Trial One~Time348Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIutnKSh0R
Astrid and Tobi stared at the woman, unsure of what to say. Her blue eyes glowed within the darkness and the ground beneath her seemed to emit a soft blue light.
"Come now, I don't bite." She chuckled. 348Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGfH0oCRWRT
"Goddess Henaer?" Tobi asked. It was less a question of confusion and more for conformation.
The woman nodded. "That's right."
She looked between the two of them. In the blink of an eye she had vanished into a plume of dark smoke but before either one of them could be confused, she reappeared in front of Astrid. Henaer grabbed Astrid's chin and lifted her head to get a better look at her.
"You, you're definitely her child...but you..."
She turned her attention to Tobi, narrowing her eyes as she did so. Her gaze wasn't particularly intense but the way the hairs on his body stood up told him that she was definitely dangerous. 348Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ktwZ3jx5B
"You don't have it...the shi aren't as prominent in you as they are in this one. Who are you?"
Tobi had seen many of his mother's books mention the shi before, so he was entirely in the dark about the subject. Normally people without strong magical ability, were unable to see the shi within someone. The fact that Henaer could tell without so much as a glance, that his shi wasn't as strong, was proof that she was indeed powerful.
"Tobi...I uh...work for King Sana."
Henaer thought for a moment. "King Sana...I hear he has access to Aruma An..." The tone in her voice briefly shifted when she mentioned the forgotten land. 348Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2pcuxs2Z8y
"Well, he doesn't. I'm the only one there who can pass through the shrine."
Henaer's eyes briefly flashed surprise. "Oh? And how, prey tell, is such a young boy, lacking in the magical support of the shi, able to pull that off?"
"...when I first found the shrine I heard a voice. A man's voice. He was the one who brought me through the rifts and to the ruins of Aruma An...He's a being trapped in a horned statue beside a small village in the Omphalos region."
Henaer seemed to beam at the mention of this horned statue. "Did he tell you anything else?"
"N-No he just told me than in exchange for doing what he asked he would let me explore the land...he also gave me a message for who I assume to be was Illya."
She smiled. Astrid and Tobi glanced at each other. Suspicion grew as her reasons for this sudden interest remained unknown. In an attempt to rectify this Astrid asked her a question. "Um...Miss Henaer? Do you know the identity of the horned statue?"
Henaer paused for a moment. "He was my lover....before....be...fore..."
Her voice trailed off, prompting Astrid and Tobi to send another questioning glance in each other's direction. So far she had not displayed any hostility and the way she spoke was calm and collected but there was a visible shift in her demeanor, one they hadn't anticipated.
"Before that man's wretched wife sealed him away in that god awful statue!"
Her smooth voice became dark and raspy and her words were dripping with an everlasting lust for vengeance.
"My beloved brother....my beloved brother....oh how I loved him so....I trusted him.....AND HE BETRAYED ME! SEALED ME AWAY! ABANDONED ME!"
The more she spoke, the angrier she got, the more her face twisted into something monstrous. The ground began to shake beneath them and Astrid tightened her grip on Tobi's shirt, bracing for impact. While Henaer's words were indeed drenched with a timeless rage, there was also an unimaginable sadness behind them. One that slipped through the cracks in her wrath as she desperately called out for her brother.
"SALEM YOU FOOL! WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME! WHY DID YOU LET YOUR WIFE TAKE HIM FROM ME!"
As her pained screams filled the void and the pair were consumed by the rush of darkness, all they could think was that somehow, time had ripped her heart out and made her cold and vengeful. They say that time heals all wounds but as they watched the lonely goddess cry, the knew time would not heal her, for it was the cause of her festering wounds.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
Elsewhere, Illya found herself in a closed off room with two pillars and two floating platforms. The ground glowed a seething red as did the runes on the pillars. As she stepped onto one of the platforms a tremor of intense magical energy shook the room. As impatience ate away at her, she felt her slip back into old habits, lashing out at no one in particular, tongue on fire with the essence of one who had once been a sailor.
"Damn it. I have to get to Henaer fast!" She mumbled. "How fucking long do they need to make me wait!"
Just as the words left her mouth, a form began to materialize on the other pillar. She watched intently, caution and curiosity burning in her eyes. Her first opponent was a familiar face. One that never failed to spark rage within Illya, the same girl that buried her alive.
"...Atanih..."
The girl swung her dark hair out of her face. "Hello little worm."
Before Illya could say anything, Atanih launched herself towards Illya and shoulder checked her off the platform and sent her smashing into the wall behind her. As soon as Atanih made contact with Illya's body, every memory Illya ever had of her came flooding into her head. The taste of betrayal sat heavy on her tongue as she recalled the feeling of realizing that her dearest friend had been so overcome with jealousy that she had been working with her cousin's to destroy her for so long. Everything from when they had countless of Illya's loved ones slaughtered, to the feeling of her skin tearing as Illya's wings were gruesomely torn from her body. Even the taste of the acid burning her insides as it was poured down her throat resurfaced and made her gag.
Every bitter moment of betrayal swirled inside Illya's head. Memories of how her family turned against her, of how she abused and treated as a tool, all of it came back in such an intense rush that it felt as though her head would split. Atanih was her first real female friend as a child. She loved Atanih and finding out that Atanih hated her for no fault of her own at such a young age destroyed her image of trust and friendship. She felt the anger she had been so powerless to do anything about in the past, begin to rise. Illya shook her head and reminded herself that everything she was seeing were nothing more than apparitions of the truth, even the feelings she hadn't felt in years. Nothing could hurt her more than what she faced in reality.
"You're worthless..."
"You're pathetic...."
"You're a disgrace..."
Atanih's words echoed in her head. Illya pushed herself off the wall and forced her vision to focus. Atanih's apparition frowned. "How many years has it been Illya? Do you remember when I pushed you into the well? I do. I remember the way you cried and screamed when you found your foster father's rotting corpse in the well with you."
Illya didn't say anything. She just let her talk. Then it hit her. Both of them had been drowning in this hatred for one another since they were children. As they grew older they were supposed to mature but whenever Illya began pulling away from the hatred that bound her spirit, something would happen to send her plummeting back. Over time the hatred grew and grew and while Illya had gone through a lot to rip herself away from the people who weighed her down, that hate was still there, she was still damaged and hurting.
Atanih's apparition continued to spew profanities at Illya. Illya ran a hand through her hair in an attempted to soothe her racing mind. She had to remind herself that things were different now and that she had better not let all her hard work go to waste. So she dusted herself off and glared at Atanih, who had shut up the second she saw the look in Illya's eyes.
"I'm going to need you to shut the hell up and get out of my way. I have to go pick up my daughter."
Atanih didn't even have time to blink as Illya went from across the room to in front of her at such an incredible speed that she didn't even notice that Illya's fist rammed it self straight through her skull and had ripped her head right off of her shoulders. Just like that, the first opponent was defeated.
Illya pulled her hand out of Atanih's now decapitated head, or at least what was left of it and watched as the body and the blood disappear into the corrupted shi of the void. Along with it went the splitting head ache and wooziness Illya felt. The sigil in front of the door way disappeared, allowing Illya entrance to the next phase.
"Alright then...good warm up!" 348Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmriSKSHPPG
