Starchild

Double-Edged Sword

Grabbing us by the hair, She slams our head against the glass twice. Through it, I see Strange smile in accomplishment and give Wong a nod.

—That's new. —

Sabrina doesn't seem to notice, instead holding us by the neck of Victoire's shirt. Even though She's smaller than us, She pushes us against one of the glass walls, lifting us from the floor. Her red eyes are glowing in anger. —Don't make me say it twice. —

Our body is suddenly pulled back, the wall behind us having been opened and immediately closed as we are taken out of the box.

We end up on the floor, with Wong standing next to us. Victoire complains, —Took you long enough. —

Strange walks towards the box. I notice he is sweating a little. —It's the first time I've looped someone like that. Usually I stay with them until I get what I want. —

The view inside the box is quite confusing. Through the optical illusions and smog that might make seeing what's happening harder, you notice Sabrina interacting with what looks like a version of us that is still inside. They fight, or they argue, or they simply stare at each other, until some time later the loop restarts.

—It's a two minute loop. She can only leave if the Time Stone is used to call off the spell. Meanwhile, she won't physically feel the passing of time. Mentally, however... —

She is still very conscious. —Mentally, She will suffer. —

Wong nods, —Pretty much. —

It's over.

—What now? —

I need to go back to Hell.

—Give us a minute, we will be right back! —with this, I leave the scene in a rush, creating a portal right in front of us through which I jump and find ourselves in the middle of the Wives of the Lord's lobby, catching everyone's attention.

The witches aren't that confused, actually; they simply look at one of their own, Leah, who walks up to us as the others continue with their duties.

She frowns at us, —What even happened to you? —

I look down, and we look like a mess. —I think we died a few times. It's complicated. —I brush some of our hair back, —Where's the High Priestess? —

—Follow me. —

She takes us through the halls to the same room I appeared in before, which I suppose is the ritual room, and she opens the door, letting us inside. When she leaves, the High Priestess walks out from the shadows, holding a book. She smiles at us.

—I suppose you're free now. —she closes the book, —What do you need? —

—Can you send me back to Hell? —

She looks surprised for a moment, but she doesn't hesitate to start looking for something inside the cabinets, probably thinking of a plan. We stand in the middle of the room, awkwardly, and I can hear Victoire's doubt inside her head, —Are you sure of this? —

I need to assess the situation.

The High Priestess comes back with a ritual candle in her hands, which she puts in ours. She makes us hold it tightly - one hand acting as a base and the other wrapped around the middle - and she fixes our posture, making us look straight to the wall. She stands in front of us, and nods at the wick, asking for something. Understanding, I turn the candle on with a snap of my fingers.

—It's a quick little trick. —she puts a hand on the side of my head, pressing her thumb against our forehead, —And it might tickle. —

I nod, and with another press to our forehead, I leave Victoire's body.

Black, and white noise, again. I really hope that is what's supposed to happen. My body does tickle, as I fall through something warm; a far better trip than the ones I have had to go through before.

Suddenly, I jerk awake, coughing uncontrollably. My real body is covered in ash and red dust, thanks to Hell's questionable infrastructure, and the few days that have probably passed since I left. Brushing off the ash from my face, I stand up. A quick body shake turns me into the epicentre of a sandstorm, from the amount of dust that was hidden inside of my hair and under my suit. I will definitely need a bath after this.

Well, back in Hell it is.

Some pride demons have stopped on their tracks and are looking at me like they are seeing a ghost. I wave at them. —I'm not dead, don't worry! Neither is the queen. —I watch them run away, not to the castle, but to somewhere else. I simply start making my way inside, —The last thing can be bad news for some... —I whisper.

The halls of the castle of Pride are just as I left them. With less pride demons, that is, and shadows nowhere to be found. I wonder where everyone is.

The throne room also looks the same. Hundreds of demons incarcerated on the ceiling for doing nothing and, well, an almost empty throne. The phrase on top of it that used to be dried blood has now completely disappeared, and sitting on the throne, Sabrina's crown waits for Her to come back.

Right under my feet, the sword of Pride lays.

It's right there.

A noise behind me makes me look around; demons are watching me now, not only from the house of Pride, but from every single one of them. They don't bother hiding from me. I look back at the sword; the sword of Pride, but in reality, the sword of Hell.

I grab it.

Magic runs to my body from that hand, very visibly, and my grip unconsciously tightens around the handle. Through the reflection of the sword, I see my eyes as red as ever.

Star Lokidottir, Queen of Hell. I don't like how it sounds.