Embers

Chapter Eighteen

The truth, a hurtful mirrored veil, broke all in its path, and Prentice knew what he had to do right away. The fate of the future will haunt him permanently for the rest of his days. Freda was corrupted, and it was her doing; even the voice begging him to follow was no other than hers. She was involved in this. He had hoped that when he embarked on such a treacherous journey, he would rekindle what they once had and begin anew, but his loyalty was to Franklin, and he wished the same for him. Prentice felt his entire body writhing in pain; probably, he was poisoned or simply hurt from the battle he had endured not too long ago. His shoulders felt tight as if he were being restrained. He felt winded, as if someone had thrown him down carelessly when he was out cold. He registered that it was so long ago he felt battle pains, hurt in a sense, willingly so.

A shift in the air made him forget his pain instantly, and as he exhaled, he called out demandingly, “Who’s there? Show yourself, coward!”

“Coward?” sliced the voice, depicting yet again a woman’s voice. She sounded angry now, almost offended.

Prentice closed his eyes, begging himself to know it must be a trick. The voice came so close he could have sworn someone was right by his ear, breathing. The place was stark black, and he understood his arms were tied, preventing his magic from setting itself free. It didn’t stop him from trying.

“Using your magic is fruitless where you are; it will only end painfully for you. But for enlightenment, knock yourself out,” the voice menacingly begged as if she was enjoying his torment.

The voice was clearer, no longer sounding as though it was coming from behind a glass wall. The pain radiated up the arms like needles, which he doubted any amount of numbing herb could cure, any numbing herb he was sure of, the moment she spoke, and both hands fell limp behind him.

Prentice's ragged breath was the only sound vibrating in the room they were in. He painfully groaned, “What do you want?”

“I want what is rightfully mine, what you have, and what the boy possesses shall be mine. I’ll take your life force, and the book the little one is carrying around and so keen to hide away from you, will come back to its rightful owner.”

“You brought us here to kill me and for a book?”

Her fingers snapped, and the room illuminated in a soft candlelit glow. Prentice finally laid eyes on her. She looked pale, almost like a corpse, thin as ever, too, and the clothes looked as if they were falling off her and heavy, too. She looked cold, and a darkness lingered all around her. Prentice felt it gnawing at him. Whatever she was doing wasn’t agreeing with her.

“Not just any book, Prentice, dear brother! A book that could grant me anything I want, from power to possession. I will be invincible, not invisible anymore. There’s nothing you can do now to stop me. The prince will soon arrive. I could feel him faintly; he’s still alive and around. I’m patient, and my minions will do a good job at seeing that he comes when I need him to.”

The madness in her eyes made her look like a walking dead, almost killing the soft light that was struggling within her to breathe life into her body. The book she spoke of must be important, and if she was willing to go to these measures to find it, then certainly she felt she needed it.

“Freda, you are sick. What you’re doing will kill you, or it’s already killing you. You want power, but at what cost?”

“I am just a shell of the person you knew. I saw how worried you were when I reached out to you. You should perish, and I’ll watch your last breath, and I’ll be sad that only once I’ll get to relish in the moment of your despair.”

She walked around, her heels clicking, taking the room with her power, suffocating Prentice as he was bound to listen to her chatter of torment on his soul. He felt responsible. All those years, he should have sought her out, shown her she had someone who cared for her, instead of the loneliness wrapping and twisting her mind.

The mantle she set up had candles at either end, the vacant place for the book, and a few moving vines, like snakes, slithering all around her. She looked around for something, while Prentice watched the ground to find any sign of where he was. It seemed as if they were in the bark of a tree. Deep roots were crisscrossed where he knelt; it looked aged, with light green still glowing within its veins, perhaps the only reason they're here inside with light was because of such. She's drawing power from the age of the trees, killing them if she must, to upkeep her life. She's dying, Prentice realised sadly.

“Freda, you don’t know what you’re saying. You’re allowed to feel, and to find your strength, you can beat this,” Prentice begged her to take his guidance into redemption. The vines stopped abruptly and, with alertness now, they moved closer to him. The vines sharpened, and they moved around his neck. The first nick around his neck, blood poured slowly, a warning, he assumed. The next time, he might not be so lucky, he thought.

“That was always you, telling me what’s good for me. You never asked what I wanted from anything you offered. I always hated you, Prentice, such a pretentious wizard, but who isn’t?”

A mask of deliberate hurt crossed her face, and anguish hardened her once-soft features, which led to her eyes lighting up with fire inside. It scared Prentice to see the horror of what’s become without him by her side. Would it have made a difference if he had stayed with her or brought her along with him on his journey? Is he being selfish for thinking about himself and how he could have done something for her? So many questions crossed his mind, but nothing was good enough to settle on.

“You knew too well I was there for you. I would always be there for you, but you have put my boy in danger. You deliberately brought him here to kill him, or he’ll kill you without even knowing, wouldn’t he?”

“He is fighting his battles, and the darkness in him grows by the second. I could feel it! It runs throughout the grounds of the forest, poisoning everything, even you as you walk.”

She opened a bubble between them, showing him what happens as Franklin made his way through the forest, looking for Prentice. The snake-like darkness runs into the earth with each step he takes. It's poisoning the ground quicker than she could, as she seems genuinely impressed, smiling deviously, that her plan is all taking place.

“You’re beyond help. I came here to help you solve this problem, but if you die, it doesn’t matter anymore. You have made your choices.”

“Oh, Prentice, always the one who speaks from the heart and not the mind. First for everything, isn’t it? You finally speak from the mind. You must hate me, but I’m doing this for me.”

“This power that you want to harness so much is killing you! You’ll die, and no one will remember you. Franklin doesn’t know what you look like, even though he’s come to help you. He’s curious about you, and my interest in you, but it will die along with you.”

“I always thought dying was the easy part. I will fulfil what is necessary, and then the world will swallow me whole. But first, I have to make sure you don’t interfere with my plans for the boy. You see, without you holding him back, he’ll drown in the darkness. Don’t worry about him not seeing me; he’ll be connected to me through the darkness, and we shall reign as he fulfils his destiny.”

“You won’t ever get away with this. It’s not his destiny. You will die having never fulfilled what you were actually made for on this earth.”

“What a cruel thing to say to your sister. You were always the one who showered in love, always the good one. I was never good enough.”

“Good enough? We were all equal.”

“You were equal to them! Not me. Whatever you got, you never looked behind to see what I had. You excelled, but never me. Look at what I've become now. I am a ruler!”

“I'm looking at what you've become! You're killing yourself! Let Franklin go. I'll continue what you started," pleaded Prentice more than he would have liked.

“No. You know what I'm doing. He doesn't. It makes my work easier.” Said with such pain, her tone, but nonetheless, her heart wasn't there anymore. She wanted what she worked for, lured him into, and she will conquer everything in her way to possess what she was brainwashed into.