Light so Divine *REWRITTEN*

Me & the Devil

Intense pain erupted through tensed muscles and cracked bones for the second time that day. A small trickle of blood ran down pale, sweaty skin. Faded blue eyes narrowed to slits as Victoria concentrated on the form of the druid before her.

The two circled each other slowly, while Anne oversaw their sparring session. They had been fighting for about an hour, and there didn't seem to be any signs that they would be stopping anytime soon. It was only when the druid shot a dark smirk at Victoria and hit her with a spell, that Victoria realized she was going to wind up dead at some point if she didn't pull herself together.

Her vision went dark and her legs buckled underneath her. When Victoria came back to full consciousness, she found herself in an abandoned warehouse surrounded by cloaked figures.

The figure closest to her removed his hood, revealing an older, scowling Everygray. The others removed their hoods, revealing the equally vexed faces of Linda, Alex, Lisa, and Anne. Everygray stepped forwards, his top lip curling back in a sneer, looking at Victoria as if though she was nothing more than a nuisance.

She stared up at him, eyes wide in shock. "You pathetic excuse for a Soul Rider." His voice was cold and his eyes dead. "I don't know why Elizabeth took you in, or why Fripp kept you around." He laughed at her with vile contempt and stepped backwards while Alex stepped forwards.

She paced around Victoria slowly and began laughing darkly. Her voice was just as haunting as Everygray's and held a cold bite to it. "How could you abandon us?" She spat. "We were better off without you."

Victoria scowled up at Alex, her eyes glassy and brows creased. She shakily stood, her sides heaving from further exertion. "That's not true and you know it! I would never dare do anything to hurt any of you," She bit out.

Before anyone could respond, the world around Victoria broke slightly. The figures of the Soul Riders and Everygray literally cracked; a faint blue light shining through the fractures. But the vision repaired itself just as quickly.

Through the haze, a faint figure materialized. Victoria narrowed her eyes at it and took a ragged breath, focusing solely on the manifestation. She felt a powerful surge of energy build up in her veins. The magic collected in her core before exploding outwards in a display of black-ish purple. The figure let out a yelp as it fell backwards.

The illusion shattered and Victoria was back in a sandy wring, laying not too far from her sparring partner, whose clothes were slightly singed and one of his ankles was starting to turn to stone. Anne began clapping slowly, the sound echoing out around the clearing. She walked over to Victoria and leaned down, pulling her friend off the ground. "Good job." Her body tensed up, not used to the focalization of praise. "You'll soon be caught up to me and the others if we keep practicing."

~~~~

The halls of Jon's mansion were dimly lit and the walls were shrouded in banners that Estrid and Victoria had helped hang up earlier. Each banner was a different colour and sported a family crest that represented each noble family bloodline in Jorvik. As she and Gunnar walked down the hallway together, they passed a black banner with a strange looking goat of silver embroidered on it, noticing the tapestry for the first time that day, figuring it had been hung not too long ago.

Gunnar stopped walking when he noticed Victoria's interest. "That is the flag of the Lorensson family. You'll meet the Patriarch later tonight."

Victoria smiled up at him, looping her arm through his again. "What kind of goat is that though?"

"It's Heidrun. A goat from Norse mythology," He noted calmly as they continued walking to the ballroom, stopping yet again at a scarlet banner. It was lined with gold trim and in the middle was a golden bear surrounded by an annulet. "This is my family's crest. It's one of the newer ones in the house though." He smiled proudly at the sight of his crest and Victoria's heart did a weird flip-flop motion.