It felt like the distant ringing of utter chaos—bright redness burning within a cloud of fuming black—all blurred into a screen of shifting hues. Shadows ran about, some, few, yes, but some nonetheless. They were wrapped within the redness.
Then there was the screaming.
What was happening?
Mentation provided no answer other than the fading warnings for safety. Escape. Escape. Such bootless suggestions. Why did her awareness spew such drivel? Ivory rubbed her head, a warmth of pain spreading across her legs.
So that's where I was hurt?
The haziness of her ocular perception persisted. She winced, hardening her legs in an all too strained attempt at standing.
She failed, slapping back onto the earth, backside clashing into a stray stone. Arching. But that did nothing but contribute to the accumulated ache.
What was happening?
She attempted the strange breathing, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. In the mouth, out the nose. Recursive. It was a routine, one of the many mysteries acquired, perhaps, from the influence of I AM.
Whatever it was, it too had failed her.
Nothing was helping.
"Somebody help!" A voice screamed, one of many, laced with that ignorant tone present within all darkCrowns. Whoever he was, he was likely caught amidst the sudden inferno.
Poor man.
Strangely...
She found herself without pity, muttering words while bereft of the sense for it. What was that? Was it a consequence of the prior deaths? Who knew. Whatever it was, it offered answers to none of the desired questions.
What was happening?
Her lips quivered, an arm rearing toward the expanding heat. The flames were growing.
Is Wane doing nothing to stop this? Shouldn't the lord Wane have done something to… Oh, yes. He is dead.
Ivory felt as though that should have been an immediate memory, but it was not. There was something else there, something that took precedence within her awareness.
What was it?
A figure rushed past her—still screened by that annoying shadow, but a figure nonetheless. He was… burning. As were most of them. Again, that bothered little in her cogitation.
Something else was there.
Something that caused a spike in her body, her heart pounding hard like a buried drum.
What was it?
"Ivory?"
Kabal!
And just like that, the haze was no more. It flashed away like a spark of quick lightning, cashing in: the visual input, the audio, the memories. She stood in frantic motions, eyes narrowing on the burning square structures enveloped in bright orange-redness.
Countless figures dashed in and out—men, women, guardsmen—it was a complete and total chaos.
Yet, that was not the thing that attracted her mind. Oh no. It was the other.
A figure stood before her, his back facing towards the roaring flames. A man. Somewhat familiar, from the piercing, sharp-edged eyes, narrow jawline. She knew him. However, he 'did' stand in contrast to the man she recollected. He was marred; skin fissured with lines like the frames of a cracked mirror. His hair were silver instead of the remembered blackness. And his face…ah, half of it was a mess of splintered marks.
"Ka… Kabal?" His clothes were charred off, shirtless, his legs wrapped in white, soot-stained trousers. Those clothes—yes, they were personal. She knew them. "Kabal?"
The stranger stood, his hand wrapped around the throat of another. A man slouched down, kneeling, his head held up by the stranger's splintered hands.
She knew them both.
"Argon?" The Storm of Valor was grasped helplessly by this man.
"WHO ARE YOU!" she screamed, attempting an act of strength. Something to stall him before the arrival of some member of the seatGuards. Surely they were coming. Time was now a necessity. That, and the discovery of this unknown figure.
Why did he look like Kabal?
"Who are you?" She mouthed, fist clenched, a cold sensation raiding deep within her senses.
The figure said nothing, smiling—a familiar grin. Why?
"ANSWER ME!" she demanded. "Who in the mist are you?"
"Once a prisoner," he said, his sneer growing to the sides of his cheeks. "Not anymore."
"That's not an answer." Even his voice was like Kabal's. Why? "Tell me now!"
"Or what?" His hand tightened around Argon's throat, fingers biting deep into the flesh, blood dripping down. "What exactly would the Princess of Valor achieve?"
She looked down at Argon.
"Oh, don't bother," he said. "There's a thing about patience. Indeed, who would have thought the so-called Highness of Valor was just some pathetic thing? Not even above the rank of a redeemed Caster."
"…?" How would he even know this? "That's impossible!"
"Is it?" The stranger smiled. "He wasn't even the first nor second choice of Aelinor, no, that was Illenna Valor..But this one…he was granted power merely by circumstance. A worthless thing. Unworthy for the humanity that is to be saved."
"You are mad."
"NO!" His eyes burned. "I am inspired. I have seen the truth of humanity and know of but one singular way to save it… UNITY!"
Ivory cared little for his words; whatever they were, they echoed with absolute futility within her awareness. Bootless. Only one thing mattered.
Almighty, please let me be wrong.
"Tell me," she whispered, Argon gasping for air. "Why do you look like that?"
He smiled with a knowing grin. "Ivory the Fool," he said. "You should really have listened to your Highness. Seriously. But alas, this is the way of life. Children ever rebellious over the power of family. For that, I do not judge. My family, too, was less than I was."
Riddles.
"Answer me!"
"Come on," he said, head tilted. "I understand the lack of Casterhood, but even a true fool should be able to grasp such simple information. Think, Ivory, think."
It's impossible.
"WHO THE MIST ARE YOU?" she screamed. "AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO KABAL!"
"HAZZAH!" He tossed Argon to the side; the Storm of Valor rolling to a slump like the dying breath of a withering storm. The stranger stood strong. "Oh, the ways the mind deludes itself! There can be no better spectacle for the silverAssurer!"
Ah
That slammed into her thoughts, hard. A piece of data that churned up potentialities that itched within the mind. Do not think about it. Something warned within her. Do not think hard or strong. Forget, wear the mask of the highHeir. Do not spin the deeper mentation.
"Look at you go," the man muttered. "Look at how easily the mask slips onto your face… Beautiful, really."
Do not think about it!
Kabal is still alive. He is in there, in the flames. By some miracle, he exists unharmed.
What if?
NO!
He is alive. I did not do all of this for nothing. He is alive.
"Please, just tell me," she pleaded, tears dripping atop the stained whiteness of her dress, drawing a shade of dampened black. "Please."
The stranger beamed, frenzied. "Oh, but what point would that make?" he said. "You know the answer. Truly. I can only assure you of it."
Ivory fell silent, a quietude that never before had assaulted her senses. Everything was gone. No memories, no procession. Nothing. Just a singular, laughing voice.
What a fool!
"So… so," she stammered. "All of this?"
He drew closer, his feet padding softly atop the hardened earth. He reached for her, his hand stretching calmly towards her cheeks.
Don't allow him!
His palm caressed her face, and in that moment, she knew. Oh, by the heavens, she knew.
Why?
Her eyes locked onto his, her black for the strangely ringed silver of his. Fray.
"Why did you… Why did you do all of this?"
"Even men must suffer the need for games."
Resist.
"But… I love you?"
"It will pass!"
Ivory was stunned…silent.
It will pass?
He couldn't be.
He couldn't be Kabal!
Not my Kabal! "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?" She surged, dashing towards the stranger. I need to pin him down. I need to get answers!
Now!
Her hand sank into his chest. Huh? In it went, reaching deeper, then out through the body. No resistance was registered by her fingers. What was happening? Her arms remained lodged within him, no sense of stimuli present. Strange. She felt as though the very wind was the thing the body was wedged through.
What is this?
He smiled, stood and walked off. His body flowing past her entirely, stepping out as though she were but some source of utter transparency. Insulting. And then he laughed.
"Now that was embarrassing." He eyed her. "Utterly humiliating for you."
She was stunned..confused...What was this? What was this man?
He was toying with her...
Kabal would never toy with her.
Didn't he?
She winced.
He isn't him!