Farewell Life

******

"No!"

I tried to lunge for Heidi, but Elise's surprisingly strong arms held me back. "Klaudia, there's nothing you can do for her now," she warned sternly.

I watched as the skin of the Healer's body turned black, like it had been burned to a crisp. Then I watched as she gave one final twitch and finally lay still, mouth open in a silent scream of unfathomable agony. Her body soon sank into the darkness, as though shadows had sought to devour it, and soon there was no indicator that she had been there in the first place. All that remained was us, our heavy breathing, the memories of the sorcerers filling up the space, and the horror of it all.

First Frederick. Then Lady Gertrude. Now Heidi. Who was next to go? All gone. Gone in a blink of an eye.

Then I wondered why Heidi had suddenly twisted and fell. I wondered why her skin was thoroughly blackened, and why she had screamed. With a tremor in my voice, I asked, "Elise, what does this mean?"

She shook her head and blinked her eyes, as though she had just come out of a trance. She fixed wide, alarmed eyes on me. "This means we have to go. Now."

She led me to run back towards where we had come from, away from Lord Himmel's pulsing ball of light. I cast a quick glance over my shoulder. The memories were now covered in a fog of sorts, no longer allowing its light to pierce the darkness. That suited me just fine.

When we reached the end of the memories, Elise began to play her violin. But something sounded wrong. The notes were all disjointed, and the melody lacked its usual power, even though she was still absorbing magic from me. I noticed that her hands were shaking. I took hold of them and said, "Let me help."

She didn't say anything, only gave me a helpless look and nodded desperately. She picked up the song again. I sang to accompany her. The effect was jarring. Her tune was mournful, a woman clothed in black kneeling before her husband's grave; mine was full of hope, a soldier who had lost everything looking for something to anchor him, to keep him moving on. Elise played her violin harder; I sang louder. The gap between us only grew. There was pain from the wound I had gained on my side, and my mind seemed to be more intent on it than on my music.

I gritted my teeth, a headache winding its way up from the back of my skull and to my temples. Drawing in a deep breath, I changed the pace of my melody. As if she instinctively knew what I was trying to accomplish, Elise altered her melody as well.

We slowly started to accommodate each other. Elise weaved in a few chords of strength here and there; I toned down on the uplifting notes. And eventually, our melodies melded with one another, fitting the gap in each other perfectly, as though this moment was always meant to happen, fixed in the stars above us. It felt like I had finally found what I had been searching for, all this while. A family, a future to look forward to.

And Elise was right there, in the centre of everything that I had been searching for.

Our magic intertwined with each other effortlessly. I didn't know where we found the energy to continue, but we did. We were drawing strength from each other, I realised. She was relying on me as much as I was on her. I envisioned both of us slipping out of the memory world, back into our physical bodies.

Then I felt a rush of air and a buzzing in my ears. After that, chaos.

I opened my eyes. Yes, chaos was there, but it wasn't the full blown tempest of sorcerers attacking sorcerers like before. This chaos had a hushed quality to it. As though something had just interrupted the fighting, and both sides had no idea how to react.

We were still at the mouth of the street leading into the town square. The singe of magic filled the air; my skin prickled with the remnants of so much power being used. The sky no longer burned, but there were still lingering aftereffects: an odd streak of red there, a dash of gold here. Bodies were strewn all over the place. All once alive, now gone. It was sickening to think of how many lives were wasted here.

Then I saw Lord Himmel.

He was kneeling before me, blood bubbling at his lips. His hand was outstretched in a mid-claw, and his crystalline blue eyes were blank. He looked at his hands, confused, as if he didn't quite know how he'd ended up here.

He fainted.

I took a quick step backwards, neatly avoiding him crashing onto me. He landed face-first on the ground with a solid thud. I looked at Elise. Now that she was back in her own body, she seemed even gaunter, if that was possible. Her face was so pale that it looked like a vampire's, and her skin was stretched too tightly across her jutting cheekbones. The blood stain on her dress grew angrier by the second.

"We did it," she whispered.

Tears spilled from my eyes. "You did it," I said. My voice didn't quite sound like my own; it was hoarse and cracked and belonged to someone who had seen and went through too much. "You were the one who altered the Pied Piper's memories."

She took me into an embrace. Her arms, once filled with muscle, was now all skin and bones. They were dreadfully thin around me, but I was comforted anyway. "We did it," she repeated. "We wouldn't have done this without you, my dear, dear Elise."

I jumped, abruptly drawing myself back. She gave me a wan smile. "That was your original name," she explained. "I took it after I went into the Pied Piper's service as a...momento, of sorts."

"Mother—" I choked.

"My daughter."

"I'd hate to break this reunion up, but we do have matters to attend to," a familiar voice rang out. A welcome one. I looked about, finally spotting Lady Anya attempting to get back up onto her feet. Josef was helping her, and every inch of her body was smudged with soot. One of Lady Anya's legs had a deep gash running down in it. She walked with a limp towards us. Josef lingered behind, expression dazed, as if he didn't quite believed that he had survived. At the sight of him, I breathed a sigh of relief. We caught each other's eyes, and we smiled.

Then I saw the corpse beside him, the one that had been laying by her side. It was near unrecognisable, with its features all mutilated. But I saw the heavy medallion of the Council around its neck, and I knew that it was Lord Konrad.

I tore my eyes away from him. There was a body towards Elise's side. It had been burned to a crisp, and the mouth was open in mid-scream.

Heidi.

I looked away, refusing to remember the cheerful Healer who had been my companion in Starkfurt. I refused to think about the Councilman who had disregarded me in the meetings, yet stood up so strongly against Lord Himmel. It was hard, yet it was easy to remember.

"Anya!" Elise called out to the lady.

"It's good to see you again, Maria," said Lady Anya. She stumbled a bit over Lord Himmel's unconscious body, and I quickly caught her. It took a while before she managed to upright herself again. "On our side, this time."

"Likewise." The two old friends grinned at each other despite the death surrounding them. I hobbled over to Josef, allowing the two women some space. Josef immediately came bounding towards and caught me up in his arms.

"I was so worried," he said. "You three were taking a risk by lingering in the memory world for so long. I—I thought I'd lost you."

"Well, you didn't." He pulled away and cupped my face. "It's all over. That's all that matters."

We smiled again, like a pair of love-struck fools. I supposed that we were, in a way. With a nod, and slipping my hand into his, I looked at Elise and Lady Anya. Both of them had their gazes fixed upon us with interest. My cheeks burned.

"Josef, you have any tools left to bind him up?" Lady Anya nodded at the golden-headed figure on the ground. "He may be senile, but that doesn't mean I trust him."

"Will do." Josef took some rope out of his tool belt and tied up Lord Himmel's wrists and ankles. "Shall I take him somewhere else?"

"No need. That honour shall be performed by someone else." Lady Anya jerked her chin towards an approaching figure. Two sorcerers bearing the dragon insignia of Starkfurt's army. "Take him away and see if you can put him in one of the houses. Make sure he's firmly secured, then return here."

"Yes, milady." Fatigue lined their brows, but they hefted Lord Himmel over their shoulders and marched down the street, searching for an open door. The four of us stood in a circle, watching each other uncertainly. Elise still looked pale, although she had time to recover some of her energy. She was swaying on her feet.

She suddenly dropped her violin.

The instrument crashed onto the ground. There was a painful crack. But I couldn't care less about it, for Lady Anya was shouting at Elise, shaking her shoulders with fervour. My mother was doubled over, gasping for air.

And the veins in her hands were getting too prominent to be comfortable.

My Core was exhausted, but I forced it to reach out and sense Elise's. I cried out in shock. It was so weak, close to nothing left of her magic. However, that wasn't the problem. It was shifting in colour, from gold to purple, and it seemed darker, more malicious.

There was no doubt--the earth's magic was tainting Elise.

I tore myself away from Josef and ran towards her, in near hysterics. No—no! This couldn't happen. Not after everything we'd been through. Lady Anya stepped aside and allowed me to take Elise's arms. "No, please, no," I begged her, tears in my voice. "Please, Mother, don't do this to me."

With great effort, she straightened herself, most of her weight leaning upon my exhausted shoulders. She blinked, her pupils shrinking and contracting. Soon the light in them would be gone—if I didn't do anything about it.

"Please, isn't there anything we can do about it?" I turned towards Lady Anya, pleading her for an answer. A part of my soul shattered when she shook her head.

"She pushed herself too far in altering the memories. She knew this, and she chose this, I'm afraid," she replied. "The fact that her wound weakened her overall strength didn't help... Not to mention it was caused by a poisoned creature as well." Her gentle tone didn't lighten the weight of her words crashing upon me.

"No, no!" I screamed. "No! There must be a way!"

"Elise..." the frail figure in my arms croaked. She was fighting against the corruption, her magic continuing to fight for her. But her energy was depleted, and the corruption chipped away at her, slowly but surely. And she fought. She fought for the precious few moments she had left.

"What is it, Mother?" I barely managed to push the sobs out of my voice.

"Dagger...pouch...take..."

I fumbled for the pouch by her side. Like she said, there was a dagger inside it. I drew it out, noting that this was the dagger that Anton—my father had always strapped onto his belt in the memories. Its dragon head pommel was instantly recognisable.

Some part of her brightened at the sight of the weapon, as if it contained a part of her soul, like her violin. "Kill..." she croaked.

"What? Who do you want me to kill?" Then another piece of my soul shattered. "No--Mother, you can't do this. Please, anything but this."

"Kill..." she repeated weakly. The corruption was spreading. Soon, she would be a witchling. Like Lady Gertrude. Soon, she would wouldn't remember anything about her life--about her husband, about her power, about what she had done to save us all.

About me.

I sunk onto my knees in despair; she collapsed along with me. I couldn't handle it anymore. I broke down into sobs, crying crying crying. What cruel joke was this, to have finally found your only family left, then have her be taken away from you? If only I hadn't known at all, then perhaps I might have been spared from this heartbreak. Perhaps I could have brought myself to finish the job, let her go in peace, before she could eventually grow into a full-fleshed witch, terrorising the wastelands and tearing limbs apart. Before she could became a monster herself, while she was still Elise, Maria—Mother. While she was still with me.

"Your father...Take it...Kill..."

Each word was becoming harder for her to pronounce now. We knelt facing each other, and I looked into her eyes—the violet eyes I had once been envious of, full of love. I closed my eyes, remembering her. Remembered as she first trained me, forcing me to heal my back; remembered as she conjured the illusion of the lycanthropes for me to fight against; remembered when she'd first appeared in my memories, smiling and laughing; remembered when she had visited me in the dungeons, giving me a hope to latch onto; remembered her face before we'd slipped into the memory world, radiant and strong and beautiful.

I opened my eyes. She was still radiant and strong and beautiful. She would always be this way, no matter what. She would always appear like this in my mind, absolutely fearless, constantly ready to take on the world.

"Please..." she begged me, for one last mercy, to allow her to join my father at long last.

I found myself unsheathing the dagger. It felt heavy in my hand, its blade gleaming at me like a star's promise, sharpened to a deadly edge. I looked at it, and suddenly I was unafraid. I looked into my mother's violet eyes.

I plunged the dagger into her heart.

"Love...you..." she sputtered, right before the light in her violet eyes went out.

She went limp in my arms.

I couldn't cry. I was hollow from inside out. There was nothing left for me to rage over, to mourn, to feel. There was only the emptiness, my mother's body in my arms, and myself.

Someone pulled me away. I didn't resist, allowing the someone to pull me up onto my feet. All the while, my eyes never left the body, slumped onto the ground, dark hair shining like a raven's wing. The dagger was still in my hand; I didn't let go of it.

"Klaudia," Josef said softly.

"I'm not Klaudia." I gave my mother's body one last look, then turned around to face Josef. "I am not Klaudia," I repeated. "I had been given the name Elise, and so I shall be called Elise."

I scanned the area. No one spoke a single word; their focus was all upon me, the cripple, the girl who had once cringed at the idea of being touched, the girl who had once always kept to the shadows.

That girl was gone.

A Magus who stood proudly was in her place.

Then murmurs rippled through the air. None of them came from the sorcerers, who were still reeling from the loss of their comrades. They came from the people who were walking down the streets, just awoken from their slumber. The spell that had been cast over them was gone, like the mind of the person who was responsible for it.

"What's going on here?" someone bellowed over the confusion. The man strode into the town square, wrinkling his nose at the corpses everywhere. The Mayor, only clad in a nightgown. I almost laughed at his squawking manner—it was so normal—but I checked myself in time.

Lady Anya walked—no, limped over to him, commanding respect even in her dishevelled state. The Mayor instantly turned meek, dropping into a full bow. "Lady—Lady Anya! Why, I hadn't expected you! If I had known, I would have—"

"Save your flattering for later," she interrupted him coldly. "Right now we need your people's assistance to clear this mess. Most of us are too drained to perform a simple spell."

"Of course, of course. I'll get right onto it—"

"Now."

The single word echoed throughout the area, and for a moment I wondered if Lady Anya had a mind-controlling Affinity after all. The Mayor snapped to himself, barking orders for all able-bodied men to carry the corpses and arrange them into rows in the town square. Meanwhile, Lady Anya organised the Healers. There were so few of them left, but they quickly tended to the wounded as if a day's work had just begun.

"Mäuschen?" A disbelieving voice came from behind me, from the street. I wheeled around, mouth gaped at the sight of familiar brown hair, streaked with grey. I caught sight of the giant's calloused, steady hands—hands that could craft wonders, hands that could make me feel better when I was down.

Papa Gunter.

"Papa!" I cried. He walked step by step towards me, cautious, as though he were afraid that this was all a dream, and that I would disappear any moment.

Then he touched my face, and knew that this was real, that this wasn't a dream. He choked back a sob, and crushed me in his arms. I smiled into his chest, smelling the scent of home on him. "I'm here, Papa. I'm here," I said as he sobbed.

Finally, when he regained control over himself, he released me from his grip, stroking my curls instead. "You're here, my mäuschen. You're here."

His dark brown eyes glimmered with distilled happiness. Dark brown eyes that resembled someone's. I broke away and dragged that someone to stand beside me, who had been awkwardly shuffling behind all this while. "Papa, this is Josef. Josef, Papa," I said.

They stared at each other.

"You—" Papa Gunter took a step towards Josef. "But I thought—you had been lost all this while."

"Now I'm home," said Josef, smiling.

Papa Gunter burst into sobs again, overwhelmed by emotion. This time, the two of them embraced each other, matching heights and matching builds. I crept away, leaving them alone for a while. They had plenty of catching up to do.

I went to Lady Anya, who was at the centre of the town square, overseeing the clearing up. She saw me coming and nodded at me. "Anything I can do?" I asked her.

"Not really, unless you'd care to shut up that yapping Mayor of yours," she answered dryly. I stifled a chuckle. The Mayor was also overseeing the work, and now shot us a dubious glare.

I lifted my face to the sky. It was dawn, the sun just beginning to rise and coat the earth with its light. A new dawn, a new day. Last night seemed like an eternity ago. So many things had happened, and I—we'd lost so many people.

But there would soon be a time for mourning. There would soon be a time for me to cry. Now, there was only time for rebuilding, time for recovering what we had lost.

Lady Anya looked at the sky as well, something glowing in her steely eyes. "So, when the world falls down, what should you do?

Easy question; easy answer. I replied immediately, "You stand straight and stand tall."

******