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It wasn’t long after Alastair left her that he wished he hadn’t. Although he knew the way he chose to protect her was the only possible choice, Alastair couldn’t shake his foreboding feelings of dread and despair. He knew the place he left her very well. When he had first found it around the time he had first became Enzio’s servant, it was just a hidden chamber, most likely one that would have been used to hide precious treasures or perhaps the heir of the palace in the case that no one could be left to protect them. Yes, that chamber he knew was very safe. And yet the feeling that he hadn’t chosen right remained.
All these thoughts dominated in his mind as he walked swiftly to the halls, and consequently oblivious to virtually everything.
“Alastair,” A deep raspy voice broke the silence, and nearly made Alastair jump out of his skin. Immediately Alastair turned to his master, and faced the man whom had killed his parents so long ago.
“Is there anything you need, Enzio?” As Alastair’s eyes met Enzio’s a chill went down his spine as it always did when he looked into those blood red eyes. To his surprise though, the cold rock hard blood lust in them was just a tad softer, almost sad.
“Alastair, is the girl safe in her room?” Enzio asked, the question shocking Alastair.
“Yes of course she is, I made sure she was asleep just this evening,” Alastair lied. There was a far off look in Enzio’s eyes, as if he was deep in thought, and this made Alastair uneasy. Not once had he seen his master this way.
“You have grown rather close to that girl, haven’t you?” Enzio said solemnly, but surprisingly more like a comprehensive parent than a nefarious master.
“No sir, I haven’t,” Alastair lied, trying to hide his guilt. In truth, he had. Scarlet may very well be the first friend he had ever had. It wasn’t lying to Enzio that made him feel guilty, it was that he denied Scarlet as a friend.
“What a liar,” a sweet voice said from the shadows, chuckling. Making both Enzio and Alastair jump, Velkire slipped out from behind a pillar, draped in a silver robe and bearing his usual gorgeous on surface but blood thirsty underneath smile.
“My lord, you startled us,” Enzio mumbled with a twinge of fear.
“My apologies,” Velkire said sarcastically. Alastair saw his master twitch at this, and then laid his eyes on the man he hated more than anything: Velkire. “But honestly can you not see the lies that this boy is feeding you? It’s quite obvious that he has not only grown close to her but also possibly fallen for her.” Alastair could feel his face burn as his cheeks grew red. Velkire saw this and laughed.
“It seems that I am right, not only is it crystal clear on his face, but he had taken the liberty to hide her from us.” Alastair’s heart nearly stopped then and there. Enzio looked at him in shock, almost hurt, but Velkire looked at him with his devilish smile, obviously amused. “Just as I had anticipated, Scarlet has found out my little secret, and in attempts to keep us from finding out, Alastair took her to the Portal Chamber.”
“Portal Chamber?” Alastair repeated dumbstruck. This made Velkire laugh again.
“Oh dear, you didn’t know?” Velkire said with a joyful glint in his eyes, as if it were some inside joke. Velkire knew full well that Alastair had no idea what was going on. “That room you found so long ago, naïve Alastair, is a portal, and responds to only one master. When you were young here and liked to escape away to your little chamber, it was me who sent you there, out of pity. But now, just as I had planned, Scarlet went through the portal, and has ended up in a room of my choosing. Alastair, I am not very sad to tell you this, you have just sent your only friend to death.”
That was all it took for Alastair to snap.
Like a crazed animal, Alastair bolted past Enzio, the only thought on his mind being Scarlet.
“Enzio,” Velkire said in an incredibly bored tone. “Stop him.”
Enzio said nothing, but disappeared for a split second before appearing again before Alastair. In a mixture of surprise and fear Alastair stopped short, in which time Enzio took to strike him in the gut, sending Alastair on to the floor gasping like a fish out of water. Enzio looked to Velkire for more orders, and Velkire smiled his devilish grin before saying, “Now make sure he can’t get away.”
With a slight hesitation, Enzio kicked Alastair with such a force that threw him against the wall, creating a slight crack in the hard stone as he made impact. In pain Alastair cried out, and Enzio came at him again.
“She is fire!” Enzio boomed as he struck his underling to the ground once more. “You are a sword!” Alastair crawled in pain onto his knees and looked up at his master, straight into his enraged blood red eyes. With one swipe of his metal hand, Enzio back handed his slave, and Alastair fell to the ground, the light of his vision fading.
“Fire melts swords boy. Don’t ever forget that.”
Chapter Sixteen
I don’t know how long I sat there, cradling myself as I quivered in the darkness. My eyes were wide open, but I couldn’t see a thing. Never before in my life had I felt so weak, so defenseless, or so exposed. I felt like a child sent into war armed with only a butter knife and a pillow.
As I was looking down at my hands, or at least so I thought, I could suddenly see their pale complexion glow in the darkness. Now taking more note in my surroundings, I noticed something that had not been there before. A faint bluish grey glow danced around in the darkness, casting shadows at all corners, except from the source: two pedestals lit with a mysterious blue grey fire that was suspended on a wall all but ten yards away from me.
The flames did not crackle like normal fire, but instead hissed lightly as they danced around in their very cold looking pedestals. Though the flames did not give strong light, it was enough to see a faint outline of a door squished between the two pedestals. Something about it made me feel very afraid, but at the same time, allured.
Feeling as though I were in a trance, I slowly rose to my feet with my eyes transfixed on the outline of the door. I couldn’t feel the cold stone beneath my feet as I came closer and closer, nor did I notice a single step I took. Before I knew it, I was at the door, and my wonder and curiosity temporarily washed away my fear.
I let my hand trace the outline of the door, my milky white skin glowing faintly bluish silver from the light as my fingers touched the lifeless stone from where the door was made. As the rock grated slightly against the tips of my fingers, I could faintly feel some kind of design or picture carved into the slab of stone, but the light was too faint to make anything out. My heart almost skipped a beat as my hand found a handle, and suddenly I was terrified.
The very thought of what I might find tormented my mind, half in fear and half in murderous curiosity. Unable to tolerate it, I threw the door open. The room I found was fairly small, about as large as one of the rooms in Madame Gale’s hut, and it made me feel a bit more secure knowing that it would be harder for something to be hiding within it. Though I saw no torches other than the two outside the doors, the room had faint lighting, just enough for me to see by as I took my first trembling step inside.
The room was entirely bare, all except for a long silver mirror resting on the opposite wall. Normally, I wouldn’t have been interested in such things, but I couldn’t help but notice the mirror’s divine elegance that seemed so out of place in the room.
It was at least three feet taller than I was, and its flawless surface reflected everything as if it were perfectly still water. Everything caught upon it seemed beautiful and angelic within the silver halo-like frame. Everything about the mirror was pleasing to the eye, even my own reflection which I usually disliked. My dark hair made a striking contrast to my light skin and white nightgown, and my grey eyes looked almost as alive as Velkire’s, though with a slightly different feel. I even swore that for a moment, it seemed as though my reflection was glowing. What struck me as odd though was that I looked flawless, brushed hair, spotless skin and not even a hint of any of my old scars across my body.
Something felt very wrong, but at the same time I couldn’t bring myself to stop as I approached the mirror, my reflection’s eyes wide with childish curiosity.
Fixated on my own reflection, I moved my hands and when I did, the girl in the mirror who was so familiar yet unfamiliar did the same. Everything was so in sync, I didn’t even notice as my reflection smiled, because then I found myself smiling as well, even though I had no idea why. It was as though our positions had switched, and I was the one who was the reflection, doing whatever I saw the girl do before me.
The girl on the other side reached her hand towards the glass of the mirror, and I did the same—or maybe it was I who had reached out, and the reflection only copied. I wasn’t sure. Our fingertips touched, and suddenly I felt a shock race through my body, paralyzing me.
The once perfect surface rippled suddenly, and behind me I heard the door slam shut violently. The girl on the other side of the mirror flashed from a copy of me wearing a sick sadistic smile to a demon girl. I was frozen as I stared into her blood red eyes, and was unable to react as her large clawed hand jutted out of the mirror and grabbed my wrist, causing ruby red blood to appear as her claws pierced my skin. With a violent jerk, the demon dragged me into the mirror while my scream echoed off the walls of the small room until I could no longer hear it.
“Let go!” I cried as I struggled against the demon’s grip. The demon cackled wickedly as she threw me onto the stone floor, into a mirror image of the room before, but instead of a faint gentle glow, the room was tainted with a sickly red color.
“Welcome, my new spicy meal,” the demon cackled in a screech-like voice. “This is my humble abode within the Hidden Realm, in which Guardians and demons alike walk the earth, completely unknown to your stupid human race. It would seem as though my master truly sent me a luxurious meal this time around, considering you didn’t dissolve the moment you entered this realm. You have the blood of Guardians, do you not? It does not matter either way, for in this realm, demons are much stronger than in your physical world.”
I watched in horror as the demon morphed from the shape of a girl to that of a hideous combination of the front of a bear and the back of a giant lizard with an armored spiked tail. The abomination’s tongue flicked in and out of its mouth as it was sizing me up, perhaps to decide on how to kill me. Mocking me, the demon swiped its massive clawed paw at me and I jumped back, which made it laugh. I tried desperately to summon my fire, but as before only a small flick of a flame appeared, before sizzling right back out of existence. The demon cackled as it made its way towards me, and the ground seemed to shake with every step it took. Crazed with fear, I dashed at the mirror and threw myself against the glass, pounding as hard as could, hoping that it would have pity on me and send me back to my world.
“You can’t escape me now child!” The demon roared in delight as it raised its paw, preparing to strike. I continued to beat at the glass with my trembling fists. The mirror’s surface was as hard as stone when I hit it and the only thing that my struggling resulted in was pain. Gulping down air in sharp panicked breaths, I stared into my true reflection’s eyes. Its eyes were wide and terrified, and the pupils were so dilated that one could hardly tell that they were there. What I saw in the mirror could barely be considered more than a terrified tortured soul. I looked more like a cornered animal than my own self. In the mirror I saw the paw of the demon come down in a deadly arc. I tried desperately once more to summon fire and strained to such an extent that I could feel it in my body. But no matter what, nothing happened. It was as though some invisible force had severed the bond between my fire and I. ‘You look pathetic,’ a voice in my head chimed as the paw came sailing closer to me in the reflection.
“NO!” I shrieked at the top of my lungs and in the blink of an eye, fire spewed into existence like a stampede of raging horses. Like a collapsed dam, whatever had been restraining my power lost control, and my hungry flames raged uncontrollably, tied to my terrified state. The demon let out a pained cry as the fire caught its paw and hungrily devoured it. It reared back in fear as the flames attacked it mercilessly, and its cries almost made me feel sorry for it.
With a renewed crazed will to survive, I struck at the glass with all my might, fire lacing up and down my arms like a protective jacket. It shattered into thousands of individual shards, each reflecting the demise of the demon, and I fell forward to the cold stone floor of the previous room.
Tiny shards grazed my skin as I landed among them, but I couldn’t feel the stinging pain. My heart was still racing and my breathing remained panicked, even though the imminent danger was over. Or at least, so I thought.
“My, my, Scarlet,” a sweet deep voice said gently, but broke the silence as I had broken the mirror. “It seems you shattered my favorite mirror. Don’t you know that breaking mirrors results in extremely bad luck?” I refused to look up, as though not being able to see him would mean he wasn’t there. But he was. In the reflected destruction of the demon Velkire’s sadistic smiling face looked upon me with his signature smirk a thousand times over from the shards of the mirror. Taking amusement in the moment, Velkire chuckled.
“I honestly can’t say that I expected this,” Velkire said. “I thought you were going to die there for a moment, but then again, that wouldn’t be any fun, now would it?” I saw Velkire kneel down to me a thousand times at once as I stared into the mirror shards. With one gloved hand Velkire tipped my chin so that our eyes met. My body shook all over but no matter how much I screamed in my mind my body would not move.
“Now child,” he said softly. “It’s finally time.”
The sound of a distant ocean made Al uneasy as he lied restlessly in his bed. The light of the moon was faint as it passed through his window, but in addition to the waves it was enough to keep him awake.
It seemed to him that he was the only one who could not sleep, for both Gidian and Vaze were fast asleep. They had stopped for the night at an inn in a local town they had found, and the inn itself was only a short walk away from the ocean.
Alphonse Lucelles. The name that was supposedly belonged to him repeated itself over and over in his head, haunting Al like an unrelenting ghost. He wouldn’t dare speak it aloud, as if he feared it. It seemed like a taboo word to him, but no matter how hard he tried to believe the witch had been lying, he couldn’t. Deep down his heart tugged at the familiarity of the name, as if something sleeping with in his memory was stirred by it. Finally, he mustered up enough courage and opened his mouth to whisper his name.
“Alphonse Lucelles,” a calming voice said suddenly before he could. Al jumped at the sound and his eyes darted to the foot of his bed where much to his surprise stood a tall, imposing woman. She was dressed in a pure white gown that covered her feet and arms, but also matched her snowy skin and hair. She seemed to glow in the moonlight, making her absolutely radiant.
“Alphonse Lucelles, I have come to you on orders from my Lord.” Her lips did not move as she spoke, nor did her expression change. “I am here to give you a choice.”
“A choice about what?” Al whispered hesitantly. The unrelenting gaze of the woman made him nervous, almost as nervous as to find out who her ‘lord’ was.
“A choice of knowledge, young one.” The woman offered her hand out to him. “If you come with me, I shall reveal two opportunities to you, but only one can be chosen.” Al hesitated, and glanced at her hand wearily. “Do not fear child, I am not here to harm you. I am simply here to show you two paths of fate that lay in store. It is your decision that will prove if harm shall befall you.”
Taking one quick look at his sleeping master and Vaze, Al took the woman’s hand.
“I find your choice both wise and brave, young Alphonse,” the woman commented. “I advise that you do not move, unless you have a strong stomach.” Before Al could state that he didn’t, everything flashed in blinding light and his body contorted into shapes Al didn’t think humanely possible. The woman seemed unfazed, but Al couldn�
��t help but jerk at least once. When the light subsided they were in a street of the same town but much closer to the ocean than before, and Al understood why he may have needed a strong stomach. Unable to control his flipping insides, Al fell to his knees and lost his previous dinner.
“When you are done, we may proceed to our destination,” the woman said emotionlessly. With his body shaking, Al got to his feet and followed the woman. They exchanged no words, until finally halting in front of a very old house. The decrypt structure seemed like it had once been a very proud and appealing abode, but the toll of years and hardships had succumbed it to sadness. While staring at it, Al couldn’t help but feel hollow, as if it had drained his happiness from him. Although the night was silent and all seemed to be asleep in the town, a faint candle flickered through a window on the second story.
“Where are we?” Al asked, finally breaking the awkward silence. The woman did not turn to face him. Her gaze was fixated on the lit room.
“We are at the home of Francis and Susanne Lucelles,” she answered plainly, but Al felt as if she told him he was going to die tomorrow.
“Are…are they my…?” Al’s voice left him before he could finish his question, and the woman replied with the one word that hit Al like an earthquake.
“Yes.”
Hesitantly, Al started to walk towards the door with his heart racing, but the woman stopped him, finally facing him.
“Alphonse,” the woman said gently, hinting for the first time that she had emotions. “If you go to them now, you will lose your other path. Don’t you wish to at least know what it is?”
Al’s heart tugged at him to keep going, but the shadow of doubt in his mind was enough for him to resist barging through the doors. “What is the other path?” Al asked quietly.
Playing With Fire Page 28