Pernicious- True Evil

Prologue

Standing in a field of wilting flowers, Zephyra gazed upon the only person she ever truly loved. Her heart felt unbearably heavy. It seemed that at any moment she would feel the bones in her chest snap and her heart would fall onto the ground below. Though the sun shone brightly in the sky, the day could not become any darker.

Zephyra pulled at her fingers while her eyes moved back and forth in search of the right words to say. Her cheeks felt hot against the crisp air that pinched at her skin. Thoughts spun in her mind as she tried to reach out for the sentence to begin this dreaded conversation but found that every time she did, the words would slip away with her breath.

This was a day that would change everything. Zephyra knew the fate of her loved one rested upon a decision so difficult that not even those with the most courage would feel strong.

"Is everything okay?" Lamia asked while looking innocently at her friend.

Zephyra ground her teeth upon one another, feeling the hard bones crunch from the pressure. She needed to pull herself together.

"Cadoc knows." Zephyra tried to trap the tears within her dampening lids. "He just sent Sidero and Prosperine to come find you."

"What?" Lamia's lips formed a hard line. Her eyes widened at the edges. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"No this can't be," she choked, barely able to get the words out of her mouth. "I can't... I can't go back there."

Zephyra felt her chin quiver. Pulling herself together seemed almost impossible. She bit her bottom lip and pushed through the emotional maelstrom happening within her until she was able to feel numb and hold onto the only morsel of sanity she had left.

"He has his men searching for you right now."

A moment of tense silence felt like a lifetime of anguish as the two friends stared at each other. Zephyra wanted nothing more than to embrace her friend and cry upon her shoulder, but her tears had to be contained in order to build the courage necessary to do the unspeakable.

"What am I going to do?" Lamia whispered. Her shoulders sank.

Zephyra took a shuddering breath into her tight lungs. Wrapping her fingers around one another, she attempted to control her shaking muscles and squeezed them tightly until she felt pain. She needed a distraction, any distraction.

"There is a way out of this," Zephyra's voice shook as she spoke.

A spark lit in Lamia's eyes, which felt like it had destroyed the only thing that was keeping Zephyra together. She knew this would be the last time she would see her loved one feel hope of any kind and the information she was about to tell her would darken that light for the rest of her life.

"What is it?" Lamia bit the edge of her lip.

Zephyra broke. The strength she tried so hard to hold on to shattered under the crushing weight of what was to come. She tried to compose herself but couldn't. The muscles in her legs could no longer hold her and she collapsed onto her friend, sobbing uncontrollably.

"I have a spell I can cast to send your soul to the one place that Aduro would never expect you to be. As long as you are there, he will never find you." Zephyra hung on tightly to her friend. Memories of their childhood together flashed in her mind.

"I don't understand why you would be sad about this. This is great news! Can you cast the spell? Please! Before it's too late."

"There is a catch." Zephyra looked up to the heavens at the darkening clouds forming in the distance.

"Well, what is it?"

"I need your heart."

"Wh-What?"

"To cast the spell and send your soul somewhere safe, I need your heart. Your soul will be safe, and I will put you in another body, but your heart must remain with me."

Lamia looked down at the ground, her eyes searching back and forth as if the blades of grass would somehow have the answer for whatever was going on in her head. It was clear to Zephyra that no matter how much Lamia tried to make sense of this, she couldn't.

She knew Lamia felt trapped, but she had no other choice. If Lamia was recaptured, Vojin would go after her. It wouldn't just mean a small punishment for him, he would be tortured for the rest of his life. Lamia's fate would be sealed. She would be tortured next to him, and he would be able to do nothing more than helplessly watch.

Lamia took in a deep breath. "Tell Vojin I love him. If you are not able to do this in person, then please tell him through his dreams. Whatever you do, never tell him you were the one who ended my life. He will kill you without regard to the consequences."

Her heart ached so deeply within her she felt as though it might stop on its own. "You will live through his dreams and tell him yourself that you love him. I will make sure of that."

Zephyra looked around herself. This was the field in which Vojin had told Lamia that he loved her. She remembered it like it was yesterday, though she knew it was so long ago. Lamia had come to Zephyra with a spark in her eyes she had never seen before. When she told her friend about what happened, Zephyra was so happy for her, she almost cried.

Now every memory she will ever have of her friend will be tainted with the reminder that she had to kill her to save her.

"Do not bury me. Leave my body out in the open. He needs to see that I am dead, so he won't go searching for me." Lamia paused. "Will it hurt?"

"A little," Zephyra nodded. "But I will kill you as quickly as I can... Forgive me for what I am about to do."

"There is nothing to forgive. We don't have another choice. Hold me," she whispered as she leaned her head into Zephyra's chest.

The Princess wrapped her arms around her friend and kissed her on the head one last time. She felt the power of her gift boiling within her; her fingers glowing red with heat. It was time. Taking one more breath she tried to calm down her soul, which was deafeningly screaming "no."

"I love you," she whispered before she thrust her hand into Lamia's chest and ripped out her heart with one swift motion.