Bloodline of a Tempest

Chapter 14

'I need to take a look.' Cay was standing in front of her, his patience at its end. 'You are being difficult, Nema.'

'I am fine,' she waved her hand, watching Aves' proud face as Nema tamed the final whips of a tempest that was raging over the sky only moments ago.

Cay moved, so he was standing in front of her again, as if being in her face would make her hear him better. 'Are you telling me that you do not care that your face will be covered in scars?'

Nema sighed. 'I don't,Cay, I really don't. No one cares how my face looks.'

Cay and Aves exchanged a look.

'Nema,' Aves was looking at Cay, warning him to stay out of it. 'Dear, maybe...'

'Ignoring the pain will not make it hurt less,' Cay cried.

'Leave me alone!' Nema threatened.

But he wouldn't. Sometimes it looked as if the sole purpose of his existence was to draw out every painful feeling inside of her and make her suffer through it until she wants to scream.

'The fire-feeders are dangerous.' Cay wouldn't leave it alone. 'What did you think it would happen?' She already wanted to smack him in the face. 'That The Source would bless your union and you'd grow old together by the elm forests in the north?'

Something inside Nema cracked open, something she held closed with her back pressed against the door, refusing to deal with it until the current pulls her under.

'I said, leave me alone!' Nema said, her words low, vibrating with anger.

There was a moment of silence before the wind picked up.

'Nema,' Aves was monitoring how the thunder clouds gathered back as quickly as Nema had made them dissipate.

Nema was on her feet, her fists pressed by her side as she took another step close to Cay. It's been days but her body still hurt and the burns on her skin wouldn't let her sleep any more than the thoughts of Demian would.

'I told you,' Nema said to Cay, 'I will let you teach me but I will not let you mistreat me. Anyone of you. Ever again.'

A gust of wind pushed Cay back. He grabbed for the first trunk inside the woods, holding for dear life. It would be a lie to say Nema wasn't enjoying his agony.

'You are acting like a child,' Cay said, struggling to breathe against the wind, 'looking away from your shortcomings!' He looked less of a mighty mage holding for the slender birch, his voice high and shaky. 'Nothing hurts only when you are dead, Nema. You cannot escape pain.' His eyes were fixating her.' I know what you are doing with the Reflections.'

Nema looked down and the wind stopped for a moment.

'Illusions can not become a real world, Nema,' he said. 'No matter how perfectly tailored they are for you.' He pointed at the golden garden the Reflections created for her. 'Drowning the reality is not the way to heal a broken heart, girl.'

'Shut up!' Nema cried. 'Shut up!' The power was coursing through her, the look in her eyes growing vacant and unfocused. She was now relying on the inner sight – one that saw everything that was around her, everything that was created, and everything that could be destroyed.

She held on to her anger knowing it was a medicine that could be pressed to a wound until the moment Demian dies. And once he does she'll be left with a betrayed heart that found no answers and made no amends and the anger would simmer down into a fire that would consume her own flesh.

'Nema,' Aves warned, 'you are hurting her.' The birch trees were moaning under the violent assaults. 'The forest is too young, you will hurt her.'

And just like that, the wind stopped.

Nema slumped down on the ground, sighing out the last vestiges of anger. Her eyes were careful now watching the birch trees with their white bark and their tender leaves.

'I am sorry,' she mouthed.

Cay was unceremoniously tying together the strings on his tunics the wind had ripped open. He was disheveled and angry. 'You are saying sorry to the trees?' He hissed. 'Are you?'

Nema shrugged. 'This forest never done me anything wrong.'

The mage sighed. 'Nema, we told you-'

'No!' Nema raised her hand. 'I don't care what you told me. I am done being deceived. I believe what I see and all I saw was you doing nothing when I was begging for help.'

'But..'

'Not another word!' Nema growled. The leaves were shaking again.

Cay sat down on one of the flat rocks. He wasn't like the healer mages from the temple. All of them had something wilting about them, that look of regret she always thought centuries of existence brought. They were always slow and deliberate, taking ages for any decision, walking slowly, speaking slowly, never making any unnecessary moves. Old Man said none of them have seen a day of combat in their lives while Cay looked like he came fresh out of battle every time she saw him.

She didn't like him but he was a force to be reckoned with.

'How come you didn't stop wind?' Nema was watching him suspiciously.

These mages were wielding their powers long before she drew her first breath. She wasn't a fool. Her only advantage was the erratic peaks of her unleashed strength and the initial surprise factor because no one, not even her knew how something could finish once it started.

Cay was looking at Aves. 'We...' He said.

'We try to refrain from altercations.' Aves flashed one of her brilliant smiles. 'For centuries Cay's kind was very respected among us.'

Cay was nodding.

'Cay is a master of water,' Aves said, 'in the old days his people were guarding the equilibrium of our seven worlds.' There was a cheeky grin on Aves' face when she leaned closer. 'They were charged with guarding it only because we all feared they would destroy it,' she whispered.

Cay was looking in the distance but he looked an inch taller and just a little bit scarier.

'They never had a king, only a Guardian,' Aves explained, 'and forced dominion of fire-feeders never sat well with them.'

'We're natural opponents,' Cay said benevolently. Nema almost snorted. Natural opponents didn't really cover the fracas that started each time Orrel and Cay were in the same time-line of existence.

'Terra didn't try to defend herself from Orrel either.' Nema said.

'No matter what you heard Orrel say,' Cay explained, 'Terra is the first among us. We are here to complement her power.'

Aves nodded. 'Terra believed that resorting to violence is a form of defeat. She rarely uses her defensive powers, which makes her vulnerable to attacks of those who use them too sparingly.'

They knew a certain psycho who didn't mind burning everything to the ground.

'Nema, we need to work,' Cay stood up. 'Now.'

Nema liked working with Aves and Terra. With Cay not so much. She wasn't good with water. It was...overwhelming.

The sound similar to the wind chimes announced Reflections and soon beings in pale golden were surrounding her.

'The successor needs to rest,' one of the Reflections said.

Nema didn't trust them for one second, once she saw they would stop at nothing to take what they want. She didn't want to work with Cay, though.

'The successor needs to rest,' she repeated, letting Reflections take her away.

Cay was seething. Even Aves seemed displeased but Nema was done trying to please anyone.


Finding their way out of the forest, the Reflections were following the setting sun towards that point near the entrance when everything ceased to exist and only unspoiled infinite sky was awaiting. Nema was walking, followed by a dozen Reflections. When her golden slippers stepped from the lush grass onto glass under which the ocean was still churning Nema wandered again what was underneath it all – under the ocean, under the other side of this plane. Was there sky, was there nothingness?

She looked around thinking how nothing of this made any sense.

'Today, the Successor could enjoy her new arbor,' one of Reflections led Nema into a garden where the gilded construction was adorned with thousands of roses. The being was looking at Nema with that unnatural focus, its head tilted to one side, the marble mask concealing its expression.

Nema didn't try to remember their names since they refused to acknowledge there was any reason to have them. They were a strange lot, ready to suck the life out her but still tending to even the smallest of her wishes.

Nema followed the being until she found a swing under the enormous arbor.

'I always wanted one of these,' she whispered, holding for the gilded chains.

They seemed pleased. Two of them approached, holding heavy silk in their arms. 'This color would compliment the Successor's complexion.' The silk was pale golden, color identical to their vestments, identical to these little oases of magic they were building every day for her enjoyment, identical to the dress they brought yesterday and the day before.

'I don't need another dress,' Nema smiled a little.

Two beings came a step closer. 'This color would compliment the Successor's complexion.'

'But...' Nema tried to reason with them. 'It's the same as this one.' She tugged at the dress she was wearing but there was not even a sparkle of understanding in their eyes - no echo of her words, just like there was none when she was pleading them to leave her alone.

Finally, Nema nodded.

Soon there was a heavy folding screen, ounces and ounces of pure gold melted and carved into perfection. Nema took off her precious dress only to dress an identical one. She was starting to wonder was she the crazy one here.

When she stepped out behind the folding screen the beings unanimously sighed, clasping their hands in delight.

'Would the Successor like a new face?' One of them asked.

Nema flinched. 'A new face? What do you mean a new face?'

A being reached and touched the scarred tissue on her collar bone. 'Imagine a face you find the most beautiful and we give it to the Successor.'

For some reason, Nema was disgusted with the proposition.

Two beings brought an oval plate with a crystal mask on a silk cushion.

'Imagine,' one of them said, 'and it will be yours.'