Ascension - (Alarian Warriors)

The sky was turning dark and Aveyon was finding it hard to keep her eyes open. The occasional jolt of the horse shot her awake, but it wasn’t long before her head leaned forward and her eyes fluttered shut, a dream of the past taking hold and trapping her within...

She woke suddenly, finding herself strapped to a table, the surface cold against her bare skin. He’d drugged her again. She’d been sure she’d been careful not to eat anything, was it the drink this time?

Over the last couple of days, her strength had been growing as she was discovering new abilities. Her body was almost completely healed from her father’s assault. However, the warlock had been spiking the food and blood he fed her with sleeping agents, keeping her mostly sedated while she healed.

When she was able to be fully awake and alert, she spent all her energy resisting as best she could. Often trying to escape when she saw the opportunity. She had once wounded him, but that was when he chained her to a cage in the basement with the others, taking away what little freedom she had within the locked house.

She groaned, trying to bring herself fully awake. Her eyelids still felt heavy as her body fought against the poison, he had given her. Her head rolled around on the hard surface, she knew she was naked without even looking, it was always the same.

The other captives had told her that he liked to hear his victims scream, she tried not to give him the satisfaction when he began resorting to violence. Her inner thighs still stung from his last ‘session’ with her, but at least she was healing faster now and that was something he couldn’t control.

She saw the door open, light spilled in causing her to squint, a hiss escaping her lips as her eyes betrayed her. The cage in the basement let no light in, better to disorientate his prisoners she supposed. He lit some candles around the room before walking closer to her, the room now had a soft glow to it.

“Ah! My beautiful white-haired maiden is awake. I do love to see your golden eyes. Won't you show me them?”

Aveyon refused to look at him, rather she closed her eyes and turned her head away, waiting for him to make his move. He didn’t seem to like that very much. He always wanted to be in complete control.

“I said look at me!” He jerked her head towards him.

She’d been waiting for this, locking her eyes with his, she did the only thing she could in this situation. She attempted to attack his mind. She pushed her way through his barriers, humans were very easy to break she had found.

He clenched his hands around his temples as he backed up slamming himself into the wall. She let out a laugh of triumph, not sure if that was actually going to work. She didn’t know how to use her powers, but she wasn’t about to let him win without a fight.

He only grew more furious. “So, you can still use that much power? Not to worry, I’ve brought you a present.” He straightened himself, shaking his head a little before brushing himself off and striding toward her with a grin.

“I made it myself,” he added with a twisted smile.

Aveyon’s eyes narrowed, what did he mean? Turning, he shut the door, shutting away her freedom. He blew out the candles, her only source of light. Her surroundings were blanketed in darkness.

“Can’t see me now, can you?” He snickered.

He’d caught on to her abilities quicker than she had. She began to struggle against her bindings. If she couldn’t see, she couldn’t make a connection, couldn’t focus enough to attack, she had nothing to anchor to, nothing to direct her mind toward.

She cursed herself and her weaknesses. Her wrists strung as she could feel the leather straps digging in as she tried to break free. She felt his hand slide up her thigh, and she smiled. It was just the opening she needed to make a connection; she used the physical contact to attempt a second assault on his mind, hoping and praying that it would work.

“Stab yourself with your own knife.” She spat when she felt their minds link. If he had been anything other than human, she wouldn’t have been able to do it.

His eyes rolled back in his head, and he raised the small scalpel he carried. He brought the blade down stabbing himself in the chest. He hissed while she laughed, this could be it, she’d get free!

Though she had wanted him to stab himself in the heart, she’d take anything at this point. His hand came fast and hard slapping her. Her head was thrown to the side as she gasped from the impact. His hands snapped something around her neck before she could recover. She spat blood at him and ground her teeth together.

“You know, I learnt something interesting about your kind from a demon. He said that when he had eaten its eye, he gained everlasting life.” His hand, those repulsive fingers, were on her face now, stroking her cheek.

“I really don’t want to hurt that pretty face of yours, but you leave me no choice. You won’t willingly share your power with me, so I’ll just take it.” He stated.

Aveyon realized what he was going to do as he ran the same sharp object, he had stabbed himself with, up her belly. The bastard! She tried again to invade his mind with his hands on her, but she was instantly blocked.

“What!?... What have you done to me?” Her eyes widened, she soon realized he had managed to stop the one thing that was a threat to him.

She began to panic; her breathing grew heavy with fear. She slammed her eyes shut knowing what was to come. Her whole body stiffened as he forced her eye open, the small blade slid over her eyelid, and she jerked causing it to nip the skin and lightly cut her. Blood pooled and slid down her cheek in the place of a tear.

“No... Please no!” Droplets of blood continued to run down her face. She couldn’t see him, but she was sure he was smiling.

With a flick of his wrist, the candles were lit again, but all she could see was red.

He didn’t wait for her to beg again; the small surgical knife sank in with ease.

She screamed, in pure agony, she screamed until her throat ran dry. And still, she screamed. She felt everything that he did, each twist and turn. He held her head firm as she jerked and thrashed about, even with his firm hold he still caused large gashes around her eye.

The scrapping of the metal against her bone echoed through her ears as he gouged out her eye. Popping it out of her socket he dangled it in front of him, looking at it curiously as Aveyon’s body convulsed from shock.

He raised it up to eye level, looking at it one last time. He opened his mouth and slipped the dangling piece of flesh onto his tongue.

She’d never forget the sounds of him chewing...

Outside of her nightmare still on the horse, Vincent had stopped as she started convulsing. He had tried to wake her right away, and then the screaming began. His feeble attempts turned to desperation.

She let out a high-pitched anguished cry, causing pain to tear through him. His eye was burning as he experienced the same pain she had in the dream, and he knew he had to wake her.

The forest around them grew deathly silent as her voice rang throughout the night air.

“AVEYON!” Vincent was frantic as he yelled her name. He still couldn’t wake her.

“AVEYON! DAMN IT WAKE UP!” He pulled her from the horse onto the ground and shook her gently.

Her hands gripped his shirt, he felt like he was going to join her screaming frenzy out of pure frustration any moment now. Her screams were pure agony, a high-pitched eerie roaring of pure terror. His chest was tight as his heart was bleeding for her.

“Please, Princess wake up! You’re dreaming! It’s not real.” he begged.

With a gasp she finally woke, her breathing coming in short sharp gasps, as she struggled to find a steady rhythm. Her fingers dug into Vincent’s chest as she tried to regain any sense of self. Her eyes were open wide, he was sure she was seeing something that wasn’t there, something not of this world.

“You’re okay now.” He half whispered to her, he saw her smile, but it was twisted and warped.

Her hand reached up, wiping away the tear of blood that had run down his cheek, coming from the same eye that she had lost. “The dream normally goes on longer; I am a little shocked to not wake back in that cage...”

He felt her shiver at the mention of it. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but I am here if you need me.”

She let her head slump onto his chest, her fingers still clenching tightly to his shirt.

Vincent dipped his head to rest against hers, a solemn look on his face.

Her body curled up into a tight ball. Her hands finally relaxed, and unclenched from his shirt, his arms still wrapped loosely around her. She slowly peeled herself out from his lap to sit beside him.

She took a deep breath and sighed. “I have had the nightmares pretty much the whole time, sometimes I feel like I will never be able to escape them. It is like, this here, right now is the real dream and I will wake up and still be there.” She touched a shaky hand to the bottom of her right eye tracing the scar down her jawline.

“I can assure you; you are free.” He sat beside her, watching closely as she seemed to relax a little more.

“He ate my eye.” she finally said. She blinked back tears as she continued. “He dug it out while I was awake and ate it in front of me. The sounds...” She trailed off shaking her head.

Vincent’s winched. That’s not exactly what he had expected had happened to her eye but given that he had just shared the pain with her, he believed it.

“I had honestly thought that you had lost it fighting back.” He responded honestly.

She laughed bitterly. “It is better that people think that.” She shivered. “The truth is... disturbing.”

A branch snapped behind them, the sound shocking her so much she jumped and clung to Vincent looking to the woods with wide eyes. Her heart was pounding, she didn’t know how much more she could take this night.

Vincent's eyes were locked onto their surroundings, his arm wrapping around her in a protective manner, but it didn’t seem dominating or threatening to her.

“Only a rabbit.” He told her with a shy laugh and released her.

She nodded but she couldn’t stop her heart from beating so fast. His hand touched hers and she released she was still clinging to him. She gasped and pushed herself away before coming to a standing position.

“Sorry, I am normally not so at ease with anyone besides Emerald.” She didn’t feel embarrassed, but she was feeling a slight tinge of something... she couldn’t put her finger on it. Things with Vincent were different than Emerald though it was the same security.

Following her he stood brushing off the leaves and dirt from his clothes. “It’s fine, remember, I’m not a real boy.” He joked.

“Do not treat yourself like that!” She scolded. “You are your own being, whether you were created in someone else image or not.”

This shocked Vincent, she had never spoken about him in such a way. “Starting to care about me are you?” He laughed.

She looked at him dumbfounded, was she? “It is... only natural right? We are travelling together.” She concurred. That was it right?

He shrugged, turning he mounted the horse. “Shall we keep moving then, my dear companion?” He jested.

She stifled a laugh and nodded before joining him. She was grateful for his remarks as they quickly brought her back to the real world. Easing the mood and filling her body and mind with less tension.

“Thank you, Vincent.” She muttered against his back as he kicked the horse into action.

Her arms wrapped around him, thankful for the contact, it anchored her.

He looked over his shoulder at her and half smiled. “Let’s get to the elves before daybreak, I think we could use the rest, without the worry of random attackers, or nightmares.”

She nodded. “I know I need training to continue this fight but...” She paused. “If I could just see or speak to that white being again.” She sighed. “There is more, I know it. I cannot place it, but there is something I am missing.”

“You don’t have to worry about passing out or sleeping for months on end now, can you contact them the way they contacted you?” He asked.

She shook her head. “No, I am not a dream-walker, they pulled me into their space. I have no way of doing the same.”

“I’m sure it will reach out again when it can.”

Aveyon frowned. “Though I did drift off thinking of the goddess, perhaps it requires a connection or some sort...”

They fell silent as she pondered the idea. His gaze fell to the trees as they towered over them, the moon was high in the sky. How long did they have until daybreak? The soft hoot of an owl caught her attention as the trees seemed alive.

“It is peaceful out here.” She commented.

The forest began to thin a little as they approached the edge of a large lake. The small river they had been following opened into this spring-like lake. Riding along its shore, her gaze searched the waters for answers to the forever nagging questions in her mind.

The white glow of the moon reflected and glistened on the surface of the still water, then she noticed it. Aveyon’s eyes grew wide, there in the lake, a strangely familiar figure appeared to be in the water.

“Vincent!” She tapped his shoulder frantically. “Stop, stop!”

He veered the horse to a sudden stop, and she slid off before darting to the water’s edge.

“That has got to be the reason!” She stared at the water in complete awe.

“What is it?” Vincent asked as he tied the horse to a branch then joined her.

“Can you see her?” She pointed to the water, the ghostly figure that had visited her dreams was floating below... no it was more like she was being reflected on the surface of the water.

Vincent squinted at the water and shook his head. “No.”

Kicking off her flats she stepped into the water. Heading toward the mysterious woman.

“Hey now! Is that a good idea?” He panicked slightly. “There are kelpies in these parts.”

She tilted her head at him and frowned.

“I’m not pulling your leg!” He retorted.

“We were speaking about the white being, and now here she is, I must go.” She paused. “We are connected, you will know if I am in danger.” She ran into the water and dove beneath its surface.

“Shit!” He spat as he kicked at the water’s edge. Water has long been theorized to be a gateway to different realms, it made sense to him that she could contact this white figure through the water, but he didn’t like it.