The Council

by Phoenix Willow

  “Sure. Why not.” Fenix said as she created a dome of energy around Crowe, herself, and Jewel that none in Jewel’s group could penetrate. Jewel’s arm began to burn as Fenix continued to repeat the same words repeatedly. So much so, that Jewel was certain that her arm would never be the same.

  “Enough!” A voice cried, reaching Fenix and effectively stopping whatever it was that she had been doing.

  “Do you not see that the Darkness you try to infect her with will not work in that manner?” The voice said again, and Jewel groaned as she saw that Manti had awakened. “Your orders were to infect this-” Manti said as she motioned to Jewel, “-with Darkness without causing any injury to her in the process. Now look at her arm! How are you going to explain that to Malum, because I can assure you that I won’t.” She spat venomously and for the first time Fenix looked a bit unsure.

  Jewel’s group had taken a defensive stance, but they weren’t sure how to proceed so they watched and waited.

  “Now, you drop this ridiculous airdome you’ve concocted, and you go and find Gertrude. We are going to have to clean up your mess, yet again.” Manti ordered as Fenix dropped the shield. Looking at where Ember’s parents remains were, she tsked. “And look what you’ve done to two of Malum’s most influential followers. I cannot believe the mess you’ve made. You are quite possibly more of an idiot than even her.” She directed at Jewel, who was clutching her arm as she crawled away. The pain from the burn wasn’t hurting nearly as bad as what was happening to the inside of Jewel’s body, all courtesy of the words that Fenix had spoken. She felt like she was burning and was being frozen all at the same time and it was agonizing.

  Manti paced back and forth as she continued. “Your orders were simple. Find the traitor and infect Jewel. That was it.” She screamed. “And yet, you couldn’t even do that. Look at her. She probably won’t make it through the night if we don’t undo the damage you’ve done. And her friends have all been privy to what you were trying to do now so the element of surprise and the whole ‘inside job’ concept has gone straight to Hell. Arghhhhhhh!” She roared with frustration. “Get out of my sight. Go find my sister. NOW!” She screamed and Fenix and Crowe scurried off.

  Manti rolled her oversized eyes as she stepped closer to Jewel, but with everyone blocking her path, she wasn’t going to get very far. “It’s so hard to find good help these days, isn’t it Jewel?” She said, seemingly unaffected by the fact that she was completely outnumbered and had just been knocked out minutes, prior. She kicked the remains of Ember’s parent’s, muttering to herself what a waste it was. “They were two that would have done anything I asked. Such a shame.” She shook her triangular shaped head.

  Ember was in hysterics with Ambrosia holding her close, rocking back and forth. Steele, Frost, Galadriel, and Rain were holding Jewel who was now shaking from the pain.

  “What did you do to my Daughter?” Steele growled.

  Manti shook her head, smiling. “You see. That is what I am sick of. I had nothing to do with what just happened to your precious daughter.” She said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. “But yet again, I’m blamed for it.” She threw her long arms in the air.

  “Then tell me what’s happening. You know me, Mantis. You know that this is wrong.” Steele said, handing Jewel to Frost as he stood up.

  Manti’s expression softened just a bit. “No one has called me by my real name in quite some time, Steele.” She pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers, a few moments passing before sighing resignedly. “There is only one way to fix your daughter at this point and that is for her to allow the Darkness to spread through her body. She won’t turn evil overnight, but if she keeps fighting it, she won’t make it until tomorrow. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. Malum wanted her unharmed. He will be quite displeased with what’s taken place.”

  “She can’t give in to the Darkness. There has to be another way.” Steele shook his head.

  “There isn’t. And you know what, it’s not the worst thing in the worlds.” Manti said, her tone back to being clipped as she walked over to Ember. “Now, back to business.” She muttered, “Move.” She ordered Ambrosia. “Or you will wish you had.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.” Ambrosia said darkly. “And you won’t touch her.” She said, pulling Ember in even tighter.

  Spots were starting to appear in Jewel’s vision, and she was gasping for air, but it didn’t stop her from trying to use her telekinesis against Manti, but it was a weak attempt. Jewel was in more pain than she even had been with the polarrier and no amount of reassurance from her Dad or friends was helping. It felt like fire and ice were warring within her body for control, neither wanting to relinquish any, but neither able to coexist with the other, or so it seemed.

  The rest of the group was so preoccupied with what was going on with Jewel that Manti was able to conjure a sword with no one being the wiser, and by the time Jewel screamed at Ambrosia to watch out, it was too late. Manti had skewered Ember and because Ambrosia had been holding her, she had been too.

  A horrible shrieking noise escaped Jewel’s lips as she flung herself away from the group and army crawled over to Ambrosia. Jewel’s pain didn’t even matter anymore. All Jewel saw was Ambrosia, wide eyed, and bleeding. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. She wasn’t supposed to get hurt. She was the strongest of the group. Always strategizing, always the one to say never let your guard down, and yet, she had done just that and for what? For Ember? Which was something else Jewel couldn’t wrap her mind around, but it didn’t matter now. All Jewel knew was she had to get to Ambrosia.

  Manti’s eyes lit up with pure joy at the spectacle and pain she had caused. “There you go Steele. Consider this a gift. The Darkness has already taken hold in Jewel. Ta ta.” She sneered before fading into nothingness.

  Something primal snapped within Jewel as hate and rage threatened to overcome her senses. But then something odd happened as frustration set in. The fire and ice that had been warring within her body somehow melded together and just as quickly as the pain had set in, it faded away, giving Jewel the ability to stand up and run over where Sage had already gotten. He poured bottle after bottle of the healing potion into Ambrosia’s mouth. Steele and Storm counted to three and pulled the blade free from Ambrosia’s body. Ember had never stood a chance as the blade had gone straight through her heart, but Ambrosia was strong, and Jewel couldn’t imagine any scenario where she didn’t get better.

  Blood gushed from the wound, and Ambrosia pallor became ashen.

  “Do something! Don’t just stand there. The potions aren’t helping fast enough.” Sage roared, panic and a wildness that Jewel had never seen in him, coming to the forefront.

  Steele knelt down and placed a hand on Sage’s shoulder. “There’s nothing that can be done, son.” He said, his voice laced with apology, guilt, and sadness.

  Sage brushed Steele’s hand off. “What do you mean, there’s nothing that can be done?”

  Steele ran a hand through his hair. “The blade Manti used was covered with a potion whose effects we do not have the ability to reverse. The potion is meant to poison the one cut or stabbed and to prevent any healing from being able to occur afterwards. Potions and spells won’t help, and neither will Ambrosia’s natural healing properties. This is one of Malum’s new concoctions. We can’t stop this.” He finished sadly.

  Sage gaped at Steele, not able to believe what he was being told as he shook his head violently. “No. NO!” He shouted, before looking at Steele once again, his eyes frantic. “There is a way. The potion that we were going to get to save you. We can find it. We just have to freeze her long enough to find it.” He said, pulling Ambrosia closer to his body, and trying desperately to stem the bleeding from the sword wound.”

  Steele shook his head sadly. “It won’t matter. The potion has already taken hold and its whole purpose is to destroy. Those with healing powers have it worse, because their bodies try to fight against the potion and push their
natural healing properties to work, but it only makes things happen quicker. It’s why her body isn’t able to heal itself, and it’s why the bleeding has only gotten worse.” He paused, true pain showing within his eyes. “This isn’t like what happened to me with the dagger. There’s no fixing this.” He added, his voice breaking a little. He paused until Sage met his gaze. “You don’t have much time, son. You need to say your goodbye’s.”

  Jewel felt her own heart shatter. She grabbed Ambrosia’s hand, the Vampiress’ lavender eyes meeting Jewel’s glowing emerald one’s. “You have to fight this. You can’t leave us. I can’t do this without you.”

  “Yes, you can.” Ambrosia said, a slight wince and wheeze accompanying her words. “You will be okay, Girlie. I have faith in you.” She said, spitting up a bit of blood. “You will win this war, but you have to fight the battle within yourself in order to do so. You cannot let the Darkness win, Girlie. Promise me.”

  Jewel had no words as the tears were falling from her eyes in bucket loads, so she nodded and squeezed Ambrosia’s hand before scooting back to give Sage more privacy.

  “You beautiful, brave, stupid Vampiress.” Sage said, brushing her dark hair away from her ashen face as he kissed her forehead. He then pulled the ring out of his pocket, slipping it onto her finger, as he nuzzled her neck, speaking too softly for anyone else to hear. But the tears falling from Ambrosia’s eyes were enough to gather the gist of it. They were the tears of someone who knew they would never have the moment again with the one that they loved. They were the tears of someone who knew they had run out of time and were helpless to stop it.

  Sage leaned back and Ambrosia smiled. “I love you.” She said, her body beginning to flake away like ash as she slipped into an eternal rest that Jewel couldn’t wrap her mind around. Sage broke in that moment, and so did Jewel. Watching Winter die had been terrible, but the additional loss of one of her closest friends was too much. Jewel’s empath powers were already in overdrive as her own emotions were completely out of control and she felt the pain of everyone. And it was too much. Sage looked lost and broken as he rocked back and forth, holding Ambrosia’s lifeless body as parts of her floated away in the wind. He tried to set her down on the ground as softly as he could, but her body disintegrated until there was only a pile and it was then that Sage’s pain overtook him, a bloodcurdling scream leaving his body, and waves of power radiating off him.

  Frost and Galadriel had both tried to come closer to Jewel, but she didn’t want to be touched. She didn’t want anything that anyone but she, herself could give, and that was revenge. Grief, hate and rage overtook her, but she didn’t care. For once, she wasn’t going to fight it. No. She welcomed it. She welcomed the thrum of power that accompanied those three emotions, only made stronger by the Darkness she now had running rampant within.

  With tears still streaming down, Jewel embraced her fury, her voice booming when she spoke. “What good is magic and having powers if you can’t even use them to save the one’s you love?” Jewel screamed. “What good is a world filled with peace if everyone you love has to die in the process.” She continued, her body beginning to float off the ground along with every loose object for miles around. The ground began to shake as her power exploded in waves from her body. And the glow she was emitting was now like that of a star.

  “You have to calm down, Spitfire. You’ll have another power overload.” Rain shouted at Jewel, but Jewel was too far gone. Even the renuviants were squeaking at her to stop, attempting to get through to her, but it was a lost cause, because Jewel didn’t want to stop. She didn’t want to do anything but destroy. Manti had wanted this. For whatever reason, she had wanted Jewel to embrace the dark side of herself that she had been fighting against for so long. But Manti still wouldn’t win, because Jewel was coming for her and for everyone else that had ever caused her or those she loved pain, and she was doing so with reckless abandon.

  “Don’t let the Darkness win, Green.” Galadriel pleaded. “Don’t give in to it.”

  “Come back to us, Gem.” Frost added, a sense of urgency in his voice. “We can’t lose you too.”

  But in all honesty, they had. The moment Ambrosia died was the moment that a part of Jewel had too- the good part. The part of Jewel that never truly wanted to hurt anyone. But now, that was gone. She wanted to cause pain. She wanted to let her power free. She wanted revenge for everything she had experienced from Gertrude’s kidnapping and abuse to the unfounded fear that everyone had of her. Everyone wanted to be afraid or hate Jewel, so she was finally going to give them a reason to.

  Only Sage seemed to feel the same, and when they locked eyes, he gave the smallest of nods, and it was all the encouragement Jewel needed. Every single one of her powers exploded in a tsunami-like wave throughout Weatheropolis with one goal in mind- to find and destroy any who were not on Jewel’s side. The Transmuter’s little mark might have protected them against Jewel’s main powers, but her telekinesis and elemental magic was the strongest it had ever been and that was simply because she no longer had any inhibitions. She didn’t care who got hurt along the way. Maybe that was the Darkness talking, but Jewel wasn’t about to stop until everyone against her was dust.

  Everyone from the group was knocked back by the sheer force of Jewel’s power and had now taken cover, holding on to trees and anything they could to stay out of Jewel’s path of destruction. Only Sage stayed behind, fixated to the spot where Ambrosia’s remains were, holding the ring he had just bestowed upon her in his palm, and whispering to her as though it would somehow bring her back. Steele had created a shield of sorts to keep him and the rest of the group safe, but it still didn’t shelter them completely. Fires erupted, the ground split in several places, hail rained down from the sky, tornadoes formed, decimating everything in their path, lightning flashed through the sky like a fireworks display, and Jewel threw her head back and wailed- her grief and rage penetrating like a knife to the bones, but there was also a promise within that wail. A promise to get revenge and to bring down a level of judgment, the likes of which the worlds had never seen.

  Jewel knew that the worlds had been a better place with Ambrosia in it. Memories of her flashed through Jewel’s mind. Her laugh. Her smile. Her love of Sage. Her ability to make everything seem more rational and less overwhelming. Her love for them all. The worlds would never be the same without Ambrosia, and at this point, Jewel knew that she would never be the same either. Fenix had started the process of the Darkness taking over, and Manti had done what she could to help it along, but it was Jewel that had allowed the Darkness into her heart and mind, and in all honesty, she didn’t want to stop it. She had been warring within her emotions for too long, and what had it gotten her? Two of the closest women she had ever been to were now dead, and there was nothing that Jewel could do to fix it. She should have taken their enemies out long ago, but she had been too wrapped up in trying to keep her heart from turning dark and from trying to keep herself as pure as possible for the Prophecy to be able to come to fruition. But no longer. The time for not crossing moral lines had passed. This was a new Jewel, and this Jewel was only too happy to bring the pain.

  Jewel continued sending her powers out in waves and had become so absorbed in causing chaos and devastation that it was only when Sage began waving his arms and Steele began running at her that she realized something was wrong. Sage screamed Jewel’s name amidst nature’s fury, but it was too late. Jewel had been so engrossed in the destruction around her that she hadn’t noticed a portal opening or a pair of arms reaching through to grab her. In an instant she was pulled through the portal and before she could even gain her bearings, something poked her in the back of the neck and she collapsed, the world- whatever world it was- grew black as Jewel faded into unconsciousness.

  *******

  Jewel awoke to the sound of methodical beeping and unfamiliar voices. Antiseptic and bleach slammed into her olfactory senses, and when she opened her eyes, she was surrounding with white walls,
an open bathroom, and two plexi glass windows. The two girls that had been talking squeaked and ran from the room when they saw that Jewel was awake, moving to the plexi glass and scribbling furiously on their clipboards. Jewel pulled the wires off her body and yanked the IV from her hand as she tried to gain her bearings. She had no idea of where she was, and her last memory was of her Dad running to try and get to her in time, but he obviously hadn’t made it, because she might not know exactly where she was, but one thing was clear- she wasn’t in Weatheropolis anymore.

  A third woman, cloaked in what looked like red velvet appeared outside the plexi-glass, speaking to the two girls who looked both terrified and fascinated at the same time. Jewel strained to see who this third woman was, but the cloak covered her face. She tried opening the door, but it was locked, and with no windows Jewel knew she wasn’t going to be able to escape that way either.

  Ambrosia would have been able to figure something out. Jewel thought to herself, as grief set in all over again. The mere thought of the Vampiress made Jewel’s blood boil and the rage began to build again. She used her elemental powers to try and get out of the room, but all it did was make a mess within it. She used her telekinesis, but it was the same thing. Jewel even tried to use her pain manipulation and mind control over the three women who were standing only inches away from Jewel, but they didn’t even look in her direction.

  Jewel banged on the plexi glass. “Hey. HEY! Yeah, you.” She said pointedly as one of the two girls glanced in her direction. “Mind telling me where I am and why I’m stuck in this room.”

  The cloaked woman sent the two girls away but didn’t turn around. Instead she leaned her back on the plexi glass and began to speak in a calm, but stern voice. “You are going to stay in there until you can learn to deal with your grief in a more productive and less destructive manner. You almost destroyed several worlds, including your own with your last temper tantrum and I cannot allow that to happen, so I’ll give you some time to find some inner peace and perhaps then we can talk. In the meantime, I need to go and see if I can clean up the mess this has further made with the members of the Council. Food will be delivered soon.”