A Mirage Of Milk And Honey

Chapter 3 - Past Ghosts

He regretted saying her name the second the word left his mouth.

He must've been going crazy. He had to be, because suddenly, Aedis was right back to where he was three years prior—Yvette wishing him good luck in the battle. Early morning sun shining through the wide, open windows of the Frair Tower, glass sending streaks of rainbow along the walls and floor, that ceaseless breeze circling the way it always did in Friar, the Kingdom of Sky.

Yvette.

That thing sitting in front of him was not her—it was a pale imitation, and the second her name left his lips, the world had turned upside down.

It was like all chaos had broken loose, and yet they were all frozen in the face of their best friend—their dead best friend.

"What are you!?" Aedis asked, his tone a deadly whisper.

The girl didn't reply, her lower lip only quivered—but it wasn't the cold. She didn't feel the cold. Her eyes had welled up with tears, looking pitiful from where she kneeled in the snow.

"Aedis." Zemira said, shooting him a cautious look. Her sword was still pointed at the girl in preparation for... well, anything. She didn't know what the creature was, and it was because of that very reason she did not want Aedis provoking it. 

"What–" Aedis repeated, the words cutting through the air and making the girl slap her hands over her ears, as if he'd been shouting "–are you?"

"She's a Mortvi." Chip spoke up from behind, and his two companions whipped their heads around.

"What?" Zemira barked, "What is a Mortvi?"

Chip took a deep breath, eyes focused on the girl in front of him.

He had an expression they'd not often seen on his face. One of disgust—almost pained with what he saw. Eyebrows creased, a grimace taking hold of his pale features.

"She's been..." Chip cleared his throat, "I've never seen one before. They're forbidden for Dark Witches to perform and I've only ever read about them, so I don't–

Neither Zemira nor Aedis had ever seen Chip ramble. He'd always been self assured, sarcastic, and confident. Never unsure.

"What is a Mortvi?!" Zemira snapped, urgency making her lose her patience.

"It's someone who has been brought back from the dead." Chip finally got out.

A stillness passed over them all. The soldiers' heads whipped towards Chip at hearing his words, their weapons still pointed to the girl on the floor who stared, open mouthed. Her expression a mirror to Chips—disgust.

And it happened all over again, Aedis was transported to that moment: The last moment he saw her, alive and well aside from a minor injury.

Suddenly, the girl was stumbling her feet, muttering and mumbling incoherently.

"What? No- No. I- I can't be– What do you mean dead?" Her words merged into one string of babbling as she stumbled to her feet, tripping over her own ankles.

Before he could think better of it, Aedis flung out his arms to steady her, and suddenly, her hand was gripping his.

His body tried to suck in a gasp of air, but his lungs were paralysed.

He distantly heard Zemira shout his name, but Chip had pulled her away from the two of them.

Her power. He could feel her trying to force it onto him, trying to dispose of it, and whether on purpose or not it wouldn't work on Aedis. He wasn't mortal—wasn't human. A painful pressure began to build in his chest as she attempted to push the Ether onto him. Instinct forced him to do the exact same, desperate to escape the overwhelming pain. The action caused an explosion of air that sent the girl flying back. Limp and rag-doll like, she fell into the snow with a thud, her body covered in wet snow.