The world went black and the pain reseeded as I stopped fighting the pull of the larger mind. The blackness resolved into a wide open wood floor. I turned without really moving to see a man with very sharp features and glowing green eyes. He smiled at me and I felt myself pull back without meaning too. His teeth were sharp and pointed. Not like the pictures.
"Good evening, great daughter. I do hope this meeting isn't because you are stuck in one of my trees."
"No, one of your children turned one of your trees into a cup and that came to life when I touched it." His green eyes widened slightly when I answered him. "I take it you cannot talk to your brother here."
"No, great daughter. Have you already met my roots then?"
"Yes, his blue eyes widened just the same when I responded to him. Of course I met him first, I am his descent after all."
The blackness lurched around me and the older brother smiled. It was a silent view of the world back through time before there was a crystal city. After the brothers' deaths, the families were not divided, they didn't divide out based on the demonic feathers they kept; most of them had a mix of the features, ears, horns, skin, nails, hair, all marking them as different from their spouses. Time speed forward and the point of divergence where the two races of descendants formed and stratified was not clear, it was something that just seemed to happen as the generations went on. The children that had horns seemed to prefer the desert climate while the taller knife ears preferred to stay in the woods. Probably because the eldest stayed in the woods. There were lots of updates on the world from the palace still.
I hadn't seen anything like this when I talked to his brother, but I was much younger and didn't even know I was a demon as well. While I had understood the younger brother we didn't do much talking.
"You are no less my great daughter than you are my brothers."
"Why don't islee, from the bond then?"
"They do, all creatures with a soul do, the elves just focused on developing a sensitivity to it."
"What do you mean?"
"You have spoken to the planet. You feel your bond with Theon as well you are just fighting it." Two chairs appeared in the blackness. The elder brother took one and gestured for me to sit in the other. "Do you think you will win in the end? Seems strange since you willingly gave an oath to the planet already."
The crystal around my neck seemed to grow heavier. It was a trick of my mind. Nothing here was real, it was just a place that both our minds agreed on the rules for, which is good for me. If we had not agreed my mind probably would have broken down. His mind had more power, a stronger connection and more practice after all. I had been able to take that knowledge away from talking with the younger brother.
"So the elven bond and the children's oath are related?"
"Yes, and no. Yes in that they require you to be planetside. No in that one you are born with the bond as long as the planet issues you a soul. The oath the planet created to control the demons on its surface." The blackness didn't change around us, but I could feel and almost shift like he wanted to show me something but decided not to.
"There is more to it then that."
"Of course there is, but you aren't my heir, mother of my heir or even a general of my family's forces. There is only so much I can tell you little great daughter."
"The father of lies called me great granddaughter, why?"
One corner of the elder brother's mouth twitched up. "Maybe next time we talk. If you decide whether you belong with us, or your other family more."
"Do you know anything about my father, then?"
The elder brother frowned and leaned back in the chair. "Well, we still have sometime before the connection is severed. Yes, I do know some things about your father. He is almost as old as the planet. Unless something has changed, he is one of the 13 commanders of the universe that answer to the only known Satan class. He has been known to lose and regain the rank over time. His biggest problem seems to be that he has never had a son. His next biggest problem is that he has had over five hundred thousand daughters. It could almost be said that if it weren't for him our kind would have died out long ago."
"Is that why he tricked my mother?"
The scene we were sitting in slid and twisted showing an Islee woman and a demon. "Does it make you feel better to think he tricked her, that her feelings were not real. She did love him, and I think in his way he loved her. If he didn't he wouldn't have left."
"Why?"
The elder brother smiled at me. "Because Satan is aware of the danger he poses or his children pose. There might be another reason as well. Hard to know more, seeing as I am just a tree on the surface of a smaller planet. There are more interesting questions to ask but I am guessing you don't know them yet."
"Such as?"
"Are you going to choose to keep fighting, my mistress?" The word he had used was gender neutral.
My fight with Theon flickered round the edges, I had thought something interfered with the fight. Watching it again from this third person view I could tell for sure something was interfering. "You aren't going to get a fair fight planetside. Theon will never be allowed to leave planetside either."
"Why does the planet care if I beat your heir?"
The elder brother shrugged, "I can think of quite a few reasons, my other children haven't been very understanding of you after all. The soul the planet gave you, would be a bad loss, if you chose something that prevents it's recovery." Lighting seemed to flash around the edges of the again black space. The elder brother waved his hand, "Other reasons my mistress clearly doesn't want to go into."
"Clearly," a thought struck me as I watched an ancestor, I should not be able to talk to, sit there. "So demons can choose to obey a force that they cannot prove is stronger then them?"
"Depends, great daughter. If you want to understand better though you will have to work the problem on your own."
"I will have to think about this information. I also find it interesting that the father of lies likes to be called a rank?"
The elder brother nodded at me and shrugged again, "Ambition, I think it won't end the way he hoped, but it might save the universe in the end." More lighten flashed.
"Are you defying your mistress?"
"No, though only because I choose not to. She is just not sure I should trust you this much. I disagree, you are one of the children. One of the better ones from what I have seen. I think she underestimates you. You will choose your right path when the time comes."
"Hum, I am sure I will."
The scene started to fade away, "If our mistress cannot hold you to that truth, I will, great daughter. Complete the bond or move on, great daughter."
My eyes opened again as the voice faded. The room was darker but I knew it, it was not the room I had fallen asleep in. I flexed my hand and the cup fell out of it and hit the floor. The banging of it rolling against the floor woke Theon who had fallen asleep with his head on my belly. "How long was I out?"
"About a normal rest period. The doctor said there was nothing he could do, either the gravewood would recede or it would kill you. Supposedly that is why gravewood is not allowed in the palace. Though the doctor could only sight one case that ended in death."
"That elf must have been very unhinged for the elder brother to think that the only option was to kill them. Did you get enough sleep?"
Theon tilted his head as he sat up to look at me better. "Sure, why?"
"Because I challenge you to a full combat in the yard as soon as you are ready." I rolled away from Theon and checked my uniform. I was still dressed which I expected since if the prince had touched the cup before I had woken he would have been pulled into the mindscape as well.
I had two types of crystal weapons on me as I moved to open the bedroom door. "If that is what you want, Des. The best yard is probably off the dinning area, near the kitchen. Only you would want a fight as soon as you wake from a deathbed."
I didn't answer as I left the palace apartment. Using the palace shield I found the place that the prince had mentioned. There were a few people in the dining room still but none of them bothered me as I walked through. The place Theon had picked was a well tended garden with a stone path winding through it. Benches were placed in spots along the path to look at the flowers. Interesting choice for a fight, but at least there weren't any trees here.
I pulled out my reaping blades as I took up a spot in the center of the garden. Theon entered the garden a moment later, pulling his own blades as he entered. That seemed to get the attention of the people that hadn't gone to bed yet. I could hear the whispers even as Theon took a moment to close the door behind him. Theon took a spot facing me, his breathing steadied and his eyes focused on me. "When you are ready, lady Des."
Theon responded almost before I moved. There was a ringing sound that filled the air as the blades collided. The prince matched me speed for speed hit for hit. The blades unable to touch anything but each other. I let my control over my form slip slowly with every hit. The air seemed to grow thicker as my ability to move through it should have been improving.
I growled and stopped reducing my eyesight, hearing, muscle control. As quickly as I changed my ability the world changed to counter it. Stones jumped up into the path of my hands and arms. Flowers started to try and wrap around my legs making it impossible for me to increase the effective fightingablity that Theon was actually facing.
With a growl of his own Theon jumped back and crossed his blades in front of him. I stepped back crossed my weapons and sheathed them. Theon sheathed his as well. "What are you trying to do?" I didn't look over at the lady now standing in the flowers. "Are you going to do that every time?"
"If I can. Is that all you want to know?"
"What about the other way around?"
"If I have to, unlikely as I find it." Why would she need to protect me from the prince after all, he didn't have enough demonic blood to really tap the power I was using after all.
"So if I stay you remove that choice."
The lady seemed to sigh and a breeze blew through the yard. "Is it not what you would want to choose if you really could. My goal is not to take your freedom, my daughter. I also don't want you to take it from yourself."
I turned to see the angel standing above the flowers, there was nothing defined about the form beyond the light holding a space. "Part of me, but is that my own part or the part that you created?"
I felt amusement from the light, "The part of you that is unsure, that is more willing to hurt itself than give in to forces that are possibly beyond itself. That is the part of you that I created, the part that can love even these people who you could squash if you wanted and who seem to have no love for you, that is the part I created. The part of you that wants freedom, love, peace, war, struggle, existence, that is the part I created. You are not two or more things stuck in one body, mother. You are one. I would prefer your demonic instinct didn't tie you into a path. So yes I stop you from really fighting Theon straight out. Yet to say I am completely responsible for those instincts would be wrong."
"Then why manufacture the bond on top of that? Is anything real?"
I felt disappointment from the spirit. "If you tell me that you don't believe you have real feelings for Theon, I will remove his ability to feel the bond."
"But not the bond?"
"The bond is a consequence of previous lives lived by your soul and how souls grow over time. It is not within my power to remove one. Like I said, I am not god. If I had put your souls in plants and put the plants perfectly equal distance away from each other on my surface, they would grow such that they lend towards each other. Plants have less to get in the way though, and your souls would probably burn up a plant at this point."
Memories that I had been trying not to think about flooded my mind trying to get my attention. All the events that I had been trying to convince myself he only did because the bond drove him to act in ways that I would like but that didn't work as an answer in all cases. The prince's behavior was consistent whether he knew I was going to know about it or not. "So the elves can just feel the bond like a non sentient creature can? If you can remove his ability to feel it can you increase my ability?"
"In basic terms that is correct. As for your other question, completing the bond will do that, if that is what you want, mother."
"How?"
"Surrender, to it and me." There was a pause while I thought about it again. "If it was easy, it wouldn't be worth doing."
"Life's a bitch then you die." Guess this one comes down to is this what I want out of my brief time on this side of the vale? I turned facing Theon again, not caring if whatever it was vanished into mist again.
Theon took a step back but didn't pull a weapon. My hand struck out faster than Theon could react and I felt him stiffen just a bit as I pulled his head down. This time I kissed him, I felt him relax slowly as time stretched out for us. My arms wrapped gently around his neck and head as his hands found my hips and pulled my body closer to him. I felt him smile as the elves that had been watching us from hidden corners gasped in shock.
Fine, whatever you are, I will stay here. Always I intend to be a child of the light fighter in the ranks of the army and now the mate to the heir of the elves. I do believe I love him, even if the bond had not pulled him to find me. He can keep that love, since you will try and keep him safe from me.
I felt a spark as I started to pull away from the kiss. I opened my eyes and the spark was not just felt but a brilliant bright flash that must have been visible for incredible distances. If I hadn't been a demon I would have worried that might have blinded me. I felt happy amusement behind me. "Do be careful mother, and enjoy these few weeks I can give you. Not everyone will be happy for you I think."
I turned to ask what it meant, but it was already gone. Next I knew I was trying not to cry out as Theon got the bright idea to pick me up.