Aldreal

The sensation of time slowed around Aldreal as he watched the improbability of his queen turning on him. She tore a branch free and spun, bracing herself with magic against his momentum. The branch penetrated his chest and tore his heart asunder. He felt light - his ancient enemy - begin to grow around him, helpless as his former mistress abandoned him. Gray filled his vision, and all went still. Torpor claimed the demon, not death as Queen Malika intended.

Clarity returned itself to the demon’s vision as the supersaturated hues resolved into color and life. His perspective shifted immediately to one looking up from the ground, either through the collapse of his musculature or the resumption of his previous forward momentum carrying him down. Aldreal clutched at the puncture wound slowly sealing itself shut in his chest.

“It’s your lucky day, Aldreal. There’s not many who can perceive a demon in torpor, and fewer still who can do anything about it.” A man-shaped form composed of dark black mist stood before him, looking down with the strange gaze of two purple phantom lights where its eyes might have been. Aldreal’s eyes widened, and he pushed his head to the ground in reverent obeisance.

“Lord.” Thoughts of exacting revenge upon his queen fled at the sight of this being before him, it’s misty tendrils wrapping about his hands and knees as he knelt before it.

“Further still, I see your bond is now broken to Her Royal Majesty,” the being sneered. “Her compulsion has unraveled at last.” Indeed it had already begun waning in the last few days, since bringing the child through from the Making Place. His hatred for her seethed beneath his skin. She’d bound him with her necklace, and his name.

“The witch’s powers wane, Lord.” Visions danced in his mind of the pleasure he would inflict upon her. He would release her agony step by step, and do so gladly. She had earned every moment of her forthcoming enlightenment. The Queen must be made to experience truth in all its glory.

“No, she released you the moment she turned upon you. It was the only way to avoid the bonded allure that kept you each in thrall to the other. I had not foreseen that, but it is fortuitous for the both of us.”

“I do not follow, Lord,” Aldreal said hesitantly, lips just above the ground. He could not bear to look into the light of those eyes. His distraction came with the price of his arousal, and the anticipation of hearing merciless screams being torn from his Queen’s throat…

“This Dream, this light, this purity. You are the first emissary of your kind here since the Great Spite. Is it any wonder you broke it?”

Aldreal smiled at the blessed pain in its chest, yet the being’s words held no meaning for the demon. More visions of pain for Malika drew at him, like a madness unchecked. His claws gripped into the ground, carving furrows as his wings spread.

“Calm yourself, Aldreal,” the being said. The demon went limp, a dropped marionnette collapsing to the ground. Misty tendrils encircled the demon ever closer, causing welts to rise and skin to blister and break where it touched. Thus Aldreal was forced to raise its eyes to meet that gaze.

“What would you have of me, Lord?” The demon struggled to ask this, sensing the contortion of his will outside his control.

“Serve me as my agent in this realm, Aldreal. Fulfill your desires.” Aldreal could not resist the seductive sound of the being’s voice, even as his disposition wavered further still. This promise pushed him to ecstasy, and he could almost hear those delicious screams as he brought his Queen to the light…

“Lord?”

“I see now that I must push those thoughts of Malika from your mind, don’t I? She drives you to distraction.”

Mist swelled up from the ground, enveloping Aldreal completely. He screamed, embracing the light, never before had it been so exquisite. Flesh sizzled and burned, marking him.

A voice came into his mind. :All I ask is for you to say my name, and you can bring this glory back into the world.:

“I am yours, Ruin!” Aldreal shouted, and was released.

Malika

Malika paced with furious rage as night fell around her. The font of mana that had raged earlier and fueled her superhuman abilities had fallen silent, leaving the landscape feeling barren and empty. In the far distance behind her loomed the shell of the ancient dragon Taelryx. She had put as much distance between herself and that horrid thing as she could.

The queen felt sorrow as well, with the bitter loss of her daughter fresh in her mind. That creature she’d rescued from the depths of the dragon bore no resemblance to her child, and she found the inhuman thing repulsive. That was on top of the inexplicable terror she’d felt as it rendered her powerless, and shriveled her breast besides.

She blamed her sister, she blamed Aldreal, even a small part of her blamed John and the Making Place, for helping her to create Miranda. Her anger shifted from target to target, unwilling to accept her own responsibility in the matter. Now, she had no idea what to do, and she sat down on a fallen tree trunk in a huff.

Aldreal had suggested the plan, and it had felt so simple and right to her. Now she questioned her own judgement where the demon was concerned. Malika had bound it intentionally, but now couldn’t remember what had driven her to it. Demons. What were her demons?

That bitch Naomi started it of course, during Malika’s time in the Making Place. Usurping the throne while she split the time away, half as her avatar Michelle, and existing in the Dream when she could. The time hadn’t been pleasant, and her hold on reality had been tenuous. Now she questioned the sanity of that. How far back did it all go? Why had she taken that form and gone to the Making Place?

Why couldn’t she remember?

Malika’s vague memories concealed her truths from her, and she hated that as well. Rage and hate. No wonder her people had… The Tai...

The Tai had rebelled. Such a betrayal of her love and care, it ate at her, gnawing the edges of her psyche. Her heart contained only malice for them now. Malika questioned it all. When had she taken Aldreal in thrall? She felt that his presence in her life was the key to it all, but for so long it all felt muddled.

Even her memories of the Making Place felt surreal, a half-remembered dream she never felt sure could be true. Her feelings for John and Miranda were real, weren’t they? She’d felt so sure that her life with John would last, and Miranda...She’d been such a beautiful young girl with brown shoulder length hair she loved to brush even as her own strength had waned.

Overcome with emotion, Malika wept. She’d wanted to see her daughter so much she’d sent that demon through to retrieve her. She remembered setting up the altar. She remembered the voice whispering in her ear, so warm, promising her that she could be with Miranda again.

Why not John as well?

Malika remembered pricking her finger, and Aldreal’s, then mingling their blood upon that stone slab. She remembered reciting...words...then the portal swirled into existence. She couldn’t help but smile, remembering how adorable Aldreal (NO, he was a vicious demon!) looked, gazing at her with all his love, before diving through.

She remembered more clearly the uneventful days that passed, as she waited impatiently for her thrall’s return. Malika recognized that her mind hadn’t dwelt on his absence, and she’d felt more like herself, much as she did now.

Some memory still eluded her, and in her growing loathing she couldn’t help but feel that she’d brought her kingdom to its ultimate ruin.

Miranda

Miranda sat mute in the darkness, taking in the sight before her. The recently deceased Tai looked through her, past her, to the passage that wound its way up to darkness. Congealed blood stuck to his body, appearing black like shadows. The only illumination came from the soft glow of Miranda’s skin.

:Miranda, what are you doing?: came that voice in her mind. She could not tell if it were the voice of Taelryx, or that...other...voice. She no longer felt frightened or surprised, for the voice now came from within her mind now, a secondary presence that was a part of her. Miranda leaned forth, wiping some of the blood from the Tai’s cheek.

“It felt wrong to leave him here, Taelryx.” she decided to say, hoping the voice belonged to the dragon. “I could not carry him out.”

:Did you think to try? This man paid for your life with his death. This… this is an abomination.:

“Perhaps it is. But he was killed for no reason but for rescuing me.”

:That was the Queen’s doing.:

Miranda followed Tai’s gaze up the passageway. “You’re sure she was a queen? It didn’t seem like it.” Her memories filled with visions of Disney princesses, comparing her only basis for that concept with the woman she’d only been in the presence of twice. “I helped her too, Taelryx. Was I wrong?

:Do not second guess yourself, child.:

“How do I know then? I feel what needs to be done, and the power does it for me. I helped her.” She looked back at the still silent Tai. “I helped him. How was helping him wrong, if I did the same thing?”

:It is not the same.:

“I took what was bad in the queen and removed it. I took what was bad in this man and removed it. I helped them.”

Miranda took the man’s hand and felt its cold, stiff grasp with her warm fingers. “Can you say thank you, tai-rasha?” she asked. “Please?” her voice cracked in a softer whisper.

:He is not there, Miranda.:

“:Tai-rasha, please speak to me:” she prodded with her voice and her thoughts, seeking the mind within the body. Miranda felt nothing. “He’s right in front of me. Why won’t he answer?”

Miranda remembered the last few days of her mother’s life, how she’d lain in that hospital bed. Daddy had explained later to her what cancer was, and how it had spread through her body. Mommy had received care, and treatment, but those last few days she’d looked like this. Almost a vacant shell, like nothing lived behind those hollow eyes except for a few precious moments of lucidity.

:Death claimed him already. His soul has departed the Dream and exists in the Halls of Rest for eternity.:

“It isn’t fair,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. She thought of touching the woman’s breast, feeling the sickness and disease there. Her power had drawn her attention to it, then pulled the corruption free.

Miranda looked at the blood on her fingers, the same hand that had healed the woman. “What was her name, the queen?”

:I’m not native to this world. I’ve been here even less time than you. But I’ve discerned it nonetheless. Her name is Malika.:

“Malika? And what do you mean by ‘discerned’?”

If the voice she considered Taelryx could have sighed, it would have. :Your curiosity will serve you well, if you learn from what it reveals.: A hulking demon appeared in her memory, its crimson skull-like visage topped with horns that swept outward. It shifted into a smaller imp-like creature, its size changing from small to very long. Glitter glider. Her recognition at the second form recalled a terrible memory...

The Tai’s body stood slowly, its lack of coordination showing in every movement. For just a moment, Miranda looked hopeful. A gripping shade passed in and out of the Tai, a ghost moving the corpse like a stop-motion figure.

“:Ruuuuiiin,:” its breathless voice sounded through clenched jaws, but Miranda felt it in her thoughts. Finally, she felt she’d made a very big mistake.