342. Of curses, healing and a little memory

Cassandra Pendragon

While we had been talking a memory had surfaced at the edge of my perception. I had come far since I had been a wailing toddler dominated by my past and it wasn't all encompassing anymore. It was just a memory but I still relived a part of it while Kana stared at me, lost in thought.

The sun was burning down mercilessly, turning dust and sand into a spiteful, charring expanse of nothingness where a second ago a bustling city had been. I had underestimated her and it had cost me, had cost this world. I should have struck her down the very moment I had seen the foul leech sucking on her soul. Goddamned demons and their pettiness.

"How can you still be alive," the hovering figure hollered, her magnificent, blood red robes billowing around her like a visible reminder of her consuming wrath. "How…"

"Because I'm not a mage or a cultivator or whatever else you call yourselves." My wings materialised, framing me in unyielding silver and blue. "Because I'm not bound by your laws and because I have a promise to keep." I rose into the air, the pressure she exuded, strong enough to grind mountains into dust, a gentle breeze against my glowing skin. A single flare of light exploded in my hand and my spear appeared, its tip crackling with transcendent flames. "Because the immortality you achieved isn't real." My next words were barely a whisper but they still cut through her aura like a hot knife through butter. "Because you shouldn't have listened to the darkness and now it's up to me to reignite the light. This is the end, Bea. I'm sorry. I should never have left you." She laughed but I still saw the shimmering tears in her eyes. 

"The end? You have no idea what I've become. This world is mine. I can annihilate it on a whim, I can…" A simple wish brought me close to her, her defences crumbling like paper. 

"Never go back," I finished her sentence while Aiglos pierced her heart, his own magic reaching for the growing parasite within her, a parting gift Atlas had left behind. "You should have known," I breathed, my own eyes stinging. "Why didn't you…," the ugly, twisted thing burned and withered, leaving behind a bottomless pit her soul was slowly vanishing into, "wait for me?" I choked. It wasn't the first time I had been forced to kill someone I had watched grow up, but it still hurt like a bitch. A few thousand years and I still hadn't gotten used to my emotions, especially pain, real pain.

Her expression transformed, the sneer vanished and despite the streaming tears she seemed… at peace. "Because you weren't there. I'm so sorry… I didn't know. He promised…"

"He lied," I spat, my wings circling around her, holding her one last time. "And I can't save you. You're… that wound is beyond me and you… we don't have the time to wait for my sister. I…"

"Are you crying," she whispered, her cooling fingers brushing over my cheeks. A single tear clung to her skin and she stared at it, as if it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. "That's a first. But you don't have to. You kept your promise, you kept me safe. Thank you."

"I… Beatrice, you're not simply dying, you're vanishing." A silvery glow danced across her paling face as my eyes ignite with transcendent flames. "I might be able to do something about the latter, though. Trust me?" She smiled faintly, her eyes already dimming.

"Always have, always will," she slurred. "Will I see you again?" My power surged, the heavens were torn apart and the devastated plains turned into cracked glass while silvery blue flames devoured the horizon. I didn't care, there was no one left, all that matters was the dying girl in my arms.

"I promise," I swore. "One day we will meet again. But until then, you'll have to hold on. I don't know how many cycles it'll take, but I'll find you again and when I do, I hope I'll be…" my last words were carried away when my energy swirled through her and the world shuddered. I grabbed the disintegrating edges of her soul and fortified them with the only thing that could halt the decay, that could turn the widening chasm into a hole that might one day be filled again. I knew I was condemning her to a bleak future, but yet I couldn't let her go. That was my weakness, my fault, but where there's life there's hope and I always kept my promises. Always.

I blinked, the transparent scene dissolving before me. "Fuck." Not exactly the most eloquent description but it summed up how I felt perfectly. I didn't even have to guess. Even though she had wings now, even though she had a different name, her eyes hadn't changed. There was still an echo of the exuberant, vivacious girl there, despite the glaring emptiness she had lost herself to. Still, what were the chances? Well, considering how old I actually was and that most of my past misadventures might have been meticulously arranged to culminate on this very world… not as low as it might seem on first glance. Unfortunately that didn't help me much. Now there was no way in hell I could simply let her be. I had… a promise to keep, I had to keep her safe.

"What did… why…," Kana stammered. She had seen the change in my expression and heard my muttering.

"I was right, wasn't I," the spider cackled, a throughly unpleasant, unnatural sound. "I thought I smelled a hint of eternity on her. What did you see?" As if I was going to tell her.

"Silence," I growled and they became rigid, frozen in a single instant. I focused on a friend I hadn't even recognised up until a moment ago and allowed my wings to seal us in, to entomb us in light and splendour. "You wanted to know what I am, didn't you," I whispered, my gaze glued to her widening eyes, "I guess it's time to show you. Don't be scared. Watch, watch and remember." 

I wasn't sure if she actually trusted me or simply accepted her fate, but a small smile tugged on the corners of her mouth and she inclined her head. The air between us became heavy, laden with energy. Small discharges tickled my skin and the scent of ozone welled up, drowning out even the lingering stench of acid and poison. My power surged, the veil of reality crumbled and I had to exude more and more energy to keep Kana in one piece, to prevent her from simply vanishing in a maelstrom of time and space torn asunder. The future, the past and everything in between started to bleed through the flimsy walls I was tearing down and I felt the strain. Despite my changes I still wasn't built to control the entire might of my heritage, at least not in this flimsy form.

A deep, resounding groan tore from my throat, the only sound that wasn't swallowed by the cacophony of melting boundaries. I dropped to my knees but instead of hands I came to rest on my paws, sparkling silver and blue, covered in minuscule, dancing scales that resembled my soft fur. My back elongated, my teeth turned into fangs and I grew, just as my wings retracted into my hide to form swirling glyphs of truth and power, glowing with an unimpeded light. A sea of tails surrounded me, slithering through the glare like anchors, calming the thundering waves of power in their wake. Another movement, another reflection of eternal light and I felt Kana's body fall into my soft embrace, kept safe and sound in the eye of the storm. Now I could act. 

As to why I was letting lose without the tides of fury singing my veins… there was no other way. I couldn't heal her and I knew I wasn't going to let the spider try. I couldn't fix the mutilated shell her soul had become, not without filling it to the brink with transcendent forces, something I could have done ages ago, but that wasn't a solution either. I'd turn her into a thrall, bound and consumed by my own power, a fate almost worse than the one she had been fighting against for who knew how many lives. No, I couldn't undo what had been done, but I could tear apart the rules of what was and what would be and maybe, just maybe, I could restore her smile, a smile I still saw clearly before me, filled with curiosity and hope, born from a deep seated love for everything alive I couldn't possibly comprehend.

A soft, warm, crimson sheen appear in the oppressive tides of blue and silver, the runes on my skin transformed into something nourishing, something gentle and just before the shattering maelstrom reached its peak I felt her relax in my embrace, a caressing, unbound thought drifting through the void: "always have, always will." It was all the reassurance I needed. I pounced, my claws extended as I reached through her, her body nothing but a fleeting idea I could use as a beacon, a beacon to rip her past, her soul right out of the realm of memories and into the light.

Eternity sang in my veins, an infinite expanse opened up before me, swirling around a single moment. The tides of the cosmos branded against my skin but they couldn't touch me. I felt the echos of aeons dance around my tails, ravenously reaching for the minuscule speck of dust and purpose I tried to keep safe but I didn't falter, I didn't yield and with an earth shaking scream that would have blown our world to smithereens, if it hadn't been contained, I forced my mind down a path that hadn't been trodded since Amazeroth had brought upon the cataclysm.

Silence greeted me, silence and darkness. I had run against a transcendent wall, the traces Atlas had left behind when he had cursed my friend a tangible presence I had to overcome, but I knew I could. Without a conscious thought my weapon, my spear manifested in a realm beyond ideas, beyond imagination, its bluish flames more real than anything around me. It urged me to strike, to unleash the pent up forces it contained but I hesitated. Despite my power crazed stupor I still realised a simple truth. If I was to devour what laid before me, Atlas would know. Maybe not where or when I was, but he'd know who I was and that I was still alive, alive and awakening.

A simple decision, an almost boring distinction. A risk to take or a friend of days long gone to bury. Back then I hadn't had the strength to let her go. Did I have it now? Did I want to? I couldn't say. All I knew was that it hadn't been me but my family who had been forced to pay for my transgressions and this time wouldn't be any different. It wouldn't be me who would succumb, but I would be there, weeping bloody tears at the graves of those I loved. Was it worth it? Was another second, another moment of hiding worth a life? A life and a legacy I had promised to protect… and then my crown manifested. But it wasn't the hollow, broken thing I had been getting used to. It was alive and full and from its prongs a cold, detached voice, strong enough to shake the void, erupted. A voice I thought I had heard before. "We don't cower. We don't falter. The future and the past aren't set in stone for us. Spread your wings, Cassandra, spread your wings and fly. Don't repeat the mistakes of the past, don't lose yourself. Don't hide behind what's necessary, finally do what you always wanted but never had the strength to. Do what's right." And before the last, foreboding syllable was carried away, lost in the all encompassing flood, I acted. 

Fire tore my back apart as the runes ignited and reformed, turning into silvery blue, feathered wings. A single beat shook the transcendent fortress and when my spear extended, the walls finally broke and light, clean, uncorrupted, glaring light filled my vision.

I opened my eyes, shaking, sweating, more exhausted than I could even remember. What I had done was the act of a grown immortal but I had survived and from the looks of it I hadn't failed either. With an almost imperceivable sigh the girl fell into my arms, the flood of tails that had kept her upright long gone from this world. I blinked away silvery tears, mixed with even thicker blood, and raised my gaze only to look at a towering spider, her eight eyes nothing but smouldering ruins, still filled with dancing flames. Despite the pain, her fangs were appeared behind a brightening smile and her words, dripping from her parched maw like venom, sounded satisfied… even reverent:

"Oh my, you really are something special." I swayed, barely able to keep my footing. "Close your eyes, Cassandra. I'll take care of the both of you. Trust me, I'll never again raise my hand against you. You're… everything I hoped for and even more. Sleep, I'll see to it that you can return to your family safely. Sleep and recover. Even for you, this was too much." I really meant to curse her or at least tell her how much I thought of her reassurances but before I could open my mouth the lingering darkness at the edges of my vision expanded and I fell down a long, winding tunnel.

"The runes are prepared, master. You only need to activate them."

"Don't call me master," I mumbled, resolutely refusing to look at the stunning entourage of seven I shared the back of the limo with.

The dark haired witch grinned and retorted: "would you prefer Devil, or maybe Lightbringer? We're not going to call you by name, as you very well know." How about Santa Klaus, then, I wanted to ask but managed to bite back the words just in time. My humour was surely an acquired taste and even though they had come far since that memorable night in the middle of nowhere, when I had almost killed them over a familiar's binding, they probably wouldn't appreciate the irony. They'd need at least a few more decades. Besides, it was an idle conversation anyways, one we had had plenty of times. 

I smiled when I remembered that they had no qualms with calling me Lucifer whenever they were angry, aggrieved or simply agitated. A condition they had been in quite frequently over the years. Being taught could hurt, especially if your teacher didn't give a rat's ass about your physical integrity. Or your nightmares. Growing up was tough. Most didn't, after all.

I simply sighed and focused on the slowly expanding sea of lights we were heading towards. We'd reach the city in an hour, maybe less. I could have flown or teleported there easily, but I had never been one to turn down a ride in a well stocked limousine, courtesy of Anna's family. The presence of seven pretty girls was an added bonus. As far as decorations went, they didn't have to hide, at least in comparison to other mortals. 

Over the years the insecure, gangly youths had developed into breathtaking women, each and every single one special in my eyes. It could also have been my growing attachment speaking, though. Considering the only other human I interacted with regularly on this planet was a wrinkly, old monk it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that I preferred their company, from time to time. At least they showered daily and knew how to dress. They also still had all their teeth.

"Why does it have to be Rome," I mused. I didn't have many happy memories attached to this place. Most were drowned in either blood, pain, corpses or a dizzying mixture of all three. 

"Because the manifestation of enough spiritual concentration can influence…"

"I know," I interrupted the brains of the septet, Vivian. "I taught you how it works, remember? Still… I never thought I'd have to visit the Vatican again."

"It's been centuries," Nancy interjected. She had become a fully fledged, well payed model last year and ever since she had lost whatever little restraint she had had beforehand. She didn't even flinch when I glowered at her. "They can't possibly remember how you look."

"Don't be too sure. I haven't changed since then, still the same skin. Why are you even here?"

They exchanged a few glances that might have conveyed pity if I hadn't been convinced that they wouldn't dare pity me. I mean, who'd be stupid enough to pity the Devil?

"Because you need us," Anna replied quietly. When I cocked an eyebrow she immediately explained: "if you want to avoid trouble, or rather bloodshed, that is. You aren't known for your subtlety, are you? We can get you in, without anybody being the wiser. Don't you trust us?"