Embers

The Butcher of Blaviken

She hid in the shadows of Blaviken once the Witcher arrived. Eira had been roaming around the city for some time, not quite sure why she was here, only that she had to be. There was a pull she felt, deep inside her that made her travel towards Blaviken a few nights ago.

When Geralt of Rivia set foot in the city, a Kikimora tied on the back of his horse, Eira stared at him from a distance.

The magic around her trembled and tingled when the Witcher glanced over his shoulder into her direction. A black cloak hung over her head, covering most of her face from his gaze. When he averted his eyes from her and entered the Inn, she wondered if he had felt it too.

Eira could even see the golden, sparkling cord of magic being spun from her chest. It crawled out of her, tentacles spreading around before it made its way towards the Inn. Slowly yet steadily, it flew through the closed door. The sensation left her body warm and cold at the same time.

This was it. The Witcher was the reason she was there and walking around this World in the first place. In a human body that bared the scars of torture and eventually died of pneumonia. When Eira woke from the deep ice eighty years ago, the same golden thread had lingered around her. Yet, she didn't have a human form. Merely a small cloud of cold air seemed to escape the glacier she was born in.

A young elemental. Alone in the world and she didn't know why she was alive.

Eira traveled far and wide. Her primary embodiment made it easy and she had let the wind take her to the four corners of the Continent. Wherever she passed, ice formed on the lakes and rivers, snow fell down even if it was summer or hail ruined farm houses. She was still trying to learn how to control the powers that were hidden deep inside her. Eira was born out of ice; so ice she would wield for the first years of her existence.

Loneliness crept up on her. She tried to search for others like her but to no avail.  After decades, Eira gave up. Realization of her being the only one of her kind, made winter come sooner and it was harsher than every year that had passed. Crops died, people famished and monsters roamed the streets and forests more than ever.

It was in a small town by the edge of a large river, that Eira found a young woman dying in bed. The small house was lit by only one candle and the coughing came through the thin walls. The Elemental floated by the window and saw the fragile state the human was in. Thin and sweaty covered in old sheets. An older man by her side who held her hand.

If she was the only Elemental in the world, Eira thought to try and look human to not be alone anymore. Even if it was just to talk to someone and be heard. Eira was aware that she could easily take the body of someone healthy. Someone who was strong and alive. She thought about it in the past, but never took the opportunity.

She would notice they had families and loved ones. That they were needed. And Eira just couldn't do it. The Elemental never took a human body and decided to wait.

But the dying girl with long, blonde hair might be perfect. She was dying, Eira was sure. She could sense the heartbeat and it was too slow. The dark circles that decorated the woman's face under her beautiful blue eyes showed the exhaustion.

Eira had waited until the man left the house before she let herself in. Nobody could see her yet the woman had turned her head towards Eira. But the eyes saw nothing, they were already empty and her breathing shallow. The Elemental felt remorse. The girl was too young, barely twenty-five summers old, to die in such a painful manner.

As soon as the Elemental came close, the golden silken like cords appeared and circled around both of them. There wasn't any pain involved. The process was fast and the woman died as soon as Eira took over the body.

The Elemental had hummed a sweet song while she settled into the woman's form and felt the sick girl's soul drift off. Pain free and relieved her fight was over.

And now, Eira was in Blaviken. Watching the golden thread which made its way into the Inn and she swiftly made her way to one of the windows to glance inside.

The Witcher was talking to a girl with short hair and a frisky grin on her face when one of the golden tentacles touched his shoulder. Eira could see the surprise on the man's face while he scanned the room with his eyes. When his gaze came to rest on hers, Eira took a quick step back.

She couldn't hear the snarl that left his throat, but she could see it. Eira turned on her heels but wasn't fast enough. As soon as the Elemental wanted to disappear behind one of the darker corners, the Witcher was already on her tail.

A rough hand grabbed her by the neck, turned her around and shoved her painfully against the wall.

"Magic," the Witcher said, his voice hoarse and eyes blazed with anger. "I didn't feel you. What are you?"

He scanned her up and down while Eira grabbed him by the wrist. She tried to struggle against his hold but Geralt didn't even feel it.

"Not a sorceress, not a druid," he continued. "Something different. Something I haven't seen before."

"Let me go," Eira broke his train of thoughts which made his eyes snap up again.

The hard chokehold the Witcher had her in, made Eira scared and she rapidly lay her hands to rest on his chest. The Witcher didn't listen and increased his hold on her which made it hard to breathe. She asked one more time to let her go but it fell on deaf ears.

She gasped for air when Geralt had to let her go. An ice cold stream hit him in the chest out of nowhere. Eira fell on the cobblestones, bruising her knees in the process.

"Fuck," Geralt muttered from the other side of the alley.

He was rubbing his chest while he lay on his back, staring at the clouded sky above.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fucking fine," he rolled on his side to eventually get up.

His two swords still tied on his back when he strode towards her. Lips tight into a silent growl and Eira stood up as fast as she could. Holding out her hand towards him and a blue light formed in her palm.

"Keep back, Witcher," her voice stern. "I'm no sorceress. Nor am I a monster," she started and felt relieved when she noticed Geralt held his pace.

There was doubt on his face and his gaze was locked upon the ice drops that formed in her palm.

"Then what are you? Explain," he ordered, which made Eira snarl.

Although the Witcher held his position, Eira didn't drop her hand where a ball of ice was fully formed and ready to hit him on the head if he kept this up.

"An Elemental," she replied calmly. "Your Elemental."

"Rubbish," he shrugged it off, finally he looked away from her and rubbed his chest once more. "Elementals are long gone. Dead."

"Apparently not," her voice lost the calmness because the silver haired man before her started to annoy her. "Because of you, I'm alive," she spat at him. "I didn't ask to be here! Yet, here I am and then you attack me!"

"Hush," he said while he arched his brow. His features softened just a bit when he looked at her face. "I know you're not a monster. My medallion would have warned me or my senses would have been triggered."

He kept silent and Eira waited for a few more seconds before she closed her hand palm. Making the ice disappear as if it was never there.

"I have no need for an Elemental, if that is what you are," the doubt obvious in both his features as his tone.

The man turned away and started to make his way out of the alley. Eira shook her head and took a few steps towards the retreating Witcher.

"Wait, you can't just leave me," she almost pleaded with him. "I've been searching for a long time why I'm here in this world. I found it! I found you."

He glanced over his shoulder and found her pleading gaze that rested on him. The Witcher just shrugged before he left her alone in the shadows of the alley.