The Return
It had been a month since Loc had found out Grasharlo was Dark Master Lord Gajellidor Darcroghs' daughter. She was taken to a cell once they had arrived. She was to awate the fate that T.O.O.T.R.O.E had decided for her and Draganna and Kuro which were also rounded up and put into their own cells. She knew that an execution was out of the question. Which only gave Morgan a little comfort, who was the only one who had visited. She mainly tried to talk to her but she was never in the mood to speak. It was approaching her birthday and, despite knowing that he did not have to, he had promised that he would tell her her fate by that point. This was little comfort and gave her a date to dread. This day had come. Ringer had come, and with Kuro and Draganna too.
"Lorra Cerberus, we have thought about all the things that you have done both as Grasharlo and as Lorra Cerberus and we have looked at your creations...Well, all that we have at least. We have spent a long time debating what to do with both you and them. After a long and heated debate we decided that you are to go and serve the labours of Hanubid. There, you will mine, farm and serve for the rest of your long, long life." He said, his voice like ice. "As for your creations, they will be subject for testing if they fail they will be executed. Do you understand?"
She barely looked at him but nodded nevertheless. She, at this point, hardly cared for what happened to her. Then her eyes looked at Kuro and him trying not to cry. He was shaking like a leaf and carried an even more depressed look on his face than her. It was all too clear that he was going to be the worst affected by this. She just hoped that he would pass, though his vulnerable mind would be the thing that would cost him.
"And if they pass?" She asked, trying to give some ease to the man.
He turned to them and saw Kuro. He saw the way that he was and, for a moment, his face softened, yet the next ot hardened.
"Then they will be set to work in the mines that would undo the evil that you and your father have done." He said.
"He's not my father." She said. "He may have been in my past life but he is not in this one."
He nodded.
"Well it hardly matters how you see him. You still have to pay for all that you have done. Any more questions or remarks that you wish to say?" He asked.
"Will I know when my sisters are gone?" She asked.
"That depends entirely on you and what you do and what the me and the other elders decide. Same case for your creations too." He said.
She nodded.
"Will this extend to if their evil has been undone?"
"Perhaps."
Loc felt a thin and sorrow tainted smile spread across her lips. Then she wiped it off.
"If I start remembering my past life?"
"Then we will address that bridge if we ever cover it." He said.
She was about to open her mouth to comment but then they heard an explosion. Then followed by the sound of loud sirens going off! There was a sound of heavy rain and peoples' boots hit the ground outside. Ringer turned back to see what was going on and the door flew open and a man stood within a flash, he fell down, his eyes still open and he no longer breathed. Soon screaming rose followed by laughter. They all looked at each other realising what was going on.
They all took their places and hid behind the door, however Ringer gestured to Loc to stay where she was. She, trusting him nodded and stayed as him and Morgan came up with a plan yet as they did they barely opened their mouths to do so. He ten looked at Kuro who had started to tremble and those tears that he had been holding back had started to fall.
"They're coming for me! They know that I betrayed them and they're coming for me!" He started to weep.
"No Ku, if they're coming for anyone it'll be me." Loc said. "After all, they want to be one again and they can't do that without me."
He looked at her about to say something more but then the dismay in his eyes told her that they would want to get him, after all he did have many powers that they would want to keep under their control. They would try to get him and maybe this time they would try to find a way to kill him this time! And they would try to do it the moment that they were whole.
That was when she heard it. The silence, the complete and utter silence. The kind that could deafen anyone. Then she wondered when the sirens stopped, when did the screams stop? When did the rain of footsteps stop? Her eyes met Ringer as she figured out why. He gave her a black stern look that told her to remain in position. So she did. She soon felt a pounding in her head like there was something crushing and letting go of her brain.
Ready or not here they come… She thought to herself as she closed her eyes in dread. Her breath became slow but shaky as she tried to control herself and stop panicking as she knew that she was by far from ready. She felt herself grow cold as a cold drop of sweat fell from her chin. That was when the door ripped off its hinges and spun into the neck of the dragon.
"Draganna!" She shouted.
"My, my, my emotions, you have hardly changed a bit!" Said her sisters came to the door. "No, you have more marks on you. I love what you have done with that crop of white hair that I have given you!"
It crept her out that they not only said it in unison and with a cheery tone to their voice. Yet she had to not only have to bury that, she had to get them into the cell too. So she put on a smile on her face and gave a false confident demeanor.
"Well, why don't you come in here and I'll return the favor?"
"And what, fall into Ringer and Morgans' trap?" They giggled. They then looked behind her. "Well, well, well if isn't the creature. Oh, how long have I been dying to find out what you are. I have my theory, I just hope that I'm right!"
"No, no, please no! Don't! I just can't take it anymore. Please don't!" He wept as he clutched his head as he shook.
Loc wrapped her arms around him.
"That's enough! He has a name!"
"And what is it?"
"Kuro, his name is Kuro." She snapped.
"Oh, that's cute, very cute! A bit how you were acting when I sank those blades into those fools that you still cling to."
"That's mother and father to you!" She shouted as her legs ran to her as if they had a mind of their own and her fist to one and a kick to the other. Both of which were caught by the same hand and both tilted their heads.
"Oh my deer, deer emotions how predictable you are!" They sang as they drove a punch into her gut that she knew hurt her more than it should. Yet she also knew that she would have flown back if her triplets did not have the grip on her as they did. They then hit her in the jawline and then in the chest and in the side. They did this again and again until she started to scream. With this they let her go and she fell beside their feet. She clutched her aching stomach as bloody saliva drooled from the corner of her mouth. Her body shook and curled up. Then she felt the twin kicks hit her in the chest and arms. She soon felt and heard the crack which caused her to scream out in even more pain.
That was when Ringer and Morgan pounced. All her triplets did was look at them and they flew back and the bloody door flew back to its hinges and as they got up the door had already been sealed in place, with Dragannas' blood as the only evidence that it was ever off its hinges.
"Now, now, now, I can't have them getting in the way." They said as their eyes dropped. " Now, where was I?"
Her eyes looked up at them in horror as they crouched down to her and then one placed her hand through her hair. She felt that all so painful longing to be with them and return to the way things were. Her heart ached to just be with them and let them take her back home. Yet she resisted this part of her as much as she could but then the grip that her hand in her hair became painful. This helped her mind come back to reality as she shook and tried to free herself as they picked her up by her hair. She tried to fire a fireball at them but it turned to ice and dropped out of her hand. That was when they punched her in her throat and her neck snapped and all the world went black.
Morgan and Ringer and even Kuro looked in horror as they saw through the bars as Loc was slung over one of their shoulders, they could not tell which. Then they spotted that her eyes were closed and she was not resisting. This told them all they needed to know and they could do nothing but watch as they carried her off.
"Loc! Loc!" Morgan shouted in vain. She hit her bottom as it fell to the floor. Her mind tried to process what exactly she had just seen.
"We have to rescue her." She said to Ringer. "I know that you don't like it, but I feel like we have to rescue her."
"I know and I agree, Morgan, you were right. This is all my fault. I acted far too emotionally, after all...Never mind. It is just, this was far too close to me. I always seem to act emotionally whenever things connect to him. So once we get ourselves out of here the first thing that we will do is set ourselves on a rescue mission with a small number of people, after all not everybody wants to face that witch above all." He said as he punched a hole in the door.
She nodded as she rushed to the door and beat it until there was a dent. They targeted the dent until it produced another hole in the door. With the two holes there Ringer put his hands through and pulled the door off its hinges. Then Ringer looked at Kuro and the beheaded Draganna with remorse.
"Kuro, I hardly think that you need those tests. Regardless of your mother and her father, I can see that you are just another victim of theirs. I can see why she is one of the most evil of witches." He said as they walked to the planning room.
The others took their places.
"What's the plan?" Morgan asked.
"I will get to that but I wish to say something first. I don't know, but somehow, I have always felt like there was something about Loc, there was something more to her that met the eye. Which was why I was willing to let her work for us and why I studied the prophecies of Phorap the Mad. Now, having said that, I do think that we do need to keep an eye on her. But what we need to figure that out once she is back. So, Kuro, where do you think they would have taken her?"
He looked at the table he had a pained look in his eye.
"Yeah, my mother's Island Of Darkness. There are crystals there that can make people who have been reincarnated, can touch them to find out why they were reincarnated. She used to use it to try and find a soul that her father had tasked her to find."
"Not important. Is there anything that protects it?"
"Yes, mother cast out ages ago! It's a spell that means that only those that she wants can enter and leave!" He said as his eyes lit up.
"Which means that we have to rely on Loc to want us there. Also, needles to say we need to do this before they wake her up."
"Which means we need to get a message to her."
"Which is an ability that only Lenume` has."
"Unless we can manipulate the other two into letting us in, but that is far too risky a move. As far as I can see Loc is our only option. Then once we're in then we need to think about the other two. Once they're out cold we get her and hide her under the biggest rock that we can find and then once the other two are out of the way, we will focus on what to do with her and you later."
"Right…"
"Then we need to gather the people and set off!"
Waking Attempt
Loc woke to the feeling of her hands and feet numb. She soon found out why as she could see the thick rope around them like a pair of snakes. She could see that it was almost cacked in dried blood. Yet she could spot the fresh blood there. She knew that her wrists were becoming saw and was worried that the rope would not leave too many scars. Either way, this did not look good and she knew it. She knew that she would have to get out of this place, somehow, well wherever here was. Looking around she spotted that she was on an island and it was night, or was it? It could be one of those places where it was eternally dark.
She has a sinking gut feeling that they chose this island because it was the only place that they could do whatever it was that they wanted without fear of being interrupted. She was not going to get out of here without waking the memories of Grasharlo. The monster witch that came from the Dark Master Lord.
Well that depends if this obeys my will just like theirs. If it does, then I could get anyone I want in but if not… She stopped herself from finishing that thought. She knew that that was barely worth thinking about. All she knew was that she had to do it before she woke up.
She saw her sisters coming up to her. She found herself rolling away, almost instinctively. She felt their hands around her arms and their nails into her skin. She was dragged to a table and her bounds were taken off. She then kicked one but the other was able to freeze her in place just by putting her hand on her shoulder. The other took hold of her wrist and then put it on the table. She soon felt sleepy and her eyelids became heavy and sticky and started to drop. Her mind soon became dizzy and begged for her to fall asleep and, after fighting it, her eyes closed. She may have been placed in this strange trance, she still could hear everything that was going on around her, clearer than usual, yet her eyes could not open nor did part of her want to. All she wanted for her to do was stay there and forget everything else even existed.
She heard her sisters muttering something but their voices were far too quiet to make out their words. She did not even try or want to try to make them out, all she wanted them to do was shut up and let her drift off.
No, my actions will not be undone like this! Came a deep warming voice inside her head. She soon felt a strange power rise within her. Suddenly her mind snapped back into action and her eyes flicked open. She looked at her sisters.
"What? How? That spell is supposed to be unbreakable!" They said at the same time.
They then looked at her as if they had noticed that she was awake for the first time. They then lifted their hands to her but though they seemed to be using magic, it did nothing to harm her. They then hit her with a log and all went black.
When she woke she could see her sisters around a rusty and burnt black cauldron. She spotted that they put a small spider in. She then slit the throat of a snake and let it's blood flow into the grim looking bubbly liquid.
"So my emotions are awake? Care to tell me what that was all about?"
"Why? Does it matter?" She asked, trying to cover up that she, herself, did not know. Yet she knew somehow that she would not want them to find out either nor about the voice that she heard. Her gut told her that it would have to talk to Ringer about it later.
She raised her eyebrow and sighed.
As if he would want to know what is going on inside my head. Yet I know that he would be the only one who would. Yet, I hope that they come here before they do wake me...
"Yeah, I guess not! But if it is what we think then I am dearly afraid that we will have to kill you." They said.
"Why is that?" She asked curiously, with her eyebrows meeting.
One of them giggled and walled up to her and placed a hand on her head and past her like a cute pet.
"Just hope that we never know." She said as she stroked the marks on her forehead. Her eyes lingered on them as she smirked deviously. Loc started to feel a creepy feeling like she was naked. Her gut told her not to look in her eyes yet her sight slid slowly to hers. Her head started to hurt as if there were over one thousand daggers were slowly sinking their way into her skull and then into her brain. She started to see black dots in her vision as it blurred. She felt her body grow ice cold but yet she started to become called in sweat. Her breathing became less and less.
"W-what are you trying to do to me?" She could barely whisper. "Tell me-"
She soon was panning and coughing up blood. Her body was trembling. Her mouth was forced open and something came out and another came in. She then closed her eyes as she fell back unconscious. When her eyes opened light entered her eyes and she felt warm and her eyes slid to her sisters.
"What did you do to me?" She cried as her voice hurt.
The two looked at each other in anger and confusion. They looked back at her with frustration in their eyes. They then picked her up by her hair and dragged her to the table and threw her on it.
"Why won't you wake!? Tell me!" The pair shouted at her.
"I-I don't know!" She shouted which earned her a punch. The back of her head and her vision blurred as she heard a crack. Her thoughts became fuzzy and difficult to make out.
"I'm using you the truth! I don't!" She shouted as her words slurred.
They looked at each other. They then looked to a table nearby, on it was an amulet with a white crystal. They both walked up to it and one was about to reach out to grab it but then an arrow seemed to appear in her hand. She screamed and retracted her hand. The other was hit by a blast and flew away. Then Morgan appeared and picked her up. She looked up as Ringer sent out another blast at the other. They soon raced to the air yot where Kuro and Lenume` were waiting for them.
"Did they wake you?" He asked.
"They tried to." She said as she went on to explain to them what had happened. "Sir, what is going on with me? Why could they not wake me?"
"I don't know, but I have a theory."
Protection Deception
When Lenume` landed the air yot Ringer immediately assigned a man called Deci Witcer and a woman Pogir Diateh to protect Loc. Deci looked thin but carried a determined look in his clear blue eyes and had a pale green hair that was long and well groomed. Yet it was all too clear that he was not only tough, but despite his meek look, strong too. He was dressed in a black cotton shirt and brown pants. Pogir looked skinny yet she had the physique of a cat. She too was dressed in black, but that was all she wore and the clothing that she had on was tight and even the gloves that she wore were tight. She had a thin scar that ran down her temple that looked like it was from an exceptionally thin blade. Her hair was golden and tied back. Her dark brown eyes gave her a laid back look, yet as she looked at those eyes she could feel the intensity that hid behind her laid back demeanor.
They followed her everywhere she went. Even when it came to the lieu, which Pogir followed her in. When she was in her bedroom she would be there beside her bed and watched over her as she slept. They sat next to her as she had her meal and helped her with her training, yet throughout the whole thing she was aware that she was being monitored.
After a while she was even having fun with them. She even talked with them so much so that they both seemed to know her inside and out. During these talks Loc felt that she was getting the psychological help that she needed. She was even able to process everything better.
She soon found that she was spending more time with them than anyone and she found that she did not mind their company, in fact she found that she wanted to spend time with them. She found that Deci seemed to want to spend time with her too. He enjoyed listening and counseling her. He paid attention to every word she said. However Pogir always gave her the type of advice that only a fellow woman could give.
She soon felt better and happier than she had in a long time, like a great weight had been lifted from her. It also seemed that, despite the fact that her sisters were out there planning to either wake or kill her, light had started to return to her life. She also felt like she could trust them with anything.
Soon they were talking about the legends of old and other trivial topics. They even started to talk about boys they looked, girls for Deci. They went on to talk about their favorite foods, books and places in the base. For Loc it was the library, Pogir was the rooftops and for Deci it was the dungeons. They seemed to know each other inside and out within that month and had helped her in many ways. She felt like she owed them and wanted to repay them somehow, but now was not the time.
She could see a life after her sisters and could finally let it settle that things would never go back to the way things were. This she had known this for a while yet this was the first time that her heart knew that there was no hope for that. She also came to the realisation that that one hope was nothing but foolish and childish.
She came to the realisation that she might have to die too. She started to realise that she might be the only who could kill them too, after all, she would be the only one that they would allow anywhere near them. She wondered if Ringer knew this, if so what would his game pay be? What would be going on inside that head of his? What would his plan be and how would it involve her? After thinking about it for a while, she came to the conclusion that it did not matter.
After two months since she was captured Deci seemed to look at her. He pulled out a mirror and then looked at it. His eyes skimmed back to Loc. He pulled out a needle and wrote on it. She was about to look but the scratches disappeared before she could see what he had written.
"What was that all about?" Pogir asked.
"Just a couple of friends that know that I'm helping Loc. I've been meaning to introduce them to you. It's just they live far away and some have been ill as of late. They just told me that their illness has gone and that they're on their way." He explained with a strange washout to his voice that Loc had just noticed.
"Do you want to meet up with them when they arrive?" She asked.
He looked at her with a cheery smile.
"I would love to, but orders are orders. After all, I can't leave your side." He signed.
Loc felt a pang of guilt.
"Do you want me to come with you?" She asked.
"You might as well, after all I do think that it would be good for you to meet them." He said.
"When do they arrive?" Pogir asked.
"Tomorrow night. In the gardens."
"As in the one with the roses?" The girls asked together.
"Yeah, that one. More specifically the purple carnivorous ones. My friends may not like roses but they've always been interested in them and, as they are the only place that you can safely see them, I thought to show them. After all their parents were overprotective and would never let them see them otherwise. They weren't even allowed to fight in the War Of The Witch Within!" He exclaimed.
Loc nodded as she remembered that her parents were like that, though her sisters did participate in it. They were even raised up as heroes but she stayed at home.
The following day Loc wrote up early and woke the other two up. It was time for Deci to introduce those friends that he was talking about. Loc felt somehow nervous but she listened to Decis' humming the tune that she recognised to be the Lost Legend. This put her at ease. She loved his voice. That was when Pogir started to sing the lyrics.
"Oh lost, lost little child,
Of manners not mild,
Where art thou name?
Where at thou fame?
" Oh lost, lost little child,
With a heart soever wild,
Why doth thou remember not,
Thine heart of fire like the Scot?"
Loc did not know what a Scot was but she thought that they all had this heart of fire and that they were all like the way the song portrayed them as. Sometimes she had wondered what the Lost Legend was all about. After all it was far too vague and told none of who or what it was all about. She had often wondered why that was.
They soon arrived at the purple carnivorous rose garden. The rose bushes looked normal but their thorns and stems were scarlet. Everyone who knew the basics about them knew to stay away from them. After all, one touch of them would put you into a trance, which they would be able to eat their prey without distance. This was also a trait that was shared by other carnivorous plants. Sometimes knowing this put a shiver down her spine. She had sometimes wondered who or what had credited those sick things.
They reached the end of the bushes only for Locs' heart to sink as she met the eyes of her sisters. Her and Pogir looked at Deci in horror as he cheerily waved to them and they smiled back. They looked at each other and were about to step back to get away from this place only to find that their path was blocked by the bushes that had closed behind them!
Her sisters looked at Pogir and suddenly her body ripped itself apart and blood exploded out of her vanes! Loc looked at it for a moment stunned and she let out a scream as what she had just seen register. She fell down her side, she looked down and spotted that her eyes darted around. Telling her that she was alive.
That was when Loc felt something hit her and she too was lying next to her. That was when Deci picked Pogir up by her color and threw her to the roses. Loc heard the grim snaps followed by some cooking and coughing and then nothing.
Her eyes looked around as she lifted her breathing and heartbeat increased as the shock and far settled in. Then her eyes met her sisters. The sounds surrounding her became silent. All she wanted to do was avenge her friend and patents and get away from here.
She felt something snapped within her and part of her seemed to wake. Her eyes turned purple and her head pounded and something exploded from her. Then a purple ring spread out from her body and when it touched the others they vanished.
Was that the Elemental Shadow? No I doubt that…
She was found two hours later unconscious with a slight purple aura and her body was far too hot to touch. They were able to retrieve a half devoured corpse of Pogir. The two men looked at each other with horror and awe. They instantly told Ringer after taking her by her clothes to the medical centre. His eyes widened as his jaw dropped.
"Reho."
He smiled in excited shock and told the others this too.
Truth
Loc woke up. She could not move and her body felt like stone. The only thing that she could move were her eyes, which one had become violet, yet even though she knew that they were awake all she could see was nothing but white. She could hear muffled voices around her like she was under water. She may not have heard the word those voices had said she knew instinctively that they were talking about her.
"W-what's h-happened?" She managed to say. "I-I feel different."
She heard a muffled response.
"Sorry, c-can't hear you." She admitted her voice hurt and she succumbed to the tiredness and she closed her eyes and her head rolled.
"It seems that she had the strength to wake but not stay awake." Ringer said.
"Will she be alright?" Morgan asked as an Old Elder comforted her, she was about to open her mouth.
"She's immortal." Said Loc.
"Miss Cerberus!"
"Loc! You're awake!" Exclaimed Morgan.
"Why is your right eye purple deer?" Asked the Old Elder.
"It is?" She exclaimed, surprised.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Asked Ringer.
She frowned but then it all came back like a flood. Her eyes widened as she put her hand to the forehead as she felt herself grow cold and on the verge of tears.
"They-they killed Pogir." Was all that she could trust herself to say. She did not want to cry here. She did not want to look weaker than she already appeared to be. She not her lip.
Come on Loc! Get a hold of yourself! She thought as the tears started to form. I can't believe it! There was nothing that I could do! Why could I do nothing? Why can I never do anything?
She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was strong and warm.
"Loc, I don't blame you. I also have to tell you that I am sorry beyond words. You may be part of Grasharlo, but you and her are as different as the sun is to the moon, and you are not as evil as she is and I now know why. The hero Reho, lives in you."
She looked at him shocked, barely wanting to take in what he had just said.
"What?"
"Yes, it was said that the hero lived in one of the three but I had never allowed myself to believe it, yet it was so obvious! But I had to make sure that my theory was true. So I called Elder Avery Middlestone over here to see if it was correct. She performed a test on you and that confirmed that you were the one that had Reho, beyond a doubt."
"So that's why…" she tailed off as she remembered that voice in her head and her time in Underground Town.
"However the other elders would like for a proper test. Anyway I believe that we have given you a lot to think about. We will leave you." Elder Avery said.
Ringer and Elder Avery turned to leave.
"Miss Mcain, I think that you need to come too. You will have plenty of time with her later." She said.
She looked back and nodded.
"Go, I think I need to sleep on that." She said.
She nodded as she left. She thought about this as she drifted off to sleep. She had strange dreams of her having many adventures in strange places that she knew deep down were not found in this world. She woke up three days later and she had to eat small portions as her stomach, that had not had anything in it for over three days, had shrunk. She had to build her stomach up and her muscles too. She stayed where she was until she was strong again. She had not realised just how thin that she was until she looked in the mirror.
She looked at the violet eye and thought that even though it looked good on her, looking at her other red-brown eye. Her hair had grown, but not too much and the white crop was here to stay. She soon came to the day that she could leave the medical ward. Regardless of what happened, she would do all that she could to avenge her parents and Pogir and whoever else that her sisters had killed. She would do all that she could to get her sisters to answer to justice.
She came to a room lit by candles with red and green flames. At the center there was a chair made of diamond. Ringer gestured for her to take her seat. She nodded and took her seat.
"Lorra Cerberus, you are here despite our previous agreement to send you elsewhere because our young leader Elder Ringer believes that you are the one that has the Great Hero Reho dwelling within them. Now do you understand? And do you believe this?" Asked Elder Avery.
"I do, and as for the second question, I must admit that I can not say, part of me does but there is another side that is sceptical." She replied, suddenly overcome with a great amount of respect for Elder Avery to be anything but brutally honest with her.
Her eyes meet her deep sapphire eyes. She felt like her gaze was cutting deep through her eyes and looking directly into her soul. She wanted to look away as she felt naked but her eyes were locked onto hers. Telling her that she could not look away regardless of how much she wanted to. This gaze was like a knife, cutting deeply into her soul as if it was exposing her true self. Carefully dissecting it and looking at every cell under the microscope that was her eyes.
"Yes, she does have the Great Hero Reho and that his soul and the emotions of Grasharlo are destined to become one." She said, letting her go.
Suddenly she was sweating and tired while her brain hurt like an ice cream headache. She was dizzy after that and was panting.
What-what was that? She thought.
That was when an alarm went off. Loc forced herself onto her feet, but as soon as she stood her weak legs gave way and she fell back down on the chair. She tried to get on her feet again but she was back on the chair. So she let herself take a small moment to gather her strength and she soon was on her feet again. She took the first step forward.
She looked up to see that it was too late, she was already looking into the eyes of her sisters. They smirked as they saw the others. One raised her hand up and featured with her finger for her to come close. She took another step forward but then she then fell over and was flat on her chest and stomach.
"If you run, I will not hold it against you." Ringer said.
This caused most of the other Elders to leave leaving Robert and Elder Avery blocking the way. They smiled and shrugged.
"It seems that my reputation precedes me. Now move aside." She said.
"No." Said Ringer.
"We do not have to."
"Nor will I!" Said a man that had just left a moment ago just as he came beside them.
"Well I do like a good challenge, however, I have little business with you." They said. Then their eyes fell to Loc. She tried to get up but she knew that she was far too weak. Elder Avery gestured for her to stay where she was.
"Tell me, do you want to go back to the good old days? Do you want to be together? You could make us go back too to sleep. You could go back to being sisters." They said to her.
She looked at them, her eyes wide. She could not deny that she did want that, there was not a moment that she had not wanted that. No, she had not a choice but to admit that. They would pull her up on it if she didn't.
"I-Is that possible?" She asked.
"Yes, in fact there are many ways to do it. Why don't you come with me and find out?" They said. Again, something she wanted. She did want to go with them and get back her sisters. She was also curious, if there was a way, then she would want to be the one to see it.
She tried to get up. She pushed herself on and let her weight rest on her weak feet. She tried to walk forward only for her feet to barely leave the floor. She walked and kept her eyes on her sisters. She did not realise when she had passed the line.
"Will-will you bring back mother and father too?" She asked to see if they were lying.
"If that is your wish. We are sisters after all and mother and father would have wanted for us to be together. We are both tired of fighting you and we just don't want to have to fight you anymore." They said as they outstretched their arms.
"Then why did you kill them?" She snapped.
They paused for a moment and they soon looked at each other and then back to her. She had tripped them up and they knew it. She looked at them directly in one pair of eyes. Suddenly she felt that her gaze was cutting deep into her eyes and looking directly into her soul. She soon felt like her soul was being stripped naked and dissected at the same time. She tried to look away and as there was a fight going she could not look away to see it. She just could not look away, she felt ice cold and still she could not look away. She was soon covered with sweat as she felt like the hand of death was reaching inside the heart of her soul and pulling it out and looking at it. Her head started to feel like it was frozen. She collapsed in the other sisters' arms with foam coming from her mouth.
Elder Avery looked at her shocked at what she had just seen.
"What? Do you really think you were the only one with that ability Elder Avery Issilla?" They asked as their eyes narrowed and all fell on the ground with foam coming from their mouths.
"S-s-top!" Loc shouted with a shaky voice.
The other looked at her and shrugged. They soon came to her.
"I take it that you know we were lying through our teeth. I guess now you want to know why?" They said as she felt two long and thick spikes dig into her. "We needed you to get close to us after all, as you're becoming one with Reho we no longer have need of you. In fact, all we need is this!"
She felt the long prongs twist get guts and blood threw out of her mouth! She cried out as the pain became unbearable. She felt like it was more than just her body that was being ripped apart. Then the prongs finally came out and she collapsed. She saw that there was a thin glowing silver light joining the tip of the prongs. She knew what that was and knew what they were going to do.
"Now we can truly become Grasharlo once more!" They declared as they let a chuckle of irony. "It seems that what Reho did only served to make me stronger!"
She saw them leave as everything went dark.
Crack
Loc woke feeling greatly weak and very ill. She was covered in her own sweat like she had just come out of a pool. She could feel that she was in an adult nappy that had nothing but a small amount of urine in. She found it was difficult to breathe and her guts felt like stone. She was cold and nauseous however her throat felt too tight and was incapable of throwing up. She could not even open her eyes and knew that this was going to be a long recovery.
Her mind was swarming with what happened and had an echo of the pain. Her eyes became watery and filled the slit of her closed eyes. Her tears fell down both of her temples. She was far too weak to stop herself. She cried and cried but it was silent with only a line of tears as the only sign that she was crying.
She then drifted off back to sleep. When she regained consciousness she was able to open her eyes this time. Her guts felt looser too. She felt warmer and slightly stronger too. She could feel that her nappy had been changed and someone had changed her. She still felt nauseous and she was far too weak to thank the nurse.
Her body was not listening to her. She could not even open her mouth. It was as if something else was in control. Something that she could not quite know whether or not they were good and evil. Only that for some reason he or she wanted for her to go back to sleep. This she did gladly.
She woke up again but this time she was completely restored but significantly lighter. Almost light enough to start skipping, but she knew better than to do that. She slipped out of bed and even her legs felt lighter as she rested them on the floor. She could barely hear her footsteps as she walked over to the window.
She opened the curtains which slid slightly. Her eyes hurt as her eyes met the light. She squinted a little as she looked out to see Morgan, Ringer, Lenume` and Kuro at the base of an air yot. Quickly she ran and she ran so fast that she felt like she was flying rather than running. Even when she was racing down the stairs she could barely feel the step underneath her. She ran down a corridor, seemingly effortlessly avoiding everyone in her way. She was soon at her destination.
"Sir!" She shouted. "Where are you going?"
They all looked at her and their eyes widened.
"Loc!"
Ringer featured for her to hold her position.
"We're going to find your sisters and stop them from becoming whole through what Kuro called your soul DNA." He said as his eyes dropped for a moment and soon shook his head. "Are you strong enough to come with us? We already have some clothes in hand picked by Elder Avery. She knew that you would be ready to go.
" Yes, even though I feel lighter that I should. Like something had been taken from me. Is this normal?"
"For someone who's had their soul wounded, yes. Although I think that it would be a good idea to keep an eye on you. After all a soul wound does have some undesired consequences."
"Like?"
"You will find out in time, but that would be better explained when we come back. Right now you need to get a wash and put those clothes on. Oh, and here." He said as he passed her a small bar that was made up of what looked like blue oats and she saw mandrake leaves in them. "It will give your stomach the sustenance that it needs and make up of that time when you were not eating."
She nodded and quickly munched it. She soon felt way better and she went to the lieu and washed herself all over and put on the clothes that Elder Avery had given her. They were black pants and boots and a long sleeved shirt that was her favorite colour with a women's black leather hunters coat.
She then looked out of the window to see if there was anyone there. Seeing that there was none, she closed her eyes. She woke up when they arrived. She smiled, her stomach felt good having had something in there. She felt stronger too. She walked out of the door of the air yot and followed them closely.
They started to hear her sisters singing in a strange voice. Kuro sized up for a moment as they followed the voices. This told her that this ice cold voice was not the voices of her sisters but the voice of Grasharlo. As they came closer they saw that they were dancing around a large fire. Singing in an ancient language that, even though Loc did not understand but found very familiar. She then thought about what they were singing and picked out their words. Then she mentally flicked through the books that she had read.
"I-I can't believe it." She whispered as she remembered what those words meant.
"What?" Ringer asked.
"They're planning on opening a portal to another world!" She snapped.
They looked at her as they all frowned. That was when Ringer looked at her with eyes as if he had realised something. He then looked aside, dismayed.
"That means we're too late. They have become whole and I hate to be the one to tell you this but there is no hope for them now."
"It's alright. I have come to terms with that."
"Wait, how do you know that?" Morgan asked.
"Do you think that they would be casting this spell if they haven't become two whole souls!?"
"And what's more, I think that this might have been mothers' endgame all along!"
"Quite possibly. But why do they want to go to another world?" Lenume` asked.
"Maybe to spread her evil to other worlds?" Suggested Kuro.
Ringer then looked at Loc with a flick of the corners of his mouth which turned into shocked awe. Then he looked aside.
"That could be the case but that would be an impossibility." Replied Morgan.
"How come?"
"One you can only use the spell once in your life and it's a one way trip." Said Loc.
"Oh."
They then looked back as the fire turned white and started to swirl.
"So is there a way to stop them?" Lenume` snapped. "Because if so you need to get to it!"
"Wing it!" He whispered as he jumped out and charged at one of them and punched his war rings together and then made a punching motion releasing a blast of light. The one that he went for blocked it and sent the blast back. He rolled forward to dodge out of the way and then landed a punch on her lower jaw causing her to stumble back slightly. She quickly recovered and sent a blast of red and he dived out of the way and punched his rings together and then punched the light back to him and she sent a blast of red at it to block it.
Loc and Kuro took the initiative first and ran to the other one which was still chanting. The other spotted this and sent a beam of red which was deflected by a flash of orange.
"I am your fight!"
She smiled and she said something under her breath which gave him enough time to hit her in the jaw before she finished. Then her palm raised and aimed it at him and released a flash of scarlet. He went to punch it back but the beam moved out of the way and hit him. He was blasted back and foam came out of his mouth as his head hit the grass. The only thing that told them that he was still alive was his body twitching.
Loc and Kuro raced to him but as Loc turned around to see that Morgan was racing after them. She then spotted that there was a flash of light hit her in the ribs causing her to spin and she too landed. She got up and gave Loc a look and she took Kuro to the other one. She dug her fist deep into the abdomen to stop her from chanting.
That was when Loc heard a grim sound of cracking. She looked back and in the sky was a crack above their heads! Her sister ran to it but Loc got in the way. She ran and hit deeply into her ribs, hoping to make one of her ribs crack. Seeing that it did not she then punched her in the lower ribs and she smiled as she heard a crack.
Meanwhile the other had their hands filled with trying to stop Morgans' rain of punches. She then finally stopped them and gave her her own punches which she magically enhanced to cause more pain. She gave her another one after the other. Morgan was now on the receiving end of her own rain of punches yet these were more painful than it should be. Her fists started to glow with a red aura and then dug one into Morgans' hip. She then twisted her fist and pulled back and small chunks out of it.
Morgan hit her in the side which made her become off balance. This, she took advantage of by hitting her again and again but her skirt of blood soon left her feeling weak and her vision blurred. The moment that her leg gave way she threw a punch her way and her weakness gave way to darkness.
Lenume` looked over at Loc as the other one walked up to the others. She then worked to boost Locs' and Kuros' power and then they released their power to one of them. She outstretched her hand and absorbed the purple and green. She then raised it to the crack and sent out a blast to make the crack bigger.
Soon there was a strong wind like the crack was sucking. The three looked at it with shock as there came a small hole. Loc felt herself being lifted up and she went to grab the closest thing near her but it was too late. Her body turned over as she looked down to see the others pulling the other two back. She tried to will herself back down but she was far too light. She also knew that, even though she had enough power and strength to fight that had reached her limit. She was helpless as she was sucked into the crack. Then the crack sealed itself.
She flew in a blinding white tube like place where she could not breathe. She flew at a pace that was faster than she had ever felt before. She then saw a small hole which she fell into. She was then pulled down and hit a hard well made ground and before all went black she saw the crack heal in the centre of an auburn red sky...
