The Anima [completed]

38.

*gore warning*

38.

With each slow and heartbreaking step towards the castle, the earth shivered and stirred. Gradually, my emotions spread a thick cover of clouds over the sky, heavy with rain. It began to fall when a tear slid from my cheek to the earth and matched the unsteady stream with a sprinkle. Lucas was unbothered by the weather, trudging ahead like a rouge zombie. My power occasionally flickered out, uncontrolled, and attempted to sift around in his mind in search of an answer. But with my sister in danger, I forced myself to reel that urge back in and keep him from noticing my heightened abilities. With any luck, the Duchess would not know of my newfound abilities. With luck.

Beast and Noir were silent. No word from either of them meant that they still hadn't managed to locate my sister. With her life in danger, I had no chance of subduing the crowned Queen without a threat to my family. All I could do was delay. Deciding I had been walking perhaps too hard, I slowed my pace. Within only a few paces, the space between Lucas and I grew. Thirty seconds went by, the space increasing with each crunch of dry leaves. Suddenly, Lucas stopped. It took a moment for my body to uncoordinated from the steady pace, and my stop came with more of a stumble and a hop.

"Keep up."

Lucas' voice was sharp and unforgiving. It was all I needed to hear to keep on moving, for he knew I would hit endanger my sisters life. I nibbled my lip and continued to match his pace, debating on another strategy to slow us down before I reached the Duchess. There was still so many things about her that confused and haunted me. I sensed the 'death' of her husband had more to do with her own desire to power than The Anima has let on. As a King, surely he would keep his highest possessions hidden, but not from your wife. How else would he actually be dead? Unless, the only other possibility that came to mind, he wasn't dead at all and this was all a part of The Anima's broader plan. And how could I, someone who neither saw the death nor trusted someone who did, distinguish what was reality?

There was one other issue that I had not yet resolved: how do you fight those who cannot die? Unique circumstances, like the ritual of the doppelgänger, could not be replicated onto ever Fae soul. It amazed me that the guards even kept weapons; for they could not be used except to cause pain. I hoped that taking out the leader was all that would be needed, for they would follow The Anima, whichever one of us was left standing. All energy in this Plane was recycled, but the earth held onto a power unlike any one Fae could. I just hoped the Earth would pick me over its old and bitter keeper.

"Beast?" I called over our bond, licking my lips.

"I'm here." He replied quickly, his voice breathy.

"Did you find out what's controlling the humans?"

I stared at Lucas' back and shuddered. I blinked back the sudden urge to cry and ground my teeth together. Losing someone is one thing, but to then find them a year later and lose them all over again is another thing. There was nothing left of the old Lucas, the boy next door. The shadow who swayed in and out of the trees was but a shell.

"Yes, it's similar to the power the Umbra had. She's using some kind of mental loop. From what I can tell, she's replaying their worst memory, over and over again. They do what she says in hopes she will make it stop."

"But they're not compelled?"

"That depends on your definition. I'd say using your worst memory against you is the worst kind of compulsion."

But it wasn't compulsion. I lengthened my spine, a plan unfurling from within. If I could stop the mental loop with the powers of The Umbra, he would have a chance to speak and act for himself, to help me defeat the wicked queen. It was all so perfect, if only the Fae didn't have their sights set on my family...