Broken - 1

[Aia pov]

Sulfur. The smell of worshiping priests who spoke of the end. An end in which their accursed god reigned from the heavens. A version of death that fit them… and only them. 

My nose raised to the sky. A sniff which spoke of the future. Had they finally chosen to be so overt. Telling their existence through one of the senses. 

A slight close of my eyes. Squinting at the not so distant future and the seemingly endless distance between here and the long past of whispered atrocities. In cities that had burned for nothing more than a passing acquaintance that might - emphasis on might - have spoken to one of their worshippers.

A sin of both the kingdom and of the worshippers. Either way… those words still clung to my mouth. And among the confines of this all to empty street. I opened my eyes fully. Adjusting the monocle on my face to see through this petty illusion.

I sighed once more, when the adjustment brought no change. Breathing in the accursed air that spoke of past and future atrocities. Was this to be their plan? To merely hide amongst cleverly hidden structures. Away from those with true power.

On and on, beating against the currents of fate. They still hid within this seemingly empty street. As no matter how much each and every one of my senses insisted. I still put more trust in my intuition.

I tore my eyes from that empty falling snowflake. Grown by the increasing irritation of my own. A loose top on my mana that brought ice to this once pristine street.

And as it fell. My hand stretched to catch it.

I watched. As the street grew more and more illused. Turning transparent, forced to bear witness to the sight of ritualistic sacrifice.

Of candles lit with the flesh of human's, eyes glowing with blood. A smile upon those stained mouths of theirs. Holding within the flesh of another being.

And no matter how much I hoped that it was merely an animal. I knew better. It was human flesh. Flayed fresh off of the corpses that they gathered.

I moved to stop them. Only I was frozen. By my own will rather than some twisted spell. 

"Are you done?" I questioned, snapping my fingers. The wand within my hand freezing the landscape at the mere snap of my finger. 

When my eyes opened once more. It was not to the dirty - and to be honest quite horrid atmosphere - of that butcher shop. But to a sea of white.

Each covered by a snowflake as large as a city. Twirling with ingenuity, each of them imbibed with my own power.

Of course this did not come easily, as soon those giant snowflakes froze within their circling. And sent forth gushing waves of violence and snow upon those that had frozen within this hellish landscape.

"Of course." That same voice echoed. Trailing a hand over my face. She… No, it was no woman, it was a boy. Barely past ten.

How he had come so far, without even my notice, well that was to be determined. Either way icicles rained down from the heavens, those same atrocities freezing in the frigid cold of the world I made. Pulled from the depths of my soul.

"I see." I spoke.

It was obvious. The pieces of the puzzle had been put together. But there was nothing I could do. Willingly trapped within this frozen hellscape. Forced to watch the screams echo through the streets.

Where once they were empty, that same illusion, now they were filled with people from all walks of life. Children who cried and froze at the first sign of danger.

Wannabe knights that picked up their swords and fought those same demons. Only to be felled with but a strike. The negative energy rolling off of their billowing capes too much for those newborn to handle.

I clapped. My hands clasped together as I sat. Knowing that to even attempt to escape was an effort of futility. I was trapped within this hellscape. And only by the grand will of another would I be released.

If ever.

Though the smirk on my face would not be wiped.

For those thoughts were the grand illusion of another. What he should think my own thoughts were.

Only they weren't as I dispelled that illusive body of his. Faded into that grand white of the world.

A final smile on his face as he appeared within another reality. Adjacent to mine.

"Impressive. Truly impressive." 

All I got from those words was true arrogance.

"Of course."

…

When I looked at the building I had sat upon so much earlier. Where my family home had once sat upon. I found nothing but a frozen hellscape. A figure talking to another.

Her monocle sat upon her eye as she turned and strode from that hell. A gasp echoing from the same boy. For he truly was a boy.

Rage within his being. For he had been bested. That was the only word within my mind. Before a piercing strike tore through my heart. The only sight before I was dragged to that same place.

The only memory before I came face to face with that saint that saved me. For the memories before had faded. A headache that only seemed to continue to grow stronger.

But as I watched him talk to that same girl. Her hair almost a complete copy of the frozen landscape she had made. There was true rage within the golden haired girl that accompanied him.

I could only assume that she was his wife. And that the blue haired girl was one that she - the wife - did not find amicable.

Either way I laughed. Not even that drawing their attention from that heated locked gaze of theirs.

Only that boy looked back, as I grasped my stomach in a grimace of pain. Worried that he had not healed me fully.

But I waved my hand winking at him. He should know what I meant. To have a wife that devoted. I envied him.

Even as she was forced to concede point after point. Such affection was due for the course. Especially for a saint such as him.