Summer Garden

Alphege

Alphege watched as the mage stood up, dropping the heart and wiping her bloody hands on her dress. "Well, then. It's done."

The elf inclined her head slightly, watching the one she was oath-bound to closely. She had no love of this human had done her best to leave her mortality behind. She was a perversion, and her task was heresy. Her methods were not the fine-grained actions of a expert physician as she seemed to believe. No, this mage treated magic like a hammer, beating the realms into submission, there was no grace to her actions. It was repugnant.

The immortal beside her was recovering his strength. He would begin his attack in a moment. However, if she had timed this correctly then it would not matter and he would fail to intervene, and her vow would remain unbroken. A necessary evil, but one she intended to redeem herself for. Repentance was always an option open to the faithful who follow the narrow path. Allowing herself to be forced into this position was a mistake she did not deserve to be forgiven for, but her goddess would do so. It was not a choice. Alphege would simply have to try and prove to herself she was worth such forgiveness.

The mage turned to her and smiled tightly, "Don't follow me, elf. Once I leave, I will consider your debt forgiven."

She nodded nearly imperceptibly. The mage turned and vanished.

Alphege spun her hand, the spear jerking out the man's body to a scream of agony. She flicked the blood from it and turned to face him, "I would rather not meet in combat."

He spat blood at her feet, and then turned and stumbled, falling beside the prone Fae's body. His hands were hesitant, shaking, as he touched her cheek gently. The elf watched dispassionately. The soul had already departed, what was left was but an empty shell.

"Can you bring her back?"

Her eyes widened in surprise, "No. One cannot resurrect a Fae. To do so violates causality and causes the soul to be ejected from the normal flow of time. There was one for whom it was done, and he cannot be perceived except by those with extreme levels of power."

The immortal sighed heavily, "And you're extreme? Like Summer?"

"I am but a candle to the sun that was the queen." Alphege replied, "I am a guardian spirit. I stand at the doorway of a realm. The queen was the creator of such a realm. The power of creation is unmatched."

He held the shell gently, tears pouring down his face silently.

She waited, silent and unmoving. Grief was a normal emotional process. Denying it to attempt an action was folly at this point. The queen was dead, and magic was already receding. Soon this realm would end, as would all others. Stored magic would persist for a short time. The magic stored in the living things of the world would sustain it, for a time. Yet no new flower would blossom, and no leaf would grow upon a tree. The realms had but a handful of seasons left before they collapsed and became nothing. The worlds had come from nothing, and would return to it. Ignoring the pain of a loved one lost would not aid them in delaying or offsetting this inevitability.

The elf sighed and raised her spear as the air rippled and a Fae in black armour appeared. He froze as the tip touched his throat, and he raised his hands, "I have no quarrel with you, elf."

Alphege inclined her head, "Do not approach the young master. He is unsettled."

She lowered the spear as the assassin stared, "So it really happened. Vastras killed her."

The immortal glared up at him, "Why are you here, Rendi?"

"Astrian poured her visions into my skull." The assassin replied curtly, "It took me some time to work out what she was trying to tell me."

Alphege remain motionless as the assassin stared, apparently unaware of the Faeling peeking through a gap in reality, half-hidden. The child would feel this. She felt conflicted. Among her kind, children were highly valued. They were coddled and protected from all wrong. Yet in this, as so many things, the Fae were different. They did not truly view children as children, but rather as adults who had forgotten themselves. In some respects, it reflected the truth of their life cycle, in others it was probably more traumatic a reentry into this world than was strictly necessary.

She felt the knife form by her throat, and remained still. The Shadow Knight spread her darkness over the area and whispered in her ear, "Did you hurt her?"

"Indirectly." She replied.

The Fae hissed gently, the knife beginning to split the skin delicately, "Is there a reason I shouldn't kill you, yet?"

"I wish to atone."

The darkness receded and Princess Luna stepped by her, looking at the body of her sister. Her hands opened and shut repeatedly, and then the voice of the timid Fae who had followed her echoed in the cave, "We should bury her. Here."

Luna nodded, fighting back tears, "It was her favourite place."

Trei stood up hesitantly, "I will."

"Screw you, Trei!" Luna hissed, "You're not the only one who lost her!"

The immortal flinched, "I know. I'm sorry, Luna. I'm sorry I exist. I'm sorry Vastras made me to kill her. I'm sorry I couldn't stop her when she carved out her heart. I'm sorry that Summer resurrected me."

Luna sighed heavily and grabbed one of his hands, speaking more gently, "Screw you for that too, Trei. We're going to need you. I still need you. And if you try and kill yourself, you can bet your ass that Astrian will drag your soul back again, just like last time. But this isn't over yet, in fact, things are about to go sideways."

Trei looked at her in confusion as Luna traced a spell onto the stone of the cave floor, "What do you mean? Vastras got what she wanted."

"Immortal." Alphege spoke with frustration, "Can you not yet clearly see it? The Fates attempted to separate you from the queen, merely to prevent what has just come to pass. Those that have been fighting you will no longer be your enemy. Repairing the damage done will be their concern, as much as yours. Vastras has unbalanced the cosmic powers with the assumption that those who hold such power will immediately take advantage and attempt to seize more power. That is not the behaviour of most thinking individuals however. They will first attempt to maintain the status quo. They will, in a short time, descend into chaos and war, that is inevitable. Yet, first, they will attempt to fix things. That advantage is yours. F'rir will guide your hand."

Luna snorted derisively as the earth imploded, "F'rir. Keep your religion to yourself, elf."

"F'rir died attempting to protect the immortal one, and keep him from the mortal witchqueen." Alphege spoke impassively, "That is not to say that she did not foresee the possibility of her death, and prepare for it."

All of them looked at her, and the elf felt almost as naked as when Vastras had walked in on her in the springs, "The goddess predicted my eventual involvement."

Luna smiled and jerked a finger at the immortal, "Just one question. What do you feel when you look at him?"

Alphege felt her cheeks redden.