Eternally Bound: Aftermath
----- Ember: Cold Embers -----
(written by Ember)
Shiera crashed against the barrier behind her, unconscious. Between the two combatants, pieces of the sword of ice… Valandra’s vessel were scattered. Ember overdid it, and she was harshly reminded by the sounds of agony that came from Valandra.
Ember winced as she heard the cry, but her eyes were now locked on the Asura before her. The only thing that stood between her former captor and her flames was a small barrier… the same one between her and her two djinn loves. Ember ignored the fighting around her. She ignored the cries of pain from her soldiers. She ignored the cries for help from those hacking the barriers. She gave a wicked grin, and slowly started running her sword over the barrier in front of the asura.
Kieva was starting to look worried. Like a trapped skrit, she started to pace back and forth, only with Ember to match her with a predatory like gaze. “I told you I would get you..”
Kieva looked up at Ember, and grinned. “Look what you did, you fire bookah! You are going to have to choose between your loved ones…. Which one will it be?” the barrier drops, and before Ember can pounce, the asura grabs Shiera and teleports away.
Ember let out a roar of frustration as her quarry escaped. She looked up to the two women, to see them fuse back into one. Demitra stood before her, and spoke with Valandra’s voice.
Ember looked to Paige. “We need to bind Valandra to something else! I broke her vessel!”
Paige looked lost. “She’s a being of Ice, we can’t bind her to our items, its too much of an opposite! We need something that won’t reject her!”
Ember paused. She couldn’t think of anything…. Until her adventures with Valandra played in her mind. Turns out, Kieva was the source of the way to save her. “Use me…” she said softly. Paige was about to protest, but the look she received from Ember silenced her.
“Go touch her then...and I’ll start..” Paige said softly. Ember walked up to Valandra, who was using Demitra’s voice until this moment.
“I’ve… always loved you.” Valandra said softly.
Ember placed her hand against Valandra’s cheek, their eyes meeting. “And I you… always.”
Paige finished the ritual, and with a blast of icy wind, Ember was knocked out of the lab, crying out to Paige as the building collapsed. She suddenly screamed in agony, as her armor, which had been superheated during her battle, now burned her with a pain that she never felt before. Only one thought was in her head.
“Get… get the armor off! Its…. its hot!” she cried. Her comrades, in their confusion quickly helped pull her from her armor, and the young woman staggered away, feeling nauseous. Something was wrong, but she couldn’t quite place it.
Ember reached a tree and started to vomit. Instead of it being the contents of her stomach, flame and substances like lava poured from her. Her jet black hair started to turn white, and the white streak matched the color of the sky as she passed out again.
---Three days later---
Ember awoke inside of a tent set up to help those injured around the ruins of House Dejarin. She looked around inside the tent to see everything was covered in white snow. She stepped out of her tent, grabbing a cloak by instinct, only to find that not only was she not cold, she was overheating. She stood in a small slip of a night gown, and looked around. People were still mourning, Cinder watched Ember with wary eyes, but still watched over her partner.
Ember waved to her raptor and staggered over to the water to wash her face…. The face she saw, however did not look like how she was used. Besides the color of her hair, her eyes were now a brilliant blue, a very, very familiar blue.
“What…. Happened to me?”
Ember you fool…. A voice echoed in her head. It was the usual tone she was used to from Valandra, but perhaps, it may have been a tad grateful… but that may have been just her imagination…
---In the ruins of the Estate---
In the rubble that was once Ember’s room, the heat refused to die down, even after the flames have been put out. Underneath the remains of a wall, stood Ember’s staff, marked with Drakenfist and filled with not just Ember’s fire, but the fire from every head of the Drakenfist clan for generations. Next to it, sat Ember’s old dagger, blade of fire not activated. The items seemed to pulse with power, ready to give their power to whomever was found worthy… when the time was right.
Aftermaths:
Note: Read these in any order, then the Epilogue
