Branding of a Heretic (Nihilian Effect)

Epilogue

From the back of the group that had attended Claradina's judgment, Sanaiya had seen the whole display, and Joreth's hesitations were apparent. She would have to act before the man decided to forgo his reputation and repeal his earlier decisions. As soon as the scholars reached a main hallway, she veered away from them, searching for a place void of other scholars or clerks.

Finding an empty lounge, she turned to the closest wall and held her hand up to it, the stones smooth and cold. She pictured the cell where Claradina had been imprisoned, the ability to focus her mind second nature. The stones against her hands warped, folding in on themselves. A gap began to form in front of her hand, the stones at its edge glowing white. The gap grew and the whole wall seemed to ripple, allowing room for more stones to shift and compress, until there was a hole big enough for her to walk through. And when she did, Sanaiya was back in the dirty basement hold, the smell of unwashed bodies and waste buckets filling her nostrils.

She prevented herself from sighing in disgust and approached the mess of a woman huddle against the opposite wall. The room was illuminated by the brilliance from the hole she had made, which was more than enough to make out distinctions, but not bright enough to alert Claradina as she sobbed. Her arms were folded over her knees, her forehead resting on her arms.

Sanaiya managed to get within inches before Claradina raised her head. Surprise and confusion covered her face. Sanaiya laid her hand on the woman's grimy hair before she could make a sound; it only required a moment and a flash of light. She dusted her hands, righted her dress, and headed back through the hole in the wall. All that remained were some soiled clothes and an empty, gaunt shell that was once the revered Claradina Ou'bosa.

It was not the first time Sanaiya had used that technique, created by the power that flowed through her veins, nor would it be the last. It was an energy beyond what any human had seen or understood in eons, nor would they if she could prevent it. She alone would revert this world back to its original beauty, though that would take much more than simple magic tricks. One day soon, she would bask in the light that once was hers so many years ago.