Aurora's Vision (Arc1:Chp6)

 Arc 1

Chapter 6 - The Timid Unicorn

Darkness, fire, terror, pain and death consumed Emma’s dreams. She tossed restlessly and mumbled in her sleep as her mind's eye filled with tortured images of demons and horrors. She awoke in a cold sweat when the pain became unbearable enough to shatter her nightmares.

The night was dark and silent. The quiet was eerie compared to the noise and chaos of the day. The air was still electric, like a storm was brewing.

She looked at her bandaged arms and grimaced from the searing pain burning through them. She wondered whether the scream that still echoed in her mind was hers or from the dream fragments that slowly ebbed from her consciousness – echoes of memories that she would never unsee. Her eyes found a pair of concerned purple ones hovering over her bed in the darkness.

“Does it hurt?” Jatyr whispered. “Do you want me to borrow Ajanefe’s powers to heal you?”

“No, his powers wouldn’t fare any better than mine,” Emma whispered back. “Treating dark-infused magic damage is difficult. It will heal. All wounds do. It just needs time and care. I just must bear with it.” She started, remembering the ritual. “The Tree!”

She wanted to sit up but couldn’t. Damn Castyr! she thought. She would lie there until she was rested or if he deigned to call for her. How many hours had passed? Had they started the ritual already? How dare he make decisions regarding the tree without me!

“Shush,” Jatyr whispered impatiently, looking over his shoulder as he motioned for her to be quiet. “The Great Tree lives, it’s healing.”

The tension ebbed out of Emma’s body, making it tingle as it relaxed.

“Then, the ritual was a success. That’s a relief,” she sighed. The Great Tree lived! She lived! Castyr had saved them both! She hadn’t felt so unburdened since the Shadow War started.

She squinted suspiciously at Jatyr.  “Then, what are you doing here, Jatyr?”

The silenus was such a non-threat that she hadn’t immediately thought it strange to find him in her home. It was probably why he was so adept at ‘stealing’ someone's powers without their knowledge. Though his priority would be the tree as all sileni were, more so than the pixies. Which made his being here all the more peculiar, Jatyr didn’t just break into people’s houses, whim or no.

He reddened as expected by her unsaid implication.

“I wasn’t sneaking around… That’s a lie… I was sneaking around, but… not in a creepy way.” He blew an aggravated breath at his failed and awkward explanation. “The tree asked for you,” he explained instead.

“It did? I still don’t hear it,” Emma whispered. She silenced her inner turmoil to hear the tree’s voice but only heard Ruby’s deep sleep breathing.

“It’s weak. It will talk when it’s better,” he explained. “But it might be too late then, so it needs you to come now.”

Jatyr shifted and fidgeted nervously, ringing her alarm bells.

“Is something wrong with it?” she asked, fear creeping into her heart.

“No… maybe. The Great Tree is fine for now,” he said, trying to soothe her fears but growing impatient in the process. “It’s easier to grasp if you see it for yourself. I think you’ll understand better than anyone.”

“I can’t, I’m still under your father’s control,” she growled angrily, pointing at her wings.

She was more annoyed at Castyr than anything else. Boy, would he get his stupid head bashed in when I next see him! The thought brought a smirk to her face.

Jatyr sighed heavily to the ceiling. “I hate doing this,” he muttered, gently taking the wings from her hair and blowing on them. “You’re free to make your own decisions, but I need you to come to the Budding Chamber with me. It’s life or death.”

Emma shot up from the bed at the words. “Life or Death? What’s that mean? Jatyr?”

“She needs to come too,” he said, pointing to Ruby’s sleeping form in the opposite bed.

She was lying on her stomach, probably the most comfortable position for her at the moment. She had done as much as she could for her, but the broken stubs of the wings on her back still looked raw.

“No, leave her be. It’s the first time she’s managed to sleep peacefully in weeks,” Emma whispered.

“But… the tree asked for her as well,” he whispered, half panicked. He looked down at Ruby and bit his fingertips, his nerves getting the better of him. He almost looked frightened.

As long as she had known him, Jatyr had never been this on edge. Come to think of it, he had been uncharacteristically impatient with her during their conversation. Something must have gone wrong with the ritual for him to act this way.

“Let me assess the situation first,” she suggested. “Her presence near the tree might complicate things. I don’t want her blamed for something she hasn’t done. We’ll come back for her once I know everything is alright.”

Jatyr clenched his hands together. He didn’t like the idea but wasn’t going to disagree with her logic. “Okay,” he said.

Once they exited her house, Emma transformed into a pixie and sprinkled Jatyr with fairy dust until the silenus floated above the ground. She flew up the tree, dragging Jatyr behind her.

“Emma, is she a good person?” he asked once they got halfway up.

Emma looked at her hand. The memory of Ruby’s miserable face flashed in her mind. Her tortured screams as the black demon flames she could no longer control consumed her still rang in her ears. Those moments were enough to convince Emma to endure them to reach her. Everything after that only made the pain worth it.

Using the demon flames might have taken Ruby’s wings, her golden eyes and severed her tie to Solaris, but it did not take her mind and spirit. Scarred though they may be, in the end, the demons had failed. They no longer had sway over her. She had turned the tide and helped shatter their ranks. Saving her was not a mistake.

“I believe so. She unfortunately lost her way and made a grave error – one she deeply regrets. She will punish herself for the rest of her life. Let’s not contribute to the misery she self-inflicts, okay?”

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