Chapter 17 - Emma's guilt

After waking up from Emily's memories, Erik sighed but kept his eyes closed as he took a moment to remember where he was. 

"How long was I out?" he asked Elora via their mental connection. 

The answer came immediately, "Just about an hour… You should open your eyes." 

Surprised by her sudden suggestion but seeing no problem with it, he did so and found himself sitting crosslegged in the same place where he had entered Emily's memories, right across from the door to the study, where he had found Emma earlier. 

Only now, Emma was sitting in front of the door, dressed in the loose-fitting pants and shirt Erik had left her with, while her knees had been pulled up to her chest and her arms were wrapped around her legs. 

Her green and white mismatched eyes stared at him with a combination of gratitude and caution as her long, white hair cascaded down to the floor and framed her pretty, if malnourished, face. 

Seeing him open his eyes, Emma tensed up but otherwise remained silent and in the same place. 

Not particularly surprised by her presence, Erik ignored her for now as he looked around the shabby hallway of what he now knew to be the Ashcroft estate. Having seen what they looked like in the past, Erik had to admit to feeling a little sad at their current state. 

He returned his attention to Emma and simply said, "Hi." 

Emma looked at him for a moment longer, causing Erik to suspect she had become mute, either by injury or mental blocks, but then he heard a voice, hesitant and hoarse as if it hadn't been used in a long time, "H- Hello." 

They stared at each other for a moment longer before Emma suddenly lifted her finger and pointed to a spot next to Erik. 

He looked where she was pointing and noticed the still-doll-eyed Emily standing there. At this point, his fury at this woman for how she had treated her sister had wholly changed to pity. 

All Emily was really guilty of was an overwhelming desire to protect her sister, leading to a rush to gain power—a power she did not properly understand. 

Without the proper knowledge or protection, her dark affinity had heavily eroded and twisted her mind. Combined with the ability to enslave others, her mindset became increasingly obsessed with the idea of control as a means to ensure absolute safety. 

While at first, this mindset would mostly be a justification for enslaving people to make them act as guards, it later transferred to Emma as a means of protection, as well, convinced that the only way to truly shield her from all harm was to limit her freedom. 

Emily struggled with the idea for a while, of course, but eventually, the corruption from her dark affinity was relentless. 

Initially, her desire to control Emma only involved ropes and chains, though eventually, Emily even tried to enslave Emma as well. 

However, fortunately for Emma, her big sister had been unable to do so for some reason, despite Emma's apparent lack of power. 

Erik heard Elora speak up in his mind, "When she left that room, she was surprised and scared upon noticing Emily standing there. But when neither you nor Emily showed any reaction to her presence, despite Emily's open eyes, she eventually gained some courage and went to inspect her sister." 

Elora gave a mental shrug, "Of course, she was confused by Emily's state but couldn't discover anything or get Emily to react, so she eventually went to sit down across from you, probably waiting for you to wake up." 

Inwardly nodding at Elora's explanation, he looked back at Emma, who was staring at him with a questioning gaze, "You want to know why your sister is like that?" 

Seeing her nod, he explained, "A friend of mine has locked her mind away and is currently controlling her body. If you're worried about her, assuming the last few years haven't severely eroded your love for her, then you don't need to worry. Emily is fine." 

But suddenly thinking of her corrupted state, he backtracked a little as he looked thoughtful for a moment, "Well, maybe not fine, but alive, anyway." 

Emma looked momentarily surprised as her still hoarse voice sounded again, "You… You know what happened?" 

Erik nodded, "Yeah, that same friend I just mentioned had a look through your sister's memories and shared them with me." 

Emma started looking around before moving her gaze back to Erik with one eyebrow raised in a questioning gesture. 

Understanding her question, Erik curled his lips in a smile as he put his finger to his lips, "Secret for now. Let's get to know each other a little better before you meet my partner." 

Emma pouted cutely but then nodded to indicate she understood. 

They fell into silence for a few minutes as Erik thought about how best to make this girl trust him more when Emma suddenly started crying softly as she looked up at Emily. 

Erik looked a little surprised, "What's wrong?" 

She didn't answer immediately but buried her face into her knees, still pulled up to her chest, as she sat across from Erik. Eventually, her hoarse voice returned, "If you saw her memories, then you should know…" 

She looked back up at Erik, her beautiful green and white eyes now stained with tears as her already hoarse voice cracked even more, "It was all my fault! I was the one that gave her that damn book! And that's when she started changing!" 

Erik looked surprised. It seemed this girl already trusted him enough to bare her heart to him. 

Or perhaps it was just that he was the first person other than Emily she had seen in a long time, combined with the fact he already knew everything that happened. 

Erik wanted to comfort her, but he also knew that lying to her wouldn't help her overcome this, so he simply told the truth, "That's… partly true." 

Emma seemed to perk up at those words as she intently stared at him, "W- What do you mean partly true?" 

Erik explained, "Everyone has affinities to specific concepts that they are born with. These affinities will determine many things, including the mystic glyphs they awaken on first contact with aetherium or at age ten if they already live in an aetherium-rich environment." 

Frowning, he continued, "However, these affinities also have the habit of producing an effect we call 'corruption', which can affect a person's personality if they're not careful during the process of expanding their reservoir." 

He thumbed towards the motionless woman beside him, "Your sister has an affinity for darkness, which generally has an especially bad influence on a person's personality." 

Then, he smiled sadly, "But since she had no knowledge of this or how to expand her reservoir safely, she would have ended up corrupted anyway. The book you gave her simply sped up the process." 

Emma opened and closed her mouth a few times as she looked at Erik with tears in her eyes, "I- Is that really true?" 

Erik smiled again, "Yes, it is true. What happened to your sister is terrible, but it would have happened with or without your interference." 

Instinctually feeling like Erik was speaking the truth, tears of relief began to stream freely from Emma's beautiful, mismatched eyes, as she had lived all this time believing that she had caused Emily's change. 

Because of her guilt, she never even tried to resist her sister, thinking this was what she deserved for destroying Emily. She had wanted to get the key to her collar and gain her freedom, but only so she could try to cure Emily, not because she wanted to escape. 

But if what this man said was true, then… then perhaps Emily would forgive her! 

This thought made a beautiful smile appear on her face, but when she looked at Emily again, she lost it just as fast, as the relief also quickly drained from her face. 

Regardless of who or what was to blame, the Emily she knew was still gone. 

With that thought, tears reappeared in her eyes as she looked back at Erik with hesitation. She wondered if this man might have a way to bring her sister back, "H- How do you know all this?" 

Having watched Emma's various expressions, Erik's lips were still pursed into a sad smile, "That's another secret for now." 

He couldn't exactly go around revealing Elora's existence or that he had spent the last seven years in another world. 

Not exactly hearing the answer she wanted, Emma kept looking at him with hesitation; even if he knew of a way, would he help her? Would he care? She didn't even know what this man was doing here yet. 

Seeing her hesitation, Erik spoke up with a reassuring smile, "Just say whatever is on your mind. I won't bite." Then he smirked while a particular glint appeared in his eyes, "Well, not usually anyway," as he recalled some interesting nightly adventures with Elora. 

At the same time, he heard a loud "Pervert!" in his head, making him chuckle, "You're one to talk." 

Elora just snorted and stopped responding, so Erik refocused on Emma, who had started talking with tears in her eyes, "I- Is it permanent?"