Cassandra PendragonA warm touch and the smell of herbs dragged my consciousness back from the deepest pits of my mind. My eyes flew open and I was halfway out of bed before my mom managed to push me back down. I struggled for a second before the rational part of my mind kicked in and the last ghosts of my dreams returned to the past. Falling back on my pillow, I took a few deep breaths and focused on my surroundings. I was back in my room and the afternoon sun shone in through the windows. The colourful collection of herbs and tinctures on my nightstand as well as the harrowed look in and dark circles under my mother’s eyes reminded me of my condition when I had lost consciousness. But I felt fine. There was a lingering stiffness in my leg but otherwise I felt healthy and hungry or rather famished. I probably had slept longer than a day. When my thoughts returned to the fight, I tried to get out of bed once again.“Where is Ahri” I croaked. “Is she alright?”“Calm down! Get back on t

Mordred PendragonWrithing around in pain, needle-like shards of ice and glass cut my skin to the bone. One question haunted my mind: how could it have come to this? Everything had been fine, great in fact. I had concealed my growing desires from the emperor and even devised a way to extract Cassandra’s core and bind it to my own soul. All I had needed was a spark of transcendent energy to power the ritual. I hadn’t been able to extract any from Casandra herself, all my spells had failed to connect to her. I had come to know that Greta was able to heal and influence her with her blood as a focus, but I had had no clue how that worked. Maybe it had been a soul-technique I wasn’t aware of? I had needed another source and the only one I had known of was the demon consorting with the emperor, the lord of mirrors, Amazeroth. So I had devised a way to get my hand on a tiny spark of his energy. I had tried to manipulate the infernal duo and had fed them with an ingenious idea. Using the alr

Cassandra PendragonBefore I could start asking questions, a knock on my door interrupted us: “Cassy, are you there? Come on, we need to talk.” Slightly panicked I looked at Mephisto but he only grinned and disappeared back into the emblem. I quickly strode over to the window and pocketed the small disk. The letter and box I hid on my bed, underneath the cushion I had used to shut Mephisto up and answered: “Come in.” Mordred opened the door, bringing with him the smell of weapon-oil, sweat and something else I didn’t recognise. I hadn’t seen him since my birthday and he seemed on edge. Dark circles marred his stormy eyes and they looked dull, tired. He convulsively held on to the heft of his sword and I could see traces of dust and dirt on his black cloths. His gaze quickly travelled through my room. There wasn’t much to see, a small desk, a rather large cupboard and a ginormous bed with lots of pillows. I had a chandelier hanging from my ceiling and a floor-deep window took up most o

Cassandra PendragonThe emblem lit up once again and with a crackling of power Mephisto materialised in my room:“So, where were we? Right, we were just about to lay the foundation of our glorious partnership.” Seriously, what was it with people’s sarcastic tendencies today? Well, two could play that game: “Oh mighty and venerated lord of the transcendent planes, this poor princess humbly requests your aid and guidance and is ready to formalise our agreement.” I would have even bowed if I had been standing. He blinked.“At least you’re not afraid to trade verbal blows. From all I heard that’s more than I expected.” From what he had heard? Did he run a news agency on the side? And I was no coward. At least I thought so.“I didn’t know you kept tabs on me. How’s that even possible?” He smirked.“Have you never wondered how Greta just so happened to know a thing or two about angels? Or that she knew how to construct a focus out of your blood? Or that she knew that you had to prepare your

Cassandra PendragonI ignored his advice and pressed the steal on my inner arm, close to the joint. With a hiss and the smell of ozone, the crystalline body turned into specks of light which exploded outwards and then fell back towards the centre, vanishing from sight. I felt a burning sensation on my skin and two stylised wings appeared. They consisted of several small runes, artfully intertwined to form the wings. The runes probably took on a shape, meaningful to the owner. I expect a wave of pain and clenched my teeth but I was fine. I did feel a stinging sensation, I had been branded after all, but I didn’t crumble under an influx of energy. The runes must have been perfect to prevent even the smallest spill-over. “You’re stubborn and lucky, not the worst combination,” Mephisto remarked dryly. “I sincerely hope your luck doesn’t run out before we can get myself a body.” I grinned: “nothing wagered, nothing gained. Don’t be such a rain cloud, it didn’t hurt, well not much. Now, le