Ascension - (Alarian Warriors)

Under the water, Aveyon was engulfed in a cold, dark atmosphere. The soft glowing figure, her only beacon. She swam toward it at a steady pace.

The being stretched out its hand, she did the same. The moment their fingers touched, interlacing together the water parted and formed a sphere around the two.

Aveyon gasped finally able to breathe and fell to the bottom of the bubble-like dome, unable to get her footings. The white figure giggled.

She looked up surprised. “I can hear you!”

Pushing herself up she tried to stand, her legs not quite staying still beneath her as she attempted to balance on the sphere’s unstable fluid edge, she looked around her in complete awe.

“I need to learn to do this...” she muttered.

“We don’t have much time sadly, or else, I would teach you.” The white woman floated down until her feet also touched the water’s edge. But she was graceful in her stance, easily flowing with the water’s soft current, she made it look easy.

“Who are you?” Aveyon questioned.

“That’s a hard question to answer in so little time, Vexous called us the three fates, but we do not have names of our own.” The woman answered.

“Three-” Aveyon cut herself off as another two ghostly figures formed beside the first.

One waved and smiled happily, clearly too eager. The other had her arms folded and her back slightly turned as she looked over her shoulder at Aveyon. They all looked identical, only to be told apart by the different robes they wore and their mannerisms.

“I can see all of you now...”

The one with her arms crossed huffed. “Only because you can siphon energy from, that boy.” She turned her head away clearly not impressed.

The one in the middle, the one Aveyon had met before shot a look at the obnoxious one.

Aveyon slipped on the edge of the sphere and landed on her backside, not trying to stand again she curled her legs under her and looked up at the three.

The obnoxious one rolled her eyes. “She can’t even stand in the water sphere, and you expect her to reach our maker?”

“To be fair, we are floating, which is cheating.” The cheerful one giggled.

The first woman knelt beside Aveyon while placing her hand on her own forehead, as if pained. Clearly, this was a common occurrence.

“My sisters can be a handful, just ignore them for now.” She explained.

The cheerful one looked offended but laughed while the obnoxious one sighed heavily.

“Getting to the point, now that we have made contact again. I need to tell you that your actual mother is Lady Vexous, you were given to Lady Vireena as a gift. The queen couldn’t have children of her own.”

“Mother told me as much, she said I was only half Alarian, and she was not my birth mother.” Aveyon nodded. “But I did not think the Goddess would procreate with...” She trailed off. The goddess was known for creating the Alarian from humans, could she be capable of creating life itself, was that how she was made?

“You have some knowledge, good. Though I will correct you, you are not half Alarian.” The woman commented. “Anyway, that will make this easier. You see lady Vexous, she sealed away your powers, your true blood. She thought it would cause serious jealousy among the royals.”

“Powers, blood?” Aveyon shivered. What in the world was that? It sounded dangerous if it needed to be sealed away.

The women nodded. “I am going to unlock them, and by doing so your ichor will awaken and you can use it to connect with Lady Vexous... in theory, of course, it is risky.”

“I am willing to take that risk. The goddess could surely take the burden from me. Fixing the realms would be an easy task for her.” Aveyon’s heart felt like a weight had been lifted. This was too good to be true.

The woman looked at her sadly. They knew something she didn’t. Aveyon’s smile slid from her face.

“What?” She asked, confused.

“Vexous has been stripped of all her powers, we no longer have a connection to her, she may even be dead for all we know. You, and only you, are our last hope at reaching her.”

“You cannot search for her?” Aveyon spat out more from the shock of the information.

The obnoxious one stepped forward and glared at her. “You think we would be asking for help if we could!” Her words were filled with anger and frustration.

“We are trapped you see. Sealed away behind a veil on Alarious.” The normally chipper one looked solemn.

“We can only reach out to those that have ichor, the blood of the gods. And quite frankly the only other beings, besides yourself, that we can reach is Ashera and his son. But only when they are in Earth realm, we have no way of reaching Terramore.” The woman beside her shivered letting wisps of mist escape her body and vanish. "Therefore we know Lady Vexous must be in Terramore, or we would have found her. You have a stronger connection with her being a direct descendant."

“This whole thing is becoming way too complicated, I just want to get to Alarious and take care of my father for good, is there not an easier way?” Aveyon was growing frustrated.

The three women looked at each other worried.

“Now what!?” She let out a frustrated sigh.

“He’s already dead.” All three of them said in unison.

She blinked at them unbelieving. That couldn’t be true. Her breath caught. What was the point of doing this, of being here if not for that purpose? Without her end goal, what did she have? She began to hyperventilate, why!? Unable to breathe as her world came crashing to a close before her eyes. Why did she fight to survive? Had it really all been for nothing?

“Aveyon, think about this before you give up all hope. It was Ashera that got into the King’s head. It was ultimately him that had you banished and him that was behind the killing of Vireena. He’s the source, not King Wynafold.” The first was quick to inject.

“We’re out of time.” The obnoxious one cut in. “Do it and let’s go already.”

Aveyon wasn’t even sure what to think anymore, she looked up into the white woman’s face, a pleading look in her eyes. She needed someone to give her a reason to live... A reason she had fought and survived hell to continue on.

The woman cupped her head with her delicate fingers and placed her forehead against the princess’s.

She felt tears running down her face as any reason to continue forward never came. It would be better to have the pain and suffering end now than to live a life in her current form. She felt trapped in her own body, unable to reason with herself, she was frozen in time.

“I think it's best that you forget that little fact for now.” The women whispered. "Grow some more, find a new purpose."

Aveyon felt a light tingling in her mind, blinking a few times she shook her head. What did they just tell her? And why was she crying? Her breathing returned to normal as a confused look crossed her face.

“Your powers will take time to unlock but it will start soon.” The woman advised. “I have all the faith in you, you will find a way to contact the lady Vexous, I just know it. She will have the answers you seek. Find her and free her if you can. She will be your guide to Alarious, then you can free us and see your goals end.”

“She will be my guide?” She questioned.

“There are no auras left, but Vexous created them, she will know a way to travel through the realms. Her power runs through your veins, we need you both in this task." She paused for a moment. "Worst case... You will find her body and be able to extract the information you need. The elves will train you well, continue on your path.”

Aveyon cringed but nodded, though she was still trying to process the information. Just as she was about to ask how she could contact the goddess, the three vanished.

“Wait! I still need to know mor-”

She was cut off as the sphere cascaded and imploded with water. The waves crashed into her, not giving her enough time to take a breath before she was thrown downward. She panicked, disorientated, she wasn’t sure which way was up. She let out a silent scream as her lungs started to burn.

Then, she felt strong hands wrap around her waist and she was pulled upward. Bursting through the surface of the water she gasped for air. Coughing, her face grew red with anger.

“Are you kidding me!” She coughed again. “They could not have given me a damn warning!” She knew without having to look, Vincent had a hold of her, his strong arms protecting her, saving her.

“Please, don’t do that again.” He said as he swam them to the edge of the lake.

“Believe me, I do not want to.” Crawling out of the water onto the banks she coughed a few more times before laying on her back. Her arms spread out wide as she sighed.

“They made me forget something important, I can feel it in my mind.” She said out loud.

“Who was it?” He asked.

“The three fates of Alarious, not quite gods, but not Alarians either. I have never heard of them until now.” She answered. “I do not feel that they were lying to me, but they are keeping something from me. However, my time with them appears to be quite limited. It must take quite a lot of energy to communicate through realms.”

“What did they want?” He propped himself up on an elbow looking down at her.

She explained everything to him to the best of her knowledge and in as much detail as she could.

“You are not surprised by this; it is not shocking in any way?” She questioned.

He half laughed. “I’m something that can’t be explained, you’re a demigod and the earth is at war with demons... honestly, nothing surprises me anymore.”

“I do not know if I am a demigod. I am not sure who my father is at this point. They also corrected me when I said that mother told me I was half Alarian.” She stared up into the stars as she joined his misguided laugh not sure what to make of it all. “There is still so much I do not know,” she added with a whisper.

“You and me both. Seems like both our creations are a bit of a mystery.” He concluded.

She could feel the blood in her veins beginning to heat up. It was mildly painful, but she had experienced far worse, it felt to be more of an annoyance than what the fates told her. Was this what they had unlocked? hopefully, it would fade soon. The water that lapped at her feet was cooling and refreshing as her body began to come alive with a sense of burning fire beneath her skin. Whatever they had done to her, or awakened in her, it was starting. She winced as her body began to grow irritated by the change.

Vincent gasped and clenched at his throat rolling onto his back. She shot upright, eyes wide with worry. “What-”

“I...” Vincent tried to speak but it came out in a harsh whisper. “I drank your blood...” He managed to muster.

She could feel the change in her, so it made sense that something was awaking inside him as well, or rather attacking him from the inside.

She watched in horror as his eyes turned red and black markings slivered and spread across his body. Looking more demon than human by the second. Ichor was well known for sending people insane. The blood of the gods could be a blessing or a cruel curse depending on how it was used.

“Shit!” She cussed out loud, before lunging into action.

Moving quickly, she straddled him and peeled his hands from his neck, all the while her own body’s fire grew with intensity. He had no strength left after the fight with the demon and only a few hours had passed since then, this type of invasion would be hard for him to fend off.

“Vincent, fight it!” She pleaded, not knowing what else to do.

A feral growl left his lips, her hands tightened around his wrists and her thighs squeezed him as his body began to thrash trying to get her off him. He was, however, still far too strong for her.

Her body was flung backward skidding across the sand and splashed into the water’s edge as he propelled her off him. Her eyes narrowed on a feral Vincent as he crouched low to the ground preparing to pounce like a wild animal.

This was her blood’s doing. Surely, she should be able to control it, right? She stood up on unsteady feet as he lunged for her. Her hands balled into fists as she felt an unknown power well up from inside her.

She stared him dead in the eyes. “Obey me!” Her voice was stern and dominating, not her own at that moment.

She felt a rush of power as their eyes locked, but it was deeply draining on her weak form. Vincent stopped dead, dropping to his hands and knees, his glowing red eyes staring up at her as saliva dripped from his fanged-bared mouth.

“Revert Back!” She ordered already feeling the power slipping away from her.

The burning in her blood finally came to a stop and she dropped to her knees as relief flooded through her. Vincent’s beastly qualities disappeared as he returned to normal blinking his eyes in disbelief.

“What just hap-” He tried to say but was cut off.

Before they could even recover from the sudden events Aveyon was grabbed from behind. A hand moved to cover her mouth, muffling her scream as she was yanked backwards. Water slashed as she was flipped onto her stomach and her forehead slid over and scrapped on sand and rocks breaking the skin.

She could see Vincent’s shocked face just as her attacker mounted her to hold her down. Her hands were forced behind her back and a rope tied around them, the rope burned and tore at her skin as she struggled for freedom. This was all too familiar. She felt a heavy strike to the back of her neck, her body going limp as she lost consciousness.

Vincent had tried to attack the moment she had been grabbed. But he was weak, his body not completely obeying him, and he stumbled forward. He wasn't given a chance to recover as steel slid through the flesh of his shoulder, a sword pinning him down. His vision blurred as pain shot through him. His breathing already harsh from the struggle to keep the ichor from taking over again, already it was pushing its way to the surface.

“Don’t kill that one!” He heard a voice say as the world turned black.

“But it’s a demon!” The other shot back.

“The women controlled it; they will be worth something together.”

Slavers? He thought as his face was shoved into the dirt, he coughed and spat out sand as a feral growl escaped his lips. He could feel his blood begin to boil as an unnatural strength reared its head. He started to push himself up, sliding his shoulder along the blade. He could feel his fingers elongate to claws and he readied himself for an attack. If he could stay conscious and use the strength the tainted blood was giving him, it would be to his advantage.

“Fuck!” One of the men began to panic.

“Just knock it out! Get a move on already!” A second frustrated voice retorted.

Vincent lunged, sword still in his shoulder. His claws ripped through the closest piece of flesh he could find. He was desperate to get to Aveyon. Several hands gripped him, forcing him to the ground again. He felt several heavy knees pinning his back as he snapped and snarled like a beast.

The world fell away as he was struck with the hilt of a blade at the back of his neck. His vision exploded as his mouth gaped open, his body’s strength fading as he fell limp unable to move, darkness soon following as his eyes fluttered closed.

Bound and gagged, they were both dragged into the thick of the forest by an unknown group of men.