Elementally Bound: Part 7
----- Similarity -----
"Look who finally woke up!" A cheery voice excitedly called. "You want some breakfast?"
Ember turned to see a beautiful Elonian standing beside her, with a platter of fruit in hand. She wore a sheer gown that left little to the imagination. Ember looked her over, instantly waking at the wondrous sight.
"I could feed you in bed, if you'd prefer that," Demitra said, smiling plump lips.
Ember swooned and blushed a bit, in spite of it. But, this beauty was hers, and she'd only just come to realize how much she loved her. Why this woman would choose Ember was beyond her guess, but she was amazed, humbled, and delighted when Demitra beamed her emerald eyes upon her. "I… I guess I overslept," Ember chuckled as Demitra helped her rise.
Demitra massaged Ember's shoulder a moment and took the time to rub the back of her head, something Ember did often. She melted at the woman's touch, for a moment relishing in the tingling sensation her fingertips brought. Then, she remembered her dream and frowned. "I… I had this crazy dream. You vanished and I… was all alone. Then, I failed to kill Balthazar. Then Valandra showed up!" Ember noticed Demitra's bewildered look. "No, no, no! Wait! I know it sounds crazy! Valandra was there and she was a total bitch and used ice magic and served Joko, and she was…"
A sharp smack across her face inturrupted Ember; she reeled back from the surprise, shocked at her lover's action.
"Don't you EVER talk like that about Valandra! Understood?" Demitra spun around, stormed off. Ember hurried after Demitra, leaving their tent. She barely noticed all the people were gone; the Windswept Haven was empty, silent and still.
"Wait! It… It felt so real. She… She beat me; she captured me… She… She tortured me," Ember cried.
Demitra spun around. "Do you know why you lost?" She gave an uncharacteristically evil grin and the next words spoken sent a chill down Ember's spine. "You lost because you are incomplete."
Ember blinked, barely able to speak. "W- What?" she muttered.
Demitra tilted her head, wild eyes staring at Ember. "Valandra has much that you don't: no inhibitions and a stronger drive. She is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her goal. Also, she has more than just her ice magic... she aquired the power of storms. What do you have? Little embers?" Her voice was scornful and condescending. "Your flame could not possibly hope to keep up." Demitra's hair retracted, became shorter, turning from a brilliant auburn to pure white.
While the deserted haven was empty, Ember distinctly knew a drake named Scarra and a raptor named Cinder spun around in a beautiful waltz together. Scarra wore a radiant sparkling gown, while Cinder sported a very stylish top-hat. Ember didn't understand how she knew this; why she knew this. And furthermore, why the gown and top-hat. Her wondering mind snapped back at the cold palm of the white haired Valandra. "I have defeated everyone in my path before; I AM complete!" Ember screamed.
"You are nothing compared to me. I am all you would ever hope to be!" Valandra's voice changed to a lower octave, resembling Ember's own. Her eyes slowly began to take on an orange hue and her skin became a pure obsidian, oozing with an ink-like layer. As her mouth opened, the glow of lava could be seen inside. The woman's hair grew even shorter; longer in the front, which hang down over her face. She was a twisted, tainted version of Ember. "You lost to me!" roared a voice in a mixture of both the ice queen's and Ember's own.
Memories flooded her mind: Brutally torturing her own students. Attempting to destroy the school at which she taught. Torturing others she once called friends… Ember was trapped. She watched in horror as she was the monster she was destined to be.
"And you lost to Balthazar. You failed to become a God. What a stupid insignificant child you are!" the dark Ember growled. "What did you even hope to accomplish?"
Memories of her being caught by the blast as she rode to confront Balthazar flashed in her mind. She was thrown from the precipice, falling… and failing. "I needed your power to free Demitra."
The dark Ember stood before the real Ember and grinned. "You were never even a threat to Balthazar. You were never a threat to Valandra. You were never a threat to me." The last word pierced like a hundred blades into Ember's heart. "You could never win on your own... and now without me; without my power… you can't win at all." The twisted Ember grinned, leaned forward and pressed oily lips to Ember's paralyzed ones. "You must become complete again."
Ember roared in rage and blasted fire magic at her darker half... but nothing happened. All she could hear was laughter in her own voice.
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Ember woke up with a twisting pain in her stomach. In her sleep, she had blasted herself outside a safe distance from Valandra, and was paying the sickening price. She hurriedly scrambled closer to the frosty femme fatale, and did her best to shake the thoughts out of her mind. But the thoughts kept looping: She was incomplete. She was destined to lose. And for an inexplicable reason, she felt like she needed to get outfits for her animals.
"Yeah I know the feeling," came Valandra's voice. She stoked the fire a few times with the flame sword, ignoring Ember's entire ordeal. She grimaced a moment, then looked bewilderedly at the flame sword as a spark ignited the campfire. "Isn't that interesting."
"Yay. You can light a fire," Ember held her stomach and frowned. After the rude awakening and horrid dream, she was in no mood to placate the woman.
Valandra raised an annoyed brow. "Yeah, and I shouldn't be able to, any more than you can make a beverage frosty. But, it's difficult. And it's painful."
"Then don't do it," Ember scoffed. She ran a hand through her hair, glanced around at the foreboding swamp waters surrounding them. Her feet hurt, her stomach ached, and her head pounded.
"Would you rather go back to the snowcaps? Or perhaps you'd enjoy a blizzard right here; right above your smoking head?"
Ember scowled. "Don't even start…"
Valandra let slip a satisfied grin at the woman's annoyance. "You are more crass than usual. Was it the dream?"
Ember averted her eyes at the question. "What dream?" she asked, feigning disinterest.
"It seems our 'vision' in the machine wasn't an isolated incident." Valandra paused, said the next words reverently. "She occupies my dreams too… Demitra."
About to interject, Ember hesitated and sighed. "I…. I failed her."
Valandra poked a few more times at the fire, without saying a word.
Ember looked into the night sky. "Maybe that's why she left," she finally said. "It's like she knew."
"Then you didn't know her well at all. She was… is not one to give up so easily. We have that in common," Valandra stated vaguely. It was unclear to Ember if she was referencing Demitra or herself in the statement.
"Then where the hell is she? Huh? She left me while we were still fighting! She just… she just left!" Ember teared up, forced herself not to break down and give her adversary the satisfaction of seeing it. Instead, she let a frustrated groan. "We were fighting Joko and his minions. Balthazar! Even the gods damned purple dragon!"
"And you surmise she just… left? In the midst of your engagement?" Valandra probed.
Ember sighed. "We had search parties. We looked everywhere. There were no signs of struggles, no tracks, nothing from the enemy camps. I searched… I searched after all others had given up. But, she was gone; simply vanished…"
Valandra shook her head. "This would not be of her character, and you should know that, if you were indeed, in love with her as you so claim. Abandon you? No, it simply wouldn't be like her… We speak of the same woman that decidedly drug me away from my destiny, because she chose not to abandon me."
"Then where the hell is she? It's been a year!"
Valandra stared into the fire, her eyes unblinking as the flames danced to a rhythm unheard. "I see her, you know… From time to time." She hesitated, seemingly collecting herself. "In my dreams, that is. But, she always seems to obscured in a desert sandstorm."
Ember tried not to recognize the similarities in the vision she'd seen before the machine scrambled their memories; Demitra had appeared much the same way. She shook her head. "Well that narrows it down… The desert is one big sandstorm!" she exclaimed, exasperated.
A sigh came from the ice queen. "It truly is a marvelous one, indeed; though I do prefer the Desert Highlands, and their tundra (obviously)."
"Can you be any more of a stereotype?" Ember teased.
"Says the girl who swims in lava?"
Ember flushed. "I don't do that (all the time)."
Valandra chuckled a moment. "Well, in either case, something definitely makes such conditions… more tolerable to me. This fire: the proximity does not seem to have the same impact it usually does. But, beyond that, as you so eloquently put it, I actually started this fire. It pained me to do so, but I was able to channel just enough to start the blaze. If the transfer were to have completed, I would control this power, without such pains. Whatever YOU did to the machine…"
"Arg! And around we go again! Look, lady, I saved my hide. Like it or not, we need to focus on getting out of these suits. Then, if it will help you feel better, I'll give you my power. All at once!" Ember threatened.
"A day ago, you wanted us to join forces. Now you wish to engulf me? You are indeed fickle."
Ember tilted her head at the word, trying to analyze if it was an insult. "Well, either way, I'd feel better."
"And your feelings are of paramount importance to me." Valandra rolled her eyes.
Ember steamed. "You! You think you are just so perfect: with your diverse magic, perfectly-formed ice wings, and being all complete? You know, I was doing just fine before you came along!"
"Fine?" Valandra angerly rose to her feet. "You lost Demitra! You really think I'm perfect? I am just as flawed as you; I simply keep my cool. Cold calculation is better than your flippant attitude and fickle, ignorant decisions you seem hell-bent on performing!" Her head began to smoke from the condensation.
Ember blinked, stifled a laugh at the puns. "Well, I don't see your bright ideas helping us out here, Shiverpeaks! Personally, I feel naked without my armor. This damned suit…"
Valandra looked the woman over, stopping on her relinquished frost sword which hang from the woman's waste. "Actually, I do have a theory. The fire," she said, with a gesture to the small campfire, "extinguish it."
"Sure; let me just get a bucket!" Ember said sarcastically.
"No. No, you fool. I mean for you to attempt doing as I have done with the fire, only the opposite. Extinguish it."
Ember would have refused the woman's command, but she was curious to test the theory. "Fine," she halfheartedly said. "Maybe I'll explode and take half the swamp (and you) out with me." She held her hand toward the fire while Valandra instinctively took a step back. Her brow furrowed as her hand began to shake. Magic would usually flow through her and project itself as manifested fire; however, calling upon the opposite presented a challenge. She brought her other hand into the effort, and channeled as much magic as she could. It would force a tidal wave upon them! At least, that's what she expected. Instead, a small sprinkle came forth, barely managed to douse the fire. She doubled over in pain, staggered off to promptly to empty the contents of her stomach.
Valandra slightly chuckled. "Yeah; that's what I thought. The same thing happened to me this morning when I was first attempting to light it. After a bit, the effect wasn't violently vomit-inducing as it was initially, but still quite nauseating."
"You coulda warned me," Ember wiped her mouth. "Did this have a point?"
"It seems that when you destroyed the machine," she again took the opportunity to emphasize the point, "you gained something of myself inside you, just as I did with your flame."
Ember stood as upright as she could, still clenching her stomach. "Then how the hell do we fix it?"
Valandra grunted. "I know this comes as a shock to you, but even I do not have all the answers. You diverted my intentions, thus, everything thereafter has been… surprising. It's unclear to me if this… bond… we share is due to these suits or something deeper," she said with and inadvertent expression of disgust. "I believe the first step is to get them off. After that, it would be prudent to find Demitra. If she was going against Joko, perhaps then, you and I can… reevaluate our dispute."
"Assuming she isn't dead," Ember said, meekly.
"Yes assuming…" Valandra turned away from Ember, a thought that hadn't existed before, coming to her. "If… If we should find her… as an Awakened… The full force of your fire," she choked up, couldn't continue the sentence.
Ember rubbed the back of her head, and slightly snickered. "Oh she wouldn't be 'awakened'. Have you seen her sleep? Not even Papaya Joke could wake that girl up!"
Valandra let out an honest laugh. "Yeah; she was a rock!" Valandra's eyes widened at a thought she didn't share with Ember. Eventually, she shook her head from her musing.
"Well," Ember said, with a shrug, "we need to find some smart people to help us out of these things. Rata Sum would be an obvious choice, but it's quite a journey from here, and there's not much out here, besides the Labyrinthine Cliffs."
"That name sounds familiar. I believe I saw postings on a flyer promoting some sort of celebration there. If so, there would be many there; we may could force another Asura to take a look at these ridiculous contraptions," Valandra proposed.
Ember almost made a comment about using 'force,' but decided against the fight. "I bet we'll stand out, looking pretty silly in these things."
Valandra grinned impishly. "Oh, I'm sure you're very used to looking that way," she stabbed. A humph and a frown from Ember seemingly satisfied the ice queen. Without a word, she turned, held her hands outward and over the murky swap water. The water slowly began to solidify, and build upon itself, eventually taking the familiar shape of two raptors, lifelessly made of ice. Valandra stepped onto the mount, gestured to the other.
Grumbling, Ember climbed aboard the ice lizard. "Makin' mounts out of your magic," she spat. "This feels wrong."
The white-haired woman leaned over to her. "Oh, 'don't pretend you didn't want this,'" she echoed Ember's statement before their passionate exchange. With a smirk she commanded the ice raptor forward.
Ember's heart raced at the woman's chilled breath, but as she rode away, the darkness from her dream found its way back into her mind. She shivered. Unsure of her powers, her destination, her feelings… she remained a statue for a moment, then a slight smile came to her face remembering something from the dream. "A festival, huh? Wonder if they sell top-hats and gowns for animals." She giggled, then with a click of her tongue, rode after the ice queen.
To Be Continued...
