Why did he do that?
He laughed, tears falling. "She's so beautiful," he said. "She's like you. So beautiful."
"More elegant than anything in this world," the woman said, oddly compassionate. Was that mother? "Name her. Do it now, I'm already passing out. Let me dream of it."
The man grinned. "Then I shall call her the Ivory of Valor. And her life shall be the one of beauty and strength."
Suddenly…
It shattered—everything—a Ivory found herself still drowned within that maelstrom of data.
Was that a memory from the moment I was born?
Interesting.
There was, of course, the knowledge that Casters retained every bit of information ever heard or learned, but past recollections to such a degree… Now that was unheard of. Likely a rarity in the casted world.
Intriguing… so that was my father, Gladwell Valor, was it? That must have been the day he died—the infamous redNight. Good to know, I suppose. Oh, and yes, there was something I heard… what was it again?
Something flowed from the external world. Male: "I suppose I should kill her, too?" The stranger.
"Yes…" One answered. "That would sow enough discord between the Clans…After all, Fray would inevitably be blamed for this. As they should."
Then there was a pause.
"Wait, is she glowing?"
"It would seem so," another said.
"Oh my," one murmured. "Is she snapping?"
The darkness fractured, a transient surge blasting out from the wholeness of her body. Everything was pushed away—a burst of violent wind that tore and toppled everything within her vision. Then there, she rooted, in the center of the chaos: a crater of dust and stone, nothing for miles and miles.
What happened?
Ivory reared her palm, staring at the hands. Her hands. Mine? They were strange, strands of thorns, skulls of burning red, chains, flowers, dots of light, all floated around them. What are those? There was a layer of pulsing transparency over it all, almost a blur in her ocular senses.
Are those symbols? Something affirmed the answer. What was it?
She stood up, finding herself charged with a strange energy that flowed deeply within her bones, pounding hard in the depths of the mind. Everything seemed slow; from the swayings of dust to scarce kindlings of burning wood. All of it was incredibly creeping. Annoyingly so.
No, she flexed her fingers. Not slow. I'm just processing everything at an accelerated rate. Her head tilted. So this is the reality of a true Caster?
"Interesting." A voice chimed from above.
Looking upwards, there, floating inches away from the stone ceilings, was a quad of figures. The childish one. The one in blackened metal plates. The one in a suit with round crystal glasses. Notably, there was still a sense of danger from him; however, strangely, Ivory felt that sensation as nothing but a burning candle, easily snuffed by a singular thought.
All good, considering the innate desire to not feel anything at the moment.
Then her eyes fixated on the other: a man, shirtless, dressed in white, soot-stained trousers. The Kabal impersonator. Ah, no, not that.
She frowned. How did I not see this until now?
Her lips parted. "Greetings." Something wrecked in her heart; she quelled it. "You must be Heid, son of the high Family of the Fray, brother to the now Highness of Fray, Stephon Fray."
He went stoic, the smile fading away as though it was yet another mask worn over the visage. Because it was. Even now, Ivory sensed, this Heid fellow was absorbing data for the creation of suitable responses. Likely, she would never get to meet the trueness.
But he responded. "Nice to meet you, too, Ivory of Valor."
She glanced at the floating rest. "Pray tell, why exactly have you come to my clan?" The mind had already conducted the answer; this was for the same reasons as before: the stalling.
The childish girl lifted her tiny arms, made a boom sound with her lips.
Ivory chuckled, a precisely controlled reaction. Odd, how easily she could achieve this now. She felt like Samara. Perhaps she was. "Is that so?" She said. "How exactly does four Casters hope to destroy a Great Clan? Your acts of Arrogance really betray your status as Casters."
"Oh?" The girl looked at her fingers, bewildered. "Well, I don't know much about anything, but I do understand he will not be surviving that."
Ivory turned, head only, staring at the body of the once Storm of Valor. Now a shriveled man, taut, blood spilling out from the nose and eyes, skin a faint granular redness.
"You infected him?" She felt nothing. No, not that; instead, she chose to feel nothing. After all, the optimal self was not the emotional one. Recent events have now proved that irrefutably.
The hovering girl, swathed by the long, messy hair, bobbed her head. "Well, that's not fun at all." She tugged at the suit of the other, the round-lensed one. "Shouldn't she be revealing really interesting expressions now?"
The man said nothing, at first, then. "So that was what it took to get you to snap. Hmm, I had heard rumors that the highHeir was not a Caster, but that now proved it to be true. You had snapped, and worse, for something as banal as love?"
Never again, Ivory placed both arms atop the other, over her stomach, and said, "Believe the thing you so desire. But know you will not leave here to ponder it."
"Is that so?" Heid said, head tilted, eyes wide, rage-filled. Another simulated emotion. "You think because of some burst of wind you will be able to stop us?"
"What a cliché thing to say," Ivory responded. "Think, Heid, think. How can I even achieve that?"
"She's stalling," the suited one said, sighing. "An annoying man for you, Heid, is coming!"
"Huh?"
Ivory allowed a smile, purely expressive.
And just then, a voice boomed through the rocky plains of Stone Bastion, shuddering and skipping stones across the face of the earth. He had arrived. And not just him.
"I DID SAY YOU REEKED OF THE SILVER!" The voice said. "SO THIS IS WHERE YOU HAVE BEEN HIDING, HEID, A BUG AS YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN. AS EXPECTED….OH, NAVANI WOULD HAVE LOVED TO SLAY YOU HERSELF, BUT ALAS I WILL HAVE TO DO!"
A round disk drifted down, on it stood a muscular man, form-clad in metal, hair silver like the mane of a fur-lion, and behind him was a flowing shade of tenebrosity. A cape. He jumped down from the disk, feet burying inches deep into the earth. He pulled a blade and pointed at the figures floating, specifically at the long-lost son of the Fray High family.
"Grant yourself the mercy of digging yourself into my sword."
"Is that so?" Heid had taken another mask, eyes burning with the fury of an angered Combatant. "Come for me, old man!"
A voice whispered in Ivory's ears, male. "Is the Highness dead?"
"Veil of Valor, your task now is not to do battle but to protect the Storm of Valor. Even the breeze can rise if tended."
She sensed a nod from the nothing, turned, and found Argon's body no more, erased as though by the hands of an artist. Veil was quick, as expected of the LordCaptain of the seatGuards.
The earth rumbled, steps staggering as she nearly met the ground. In the distance, she noted, Salinor, blade in hand, metal glinting in scarce light, charging towards the shirtless liar. Fool. Lunatic. Madman. BASTARD!!!! HE SHOULD JUST DIEEEEEEE!
She paused, rubbed her temples. Calm yourself, this is not the time nor place for an outrage.
Mentation was churning.
There were voices in the distance, too, reinforces likely from Wane and Valor.
Ivory looked up at the floating trio.
None of you will be leaving here alive today!
This she swore in her heart.
Deeply…
A flash of air blew across her cheeks, and suddenly, standing beside her was a woman.
"You took your time, Nail," Ivory said, taking in a calm, deliberate breath. Show her how disappointed I am.
"I apologize," Nail said flatly. "I had abruptly lost my charge, and there were rumors of a mad woman running around the halls of Valor."
"Is that so?"
Nail paused, tilted her head, staring at Ivory. "You have snapped."
"I could always cast."
"Of course." Nail shrugged. "Now, who are these fellows?"
"Intruders that desire the fall of Valor."
"Are they the ones that called the Fermen?"
Ah, why didn't I think of that? Ivory said. "Likely, although I doubt it."
"Yes?"
"As Argon had said, there are leeches on our heels."
"Someone from Valor?"
Ivory winced. "That is not the thing that should matter now, NAIL!" She uttered. "Kill or capture them!"
"And you think that had not been considered?"
Huh?