She locked gazes with him for a few long, quiet moments, and then both of them burst out laughing. “Of course I know you aren’t going to eat me, stupid,” she said as she returned to the hearth.
“Well, there was that one time that -”
“Shut it!” Em’s eyes blazed. “We are not discussing that.” Lex chuckled and nodded. “So you’re a demon now, huh?”
“Prophis.”
“Right. Demon.”
“Fine. Yep, I’m a demon. Almost immortal. I can fly, I can use magic, and I can disappear.” Em cocked her head to one side as he said something in a low voice and just faded from view. Her anxiety decided to take that moment to make her lose her grip - she suddenly felt like she couldn’t take a deep breath, and she ran toward the place where he had been moments before.
“LEX! Don’t leave me here! PLEASE!!!” He caught her outstretched hands in his as he reappeared and gathered her up into his powerful arms. She sobbed, letting go of all the festering fear, and clung to him as though if she let go, he might disappear again. He stroked her hair and held her, whispering to her soothing words as his tattoos lit up the backside of her eyelids with purple light. Purple. Em’s eyes popped open, and she pushed away from him, trying to create space in between them, but this time he held her fast.
“It’s okay. I’m under control, Em, it’s okay.”
“No, you said - I mean not that I don’t - I mean yes, yes please -” His lips covered hers as he pulled her closer still. A massive hand slid up her back and into her hair, supporting her head as she tilted it back to return his kiss. Her hands moved from his waist, where they had stopped to push him away and crept up his arms. His ropelike muscles twitched and stirred under his skin as his tattoos pulsed and grew even darker purple in color in response to the deepened kiss. Her body fit against his like it was made to be there. His fingers splayed out before tightening his grip on her head to pull her even closer. His mouth moved off her lips and down her neck.
Em’s head fell back as a sigh escaped her. Lex’s mouth was hot against her skin, the heat matching the fire in her core as she closed a hand around his wrist - one of his large hands was supporting her weight as the other gripped her chin, holding her face to one side while he explored her neck. This was better than watching her avatar sit next to him and hold his hand. This was better than anything she had felt in all the years of her real life.
A stinging sensation at the base of her neck caught her attention at the same time that Lex’s grip on her head and chin released, and she felt herself falling. He grabbed her as her arms flailed and put her on her feet. He moved all the way across the room to stare at her. Em touched the side of her neck where the pain had been and drew back bloody fingers. “Lex? What did you do?” She ran to the bed chamber, hoping there was a mirror, and thankfully found a table with a mirror, towel, pitcher, and basin to one side of the bed. "Did you...bite me?"
Six
“I’m...sorry…Em, please forgive me, I’m so sorry...”
Em stormed back into the room from the bed chamber with a piece of cloth pressed against her neck. Her blue-green eyes blazed, her anxiety and fear were clearly forgotten. "Is this some kind of demon thing, Lex?" she demanded. "Or are you some kind of sparkly vampire who traded diamond skin for technicolor tattoos?" She marched right up to him, absolutely unconcerned that the ink on his clavicle and neck was beginning to pulse.
"Em, just give me a second to -"
"No! Answer me!" Her hand hovered over the place where her dagger should have been strapped to her thigh, swearing as she realized it was at the hearth. Lex stood up straight suddenly, his tattoos brightening from the deep purple to red.
"Did you just call me...a sparkly vampire?" His voice boomed in the small space of the house. "It was an accident, Em. I haven't had much practice doing…that…with...with...these!" He grimaced, his lips parting to show his elongated fangs as he pointed at his mouth.
Em met his angry gaze and held it for a moment before the giggle rising in her chest broke free. "Oh, Lex, I'm sorry." She covered her mouth with her hand and laughed as Lex's stern countenance broke into a grin. He took a step closer, inhaled sharply, and moved back to the door. “What’s wrong now?”
“Well, demon, remember? I can smell fear, and you’re still a bit worried about something - me, I suppose.”
“That must come in handy.” Em took a few deep breaths and tried to calm her racing heart. “So, you bit me by accident?” She dabbed at the cut on her neck, pleased to find that the wound was closing over.
“Yes.” Lex sounded so embarrassed that he reminded her for a moment of Alex, and the first time that they had spoken of intimate things on the voice chat. “I’m so sorry, Em. I would never want to do anything to make you that afraid of me, and I promise it will never happen again. Is it all right if I come to sit back down by the fire?”
“Of course it is. We need to finish our talk, but maybe we will put a pin in -” Em blushed again and waved her arms around. “- in whatever it was that just happened.” She hated how awkward she sounded, forcefully putting her hands down by her sides to stop them from flopping about in midair. “Let’s go back to talking about you. You were found guilty and thrown into Demonfell -”
“Demonwell.”
“Yes, right, sorry, you were thrown into Demonwell, and...you died.” Lex nodded. “So that’s why you’re a demon - sorry, Prophis, now?”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that.” Em nodded. “They gave me a choice, and I was still so angry at my kind that I chose to become what you see before you today.”
“Right. Well, I’d say it’s an upgrade.” Lex cocked his head to one side, and she realized she had spoken aloud. “I mean the flying and the disappearing, what did you think I meant?” Em fiddled with a string on the edge of her tunic, trying to hide her embarrassment.
“Well, it was an upgrade, in all those ways but also - well, you didn’t know me before, Em, but I was...what was it you called your employer that time? A nerdy little dude?” She glanced up at him, chuckling as she nodded. “I was not meant for anything more than study. I could barely hold a sword, and I certainly couldn’t defend myself or anyone else.”
“I can’t even imagine you like that, though. How many times have you rushed in at the exact right time to save -” Realization settled on her like a hot blanket on a sunny day, but she decided to hold the topic of how he didn’t know he was part of a game yet until later. “I don’t understand how, though - why did they let you choose? I’m assuming this is something that happens for everyone?” He shook his head as his countenance darkened. “Okay, if you really were a scrawny, nerdy little dude, then why would they bother saving you?”
“They didn’t save me, Em, I died, and -”
“Yes, I remember. But why bring you back if it wasn’t done for everyone?”
Lex took a deep breath before he spoke. “They brought me back because I died too quickly. The fall was more of a shove, and I broke my neck on impact with the bottom.” Em couldn’t catch her breath for a moment, and her stomach roiled at the thought. “Sorry, I should have warned you.” She shook her head, holding up a finger to him to ask for a moment. Her stomach settled, and she smiled up at him - a smile that went nowhere near her eyes.
“Go on.”
“If it makes it better, I didn’t feel it. The last thing I remember of my human life is looking up at my father’s face as I fell after he shoved me.” Lex shuddered. “Then, I was awake - floating above my body - one of the Prophis was standing next to me - um, next to my corpse, anyway. She held out her hand to me and spoke in a language I didn’t understand at the time. From what I know now, I guess that she was telling me that I had not satisfied the needs of my crime or something like that. I was not punished enough, so I had to choose. I remember not understanding completely, so she pointed at my broken corpse and asked if I wanted that body. I was angry and horrified in equal measure, so I said no. She pointed to herself and smi
led - it was a horrible smile, probably what you felt seeing me grin earlier. I said yes, and then everything went dark. In my mind, a voice said I would now become Prophis.”
“Did you know what that meant?”
Lex shook his head. “I had never heard that word before. But the voice didn’t say that I was about to become a broken human, so I embraced it. When I opened my eyes, I was - this.” He gestured toward his body. “My people are cruel, Em, they live only to torture and cause pain. But I was too human, still, to be like them.” He paused as he looked at her. “Think back to the escape from Ruarden, Em. The first time, when I got thrown into the cell after you did.” Em closed her eyes a moment and then smiled sadly as she remembered - but this time as if it had happened to her and not just played out on a screen.
It was darker than anywhere Em had ever been, and she was starting to worry that she wouldn’t make it out of this one as she always had before. The sound of water dripping was threatening to drive her mad - why was water dripping? In every tight spot, every dungeon, every prison, there was always water dripping. She felt her way along the floor until she bumped into the bars of the cell with her head and knocked herself backward a few feet. The top of her head burned as though touched by the sun, and she reached out to grab the bars to pull herself back to her feet.
Em swore as the bars burned the skin of her palms, and then held her hand close to them - no heat. That didn’t make sense. How could they burn her skin and not be even warm?
“They’re made of iron.” Em's head shot up as her eyes scanned the room for the source of the voice. A pair of blue eyes appeared behind her in the same cell, illuminating the filthy conditions. She took a step backward. "Careful, it will feel worse if you hit your back against those bars."
"Who are you? How are you talking to me?"
The eyes moved toward her, and she drew in a sharp breath to find them connected to a face - grayish tinged skin, a broad smile with pointed teeth, and small horns protruding from the forehead under an ebony hairline. Tattoos could be seen on its neck - Em assumed it was male based on the deep voice - and large hands were held up in front, palms toward her, indicating that he was unarmed. "That is close enough!" The humans that caught her breaking into the palace took her weapons other than her magic, but it was rudimentary at best. He pulled the hood of his cloak up to obscure the horns and then raised his eyebrows at her. "It is a little better, but I can still see your glowing eyes, and...are your tattoos glowing too?"
"My name is Lex, and I am a friend," he whispered. "I'm assuming that you want out of here as much as I do? I hate humans."
Em wondered how he felt about the Tyrael, her race of elves. "Of course I do, but I can't even touch these bloody bars to try to pick the lock."
"Let me help you." His outstretched hand was the size of both of hers, and she wondered for a moment how the humans managed to take him captive in the first place, considering he outweighed her two to one at least. A human should be no match for him, but maybe...he was staring at her.
"What?"
"What is your name, girl?" His hand hung in midair, and Em mustered up her courage to shook it.
"Mad… Em. You can call me Em."
"Well, Mad Em, let's get out of here, shall we?"
Em scowled. "Just Em, okay? It sounded like you said ‘madam’ just then." Lex chuckled and held out his hand again, and this time Em took it, and he pulled her toward the back of the cell, startling her with the force of the movement. The hair on the back of her neck raised, and her entire body sounded the alarm, so she yanked her hand free and then raised her hands, palms outward, as she began reciting the only defensive magic spell she knew.
"Hey! No, don't -" Lex was too late as magical fire sprang from Em's fingers and surrounded him, setting his cloak alight. He tore it from his body and stomped on it until the fire was extinguished. "Listen little one, I'm just trying to -"
"Em." She stood in a defensive crouch as far from him as she could go without touching the bars.
"What?" Lex sniffed the air, turned his head to one side, and located the lock of his long black hair that contained an ember from his cloak, extinguishing it between two fingers.
"My name is Em, not ‘little one,’ not ‘girl.’ EM."
“Yes, okay, I’m sorry. Em, I’m just trying to show you that there is an escape route back here.” He pointed behind him, and Em strained to look in the darkness. “Oh, sorry.” Lex turned and looked toward the spot, and his blue eyes bathed the back of the cell in light. In the middle of the back wall was a bench that barely covered what looked like damage - a hole in the wall!
“Where does it go?” she whispered.
“Out. Away from here.” Lex looked back at her. “It’s how I got in here, actually.”
“Okay, put a pin in that, because I thought you were a prisoner like me. For now, though, what are we waiting for?”
“Two seconds ago you were afraid of me -”
“And now I really want to get out of here - sorry, what did you say your name was? Alex?”
Lex looked at her and smiled. “Um, sure. Alex.” He moved over to the bench and then held out a hand to her. “Shall we?”
The sound of Lex snapping his fingers brought her back from her memories. “Em?”
“Yeah, sorry. What does Ruarden have to do with us here, and now?”
“That was when we first met - but you were not...here, not as you are now. I could not leave you there, regardless of my instructions, and then you know what happened after that - exile from my people. Perhaps that was the best thing that could have happened?”
“Perhaps.” Em twisted a piece of her hair around in her fingers. “Or perhaps it was still part of your punishment because no other race in Arcstone will take in a Prophis.”
“Arcstone - this is the name of the game you play, yes?” Em nodded. "It is the name of my world. In the human tongue, anyway." He looked away for a moment. “But you are correct - I suppose that means you are familiar with the lore of our - world? No one will take in a Prophis because to do so would mean death.” His voice deepened, and there was a slight echo behind it that reminded Em of the opening credits of the game when the playable races were introduced. She had long since started skipping through that part - and wished she had not. She knew so little about the race she had chosen to play, and it showed. “You’re frowning - what’s wrong?”
“Well, I just don’t know that much about my - I mean Em’s race. I mean, I know that the elves are from the Kingdom of Iredale because that’s where I started and where I end up every time she dies -” She stopped for a moment as that same fear crept up into her mind. “Lex, what happens when you die?”
“What do you mean? I told you, I was in the pit, and the Prophis appeared to me -”
“No, I mean when you die, like I did the other day trying to get into the burrow?”
“We are going to do our best not to let that happen.” Lex was tight-lipped, and his tattoos were turning red, so Em decided to drop that subject for now.
“We need to discuss the box now, I think - only a few hours until sunup...maybe?” Without the clock on the corner of her screen, she had no idea how time worked here.
Lex hung his head. “Yes, I do not need to be seen here in Iredale after sunup.” He stood and crossed the room to the pile of things that he dropped there when they arrived. From his pack, he retrieved the box they stole from the burrow. It was smaller than Em remembered, and fit nicely in the palm of Lex’s hand as he brought it back over to the hearth. He eased down to the floor, and before she thought about it, Em plopped down next to him. There was a tiny surge of purple in his tattoos that made her smile.
“So, what is this thing, then?”
Seven
Em reached for the box without a second thought and turned it over to look at the bottom. A vibrating hum spread up her hand and into her arm. It wasn’t painful, but it also wasn’t pleasant. “What is that?” She turned the box back over to rest
on her palm.
“What is what?”
“It’s vibrating.” Lex put one of his hands on the top of the box, then moved it to cover hers. A separate pleasant sensation flowed up her arms and into the back of her neck. She needed to focus on the box, so she pulled her hands away from his. “Do you feel it?”
Purple pulsing light illuminated his face for a moment as he looked at her with hooded eyes. “Feel what?”
“LEX. Focus. Do you feel the box vibrating?”
“Oh - yes. Okay. No, I don’t. There was no vibration in the box or...your skin.” Em grinned up at him - she could see more of Awkward Alex and less scary Prophis up close, and it felt good. Familiar. Comfortable.
"Right, so it doesn't vibrate in your hands but does in mine - you think that is a Tyveal thing or an Em thing?" Lex shrugged in response. "I'm assuming it is locked because -" she tugged on the lid to no avail "- it won't open like this - OW!" The electric shock rocketed up her left arm and across her shoulders. Lex yanked the box out of her hand just before the current made a circuit. Em staggered backward, rubbing her hands together to try to restore feeling but instead sending sparks flying in every direction.
"Stand still!" Lex put the box down and then moved quickly back to Em, standing face to face with her. He took a deep breath and then grabbed her hands, interlacing their fingers. His head flung back, Lex seemed to pull the extra electricity out of her and into himself - as evidenced by his tattoos which were glowing a fiery red.
Em couldn't take her eyes off him as he slowly bent his head back down and met her gaze. She leaned forward on shaky legs and kissed him on the cheek. A tiny spark jumped between her lips and his skin, and she startled, then laughed. "Shockingly bad kiss, that one."
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