Cassandra Pendragon
Stumbling, she got to her feet, my wings still wrapped around her. We watched her with bated breath, our nerves strung tight. Mutely, she rightened herself, eyes closed as if she was listening to a distant sound none of us could hear.
I saw her sniff the air like a predator searching for a scent. My fur bristled and goosebumps erupted all over my arms. Something was off. Instinctively I took a step back and pulled Ahri with me. "Cassy," she whispered, "what is…"
"What a surprise," Aurelia suddenly spoke up, eyes still closed, her body rigid like a stick. "If it isn't my long lost brother… and that's Aurora by your side, if I'm not mistaken. Have you missed me?" She wasn't speaking in the trader's tongue or any other language I had heard before. For the first time since I had opened my eyes, I heard the heavenly language, syllables and sounds older than the universe. But I still remembered and with every word she uttered, the meaning became clear until I knew how to speak the language of my home once again.
"I…" I stammered, the words withering on my tongue. "Sarai," I breathe questioningly while I gesticulated for everyone to get a move on. "Is that you?"
"Of course. You didn't expect to meddle with my toys without me knowing, did you?" The floorboards creaked when my friends vanished through the door but the angel ignored them, even though she must have heard their steps. Fuck me! The second immortal. How in hell did I deserve this? Had I spent my last life kicking kittens and drowning puppies?
"Honestly, I didn't think you'd bother. She was sealed and forgotten for aeons. What changed?"
"A drop of your blood. You still haven't realised who you are, have you? When your power almost vanquished my own… I might be far away but we all can feel it when one of our sparks is devoured. Not that you'd know, eater of immortals." I swallowed dryly.
"Am I right in assuming that we aren't friends anymore? That you've thrown in with our brother?"
"Does it look like I have? Do the gates of heaven open? Are the heavenly fires consuming your planet? Has the host arrived? No? So could you please stop acting like a numbskull? I'm not even opening my eyes to ensure your location remains a secret. But… I could do with a hug. From both of you." She smiled, an honest and pure gesture. "I've missed you, both of you. And I'm sorry."
Ahri and I looked at each other and as if following a silent command I retracted my wings and we stepped forward into the embrace of our sister.
"It's been too long," Sarai mumbled, her face buried in the nape of Ahri's neck. "And you smell different. And what's that," she wrinkled her nose. "Fox hair? Have you both turned into one of the hybrid races? Hah, Lucifer with a tail! And breasts! I always knew you'd one day end up a beast kin, disgusted as you always were with them. But I didn't think you'd actually turn into a cute vixen. My… I'm really looking forward to seeing you in person. I think there's never been a beast kin among our race before, has there? Oh wait, I'm one, ain't I?"
"I don't think an immortal phoenix counts. Besides, aren't you currently in a human skin? Or has that changed as well? And make that tails," I grumbled. "I've already got seven of them, thank you very much. And they're quite fluffy and beautiful. Anyways, it's Cassandra now, or Cassy and the other vixen is called Ahri."
"No… still the same incarnation, all human. So, Cassandra, isn't that a name form that backwater planet you always skipped off to when you were sulking? What was it called again, earth?"
"Do you really want to know?"
"No… probably not. Well then, first things first. Who's with you? I can smell your strength and I'm willing to bet my wings you wouldn't have come this far in such a small amount of time without incinerating yourself or your world if you hadn't had some guidance. And Au… Ahri was never much of a teacher. Mephisto made it, I take it? Or have you already drawn the enigmatic stargazer into your fold?"
"Again, do you really want to know?" This time it was Ahri who reminded her.
"Huh… no. But honestly, that's just fucked up. I've got so many questions, but yet, I can't ask them. Well, at least I now know you're both still around. I had my doubts but obviously you're harder to get rid off than a cockroach. And a good thing that is…" she fell silent, her arms tightening around our shoulders. "It's not looking good out there, girls. I… we should have believed in you. I'm so sorry big brother. I never should have doubted you." I patted her head in response, the gesture felt natural, effortless, as if I had already done it a million times before.
"Don't say that. I've spent a good part of this life doubting myself. And… from what I've learned, you haven't even been wrong. I am… corrupted… I just haven't changed." She stiffened and I could practically smell her impulse to stare at me, but with an impressive feat of self control, she managed to keep her eyes closed. A single tear wormed it's way through her quivering lids, leaving behind a golden trail on her alabaster cheek.
"Still… I owed it to you and yet… why in the abyss did you act like a traitor? Why didn't you just refute Michael's claims and challenged him? I know for a fact you would've won."
"Maybe I would have, but would it have made a difference? Or would he have become a martyr?"
"Probably the latter," she sighed, still wrapped up in our embrace. "A few, like me, might have listened, but in the end… you know, ultimately you were just too much of an arrogant jerk. I always knew that'd come back to haunt you one day. I hope you've learned your lesson."
"She's still stubborn and arrogant," Ahri replied before I could even open my mouth. "But she's not a jerk. Mostly, at least."
"Thanks for the compliment, darling. I always knew I could rely on you to defend me," I murmured, but she only stuck out her tongue and winked.
"You two haven't changed," Sarai said, sadness and contentment reverberating in her voice in equal parts. "By everything that's holy, I want to go look for you so much right now, it actually hurts. But that's not a good idea. Listen, I'm being hunted and I don't know how long I have before they find me again. Whether or not you're going to forgive me doesn't matter for now, there are a few things you have to know. First, when I'll have left, I'm going to cut my connection to the vampire. She'll lose a good chunk of her abilities but you'll be safe, at least for a little longer. Second… you were right in trying to seal us away, Lu… Cassy. The last years… most of us have fallen from grace and forgotten who we are. You… I know that's probably the last thing you want to hear, but please, help us! There's simply no one left whom we could turn to. We need your strength and your compassion, even though we've earned neither." That was just rich. Ultimately, when it came down to it, I of course would do everything in my power to save my family, be it the mortal or immortal one, but asking the disinherited, unwanted daughter for help was just… impudently brazen.
But I swallowed the plethora of scathing remarks that fluttered through my mind when I felt her shiver, a second tear following the path of the first. Either she was truly an amazing actress or she was utterly desperate. And since I knew her rather straight forward, punch first ask questions later, character, I had a decent idea which of the two was actually the truth… huh. Fear, desperation, trust, friendship, compassion? Somehow that didn't sound overly much like an immortal. That sounded like us, Ahri and me. Oh gods, was she…?
My thoughts were racing and something must have shown on my face since Ahri caressingly slung one of her tails around my waist. She shot me quizzically look when I met her gaze. All I managed to come up with was a shrug. Everything I had seen, from Sarai's refusal to open her eyes, fearing her angelic senses, however dulled they were in a foreign body, would reveal our location, to her very words made me believe she wasn't corrupted… but how, then? How could she be so… mortal? And suddenly, it hit me. I had been so hung up on angelic and demonic powers, on the Corruption and the ring, that I had never stopped to consider the second thing Aurora and I had done. We had taken in the soul of a mortal. A dragoness, in my case. And probably fused it to our cores when we had merged with the corruptive forces they had contained. In that case…
"Sarai," I quietly asked. "You're not yourself anymore, are you? At least… not solely." Her arms around us tightened once more before she released her grip and stepped back, eyes still pressed shut tightly. I could see her shivering and the tears were now freely running down her pale face, gold and red streaks shimmering in the dim light.
"No," she whispered, "no, I am not. How did you know?"
"You're like us. Weaker, but yet stronger. You're changed… you're living. You… you're scared. You're free. You can choose now, make your own decisions, and that's scary as hell."
"It is… but that's not all… I… I made a mistake and… I lost my ability to be reborn. When the final curtain falls, this time around, I won't wake up again." I gasped and searched for Ahri's gaze, but she could only return my stare. One of the handful of immortals who might be willing to stand with us had lost her immortality? What the fuck was going on?
"I… what did you do," I finally breathed.
"I didn't mean to… I…" she sighed and turned away, wiping her face. She continued much more calmly. "Michael… he has been taking prisoners. The dungeons in the Silver City are filled to the brink and he isn't going for us, not purely, he's rounding up mortals. Not two of them are the same, it almost seems like he's trying to get one of every race locked up in there." I wanted to interrupt, to ask why he was allowed to commit sacrilege without a single one of my family turning against him, but I bit my tongue. She'd probably tell me anyways, soon enough.
"He… he took one of mine, an elder phoenix. Someone I owed, someone I knew… I tried to get her out of there but she wasn't herself anymore. She… I think Michael is trying to recreate the nine families and he… by the abyss, Cassandra, you should have seen what he has done to them. I couldn't save her, her soul was deteriorating before my eyes and all I could come up with… I took her in and I ran, I ran as far as I could, but… I don't know how but my core, my soul… they changed. Somehow her flames and mine became one and now… my core, it's not separated anymore. All of me, my soul, hers and my core, it all became one jumbled up mess. I… I'm not an angel anymore." I took a step forward, my heart and thoughts racing, and gently placed my hands on her shoulder. As much as I understood her fear, her desperation, she wasn't as bad off as she believed.
While she had been talking, I had come to understand an important detail. Mortality was the glue that allowed different transcendent forces to unite. That's why the nine families had been needed and why Aurora had been able to take in a spark of the Corruption. She had already been harbouring a tiny mote of mortality as well and that was what had allowed her to push through. At least I thought so. It didn't explain my own predisposition, since I had begun collecting bits and pieces of the Corruption, long before I had met Ancalagon's daughter, but it made sense. And it also explained what my dear, misguided brother was trying to achieve with the mortals he had captured. He was looking for a way to control a force that was still beyond him.
And it also gave me an idea how I might help Sarai, or at least, show her a way to help herself. From my perspective, it sounded pretty much like she was still lacking an ingredient. The forces within her weren't balanced, there was nothing to counteract her angelic power and thus, her body, her current incarnation had to become the focal point for the union of mortality and eternity. But… what if she had something to balance the scales, what if she harboured a piece of a demon as well? Wouldn't that make her stable, wouldn't that allow her to restore the balance needed to be reborn? Possibly, or she might simply explode. Which wasn't an unlikely outcome.
"I… Sarai, listen to me… realistically, how long do you have before you have to flee once again?"
"I'm not quite sure," she shrugged. "Minutes, hours, days… it's hard to tell."
"Do you know who's after you?"
"That's not easily answered… do you… have you any idea what has happened in heaven and hell since you vanished?"
"No… well, maybe an inkling, but nothing concrete." She froze and slowly turned on the spot to face us again, eyes still resolutely closed.
"Whom did you meet? Tell me," she demanded, the urgency in her voice palpable.
"I… Lilith was here, only a few hours ago."
"Huh, that's not nearly as bad as I imagined. As far as I know, she's on the run as well. Look, hell is gone, for all intent and purposes, so is the Silver City. Both still exist but you wouldn't recognise either… whatever you thought might happen to us, whatever you tried to prevent, reality has become much worse. Do you have any memories of the rumours that some demons were lobbying for an alliance with us in order to finally take control of creation?" I nodded before I remembered that she couldn't see me.
"Yes, I do. Delilah was the first… Chaleb told me."
"So the two of you actually were in cahoots. Good to know. But then, why did he end up dead? You know what, I don't want to know, I shouldn't know. After you had… fallen, most of us thought that we were going to enjoy a stretch of peace. Of course we wondered what had happened to Aurora and why Mephisto suddenly had decided to save you, but nobody really cared. It would take centuries, after all, before we had to deal with any of it. In the end, it didn't take more than a few handful of years before the past came back to haunt us. Rumours spread, immortals, demons and angels alike, who were much stronger than they were supposed to. Whispered stories of your blue flames, igniting within the hearts of our brothers." She massaged her temples to order her memories.
"Us, the angels, didn't care much. We trusted Michael, when he assuaged our worries, telling us that we had already faced the most vile and strong immortal we ever would have to. Everything else would be dealt with when the time was upon us. None of us even questioned his silver-tongued words. The demons though… they had lost more than us. Their knights were gone, Mephisto had betrayed them, their most powerful weapon was gone and Amazeroth had vanished. Understandably, they were on the verge of panic and came together to forge plans and decide how they'd use the 77 years Michael had promised them for their help… they shouldn't have. I wasn't there, but from what I've heard, a good chunk of them suddenly went crazy and attacked their brothers and sisters. Those who didn't die had to flee, a sparse number, not even a full dozen, and the rest was captured, bound and brought into the Silver City."