Existentially Bound: Part 18
Trials
Note: Images will be added at a later time...
"Shit!" exclaimed Emily, jerking her head away from Valandra's, who shared much the same expression from their collision.
Paige rubbed her own aching temples. "How… long were we…"
"Most importantly, where have we been placed?" Valandra inturrupted, her attention on their present predicament, already vainly attempting to survey the darkness. She brought a hand up to conjure a flame, stared skeptically as only a small ember sparked to life.
The mocha woman's hazel eyes reflected the small light. "That's… all you can manage?" Paige asked, obvious concern in her voice. "That's… really not good. Emily can you-" A few small snowflakes made their way over to Paige, barely enough to decorate the woman's puffy hair. Paige sighed. "I guess that answers that."
Emily murmured a curse.
"It does appear our powers have not been taken from us, yet dampened here. Perhaps the collective's will in this place?" Valandra pondered aloud.
"Yeah, well, I don't like it. Whisked away by some Elder Djinn in hopes of finding my wife, and we're placed in the darkness, in what looks like some kinda cell. I'm tired of being tossed around!"
"Aye, as am I Emily. Yet, we collectively willed ourselves here: to the grain of sand on a world which contained Demitra. Let us not lose faith that the Elder Djinn seemed to want the same thing," Valandra said, still eyeing their surroundings. The structure seemed to be made of a lattice work of golden arches intersecting one another, but she had to agree with her other half: their surroundings did very much like a Djinn prison.
Paige stood, took a few steps toward the outer intersecting arches. She leaned forward to peer out of a hole the crisscross pattern created, inspecting what lie beyond. The ground, the sky, and the entirety of their surroundings seemed to be made of pure energy. Flowing waves of colors intersected, softly combining to form various shades of purple and golden lights and sparkles. In their center, floated a winged creature, dancing on rays of light and forming trails which became the aurora of colors. The woman wore wings of electric fuchsia and vivid purple, flapping as she twirled, suspending her in the air. Her purple skin glistened in the reflection of the lights, while a distant melody came to the cell, beckoning both Valandra and Emily to join Paige to see the display.
At once, all three women gasped as the winged one twirled into view. "Demitra?" they collectively exhaled.
Emily chuckled slightly. "Of course she'd be dancing."
Paige's mouth was agape, tears already filling her hazel eyes as she gazed upon the woman who'd stolen her heart, the woman she had spent a year attempting to find. The overwhelming feeling of relief, worry and anxiousness threatened to overtake her and for a moment she felt faint, until Valandra's hand unexpectedly came to steady her.
"Turbulent, our time has been, half-sister, but I am here for you, as you need. It is her. It is Demitra Naja Nyimah."
"But what's happened to her? Why the wings? Why is she just dancing? We've looked for her this whole time and she's just… dancing?" Emily spat in a veiled attempt to mask the truth; her relief in finding her wife tugged at her own heartstrings, but unaccustomed to allowing them through, she grasped onto the most obvious question.
"I… I don't know," Paige said with a longing look to Valandra for answers.
Valandra sighed. "As stated previously, the longer one occupies the Djinn Realm, the more one can change. And, Demitra has been here for a long, long time."
"Wait, there's that again! 'A long time?' What do you mean?" Emily asked, frustrated she didn't already have the answer. During their time as one, Valandra would often explain her thoughts to the woman without her having to ask, and it was a painful reminder they were no longer merged.
A sudden and jarring scream came from the floating woman pulling everyone's attention back to her. She held her head, cried out in pain, then quickly tumbled downward. Upon her approach, a village solidified under her, giving ground and building in which she plummeted. Upon impact, the village combusted, fires threatening to engulf its entirety.
"Dammit," Emily cursed. "This isn't good. I know what this is; she told me about it. We gotta… we gotta get her outta there!" The new ice queen struck the cage, which elastically bounced, the reverb sending the woman to her knees. "Dammit!"
"What is this? What is she talking about?" Paige grappled with the confusion.
Valandra looked out to see the fires rage, Demitra stand upon the center villa, screaming. "It is of her past. This is where her vengeance was born." In a single instant, however, it was Valandra's own hatred which suddenly took over, as she set sights on one she'd never expected to see again. From the distance floated the ungodly form of the lich, her former enslaver -- that which she never achieved revenge on -- Palawa Joko. "Joko!" she screamed, slamming a sparkling fist into the cage, which sent her barreling backward, collapsing onto her other half.
Emily huffed. "Palawa Joke? No, we killed him. I was in the battle; the commander's dragon ate him, they say. There's nothing left of that monster!"
Paige stared through the hole, her eyes transfixed on the display with worry, agitation, and uneasiness. "Then who…"
The figure floated down to stand upon the roof along with Demitra. His laughter carried into the heavens, where music stopped and the colors faded, replaced by red skies. "Gaze upon me and understand I am not which that you saw as a child," said the decrepit form. Two additional arms came from his sides, growing outwardly in the most grotesque way, as its legs withered away. The lich's entire body seemed to shift and morph into an equally decaying, disgusting, rotting corpse of what appeared to be a Djinn.
Demitra suddenly shrieked as her own arms manifested themselves, her wings shattering behind her. She looked up with childlike eyes of fright. "Sodulaj?" her voice cracked at the revelation.
The Djinn's laughter echoed and roared above the inferno surrounding them. "Aye; your former mentor, your creator… The instrument of your lifeline!" All four arms gestured to the raging blaze. "Your thirst for vengeance against the lich proved invaluable, as I knew it would when I lit your childhood, sending you on the path. Though it was not you who freed me from that corpse-of-a-vessel, I orchestrated his demise through you and your kind. All is as I have predicted! I am free, and shall be free to enter your realm shortly!"
Demitra shook her head in disbelief, glittery tears beginning to collect. "You? You were the one which slaughtered my parents? Made me believe it was Joko? You burned my village? Then years later take me in your guidance, train me, and gift me with my vessel? Why? Why would this be done?"
The Djinn floated downward, placed his gnarled hand upon the woman's head. "You see, child, you and your kind are destined to halt a great evil, which would destroy both our worlds. Had I not had the power to steer you into this role, you shan't be able to do such."
"Don't listen to him, Demi! He's lying!" Ember screamed, leaping toward the bars with what little electric energy she could call upon. The barrier wobbled, forced the woman to impact the ground just as violently as her own attempt.
Paige pushed through the emotions, made use of her analytical mind, absorbing the new information. "The Elder told us there would be a calamity caused by the 'former immortal-bound', Demitra's mentor, who can see the future…"
"Aye," Valandra said helping Emily up. "And, the Elder also said his gift of future sight made him 'overzealous'. And, 'That which he sought to destroy is what he has become.'"
Emily huffed. "Yeah yeah, so he's the evil one we gotta kill with our vessels or weapons or whatever, and we gotta seal them when we're done or something. Sure. Okay… but how the hell do we help my wife?" she growled, stomping toward the barrier again.
"We can't do much from here now… but let's hope she can hear us!"
"Or feel us, using such empathic powers she has shown, aye?" Valandra offered.
The women collectively yelled forth, each hoping to assist and support the purple-skinned woman.
"He's the enemy!"
"Demitra, you've got to fight him! He's the one you should be fighting! Look at what he did to your parents, to you village, and to you! Turned you into a Djinn and now wants you to fight alongside him…"
"Just as Joko did to me; do not fall for such manipulation, Nyimah! The lich was Sodulaj's vessel. With Joko gone, he shall set purpose to his cause, unless we halt him!"
Demitra downed her head, as her mentor petted her hair. Whether their voices were heard or their emotional support found its way to her is unknown. Suddenly, however, Demitra was filled with the warmth and comfort and clarity from her former lovers. Emily's unrelenting strong will, Valandra's calculating ambition, and sparkling above all, was Paige's unrelenting hope; a hope that had long been absent in Demitra's heart.
"No…" she said in an otherworldly growl. "You shan't make me a puppet. I am no slave; I am not one to which you can manipulate! I am Demitra Naja Nyimah, and I will not be bound by the destiny which you manipulate before me; my future is my own!" A radiant fuchsia energy flashed, emanating from the woman's aura.
As the scene played out before them, all three women noticed the same effect happening to each other. Valandra glowed a brilliant red, Paige a muted green, and Emily a vibrant blue, echoing their encounter with the Elder Djinn. At once, all three colors reached out beyond the Djinn prison, flowing outward and surrounding Demitra. The hues began to interact, mixing with each other eventually forming into construct of the various women to either side of Demitra. The woman's clothes immediately shattered, giving way to the sparkling golden flakes beneath her purple skin.
She looked upon her former mentor with eyes of fury, determination and disgust. "Be gone from my presence!" She screamed, unleashing the white energies forward. Beside her, visages of Paige, Valandra, and Emily each outstretched their hands toward their enemy and pouringforth their respective energies.
The unbridled power flew combined into a brilliant white, flew into Sodulaj, his decrepit being wailed in agony. "You… have… help…" The words were uttered through a blend of agonizing misery and painful shrieks. Lines on the old Djinn's soulless face began to crack, the brilliantness of the vivid bright energy threatening to obliterate him from within.
"Aye. I am uncertain why, but I feel their presence; their hope… their love… their fury… And I summon it all to vanquish you!" Demitra yelled as another burst of white energy came from her and the constructs, which suddenly shattered at the power unleashed, forming shards which promptly dove into Soduloj's flesh.
He screamed in anguish, but suddenly a slight grin came to his face before the power finished its work, with a violent explosion, which sent incalculable pieces of flesh to litter the ground.
Demitra collapsed onto what was now a barren landscape.
"She… She did it! She killed him!" Emily blurted into the silence, caused Paige to jump.
Paige finally exhaled, glanced around to the other women. "We helped her do that! Our glow… our auras; they gave her the power!"
Valandra looked concerned. "Aye, but we did not use our vessels/weapons to do such. Would the Elder Djinn speak untruthfully about such a thing?"
"Djinn lie. Her own mentor lied to her. It makes sense if he was lying too," Emily said, finally happy to offer an opinion. "So let's get her and get the hell out of here!"
Demitra lie within a circular arena, shimmering into view above, a precipice solidified with several Djinn looking down upon the scene.
"What has presented itself? Why has she been able to project such powers now, after the myriad trials we have subjected her to?" One Djinn asked the other, his arms folded, sockets staring down at the naked, disabled woman.
One Djinn looked outwardly, seemingly searching for the answer. After a few moments, his head darted to the cage, staring with soulless eyeless sockets directly at the three women. "An answer has appeared, along with the appearance of other lessers." He snarled, pointing one of his four arms toward the cell.
"Appears she had help," said another.
"This, then, factors into our equation; we must resume trials with them all," came the voice of the first.
"This isn't good!" Emily exclaimed the obvious. "We gotta get outta here! Demi!" she called out. "Demi, snap out of it! Let's all leave this place!"
Valandra glanced at Paige, saw her also working the problem, arrived at the same conclusion. "That is just what we do. We leave this place!" she said as she stretched her arms out toward Demitra, channeling her wishes toward the fallen woman.
"What are you doing?"
"What we all should be doing," Paige said, holding out her arms out toward Demitra. "We wish it; we wish us away from this place! The Djinn here are a collective will, but so are we!" The murky green aura began to emanate from the woman.
Emily took in a breath, in attempt to calm her nerves, and followed suit. "I hope this works. I wish it to work," she grunted, pushing her fire outward.
After a moment, all three energies pierced the cell, again flying into Demitra, who was lifted off the ground, glowing a brilliant array of all the colors, until they finally became the same bright white that had killed the old Djinn.
Demitra opened her emerald eyes, flashed them to the Djinn, emboldened and reconstituted from the power. "This was not he which has corrupted my destiny. Your trials are for what? For me to learn to kill your own - our own - kin? You believe subjecting me to tests for years will better help me defeat an enemy? What it has taught me is to embrace this power, and despise those which abuse it. So hear me now: I wish you all away!"
A sudden shockwave flew from the woman, disintegrating the Djinn, the cell… the very world around them, with a feral scream which echoed into nothingness. At the apex of the energy wave, it returned to all four women, who suddenly each exploded into sand, carried across the wind to another place… another world…
[To Be Continued...]
