Playing with Fire [COMPLETED]

9 ~ these strange feelings

I feel strange as I wake up. My body aches and my back is on fire. Groaning, I turn my head. My vision is fuzzy, but it clears up fast. And I don't believe my eyes. There are two long, beautiful wings coming out of my back, and I'm wearing new clothes. My wings have feathers that are purple, tipped with rose gold and streaked with orange.

My throat is bone-dry, and I sit up, just then realizing I am not in my room, but Ruin's. And he is sitting on a couch to the side, reading. I cough, and he looks up. His black hair is disheveled and quite messy, and his brown eyes still glow orange. Those magnificent black wings of his twitch as he stands up and walks up to me.

"Hello, Elorha."

"I .... I could use a drink," I say. As if on cue, I remember that I was literally starving and didn't drink anything, either. I am dehydrated.

He snaps his fingers, and, in a flash of orange light, a spread of morning foods appears on a tray on my lap. I pick up a glass of orange juice and take a sip, knowing not to push my stomach to its limits. Ruin leans against the wall beside the bed, and watches me, arms over his chest.

Taking slow, careful bites, I try to ignore the burning stare of his. But I can't. Something is bothering him.

"What's wrong?" I ask him, glancing up.

"War is coming," he says matter-of-factly. "Pain has initiated war between the Courts, and I.... I am not sure who will ally with us."

"But .... Pain fears you," I say. He scoffs, but I shake my head. "No, I mean it, Ruin. She fears you. She is terrified of you, but that, I'd wager, makes her more dangerous, not less. She wanted war. She told me as much. But if she wanted war, then what does she have up her sleeve?"

"I don't know," he says. "Perhaps she has a secret of some kind. A weapon to be used against us."

"Whatever it is, I know she has some kind of an edge to her power, something to give her a chance against you. She said that you're the most powerful of your family. And I... I can feel the truth in that. But what could be more powerful than you?"

I'm watching him as I finish saying this. I'm also eating pancakes, but as I focus on Ruin's face, I see him grow paler and paler.

"What?" I ask.

"This is bad," he whispers, running his hands through his already messy hair. How many times has he done that? How stressed is he?

"What's bad?" I ask. I sip some more juice, and he begins to pace.

"The Hollow," he says. "It is an ancient, primordial power. Something so extremely magical that it was locked away in a crypt that no one knows where its true location is. It is guarded by a thousand warriors. Warriors stronger than I.  But .... how could she have reached it? She could not focus her power so much as to kill a thousand powerful beings. Especially when they're trained to deal with pain."

"So ... you think she killed them? That they failed to prevent her from doing whatever she'd wanted to do?"

He shakes his head.  "I just don't know, and it .... I don't like it."

There's a rap on the door. I turn my head, and I watch as Lucian pokes his head inside. "The uh, there's something you need to know, my lord."

"Yes?" Ruin asks.

"The Court leaders have gathered. They request your appearance."

"Where?"

"The Golden Gardens," he says. "Pain is there, too."

Ruin swears under his breath and turns to me. "Go, it's fine."

He shrugs. "I'll.... open my mind to you, so you may see and hear what I do."

"Why?" I ask.

He blinks.  "I ... want you to know what's going on."

"Alright," I say, biting some toast. "I guess I'll be here, then."

"I'll send my best guards to watch you the room you're in," says Ruin. "If you wish to have some company, or need anything, call aloud for Zariah."

I nod, and he smiles a little, before he and Lucian vanish.