THE FARAWAY LANDS OF OZ - Book One

Part One, Chapter Five: After the Storm

EVANORA

I wanted to move... I really did but all happened so quickly that I just slumped back to the ground, feeling the hatred build up inside me like a boiling pot of water. My breath quickened and vision blurred around the edges.
Morgana was standing in front of me where I could have done everything to her that I pleased but a heaviness overcame my every limb and all my body which forced me to stay down. And she could have done the exact same. Yet shock had taken her over too.
I looked at father, who was trying to smile as he looked at me and Glinda with glittering eyes. I could not imagine how weak I appeared to him, a disappointment. Doing nothing while Glinda tried all her best to heal him up.
"It's a cursed blade," Theodora sobbed, almost inaudibly. Mother was screaming, us sisters were either shedding silent tears or trying our best to hide them in my case and the guests just stood there as perplexed as Morgana.
"It will not heal, whatever we do." Her voice broke now too, and she collapsed beside us. Father was just smiling though, drowning in his own blood.
"Father, we'll get you out of here. Everything is going to be all right!"
Despite our pleas to save his strength and our cries to not stand up, he did just that. He put his hand against the knife's grip and pulled at it, letting a puddle of blood drop before his feet. A part of the golden orb moved into the slit, so he would be able to speak his final words.
"You strike me down and I will grow more powerful than you could possibly imagine..."
Yet Morgana was still stunned, only able to mutter his name as a single tear ran down her cheek. Witnessing that, my hate grew even more but father turned towards us, forcing me to choke down the insults that I had prepared for the Dark Witch.
"Please take care of each other," He whispered and his voice had gotten blubbery and raspy with all the blood and metal that was in the way. He turned to mother, "The time has come for me. Sometimes even a change in time cannot prevent certain events. I love all of you. Lilia..."
The sound of pain exited my system, and I was certain that those will be the last words he'll hear.
"Dad," I cried now and all of us saw life leave his body right before us. Snuffed out. Eradicated. The world had seemed to have stopped for those few minutes which had felt like seven lifetimes. I slowly regained consciousness and with it, all my senses returned. The hurt in my chest was my wound from before, a hundred-fold.
I could hear the painful cries of my mother and sisters come closer as father's skin, hair and clothes began to peel in golden foil. First slowly and then until he had completely vanished. Moved on. I tasted the dryness in my mouth and was unaware that I began to move away from my family. I saw only them and Morgana, who was staring at the scene, as blankly as I felt.

The sudden feeling of a strong hand on my shoulder made me jump and I turned around to see Zion smiling at me with an expression of both compassion and apology. I had completely forgotten about him and the others.
"We'll take care of this, Evanora. Don't you worry about her: She'll get what she deserves!"
I wanted to react to this, give him a smile or an appreciative nod but my body was sentient. I thought I had gained control, but it was rather the other way around. He patted my arm and moved past me, the other visitors doing the very same until they had aligned themselves before Glinda, Theodora and I.
I saw Marcy and again, my body moved on its own. She was still unconscious or unwilling to move, traumatized like she had been. Morgana noticed me but was blocked by the Whispmother. The Dark Witch too, regained her senses again.
I kneeled down beside the girl, who was just staring emptily against the ceiling and for a second I thought that she had suffered the same fate as father and was more than relieved when her eyes darted towards me, tears beginning to run down her cheeks again.
'Plague' and 'Half-breed' and 'Human Vermin' were etched into both arms, having left scarlet letters with no running blood. I helped her to her feet and moved towards where Aliyah was. The moment she saw her daughter's arm, it had been the drop that broke the camel's back.
"I-I'LL YEET YOU OUT OF A WINDOW A-AND REMOVE YOU FROM THE FACE OF THIS WO-WORLD!"
I had never seen Aliyah so furious. No one of us tried to get into her way. No one of us even thought about calming her down. She was saying the things out loud that we were all thinking, and we decided to let her do her thing. First, her daughter was tortured and now her father dead. Out of all people, it was her who deserved to do the honors of killing Morgana le Fay. I blasted her chains away and unleashed the hurricane.
"Are you sure that you'll be able to stand upright?" Morgana laughed, having returned to the evil self that she truly was but my sister only replied with a smug smile.
"You haven't even met me yet..."
Morgana tried to laugh again but only a nervous chuckle escaped her system. Aliyah even intimidated the legendary Dark Witch. My sister clicked her heels against the emerald-colored marble floor, while she held out her arms to her sides. A blinding burst of flames appeared in her hands and around her feet. When the fire cleared, her Umbra weapons had appeared in each hand and bound to each of her strapped shoes. That is what I'm talking about!
Aliyah rushed over to the Dark Witch and leaped at her, blasting a shot at her face, combined with a charge of Umbra magic. Morgana had a hard time blocking the strong offence coming from my sister, but the skilled witch managed nevertheless and parried Aliyah with her own volley of shadow knives and Wicked Weaves.
But the rage of my sister had grown too big and even more, the longer Morgana managed to escape her deadly hands. Only further nourished by our hate. I could see her ire radiate energy and magic even from the spot I was standing at, leaning against the corner wall with Marcy on one and mother – whose chains I had freed as well – on my other shoulder. The three of us were not okay.
The absence of a body kept the sorrow halfway in check. My tears, at least, had faded and from what I could see and feel, mom and my sisters had managed to be strong as well.
We were too busy watching Aliyah beat down our nemesis and too busy enjoying how she got what she deserved. At least that was what I would have liked to believe. It was the numbness that had taken over.
After a while of colorful, black, and orange flashes of magic the two witches threw each other apart with a Wicked Weave. I was ready to rush to Aliyah's aid, but she only waved me off while she fought herself up to her feet. She took a very straight but teasing stance, took a very deep breath, and said the spell that would summon the powerful Madama Sorte:
"PDEE BARMA!"
My halfway proficient skills of Enochian – the language of Angels and Demons – told me that she had just said "First Elder," which made total sense, since Madama Sorte is one of the first Elders. Alongside Eersha and a selected few of demons, by the names of Madama Butterfly, Styx, Khepri and some I did not know. It is said that there are twelve Elders, each of them responsible for one of the pillars of Inferno but not even the Book of Infernal Demons, nor Lemegeton's Guide has a profile on every one of them. Just those I named...
The deafening sound of Madama Sorte emerging out of her portal pulled me back into reality. This is the first time that I have ever seen a real demon; and this demon to even be an Elder was far more special by itself. I figure that Aliyah must be bound to her or it? As far as I'm concerned, demons and angels and sovereign beings neither have genders, nor sexes and sexualities.
She controlled the Elder by the mere fabric of thoughts – and the contract the two were bound to – because Sorte began attacking Morgana as soon as she had stepped out of the portal completely, dragging the Dark Witch down along with her...