Chapter 41 - Celestial

                                    

                                          
Dedicated to H4Y13Y for the amazing picture of Tayne. IT'S ON THE SIDE, IT'S SO PRETTY LOOK AT IT. 
                          
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Chapter 41 - Celestial
                          
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Kiarae woke up.
                          
The Naclictite under her trembled as if something tore at its foundations. She sat up, ignoring the dried blood cracking up her arms and stomach from the movement. The thin lines crossed her body more times than she dared count, each one a slender slit of pure pain.
                          
The Master hadn’t been kind. For the first time ever, she’d thought he meant to kill her, albeit in the slowest way possible. Her body wasn’t the only thing in tatters. Her soul was damaged to the point where her magic was hard to reach. Her link to the nether realm was feeble at best.
                          
More than ever, she was at his mercy. The Linaye, her only connection to Skye was dulled by the excessive mutilation of her soul, she was sure. As a result she could get no more information out of the elf past that she lived.
                          
Kiarae clutched her arm, trying to stem the flow of blood running from elbow to hand.
                          
Where did he get that damned soul blade anyway? she thought. Another monstrosity that should never have been created. 
                          
Another tremor shook the floor.
                          
Was the Citadel under attack? Or had the Master attempted a spell too powerful for him to control?
                          
The celestial listened, tuning herself to the muted energies around her.
                          
It took a while before she sensed anything at all. Then, something flickered, igniting into brilliance in her mind as the flood of nature magic made itself known. Kiarae only had one word to explain it.
                          
“Skye.”
                          
Kiarae struggled to her feet, leaning heavily against the wall as if somehow the action would help. She’d told her student -- she’d ordered Skye to stay away, to never, ever under any circumstances try to reach her in the Citadel. She didn’t understand. She had no idea what the Master was capable of; she didn’t know what the corruption was, or what it could do.
                          
Deities above. She had to get out, and fast. If Skye was here, if she was fighting against the Master... Kiarae didn’t even want to consider what would happen. With the soul blade in his possession, he could eventually rip the magic straight from their souls to place within the Opal. If that happened, this land and all the people within in were as good as corrupted. The deities would fall one by one until nothing but the corruption was left.  
                          
Kiarae reached out with her mind in desperation. She cast her consciousness out, seeing through the eyes of her marred soul. She looked for anything -- demons included, and had begun to pressure the mind of a nearby tainted that guarded her cell when another presence appeared.
                          
* * * *
                          
Tayne staggered down the hallway, taking deep breaths to suppress the pain rising from his leg with every step.
                          
Even bound, the blood still flowed. The silvery material ripped from his cloak had turned crimson with it. Lightheaded, dizzy, and not sure how much blood he had left to lose, he kept going. To stop now was to give up. To stop now was to abandon Skye, Jesse and Wrain.
                          
To stop now, he told himself, was to let the corruption win and disregard all the years he’d spent risking Silverborn lives to stop it.
                          
So he kept moving. Kept dragging himself down the corridor, expecting the blinded Hunter to come flailing at him for every turn. More than once, he swore the shadows moved, taking on the shape of a human like being only to fade into perfect reflections of their solid counterpart once more. There was light enough to see by, generated by purple orbs hanging from the wall, but he almost wished them gone for the flickering shadows they created.