Aurora's Vision (Arc1:Chp2)

Chapter 2 - Scars of the Shadow War

105 years ago.

 

Ruby stepped on the creature, preventing it from rising back to its misshapen and overlong legs. It clawed futilely at her filthy gold sabaton, its red eyes burning with mindless hatred and spittle spewed from its jagged maw as it emitted a high-pitched screech.

She thrust her polearm through the thrall's neck and twisted. After a few fitful movements and panicked, gurgling shrieks, it stilled and dissipated into murky shadow. Instead of returning to the evil which shaped it, it entered her weapon. She couldn’t understand why. It was not something Brilliance had done before.

No, that was wrong, she thought. Her weapon had lost all of its lustre in the war. Her necklace had broken. The demon flames had melted the chain away. Only the rusted charm remained.

Brilliance it was no longer. The polearm was the shape of the sun, and the blade was the topmost sunbeam. It had shone and burned with her gods’ grace and was the envy of her kind. And now… now only a void remained at its centre, stealing instead of radiating light. She had been abandoned by her god… No, that was not right either.

No matter. Her duty was the same. The war may be over, but the thralls still remained. When the Wretched Army broke, their master and his high-ranking spawn had fled back to the Abyss, leaving the disposable thralls behind to cover their escape. She would not rest until every one of them was purged from H’Trea.

She straightened, flinching slightly from the piercing pain shooting through her back. She was bruised and battered, but the agony of her burned wings was the worst of it. Her armour was bent and dented, and her tabard tattered. Her unruly orange-red hair had become partially undone and fell into her eyes. Even so, she took another step forward, toward the place where the dark was thickest and the demons would hide. Her vision tilted and blurred, and she felt herself falling.

A hand steadied and anchored her, the weight and feel bringing her back from her dizzy spell, and for a brief moment, there was a euphoric reprieve from all her aches and pains.

“Ruby! We need to go back,” Emma said, her cheer dampened for the first time since they left on this journey. Having someone with an uncanny smile despite the stark ruin and desolation around her would have normally set off Ruby’s alarms, but for Emma, it was her frown that meant danger. “This business is futile. Your soldiers are injured and in need of rest.”

Ruby looked to her contingent, equally broken and bruised. There were so few left now. Her staunchest followers. None would look her in the eye, nor stand proud. They were mere shadows of what they once were. She had led them all to ruin, and still they followed.

“So, heal them,” Ruby gritted angrily. She shrugged off Emma’s crushing grip. The fae was oblivious to her own strength. It was hard for Ruby to reconcile how someone who seemed like they couldn’t hurt a fly could crush bones with a simple flex of their fingers.

“They’re exhausted… I’m exhausted,” Emma pleaded, looking at the soot-covered bandages wrapped around her arms. They covered wounds she would never be able to heal. Her hands shook from over-exertion. Soon, she would not be able to summon her weapon anymore. “We have nothing left to give.”

Ruby looked to the distance, gritting her teeth and setting her jaw stubbornly. It made Emma angry. She stomped her foot petulantly, and a small quake rippled through the ground nearby, unsettling Ruby and her followers as they gasped in shock.

“Ruby, you are killing yourself. You will not find absolution dying upon the sword of a putrid demon thrall,” she pouted.

“And what would you know about absolution?” Ruby spat angrily. Emma’s words had grated painfully against her raw emotions. “Why are you even here, Emma? Would your powers not have been better suited at the Great Tree anyway?”

“I came because I was worried…” she answered softly, her green eyes drifting away from Ruby’s.

“I don’t believe you,” Ruby answered, squinting at her in hopes of gauging her true intentions.

She was the only one in the company who was not clad in armour, just a simple green checkered top and dress. Not that she needed the extra protection. The current iteration of the Fae of Nature was freakishly strong and tall, wielding a giant wooden hammer wrapped in vines and capable of healing herself from most injuries. A pair of monarch butterfly wings rested on the hammer’s pommel. It would usually be in her black hair. Now her short bob and her antennae just blew wildly in the hot, ash-filled wind.

“My reasons are my own. Can we not just leave it at that? It doesn’t change the current situation,” Emma replied, fidgeting nervously with her bandages.

The action drew Ruby’s gaze to her hands, and the guilt she had been trying to suppress spread with every heartbeat in her chest. Why won’t she just leave? she thought, her eyes falling on her forlorn soldiers. Why won’t they all just leave? Why do they follow? Despite everything I’ve done, why do they continue to haunt me with their loyalty? Can’t they see that I'm trying to make things right?

Defeated, Ruby slumped her shoulders. Forgiveness would be hard as it is. If she ended up getting Emma killed, it would be another heavy sin she would carry. She will return her to the fae and accept their judgment. Come what may.

“Fine. Pack up, we’re leaving. We will find our deaths another day,” she ordered, turning around.

The Great Tree loomed before them in the distance. They had managed to stop the spread and had severed many of the branches that were too far gone, but much of the darkened tree still glowed with thick, oily red embers. The dire sight caused sour bile to rise in Ruby’s throat.

Emma saw the guilt clouding Ruby’s tired eyes. They were a beautiful gold colour before and reminded her of the sun. Now they were a vibrant and unusual red. ‘Demon eyes,’ as most would describe them. Emma preferred describing them as Red Dwarves, still a star but just a little older and burning far hotter… Perhaps a little wiser, too.

“It is not your fault,” Emma whispered, returning to her usual cheer.

“How can you say that?” Ruby spat in shock. “I could’ve killed you! I could’ve destroyed EVERYTHING!”

“But you didn’t,” she smiled reassuringly.

Ruby slumped, a small smile turning the corners of her mouth. She would never forgive herself but to make Emma happy, she would do anything. “Only thanks to you.”

“That’s only partially true,” Emma shrugged with a bob of her head. She took the first step back home.

“How will I face everyone?” Ruby asked, the prospect keeping her rooted in place. Dying in battle seemed easier by comparison.

“I don’t know,” Emma sighed and then grinned at her. “But I do know that you won’t have to face them alone.”

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