POV: Narus
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The priest looked at the oval crimson core beneath her clavicle. He was rendered speechless, standing there in disbelief—his mistress, coated with an unimaginable amount of durja. Why hadn't he sensed it before? "Syreene, a… no… that's not possible…" Syreene was bent on revenge, charging her growths at him. With his quick leaping dodges, her appendages drilled shattering wells into the ground. Her misses, savage repetitions of blasting pounds and tremors. A change in tactics manifested itself, the tendrils now multiplying by two, slamming themselves on the terrain in every attempt to strike the agile priest. The fissures exhaled debris into the air, allowing Narus to seek coverage among tree foliage, but Syreene seemed to have tracked his blood with ease. Her whips boosted her up, and she soared forward, her quick resourcefulness forcing Narus to fall back.
Once he grounded, Syreene looked down at him, on all fours, balancing from a high branch. The air fell in silence amid the chaos, with no two words exchanged between them. She stood over him with looming dominance—her glassy expression, her tendrils anxiously sashaying about, her eagerness to shred the demon to bits. Then instantly, she dived down like a homed missile, crashing into a miss against the terrain. Surely, she was frustrated by his constant evasions, and attempted a closer approach, but Narus again was quick to counter. With one wrist in his grasp, and her second in another, Narus watched as her eyes demanded her release.
"Stop this, Syreene. This isn't you!"
The elf wrapped two appendages around his ankles. His grip immediately loosened, allowing her to leap back, forcing Narus to slip headfirst. She dragged him across the field in satisfaction, taking him under her submission. His collisions against alders and terrain shuffled his vision, yet, he was still able to see the smile etched on her face, before a screeching call behind them forced her to stop.
"Father!" Marvi rushed in, only to stop abruptly with one command.
"Marvi, no!" Narus demanded, "Keep your distance!"
"But, Narus—"
"Your bout is with me. Leave her out of this," the priest insisted Syreene.
"I have nothing against her," she claimed, clamping his throat with her tendrils. His yanking only prompted her to tighten her grip, Narus feeling the rush of blood redden his face. "Maybe I'll just pop your head right off. No Dessarian deserves to live, and you're no exception."
"And—what of you?" his stifled breath questioned, "You kill me, you are no different. Those powers… those powers are remnants of Desamma, dark urja—by this world's definition, you are a demon as well."
"Shut up!" She re-cocked her lower appendages away from his legs, Syreene bitter at the face. "I am nothing like you! I would never take innocent lives the way you did! The way I see it, I am doing this city and the entirety of Khor a favor by killing you! I will avenge my parents' death, without hesitation!" She pointed the tips of her lower tendrils like spears for his chest.
"I cannot let you!" Marvi stretched out her arms, a mixture of translucent waves compiling in her open hands. A beam of light shot out of them, followed by the unexpected turbulence of ice that trailed the ground and caught Syreene by her feet. The ice rooted itself upward, the sudden drop in temperature defueling Syreene's growths, weakening her powers and allowing Narus to defuse the situation. With a single push of his two fingers against her chest, he brought Syreene to an involuntary surrender. She fell back against the bed of cradling ice as it continued to trap her body in place. Syreene drifted into unconsciousness, her tendrils shortening to a mere two meters before shriveling and snapping off.
"Please, release her!" Narus commanded the hesitant priestess. As the ice thawed, Narus propped his knees and caught her in his arms, watching as the pulsating crevice on her chest cocooned itself beneath her skin.
"What will you do with her? She tried to kill you." Marvi stared at the bruising around his neck.
"She didn't mean to."
"Father?" Her eyes creased, and she pleaded, "Please, she is dangerous and deceitful. Is she not a demon, like the rest?"
"She… I don't know, Marvi." He rose, the troubled priest cradling the elfin in his arms. "Bring the craft around. I'm taking her home."
"Home? Her home is in the depths of this earth, buried for an eternity! You have no trouble killing off demons, why is she so different? You know they take all forms, don't let her image deceive you, father! Kill her now while you have the chance!"
"Enough!" he shouted, "You do not know her, and after so many years, even I don't know her anymore. These powers are foreign to her. I am sure of it. I don't know how, but I'm sure of it. She never effused an aura like this before."
Marvi, slightly uneased by his first display of annoyance toward her, lightened her voice. "Years? How long have you known this girl?"
"Please tell my students I will be away this morning and they may reschedule with Father Lutherick." He grabbed Syreene's tote before walking over to Marvi in a hush. "Tell no one of this."
Marvi's eyes began to swell up with tears, her lips trembling. "Tell me this, father, are you a demon living among us? Did you really kill that girl's parents?"
Narus answered simply, sternly, "No."