The Atheil Chronicles: A Call to Fire

Chapter 35

The first thing that Ariana heard when she came back into consciousness was a man singing softly. His voice was quiet as he sang the words under his breath, the melodic sound seeming to echo gently off of the walls around them. She realized after a moment that she was in a bed and she opened her eyes to see that the wood of the headboard was charred black as if it were once licked by flames. She was untethered, her hands and legs completely unbound as she lay on top of a lumpy comforter, and she found herself listening absentmindedly to the man's captivating voice as she began to creep almost imperceptibly to the edge of the bed.
"She was a Princess and he was no one.
They fell in love, first time they'd seen
Each other from across the trees.
They thought it was destiny,
Two souls entwined in light and darkness
Two hearts to hold a love unseen.
He saw his future in her eyes
And in his eyes she saw her dreams
But it was fate not to be held.
The Queen herself did bid farewell
She left him down to tread in hell.
His soul was shattered in her wake
It left a hole he could not shake-"
The voice stopped singing almost as soon as Ariana's foot hit the ground. She froze, not daring to move a muscle as she waited for them to start back up.
"Do not do that." A silky voice said, somewhere from across the room. "I had hoped that we could have a civilized conversation. Please don't make me tie you back up."
Ariana's heart seemed to stop in her chest, her eyes roaming the room for the source of the voice. She finally found him on the other side of the large room sitting on the ledge of the window, his hand hanging lazily by his side as he looked at her. She was immediately struck by his appearance. He had deep set ebony eyes and a thin pale face that was framed by long, silky black hair that fell past his shoulder blades. As she stared at him, he stood up, his long frame stretching to its full height and making him look even more slender. He was wearing midnight black leggings and an intricate tunic that trailed down his backside and to the ground in shimmering black folds. He looked like some powerful, dark King, which she supposed he was. She could see, now that he was standing and facing her, that his skin was as white as bones but that strange dark swirling lines were trailing up his arms and neck where his veins would be.
He walked silently across the room, his dark eyes surveying her as he finally stopped and sat in a chair on the other side of the bed. He inclined his head at the bed. "Sit." He said, his voice calm and quiet. She hesitated but eventually obeyed and sat on the edge of the bed, facing him. "I am Malor, and you," he said, delight filling his voice, "are Ariana. I have been looking forward to meeting you very much"
Ariana ignored this, looking around the room. It certainly didn't look anything like the room she had been imprisoned in by Morgrean. Though it was fire damaged and severely dirty, it was clearly once a lavish room. "Where are we? Where have you taken me?"
He flashed her a brilliantly white smile. "You're in Peridian, my dear, in the heart of Atheil."
She felt her breath catch in her throat as she realized what he meant. She felt herself coming off of the bed and then she began to back away from him. "No." She said, shaking her head as he watched her. "I want to go home. Please, I've never done anything to you. I'm not even supposed to be here."
He chuckled low. "On the contrary, you are meant to be exactly where you are."
She was still inching her way backward when he said this and she drew her eyebrows together in confusion at his words before whipping around and putting on a burst of speed to the door. She was going to make it, she thought wildly, her breath coming rapidly as she pushed herself to run harder toward the door. She reached out her hand, her fingers grazing the bronze doorknob, when she was suddenly jerked backward by thin but strong arms wrapping around her waist. She gasped as all of the air was knocked out of her lungs, coughing and kicking her legs as he pulled her backwards effortlessly. He deposited her on the bed and she flipped on her back to stare up at him. Up close, she could see that his eyes were not just black but that they seemed to be made of a black smoke that was twisting and writhing inside of his irises.
He looked down at her reproachfully. "Don't do that again. I really don't want to have to use force on you but I will if you give me no choice."
Ariana scooted back in the bed until her back was against the headboard, then glared at him. "Leave me alone!" She yelled, suddenly angry. "You're nothing but a monster, I don't want to talk to you. You're better off just throwing me in the dungeon and getting it over with."
He didn't answer her, but simply turned around and made his way back to his chair from before. When he had sat himself down, he crossed his long legs, folding his hands over his knee thoughtfully. "I see you've come here today with a preconceived notion of who I am. Monster, am I? Perhaps to some but to most I am a savior that is here to free them from the bonds of an archaic system that has been designed to separate them."
She crossed her arms, looking toward the door. She remained silent, refusing to speak to him. She knew that nothing she could say or do would change her fate, so why should she give him the satisfaction?
"Please, I had hoped we could have a friendly chat today, just the two of us."
That got her attention. "Friendly?" She said, turning to him with unbridled rage evident in her voice. "Do you consider it friendly to have a person kidnapped, horribly tortured, then kidnapped again just to meet up? Because I don't."
He sighed heavily, hardly bothered by her tone. "I suppose you're referring to the Goblin, then?"
Ariana snorted in response. Her hands were shaking, the adrenaline that had been pumping through her veins as she felt grief for her torment now turning to anger.
"I must admit, he was a bit overzealous in his orders. I apologize for that."  He said. His words washed over her, sounding sincere even though she knew that they weren't. "He misunderstood what I asked him to do but you know what they say: never ask a Goblin to do a War Lord's work." He chuckled, clearly amused with himself.
"So you're telling me that you didn't tell him to kidnap and torture me?" She asked, disbelieving.
Malor shrugged, cocking his head to the side and piercing her with his dark eyes. "Does it seem logical that I would go to such great lengths to meet you but ask my inferiors to torture you first?" He shook his head. "No. I told them specifically to bring you to me unharmed. Morgrean just-" He paused, thinking. "Got a bit excited."
Ariana shuddered at his words. No, she warned herself, she couldn't let herself get wrapped up in what he was saying right now. She had to stay focused on getting out of here. She squared her shoulders, fixing him with a look of disgust. "If it's so important that I'm kept alive, then why did your Goblin try to kill me with poison?"
He looked genuinely uncomfortable. "That was a mistake." He said, almost seeming ashamed. "If they had known what they were dealing with at the time, they never would have dared."
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, forgetting, in her confusion, to be angry.
"It means that they were not properly informed on what they should or should not be doing and they made a grievous error. That's why I decided to come and fetch you myself."
"Why do you need me alive? What could I possibly do to help you win this war?" She asked him, watching his face for anything that would give him away.
He raised his dark eyebrows. "Why so quick to judge, Ariana? I'm hurt by these horrible accusations of yours. What would make you think that I just slaughter aimlessly? Why would I hurt you?"
Now it was her turn to chuckle. "Oh, I don't know, probably because you're like the epitome of evil. Don't try to play coy with me; I've seen what you've been doing. You can drop the holier-than-thou attitude, it's not working."
He leaned back in his chair, slowly letting out a low exhale. "Ahh, I see you've already been pulled under by our wonderful Queen."
"What?"
He cocked his head, thinking. "Or was it the Prince?" He surveyed her thoughtfully before shaking his head. "Either way, it is no matter. You see, Ariana, they're under the impression that the world is strictly black and white. There's no gray area in between with them, no room for negotiation. It's either their way or no way. It's always been like that in this godforsaken world. Anything unique is to be cut down at the root and destroyed. All I want is for the people to live the way that they choose, that's all."
What he said made perfect sense but Ariana knew that it wasnt that simple. "And I suppose the logical way to achieve that is through massacring whole villages?" She asked.
A hint of annoyance crept into his handsome features for the first time that evening. "Don't be naive, Ariana, this is war. Do you really think that no one would get caught up in it? Sacrifices must be made for the good of the whole. If that means we must burn a village or two, then so be it."
She just stared at him, speechless. "What do you want with me?" She asked him. "Why are you putting me through all of this? If you're trying to get to the Prince through me, you're going the wrong route. He doesn't care about me at all; he never came for me in all this time, so don't count on him coming now." Even as she said it, she felt the pain of it hit her like a ton of bricks. It was true; if he hadn't come for her in 14 days, why would she expect him to come swooping in to save her now. For all she knew, she was just a lost cause to him and he was going back to his old life and letting the memory of her fade away with time.
"Oh Ariana, you are deeply mistaken." He said, and he leaned forward in his chair. "I'm here for you and you alone."
She was taken aback by this and she knew her face was showing her surprise. "Why? What do you care about some human?"
He took a deep breath, his black swirling eyes staring at her ceaselessly. Finally, he spoke. "Do you believe in destiny?" He asked. Whatever she had thought he would say, this was not it. She simply stared at him, not answering. He continued. "I certainly do; it was destiny 22 years ago that brought me to this exact spot and I believe it is destiny, now, that has brought you here today."
She drew her eyebrows together. "YOU brought me here today, not destiny." She said, angrily
"You're mistaken if you think the two are not the same." He said, then leaned back in his chair again, adjusting himself into a more comfortable position. "Can I tell you a story?" He asked her, surveying her over the bed between them. When she didn't respond, he once again continued. "22 years ago, I came to this castle in the dead of night, hoping to find the High Queen of Atheil and take her with me back to the Darklands. There is a rumor that I killed her and her husband that night but that is a lie. When I arrived here that night, I arrived with the belief that my victory would be swift and relatively unchallenged. I had drawn the Peridien forces out into the city and away from the King and Queen, so I did not expect to have much of a fight when I reached here. As I pushed open those doors over there," he pointed to the doors that Ariana had tried to escape out of, "I saw the Queen gathering up her things in a small bag while her husband and one other guard stood in the far corner of the room over there." Now he pointed to the corner directly opposite from them. "She was heavily pregnant at the time, though no one had known about it, not even me. I remember that, as I burst through the doors and saw her standing there, her belly bloated beneath her dress, I stopped dead in my tracks and stared. I had brought three Elves with me and they immediately went after her husband and the guard while I took up my obsidian sword, facing her. I told her to surrender herself to me and I'd leave here peacefully but she refused. She picked up her own sword from beside her on the bed and swung it at me, as fierce as any swordsman I had ever encountered. She was strong but I was stronger. As our swords clashed and I began to slowly win the match, something very peculiar happened. The room burst with color as if lightning were alive within it, crackling through the air. It passed through my Elves, striking them dead where they stood. It tried to get me, too, but I channeled it through my sword, the force of the magic shattering it to dust in my very hands. I have never seen anything like it in my long life and I have never seen anything like it since." He paused, and Ariana felt herself stricken with wonder by his captivating story despite her best efforts not to. "What she did that day was an ancient, unknown magic that has been lost to this world for eons, perhaps even longer. Even she seemed surprised by it, looking down at her stomach in wonder. Do you know why that is?" He asked her.
Without knowing why she was doing it, Ariana answered. "No." She whispered, looking at him.
"Because it was not her magic that manifested in this room that day but the child growing inside of her."
Ariana felt her eyes widen. "How do you know that?" She asked him quietly.
He took a breath. "Common sense, mainly, but there was more to it; I knew it to be fact that the High Queen's magic was pink but the magic that I saw that day was a vivid blue." He let this sink in before continuing. "I knew, then, that this was the child of the prophecy, the one that I needed to take in order to fulfill my own destiny."
Ariana felt like she was waking up out of a dream, the story having lulled her into a temporary feeling of safety. She shook her head and gave him a questioning look. "Why are you telling me this? What does any of this matter to me?" She asked, confused.
"Do you know the name of the sword that you were found with?" He asked, abruptly changing the subject.
This seemed so off the wall and random that she felt completely thrown off. "What? No, it was just some random sword that I was given." She said, now even more confused than she had been before.
"That," he said, his face quite serious, "is not just some random sword." He narrowed his dark eyes at her. "Where did you get it from?" The question seemed innocent enough but she could read the undertones in it.
She decided to lie. "Just some random shopkeeper we met along the way." She said, trying her best to sound casual.
"You lie." He said, his eyes seeming to swirl even more as he stared at her accusingly.
"I'm-I'm not lying." She insisted.
"You are." He said, his voice deadly calm. "That is no random sword and he was no random shopkeep."
She felt startled. "Who said it was a he?" She asked him.
"Was it?"
"Perhaps" She said, not sure exactly what to do. He clearly knew who gave it to her but how and why did it matter?
He shifted in his seat again, propping his elbow on the arm of the chair and leaning lazily on his hand. "Well," he said, taking a heavy breath as he thought out loud, "assuming it was a man, because it was, I know it was not a shopkeeper who gave you that. No shopkeep in this entire world would have had that sword. There is only one man who could have had that sword all this time and I know that because I have been searching for him for many years. He's the one who stole it away from me, whose wife I killed by my own hand, and whose daughter he hid away from me so that I could not find her."
Arianas heart was thumping hard in her chest. "And who is that?" She asked.
Malor gave her a small smirk. "Your father." He said, watching her closely.
"My father?!" She said, exasperation flooding into her voice. "You're not just evil, you're completely mad."
"I am not." He said firmly, looking annoyed as he fixed his gaze on her intently. "Answer me this: Was this man hidden away somewhere where no one would find him? Was he unusually attached to you, perhaps overly concerned about your happiness and well-being? Did he tell you that his wife had been killed? Maybe that you remind him of her sometimes? Oh Ariana, learn to read between the lines. He's your father."
She blanched. "But I'm not an Elf! I'm a human. I was born on Earth, not Atheil!"
"Were you, though?"
"Yes, I was." She said, wondering if they'd just keep going around in circles forever. This was utter nonsense, in her opinion. She knew where she was from, he had no right to try to argue with her, of all people.
"But you were adopted, correct?"
"How do you know that?" She asked him, shocked. There was no way for him to know that about her. Only Ryonen knew.
He smiled, pleased. "I had a very lovely conversation with your adoptive mother, Molly."
Ariana was shaking now. Mom, she thought, sadness and rage fighting to be at the forefront of her mind. "What have you done to her! You better not have hurt my mom or I swear-"
Malor interrupted her, looking offended. "I have been an exemplary host to her, just as I am being to you right now." He sighed, waving her off. "Like I said, we had quite the chat. I found out some interesting facts about you."
Ariana shook her head, her hair flying around her shoulder in streaks of auburn. She didn't want to listen to this; it was all just tactics to upset her. "I don't believe you." She said angrily.
"Did your 'mother' ever mention to you where you came from? Who your parents were? What orphanage she adopted you from?"
"No," she said, hesitating for the first time, "but she didn't like to talk about those things. She always said that I was her real child, no matter what the papers said."
Malor laughed lightly, the sound like the trilling of bells. "It was a simple mind spell, I don't blame you for not catching it. It took a lot of persuasion on my end to be able to remove it. Her memories were buried deep, I'll give him credit for that, but not so deep that I couldn't find them. I saw it all quite clearly."
"You're wrong." Ariana said, vehemently denying what she knew could never be true. There was just no way. "You're lying. I-I don't know why, but you're trying to trick me or something."
"Quite the contrary." He said, a bit of frustration slipping into his voice. "Why do you refuse to see that which is clearly true. You know that you never fit in back home."
"How do you know that?"  She demanded, spooked, but he just continued as if she hadn't spoken.
    "You never felt like you belonged there, you don't even feel like you belong here. That's because, well, you don't belong among any of the Elves that you've met. You are no ordinary Elf, you are the Princess of the Prophecy, High Princess of Atheil. You do not belong with your lessers. You belong alongside me, helping me to make Atheil into the kingdom it was always meant to be."
Ariana could do nothing but shake her head in disbelief. So many thoughts were fluttering around in her mind, all of them competing for her attention. She felt overwhelmed by it all. "I'm not anything like they described- I'm not an Elf, you dont know what you're talking about."
"I do know what I'm talking about." He said, regaining some of his composure. "I saw it all quite clearly through your mothers eyes."
"My mom," Ariana said, emphasizing each word carefully, "adopted me. You're crazy."
"I'm not." He insisted, emphasizing his own words just as heavily. "Let me tell you what I saw; her real memories, not the fake memory one has of going out and adopting you and bringing you home. The real thing. He tried very hard to keep me from finding it but I have ways of finding things out when necessary."
Ariana swallowed, not knowing what to do. She wanted to know what he was going to say but she felt so many conflicting emotions inside of her that she wasnt sure what instinct to listen to. She wanted to scream at him, to beat him, to demand that he tell her what he had done to her mother in order to find out these things that had he claimed to have seen in her mind, but she also wanted desperately to hear what he was going to say; to hear these truths that he claimed to know about her.
Malor surveyed her over the bed, taking her silence for permission. "Your mother believes that, nearly 18 years ago when you would have been 1, she went out and adopted a baby girl from an orphanage out of state and brought her home. What she does not know is that that was a false memory planted in her mind. What really happened was much more interesting to me and," he gave her a meaningful look, "to you. You see, the night that she thinks she adopted you, she was actually sitting at home reading a book in the living room when she heard a noise outside. She went to the door, looking out into the darkness and not seeing anything. Curious, she grabbed a flashlight and ventured out into the yard until she found herself standing at the edge of the forest. She then heard faint crying from within the trees that she suspected was from a small child and, though she was terrified, she went in without even a second thought." Ariana swallowed, her gaze never wavering from his face as Malor recalled this supposed memory.
"She held her flashlight tightly in her hand, aiming it at the path before her. The further into the forest she got, the more uneasy she began to feel; an eerie silence seemed to hang in the air that night and not even the wind stirred in the trees. She kept walking, trying to ignore the unease that had begun to creep its way into her heart. She feared that some person had abandoned their child or forgotten them when they left and that fear was more substantial than the one that was growing in her chest from the darkness. As she passed by a large oak tree, the branches above her shifted to reveal a ray of soft moonlight that shone down from the mostly clear sky. Directly in the path of that light, was a small baby, no more than a year old, lying fast asleep on the forest floor wrapped in a green silken blanket with curved writing embroidered on the edges. She knelt down beside the baby, picking it up gently. She was immediately in love with this child, this sleeping angel that she believed she would never have for herself, but she still wondered, where was this baby's parents?
As she turned to bring this child home, a tall man with chestnut hair stepped out from the shadows, speaking to her. He asked her if she was willing to accept the task of raising the child as her own and protecting her. She was confused by this, asking him if this was his child. He looked down at the child sleeping in her arms and told her that she could not be his child anymore, that she was not safe with him. Your mother tried to ask where the child's mother was but he simply said that she was dead. He asked her again, would she raise the child as her own and love her, until it was time for her to come back to her home and fulfill her destiny. Your mother was confused but, as she gazed down at the child sleeping in her arms, she agreed. As soon as she did, he flicked his hands and a spell was cast on her. He took your mother and the child back, following her home. Once there, she sat down on the couch and waited, left in a trance as the man wove the proper spell in order to convince her of the false narrative that he meant to plant in her mind. He created all of the required documentation and set them on her table before altering your mother's memories. Before he left, he kissed the child's head once more and then vanished into the night." When he finally finished the story, he fixed his unnatural swirling black eyes on her stunned face. "That child was you, Ariana. These are memories buried deep inside your mothers mind. I've seen them with my own eyes. You are the child of the prophecy, you are that child, you are HIS child."
Ariana felt her breath hitch in her throat. How could she believe any of this? He could just be making it all up, but to what end? Some part of her could see the sense in it but another part of her wanted to deny it until her dying breath. She chose to deny. "What you're saying-it can't be true. I'm not an Elf; I'm clearly a human. How do you explain that?"
Malor waved her off lazily. "That's the easiest bit; he wove a spell around you, too. Somehow, he figured out how to mask you from me and even from yourself. You've been completely unaware of who you really are, of your powers. None of them have manifested how they should have. I really must commend him for that one; I'm still not sure how he did it." Ariana could sense a change in his mood as he said it, as if it truly stumped him and that displeased him. He seemed to shake himself out of it. "It is no matter; I will figure out a way to free you from this glamor. You're of no use to me like this; I need you as you truly are."
Ariana felt like her mind was going to burst. "This is insane." She said, not sure if she was talking to Malor or herself.
Now Malor was serious again, sitting up straight in his chair and looking at her regally. At that moment, he looked every bit the Dark King that he claimed to be. "You have a great destiny to fulfill, Ariana. Not the one that they claim but your true destiny; your destiny alongside me."
She shook her head, finally being broken from the spell that his words had seemingly cast over her. "No." She said, her voice ringing out in the emptiness of the room. Malor drew his brows together as he looked at her and she stood up, her hands out in front of her as if she could physically push his words away. "I don't care who or what you think I am; none of that matters. I know who I am inside and I am not evil." She swallowed, the truth of her words driving her forward. "I would never do the things that you have done. I would never hurt the innocent or take pleasure in other people's pain. So whatever it is that you want from me, I won't do it, regardless of whether I truly am this person you think I am or not. I won't do it."
Ariana watched as Malor's handsome features turned to rage. In that brief moment before he smoothed his face, she saw the monster that was lying just below the surface, hiding from the light. "You have a lot of time to figure this out. You dont need to answer me right now." He said, a lightness to his voice.
"I don't care what happens, I will never change my mind." She said, glaring at him.
"You will, I can promise you that. Whether it be by your own volition," he said, suddenly looking up at her with a wicked grin, "or if you need to be persuaded by spending a bit more time with Morgrean. It does not matter to me how you get there, as long as the outcome is the same."
Ariana froze, her blood running cold as his words washed over her. No, she thought, he didn't mean-. She looked at him, her eyes widening in terror. Malor gave her another smile as he snapped his fingers and the door to the room burst open. Moregrean stood in the doorway, his keen eyes finding her immediately. Malor sighed, leaning back in his chair as if he were suddenly exhausted. He nodded in Ariana's direction. "Take her to the dungeons, Morgrean. She needs a little time to think."
As soon as Morgrean began to advance on her, Ariana was on the move. She dove onto the bed, rolling wildly as she came off the other side. She began to run around the side of the bed when Morgrean's talons raked across her arm, causing her to cry out in pain. She ducked under his reaching fingers, his talons barely missing her cheek, and tried to make it to the door. However, once again she was jerked back as an arm wrapped around her waist.
"Stop it!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, kicking with every ounce of strength that she had left in her body. She reached a hand back behind her and clawed at his face, trying desperately to get any part of him so that she could escape. He yelled out as one of her nails caught his eye, then he squeezed her so hard that she saw stars in her vision and went limp.
"Enough." Malor said, his voice reverberating with power. Ariana looked over at him and he was standing now, his dark hair falling forward over his shoulders as he grimaced at them. "Morgrean, wait." He said, stepping closer and waving his hands. Black, wiry ropes materialized out of thin air and began tightly binding her wrists together. She let out a groan of pain as the ropes instantly began to open her barely healed wounds. He peered down at Ariana, his cold eyes unfeeling as he watched her struggle against her bonds. "I need her bent to my will. Do what you must but do not kill her."
Morgrean gave a fanged smile. "My pleasure." He said, and he grabbed her under one of her arms as he began to drag Ariana backwards out of the room, kicking and screaming in her panic the whole way. Her eyes looked desperately back into the room as Morgrean dragged her through the door, letting it fall shut as he strode determinedly to the dungeons. Just before the wood slammed shut behind her, Ariana saw Malor looking down at her, the swirling mass of black smoke in his eyes gazing at her without pity or remorse.