An inky blur shot past as my blue-haired apprentice was grabbed from behind and wrapped in a cocoon of the same color. I called out as I cast a spell to catch the demon who would blatantly abduct a child in front of me. Unfortunately, before I could send out a spirit to immobilize the demon, the biggest child jumped out and started chasing. The child with their actions blocked my path and I restrained him instead as I growled in frustration. The other two stood next to me in shock.
"S-sir, aren't you going to chase after Azure?" The brown-haired girl, who I believe was called Amity, looked up to me with uncomprehending eyes. I couldn't tell if it was because of me or what had just happened, but I smiled at the little volunteer to hopefully reassure her.
"Yes, I will chase them, but I have a special way of doing it." I made a flourish of purple energy to emphasize my point. I saw some relief appear in the little girl's eyes only for the other two to interrupt. "How are you going to do it?" The largest child was the first to speak up, sowing the question into the other children's heads.
I float there as one pair of eyes became three. I strained my smile as I cursed the brat that stirred up the others-. A flash of what I thought was amusement emerged in the biggest child's eyes only to disappear before I could confirm it. My smile turned to a frown as I focused closer on him.
'Was that...?' I debated the need to examine the suspicious child's future, but before I could come to a conclusion I was interrupted by a hand tugging at me.
"Huh?" I turned down to see a different girl this time, one with green hair who looked both bravely serious yet scared. "M-Malphas, sir, we need to help my friend!" My mind broke from my suspicions as I went back to the most urgent situation. I cast a scrying spell as I floated a small hair that had landed on my apprentice's books.
I focused on the spell as I infused the target's hair and an invisible tendril of purple magic, untouchable to all but the professional witches of the Oracle Coven, shot off in the direction of the demon who would soon regret ever attempting to kidnap my apprentice.
Soon a connection formed and what I saw was...
*********
"-ut... promise...!" A voice rang out in the darkness, pinpricks of light piercing with each word until a flash of light engulfs my vision.
"I do not care for promises from the impure..." a familiar voice rang out as the sensation of the cold and hard ground spread everywhere around my limp body. Following this, my eyes finally adjusted to the change from the quiet darkness to the noisy light.
'Who's... talking?' I looked around from my place on what I had finally recognized as the cobbled stone of an alley or at least the shadowy wall sitting just past the cobbled ground seemed to confirm my hazy thought.
"Well, this 'impure' has your prize here!" Before I could do anything I felt an arm scoop me up and heave me into someone's pit, snapping me out of the previous daze as adrenaline hit my system.
'Sh- what?!' I went to struggle only to stop an instant after a wave of pain seized my back as my situation hit me and I held back a scream. 'Did someone kidnap me?!' Despite what panic that should've sent me into, I kept myself from moving. 'It'd just make it worse if they knew I was awake, right?' I thought it over for a few more moments and just knew opening my eyes and moving would draw unwanted attention. Then I remembered my back seizing as I tried not to scream.
'They didn't catch that right?' I listened for a hint that I might've already been found out. "Be careful? This brat was knocked out quite thoroughly by me, Alexandrius!" The vibrations of a growl went through my body as the man, Alexandrius, shook my limp body around. My back tensed, but I controlled it this time as I let my body flail a little. This unfortunately hurt way worse than before as he kept going.
'I swear to god or the titan or to whatever powerful monsters there are, I will beat this guy's face in when I get the chance!' I gritted my teeth and soon the shaking stopped as pain followed it.
"I will let you keep what I have bestowed and you will give me the child, or you will not keep the blessing I have given..." The familiar voice spoke up once again, much more coldly than before.
"Your servant or whatever that little man is promised me my right to my time and my library!" Alexandrius tightened his grip as he growled. "I do not remember a mention of that?" The voice took on a hint of confusion as Alexandrius screamed on about his right to the library and the voice's breaking of the terms.
During this, I tried to find an out I could take to leave, but with this delusional psycho holding me, I had no way of doing that. "Fine then, I shall reclaim the blessing my subordinate has bestowed." A scream rang out as Alexandrius tensed soon followed by the psycho thrashing despite what had happened before he jerked forward and I was immersed in darkness once again. My last thought before I was stuck in that same space that had sent me here was who that other voice could be...
**********
I lingered for a moment on my charade as I watched the fool I had taken on as a willing puppet take off with the chosen. I couldn't help but smile as the incompetent man had done willingly what would have taken much more time to orchestrate. "Alexandrius, many thanks for your act of devotion to our lord!" I gave a chuckle that soon turned to laughter as my black and white robes, the robes of the lord's messenger rustled in sync with the motions of my mirthful shoulders.
I soon calmed as my piety returned. "No, no, I mustn't get carried away in the lord's work." A smile returned to my face, not of hubris but of the same piety I give to all of my lord's works. "Now to complete the next step of the Chosen's path." My pious smile turned to a grin as my labors, my piousness began to bear fruit.
A portal soon opened as I made my way back to my lord's newest domain, revealing the pest that had gone against the order and now would use its undeserved gifts to serve.
**********
The connection cut as an inky black took over the spell... or at least it looked to be cut. I examined it closer and found that it was not in fact cut, but in a place I could not see, or possibly, just possibly a place that was beyond what my spell could gaze into. This was just speculation though, I couldn't say what was happening beyond that the tendril I had sent seemed to be intact. This left me twiddling my thumbs as I waited for a place to locate and prepare for.
"Sir, did you find Azure yet?" The Green-haired child spoke up first as I broke my attention away from the currently futile effort of seeing in pitch black. "Ah, yes don't worry about this." Waving them off I noticed an outline in the distance as it came closer and closer, I noticed that it was what I had hoped for and feared... a parent.
"Willow!" A cheery yet unsteady voice called out as an anxious, tan-skinned figure stepped off their Palisman. "Dad?" The Green-haired girl looked on with knitted brows. "Yeah? Did you forget my face?" The Child's Father chuckled before refocusing. "We need to get back before dinner, remember?" The Child, Willow, only stood there as her expression shifted. The Child's Father, seeing his daughter needed time to think, turned to me and slowly extended his arm towards me.
"Y-you must be these kids' coordinator, right?" My frown stayed put, my eyes narrowing on how to explain this situation as the man's face tightened with a frown. "Um, is something wrong?" I shook my head and focused back on the parent and gave as friendly a look as I could. "No, no, it's just I'm not the usual person who manages them." The man's face relaxed, the frown leaving at the same speed it had appeared. "Well, thank you for doing that-." The man's face relaxed froze seeming to realize something. "Where are my manners? I'm Harvey Park, Willow Park's father." Harvey placed his hand gently onto his daughter's head.
"Ah, well I'm Malphas, the head librarian." Harvey's eyes widened, his gaze flicking back to me. "O-oh, it's nice to meet you, M-Malphas." Harvey looked tense after my introduction, which was amusing but I didn't have time to waste. "Likewise, it was nice chatting but you must be going and I must keep an eye on these remaining children." Harvey looked confused for a moment before he got what I meant. "Right, can't keep Gilbert waiting." The man nodded before picking up his daughter and heading off towards his presumed home.
"Sir, are we also leaving?" The Brown-haired girl spoke up with a concerned look on her face. "Even though Az- our fellow volunteer is missing?" I sighed, readying for a possible tantrum or something similar for Demonlings around or at least close to this age range. "Yes, if your parents or someone they trust comes to pick you up then you will be going." The reserved look she had seemed to waver at the answer, but with a surprising amount of self-control for a... 6-year-old kid? Yeah, probably a 6-year-old kid; she maintained a remarkably calm demeanor.
"A-alright sir." I sighed at the reluctance and cast a spell. "You have a way to contact the Green-haired girl, Willow, yes?" The girl nodded as I finished casting the spell and a pair of paper slivers appeared with a red colored end connected to me by an invisible tendril.
"Here, this will turn blue when I have found your friend." I handed her one strip and another to the suspicious, large boy. "Friend-?" I cut her off as I spoke. "Will this suffice?" The girl looked confused as Malphas realized that they probably didn't know the word. "Will this work?" The girl stood for a moment, seeming to have lost focus after I spoke. A few seconds passed before she looked back up with a lost gaze. "What?" I repeated what I had said after a sigh. "O-oh, yes this works!" She responded a bit quicker than needed.
'Ugh, why couldn't these kids just be easier to talk to like my appren-?' I thought back to my interactions with Azure and remembered that it wasn't much better with him either. 'Never mind then.' I went back to my scrutiny spell to see if anything had changed, but it was still pitch black. A voice rang out as I changed my sight and saw a pair of twins getting close to my face with a marker. My brows furrowed as an angry growl resounded from behind the two children.
"Edric! Emira! Stop it!" The volunteer girl stomped over as she tried to drag away her... older siblings? I noticed a resemblance, looking closer but that wasn't important at this moment. "Children, are you here to pick up your sibling?" Edric stepped back along with Emira as they began to nod, treating their failed attempt like their near proximity with a marker never happened. "Yep! I'm Emira and this is Edric!" The older girl introduced as the assumed brother waved. "I hope you two and your little sister get home safely then." A reciprocal smile came to my face as they nodded and took their sister's hands, practically dragging her as they made a hasty retreat.
I shook my head at the absurdity of the mischievous pair before turning to the last volunteer here only to see no one. I furrowed my brows at this. 'Did he leave or was he taken too?' I frantically wove a second scrying spell and saw that the boy was just walking along the paths of a residential street a little ways away from the library. 'Just left then.' I sighed in relief before going to close the channel only to hesitate as the image of an amused glint in the boy's eye came to mind. 'Do I... keep it open?' I gave it one last look and saw him turning onto a sidewalk leading to a building filled with various homes. I shook my head and cut the channel. I felt silly for trying to spy on a child.
I focused back on the most important and only scrying spell active and finally saw light come through. A cell lay before me as my Apprentice lay unconscious on...! 'Is that the cellar at the Cutburn's home?!' I thought back on the man who had kidnapped Azure and remembered a former employee who had been obsessed with the library, being brought on due to his mother's relation with me. The mother who had gotten him hired at my library was the head of the Healing Coven, Hettie Cutburn.
'What was her boy's name? Alexi? Alexander? Alexandrius? Yes, that's it, Alexandrius.' I thought back to his time there and his actions as a general nuisance, while he had been a librarian. 'Of course it was him, he had tried recently to sabotage an employee, so why would he not try something now?' I sighed and went back to watching my apprentice as he started to stir.
**********
"Mmm... huh?" My eyes focused once again to see cold, gray stone close to my face, only it seemed to be much cleaner to the point of almost shining, or what would have been a shine if what little light I could see wasn't a dim ray leaking through a barred window.
"Where am I?" I mumbled before I made my way to stand up but was soon reminded of the injury somewhere in my back. I tensed back without thinking and held in a yell. 'Gghh!' I waited for a moment and caught my breath. 'Ok, that hurt.' I glanced around the dark room. 'Now what?' I thought about it before looking over to the door. 'Would it be that easy?' I slowly rolled onto my stomach and placed one arm in front of the other, dragging myself to the only rays in the room.
A painful bit later I found myself at the door. 'Ok Azure, just have to get this door open, right? Right.' I nodded to myself as my lips thinned at what I'd have to do next. I placed my arms under me, bracing for the pain I knew was coming. '-and lift!' I got almost the full arm length before my back protested once again. "A-" The ground stopped my scream as my head made contact. "Ffff-" I went to grip my face only to stop as I heard movement from the other side.
"You hear something?" A feminine voice spoke out. "Hear what?" A masculine voice responded. "The 'ah!' or was it an uh?" A sigh reverberated from the other side of the door. "Carol, you hear those kinds of things all the time." A knock rang out from the door. "I'm not stumbling through the cellar again because you're getting goosebumps." A whine followed soon after. "Come on, at least look in?" Another sigh followed as the ringing of metal against metal ensued.
A spike of panic hit me as I scrambled to find the hinged side of the door and scrambled towards it. One second after and the metal jingling stopped and I had made it a third of the way. Two seconds after, a sort of *chnk* came from the door's lock and the hinges came into focus. Three seconds later, there was a click as I finally arrived. Four seconds after and I found the door opening as I placed myself straight against the wall behind the door with a spike of pain.
"See? No one's he-" A shape leaped from the dark and the man or what I assumed was one, had been silenced. A scream rang out and I froze, the door shutting and clicking before footsteps and screaming echoed off into the distance. A spike of panic shot through me as I quickly and silently dragged myself to the bottom of the door and peeked under it... nothing. The only thing I saw was the glow of the torches or whatever was out there to light up the bottom step.
The panic turned to dread as I thought of the click that had resounded from the door. Assuming that it was locked for the reason I thought then... 'I'm locked in with whatever killed the man who opened the door.' The dread grew and I made my way from the previously promising light, now a danger to me and my prone body. My mind filled with thoughts of where to go and what to do only to stop on the faces of the most important people in my life... and Eda.
'What do I do?!' One of the faces came to mind and I felt regretful for just suddenly lashing out against a person who regardless of intentions, tried to give me the tools I needed and I desperately needed now. 'Malphas, if you can see me with your magic, get here soon.' I picked up my pace and dragged myself faster across the floor towards shadowy cover.
**********
My eyes narrowed as a sense of urgency overtook me and I found myself casting a spell that propelled me into the air upon my gargantuan tome toward the Cutburn residence, passing an orange blur. A few flyers whizzed past as I made a beeline for my student's location. "Get out of the way!" A man on a turtle-shaped palisman staff attempted to move as quickly as possible, only for me to growl and swerve past. I resumed my path over to the Cutburn residence only to hear someone behind yelling as it got louder and louder.
"-ey! Hey!" The voice rang louder as I saw a woman with a familiar orange hue to her hair fly up next to me. "Finally caught up!" An irritated scowl painted her face. "Are you the supervisor or whoever it is that waits with those kids at the library?" My brow raised and I glanced over quickly. "I am. What do you need?" I humored them as I made progress towards my apprentice's location.
"My kid, dark blue hair, annoying attitude, where is he?" I froze at that as I slowed my tome and turned towards the woman, realizing who she was, "You're Azure's mother." The woman froze for a moment with a far-off look that dissipated as quickly as it appeared as she nodded, her brows narrowing. "Yes, so where is he?" I debated what I should do, I hoped that I could keep her distracted for a bit while I rescued her son, but seeing her face I knew she wouldn't take anything besides the truth.
Malphas sighed and started moving once again. "Follow me, I'll explain on the way." The woman floated there for a second before charging after me.
**********
'This should work, right?' I squinted into a dark hollow area that felt sort of like the underside of some kind of desk or counter. A clatter rang out nearby as I rushed in hoping that what I found would manage to obscure me as I propped myself against the wall.
Another clatter rang out as whatever was lurking was only seconds from where I was. I placed a hand to my mouth and slowed my breathing in the hopes that the creature wouldn't be able to find me. "D-damn it... the library, yes, I need to find the..." A soft almost distorted voice mumbled as I spotted a figure that I could barely make out in the darkness. I looked closer squinting as much as I could before... freezing as the figure came into better focus shifting into the dim light that emanated from around the corner.
It was Alexandrius, the psycho who had kidnapped me, but he looked... off. His body wasn't abnormal yet his movements were jerky and uncertain almost like a puppet. He walked without noise yet for all I saw, I knew he should have been making tons of it, yet he didn't. It didn't feel right, I didn't feel right looking at him, and yet there was something, a familiarity, one of something deep within me, or at least within my body that wanted to draw closer to the man... if that was him. Soon after my thoughts finished, the man seemed to hunch as he held his head.
"Library... L-library, mine, it's mine!" My face scrunched at the rambling as I shrank away. Something about this was familiar yet I knew that I'd never seen someone act like this before. I tried to remember what this reminded me of, but before I could think of it, a word flashed into my mind along with the voice that had said it. 'Blessing. This is the blessing that the voice spoke of.' I focused back on the twitching, shambling man.
'But what kind of blessing is this?' I grit my teeth. 'Why would anyone accept a gift that could turn you into something worse than a lunatic?' My mind froze once again as I noticed something that gave me a hint of what this blessing could have been. Pitch black tendrils snaking from torn skin that expelled more and more of the pus-like substance, of what I now called... 'Essence.' I felt my mind go catatonic for a moment as I realized who it was. I knew I had faced the creature's puppets before yet something about this didn't sit right as I searched desperately for why and then something clicked. I was alone, just like when I...
My mind spiraled and I wanted to scream. 'No no no, I don't want to die! My legs, I can't- I...' I held my head and my mind seemed to unlock something, something I didn't want. A memory came back, playing almost like a film as I watched the figure of a hazy girl running away, a vague promise to keep her safe from something in mind, only for a creature to toy with me, leaving my body battered as I cursed myself for something, my lack of thought perhaps? A creature, one I knew was the cause for my broken state, approached as it gave me an almost amused look before it bowled me down into... into somewhere?
I jolted as reality came back in a flood of information. The most important piece of all was that the psycho, Alex, was lying on the floor, and standing in front of him was a four-legged figure with tendrils extending from its back, staring on blankly, its eyes an inky void that absorbs all light that comes near it.
**********
"You want me to what?" A woman of regal stature stood from her seat as the most absurd request had been asked of her. "I need entrance to your cellar, Coven Head Cutburn" The man known as Malphas repeated as he cringed at her offended tone. "My family's cellar? The one that has contained all of the Cutburn's priceless heirlooms. The Cellar that has been a sacred responsibility to protect by the head of the house of every generation?" Hettie couldn't believe it. After this man had fired her son, he was requesting to enter such a sacred place? Preposterous!
"You have already soured our relations with your slight against my Alexandrius, why would you think I would do anything like that now?" The man cringed again and Hettie took a sort of satisfaction in that look on the old bird's face.
Though he had done such a thing, it wasn't just his slight that made her refuse him. 'The orb is still in there after all, and it will stay that way.' After all, the Phoenix's Tear is simply too valuable to Hettie and the rest of her family with its properties.
'I just need the right catalyst and...' A face entered her vision as she snapped back to focus to see the angry face of the Orange-haired woman who was with Malphas. "Huh? Who?!" The woman watched as Hettie stumbled and clattered into her chair, the woman's scowl closing the distance once again. "You may not let him in, but I won't be taking no for an answer." The presumptuous woman placed a finger to Hettie's chest and Hettie despite her best effort shrank back.
"My..." She hesitated for a moment before something hardened even further in her eyes. "My son is in there with something dangerous and I won't leave him to fend for himself or possibly even die because some haughty girl is too prideful to let a mother do what they do best." The words struck a chord with Hettie as she was both inspired and yet terrified of the woman in front of her. Her son came to her mind and with the image, she came to her decision.
"...fine, I'll let her down, but do not expect me to be so magnanimous next time." Hettie held onto her persona, not wanting her composure to be ruined so easily, but just as she went to lead the woman down to her Cellar, a cellar guard appeared from the back entrance into her estate.
"M-Miss.Cutburn! Y-your son is-" Hettie stiffened at the words before she took off running into the estate and towards the cellar without regard for the woman chasing her.
"Alexandrius!" She called out as she approached the stairs. "Alex, are you there?!" Hettie started down the stairs before she started to leap in an almost graceful manner as she skipped step after step until she was at the door only to be stopped by a lock.
Hettie, knowing she didn't have time for an obstruction gathered her magic and reinforced her limbs as she pulled back her arms and punched the door. A few moments later the door bent to her will and magically enhanced strength, falling to the floor with a clatter. "Miss, we had the key-" Hettie rushed in and what she saw froze her to the spot. A figure engulfed in emerald green flames stood above the limp form of her son as he lay in a puddle of some kind, possibly blood. Hettie was stuck, unable to react as she stared between her precious baby boy and the figure with a pair of crimson red eyes covered in the one thing she had dreamed of for decades, the refining flames of the phoenix.
**********
A little before the present...
"It's you..." My voice came out in a terrified yet angry whisper as the figure who had taken on new meaning stood there the amusement I had remembered on its face gone. It gave me a serious, almost solemn stare. A growl emanated from it, sounding foreign, so foreign I couldn't completely describe it, yet somehow it was like I could hear that same growl tens of thousands of times over despite it only being one creature. The longer I heard it, the more it echoed and the more it echoed, the worse my head felt yet something within me seemed to silence it, if only for moments at a time.
I focused back on the creature in front of me and I did my best to scoot away, my back still in pain, but the fear, anger, and adrenaline keeping me from collapsing back to the ground. "Child, it is futile for you, just like it is for me... come and follow me or be taken by force." Its voice despite what I couldn't describe conveyed a reluctance, a remnant of something beyond whatever inevitable end it thinks could be.
"It's you! You're the creature that almost killed me in that forest!" The memory started to sharpen as the green trees that loomed over us in my memory became a detail I couldn't forget. The creature growled once again as it went to lash one of its tendrils only to stop and slump. What passed for eyes on the creature sank as it sighed, seeming almost unfocused as I mentioned that moment of terror, of helplessness. The creature soon regained its composure as it rushed towards me, but it stopped, wincing at something.
It growled as it seemed to fight itself to move forward, to charge. Taking the chance I started to back away further, turning onto my knees, creating a painful crawl that took me to the back of the locked room I was in. During my scramble back, a new light emerged. Hoping and dreading this might be a way out, I scrambled towards it as a part of my mind screamed at me to go back and try to kill the thing that had tried to kill me. I resisted that feeling as best as I could as my hand reached out and found only an orb, a green, flame-filled orb that extinguished my hope for escape, leaving only fear of an isolated death and anger at the creature at the creature- no the monster that had almost killed me.
The emotions fought in my mind, the orb now in my hand as the flames acted as the only thing to anchor me in the present. I watched the flames swirl and sizzle with anger and passion as I was drawn in further. I stared further and further in until I found my hand had been engulfed and the orb was gone.
I should have panicked, I should've flailed, but something just felt right as my body shifted like I had done so many times before yet there was no pain. The fire spread and so did the transformation. I found my rage not quite as impotent as before. It was focused, refined, just like how the flames were refining the ability I had struggled so much with since I had gotten it.
I felt the essence within me act as both the fuel that stoked the flames and the power that was received. It wasn't strengthening me, no it was just giving me the ability to control what was already there and I felt that unlike the times before, where I had only squeaked by. That I could finally face the monster that had haunted me since I woke up in that hospital.
A noise rang out as one of the now visible crates started to crack from the force of the thing behind it. I watched on as I knew what that thing would be and with a final shattering of wood, an inky black figure emerged. Seeing the monster I knew what I had to do. Grabbing its maw, its tendrils wrapping me in a vice, I soon found the flames spread over it as well. The inky black liquid of the monster's body sank into mine as I swallowed it whole. My mind soon sank into darkness but not from unconsciousness as a form appeared before me in the land of my mindscape.
"You!... You dare to consume my form!" The thundering voice of the monster rang out giving me an angry yet conflicted look as I took a deep breath, centering myself. "I, Titus Maximillian, will take over this vessel for your foolishness!" Titus rushed towards me as I manifested my own form. My inky black claws extended from my hands and feet. My body grew taller and more substantial. Finally, my eyes went from their usual green to a blood red.
"Bring it on!" My feet dug into the ground and I readied my legs to take off as glyphs formed under my feet. Tensing my leg I watched the monster, Titus, come closer before I launched off the ground and shot towards the equally speedy canine creature. Following my charge I leaned off to the side and gripped Titus' torso, tackling him to the ground as my claws pierced Titus. He tensed for a moment before trying to struggle out of my clawed grip.
"Do you know how hard it was for me to deal with the fact that something I barely understood was coming after me?" I dug deeper into him, further slowing Titus' progress and goring him further. "I-" Titus went silent despite his struggle as he seemed almost contemplative before I felt his struggle weaken for just a moment.
"I will not fall here!" The struggle renewed as Titus looked more hesitant despite his efforts. "Why shouldn't you? I might not know or care why you want to live but I know you've fucked my life up and you're going to pay one way or another.
Titus weakened once again and unlike last time his face didn't seem to bounce back from his thoughtful look. Eventually, it seemed to stop struggling completely as a sigh escaped his lips.
"Child, you are right about what I've done." Titus lowered his head as best as he could before he gazed over at me. "In my pursuit of revenge, I had forgotten the feeling of powerlessness, my mind only on the pursuit of power." The formerly inky voids, now a similar blood red. "Perhaps I lost sight of what my revenge meant and now I need to pay a price..." His body went limp as I found myself standing on my feet and him lying on the floor his eyes closed and ready for whatever I chose to do.
My lips thinned and my anger seemed to wane for just a moment. That moment was all it took for the hesitation to grow and the image of a monster to shift. No longer was this just a creature I hated and feared, it was a demon, a person who had made mistakes for similar reasons to my own. 'Do I want to lose myself like him?' I pondered that as my arms tensed. I couldn't, just like in the trial, I didn't want to pursue a goal like that inner-self to the point I would do anything to reach it.
So with the decision made my hand came down and lifted Titus off the ground with a rough jerk. "I won't kill you, but that doesn't mean I forgive anything you did." Titus' eyes opened in shock and he turned towards me. "So to make up for it, you'll be teaching me what you know about this essence stuff and my new abilities, got it?" Titus' mouth hung open as he looked to be at a loss for words, but eventually his mouth shut as his eyes focused.
"Is this truly what you desire Child?" I nodded and Titus's lips thinned. "Fine then, I shall teach you as an inheritor of my power and what comes with it." I nodded as a small smirk I couldn't keep down came to my face.
**********
"Miss- had the ke-" A voice brought me back to the real world as I noticed my body standing near the injured body of Alex, the psycho witch. 'That might be more accurate now if his mind is still in shambles...' I felt bad despite my grudge against him. He didn't deserve what had happened. Then again, it was his own choices that landed him here. I thought a little longer before I kneeled and placed an ember of the nourishing flame over him as his skin and blood slowly heated.
'Good, he should heal in an hour or so... I think?' I tried to find where I got that estimation from but all that came back was a feeling as the flames around me slowly absorbed into my skin just like the essence before.
'Now, where to go from he-' I turned towards where I remembered the door to the room used to be as I froze. There was a group of four standing outside the room with shocked faces. Half of them I recognized, while the other half I could guess were related to whatever place I was in at the moment.
"H-how are you- the phoenix fire..." The woman in a macaroni-shaped hooded mask pointed at me as I realized that this whole thing might look pretty bad. I tried to come up with some reason why I was standing here in front of an injured man and was covered in 'phoenix fire' but came up blank, go figure? That's when the catharsis wore off and I found myself filled with more doubts about what might happen if I was caught here.
So knowing I probably had no chance of convincing them I wasn't an intruder, I decided to initiate my signature move by now and run. Protrusions of rock launched me forward and I flashed by getting one last look at the people I know I should trust to have my back. I bit my lip as I made my way out of wherever I was, the wind swirling behind me just as quickly as my thoughts. Did they recognize me? What would they do if they got their hands on me after this? Finally, the most important thought came to mind. 'Can I truly trust them?'
My mind whirled as I finally found my way out of the building I was in, making my way towards the secluded forest. Knowing the forest was the only place I could potentially run from the possible consequences of my actions, I picked up the pace only to find my vision spinning as an angry black and white blur entered my vision followed by the demon who was gripping onto me while I went sliding.
Focusing more despite my disoriented state I saw a familiar face. 'Josh?' I felt myself spin further until I noticed I was falling and what looked to be water was coming up to meet my face... or at least it was until a bright light burst from the water, engulfing me and Josh.