Embers of the Lost

“Where are Silas and Bianca?” A familiar voice floated through the tunnel. Layla Linwood was already here.

“Forget it. They shall face consequences later.” A cold voice replied. One Lily didn’t recognise even slightly. Was that Cyrus? “We have more important matters.”

“That we do. Jared…” Another unknown voice. Creeping closer to the door at the end of the tunnel, Lily found herself gazing through the gap that had been left open. Jared stood in the centre of the room looking confused and concerned while he was flanked by his mother on one side and the ice council elder on the other. In front, stood a water fairy of towering height, and a wingless male… with dark purple hair? Since when did fairies or witches have purple hair?!

Wait...

Pyran had purple hair without it being due to his race. Had Cyrus been born under the influence of the Morequacor? Did that mean he had abilities over the mind? It would make sense, to be able to convince all the right people of the same story for centuries… there was surely more involved than just discriminatory history telling.

A sudden jolt of fear ran through Lily, did this mean he was about to brainwash Jared?!

Focusing on the goings-on inside the door, Lily attempted to catch up on the information which Jared was being given. The way Cyrus spoke was like a commander giving a briefing to someone who was not allowed to question the way of things. He was straight forward, cold and somewhat smug. He didn’t seem remotely bothered by the fact Jared’s expression shifted from confusion to disbelief to horrified disgust as the reality of the story settled in.

“You mean… no one actually has to die?” Jared whispered.

“Of course, they have to die.” Layla snapped.

“If our bloodline is to thrive and continue in power, some lower lives must be sacrificed.” Cyrus explained.

“Lower lives?” Jared repeated, his skin turning sickly green under the dark shimmer. His feathered wings curled in around him as though trying to protect him from what he was hearing. “I don’t think anyone’s life is lower than mine.”

Lily felt a swell of respect in her chest at those words. That was the Jared she knew from her childhood, the boy who would help her even though she was the outcast of the community. She also felt dread in her stomach as Misha ruffled her wings in discomfort. Both of them knew what fate Jared would meet if he refused to go along with the family.

“You will have to learn to accept it if you are to be in this family, Jared.” The water-fairy spoke as the ice elder placed her hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“I can’t.”

“If you don’t, you will die.” Cyrus warned, his meaning obvious even without the way his hand raised to aim his hand towards the teen in threat. Lily cast her eyes downward. Was she going to lose someone else good from her life?

“I’d rather die than be the reason so many lose their lives.” Lily looked up again at the words that came, they were more confident than she had ever heard Jared speak and, when she looked through the gap in the door, her eyes locked with his.

Lily froze.

He knew she was there; his eyes were full of recognition.

“Son, you don’t know what you are talking about.” Layla spoke, drawing Jared’s dark eyes away from Lily and up to his mother.

“Yes, I do. I’ve never agreed with the way you treat people.” Jared continued to speak with solid confidence, shaking off the hand on his shoulder and stepping away from them. “You’ve always acted like you are superior, yet the best person I ever met was the wingless girl you branded a traitor. Let me guess, she knew about all this, that’s why you arrested her immediately when she came back.”

“She is a traitor.”

“This family is the traitorous one!” Jared snapped, stepping towards the door.

“If you leave, you will die.” Cyrus turned to follow Jared with his eyes.

“So, kill me!” Jared dared, walking more determinedly towards the only exit he could see. The moment Cyrus tensed his hand and opened his mouth to speak a spell, Lily barged through the door and threw herself between him and Jared.

“Addari!” She yelled while her arms drew up to cross each other and protect her face instinctively. The barrier she created was around herself and the force of the spell sent her reeling off to the side of the room and through the wall with a vicious crack of bark.

The barrier remained around her long enough to take the brunt of the fall, but it didn’t stop Lily’s head colliding with the floor at an unhealthy speed.

Groaning in pain, Lily raised her hand to investigate any damage. There was already a lump, and if the warmth and damp was anything to go by, she was bleeding.

“You stupid child! You cannot stop us.” Cyrus descended from above on a charmed rug. He knew incantation magic like any witch.

Lowering her hand, ignoring the blood that stained her fingertips, Lily pushed herself to her feet. “I have to try.”

“No one can stand against death.” Cyrus laughed ominously, raising his left hand which Lily noticed was bound in a metallic accessory. It twisted around his middle finger like a ring then connected to more metal which twisted around half his forearm. It glowed the same foreboding violet as the man’s eyes.

A heavy thudding sounded in the distance.

What was that?

Whatever it was, it was huge.

The foliage of trees to the right parted to show the skull head of the Macellavir. This wasn’t a mirage. This was breaking branches and crushing undergrowth with every movement.

“But… that’s a myth.”

“Because I made it so…”

Lily gulped, trying to calm her heightened breathing and think of anything other than terror when looking at the beast which towered over her.

Wait, there was another skull further down? And the rotten vines covered a vast area but the feet that could be seen briefly with each step were only the size of a large elk.

“What?”

“I’d still run if I were you even if it’s not exactly what the stories tell you. It is still death.” Cyrus clicked his fingers and motioned towards the young fairy. Sure enough, everything around the creature was dying as it stepped too close.

“How have you managed this?” Lily yelped, jumping back to put some distance between her and the large rotten arm that swung and crashed into the floor where she had stood.

“I managed to trick one legend, the Morequacor, into gaining some of its power and now, I control legends of my own! Stupid horse didn’t even see it coming.”

Lily raised up a shield of ice to brace the foot that swung slow but powerful towards her, knowing she could not outrun it. Shattering the ice, the impact sent Lily flying into a tree trunk with a loud scream of pain leaving her lips.

“This beast has killed anyone who has taken it too far against us, but this is probably my favourite kill.” Cyrus sounded almost gleeful at the idea.

Lily coughed trying to recover from the winding she had received. Lifting her head, Lily noticed a twinkle in the grass just within reach. The necklace her parents had made her. It seemed so long ago now. Straining her arm to reach out and grab the trinket, Lily pushed herself to her feet to face the beast which walked toward her, a low growling exuding from behind the visible skulls.

She couldn’t give up and leave her parents in the community of someone with this under his control.

“Lily! Catch!”

Spinning around to see Kiki flying toward her with the scythe she had masked as a wand in her paws. Dropping the item for Lily to catch with her free hand, Kiki dove for the Macellavir, scratching at its eyes and making it rear up and howl in anger.

Lily cast ‘Addari’ on the scythe before holding it in front of her to block a swipe of rotten vines the beast wielded like a whip.

“Praeligo!” Lily cast the binding spell she had read on the parchment of offensive spells, rendering the Macellavir frozen in its attempt to swipe Kiki out of the air. The resistance knocked Lily to the side as the beast broke her hold.

How was she ever meant to stop that?!

Slamming the base of the scythe to the ground she shot vines up to tie around the beast’s legs while water pulled from the air froze and assaulted it from all angles. No matter how they pierced it, it didn’t stop moving, nor did it bleed. And each vine was ripped out of the ground with ease as rot ate away at them quicker than Lily could encourage the growth.

Shadow engulfed them all and feline snarls sounded before ice shot up from the ground to bind the beast’s feet and a gust of wind knocked the beast off balance.

Taking the advantage, Lily forced her legs to move, running in the direction she knew Cyrus had been in. Sure enough, she collided with him. Getting her hands against his head, she focused her concentration and yelled, “Manac”

He fought back, Lily had never expected there to be so much pain involved, but she felt like her head might split open. It felt like the pressure was making her head wound worse, like there were hands attempting to crack her skull open like one would a coconut. But soon, Cyrus’ body went limp and the Macellavir stopped attacking blindly.

“Give me the armlet.” Lily commanded, struggling against the resistance even while watching Cyrus reach across to his arm and unhook the controlling trinket in order to hand it over.

“What are you going to do?” Kiki asked, fluttering down onto her shoulder.

“Stay.” Lily growled at the man before standing up and pulling the armlet onto her wrist.

The shadow faded away and she saw Axel limping away from the Macellavir while Quinn stood between them growling and poised for attack. Jared was looking at her with a hardened expression and red eyes as though he had been crying.

“Your mother…?” Lily began, cutting herself off as Jared shook his head.

“She won’t be in anyone’s way now.” Flinching in surprise, Lily looked up to see the Ice Elder drifting to the floor. “Nor will Oakley, I just took care of him.”

Lily blinked. The Ice Elder was Yuri? The one who was working to undermine Cyrus in the fairy community? But, she was the one who had banished Lily. Looking at Jared, she felt her heart tighten for him. Even if her parents were against her, she could never wish to see them dead. “I’m sorry.” She whispered.

“She wanted so many to die. She… she’s lived long enough.” He responded with a voice that said he was clearly holding back a lot of emotions.

Not being sure what to say, Lily turned to the Macellavir. Pulling the armlet from her arm, she placed it on the floor, flash burning it with ’agora’ and light magic until it disintegrated. Lily looked up and watched the Macellavir dismantle itself into five individual creatures. Two deer, three wolves, each with skulls for faces. Her eyebrow raised in question but there was no time to ponder anything before the beasts charged in her direction.

Yelping in fear, Lily raised her hand to summon vines to lift her out of the way. However, the beasts were not interested in her. They raced over to where Cyrus remained completely still under Lily’s control. He couldn’t even scream when their fangs ripped into his flesh.

“Oh…” Lily whimpered at the sight of them devouring the body. She could hear Misha’s bird form retching at the sight and smell. They made short work of it before vanishing into the trees. Lily dropped to the ground and glanced at what was left of Cyrus; there wasn’t enough to bother seeing if he might have survived.

That was no way to die.

“What in the name of liche were they?” Jared asked pulling Lily’s mind away from the sympathy she was feeling for the man who had killed so many.

“Whatever they are, they aren’t a problem now.” Axel grumbled, changing forms into the fur covered human Lily knew well. Though Jared was almost as concerned about his sudden appearance as he had been with the Macellavir. He glanced from Axel, to the snow leopard and the blue jay. Before he could speak, Lily changed Misha back into her human form while Quinn took on his.

“Lily, you live a very odd life now…” He commented, drawing a tired laugh from the white-haired girl.

“Tell me about it.” Lily scoffed. “You wouldn’t believe half of the things I’ve seen.”

“Tell me?” Jared’s voice was surprisingly gentle as he walked over to Cyrus and examined him.

Looking between the group, Lily wondered if she should just tell them everything. Were they worth the risk of trusting? Jared had been the only person in their community to ever help her outside of her family. He’d just silenced his own mother. Axel, Quinn and Misha had been helping her without any benefit for themselves, and if the Ice Elder really was against the war, it would be good to have everyone on the same page.

Nodding, Lily began to tell her story from her view, walking over to Cyrus and, like she had done to bury Oscar, she pulled his body under the surface of the ground with the use of vines.

“I had wondered where Oscar was.” Jared breathed as the story came to an end. Without warning, he had closed the space between them and wrapped his arms around her, burying her face into his chest.

Since when was Jared so tall?

“I’m so sorry Lily.” He whispered into her hair as a couple of choked sobs left her throat in the safe darkness of his chest. Looking over her head at her companions, he offered him a smile. “Thank you for being with her since then.”

“I’m here for fun.” Axel shrugged.

“You just wounded yourself protecting her.” Jared pointed out with a raised eyebrow causing Axel to huff and stalk a little way into the woods while Quinn and Misha snickered at him.

Jared shook his head and pulled back from Lily to look her in the eye. “What do we do now?”

“Now? I don’t know. No matter where I go I’m the enemy, so I can’t convince anyone of anything. You might be able to, now that I’ve got the Byrnes out of the fairy kingdom?”

“Everyone believes it so firmly. They are terrified of the enemy.” Yuri sighed.

“But witches aren’t the enemy.” Lily said for what felt like the millionth time in her life.

“It’s difficult to stop seeing that when it’s the only threat you know.” Quinn interjected.

He had a point.

“What if there’s a bigger one?” Lily breathed, gaining confused looks. Without the main drives of the wars there was still fear, but with something else to fight against… Perhaps the war could be averted. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. That’s how the saying went, right.

“Jared. This is going to sound crazy, but you and Yuri need to convince the fairies to escape the woodland. Go north to the mountains and meet with Xalina and Tanith. Take this so they know you are telling the truth.” Lily instructed, handing him the necklace still in her hand.

“What are you talking about?” Jared argues.

Lily insists “We are never going to cross boundaries with everyone so kept apart.”

Jared needed to become a member of the next council even if he was young. Between him and Yuri, they knew the truth and could have the power to make people think differently.

“Side with Draconians, and when the time comes, side with the witches. Fight the common enemy.”

“What common enemy?” Jared interrupted.

“Me.”

Stunned silence was broken only by the woodland life in the trees and undergrowth.

“What are you doing?” Kiki broke the silence first.

“Becoming a bigger enemy than the war. They all turn their attention to stopping me, they work together, they realise the wars don’t need to happen.”

“Lily, that’s insane. You’ll be killed.” Misha protested.

“Maybe, but if everyone fights with each other to do that it’ll be worth it. Axel can help make me seem more powerful, and I’m going to hunt down the Morequacor. It made the mistake of giving Cyrus such power, it can make up for it now.”

“That’s too much risk. Come home.” Jared shook his head.

“Jared, listen, not a single race trusts me.” Lily stood her ground. “I’ve escaped places and escaped death many times; I’ve had part of my soul killed, I’ve been banished by my people, put in chains by my friends, and probably brought shame on my family. I’ve appeared in towns and members of communities have disappeared or died. You can blame your mother and Oakley on me as well. I’m already a villain, I just need to become one that is loud about it. Not one in the shadows, but one that needs to be stopped right this moment.”

“But…” Quinn stopped speaking as Lily raised a hand to him.

“Please. I have very little left to bother living for. At least, this way, maybe all of you and others I care for get to live in peace.”

Jared sighed at the determination in Lily’s eyes. She was a different person than the girl he had known before. That girl had barely been able to look him in the face, let alone hold his gaze until he backed down and agreed.

“You’ve really grown.” He mumbled.

“You’re one to talk.” She teased, motioning at how he towered over her these days.

“You know what I meant.” He rolled his eyes and gave her a playful shove. Lily couldn’t help but chortle, she did know what he meant, but she still didn’t feel grown.

“How are we going to convince everyone to leave?” Yuri asked after a moment.

“I’m going to start a fire.” Lily stated. “Axel, Quinn, Misha, can you help spread and control it so no one gets harmed but the trees aren’t safe anymore.”

“You’re going to destroy your home?” Quinn queried.

“I’m going to destroy a place. My home is my parents and my friends, and I’m trying to save them.”

“Touché.” Axel saluted her.

“We can certainly control it for you.” Misha agreed as Lily took her wand from the satchel and handed it back to her. She’d earned that much trust.

“Thank you.”

Turning back to Jared, Lily smiled softly. “Go. Tell them I killed your mother and that I’m intent on destroying a place that never made me feel welcome. Oakley, Silas, and Bianca can be ‘collateral damage’. Tell them you think Oscar has died and the loss has made me lose my mind a little. Tell them whatever it takes. Just get them to the mountains.”

Jared reached out to gently touch Lily’s cheek, his black sparkle standing out against her silver. “Ok. Just… keep yourself safe?”

Lily smiled, but couldn’t respond honestly. Instead, she pulled back and glanced down at where Kiki and Jared’s companion nuzzled heads together before it spread its wings and jumped upward into the trees, closely followed by the black feathered fairy.

“Lily.” Yuri spoke in a softer voice than Lily had ever heard from her. “I’m sorry for banishing you. I was afraid I had signed your death warrant.”

“If you hadn’t, they would have killed me here.” Lily smiled slightly. “I would have never learned the things I have.”

“But you have suffered…” Yuri reached out to touch the bare side of Lily’s head. “I’m sorry I couldn’t have helped more.”

“You’re helping now. Look after Jared, and my parents.”

Yuri nodded her ascent before spreading her soft butterfly-style wings and following Jared up into the trees.

“Are you sure about this?” Quinn asked as he approached Lily. Looking up into his topaz blue eyes, Lily swallowed past the lump in her throat.

“No.” She admitted. “But it’s the only idea I have. If you’ve got a better one, I’m all ears.”

Quinn bit his lower lip for a moment before sighing and shaking his head. “Logically, it’s a very good plan. If you can give them reasons to team up rather than fight, you may stand a chance of the majority of people realising they don’t need to kill each other.” Placing his hand on her head, he stroked her hair in a supportive manner. “I just know it’s not going to be easy on you.”

“Life has never been particularly easy.” Lily shrugged.

“We could be the villains for you?” Axel suggested as he stepped closer. “We’re not part of either race.”

“The betrayal of me turning against my kind, my family, my friends will hit harder…” Lily shook her head. “Besides, I have a fitting background to turn me ‘evil’. I’ve been insulted, abused, disrespected, mistreated, degraded, mutilated, hunted. It would be enough to make anyone angry enough to lash out.” All eyes flicked down to the scars on her arms where the chunk of flesh still didn’t quite match for the scar tissue, and up to the recovering burn on her head. Mutilated was an accurate term.

“Look,” Lily cut off the men as they both went to speak. “It’s not like I can turn back to anything anyway.”

“She’s right.” Misha spoke up. “She’s doing the most logical thing with the cards she has, and I’d like to offer up my cards to help as well.”

“Thank you. If you guys are willing to help, I have ideas. However, we should probably get this done before the kingdom thinks Jared and Yuri are talking crazy. I want to keep the fire low but wide, so they have to fly up and away from it. That should keep them safe from the Densewood.”

“Gotcha.” Axel replied as the other two nodded. The three of them took off in different directions to make sure they could help control the fire as it took over the fairy kingdom.

Waiting until they were a decent distance away, Lily stood in the middle of the small clearing they had fought in and spread her arms out either side of her. Light pulled in and glowed around her figure while her eyes fell closed with focus. Uncontrollable fire like that she’d spread in Kita-Utara wasn’t what she wanted, she needed the speed and heat of light to start a fire that was controllable by others. The light shot away from her at all angles until it hit a solid object. Upon impact, the light focused as if under a magnifying glass and set the bark, grass and foliage alight.

Taking a hold of the light that the fire produced, Lily was able to extend the effects around the trunks of the trees and have them infect the others close to them. Letting out a slow breath, Lily planted her feet solidly on the ground and drew the water within the woodland down through the roots of the plants and towards her.

“You’re getting really strong…” Kiki whispered as she watched the fire spread while a wall of water rose from the ground around them until it reached Lily’s waist. Lily curled a small smile at that, though her hands trembled a little from the amount of magic she was using at once.

“Let’s just hope I’m strong enough to pull this off.”

Glancing up at the yelling that floated through the air, Lily knew she was at least doing enough this time. The fire spread outwards quicker than it did upwards giving the fairies no choice but to abandon the cover of the trees. Even if the fire didn’t eat its way into their homes, it was going to burn through the trunks and cause trees to fall like leaves in the autumn.

Fire crackled and the calls of the fairies grew quiet over the hours that passed. Lily froze some of the water which encircled her and Kiki to keep the heat on their bodies from getting too high. She couldn’t afford to pass out this time.

After enough time, Lily followed the fire with the water she had accumulated, dousing the flames and revealing just how many branches and trees had fallen. The undergrowth had been burned away. The leaves had fallen leaving the woodland lifeless and charred.

Greyscale and silent. The Fae Greenwood was now a depressing sight. Some of the outer reaches of the woods had survived and only a small amount of the Densewood had been caught up with it.

It looked like death had visited without mercy.

The only patch of green which had survived was the small area where Lily had stood with her wall of water. One lone bluebell sat right on the edge of that patch, looking brighter than it ever would have done surrounded by colour.

Sitting down beside the flower, Lily ran her fingers over the petals gently.

“All the roots survived. The Greenwood will grow back.” Lily whispered more to herself than Kiki who settled beside her reflecting the melancholy in Lily’s heart. She had just destroyed a whole kingdom. Sure, this had been controlled unlike the destruction of the mansion in Kita-Utara, but it well and truly sealed her fate as a villain in the eyes of her kind as well as the eyes of the witches.

“Lil, are you ok?” Kiki nuzzled against her thigh. With the others nowhere to be seen, Lily let herself be vulnerable with the little cat, tears stinging her eyes.

“No.” Lily whispered back, blinking back the tears before they could spill onto her cheeks. “It’s logical as I’m already hated. But now I’ve given the world actual reasons to fear and hate me. We officially have nowhere to go back to, not even our parents.”

“Well, I’m home so long as I’m with you.” Kiki commented, jumping up onto Lily’s lap reaching up to lick the tip of her nose comfortingly.

Lily pulled Kiki into a hug and buried her face into the soft fur. She had a point there. Lily would always have somewhere to belong so long as part of her soul was still alive in Kiki. The world wouldn’t be fully dark until the mischievous light behind those bright eyes went out.

“That was insane!” An excited voice pulled her out of her mind; her ice blue eyes glancing up to see Axel and Misha making their way back towards her talking about how they had controlled the fire from going to the edges of the woodland. “You got skills with that wand.”

“Why thank you,” Misha bowed in jest, almost stumbling as she did so.

“They look like they had fun,” Quinn spoke up from behind Lily, making her jump before turning to look at him. He had a mildly amused expression on his face but he didn’t comment on her reaction. “We find ourselves with strange friends, no?”

“Agreed,” Lily chortled. “I find most who befriend me are odd in some way.” A small fond smile pulled on her lips as she thought back to Dia and Tanith who had been a little different than the norm. Even Finnigan had turned out to be ‘odd’, in a psychotic way.

“I, actually, had something to ask of you all.” She continued once Axel and Misha were close enough. “I’m not going to be able to do this alone.”

“We’re with you.” Misha smiled, though it faltered as Lily shook her head.

“No, I need behind the scenes help. I need stories to spread through the world to build up the fear of me, and then I need help pretending to be more impressive than I am.” The looks of confusion were not lost on the fairy. Asking for help wasn’t Lily’s forte, she was beating around the bush and she knew it.

“What is it you need us to do?” Quinn asked patiently.

“I’m going to go and find the Morequacor. It might be able to help me deal with the Byrnes even if it’s just by manipulating their minds to forget the eternal spell.” Lily explained. “While I do that, I was hoping you all could travel in human form and spread the rumours of fire and death and chaos. Add fuel to the stories they already have but at the same time be there to help motivate people to accept the alliance of fairies and draconians when I come back.”

“And of course, if you find a Byrne, keep an eye on them until Lily can turn up and make them ‘disappear’.” Kiki added.

“And what happens when you show up and have three races of people fighting back?” Axel pointed out.

“I’ll have to be clever about how I show up in that case. Make it so they don’t really know where the magic is coming from so they can’t fight me personally.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.” Lily admitted. “I’m making this all up as I go; I’m sure I’ll figure something out. But stories and fear go a long way to making something worse than it is.”

“We can always help the illusion if we are nearby…” Misha encouraged, her hand reaching out to clasp Lily’s shoulder. “We’ll also see if we can get anyone else on your side. I’ll reach out to the other Byrnes who I know don’t like the situation but are too scared to do anything. There’s not many of them but it might help.”

“Thank you,” Lily smiled.

“Kiki,” Axel addressed the feline. “If she needs help but is too stubborn to ask for it, you come find us ok?”

“Absolutely!” Kiki nodded, nudging the fist he held out with her head. Lily sighed at the exchange but it was certainly nice to think that maybe more people had her back than she thought.