Zaida lay prone on the stone floor of the basement –[How much time had gone by?] She’d lost count of
the hours, the days, even weeks that she’d been stranded here with no one to
search for her. Even if anyone had come
by the Shadow Enclave to look for her, they would have had to hack her several
high-security defense systems… [I wish Silver
were here right now…], she often thought to herself.
Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be the case. As she lay there, all Zaida could do was
wait, frozen, until life returned to her immobile limbs – listening and
watching as various scenes played out before her in the cinema of her
mind. She was treated to an unrelenting,
unending barrage of the senses – the sights, sounds, feelings of each of the
fifty men whose names now rested in the chains around her waist. Zaida watched as their lives were all laid
out before her; their names, their dreams, and the abrupt end to each all
tattooed into her mind – with every torture and agony they’d been subjected to
now visited upon the lesser deva in her vulnerable state. Derek, who would have died without the guild
taking pity on him – trained up to be a fence, now dead at Zaida’s hands. Antonio, an expert in reconnaissance – a
great lover unable to be with the one who set his heart on fire, now
extinguished – another like Zaida who wanted to leave, and paid the price for
her selfish ways. Angelo, Marcus, Reg, Kylan – one after another – on and on –
until every one of them had been remembered… until the final name, the last
link of the chain – Erik.
She knew it was coming, but Zaida never wanted to relive any
moment of this particular life. Amal
sent Zaida to kidnap the boy as a child, thinking him to be the son of a
wealthy man – to extort a large sum as ransom for the boy. The boy seemed too easy of a target, too
ready to escape from a life of opportunity and means… when the ransom had been
paid and the boy loosed, the man realized that the boy was none other than
Erik, a servant – a companion for his son, and was the last to see the boy
alive. Erik confessed to the accident
that left the son dead at the bottom of a well, and was beaten and left for dead. Unable to leave the boy to die, Zaida felt
the boy’s thankfulness – and as he grew, his awe and wonder of the woman who
had saved him. When he learned the secret of her origin, awe and wonder turned
to worship – and as the boy grew into a man, worship had turned to desire and
love. Like these things are wont to do, that worship and desire turned to
obsession… which drove him to want to not just love her, but to possess her… to
own her. She remembered seeing how
pleased he was when she spoke to him – mistaking her friendliness for
flirting. Moments of what she considered
harmless chat were seen as flirtatious rendezvous – reliving their moments
together, Zaida knew her words offered him no hope of a relationship… but in
his mind, she felt his hope and the need that consumed him. Zaida felt the acid
that boiled within Erik after her rejections, the hurt of being pushed away,
and finally the emptiness after she rejected his proposal and left… then the
anger of her finding someone to love, and then rage when she chose to marry him
in secret. The moments that flashed
before her eyes, Zaida remembered vividly from her own point of view – at
Hogwarts, she remembered the feeling that she was being watched, but didn’t
dare reveal herself or her abilities for fear of being discovered; memories of
Salazar and Arius, now tainted with the knowledge of his presence. She heard the venom in Erik’s words as he
vowed to end the wretched fool’s life for daring to intrude on the life he’d
planned with Zaida. After all, Erik had
been the one to comfort her after Master Amal’s death. Erik had been the one to
help her run the guild as she found her way as their new leader. Surely, the next step was going to be his
betrothal and marriage to his Zaida –
and, as far as Erik was concerned, this interloper had no place beside her. [She has to know
her place is with me, beside me – with this guild… so why is she hanging on to
him so tightly?!] Erik
finally let the anger consume him, he gave into it when he took over as the
leader of the guild. Practices that had
been strictly prohibited were now commonplace under Erik’s rule. A once-secret organization that plagued
rulers of old, who would mysteriously disappear at their hands, now left
gruesome calling cards in the blood and gore as thieves carelessly disposed of
bodies in the streets for anyone to find.
[This will make her come back –
she’ll have to take over again… there’s no way she’ll let this go unanswered…]
Months passed by – Arius still lived and Zaida still hadn’t
returned… although the two were no longer together… she had driven him away to
keep him safe… It was now time for even more drastic measures… to target the
deva herself. He felt nothing but joy when she had returned, but it quickly
gave way to anger again when he realized it hadn’t meant her return to the fold. When she shifted into the Maiden of Death
once more, he felt no terror, no anger, just the joy and awe he had known as a
child. His final moments spent in worship before she cut him down and burned
his body to ashes without a second thought…
[Do you see now, Zaida?] Erik asked, [Do you
understand, now, why you have to answer for your sins?] [I understand,] she replied, [that you’re
still the same arrogant bastard that you always were. I understand that you are
a sick, twisted, delusional train wreck that I never should have saved. You’re a mistake that will be corrected soon.]
Zaida flexed her hand, and it trembled – at least it was a
sign of life, a sign of her strength returning. “That’s where you’re wrong, sweet
cheeks,” the poltergeist taunted, appearing above her, “You’ve been a
naughty little deva, and it’s time to stand for your crimes. Lookie here,
you’ve got a judge…” Another ghost
appeared… “A jury…” One by one, the other thieves had appeared. “And
executioner.” Erik held his arms open as if to indicate himself for the
role. “We hereby find you guilty of treason,
sedition, and – let’s not forget – murder.”
A sword appeared in his hands, “You are hereby sentenced to death
by execution. It will be in a manner consistent with that you committed against
your fellow thieves. May you burn for
your transgressions and find no mercy in any afterlife.”
Erik thrust out his arm, the blade hurtling ever-closer to
Zaida’s back on the floor. Zaida willed
every ounce of her power to surge forth and disappeared – teleporting up to the
main hall and surrounded herself with an energy shield in time to see the
ghosts rise up through the floors – weapons drawn. “Zaida,” Erik taunted, “when will you
ever learn? You will never be able to
escape from us.” He looked up at
the enchanted tapestry that graced the ceiling – “We’ll see who has the last laugh.” He flew up and slashed his way through each
image, taking care to cut out the piece that included just Zaida. He gently lowered himself, clutching a swathe
of tapestry in his hand. The dagger in
his hand sliced cleanly through the cloth that bore the image of Arius
Stormborn’s face. When the scrap
resembled rags, Erik cast them at Zaida’s feet.
Erik looked up at Zaida and grimaced, “If I can’t have
you… no one ever will.” Erik
reached back with the dagger and swung.
The metal sliced through the energy shield and the dagger sunk home into
Zaida’s ribcage. Zaida screamed and
gasped, her lung punctured with from the blade. Her arm swung wildly, in an
effort to push him away from her – swinging through the apparition, without
ever touching him. “Ah,”
Erik remarked, surprised, “So, you can’t fight back against us after all.” [Oh no!] A look of sadistic glee crossed
Erik’s face, “Begin.” The ghosts charged
forward, Zaida braced herself when she felt it… her energy had returned, she
could use her power again… [But…], she thought, fearfully, [If I use my
abilities to the fullest again this soon… what’s going to happen to me?]
She didn’t have time to contemplate the thought further, the
ghosts were upon her – their blades found her: slicing, hacking, stabbing –
biting into her flesh with a ferocity she hadn’t felt in a while. Zaida screamed in pain as her power took
over. A bright flash of energy and light
pushed the ghosts away from her – as the light cleared, Zaida dropped her
shield and her glamour. Her white hair
cascaded over her pale blue skin, and her gold eyes shone with a murderous
glint – the energy wrapped her body and healed from the inside out; no mark of
their assault remained on her. Her wings
flexed, and she turned her gaze right to Erik. “YOU SHOULD HAVE LET ME GO WHILE
YOU HAD THE CHANCE,” Zaida screamed, “NOW, YOU DIE YOUR *FINAL* DEATH!” She flicked her wrists a dark violet energy
shot out from them and took the shape of blades. Erik scoffed, “Only if you die with me…” He rushed forward, aiming to strike
again. Zaida pushed her energy out and
encompassed the room into a shield, and the ghosts trapped inside took on
physical form. Erik rushed forward,
ready to strike again, but Zaida thrust her arm out… Erik stopped cold, impaled
on a spike of pure energy, “..b…b…bu-but… how?”
“I will render your soul into ash,” Zaida replied, “you will
never know peace, only oblivion.”
Zaida swung her free arm, the soul blade allowed her to deliver the
final blow and Erik fell, dead. The
thieves let out a collective howl in anger and anguish, before they began to
rush her. Zaida tried to defend herself
- she cut down several, but the sheer numbers were too much for her… Their
blades found her – cutting into her back and chest. One succeeded in stabbing through her
forearm, disabling one of the blades.
Zaida screamed again, a ball of deep violet flame erupted from her and
began to consume everything inside of the shield. The souls of the thieves
screamed as they were burnt alive one final time…. But Zaida was caught inside
the shield, and was burning along with them.
The flames kissed her skin, her wings were singed, her skin threatened
to melt when the final soul burned away and the flames finally died.
The brands sang with pain, as if a flame were still held to
her skin - the names in the chain filled in to solid links, but the brands remained. Zaida collapsed – her energy
finally spent once again. Her breathing
became shallow and her heart began to falter.
She caught sight of the singed scraps of the tapestry Erik had cut – and
Arius looked up at her. A tear streamed
down her cheek, [Ari--] Zaida blacked
out, unable to maintain consciousness any longer.
A ball of pale gold light formed and encompassed Zaida’s
lifeless body - in a flash, Zaida’s body disappeared. The statue of her glamoured form crumbled and
fell to pieces. The chunks of stone
littered the floor, and the Shadow Enclave was silent.
[End]
That’s all for now, everyone! Busy season’s started and this was my way of
signing off for the summer. See you guys
in a few months!
<SLY> Ladybug Zaida The statues returned to their posts and froze again. Zaida sighed and walked out of the room, heading down to the basement into her training area - feeling a sudden urge to want to...