The Ruler's Rift

Insidious Sorceress

Icy eyes snapped open against the night, a point of red at their center. Celeste lurched forward and her senses endured a barrage. Lucy had vanished, a scream echoed, and the taste of fresh blood lingered on Celeste's tongue.

No time for questions. The demon dashed out of bed and threw on her cloak. "Lucy!?" She called, racing to the balcony. The door had been left ajar and the scent of blood trailed into the woods.

She warped to the ground and ran faster than a lioness, chasing the scent of an open wound. The aroma led to a clearing, one that Celeste leapt into with grace, her cloak trailing behind her like a shadow. "Lucian!" She growled. "What's going on!?"

Lucy tore away from her brother and ran to her girlfriend's side. One look at the slash in her wrist fanned the flames of the demon's wrath. "Did he do this to you!?" She asked. Lucy didn't answer.

"Stay away from her, you blood-drinking demon!" Lucian shouted. Birds stirred from their slumber and fluttered away from the curtains of branches.

Celeste's eyes narrowed, sharp and cold against the darkness. She sneered, "You're with The Order, aren't you?"

"Don't act like you know a damn thing," the shark retorted. He stalked closer, and Celeste straightened her posture and stood in front of Lucy. "You don't have a clue what's really going on here. I don't care what happens to you, just keep away from my sister."

"No," Celeste rasped. Her gaze never left him. "I'm beyond angry right now. Leave us alone or I promise things will get worse than you can imagine."

"Monsters get slain, they don't make the threats," Lucian scoffed.

Wrath boiled hotter at his remark. Celeste's breathing quickened. The taste on her tongue, the pressure in her chest - all she wanted was to rip him apart. Yet beneath it all, she hadn't forgotten Lucy. She looked over her shoulder. "I won't let him hurt you-"

Screams erupted from the malamute when Celeste crashed into the ground, launched by the whip of a powerful tail. The demon rolled and slid in the grass until she hit thick roots. "Celeste!" Lucy cried.

The forest spun. The moon lay on the ground and grass replaced the stars. Celeste groaned and got to her hands and knees, struggling to shake off her dizziness. Lucy's screams and pleas were cotton behind glass.

"Stay put!" Screamed Lucian from somewhere just before a clawed foot crashed into Celeste's spine and forced her down. She unleashed her twisted hiss and, in a blur, her tongue had wrapped around his throat and hurled him into the ground.

The demon stumbled to her feet, her tongue retracting as her hisses faded. Lucian charged her only to meet her hand at his throat. With his own momentum, Celeste swung him into the nearest, thickest oak. She pinned him against gnarled bark, her hand squeezing his neck. She snarled at him, eyes wide and fangs glistening in the scattered moonrays. "Who do you think you are!?" She hissed. Surrounding her fury were the muffled screeches of Lucy. They wore throat and ears raw in their begs for peace, begs which Celeste ignored.

She slammed her attacker against the tree again, clutching his neck with every desire to pop his head off. He swung his tail, heaving her into the center of the clearing.

The sorceress straightened and faced Lucian. Gasps seized the two Sharcanids when Celeste's eyes snapped open - blue and fuschia energy rippling from them like solar flares. She'd hide it no longer; her magic poured through her, crawling up her spine like a chill and sinking deep into the center of her brain. A languid smirk graced her inky lips. Smoke - all the colors of stardust - billowed up around the caster. With the most delicate motion of her hand, the cosmic soot boiled into the forest. It seeped into the roots and peeled bark from branches; it submerged into the earth and split the ground, irradiating the night.

At the eye of the storm stood Celeste, her hair and cloak billowing, her forehead exposed. The magic which seethed from her eyes spiraled upward and flickered around the length of her horns. She looked straight at Lucian, whose face finally wore fear over its arrogance. "I can make you disappear," the sorceress rasped, her voice melting into the drum of her magic. "There will be no trace of you."

Lucian scrambled back, his eyes fixed with Celeste's. She pressed her thumb and middle finger together, on the verge of casting.

A hand snatched her wrist and a voice yelled, "Stop it!"

Celeste looked down to see Lucy, clutching her wrist before she could snap her fingers and cast her spell. "You're scaring me, Celeste!" Lucy caterwauled, her eyes glassy with tears. "You're hurting my brother!" In the maelstrom of magic, her voice distorted but remained audible.

The smirk faded from black lips. She hadn't hurt him - not yet. Celeste looked down at her hand. She un-pinched her fingers with reluctance.

Her arm lowered to her side as cosmic smoke evanesced and the floating scraps of bark and earth fell. White hair dropped into place, and every erratic strand of magic fizzled out. The peace of night resumed.

Lucy's panting and whimpering loudened against the silence. She clung to Celeste, burying her face in her chest and wetting her cloak. The demon stroked her back and pulled her in with love, but her eyes burned with wrath. She aimed them at Lucian. "Leave," she ordered.

Not without a glare, Lucian scurried through the woods, diffusing into the trees.

Celeste savored a deep breath, recovering from the high of her infernal witchcraft. It still tingled under her skin. A hand on Lucy's shoulder, Celeste leaned back to meet her eyes. "I'm not your enemy," she soothed. "If I'm scaring you, I'll stop."

"What...what were you going to do to him?" Lucy stammered.

"Nothing," Celeste lied.

"So, what? You were just going to scare him with a little lightshow?"

"That's right," the demon deceived again. She clenched her jaw.

Crickets didn't dare chirp after the radiating of their lush home. The moon shined down like a lonely, staring spotlight. Lucy paused before saying, "I didn't know you were a mage of that caliber. Why didn't you show me sooner?"

"Because you would react like this," Celeste replied, nodding toward the quaking malamute.

Lucy jolted back and huffed in offense, eyes wide and lips agape. "Ugh, well excuse me for being shaken up after you nearly pried the forest from the ground!"

Umbrage boiled and oozed in Celeste's chest, erupting out of her throat. "I know how powerful I am...yet I handicap and hide myself just to appease these...these..."

"These what!?"

"These cowards! Everyone!" Magic bolted from her eyes briefly; she brandished her fangs.

"Celeste..."

"It's not my fault that they're too stupid to appreciate me! Why should I be the one to bow? Why am I the one who has to suffer!?"

"Is making people comfortable really suffering to you!?"

"My whole life I have hidden my power, Lucy; I have bent, and it's about time I break!"

Lucy's mouth stretched wide and her tongue arched to fire back some snide remark, but she snapped her jaws shut and her eyes darted for an escape. "Fine, just...let's just calm down. We're both riled up," she huffed.

"And the only time I am allowed to reach my potential, it's for someone else's benefit! I am NOT a tool for the weak!" Celeste succumbed to her rapid, forceful breathing. Her own words confused her. No one had used her for her magic, had they?

The two listened to the song of Celeste's panting for far too long. Finally, Lucy asked, "What are you even talking about?"

"I don't know," Celeste whimpered.