The Touch of Demise │18+

29: For A Run

GRACE 

"Who was she?"

Demise looked at Xerxes who sat behind the desk with his Secundas. Demise had told Grace about the fight, including the woman who seemed to remove the Alpha command that Demise had given. It was extraordinary. To her knowledge, it shouldn't have been able to be done. 

"Her name is Adalind. We haven't heard of her in centuries." Demise spoke slowly. His hand rested on her knee as he spoke to everyone in the room. It was her, Goliath, their enforcers as well as Xerxes' men. They were all listening to Demise. Except for Xerxes who stood up and walked to the window. 

Demise continued: "She's a fae. Much like our world, the fae divided themselves into houses. Each house had a different element or power control with different leaders and different laws."

"Like the Primuses," Grace said. 

He nodded his eyebrows furrowing. "Yes except their world did not merge with ours. They existed elsewhere, in a different realm. We all got along as best as our species could. We didn't war. We didn't intervene with the other world and they didn't intervene with ours."

"The fae went extinct."

"We thought they had," he confirmed. "But we never knew why. We never understood why they were here and then suddenly they were gone. An entire species just...vanished."

"But they weren't your people," Grace said softly. 

"So I didn't care too much. Maybe they went into hiding. Maybe they were killed. It didn't matter to me. My people were safe."

"But what do you mean realm?"

Demise stood, walked to Xerxes's desk, and took a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it as he neared her and laid it on the desk. Presented to her was a map of worlds. On the bottom were the kingdoms which held the demarcations of packland. They were situated within the physical world she has always known. Above were, what she presumed to be, the fae lands. 

"The only way," Xerxes started, "to get there is to myst."

"Myst?"

"Mysting is similar to opening a portal, but the only people able to do so are the fae. We cannot get there."

"So this woman?"

"She was the regent of a faction. She was always meek. Never made a sound, but her people loved her. She kept the peace."

"And now this woman is, what? Trying to destroy your rule?"

"I don't know," Demise said. "She was never power hungry."

"So she is the one behind the attacks?"

"It seems like it," Demise responded. 

"You don't seem so sure."

"Because it doesn't make sense," Xerxes interjected. "She was pliantly loyal to her house. She never spoke out of turn. She protected what was hers and that's all. She was never villainous, never malicious."

"Maybe someone is forcing her."

"But why use her? There were other more powerful fae. Speaking of, do we think they're alive still?"

Maybe they need help, Grace thought. Maybe they're being locked away. Demise wouldn't care, but it seemed cruel to damn an entire species because they weren't your own. 

"The borders are locked down," Demise said. He stood up and handed Grace her coat. "We have to get back to our lands. She has an appointment tomorrow."

Xerxes rolled his eyes, turning toward them. "Pregnant already?"