The Moonweaver Chronicles Part 20

"You Reapers..." I heard a voice behind me, I didn't realize who was behind us until she was right by my side. She was a bipedal wolf with snow white fur. She was pretty beautiful and she radiated confidence and strength. "You think truth is something you can just see? Reality is equivocal, ones fantasy can easily be another's reality. To think that one as weak as yourself could ever perceive something as vague and ill-defined as truth is the worst kind of farce."

"And just who said you could crash our party?" The Phoenix asked. She was tensing her muscles, preparing to attack.

"You are employing a very wise strategy, bird. Either way your life is forfeit, but..." she pulled a pistol from a holster that her fur had hidden somehow. It had a design of two wolves running together on it. She continued her advance until she was ahead of all of us. "If you stay at only half strength, your reputation wont suffer as much as if I had annihilated you at full strength in a single shot."

I realized too late that there were two of her, the first was an illusion. The fake charged at the wolf as the real one pulled me into her grasp. I felt an elbow in my gut. I was sent flying back in Rin's direction, wondering what had happened. It was too quick to catch it.

"My eyes are well trained to see through petty illusions like that, Reaper scum." She said, "You used air magic to attempt to close the gap between you. Why though I wonder... were you perhaps trying to use the demon as a bargaining tool? Or is he secretly your ally?"

"Don't get between them, she is the strongest of the Wardens and might kill you for being a demon." Rin whispered quietly to me.

"But I haven't done anything..." I reasoned, "Surely..." Rin shook her head. I noticed Zayla had finished speculating.

"Well?" Zayla asked, "Is that it? Any last words? Do you have a deity you wish to pray to before I end your life?"

"Zayla is going to kill her?" I asked Rin nervously.

"Please, Alkain, I'm begging you to not get in her way. That she has seen fit to not kill you from the start is a miracle, please don't push your luck."

I saw the gun charging up, pink energy was surrounding the weapon. I ran towards her. I don't quite know, I guess I saw part of myself in her, I made it up to Zayla though and knocked her gun slightly off, the shot missed the phoenix but blew a large hole through part of the castle.

Seeing this, the phoenix that I had once hoped to befriend, flew off as fast as she could. She recognized that even at full strength, she couldn't hope to win this battle without, at the very least, a major consequence to herself.

She was fast, but Zayla had already sprouted a pair of pitch black wings from her back. She tensed and was about to kick off but Rin had slithered up to her with speed I didn't know she had and held her back.

"Its happening." Rin pointed to a spot at the center of the courtyard. I didn't see anything for a moment, beyond what seemed a trick of the light. "She doesn't possess an immediate danger to your charge and might be luring you into an ambush. All in all, your charge is put in far greater danger if he loses you, just let it go."

She stared at Rin. She knew that Rin wanted her to stop for other reasons. She tensed slightly and seemed to be about to swat Rin away but seemed to think better of it. Her wings disappeared into her body, melding with her flesh or were somehow concealed in her fur, I couldn't really tell.

Zayla walked up to me, drawing her gun and pointing it at me. "Why'd you interfere, demon. Your answer will determine your punishment." She claimed, though I sensed a murderous intent behind her words. Chills were running through my body, it was all that I could to just stand. I couldn't move, I couldn't even speak. She stared into my eyes with a gaze that made my legs want to collapse, yet there was too much fear for even that.

I felt like she was taking me apart inside her mind, like she saw right through me to my very essence, as if she knew what made me tick. I...

"Thats enough, this one is with me." Rin said loudly, breaking me out of my trance. A moment later I was able to move, had just those seven words given me the strength to overcome this fear?

She stared at Rin appraisingly, a similar gaze to the one she gave me. "Look over there, the taint of all the Reapers that corrupted this area is disappearing."

I gazed over where she was pointing, the same place, but this time it felt as if it was more alive. Where as before it had been only dull and matt colors, there was now a rich vibrancy that seemed to ooze life. Slowly at first, then much much faster, this effect spread until the entire castle seemed to hold an aura of life and energy. I had never before seen something so beautiful, I was in awe and began to wonder if they experienced this phenomenon frequently, as had been implied by what Rin had said. This place might be worth getting to know better.

Zayla seemed to have disappeared by the time the effect was over. I mentally cursed myself for having been so sloppy as to take my eyes off someone as powerful as her right after they had threatened to kill my life.

I was still a bit nervous and jittery from my encounter with Zayla. Rin seemed to understand this though and we picked up the others. Vincent had somehow constructed a large enough platform that it was able to keep those who had fallen off from sinking into whatever was in the water below the bridge. Whatever made this area colorful again revealed that there was indeed water, however, I sensed something more down there. I wasn't curious enough to go off exploring.