The Empire of Zeth/Chapter 10

Nightmares twisted through Evy's mind. She was back in her parent's castle again as a small child. She searched frantically for her parents through the eerily empty halls. She had to warn them - they needed to run away before it was too late! A looming sense of dread wrapped around her like a smothering blanket with each empty room she checked. "Mama!" She cried out, opening yet another door to an empty room. "Papa! Where are you!?" *Sob*

She opens runs down the hallways. There is only one door left and she flings it open. Her parent's bodies lie on the floor of their bedchamber. Her mother is nearly cut in half at the waist, and her father's body slowly disintegrates as she tries to run to them. The room shifts as she moves, and they move further and further away no matter how fast she runs. "Papa! Mama! D-Don't l-leave m-me!!!" The world spins and goes black.

"Evy! Evy, wake up! You're okay - you're safe!" Evy's eyes slowly open. She's lying in her bed in her chambers. She must have been thrashing in her sleep because Ranth is straining to hold still. He's sitting on the bed next to her, lightly shaking her shoulder. He flinches slightly as she opens her eyes, half expecting to go sailing into the wall, but Evy doesn't react. Master Garath rushes into the room with holding a pitcher of water. "Evy!" he exclaims. "You're awake!" He sets the pitcher on the nightstand and sits down on the bed opposite Ranth.

"R-Ranth? M-Master?" Evy croaks weakly. Master Garath pours her a cup of water holds it to her lips. Evy gulps it down, then coughs. Master Garath pours her another cup and she drains that one as well, then a third one. When he tried to give her a fourth cup, she shakes her head and he sets the pitcher and cup back down.

"How are you feeling, Evy?" Master Garath asks, feeling her forehead. "You're very warm... do you have a fever?" Evy opens her mouth to respond and coughs. She does look a bit feverish, Ranth notes with concern. Evy catches her breath, fighting to breath normally. "I'm f-fine..." she mumbles, reaching for the water cup. Before she can grab it herself, Master Garath picks it up and pours her another glass. Evy makes a face, but doesn't protest. He hands her the cup and she slowly sips at it.

Ranth grabs a washcloth from the side table and dots sweat from Evy's face and forehead with it, making the girl blush. "You don't have to t-take care of me.. I'll be fine..." she mumbles. "I don't mind, really. I still owe you my life, 'ma'am'" Ranth says, poking her cheek with a finger. She sticks her tongue out at him, but Ranth just grins and pokes her cheek again. Evy tries to bite his finger playfully but he pulls it away. "Too slow!~" he teases her.

Master Garath stands up with a groan, his hand going to his lower back. "I have some order business to tend to, Evy. I'll return as soon as I can... Will you stay with her, Ranth?" he asks hopefully. "Of course, master." Master Garath picks up one of Evy's arms and clasps forearms with her, looking her in the eyes warmly. Their gazes lock for a few moments, then he lets go. Nodding to the two of them, he leaves Evy's chambers, heading to his office on the ground floor.

Evy slumps back onto her pillows, handing Ranth the empty water cup. He tucks her in and ruffles her hair before moving to stand up. "W-Wait, don't go!" Evy exclaims, making Ranth stop. "Hmm? I was just going to go sit in the chair over there so you could get some sleep. You still look exhausted."

Thinking about her dreams, Evy's face pales. "P-Please... I don't want to be alone right now. C.. Can you sit with me?" Evy asks, her eyes pleading and hopeful. "Of course, Evy." Ranth says, and positions himself so he's sitting up with his back against the headboard next to the girl. Evy slumps back down onto her back, feeling safer now with Ranth sitting next to her. She wiggles trying to get comfortable, and snuggles up against him.

Ranth grabs a random book off Evy's side table and starts reading it. After a few minutes of silence, Evy's voice jars him out of his reading. "R-Ranth.. Umm..." he closes the book at looks at her, waiting patiently. "Yes?" he says. "I... the.. p-probe... You, umm.. saw... everything?" Ranth shifts uncomfortably. "Yes... all of it. I'm so sorry they put you through that, Evy. Having your privacy invaded like that is an experience nobody should have to suffer..." Evy doesn't say anything.

They sit in silence for long enough for it to start feeling uncomfortable. Finally, Evy speaks up again. "I.. I keep dreaming about... my parents... and..." she mumbles. "I d-don't want to remember..." Ranth pats her on the head awkwardly, not sure what to say. "You.. you can't change the past. Nobody can. You can only keep moving forward." he says finally. "But I can sit here with you for a while if you think it will help with the dreams." Evy nods. "Thank you, Ranth. You're a good.. friend."

Before Ranth can respond, Master Garath returns carrying a ledger. "Sorry about that, I had something to take care of." He drags a chair over to the bed and sits down. "Now..." Master Garath pauses, his eyes closed as he contemplates. Opening them, he looks at both Evy and Ranth. "Evy... I am so sorry they put you through that, but there was a very good reason." he says causatively.

"I'm sure you heard the council use the word 'sleepers' a few times?" Both Evy and Ranth nod. "Well they are a major threat to the safety of the empire. What I'm about to tell you is not to leave this room... but we've been aware for quite some time now that the Infernal Legion has been seeding spies and saboteurs throughout the empire. They do this by placing a demonic mark on a person without their knowing. These marked people are normal citizens, and go about their days unaffected until the mark is awoken. Once triggered, they are the Legion's puppets and are completely under their control. These 'sleepers' are used to sew discord amongst the population, to destroy military supplies, assassinate senators, or whatever else the Legion demands of them. If they are not compromised during these tasks, the mark will be put back to sleep and they will continue going about their lives without ever knowing what happened." He pauses, giving them time to take this in.

"Now naturally since these marks use fel energies we can detect the fairly easily using light magic." He pauses, then continues, "They can also be dispelled... however depending on the power of the mark and the skill of the person attempting the dispel, the marks will attempt to kill their victims once they are dispelled. Even High Priest Emery has failed to save the life of a sleeper a few times... the marks are extremely dangerous, and we still don't know how they're getting placed on so many people." He pauses again. "Please understand, Evy... it's not that people fear you - your service and loyalty to the Empire are unquestioned, but if you had been given a sleeper mark..."

Evy nods. "I see... I could have done really bad stuff... like shadow stepped to the emperor's chambers past all the protections and killed him in his sleep." Master Garath nods. "Or any number of other things. Your ability to bypass our security would make you a very formidable enemy. I'm not sure why the Demon King didn't try to put a sleeper mark on you... maybe he couldn't, but since we can't examine you magically we had to be sure..." Master Garath gazes at the floor, thinking. "Why did he send you back to us... He must've had a reason..."

His eyes snap back to Evy. "Evy! I need you to do something as soon as you have the strength." he says in a serious tone. "Wh-What is it, master..?" Evy asks worriedly. "The demon king may not have put a sleeper mark on you, but he must have known we have the ability to counter them for quite some time now. He must be working on other ways to conceal them, or maybe even new kinds." Evy looks scared. "So I want you to examine yourself with true sight and tell me what you see." he tells her. Evy nods. "I c-can do it now, one m-moment..."

She closes her eyes and a sparkling white aura forms around her body. She sits with her eyes closed for several minutes as she quests out with her senses. The two men sit in silence while she performs her self-examination. Suddenly, Evy gasps and her eyes fly open. "M-Master!" she exclaims. "Th-There is something h-here!" she twists around, lifting her tunic up slightly. On the small of her back, Ranth and Master Garath can see the rune written in green fire now visible. Master Garath leaps out of his chair, fumbling at his belt pouch for a crystal. He grabs it and shouts into it. "Emery! I require your assistance immediately!"

A flash of yellow light explodes in front of them and High Priest Emery stand before them. "Master Garath, this has better be import-" Master Garath points to the mark on Evy's back. Emery's eyes go wide. He rushes over to her and looks at it closely. "It's definitely not a sleeper mark.. but..." Yellow fire shines in his hands. "Blast it, Evy's magic resistance is making it impossible for me to examine it." He stops and thinks for a moment. "Evy... your own magic works fine on your body right?" he asks. "Yeah... I don't really get why tho-" Emery cuts her off. "It doesn't matter right now. Listen, I will guide you through removing this mark, but you will have to do it."

Master Garath looks very uncomfortable. "Emery, wh-what if it backfires like a sleeper mark and kills her!?" he stammers. High Priest Emery shakes his head. "I can't get much of a look at it through her resistance, but I can see enough to tell that it doesn't have the same backfire underlay as the sleeper marks. However..." he squints at the mark. "There is... something under the top layer. I can't tell what it's function is, though, not on Evy at least." He shakes his head. "There's a risk, but I don't think she'll be harmed if its removed properly. However, it MUST be removed one way or another... I don't think you want to go through all of this again with the council."

Master Garath grabs Evy's hand. "E-Evy? Do you th-think you can follow Emery's instructions?" he asks her, worry plain on his face. "He's right - this must be removed.." Evy nods rapidly. "I don't want it on me - I want it off!" She turns to Emery. "T-Tell me what to do, p-please..!" Emery grabs her hands. "Close your eyes and concentrate. Um... I'm sorry Evy, but if you let me into your mind I can guide you much better." Evy hesitates, then slowly nods. They both close their eyes, and yellow fire forms around their bodies.

...

Demon King Elron glares at the scene in Evy's chambers taking place before him through a green crystal he has clutched tightly in one clawed hand. "ALL MY PLANS GO TO RUIN!" He screams, squeezing the crystal so hard it begins to crack under the pressure. "All they had to do was kill you! Your soul would have returned to me and been mine forever! First they spare your life, and then they find my mark!"

He tries to calm himself. "This might still work... if she cannot remove it they will put her to death like they were so gung-ho about doing before that mind probe of theirs... Then her soul will still be mine!" He grins, but his grin falters. "Unless... unless she removes it herself. Then all my plans will be RUINED!" He glares into the crystal. "Surely she cannot remove it!? I cast that mark myself!" Despite this claim, he still seems worried... "Maybe... I can still interfere.. Hmm..." He reaches out with his power.

...

Ranth and Master Garath watch in fear, as they can only wait to see the result. "What will happen to her if it.. fails?" Ranth asks Master Garath, his voice shaking audibly. Master Garath opens his mouth to reply when a green fire flares all around the pair. Master Garath instinctively throws up holy barrier walls to contain it, with Ranth only a step behind him attempting to assist him. The green blaze pounds at their concentration, but the two manage to hold it back.

Inside the circle, Evy and Emery remain locked in their own battle. Emery guides Evy to cast chains of protection runes around the mark on her back, sealing it inside a circle of holy magic. The green fire tries to eat at these runes, and slowly begins to erode them. Evy's concentration flinches momentarily, but she manages to strengthen again, causing the green fire to real back from the yellow-white glowing chain of fire the now encircles the demonic runes on her back.

Next Emery has Evy tighten the line of holy fire around the demon runes, and finally try to detach the holy circle from her body and bring the demonic runes along with it. Evy struggles with this, as it deals with a level of transmutation that she has not yet mastered. Emery does all he can to assist her through the mind link, lending her his knowledge on the process as much as he is able. Evy slowly begins drawing the combined magics away from her flesh. The demon runes try to stick to her flesh as if they were a slimy substance that refuses to detach itself.

Lines of white hot pain course through the girl's body and she screams, the pain almost causing her concentration to break. Evy bites through her lower lip as she endures the pain, tearing the circle away from her flesh with all her strength and concentration... and it snaps free! The green fire tries to form a link between the detached mark and Evy's body, but she slashes it apart with her power. As soon as the link is broken, all the green fire ceases to exist. Ranth and Master Garath warily drop their wards, panting and shaking from the amount of magical strength they had to expend to contain the hellish blaze.

Emery steps forward and hold up a glowing vial. Evy holds the chained runes in the air between her hands with her power. She guides them into the vial, and Emery thrusts a solid silver stopped into the vial. The demonic runes remain suspended in the vial chained in holy fire, complete trapped and inert. Now it's Evy and Emery's turn to pant and wheeze, having used up far more of their power than the other two men in their purging of the mark.

"W-We did it!" Evy whoops, clapping her hands. High Priest Emery holds the vial up to his eye and examines it. After a few moments, his face pales. "By the light..!" he says, his voice shaking. "What's wrong?" Evy asks him. "D-Did we get it all..?" Emery shakes his head and looks at the girl. "Oh, my dear you did beautifully. Your aptitude for holy magic is far higher than I knew... higher even than.." His voice trails off, and he turns to face Master Garath.

"Garath, we nearly made a terrible mistake." he says, his face as pale as a ghost. "If... if we had executed Evy with this mark on her.." He swallows. "This mark appears to serve a dual purpose - on the surface, it is a scrying amplifier. The demon king no doubt saw everything Evy has done since she returned to us." He continues, his voice even quieter. "The runes underneath this scrying amplifier is a... a very specialized kind of soul trap. If Evy had been killed with this mark on her, and it would have to be a violent and highly emotional death for her for it to trigger... then.. her soul would have been snatched up and taken to the demon king. Her body would have reformed under his power, and she would have been bound to him forever..." He slumps into a nearby chair, still shaking. "She would have been unable to.. disobey him bound to him like that..."

Master Garath looks horrified. "Such a fate would be worse than death!" Evy looks terrified. "A-Are you s-sure we g-got it a-all!?" she demands. "E-Emery???" High Priest Emery tries to reassure the frightened girl. "You got all of it, don't worry Evy." He struggles to his feet. "I will need to examine these runes further. I will let you know what I find." High Priest Emery nods to them all, then vanishes in a flash of yellow light.

Ranth and Master Garath try their best to comfort the frightened girl after High Priest Emery departs, though they're both nearly as shaken as Evy by the developments.

...

On the other side of the continent, an explosion rocks the land as the demon king's rage consumed an entire mountainside, all his carefully laid plans in ruin...

Chapter 11: Studies

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