A Taste of Death

Chapter Ten

The air was still, not even the wind moving, everyone staring in shock at the corpse in front of them, the villain himself even beginning to frown. Nova was dead. "...Come on. Get up." Kai snarked, nudging the body's foot. "You heroes are made of tougher stuff than that..." He didn't sound too sure. Did he make a mistake? Heroes didn't die. Surely she was just playing dead. He took a step back. Did he actually just kill someone? Rosa covered her mouth, tears welling in her mouth. "N-No..." She slowly looked up at Kai, straightening as her hands lowered into fists. "You killed her!" She screamed. "You killed my friend!" Kai took another step back and then turned and ran. "No! Get back here you murderer!" Rosa launched forward to chase him but Vesper wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back.
She fought back against him for a few minutes while Neveah whispered to Cassiopeia what happened, the elven warrioress lowering her head as Rosa began sobbing. Vesper led her to her fallen friend, the black crystal Casey was trapped in lowering to the ground as it shattered and Casey blinked awake. "What happen-" He voice cut off as her eyes widened, seeing Nova's body and hearing Rosa's sobs, her own eyes tearing up. "No..." She whispered, horrified. The blonde ran over and slid to the ground, eyes widening as she desperately tried getting Nova to wake up. "Please, come on, please, please, please, please." A shaky breath left Casey as she slowly accepted what happened.
As Amarelis and Vesper began talking in low tones and Neveah, Aylon and Cassiopeia formed their own huddle of misery, Elowen turned and walked a little away, that far off glaze in her eyes coming over again as a tear slipped down her cheek. "Why..?" She crossed her arms. Of course, there was no response. There rarely was. Time dragged on as all talk and cries of misery ceased, Rosa and Casey clinging onto each other as they stood, the others turning to them. "How are you feeling?" Neveah asked quietly. The two girls didn't answer the question directly. "Can we bury her?" Casey spoke softly, looking around. Elowen smiled softly. "Of course, dear." She responded slowly. Amarelis looked over and nodded, sliding his overcoat off and gently wrapping Nova up and picking the body up. In a shaded area, Vesper unsheathed his staff, the tip glowing as a beautiful weeping willow sprouted from the ground. At the foot of the tree, an area hallowed out, Amarelis kneeling to place the body there. As the party gathered, no one said a word, taking moments of silence as dirt filled the grave, Amarelis used runic symbols to protect the grave and they mourned their loss.
"We should leave..." Waylon quietly spoke after a bit. Rosa looked at him and nodded. "Yeah, this place gives me the creeps anyways." She mumbled. With that, the group slowly and quietly made their way back to where they entered, the woods quiet as they entered. The normal howl of the Neisha strangely missing. Elowen stored this in her mind for later, as she had noticed that even Kai himself seem to regret his actions. But if killing Nova wasn't his goal...what was? Or was it a trick? Elowen shook her head as they exited the dark woods and Neveah whistled for Aura, the pink butterfly responding immediately. It was best not to ponder it for now. Even as they arrived back at their carriage, no one spoke. "I think we should go back to the cottage. Its much safer there." Elowen whispered to Amarelis, who nodded and as everyone began settling for the night, saddled the runic horses and began the voyage back.
"I can't believe she's gone." Casey whispered, hugging herself. Rosa sighed and put an arm around her best friend. "Me neither." She whispered. "But you know what?" Casey looked at Rosa, the red head smirking. "We're going to take him down." Casey smiled a little back, nodding. "But first, we rest." Elowen cut in. While Rosa and Casey initially protested, when they arrived at the cottage, the two humans were asleep. While everyone settled in for the night and Neveah helped Cassiopeia navigate the house, Amarelis pulled Elowen aside. "You've been different lately. What's wrong?" He asked, concern in his eyes. Elowen sighed. "I believe I already answered that question, Amarelis." She looked out the window. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's bothering you, Elowen." He frowned. "You can't help me, even if I tell you." Elowen retorted, crossing her arms. Amarelis gently placed a hand on her shoulder, but she pushed it off, stepping back and sighing. "Let's just worry about Kai for right now. Once he's taken care of, then maybe I'll consider telling you." She then turned and walked outside, leaning against the railing of the porch. Amarelis sighed and headed to bed as he watched her walk outside.
The Seer closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them, shocked to see her surroundings darker. She turned slowly, seeing she was still on the porch of her cottage, the landscape ahead of her shadowed. "What?" She whispered, fear pricking her heart. "Amarelis?" She went into the house, frantically checking the rooms. "Rosa? Cassiopeia?" She gulped when she didn't find anyone. "Alright," She grabbed her crossbow, "Whoever's doing this, it isn't funny." She loaded the weapon and headed back outside, scanning the field and beginning to check around the house. "First time having a waking vision, I forgot." A voice spoke up and Elowen spun around, leveling a weapon at the stranger, who appeared like a hooded shadow, stance relaxed, arms loosely crossed. Elowen narrowed her eyes, then they widened. "You!" The crossbow clicked, arrow ready to fire, anger boiling. "Elowen, are you sure-" Elowen fired the arrow at the other, only for her eyes to widen in shock as he caught it. "I'm not your enemy, Elowen." They sighed, twirling the arrow. "Then tell me why you did it." She loaded more arrows into the crossbow, ready to fire. "There's limits as to what I can tell you." The figure responded. "Why you killed Nova? You can't tell me that?" She shot the arrows, the other stopping them in midair and casting the arrows to the side. "Hey, I didn't kill Nova, and please stop trying to attack me." The other responded.
Elowen lowered the crossbow. "I don't believe you." She paused for a moment, looking away. "She was just a human. Not even an adult in her world. She had a life ahead of her, friends who are grieving, family and more, just gone. Like that. All because of you." She looked back at the figure. He let out a sigh and seemed to nod. "Look, I did what I had to. You don't see it now but you will." Elowen let out a breath. "What is so much worse than allowing a human soul to live?!" She yelled. "You really want to argue?" The figure stalked towards her. "Answer my question." She seethed. "Fine." The figure said. Everything seemed to disappear into a void of black, but to Elowen, she was horrified at what she saw. "Don't tell anyone what you saw...please." The figure said before walking away.
"Elowen?" Elowen gasped and jumped as she came back to reality and looked at Cassiopeia. "Are you okay?" The Elven princess asked. "You looked so angry then so scared, and your eyes were glowing, it was a bit unsettling." Elowen took a deep breath then paused. "Wait, you can see?" She looked into Cassiopeia's eyes. The glassy fogged look was gone. "Uh, yeah, it suddenly cleared up a few minutes ago, I thought my sight was supposed to come back gradually, but I'm not complaining." Elowen looked out to the wilderness once more, then back at Cassiopeia. "Yeah, I'm not either." The two women nodded. "So, are you okay?" Cassiopeia asked again. "Oh!" Elowen nodded, "Yeah, just tired. I'm going to get some rest." Elowen nodded. "Goodnight." She left to bed and Cassiopeia tilted her head. "Amarelis was right...you are acting strange." She mumbled.
The next morning, while everyone was excited for Cassiopeia's recovery, they all knew the grimness of the situation that lay ahead of them. "So Kai's not going to be in the Shadow Dimension where we saw him last?" Vesper asked. Neveah shook her head. "At least I don't think so. Demons have a stronghold in the north province, Shala. I believe he'd be there." Amarelis flipped through a book and placed it on the table. "Avense is heavily fortified. It won't be easy getting to the castle." Amarelis crossed his arms. "Lots of monsters, and we'll need to protect Rosa and Casey." Vesper commented. "Excuse you, I can protect myself." Rosa retorted, huffing. "Or you can teach us how to use magic." Casey suggested. "No, humans don't have a drop of magic in their blood. You should stay here, where you're safe." Amarelis argued back. "Uh, I'm not sure they'll like that." Cassiopeia raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, no, we're going to avenge our friend." Rosa snapped back. "If we fight, we're never going to defeat him." Waylon pointed out. "He's right." Elowen agreed. Neveah nodded. "We're short on time but there are measures we can take to protect Rosa and Casey as well as learn how to use our powers together." The group looked at each other. "Well, at least we know where we're going." Casey quietly spoke. Amarelis sighed. "The Kingdom of Avense." Cassiopeia nodded. "Here we come."