Marked: Part 2; The Wronged

Chapter 65

The next morning was odd to say the least. The Market had been turned into a ghost town, almost overnight, it was so quiet. Cristel was in her home, she was still crying from the night before. She had slept in the kitchen most of the night. After Oglm and Jkdek left she sort of slid down the wall and wept for a while, eventually falling asleep. Yet, this afternoon she was awake and utterly sad and depressed. She heard someone come in from the front door. She stood up and started to walk out to the living room. But when she finally looked up, it was Unora and Yxeyhzfkx. Unora was still a bit under the weather, but she was definitely healing back pretty fast. Cristel took a few steps back.
"What do you want?" She asked as she sniffled.
"You don't look so good, Cristel."
"What do you want."
"I want you." Unora started. "But for more than one reason now. Yxeyhzfkx longs for his soulmate, and I am in need of an apprentice."
"Huh?" Cristel said looking at her.
"You showed an amazing amount of potential in magic. I think you would make an excellent witch."
"Not on your life." Cristel said to her with a nasty look.

"I employ you to reconsider." Cristel shook her head at her. "Maybe I can't convince you, but maybe he can." Unora walked out the door and all that was left was Cristel and Yxeyhzfkx. Suddenly Yxeyhzfkx fell to the ground and held his head. He looked up, to Cristel.
"Cristel, honey?" He said standing up. "What's the matter?" He said coming in to give her a hug. She let him hug her, for Unora had let him go for now. Cristel didn't speak to him but rather kept on crying. He backed away and then looked at his hands, his arms, his legs, his chest. "Why am I wearing all this armor?" He said. He turned to Cristel and asked her the same question. "Cristel, what's wrong?" He grabbed her hand loosely and looked at her in the eyes. Cristel threw herself onto him, giving him a bear hug around his neck. "You-" She sniffled. "You killed her."
"What?"
"Amilia." She said dropping to the ground again. "You killed her." Cristel hit his leg.
"No, no, no, no, I wouldn't." He said, dropping down to her level. He put her hair behind Cristel's ear. "I would never, she's my daughter." Yxeyhzfkx pulled Cristel into a hug as she covered her eyes with her hands. He hadn't heard Cristel cry in such a long time, he hated it when his family was hurt. "I'm- sorry, Cristel." Cristel wiped her tears away.
"It wasn't your fault." She paused. "Unora has had you under her control for quite some time now, she was trying to imprison Amilia, and she refused. So she tried to use you as a bargaining chip." Yxeyhzfkx clenched his fist.
"I'm so sorry, my dear." He said. "I had no idea." Yxeyhzfkx himself cried as he was frustrated and shocked. Cristel put her hands on his chest. He hugged her once again before he let out a quiet scream. Then he pulled himself away and stood up.
"Times up, Cristel, dear. Now, you can either join me or I can come back and take you later." Cristel looked to Yxeyhzfkx and then to Unora.
"I am not some puppet you can just manipulate. Get out of my house." She pointed to the door. Unora gave Cristel a disgusted look and then grabbed Yxeyhzfkx by his cape and dragged him out the house for a dramatic effect. Cristel once again dropped to the floor. She clenched her chest with her hand and let out a big sigh of relief. She went back into the kitchen and sat down at the table. She fell asleep sometime thereafter and a few hours later she happened to wake up. She rubbed her eyes and after a few minutes she heard someone come into the house. When she got up and turned around, Amilia was standing in the living room.