"Fleur Delamort?" Skie asked.
"My name," Silky said with the same amount of emotion as I saw in her the day we met. None.
"Her real name is Fleur," I said, placing a hand on her shoulder and taking over for answering questions.
"Right," Skie replied, surprising me. "But her name is Delamort?"
I nodded.
Elizabeth took Rina's hand and guided her across the room from Silky.
"Traveler, my friend," Rust said. "The Delamorts were said to have died off long ago. They were hunted down and slain because of a . . . condition. A condition unique to them."
Silky said nothing to dispute the idea, so I assumed that Rust was right.
"Well then what is this condition, how can we treat it?" I asked.
"You don't, Scribbles," Silky told me. "Rust was being nice when he said it was a condition. What I have isn't a condition. It's just the true nature of my family. It's what drove my brother mad. Every year or so, we lose control and gain incredible yet terrible power. A story in my family is that one of my ancestors once exterminated an entire dimension with this power, wiping every trace of it from the Rift."
I shuddered. That shouldn't be possible. At the very least, there should only be one person able to accomplish that, and that's only when he would be using Interitus.
"That's why we were hunted, Nierix," she told me. And I didn't know what was worse, the fact that she too was subject to this, or the fact that it was so serious to her that she would forgo using my nickname and use my given name."
"I-I'll find a way to fix it," I said, desperately trying to comfort her and reconcile this in my own mind. "I'll find Dr. Silus again. He might be able to help you."
She shook her head. "He tried once," she said. "A long time ago. Two of his assistants died."
I was speechless. I didn't know what to say. How could I? I also hadn't realized how fond of her I had become. I guess it's hard to not like someone when you spend a majority of your time together for a year and a half.
I searched for something to say, but she beat me to it. "Just help me find my home, Nierix," she told me. "Help me find my home, and I'll be alright." She took my hand. Not romantically, but comfortingly.
I closed my mouth and nodded. I looked at Rust. "I'll be back."
I put my forehead to Silky's and closed my eyes, feeling her ethereal energy. I could trace her back to her roots. The only reason I hadn't done this until now is because she hadn't let me get close enough.
The space around us folded, which was different. I had never seen it fold before, but Silky didn't seem affected by this abnormality.
It continued to fold until everything around us had changed. We were now standing in a field. Off to my left was a humble cottage, to my right was a small grove of trees beside a little stream.
It was beautiful.
But it felt off.
Silky let my hand go and moved toward the cottage, an emotion I had never seen in her eyes before was no prevalent. Pain.
I followed her quietly, I had a feeling I knew what we were going to find in that cottage, Silky seemed to know too.
We walked up to the front door. She stopped, turned - white hair whirling - looked at me with those brilliant blue eyes, and silently asked if she was doing the right thing.
I nodded.
She turned back to the door, took a deep breath, and opened it.
It creaked open slowly. A musty odor wafted out of the house and my heart sank.
She stepped inside and I followed. We explored the rooms separately. I went to the left toward the bedrooms, hoping to find it first so I could be there when Silky saw. She went right toward the kitchen and dining room.
I opened the door at the end of the hall. It was the master bedroom and it was empty. Dust lay thick on the top of the dresser and nightstands. I shut the door again and moved to the next room. I opened the door to find the room empty.
"That was my brother's room," Silky said, breaking the silence and scaring the ever-loving crap out of me.
"When he vanished, my mother threw all of his things out and burned them. Trying to forget, I think."
I shut the door and turned around to the last door.
Silky opened it slowly. It was her room. I could tell. Everything was pink and girly, which was mildly amusing in it's own right because she didn't seem like the type.
But what was not amusing even in the slightest was the pair of perfectly preserved corpses on the bed. One man, one woman. The man had a nice, full beard. His hair brown. The woman's hair was white. Both only appeared to be in their late forties. But I had expected this.
Silky stood there, expressionless. Then she lowered her head and said, "let's go outside."
-
We went outside.
The breeze was gentle. Soothing almost. But something still felt off. It was far too quiet. Almost like the earth beneath my feet was afraid to live or to let anything else live upon it.
We stood, silent, for a long time. I sat on a stump about two-hundred feet from the cottage while Silky sat by the stream.
After about an hour I went down to her.
"You know," she said when I sat down. "Dad always said that the women of our clan had fits that were far worse than the men."
"So those were. . .?"
She nodded. "He told me when I was sixteen that my mom had once had a fit during her monthly. He said it took all of the clan elders and strongest warriors to put her in a pocket dimension for a day. She came out feeling much better. Her words."
I smiled a little and so did she.
We were silent for a little while longer.
"Nierix, I have a confession," she said.
I looked over at her.
"I have been working with Latorakena," she admitted. She said this without any hesitation, without any shred of guilt.
I was so surprised by what I heard, I didn't fully process it for a couple of seconds. "You did what?"
"I have been working with Latorakena," she repeated.
"Why?" I was shocked, and hurt.
"I have my own plans I need to see to fruition."
She stood and looked down at me. "Lato!" She called.
He materialized about sixty feet behind her. His same outfit from earlier still upon him, but this time he had a sword instead of a dagger.
"Present," he called out.
My face twisted in dismay while Silky turned around.
"Make sure you uphold your end of the deal," she told him.
He nodded jumped over and sat on the stump I had been seated on, the smile never leaving his face.
I won't lie to you. I admit that, as a Christian, I am called to not hate anyone, but in that moment I harbored such a hatred for Latorakena, I almost lost my cool.
"Why?" I asked Silky again. "I promise he's just using you."
"And you're not?" She asked.
Her words cut me in the heart. "No, Silky, I would never, never ever use you."
She wouldn't look at me.
"Silky," I said, hurt emotionally. "Silky look at me."
"My name is not Silky," she said firmly. "It's Fleur!"
I recoiled. She was rejecting me so harshly, it was hard to not be hurt.
Lato was counting down on his fingers from five and Fleur took a deep breath.
"The real reason I brought you here, Nierix, is so that I can kill you properly."
I didn't have the words to respond to that. I was near heartbreak.
"Zero," Lato vocalized the lowering of his last finger, and at the queue, Fleur started to glow with a strange light. No. It was like she was glowing because she was stealing the light from around her.
She turned to face me. "Fight me properly, Nierix." Her mannerisms, voice, and the expressions on her face were completely foreign to me.
"Sil- Fleur I don't want to fight you," I said.
But she didn't listen. She launched at me, hands outstretched. I tried to catch them, but they melted right through my own. I ducked under her and stepped back, letting my hands reform while I ignored the pain.
"Silky!" I cried. "Stop! Please!"
"Why?" She asked, smiling. "Does it hurt?"
"Yes, Silky, it does!" I said. "It hurts right here!" I thumbed my chest.
She strained to keep her maniacal smile. Said nothing and launched at me again. I ducked under her and proceeded to avoid all of her attacks.
We "fought" - if you want to call it that - for a good ten minutes. But then she tackled me to the ground and I did not melt.
I looked down at her in surprise. She had not moved and she was trembling.
"Si-"
"Shut up!" She screamed. "Why don't you fight?" She asked in indignation, looking up at me, tears staining her face.
"I don-"
"I can't live, Nierix!" She said. "If I do, it won't be much longer before I die! Even among my clan, I have an advanced condition. I will not, can not survive beyond the next few weeks."
"I can't kill you, Silky," I said gently.
"You have to!" She said, almost sounding desperate. "It's the only way you'll get this power."
And then I understood. It made sense. Smart move on her part, using my power's conditions like that.
"No," I said. "I won't." I hugged her. "I'll protect you."
She said nothing. But she didn't fight either.
"Well, isn't that sweet," Lato said.
I looked up and saw him standing over us.
Before I had a chance to react, he snapped his fingers and Silky gasped and lurched.
She leapt off of me and pulled a sword out of nowhere.
"Now you have to kill her," Lato said with that twisted grin.