The room was dark, barren of human emotion; it was cold, eerie, calculating, and the very definition of chilling. Along the side of a singular wall, a sole table and chair stood, old, and covered in an ancient forgotten dust. Cobwebs strung across the small room like decoration while curtains dawned on a large window giving way to a view breath-taking; as if you stood at the top of the world...
Deacon had traipsed up the abandoned stairs, opened from a secret passageway used in a past war. As he tread each mountainous step, the crooked smile was plastered on his in-humane face, and a frightening sense of excitement lined his limbs. It was finally time, the stone had awoken enough for even him to feel its impact, and if he could feel it... he wouldn't be the only one.
As he ascended to reach the top, a bare women was inhaling deeply in its midst, a nimble hand against her chest, feeling each forgotten breath escape past her lips as she stared lifelessly through the tall window.
Golden hair, flowing down her back in waves remained still in the silence.
"Master..." an uttering from behind, "I see you are finally awake"
He daren't look at her at eye-level... he was not worthy of that.
The woman paused, peering over her shoulder with a face that demanded attention. Her blemished hand found it's way to her hip, the skin in a raw state, almost like it was freshly burnt.
It's horrors crept up to her elbow, trailing off in tiny strands hidden by her flowing hair.
"I am, Deacon", her voice was as smooth as the silk crafted from a venomous spider. Intimidatingly poisonous. Yet to hear his own name that was bestowed upon him, spoken by her... he shuddered in a swelling delight.
He dropped to one knee instantly in sincere obedience, hands firmly clenched into fists, "I appear to you as your loyal and faithful servant, one who has abided by you for all eternity and will proceed to do so. I speak for all my brethren who slumber in the shadows. Your wish is our command"
His words dripped with loyalty, so much so that the woman would give no reaction, but a heartbeat of emptiness. And if receiving no reaction meant that you survived, anyone would take it. If you so much as breathed incorrectly, you didn't deserve to live...
Tension brewed in the hollow air, her sharp, cold demeanour would frighten most people to the brink of insanity, yet, he bore its pressure as he compulsively pushed his knee further into the floorboards, slight pain shooting up from his knee while the wood groaned. He was far beneath her, his master.
The woman's scarred hand fell to the glass in front of her with a gentle sigh, she traced it ever so gently downwards.
"Tell me Deacon, if you live only to serve me, then why have you failed the one simple task I set you years back?"
He stiffened. Eyes glaring slowly at her with dread.
"I had entrusted this to you in my absence, and you dare to fail?"
He gulped, "Master I-I it is harder than previously expecte-".
"-Do not humour me with your excuses... Why have you not done as I instructed? Are you that incapable?"
The finger pressed to the glass hardened, a force resonating from the tip that made the glass wain in strength.
On cue, the exact force acted upon him; a stinging crawled up his spine, like a tightrope deliberately burning in flames. His breathing quickened.
"M-Master?" he breathed, each second the confusion and burning multiplied. He groaned internally, his mind loosing grip on his body...
Holding back the instinct to cry out, he desperately bit his lips as his eyes watered, staring directly up at her. They turned bloodshot. He didn't dare blink. He daren't show weakness...
The burning sizzled down him, the room quiet, almost peaceful in contrast to the storm inside of him. The woman's expression didn't falter once.
Between his forced breaths he mumbled, "S-she has grown since you were l-last here... she is no longer the child we had brought her as"
"Do you expect me to accept that?" She lulled, the stinging growing fierce with each remark as her head twitched. Do not blink. Submit. Do not show weakness.
On the glass stemming from her finger, a coil of cracking appeared, the distinct crunch loud in the four walls.
"P-please, m-master... I I-I will do bet-tter..."
She ignored his pathetic plea.
Its spread spiralled like a web, growing larger and larger every second until the window was ready to shatter. The burning through his spine matching as it was slowly edging its way to his mind... vulnerable to her fingertips.
Shaking internally, he pulled his shoulders back, speaking with a quicker pace. "S-she is still no match for y-you my Queen, but for ordinary, un-important beings like m-myself, she is a challenge to deal with"
She took her time to consider his words... eventually closing her eyes and lifting her finger from the glass window. Its spiral of darkness remained, but the force was lifted.
The woman relinquished his suffering with just one thought.
Almost to the point of panting, Deacon held his chest up, fearful of collapsing in front of his master. Even near death, he could not be angry at her. No. Everything she dealt was justified. He needed that reminder. Submit.
The after taste of the flames hummed in his lower back, pushing him to correct his kneeling without the use for sloppiness.
Her eye however payed the pawn no heed, instead falling to a crystallised rock formation no bigger than a fist; the tips glowing with multicoloured hues. "You are useful, even in failure you have provided fruits for us to nourish, and now with the stone waking me from my slumber... we can at last commence that of which we have planned"
Deacon bowed deeply, his wicked smile beaming to the woman who wouldn't even spare him a glance.
"I am humbled to be in your service my Master... my Queen"
She grinned, her nails dragging against the old table as she admired his eagerness.
"However, Deacon... I can sense her power growing by the minute, which will prove to be quite an obstacle..."
His ears were keen to obey. "What is it you wish from one who cannot compete with your greatness? Name it and it shall be done with haste"
She chuckled sinisterly, her glance returning to the view. "You do have a way with words Deacon, but this is something I must do alone- you who is beneath me are not capable of this task"
He swallowed, a sense of decay ratting his mind. He could not be useful? Coughing lightly while asserting his loyalty he spoke carefully. "As you wish my Queen, but if I may add, we would ask for the pleasure of assisting you in this task"
Sucking in a breath, Deacon dropped his head in utmost respect, practically having an eye staring contest with the floor... all because his master finally turned her head toward him.
He was worthy to be looked at by such a being.
Her teeth shone with a vicious delight as her eyes were a dark red that you would see running down wounds. It was depthless.
"I was hoping you would say that Deacon"
His heart beat fanatically. He was worthy. He was worthy.
"Gather your brothers and sisters, for I wish for you to hunt the one who has bound me to an endless suffering..."
It was blood curdling... such bloodlust...
Exhilarating.
"I would be honoured Master"
Taking the gesture of her facing away from him as a sign to swiftly leave, Deacon leg's bolted down the stairs, skipping 3 steps at a time. The adrenaline roared as did his this puppet's honour and pride at being personally tasked by the Master herself...
Still remaining in the silence, the master hummed to herself, peering with disgust at her arm.
"You did this to me... You took everything from me... and I am the only one powerful enough to take everything from you... starting with that accursed stone..."
She focused on the luscious trees, tweeting birds and the dark hue of the sky as she pondered. "Its funny to think my other little pawn thinks I'm helping him hold that power... as if his body could survive it..."
That... was the truth. Only the master had the ability of extracting the stone from the brat... and said brat knew that too... which begged the question, did she lead the king on knowing full well he couldn't take it from her? Just to delay the master's plans of being unable to interfere? Clever, clever assassin...
Hide in plain sight.
As long as Aloysia did not come face to face with the Master, could she survive...
"I did not sacrifice my own world to loose another"
~
Meanwhile, the king hundreds of feet below the Master's walls, had no idea that when he held Elianna in his grasp for those 3 days... that he would never get that power... Aloysia knew it too, knew that Mort was blinded by greed.
What she didn't know however, was that he was being played a fool. A pawn in another's game that was always sacrificed. To give in but only to take back... that was the ruling.
"Why did you not tell me this before Deacon!?" Mort roared. "Why were these details not included in your first report? They were of high importance"
"Perhaps, but not to you, not yet anyway"
The king huffed, his own advisor keeping things from him...
It was suspicious enough that he was found running out of breath from an unknown location, but to also attain certain information and keep it from him... it was outrageous.
His arms swung up in anger, "Because you have failed to provide everything, with the help of her little 'otherworldly' friends, I have received news that the assassin has crossed the border... my prize!"
His sickly smile remained. "I am aware my liege"
Compared to the torture he endured before meeting with the king... little threats held no weight against him. It was almost childish. Mort was a king... un-deniable, but he was not his master. And currently, he was aware to little of the real agenda.
"Are you really? By how your acting, anyone would think that the thing we are after didn't just escape through our fingertips"
"Your fingertips my liege" He corrected, that irritating beam broadening. The king fumbled with the wall he stood next too. How could you address a king like this?
Mort grimaced, deadpanning to his advisor. Deacon seemed unfazed, which tipped the scales in favour of rage... No reaction?
Tipping his head, the king swivelled away, "What would your master think of this, of your failure?"
A slight hitch in his calm intake of breath.
Reaction.
What was Mort playing at?
The king smirked, "Remember that we have the same goal, a common interest in seeing the power transferred- to fix this... horrendous world."
How dare this man bring up his master without respect...
Clearing his throat and suppressing the seething pride, he folded his hands behind his back sweetly, "Just play your part as I have told you from my master, and you will get that which you desire... which you deserve"
"You have done well for years in making her think you wanted her physical abilities, when really it was all a hoax to confuse her from the truth, and now, with the stone finally awake, we are closer than ever"
The King stared into empty space, his deluded mind picturing and purging to create the 'perfect world'
Deacon already had a plan in motion, wishing to obey his orders from the Master... he spoke malevolently "Now is the time to move forward, with your coronation in a weeks time, you will have the southern kingdom to your disposal my liege"
"Just leave it all to me, I will make all the preparations we need."