Behind the Trigger

~Chapter Eight: The Glass Ball~

~Morta's POV~

Slash, duck, stab, roll, block, I chanted in my head. I was holding my staff, the black pole buzzing with power. It's been three days since the incident, but I feel a lot better. Right now, I'm taking time to myself for training. Ash is a couple of rooms over working on some plans for who knows what. After completing my training exercise, I sigh and put away my staff.

Walking to the center of the arena, I concentrate on my magick, something I haven't used since the day I woke up. I gather shadows in my hands, my eyes barely glowing from the minuscule amount of power I'm using. My senses brush past that feeling of wanting to crack, the hardly noticeable feeling. My vision stays the same, so I continue to amplify my magick power. I gather more shadows in the center and I feel my aura grow, a scarce crimson glow surrounding me as the feeling of cracking intensifies just a bit. The edges of my vision just begin to go red, but not enough to worry me just yet.

I feel my feet gently lift off the ground, my body completely in the air. I increase my power, a large sphere of shadows collecting in the center of the room. I feel like curling up in a ball and sobbing because of the intensity of the cracking. The glass ball is falling apart. My vision goes even more red and blurry, my iris's glowing an intense red, like fire fueled with blood. I can see the shadows in the middle of the room take on a barely visible crimson tint, my magick wanting to come out and play. My body is at least two feet off the ground, the space around me shrouded in darkness, the only light coming from my aura.

I reach deeper into my magick, bringing a hammer to the already shattering ball of glass in my soul. All I can see is red, the power in the room climbing higher and higher. It feels like I'm slowly falling apart, but it feels good. I feel free from my restraints. I expand my power further, my magick reaching the edges of the castle walls. I'm floating in the center of the room, my aura ablaze. Ash's words once again ring through my head, you shouldn't be afraid of your magick, Morta, you should embrace it. I'm embracing the darker side of me, the chaos.

I'm trusting it, but I'm showing it who the boss is. I retain control of my magick, but I trust it to not destroy me from the inside out. I let it roam free, the chaos, the madness, the darkness, the evil. I feel the shattered pieces of my glass soul turn to dust, then fade away like they never existed. My vision returns, and I see that I'm slowly floating down from where I was. My feet brush the floor, but I don't exactly land. I'm hovering like my body and power is too much for the Earth's crust to take.

I feel my aura going crazy, a dark crimson that slowly fades to black the closer you get to me glowing across the space I'm in. My hands are glowing with red-tinted shadows, small pieces slowly crawling up my arms. I sense my eyes glowing bright with passion and darkness. I force the shadows on my hands to recede as I form a mirror to take in my new appearance. I'm still in the clothes I was in before: black leggings, combat boots, and a crimson tank-top. Now, I've been given an upgrade. My leggings have studs that start at the thighs and gradually get thinner as they trail down my legs. I have black leather fingerless hand gloves with matching red studs. The most interesting is the tiara that sits on my head. It looks like it was forged of red iron, whenever the metal hits a light it gives off a glint like a flash of blood. One large ruby sits in the middle and two smokey diamonds, about half the size, sit on either side. It sits on a head of perfectly done crimson curls.

"Wicked," I admire.

Realizing I haven't pulled out my staff, I summon it from my ring. I'm hit with an influx of power from the magickal object. It still looks exactly the same as it did before, but the power level is astounding. I fade the mirror and fire a test shot. A tendril of shadows shoots out and strikes the nearest wall. Normally a spell like this would take heaps of energy out of me, but this time I didn't feel a thing. I grin, my blood-red lips curling up to form a demon-like smile.

"So you took my advice?" Ash's voice rings out from the doorway.

I see him standing there in all his glory, his Stygian Iron crown sitting atop his head. He's not in formal attire, just black cargo pants and a T-Shirt with some lace-up combat boots.

"You are a very smart man," I compliment him.

"Well, what can I say? I'm a King," he smirks and I walk closer, the sand underneath my boots crunching heavily with each step.

"Your advice worked. I never thought trusting something so dark could be beautiful, but here we are," I recollect.

"You trusted me," he retorts as we step out of the arena.

"Fair," I say with a nod of my head.

"Anyways, how does it feel?" he asks, dropping his formal act.

"I feel like I could decimate an army like I could kill without remorse. I feel like a true Queen, one that commands her people with respect. I can feel every ounce of power hurdling its way through my blood," I answer.

"Good, because we are fighting Helios for the last time tomorrow," he says.

"Yes! Finally, I can show him my face and give him a death worth remembering," I growl and cheer at the same time.

"You're going to reveal your identity to him? This never came up at any meetings," Ash says surprised.

"Oops, sorry. I was planning on it from the beginning, I guess it just slipped my mind," I apologized.

"Nah, it's okay. It will be worth it if I get to see the look on his face when you take down your hood," Ash chuckles.

"That's partially the reason I wanted to do it. The other part is because I want my face to be the last thing he sees before he dies," I admit, not meeting Ash's eyes.

"That's a good reason, no matter how inhumane it sounds. Revenge is sweet," Ash reassures me.

"I don't know if that was supposed to help me or make my urge to kill Helios higher," I joke.

Ash laughs, and soon we're rolling on the floor in fits of giggles. It's probably weird to be rolling on the floor in laughter when we are ending a war tomorrow, but oh well. It's nice to have some light-hearted moments in there.

"Alright, come on. We have some planning to do," Ash smiles and helps me off the floor.

"Why? I don't want to," I whine like a child, faking a pout.

"Well, do you want to kill Helios?" Ash chides me.

"Yeah," I grumble.

"Then let's go!" he hauls me off the ground and we start walking down the hallways again.

"You're a fun killer," I complain.

"I know, but it will be worth something eventually," he says as we approach our shared office.

We spent the rest of the night in the office, me drawing up various battle maps and Ash reading over multiple documents and giving me ideas. Countless hours were spent pouring over maps and scribbling down notes, well into the night. We only went to rest when the glimmer of Alfhiem's sun peaked through the windows. This was the final time Helios would see it.