With the witch now finally gone, Ettrick remained a thorn in her ass. She needed to be dealt with first and foremost. With Ettrick hounding them, they wouldn't be able to reign Arkathira in, but without Edýia, there wasn't much hope.
Ettrick approached with passive steps. He didn't seem to want to rush things. The two blue flickering flames moved from one to another and settled on her.
" It is time!" he announced in the same impassive tone and halted his steps in front of her to his side stood the soul collector.
To their surprise, the witch stood up, head back on her shoulders, screamed and stabbed Ettrick with her sword. Ettrick didn't even recoil. He stood very much like a bloody rock.
" You're wasting time, Sadhya!" he walked out of the sword, and the witch was panting, red with fury.
" Only Darkness can kill Darkness!" Ettrick said and waved at the soul collector.
The soul collector walked to where she was and raised his sïthe and swung it in the air. Ian caught the sïthe and ripped the collecter's arm, and took it out of his boney hand.
The sïthe returned to its sword form in Ian's hand and glowed. Ian grinned and let out a throaty chuckle, and looked at Ettrick with hooded eyes.
" You were in such a rush to leave that you forgot to break the bond between me and the sword! I was counting on you to bring it back to me!" Ian amusedly said and swung the sword across the soul collector's neck, his head flew a few ells away from his body, and he turned into a pile of smoking bones.
Ian lowered himself over Athan, who was still sitting on the ground with the other two stooges " I'm glad I paid attention!" he snickered, making Athan look up and give him a wry smile.
Ettrick didn't reply; he just stood there looking at his soul's collectors bones, which burst into flames. Ian pulled himself up, swung the sword in his hand and stood in front of Ettrick. His expression darkened, the smile fell, and he looked as if he was dead himself. Ian was completing the ritual. If he were to take Ettricks life, he would be the next Guardian of the Hollow. If that were to happen, he would be lost for good. There was no turning back after that.
" Who wants to be next?" Ian asked and craned his neck over Ettricks shoulder. The witch went mum and was slowly stepping back, preparing to run.
" Don't you even think about it, witch! You see, you've been a great pain in my ass." Ian walked past Ettrick and pushed the sword under the witch's chin " You don't deserve the mercy of death, but I'm in a bit of a rush! We have more pressing problems!" Ian grazed the witch's neck, and blood began to trickle " But since you're so special, I will make some time, so we can both enjoy these moments!" he let out a wicked laugh. The effects of the sword on him grew with each passing moment. There was no point in her killing the witch or Ettrick. They would return. Fuck! Iris cursed and looked at the three stooges sitting on the ground. Azra looked scared, and she knew Ian was the reason. Azra has seen this side of him, and someone always walked in the light.
" Mother !" Azra drawled and glanced at Ian " I can't lose you both! There must be something we can do!" he was pleading, his eyes darted from her to Ian, and he increasingly grew worried.
Ian carried on slashing the witch's skin, he was slow, and he was enjoying every moment. The wicked smile on his lips stayed and grew wider each time he cut the witch. The witch whimpered and swallowed a scream. Ettrick approached her " Don't you even fucking dare Ettrick!" Ian barked and cut the witch's hand from her wrist. The witch screamed, blood streamed out of her hand and pooled on the ground. She hugged her hand to her chest, panting, whimpering and glaring at Ian.
" I'm having a great time!" Ian let out the evilest laugh she had ever heard and cut the witch's other hand. He was enjoying every moment of the torture. He was nothing like the man she knew. A pang of pain shot through her heart, and her eyes stung. She was losing the man she loved the most, and it was only a matter of time before he would turn into a soul collector, and he would be gone for good.
" Fuuuuuck!" she screamed and burst into flames. Despite the stillness around them, the wind quickly picked up speed, clouds began to gather out of nowhere, and rain started pouring down on them. The ground shook and trembled, cracking, crevices began to open, gaping around them. She was losing it. She let off all restraints.No more control. She summoned all the elements that she held power over. Trees began sprouting out of the ground, growing at an insane speed, then crashing onto the ground under the pressure of the wind.
" Leave!" Iris thundered, looking at Ettrick, but he stood there unmoving. He raised his staff and crashed it on the ground, and a bubble formed around the while outside. The elements wreaked havoc.
" No point fighting it!" Ettrick said in the same impassive tone, unbothered by her display.
Ettrick reached his hand, and before she knew it, Azra grabbed his hand and collapsed on the ground, huffing. He looked at his hand, and Iris " There is nothing to take!" Azra panted and pushed himself off the ground.
Iris gave him a pitying look " I know, my sweet child!" she lovingly said and took Ettrick's hand.
Iris looked at him, smiled, and dug a black dagger into his heart, and for the first time, Ettrick frowned and looked at her bloodied hand.
" Only Darkness can kill Darkness!" Iris reiterated his earlier words and pulled the dagger out, dropping it to the ground.
The bubble Ettrick placed over them collapsed, and black goo began trickling out of his chest. He touched the spot and wiped it off, looked at his hand and then at her.
" I'm Darkness! Ettrick said and slammed his staff on the ground again.
Iris didn't reply to Ettrick.
" Take the sword !" Iris said to Azra, her eyes still on Ettrick. She had no idea what would happen next. Will she become the next Guardian of the Hollow? She had no clue, but if she did, at least Azra would still have his father.
Ian swung the sword to cut the witch's head, but Azra caught it and snatched it out of his hand, threw the blade on the ground and placed his hand on the witch's neck. His hand glowed, and the witch collapsed to the ground with a thud. Azra followed, slumped on his knees, and threw up black goo.
" So much hatred!" he huffed and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket, grimaced and threw up some more black goo.
He stood there with his hand stuck to the witch's neck until the glow faded, and the witch, albeit still alive, lay there with a blank expression, dull eyes staring into space. Azra took his hand off her neck, wiped the blood on his trousers, grimaced, gagged and threw up again.
Ian snapped out of his daze. The darkness that wrapped around his heart and ate at his soul was slowly retreating. He looked at the witch, he remembered cutting and slashing at her skin, but he felt nothing. He was void of any emotion, hollow. Ian lowered himself down, and patted Azra on his back, pulled him to stand" How are you feeling?" he tried to sound worried, but the question was void of any emotion.
Azra gagged and swallowed whatever came up his throat " Horrible! " he panted
A swarm of black smoke whizzed past them and wrapped around Ettrick, his staff glowed, and he disappeared inside the black cloud, along with Iris.
" Fuck!" Ian cursed and went to grab the sword, but Azra was quicker than him. He picked up the sword and slashed it across the black smoke. The smoke dissipated as fast as it appeared, and there was nothing. Ettrick and Iris were gone, vanished into thin air. Ian gulped, racked his hands through his hair, took the sword out of Azra's hand and cut the witch's head off, but nothing happened. No! Fuck! He had no idea where he had taken her. The portal was still very much open, so not in the Hollow. They must be somewhere in Ellora, but fucking where. Ian had no idea where to look for her. His eyes fell on the three vultures who stood there the entire time and did nothing to help. Fuckers!
" Where the fuck is she?! " Ian roared and reached them in a few quick strides.
Athan raised his head, looked at him and then at Azra, who raised his hand, ready to suck someone's soul, although a little fearful after his experience with the witch and the foul taste he had in his mouth. Awful was the word
that came into his mind.
" Gaerfyriddin! It's a mountain!" Rhya answered and pushed herself off the ground.
Ian looked around. There was nothing as far as the eye could see, only scorched ground, flat as a plank. Not even a small hill. Ian turned to look at Rhya and scowled at her " There is nothing, Rhya! No fucking mountain!" Ian roared again. He was getting angrier with each passing moment.
Out of his hands, wisps of smoke began to appear, and the next moment, burst with blue flames.
" That way!" Athan pointed with a trembling hand, clearly remembering what happened the last time he did that.
Ian closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had to control the darkness that roared inside him. He could feel it in his head, speaking to him—telling him to take a life, to kill. Kill, kill, kill. The darkness echoed the same word in his head. The urge to run his sword through three vultures was getting stronger and stronger. Oh, how he hated them!
Azra took the sword out of his hand, and the flames spent, and he snapped out of his trance.
" I think I should carry this!" he said with a weary smile. Ian reluctantly nodded and returned to burning holes into the three vultures with his eyes.
" What are you waiting for? Lead the way!" Ian barked, and the other two finally stood up, looking like they would rather be dead than there with him. And they began walking as if they were on their way to the scaffold. The witch was no more, and that was a relief. At least one useless being has been wiped out of its existence.
The sky, albeit still darkened, a few rays of light seeped through here and there through the dark clouds. It was day, Ian concluded. They hadn't seen the sunshine since Shaddow Valley when Edýia killed Saho.
" I wonder what it looked like before all this even happened?" Azra questioned, his eyes roamed around, but there was nothing, not even dust.
" It was once a beautiful realm!" Rhya answered offhandedly, with her head down just like the other two. Now that he had the sword, he could keep them in line, and Azra was ready to do his part if needed.
" And look what happened because of your lies and deception! I'm not even surprised. You're Seth's spawn, after all! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree! I bet he would be proud of your accomplishments!" Ian ranted, his jaw ticked, his hands balled up so tight that they trembled, his veins popped, and he bore holes into the three culprits.
" You are too! One of us!" Athan retorted in a small voice without tuning. He kept his head down and followed Rhya.
" Don't even fucking remind me that we share blood. It makes my stomach churn when I think about it! You fucking disgust me!" Ian spat, " You, of all people! He grabbed Athan by the scruff of his neck and threw him on the ground with a thud, and put his foot on his neck.
" I want to put a sword through you and watch your life drain! You're nothing more than a piece of shit! I fucking hate you. I fucking hate all of you! Ian raged as he pressed his foot on Athan's throat, who gasped and struggled for air, trying to push Ian's foot off his neck.
" Ian!" Rhya called, and Ian threw her a venomous glare " Have mercy!" she pleaded, and Ian let out a peal of sardonic laughter.
" Mercy!" he took his foot off Athan's throat, and charged for Rhya, wrapping his hand around her neck " Mercy!" Ian raged, " You've got some fucking nerve to ask for mercy! Did you have mercy?" Ian posed the question, and Rhya shook her head. In his eyes, what they did was unforgivable. Death was an easy way out. They didn't deserve that. They deserved to suffer, just like Iris did. She had gone to Hollow and back to save them. He scoffed at his thoughts. Worthless piece of shit. He was angry, desperate and in pain. Ettrick had Iris, one mistake. That was all it took. Ettrick played him. He didn't break the between him and the sword on purpose.
He let go of Rhya's neck. He was huffing like a raging bull. His thirst for blood grew stronger and stronger. He needed to see someone's blood at his feet, the light in their eyes dull.
" Fuuuuuck!" he screamed and went for his dagger, but again, Azra was quicker than him.
" I can't let you do this to yourself! Mother awaits us! Best we go, father!" Azra was so much like her in more ways than one. He was sweet, kind, and his features reminded him of her, and it was gut-wrenching.
Ian reluctantly nodded and looked at the three vultures. He could bearly look at them.
" Move !" Ian barked, and the fuckers moved.