Dark Revelation

by S. E. Myers

  Illeana was spelled and open to any magic and all energy requests around her. Anyone at this time would be able to connect with her. She was vulnerable. Her guard was down. All because of the witches magic spells and potions.

  Finar knew what he was doing. He knew that once Tristan absorbed his sister’s energy, she would die. He was curious to see how Tristan would react. Would he completely absorb her energy, enhancing his own? Would he become whole Fae? Or would he remain a Halfling with twice his power?

  Finar encouraged Tristan’s energy stream to pull on Illeana’s gently. Tristan became more unaware of his surroundings or what was happening. The only normalcy he felt, was the ebb and flow of energy between him and Illeana. He had more energy flowing toward him than she had flowing back toward her. But he didn’t realize it. Everything around him was passing by slowly, however, it was only a matter of seconds before Finar increased the energy exchange and started pulling mass consumption from Illeana.

  Illeana threw her head back, writhing in agony, as her Chi was being ripped from her body. Finar watched the transition greedily as brother was feeding from sister. He was enthralled, feeling the energy transference beneath his hands. Illeana’s eyes flew opened and her mouth hung slack jawed. Finar recognized the signs.

  Her skin started to fade to a greyish tinge and her cheeks became hollow and recessed. Her body dropped and continued to become limper with each Chi pulse outward. Finar could hear her heart rate begin to slow and the hum of energy dissipate.

  The last pulse of energy flowed from Illeana through to Tristan. Finar released his grip and waited for what would happen next. He expected to witness the painful sensation he experienced each time he stole and absorbed the Chi of another Halfling.

  He waited for it. Tristan just sat there, still numbed by the liquid and magic that was given to him that he ingested.

  Finar turned to the witch grumbling, “You said this would work!”

  “Give it time, it will work,” the witch reassured in her honey smooth voice.

  Moments continued to pass as slowly as molasses in the dead of winter. Suddenly, Tristan opened his eyes. Groggy and distant, his violet eyes clouded over as if he were staring into a distant horizon. In one split second his body began to seize and almost fold itself backwards. His arms and legs stiffened as his jaw tensed and flexed. His eyes were still open. Rolling onto the floor face first, his body rigid, groaning noises erupted from within that continued to grow louder.

  The room’s energy started to grow thick and Finar threw an aura shield surrounding himself as a just-in-case. The witch behind his started muttering an incantation for a protection spell. Finar had a suspicion that no matter how much magic she used, it would not shield her from what was impending. He wanted to see exactly what would happen so he stepped out from in front of the witch. His eyes glittered with excitement.

  Spittle erupted from the sides of Tristan’s mouth. And then blood. Finar started to get a little nervous. He could see the rivulets of blood running past the sides of his mouth, down his cheek, following gravity to the cell floor. Finar wanted to reach out and touch him, but he knew better than that. He knew that he couldn’t or he might get pulled into the mesh, the intertwining, and it would end badly. With as much energy as Fin had already absorbed, he could never be what he thought Ryleigh was, or what Tristan was possibly becoming.

  The seizing continued for a few a half second more until the blood was just a small trickle. The energy died down and the room started to cool. But then… the inner hum of Tristan’s became louder with each progressing heartbeat. Finar started to back away from Tristan until he was against the wall in the cell. He could feel it louder and louder and rising continuing to increase in intensity like the percussion section of an overture. The witch’s eyes turned into glass saucers. She hadn’t been prepared for this.

  “Let me out!” The witch screamed at Finar as she started toward him, pleading for him to let her go. Finar lifted his palm towards her and halted her in her tracks. She started to scream frantically feeling the energy begin to shift in the small room. Tristan’s inner energy began to manifest outwardly. Violet hues with tinges of Caribbean, a blend of the twins Chi curled and rose with each heartbeat.

  Tristan’s body rose from the floor as the flames continued to gather underneath him. This was what Finar was waiting for. His personal experience was always excruciating, but this was what he truly yearned for.

  Tristan’s body seemed to writhe with the flames and his skin danced beneath the flames. A translucent hue shaded by violets and blues created the darker purple that painted his skin like mini rainbows. The groaning ceased. Tristan was silent but his body seemed to be wracked with pain.

  The concoction Finar gave him was also created to mute the pain he would feel. He could see it didn’t work - completely. For a youngling that never experienced this type of pain, he was a lot stronger than Finar gave him credit for and certainly expected long, loud, and arduous screams. As a matter of fact, Finar was slightly disappointed that it didn’t happen that way.

  The flames spilled from Tristan’s body and onto the floor pooling around him. His body rose sitting him an upright position. The flames began to cascade from his body and onto the floor. Continuing to move around the cell, they consumed everything in their path, including Illeana’s body, leaving ash behind. Finar began to wonder if his aura shield would be enough when Mia appeared strengthening his protective barrier.

  The witch, however, was in the direct path of the flames. Her blood curdling screams were an indicated as to how potent Tristan’s Chi had become. Her body melted into the heat, feeding the energy and making it stronger.

  When they blaze reached Finar, the pinnacles of heat were tremendously strong. In the shadows, Finar could see Tristan’s form change. No longer were his eyes a violet hue, they an absence of light. His razor sharp teeth emphasized by the hardened skin, glimmering against the light of his aura. His hair was still clear and standing on spike like ends.

  The flames lapped at Finar’s aura shield. Mia channeled the energy from outside of the Sanctum to add power to his shield in order to protect her Master. If the flames penetrated the barrier, Finar would be dead.

  He could feel the strain on Mia, “Master?” Mia sounded fatigued. “I cannot hold it any longer.”

  Finar’s disappointed washed his face in the growing light. He would be unable to witness the full transition. He knew that Tristan would be able to leave the Sanctum on his own and wanted to count on that. He had slowly devised a new plan of action and it was coming together nicely. “Get us out of here,” he commanded, and with that, the pair faded out of the Sanctum as the entire cell erupted into a violent beauty, leaving Tristan to complete the transformation on his own.

  16

  It’s a new day, It’s a new you

  As his consciousness started to push through, a migraine tore through his senses. Tristan rolled over and grabbed his head, crying out in agony feeling the throbbing pain of the headache pulsate behind his eyes. All he could do was scream and hold his head, containing its inward contents, preventing it from exploding.

  The agony lasted for what seemed an eternity but it passed within moments. As soon as he was able to recover, he pulled himself to his knees. His memory was fuzzy after Finar came into his cell. He did remember being dragged on the floor and forced to drink something, but after that, the memory fuzzed out. He looked around the room for clues, the smell of ash and soot was heavy in the air. Bits of the floor were still smoldering. Then he noticed his clothing.

  He was standing completely naked. His clothes were gone. Only remnants of the material were glued to his skin with the soot that was left behind.

  He noticed piles of ashes throughout the cell and the cell door burnt away exposing the steel rods slightly melted. Waves of nausea rocked through his system and he fell back to his knees vomiting the contents of the drink that Finar gave him. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand he noticed
the blood. He felt off. Different. He didn’t know why. With the door open to the cell he needed to see if he could summon Vee and get back home. He also needed to find Illeana. Where was she?

  Tristan was having a hard time focusing. He made it through the door and sent a thought to his imp before collapsing. Vee appeared at his side and then took him back to his safe house.

  ***

  After Ryleigh woke at home, she immediately made her way downstairs and snuck out of the house. She was supposed to meet Tristan and Illeana that evening and decided not to bother checking for Siegfried or Vera. She wanted to avoid all questions regarding her whereabouts possible.

  Hours had passed and Ryleigh was still waiting in the safe house. She’d flipped through the channels on T.V. for about the millionth time and contemplated going back home. Each time the house made a sound she jumped. She wasn’t scared, she was nervous. It was unlike the twins to leave her hanging, and besides, this had been their idea. She’d tried calling both of their cells but they didn’t answer.

  She decided to talk to her imp Nissa. They hadn’t really bonded yet and Ryleigh thought that she should get to know her. Ryleigh wanted to know about her abilities, what the imp could do, and what Ryleigh was supposed to do.

  “So,” Ryleigh started. “What exactly are you?”

  “I am an imp, Mistress,” Nissa responded her large eyes sparkling with curiosity.

  “Yeah, I know that,” Ryleigh said. “I guess, where do you come from?”

  Nissa jumped on the couch next to Ryleigh and sat down. Her arms, legs, and head were larger than her torso. She almost looked like a puppet without strings. “I am born just like you,” the imp explained.

  “Do you know who your mom and dad are?”

  “No, Mistress. I am just born and then I was picked.”

  Frowning Ryleigh questioned, “How long were you – were you in that cage?”

  “I don’t know,” Nissa said. “I was just one place, then another. Then you picked me and now we are together.” Nissa’s voice was soft and melodious.

  Ryleigh nodded. She’d been thinking about the training session she’d had with Nissa and how the energy fluctuated between them. Ryleigh likened it to a turning on a faucet, slowly. It trickled little by little until there was a steady flow.

  While Ryleigh was lost in thought, Vee appeared with Tristan smoldering in the middle of the living room floor. Ryleigh smelled sandalwood and sulfur and Tristan’s nakedness was showing through the soot.

  “Nissa, “she ordered. “Get a blanket!” Ryleigh knelt next to Tristan on the floor. “Is he alive?” she asked Vee.

  “Yes, he is alive. Just barely,” Vee said mournfully. His small voice normally higher pitched was low and slightly inaudible. “Something is different.”

  “What do you mean different?” Nissa appeared with blanket and Ryleigh covered Tristan.

  She had Vee help her pull Tristan onto the couch. She fetched a bowl of water and a washcloth to clean off his skin.

  “He feels different to me, Mistress. I also could not find Illeana or Gori.” Gori was Illeana’s imp.

  Ryleigh wanted to know what Vee meant by Tristan “feeling” different. She tried reaching out to Tristan with a thread to connect to him, but as soon as she attempted to do so, she was rebuffed. It felt as there was an invisible wall that prevented her from reaching inside of him. She listened to his thrum of energy and heard a different tune than what she’d heard before. It wasn’t the same tune. It wasn’t the same tempo. It didn’t sing to her like before. He sounded familiar but there was an underlying tone that she couldn’t identify. She continued to wash him off, tending to his wounds, and finally allowed him to rest.

  ***

  Tristan’s dreams were disturbing. Finar was standing in front of him commanding him to kill his sister but he refused. At least in the dream he did. Tristan dreamt he sucked the life out of her, that he pulled all of her energy into him.

  Illeana appeared in his dream “Oh, my dear brother,” she said, sadness dripped from each word spoken.

  “Where are you?” he cried. “I can’t find you. I can’t feel you.”

  She was ethereal beauty. While her face was angelic, she was ferocity at its finest. Her beauty shown through like a lighthouse in a summer storm.

  She touched his face with her graceful fingers, “I am with you. Always.” She wiped a tear escaping from his eyes, rolling down his cheek. He closed his eyes reveling in the touch of his twin. He knew she was speaking the truth. He knew that she would be with him always.

  “Shhh, now brother. You have so much you are going to need to do. Ryleigh needs you. I need you.” She turned away from him. He could feel the tether that connected the twins drifting apart.

  “Wait!” he cried. “Don’t leave me; I can’t do this without you!”

  She looked back at him, tears streaming from her eyes, “We are one now.” She placed both hands on his head and forced back the memories he couldn’t remember, undoing the spell the witch laid upon him.

  Tristan woke up - screaming.

  He rolled off the couch clutching the sheet that was covering him. Tristan didn’t know where he was until he saw Ryleigh rushing in the room. “Are you okay?” she asked breathlessly.

  Tristan wasn’t sure if he was okay. His heart was pounding through his chest and his felt as if his head were going to split wide open. “I… I don’t’ know,” he sat down.

  Ryleigh reached out to touch him but he pulled away. “Vee says… Vee says you’re different.”

  Tristan nodded.

  “What happened?” Ryleigh wanted to know what happened to her cousin. To her friend. This was the only person she had grown to trust and she needed to help him.

  Tristan held his head steady in his hands. Ryleigh waited for him. She could feel his sadness permeating the room. The vibrational energy shifted and she could hear his internal hum slow down. The underlying tone is what she wanted to know about. Why was he different?

  He took a big gulp of air and hesitated before saying, “Illeana is dead.” The pain stabbed through each word as it rolled from his tongue.

  Ryleigh was shell shocked. Her heart ached for the relative she knew for only a short time. She loved her. She couldn’t possibly imagine what Tristan was going through. The loss of his sister, his twin that he was with since birth. They had never been separated. Hot tears streamed down her face and Tristan turned to look at her.

  “I’m so sorry,” Ryleigh said. She reached out again and this time he didn’t flinch away. She held him tightly as wracking sobs shook his entire body and her with it.

  “You… You don’t know what I did,” he cried in-between breaths.

  “Shhh, it’s okay. You didn’t do anything.”

  “No!” Tristan screamed. He pushed Ryleigh away abruptly and stood. He started pacing the living room. “I did it! He made me. He made me take her into me.”

  Ryleigh was bewildered, “Who? Who made you do what?”

  Spitting the name from his mouth with such hatred and venom it was almost as if he was cursing, “Finar.”

  “Finar?”

  “He gave me something. He had a witch. I… I don’t know, it is still all fuzzy.”

  “What do you mean that he had a ‘witch’?”

  In the old days, witches and Fae worked together. Magic and Chi flow together. Where there were Fae, there were witches. When Halflings started to make their appearance, they started practicing witchcraft in order to increase their power. They wanted to match their Fae counter parts, however, when the Elders found out about this, they stripped all Halflings of their ability to work magic.

  There were natural witches about, those born of the craft. The Halfling Fae began to seek them out until the Elders banned that also.

  Imps were the ones who were usually called in order to find witches. Imps aided witches with their craft. Because imps belonged with and were paired with Fae, they were the ones who sought them out. All witches were
eventually killed and imps became paired with Halflings to assist them with controlling their Chi.

  “Finar had a witch that did something to me. Illeana told me. I mean, I dreamed that she told me. I – I don’t know.”

  Tristan was confused and angry this was happening to him. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on and he wasn’t in his right mind.

  Ryleigh brought him some food, “Thanks. I need to wrap my head around this.”

  Ryleigh nodded and allowed him to eat in peace. She decided she would jump on the computer to see what she could find out about Fae/witch interactions. If there would be anything about them.

  It seemed that all the research Ryleigh could find related to combined witches and faery and imps were tied to folklore. Imps and Fae helped witches with their power – for favors of course. If a witch needed a spell, or need an herb, there were always Fae to help.

  Those favors usually resulted in children. True witches could not have children, not on their own. Not truly on their own.

  17

  Connecting

  Tristan finished eating, changed into sweats and a t-shirt, and sat on the couch staring into space in disbelief. After his dream, a thought crossed his mind. “Ryleigh,” he called her into the living room. “Can you help me with something?”

  “Ah, sure… what do you want to do?” she asked him confused. He’d just gone through hell; she thought he would want a little more time to recuperate.

  “When Finar made me…” Tristan trailed off. It was hard to admit, that he killed his sister. “When he made me take Illeana into me, I think he was trying to make me…whole.”

  “Whole?”

  “Yeah, as opposed to a Halfling. I need to connect with someone. I need to see what’s different. If anything at all.”

  Ryleigh was more than willing to help and Nissa was getting used to the amount of energy Ryleigh could pull through her. Tristan knew that if things got out of hand, Ryleigh could break the connection and pull away from him.