FATE

Delirium

Picture of Alecander enclosed above.

Maybe it was the cry that caught me off guard, or was it smell of soot which engulfed the whole household?

I had no time to comprehend the situation.

What I did know, at the time, was that I needed to get her out of there as soon as possible.

I ran in the direction of the sound, finding Mandy sprawled over the floor, crying. I wasted no time in picking her up and throwing her over my shoulder.

"Where's your closest copy of the compendium?" I rambled, heading further away from her room, which was in the process of being engulfed by the hungry flames.

"My living room; second door to the left. By the way, in case we die today, I wasn't completely honest about where I got the gem from! It was from a mortal, but that mortal was Alecander's secretary. I'm so sorry, Fate!" she wailed.

"I'm definitely going to live; I'm immortal. It's you that I'm trying to save right now, girlie." I deadpanned, voice void of emotion.

"Oh."

I kicked the door open with my foot, and whizzed in.

I put Mandy down, ordering her to find the holy book. When she did, I held her hand.

She glanced at our entwined fingers, perplexed.

"You can't travel through the compendium; you don't have the power nor the authority to. I, however, do, so I'm taking you with me. Whatever happens, do not let go of my hand." I explained.

"You might become a little nauseous after this. Stomach it in, as I don't want you throwing up anywhere near me."

She gulped.

"Ready?" I inquired.

I never heard her answer, for my palm had already brushed the embedded symbol, and we were already travelling through nothingness.

Throughout the whole five second ride, which practically seemed longer than my whole entire life, she was gagging. I should not have been so cold about it, as she could not have controlled her reaction, but I was unable to sustain how pissed off I was.

Next thing I knew, her body landed in a thud next to me.

I let a breath I did not know I was holding out. Relief was an understatement.

Hilaeria came rushing in; concern etched on her face. Her nebulous, Eden-green eyes, just like were two beryl-green jewels melted onto snow, were inspecting me thoroughly, searching for a sign of any anguish.

She let out the breath she was holding.

"Oh, Fate, I was so worried! I smelled soot and sulphur. Was there a fire? Are you hurt?"

Coughing interrupted her, and she was taken aback. she took a glance at the woman's frail body, which was sprawled over the wooden floor, covered in black grime. She rushed over to her side, soothingly brushing the woman's hair away from her face.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" She inquired, voice laced with concern.

She helped Mandy up, rushing to get her a cup of water, which was gulped down within seconds.

"Hilaeria, you're even more beautiful in person." Mandy gushed, looking at her idol in awe.

Her cheeks turned a crimson red, almost the colour of her luscious lips.

"This is all insignificant at this point. Somebody lit your room on fire." I stated, "What was so important that would require the ignition of your house?"

"I...I don't know," she stuttered, her voice cracking as she sobbed, "the only somewhat valuable thing there is that stupid stone that you've found, and you've taken that!"

"What stone?" Hilaeria appealed, intrigued by the sudden twist in the story she then knew little snippets of.

I took a little velvet sac out of the hidden pocket of my signature leather jacket, then handed it to her.

She wasted no time in opening it, dropping the entrancing gem into the delicate palm of her soft hand. Upon further inspection, she realised that it was no phony replica; not a cheap crystal which can be utilised in mainstream woman jewelry in hopes of making them look better, but something enchanted, magical and, most importantly, conjuring. This was no normal stone, and the look on her face mirrored her new unspoken knowledge. In her hands was the talisman of destruction.

She had a stern look on her face, one of fury and outrage, as she called Alecander.

The Cove was situated in the in-between, a land shorn of both skyscrapers and mystical castles. Embraced in the lean fingers of sturdy trees, it was protected from people's sights. That, alongside the incantation woven by the most renowned names in witchcraft history. However, even though The Cove was out of reach, whoever was in need of reaching out to an entity was capable of doing so.It was not like we had a hunch, some absurd super hero power in which we would have been able to sense everybody's gravest needs; that would have been extremely overwhelming- we were in charge of the whole world- and intimidating at the same time.

 If you were in need of aid from entities, all you had to do was call the hotline. Might that not be as interesting as some whimsical spell, or some one of a kind state-of-the-art technology, but it was something that can be easily utilised by any creature; mortal or not. Simpler tasks, mediocre ones with miniature levels of conflict, were to be redirected to our most trusted men -the likes of Alecander, Havoc and Cupid- each in their own field. Issues that were deemed too serious or important were passed on to us. The system had been on-going ever since landlines were found, and we never had any issues with it, except when we first started the assembly of telephone and internet lines in the in-between.

Alecander was there in no time, accompanied by Chaos, whose white eyes glowed with mischief as they landed on Mandy.

"Well, who do we have here?" he mused, a smirk plastered on his face, "A rebellious necro, totally my type. Is this cupid's doing?"

Mandy looked at him with shock, but her features softened after a couple of seconds. It was probable that he was manipulating her mind, for she stood up -almost obediently- and placed her hand on his lower back, playing with the waistband of his sweats. A lazy grin was on his face as he excused himself, Mandy trailing closely behind him.

Alecander's eyes skimmed both Hilaeria and I's faces in search of any sign of disappointment, but we just shrugged.

"When you live forever, a couple hookups here and there wouldn't hurt." I said, brushing off the topic.

Alecander was not satisfied with my answer, as his gaze shifted off to Hilaeria's, his eyes pleading.

"Chaos is, you know, Chaos. He hooks up with different girls and guys all the time, leaving them heartbroken afterwards. Some think that Chaos is actually into them, but are almost always let down. Hell, Fate and I once walked in on him having a fivesome. He has way too much fun doing that, and I'm not proud of it, but he never listens to me! " Hilaeria moralised, disappointment dripping off of her voice.

Alecander nods in comprehension, then clears his throat.

"Why was I summoned here? I have a funeral to attend to, you know."

Hilaeria rummaged through her coat's pocket, taking out the gem and handing it to him. His face was morphed from one of impartiality to one of distress, as creases started forming on his forehead. He stared at the talisman for a couple minutes, then started pinching the bridge of his nose. He let out a sigh that had been kept in since his eyes were set on the object resting within his coarse palms, radiating with an otherworldly glimmer.

"This was allegedly buried with Nancy a week ago. How did it end up in your hands?"

"Are you sure Nancy's body's buried in there? Or if it's buried at all?"

Silence.