baby doll”, Birdie cooed at the nervous teen bending down toward her. “Not to worry, precious. I’m sure we can find something for you”, her sinister silky voice crept through the young girl’s mind followed by yep...already regretting it as she slowly made her way inside.
“Take a seat, sweetheart”, Birdie calmly suggested, gesturing to one of the plush chairs in the foyer. “Make yourself comfy”.
As Muerlin sat down, a rather foul aroma floated through her nostrils causing her to scrunch up her nose in slight disgust.
Upon realizing this, Birdie attempts to cover up the incident. “Uh, I will be back in a jiffy, sweetie”, the woman chuckled. “There’s someone special I want you to meet. Stay right here, shug. Right here”, she grinned before hurriedly heading down the hall.
The further out of sight the silver haired girl became, the quicker Birdie’s pace. Her heart pounding against her eardrums as her excitement grew. Once she finally reached the farthest end of the hall, her excitement had grew to such immense proportions, she practically kicked the door open allowing it to swing and slam against the wall.
“Goddammit, Birdie!”, the man in gold shouted, startled from his favorite whore’s outburst. “What in the hell has gotten into you?!”
“Our big break, Dion Honey, that’s what!”, she loudly whispered toward the confused man.
“What does that even mean?!”, he began to calm down.
“It means that tonight is the night we finally get to stick it to them Imperial bastards”.
“How?”
“The Pythoness is here!”
The man immediately calmed down upon hearing this news before fixing his tie. “Well, alright...let the game’s begin”.
A few moments later, Muerlin begins to get used to the silences despite the overall creepy nature of this place.
Although she notices the hordes of bare bodies floating about in skimpy sparkly outfits, her presence still remains unknown, thankfully.
“Welly, well, well, what have we here?”
...or it did.
Muerlin’s gaze quickly shifted to the slender man in a golden suit as he approached her. She was surprised at how well she hid her anxiety toward him.
His hair seemed a million times shinier than his outfit despite the fact it was a dark brown, but if the point was to keep the waves in place, it was working for him spectacularly.
As much as she hoped his thin mustache wasn’t smoothed out by the same gel, she was almost certain she was incorrect.
She had to give him some credit by the fact he was very sharply dressed, but his appearance coupled with Birdie’s and the obviousness of what this mansion actually was, it made her incredibly uncomfortable and in that moment, her regret for even considering this place skyrocketed.
“This is our new special guest I was telling you about”, Birdie explained, that sly and creepy grin still plastered upon her face.
“Special, indeed”, the man’s slimy voice slipped through Muerlin’s ears. His light brown iris’ examining her body thoroughly.
“Dionysus Mammon”, he gently took her hand placing a damp kiss upon it, “but you can call my Dion”. The fibers from his mustache tickling her knuckles. “A pleasure”.
As much as Muerlin wanted to slap the gel out of this guy’s mustache, she needed a place to stay...so, trying not to be rude, she forced herself to smile with a light chuckle. “Th...The pleasure’s all mine”.
“This young lady was hoping to find a place to stay for the night”, Birdie explained. “She got all turned up and didn’t get a chance to eat”, the woman pouted with false concern.
“Is that so?”, Ferdinan asked the young woman, perching himself upon the edge of the chair she was sitting in.
His cologne filling Muerlin’s nostrils nearly rendering her comatose.
“It is, sir”, she continued to force her smile, while trying her hardest to hold her breath. “...unless it would be too much trouble?”
“Oh, nonsense”, the man waved his hand in the air with a toothy grin at her. “It would be no trouble at all”.
“Thank you, sir”, Muerlin graciously nodded, still heavily creeped out by his demeanor.
“GALAHD!!!”, the man loudly snapped his fingers.
After a moment, the young girl emerged from the dimly lit hallway rather hastily approaching the group.
Her appearance was fairly unnerving to the young wizard. Not really because of her in general, but the juxtaposition between the clearly pristine and pressed, dolled-up duo in front of her and the ghostliness of this girl rose suspicious.
Her clothes had clearly been lived in and there was no telling how long her feet had been bare, or when was the last time she had a proper bath.
Her hands seemed to be the cleanest thing about her.
Like they had been recently washed.
“Yes, sir?”, her voice was solid. Monotoned. No sense of emotion behind it in any way. Almost robotic...and chilling.
Her long pitch hair shifted just enough for Muerlin to notice an eye, but the girl’s gaze was toward the floor so she was unable to really make it out.
“Please escort our special new guest to one of the empty rooms on the second floor”.
Upon receiving the order, the girl suddenly peered up to the silver haired girl revealing a light grey and blue iris behind a milky film.
Muerlin’s gaze upon the eye intensified though her face never changed expression.
She noticed the girl’s eye dart around in her direction and it seemed they widened every second.
What was she possibly looking at? Muerlin had no idea, but whatever it was...judging how sharply the grey eyed girl’s gaze returns to Muerlin’s teal pools, it had her shook.
A deafening crack abruptly broke the wizard’s trance, causing her to jump in her seat.
Muerlin glanced toward the two snappy dressed adults in front of her to notice a gold plated pistol dangling in front of her face in Mr. Mammon’s hand.
“What did I say about showing people those disgusting eyes of yours?!”, Dion shouted, his voice snarled and cruel. His general suave demeanor instantly shifted.
It took a few seconds for Muerlin to realize the girl was on the floor holding her face in one hand while trying to hoist herself up with the other, clearly struggling not to make a sound or tremble.
“Well?”, Dion hissed at her.
Upon removing her hand from her face, her gaze was once again plastered against the floor, however Muerlin could clearly see the black and purple blemish around her eye as well as the hint of red shaded upon her pale palm.
“My apologies, sir”.
“NOT...to me”, the man instructed.
“...Apologies, miss”.
Completely dumbfounded by the fact that he actually forced this girl to apologize to her, Muerlin was more and more eager to get away from those two.
“Now then”, Mammon’s gentlemenly manner returned like nothing happened as he holstered his pistol, “would you kindly escort our guest to her room? Be a good little one and make sure she’s comfortable. Can you do that little favor, sweet-pea?”
“Yes, sir”.
Muerlin felt absolutely sick to her stomach. Sleep and food now came second and third to getting the hell out of here, but what would happen if she just left?
She didn’t want to risk them blaming this girl for her sudden departure. So, she reluctantly followed the girl, with no rebuttal.
Feeling slightly better now that there was some distance between her and those two.
Slightly.
Moments before midnight...
The luscious moans and fervorous groans that usually echoed through the halls had long ceased.
And toward the end of the hall, a mere glimmer was shown through a cracked door.
“You and me have hit the jackpot now, Big Daddy”, Birdie sensually beamed as she gently knocked the ash from her cigarette without knock it off it’s holder. “The Emperor will surely be pleased”.
“Yes...he would be...wouldn’t he?”, Dion responded half-heartedly as he sat at his desk, staring intensely into the fireplace pondering to himself.
Birdie however appeared so enthusiastic about their apparent success, she didn’t seem to catch this.
“The Chancellor’s prized possession walks in our humble establishment”, he began expressing his thoughts, “and is now counting sheep in one of our rooms”.
Rising from his seat, he slowly paces about his office. “One phone call...and we finally get the reward and position we so rightfully deserve in the emperor’s circle”.
“We’ll be the talk of Niflheim, baby”, Birdie hummed against her cigarette before taking another hit.
“Yes, yes, but...is this really the answer?”
Birdie’s parade suddenly came to a halt at Dion’s words. “What’re ya talking about?”, Birdie’s voice shook with light concern. “We’ve got this in the bag. Give the Pythoness to that creep Izunia and we’ll live like royalty until death do us part”.
“Yes, but...is this all my great legacy will be? Will I only be the man that captured the Pythoness?”
“What you tryin’ to say?”, Birdie’s demeanor beginning to sour.
“Returning the Pythoness to the Chancellor would get us in with the gold, but...keepin’ her for myself, makin’ her one of my girls...my girl...with her at my side...why, I’d have Aldercapt at my balls”.
“Now, hold on there, Dion”, Birdie nervously chuckled as she rose from her seat. “We already got a plan. Gettin’ under Aldercapt’s skin would be nice and all, but gettin’ in his circle, we’d be swimming in dough”.
“True...but makin’ that ol’ shriveled motherfucker sweat, I become the circle”, Dion’s greed continuing to get the best of him.
Birdie gulped with anxiety at Dion suddenly turning his back on their reward. HER reward. Instead of splitting the fame and glory, he was actually willing to make the Pythoness his personal favorite. His new personal favorite.
“Now, Dion, what in heaven’s name gave you such a ridiculous idea like that?”, Birdie tried to keep it together.
Dion was silent. His back to the woman.
“Really. Makin’ that child one of your girls just to piss off the Empire”, Birdie snorted hoping that he’d come to his senses and agree. “Now, what we need to be doin’ is-”, a pitch black tunnel suddenly placed directly between the bridge of her nose silenced Birdie.
“I’m sorry”, Dion softly murmured. “I don’t seem to recall asking you for your input, sweetheart. Please...”, he paused before before slowly removing the safety, “...enlighten me if I am mistaken”.
Sweat began to build upon the woman’s brow as she balled her fist, trying to push her rage back down.
“Not at all, baby”, the woman reluctantly replied.
“That’s what I thought”, Dion hissed before returned his weapon to it’s rightful spot on his side, in his jacket.
A sudden light echo caught Birdie’s attention outside the room, down the pitch corridor. Dion heard nothing over his avarice.
“In a few days, the name Dionysus Mammon will be the name of the Niflheim Empire...”, the man sinisterly beamed as Birdie began to slowly shut the door.
Warnings: Physical violence, abusive sexual situations, murder, gore.
A/N: The italics indicate the flashbacks to events in the last two previous chapters.
The birds.
They chirped with sweet joy as the sun had taken its place in the blue skies above.
Not a care in the world.
No worries, or fears.
Dion couldn’t hear them in his office, but that is what he imagined.
After all, that’s what birds would normally do on a day like today.
All he heard was the screech of his chair from under his desk upon the wooden floors.
“Now then...”.
Mammon rose his gaze toward Ulldor as he took his seat in the chair.
“Why don’t you start from the beginning?”
Dion’s gaze lowered back toward the floor before they darted to the empty spot on the couch next to him.
The ash from his ravishing redhead’s cigarette still in the ashtray on the end table from the night before.
The beginning of the end.
12:15 am.
Twisting the lock to Dion’s office door, Birdie stood facing the mahogany in silence.
Her hand lazily placed atop the handle.
She didn’t want to turn toward the man behind her.
The man that nearly blew her brains to out of her skull all over the fine plush sofa she was just sitting upon.
This wasn't the first time he ever pulled his gun on her.
Hey...it was part of the business.
But this time...
This time...it actually hurt.
To be apart of this world...to have this profession...you had to be on top of your game. You were either the user or the used.
Birdie was not the user...she was the bottom. Daddy’s safe net.
Keep him whole, keep his organization afloat, keep him on top.
And Dion loved her for that...but he couldn’t love her too much...or let her forget that the bottom was still his bitch.
Birdie hadn’t forgotten.
But it wasn't uncommon for a bottom bitch to want more.
Birdie’s ticket to more was Dion committing to his love, but seeing his greed get in the way...nothing hurt the bottom bitch more than to be thrown back to the slums.
And that’s what he wanted now...because of that silver headed brat.
“How would Alcercapt be the footnote”, Birdie started as she continued to face the door, “if the Pythoness is that Chancellor’s prize?”
“We can work around that, my dear”.
Removing his tie, he turned toward his redhead maiden, basking in the view of her fine physique in her green corset, and the perfect circumference of her rear.
“Have you any doubt?”, the man asked, his voice taking a light sensual tone.
“No”, the woman answered sternly merely trying not to anger him, to which Dion seemed very well aware, but didn’t really mind in this particular moment.
“You sound like you’re just saying that...did I upset my beautiful bird?”, Dion’s voice full of lust and false remorse.
Birdie didn’t respond. She could hear the soles of his dress shoes against the wooden floors as he approached her, followed by the unbuckling of his belt.
Birdie still remained firm. Never even turning to view the aroused man behind her.
Dion had known for years how to get around Birdie’s defenses. She wasn’t as susceptible to following his direct orders all the time, but her general devotion to him helped him look past that...though he still would end up getting what he wanted either way.
“I asked you a question, my pet”, the man rose the woman’s dress gripping onto her bare ass with enough force to cause Birdie’s muscles to tense.
“Y’know I don’t like when you point that thing at me...”, Birdie softly spoke.
“I know, my dear...”, the man sighed. Biting his lip as he rubbed himself upon the redhead’s rear end. “But my beautiful bird has to understand one thing”.
Clasping his hand over her mouth quickly before her wail could escape her lungs, Dion hissed into Birdie’s ear. “I’m in charge...”.
2:57 am.
Birdie was far too dazed to care about the puddle of saliva that was collecting at her bare knees.
The lack of oxygen making her eyes nearly burst from her skull.
Every solitary fiber of her throat ravaged to Dion’s sadistic pleasure. Every tear from her eye only increasing his urgency and his pace prolonging her dizziness and pain.
His groans of delight as his grip upon her beautiful strawberry peach locks tightened accelerating Birdie’s distress...but that’s how he liked it.
That was his favorite view of her.
On her knees, at his mercy, like the bitch she was.
Yes...Birdie was his bitch. Like Muerlin was going to be his bitch.
Birdie was his love. Muerlin was his power.
Love was submissive to power.
The thought of Muerlin...in his grasp like this...making the Chancellor green with envy...watching his come undone as he unfolded his precious prize before him like the bitch he would soon make her...
...filled Birdies tender throat to maximum capacity before shoving her the floor to take in the view of his damsel in distress.
He adored seeing her at her worst.
Naked. Bruised. Vulnerable. Her disheveled hair. Her bloodshot eyes. The tears drenching her bright pink freckled cheeks, her lips dripping with his excess essence she wasn’t able to keep down. Her bosom bouncing as she gasped heavily for air.....the fear in her eyes...knowing that he could do it again.
It drove him mad.
But once was enough for his bird of paradise.
He looked toward the clock on his mantle.
3:10 am.
“You may go now. Hurry before the girls see you like this”, he instructed coldly, returning to his desk lightning a cigarette.
A few moments passed before the exasperated Birdie stood from the floor, her entire body aching. Every hole burning viciously with soreness.
Refusing to look at her ravager, Birdie follows her instruction, picking up her clothes before slowly leaving the room.
Leaving Dion staring at the crackling fire, anxiously awaiting his soon rise to power.
“Hmph”, Ulldor lightly chuckled at Dion’s story.
“Sounds like you had a good night”.
Mammon didn’t respond.
“It’s such a shame she had to suddenly leave us...she sounded like a pleasant ‘bird’”, Ulldor teased much to Dion’s dismay.
Noticing Dion’s fist beginning to tense...
“Now, now...you cannot be angry at me for this”.
“Dion’s gaze retuned to the empty cushion next to the ashtray.
“I did not tell you to kill her”.
6:23 am.
“I see”.
Dion still firmly planted in his chair responded over his telephone. The fire still providing the only sound within the room.
“I can assure the Chancellor he has nothing less than my undying devotion and loyalty”.
He takes a sip of his drink, his grasp upon the cup tightening.
“Of course, this is just a mere hiccup. Some roach trying to smear my good name into the mud”.
His stare intense toward the fire.
“Yes, it will be dealt with”.
A twitch of his brow.
“...understood. Well, I shall see you soon, then...au revoir”.
Dion placed the phone back to it’s rightful position, taking a final slow, graceful swig of his drink before abruptly hurling his glass into the flames before him.
Inhaling deeply to regain his calm, he picked up the phone once more placing it upon his ear, pushing one single button that read “Line 1″.
After a pause...
“Birdie...my love, good morning”, his sweet, gentlemanly tone floating through the line. “I don’t suppose you would be so kind as to drop by my office in 10? I would love to have a word with that beautiful face of yours”.
A small smile stretched against his face.
“Thank you, my dear”.
After 10 minutes, on the dot, a now freshly pressed and radiant Birdie waltzed in to a Dion now fully dressed, bathed and fragranced. His usual dapper rapport. Perched on the edge of his desk, his arms folded.
Birdie, still lightly fumed from her session with him merely some hours before, offered a kind smile nonetheless only to be greeted by a cold stare.
“Mornin’, baby”, Birdie chirped in the most lighthearted tone. “What can I do for you?”
“Shut the door, please”, he firmly commanded. Though a light anxiousness rose into the woman’s core, she obeyed.
Once she returned her gaze toward the man, he was gesturing her to come closer with his finger. She obeyed.
The anxiety rising in her gut was only slightly halted once he lifted a new glass toward her face. “Make daddy a drink, will you sweets?”
The woman merely answered with a light nod before taking the glass in hand and pouring the rich brown liquid, enough for about a shot.
“Somethin’ the matter, baby?”, the woman asking, deep concern in her voice as she handed him the glass.
To which Dion immediately proceeded to down his shot before shattering the glass against the woman’s head, slicing her flesh and she tumbled to the floor.
A light shrill echoed throughout the room.
Birdie left crawling on the floor in shock from this sudden attack, begins to uncontrollably weep as her attacker approaches her, as calm and collective as ever, slowly removing his belt.
“You tell me, my little bird?”, he sighed as his stood above her.
Birdie still left attempting to crawl away as she noticed the man wrapping his belt around his fist.
“Dion...baby...please”, Birdie whimpered as he continued to approach her.
“General Caligo Ulldor just called me”, Mammon began to explain. “Apparently...he had been fed intel of the Pythoness being here”.
Birdie began to turn her gaze to view him.
“As well...as my plans to make her my bitch!”, Dion shouted before slamming his leather belt down on Birdie’s thigh.
A pained shriek escaping her lungs.
“Now...”, Dion continued, “...as I recall...the only two people in this world that knew of this were you...and I. So question is...”.
Mammon flips Birdie on her back with his foot.
“...how did Ulldor find out...?”
“Baby, I swear I didn’-”.
“Take off your clothes”, Dion cut the woman off, his tone forceful and harsh.
“Baby, please, I wouldn’t-”.
“Don’t make me repeat myself, love”, Dion’s light tone frightening the woman before she obeyed.
Not leaving her spot on the floor, she stripped herself down in front of her attacker, his eyes only fixated on her body. Not once on her eyes.
“You know...one thing he actually informed me off during our little talk was...that whomever tipped him off sent him a tape...”, Dion continued explaining. “And somehow...they were stupid enough to leave their initials on the tape”, Mammon chuckled lightly.
Birdie remained silent. Her fear racing through her entire body.
“S.R.”, Dion shook his head. “Oh...Strelitzia Reginae....”.
Birdie’s eyes widened.
“...My Bird of Paradise”.
“Dion, baby, pleas-AUGH!!!”, her screamed echoed through the walls as Dion furiously wailed on the tormented woman with his belt.
Leaving welts upon bruises he left mere hours before.
Not giving any attention to how loud the crashes upon her flesh were mixed with her pained wails as he viciously scolds her.
“I GIVE YOU FOOD!!!”
The girls in the other rooms crying in sadness and fear as they listened to their beloved Birdie’s shrieks.
“I GIVE YOU A ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD!!!”
Blood began to spill from her bruises as Mammon continued his assault.
“I GIVE YOU MY LOVE!!!”
His rage boiling his very core.
“AND THIS HOW YOU REPAY ME!!!”
The cracks of the belt sharp against Birdie’s tender flesh.
“WITH BETRAYAL!!!! LIES!!! DISLOYALTY!!!!”
Finally, he ceased his attack...his arm growing tired. He panted heavily as he took in the view of his exhausted redhead.
Naked, beaten and bruised...bloodied...afraid...
He bit his lip as his pants began to tighten against his growing erection.
“Y’know...”, Dion’s calm demeanor returning, “it’s so inconvenient...when during a punishment...you become the most beautiful”.
Birdie didn’t speak. Merely sobbed in fear.
“Turn over”, the man instructed softly.
Knowing she was far too weak to do so herself, Mammon planted a solid kick to her ribcage coaxing her to do so.
His steel toed shoe sending a heavy cry from her lungs as it cracked her bones.
Once on her stomach, Dion made quick work of his zipper before straddling her to where the base of her ass rested against his clothed thighs.
Her bitter sobs filling Mammon with adrenaline as he vigorously slapped the woman’s bare tender rear with his solid member.
If Dion had proven anything this day, it was his complete disregard for the intense pain coursing through Birdie’s body as he intruding into her ass with such fervor, her bloodcurdling screams merely sent him into an unholy sadistic delight.
The slapping flesh and tormented howls of their beloved Birdie burrowed into the girls’ fragile hearts.
Knowing there was nothing they could do that wouldn’t result in them receiving punishment themselves other than sitting silently and hope that Dion would show sympathy toward his personal favorite and not hurt her too badly.
As unlikely as that seemed.
20 minutes of this made it certain.
Dion was enjoying this far too much to decide to go easy now.
This was not love. This was power.
He basked in his dominance over his bottom bitch as he tore her insides apart.
Ripping pure flesh like it meant nothing.
For in this moment, she meant nothing.
She was nothing.
Nothing but his tool to use as he saw fit.
This is what it felt like to be the man that owned the Pythoness.
All were beneath him. Even his love.
As the power consumed him, mixed with the collection of tears upon the floor and the screams erupting from those rose red lips, Dion beamed in his euphoria pulling away to watch his essence seep from Birdie’s swollen rectum.
As he returned to his stance, marveling in his masterpiece, he became perplexed. Unnerved.
Her porcelain body coated in black, blue and red. Trembling in fear and pain. Each movement intensifying the pain. Unable to move. Paralyzed.
Broken.
He wanted to ruin her. Ruin his view of her. His girls’ view of her. Turn her into a worthless bitch unworthy of fucking.
But after all of that...he realized...
....this was the Birdie he loved most.
He wanted to hate her, but hating her into oblivion only made him desire her more...he couldn’t shake it...
...and it infuriated him.
“You fuckin’ whore...”, he hissed to the broken woman on his floor. “YOU FUCKIN’ WHORE!!!”, he shouted as he clutched onto a wad of her silky strawberry locks.
A sharp shriek filling the room.
“This is the price you will pay...”, Mammon growled into her ear before he proceeded to drag her out of his office.
The slam of the door against the wall startling the girls as they began pouring into the hallway to witness their beloved Birdie.
Naked, bloodied and clawing at Dion’s hand and wrist as he dragged her about the manor.
Pleading for her life while protesting her innocence knowing deep down there was not a thing her girls could and would do to aid her without possibly suffering the same fate.
Her screams sending the girls into sobbing messes as they helplessly watched the once ravishing redhead be dragged down the south hall.
It didn’t take long for Birdie realize where they were as they made their way through the corridors.
She had never came to this side of the manor.
She only ever instructed Galahd to come this way when she needed some Imperial trash taken out.
There were no doors down this hall. Merely steel plates for walls and a single row of lights.
The plush color palette of the rest of the manor slowly becoming further and further away.
The closer they got to their destination, Birdie could hear the hisses, snarls and growls.
Once they passed the hatch where Galahd would dump the trash, Birdie’s panic reached 100%. Her screams and clawing more desperate.
The sounds growing louder and louder to the point that Birdie knew they were just in front of the door.
“WAIT, please!”, Birdie cried so heavily, “you don’t have to do this....I swear it wasn’t me! I’m not S.R.!!”
For the first time, Dion actually decided to listen.
“Who is it then?”, his voice monotoned, yet clearly hoping she would give him an answer.
“I don’t know”, she admitted in shame.
With a light sigh, Dion released the battered woman. Gently lifting her to her feet in front of him.
Carefully caressing her bare body as he stared deeply into her sweet eyes.
“My Birdie...my beam of light”.
In this moment...Birdie, for the first time in all their years, felt Dion’s love as he placed a tender kiss upon her crimson lips.
There was no intrusion of his tongue...just affection.
Placing his forehead against hers and his palm against her heart, Birdie could see the tears wielding in his eyes.
“I’m sorry, my love...”, the man whispered.
“I forgive y-”.
A solid push against Birdie’s chest released a gasp from her lungs as she tripped backward into a black abyss.
“No, WAIT!”, Birdie screamed reaching toward the man before her, but with one swift slide of the door and twist of the lock, she was trapped.
Her screams and pounding against the titanium door were futile as Dion placed the hand he pushed her with upon the cold metal.
“Goodbye, my beautiful bird...”, he whispered against the blockade savoring his final moments with the love of his life. “You will live on in the Pythoness”.
In the abyss, a sudden hiss sliced through Birdie’s pounding and screaming followed by a low growl.
Her eyes soon adjusted to the dark as she slowly turned to see what lurked behind her, trembling in terror as she noticed an endless horde of bright yellow eyes and razor sharp teeth.
It didn’t take any time at all for the bloodcurdling shrieks to erupt from behind the door as well as the sound of tearing flesh and crushing bones as the swarm of albinogins feasted on their helpless prey.
But as quickly as the screaming started, was just about how long it took for them to cease only leaving the sound of the feast.
And with the ceased screams, were Dion’s tears as he fixed his attire and hair before turning his heel toward the opposite direction of the hallway.
Burying his precious bird...and his memory of their love.
Or so he thought...
8:31 am.
Dion continued to stare at the cushion next to him.
He thought he could forget her...thought he could toss her to the wolves and feel nothing, but the pain he felt was far greater than anything he felt...
...and Ulldor was enjoying this far more than he could bare.
“Honestly, Mammon”, Ulldor scoffed. “This barbaric profession of yours...you cannot hope to truly find love. Let alone keep it”, he chuckled at Dion’s despair. “Why, a man of your standing falling for a simple whore, did you believe to ride into the sunset on a white pony and build a life together? Pathetic...”.
As Dion began to reach for his pistol growing fed up with Ulldor’s cross words...
“Now, now”, a charmingly slimy voice sliced through the tension. Upon viewing the source actually increased the tension.
“That will be more than enough bloodshed for today”, Ardyn let himself in.
“C..Chancellor Izunia”, Dion’s voice shook as he removed his hand from his pistol.
“General Ulldor, would you mind not rattling Mr. Mammon? He has just suffered a terrible loss”, Ardyn asked with false remorse that almost sounded like teasing.
“Hmph”, Ulldor stands from the desk making his way out the door leaving the Chancellor with the somber Dion on the couch.
“My, my...”, Ardyn chuckles before casually taking his spot upon the front of Dion’s desk. “What a day you’ve had”.
“Yes...it’s been...eventful”, Dion attempted to recollect his normal gentlemanly demeanor.
“First, you were accused of stealing my Muerlin from under my nose by an anonymous tipper, then your prize whore is fed to the pets. Of course, you did the last thing on your own accord”, the man smirked.
“Yes...Birdie was...my dearest love, but such ridiculous accusations cannot go unaddressed”, Dion spot lightheartedly. “It had to be done, I’m afraid”.
“That is true”, Ardyn seemingly agreed.
“Unless...”, his tone lowering to a low growl, “...you do have my Muerlin”, the Chancellor’s glare locked upon the timid man on the couch. “For which I am not fully convinced that S.R. lied of your intent”.
The finely pressed man began to sweat over his thin mustache.
“I assure you, Chancellor Izunia”, the man fibbed, “what Birdie told you...it was all lies”.
“I’m honestly not so sure that your precious bird was even the culprit here, Mr. Mammon”, Ardyn stood from his seat heading toward the door.
Dion confused by his comment.
“You see...I know how these establishments work, Mr. Mammon”, the Chancellor chuckled. “The loyalty of these simple whores is...juvenile, to say the least. But the bond between a man and his prime...that...is not a loyalty easily shaken”.
“Well...I did always say that Birdie wasn’t like any other whore”, Dion sighed.
“Maybe so...but I cannot imagine someone of her standing could make such an amateur mistake at ratting herself out”, Ardyn continued. “Especially, having to have known the consequences. A prime whore has to be mindful of these thing”.
“What’re you insinuating?”, Dion curiously asked the Chancellor.
“That someone intelligent enough to keep an unholy place like this afloat, wouldn’t test such an idiotic stunt for mere fortune...I believe you were made by someone much more clever...someone that knew you would be so confident in their trust...or fear of you that you would never suspect”, the slimy Chancellor grinned at the befuddled man. “...yet someone so vengeful...that they would go that extra mile...just to see you hurt”.
Dion had nothing to say. He couldn’t think of anyone that could’ve possibly wanted Birdie dead that badly...he felt vulnerable at the mere thought of his mind being warped by such manipulation.
It made him sick.
“Also...if I may ask, what time did you and Birdie start last night?”
“Not long after midnight...until a little after 3”, Dion answered suspiciously.
“Interesting...how impressive for a mere bottom whore to have recorded and delivered such an elaborate message at 1:30 am. While being played with by her master...”, Ardyn lightly hissed.
Dion’s eyes now saucers.
“...where is my Muerlin, Mr. Mammon?”
9:02 am.
Dion escorted the Chancellor to the room he assigned to her on the second floor.
After knocking upon the door and receiving no answer, Dion noticed the door was already unlocked.
Shoving the door open, Dion was paralyzed by the sight before him.
The room was bare.
Completely.
The bed was made, everything was in its rightful spot.
As if not a single soul had been in here.
“GALAHD!!!”, Dion called out to his servant whom he assigned to watch her.
No answer.
“GALAHD!!!”, he called once more, exiting the room and looking down the halls.
Still no answer.
Knowing how sneaky she was, Dion turned back into the room to see if she had slipped past him somehow.
No one.
“...no...”, Dion mumbled under his shaky breath. “...this can’t be...that little bitch...”.
“Pardon me, Mr. Mammon...”, Ardyn calmly interrupted his panic, only to make it worse as his eyes glowed a bright yellow. “...but who is Galahd...?”
The next morning...
“Alright...”, Muerlin’s voice echoed throughout the cavern.
“The Empire will be here in 30 minutes and I only need about 10 to get out of here before they show”.
Muerlin’s back toward the caverns exit.
“So you’re going to spend the next 20 telling me who you really are...”, Muerlin instructs are she slowly lifts her hand, sparks twinkling between her fingers, “...before I tear you in half”.
The girl before her only releasing a light sigh in light vexation of her defeat, her milky grey gaze rising to Muerlin’s teal orbs.
