Origins of the Fates

13: Eris Morn

Before we departed the city walls, Willa had to return to the Glass City. So despite that, we all had been told to keep going. Needless to say, Moriah was not happy that her lover had been randomly recalled.

Jericho, Ciro, Moriah, and Tiberius all remain silent as we reach the other side of the walls. Leaving Ilyntalos behind for the first time in ages is a bit bittersweet.

I wish my sisters and Aires could have been with me. Instead of these .... disgusting people who do not care one single bit about me.

As we pass into the Wastes beyond Ilyntalos, I glance back at the walls of the city. Ilyntalos is not my home, but at the same time, it is. I feel a pang of guilt for leaving it. Especially without my family.

I wrap my arms around myself, trying to hold in the pain and sadness in me. But as the jet we borrowed from Mercury glides fast over the lands of the Wastes, I sense something changing. Something in the air is shifting.

Glancing over to Jericho, I see the look on the Reaper's face is as concerned as I feel. He glances my way, black eyes glittering like a pair of dark stars. He nods toward the back of this jet, and I nod once.

I get up and head to the back, hiding from the direct view of the others. A few minutes pass, and Jericho joins me.

"You felt that?"

I nod. "Yeah, but what was it?'

Jericho shakes his head. "I'm not sure, but it was odd, wasn't it? It almost seemed to be .... a change. Like there was some sort of transformation. But what exactly changed?"

"I'm not sure, but maybe it was something one of the people in here?"

"Hmm. I'm not sure, Eris. None of them even reacted to it. But whatever it is, it's..."

Jericho is cut off as another weird feeling hits the two of us. I gasp, grabbing my chest. He bends forward, breathing hard as his eyes widen. His Z-shaped horns scrape the ceiling, and his bone wings twitch hard. He looks at me, his eyes glowing in a strange purple, black, and silver color.

When the feeling strikes me, I feel my own fae wings, which hover in the Aether, start to shimmer into existence behind me. I try to hide them, as only Jericho here knows about them, and I'd rather not have Mercury become aware of them. As he'd likely implement their torture as a punishment of some kind.

Claws of ice and fire form over my fingers, and I hiss, trying to banish the elements back into the bottomless well within me. I feel my eyes burning with that same power. My scars that line my body all begin to glow a strange color, and I realize that they are indeed the same color as the shade of Jericho's eyes.

"What is this?" Jericho asks, his typically raspy voice somehow even more deep and dark. He looks over to the others, but when I follow his gaze, I realize he's seeing that the others are not reacting.

"Something is happening to us," I whisper. "But why isn't this happening to them?"

He shakes his head. "Uhh, I... oww... I don't know, Eris."

"Dear little fae, I see you suffering so. Come to my embrace, or fall deeper into the feelings of woe."

The voice fades from my mind, and I look at Jericho. "Did you hear that? That voice?"

He blinks and nods, still holding his chest. "I did. That ... that was the voice of Ramsey, a dragon that Mercury keeps captive in his dungeons."

"What? What did she say to you, then?"

"I assumed ... she was talking to you, as ... she mentioned a 'dear little fae' and I'm certainly not that."

"Why would she speak to you, too, but refer to me?"

"I'd assume it is because of what is happening to us both right now," he replies. "Eris, we need to get away from the others. As soon as possible."

"I can't leave, Mercury ... he has my family."

"Eris," he says, resting a hand on my shoulder.  "You need to understand this. If they find out that something is affecting us both like this, it will put both our lives in danger. We need to flee, and return to the Glass City. But if the others here see us like this, we are royally screwed."

I sigh, a plume of smoke and frost coming out of my mouth as I do so. I gasp, stepping back, looking on as the smoky ice fades. Jericho shakes his head.

"Eris, this is bad. We need to figure something out."

Nodding, I close my eyes and focus. Jericho gasps and I open my eyes, seeing a bright blue portal that I'd summoned form behind me. We walk into it together, leaving the others behind in the ship.