Fall From Glory

Return

"What the hell was that?" Orion spluttered the second they descended the twisting staircase after tucking an unconscious Aura in.

"Shh, she'll hear you!" Sophie hissed.

"She's unconscious and may be in a coma. There's no way my question woke her up." Orion stated, propping his hands on his hips. "I'm serious. What happened?"

"She took on the plans of her previous captors. In her past life, when she worked with the brothers, I am assuming she as well knew how to wield the black fire. A dangerous triumvirate."

"How?"

"Well, something must have sparked it. A thought, maybe, or-what if this is a way for the brothers to control her through?" Sophie worried.

"Soph, they're gone. Eviscerated off the surface of the Earth. We made sure of that, remember?" Orion soothed.

The Stargale didn't relax. "And what of their third brother? Obediah?"

"A bluff, I'm sure." Orion snorted. "No one is crazy enough to believe-"

"I am. This is serious, Ren. We can't just brush this off-what if she turns to their side?!" Sophie wound herself up even more.

His brotherly sense kicking in, Orion grasped her shoulders and gently steered her towards a leaf-and-twig chair. "Sit down, I'll get you some Tangourds and lushberry juice."

"Make it quick, please," she beseeched him.

"Coming right up." Orion disappeared and was back in less than a minute, food in his hands.

As she ate, the Stargale began to talk. "Think about it, Ren. Aura decides to start some fires, pretty normal. Not even five minutes in, she loses control and the fires turn black. It's either fueled by emotion or out-of-control power. Perhaps Obediah managed to trigger the ability in her, like Forkle did to me. It was quite an odd time, considered that our previous conversation was a little controversial. You doubt me, believing Obediah to be a hoax. Perhaps, yes, but how else do you explain what just happened? True, Aura could have somehow connected with her past and that side of her ability was brought out, but there could be more to it." 

You know that Zenith and Lucian were creepily obsessed with Aura. They tried to do everything they could to pass it off as a plot to use her to get close enough to kill me, but our roles were reversed. Somehow, they knew that she was my sister. They could have even engineered it to be that way, and maybe even for something more than Aura herself. It could've been for her star ruby; they seemed pretty adamant on getting it." Sophie paused thoughtfully.

Orion gaped, feeling his jaw drop. "Would you like some more food?"

"I'm good with this, thanks."

"Are you sure? I bet we could find out everyone's full plans if you had a great feast and enough time," the Nyxowl offered.

She shrugged it off. "If Aura is their main target because of her past, then why don't we try to recreate it?"

"Give Aura to them? Are you crazy?!" Orion exclaimed before hushing up at Sophie's warning look.

"If we can destroy them from the inside out-"

"Saying they'll believe us. Saying they will be around to doubt us. Saying-"

"Okay, I get it. We need to know more about our enemy before we act," the Telepath reasoned with another measured sip of lushberry juice.

The Mesmer sat on the edge of his seat through the following moments of silence, but nearly fell off his perch with Sophie's next words.