290. Of risks, revenge and a little bit of morals

Cassandra Pendragon

While Pete and his friends were noisily celebrating the return of their wounded comrade, the poor girl had turned into a breathing, sleeping snuggling pillow by now, we marvelled at the silver cube, sparkling in the bright sunlight.

"Impressive, ingenious, breathtaking… and what's it supposed to be," Erya blurted out, almost perfectly mirroring what Asura had said to me, when I had first created the thing. 

"A portal," I explained, carefully turning the cube around to get a good look at each side. "A portal to… other worlds. You all know this isn't my first life and whatever I have left behind for myself will be waiting for me on the other side. There's only one tiny problem."

"You don't know how to return, do you," Ahri asked, even though it wasn't really a question. I nodded silently, still enthralled by the display before me. The runes weren't active anymore but the reflections and shimmering sparks still seemed to follow their outlines. I could also faintly see the cherry trees behind us, a faint trace of colour in its iridescent depths. Whatever else, it truly was beautiful. Which also meant it was most likely dangerous as all hells. But I had already known as much. Considering what I had seen, there was no telling what might be waiting for me on the other side. It could be a treasury or an armoury… hells, even a prison wouldn't surprise me.

A deafening silence was spreading around us, broken only by the joyful and entirely oblivious sounds behind us, where Pete and his friends were doing their utmost to wake up Brianna. The realisation that a gateway to places they had thought nonexistent or, at the very least, unreachable, had appeared was a palpable weight settling down on to the less preoccupied members of our group, while the kids simply celebrate the return of one of their own. Yeah, dealing with immortals could truly turn your life upside down. I just hoped it wouldn't become another entry in the growing list of Cassy's most memorable mistakes. After a few second I forcefully raised my gaze and looked at Ahri.

"I think I know how to use it, all I have to do is apply a little energy, but I haven't got the foggiest how I can tether this little thing to my current location. I might be able to return on my own, leave a speck of power behind and use it as safeguard, but I fear I might either tear Amazeroth's wards to shreds in the process or even worse, I might not make it all, which would leave me stranded somewhere… hells, maybe even somewhen far away. If only Mephisto was awake… he might be able to make heads and tails out of the formations but, even though I've created them, I have no clue how they actually work. And I imagine it's going to take a bit more than some reading up to change that."

"Not necessarily," Ahri replied hesitantly. "You knew all this…don't you think you might have included a work around?"

"Maybe? Probably. But I'm not willing to bet my life on it… or rather yours, for that matter. Lucifer even warned me, in a round about way. From what I remember, he expected me to find a solution. If I go it's a question of how long I'm stuck in the farthest reaches of space, but if I'm gone…" I left my sentence unfinished, the implications were obvious enough. While my family might leave us alone, if I wasn't there, the same wouldn't hold true for our lovely friend from the neighbouring continent. And as much as I trusted them, believed in them, it had never been much of a question to me that I'd be the one who'd face Amazeroth and his lapdog, in the end. There wasn't even much of a choice. The breadcrumbs he had left behind would lead me to him, one way or another.

"So, basically, it's useless," Morgan mumbled under her breath. "Isn't that what you're telling us?" I slowly shook my head, my tresses sparkling like polished ebony. "It really depends. Chances are it's going to create a portal, quite literally. In that case, I could simply step through and return. But there's a risk. If I'm wrong I might be teleported… and since I was the one to create it my immunities won't save me either. The question is, was I clever enough in the past to realise how restricted I'd be in the future? I just can't say and the risk isn't worth it, at least I don't think so." We fell silent again until Ahri chuckled softly and shook her mesmerising head. "That's all well and true," she explained when I cocked an eyebrow, "but you aren't the one who has to go, are you? Your magic… I can use it, partly at least. Let me go and if I get stuck, you can simply call me back. I'm pretty sure, ever since the…" she paused before she continued in a roundabout way, "ever since you burned your way through the dwarven ship, you can easily call me back without destroying Amazeroth's wards. The bond between us… it has grown. I don't think my transition would even register." I frowned while I stifled my first impulse to deny her on principal. If anyone had to step through an unknown portal it wouldn't be her, if I had my way, but that kind of thinking hadn't served me overly well in the past. 

"I don't like it," I replied softly, "but I fear you might be right."

"I usually am. Do you want to try?"

"Want? No. But maybe we should. Just so we're clear, though, if anything goes wrong I'll follow you, no questions asked."

"And, at the same time, render this whole stunt pointless," she exclaimed.

"Not really," Erya interjected. "The point is to have you both back here, once everything is said and done. Incidentally… why not wait for a bit longer? You've kept that thing under wraps for a while, you don't have to use it now. Maybe we could skip the uncontrollable, immortal magic part and stick to the… half immortal, uncontrollable magic part?" I shrugged, still fiddling with the cube.

"You're right… but I'm also not going to simply toss the seed into that pond and cross my fingers. Which reminds me… where are Reia and my mom?"

"They should be here any minute," Morgan explained. "Helena took Viyara, Aurelia and Reia out for breakfast." A lopsided grin formed on her face. "Seeing a tiny, silvery vixen and a child leading around two imposing women like they were their pets was quite funny, but I don't actually know what she's up to."

"I think I can guess," Ahri chuckled softly. Without much prodding she willingly elaborated: "they're the ones who are coming with us. Aspera and Astra, as well as all of you… you all have very personal reasons to return to the Emerald Island. They don't… except for you, darling. I'm pretty certain Helena simply wants to question her daughter's first knights and make sure they're actually up to the task. I don't envy them," she added with a mock shudder.

"Because of me or because of her," I asked distractedly. When she had mentioned the ancient vampire I had remembered Alassara's vow to punish those who were responsible for the attack on her home. Considering what had happened since then I hadn't given it much thought, but now I couldn't quite shake the feeling that she might just be preparing a nocturnal visit, one that might very well turn out to be the last thing the Captains Brightblaze and Nightshade would ever experience. I couldn't even fault her for it, I wouldn't have let it go either, if I had been in her stead. Still, while I could sympathise, I wasn't thrilled at the prospect. We still needed Nightshade and his patron and while I didn't care overly much whether or not the older Brightblaze kept on breathing, I just couldn't imagine that her sister or her people, for that matter, would take kindly to finding her bled dry and very much dead one morning or the other.

"A bit of both, I guess," Ahri answered my question and pinched my side playfully. "Having to deal with her only to follow you around as a reward doesn't sound like much fun." When I didn't react to her teasing immediately she asked in a more serious voice: "what's wrong?"

"Nothing, yet," I replied and inadvertently reached for one of her tails. The silky feeling between my fingers calmed me down and I shrugged noncommittally. "Just thinking… does Alassara strike you as the forgiving kind?" She immediately understood where I was going with this as her sharp intake of breath confirmed.

"No, no she doesn't. But she didn't say anything, you know, back when we confronted the Captains in the harbour. I thought… do you think she's still dead set on making them bleed?" I sighed deeply, quickly shuffling through my memories of the vampire queen.

"Yes, I fear she is. Otherwise she would have said something, anything really, simply to remind the two of them how close they actually came to drowning in the tide, they themselves have unleashed. She didn't and that tells me she's still very much planning on enlightening them some other way. More permanently, I'm afraid. Does anyone know where she is? Last I've seen her, she was hauled up with her daughter in the "Gilded Dream". Any ideas where she is now?" Ahri shook her head hesitantly and shot a quizzical look towards the others. Erya and Morgan shrugged and Auguros even answered:

"No… there's been so much going on since last night… but come to think of it, I haven't seen her." He swallowed visibly before he added: "but I've seen Layla before I left. She was with Archy and Estrella, pestering the dwarfs about some thing or the other. Which probably means her mother isn't there, otherwise she'd be with her, wouldn't she?" 

"Great, perfect," I mumbled while I stored the cube in my stamp. "So, to sum it up, the second most powerful vampire is most likely on the hunt while my brothers are talking to one of her would be victims and the other one is only the gods know where."

"She's not stupid," Erya interjected. "I don't think Alassara would spill their blood now. She knows you still want to make use of them."

"No, I don't think you're right," I replied. "After everything Amon has done, the city is… in turmoil would be an understatement. Now is her best chance to get rid of the two of them without any lasting repercussions. Two more corpses… it wouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things."

"Do you really believe she values her revenge more highly than…" Morgan tried to ask but I cut her off.

"More highly than what exactly? I don't think she cares overly much for their factions and since we've already shown that we're headed towards a confrontation, that might very well end their influence once and for all, she doesn't really have to worry about the fall out, does she? What we've done… we might have given her the perfect excuse to go through with it. She might have decided to act the very moment I returned with Emilia last night. From a different perspective she would even be doing us a favour, especially if she decides to snuff Asra right alongside them. Shit, now what? In case she really is on her way to bloody vengeance, should we even try to stop her?"

"No," Erya immediately stated. "It's her right and frankly good riddance. Ultimately we only stand to lose the support of the Broken Wheel and I don't think he'd turn against you. Not after… well, I'm quite sure he wouldn't willingly cross you, ever again."

"Pragmatic to a fault," I commented, "except… denying his support isn't the same as turning against us. Plus, that's not what I was getting at." I sighed and added: "if, and I'm not saying it's going to happen, but if we should really make ourselves a home here, we won't need them as direly as before and then there's also Ignus, Viyara's grandfather. I don't know if she's already contacted him but he might very well know a dragon, willing to settle here. That'd do, for the most part. No… I'm not really thinking about the practical ramifications but rather…" Erya rolled her eyes and dropped to the ground at my side.

"Let me guess… you're worried about whether or not it'd be right, aren't you? You know, for someone who's probably spent most of her life as a literal boogeyman for mortals and immortals alike you sure tend to make a fuss."

"I can't remember you complaining when it was your arse on the line," I replied heatedly. "Or your granddaughter's for that matter," I added with a sidelong glance at Morgan. More calmly I continued: "it's not the first time I've been told. If you really want to know why I'm running in circles, every time I have to make a decision with another life on the line, maybe this will help.

Years… maybe even centuries or millennia ago, on a different world, I was wandering around aimlessly, looking for… I can't even remember. I stumbled across a small village, a peaceful, beautiful place, hidden away from the world. I spent some time there, getting to know the people, their desires, their dreams. I found some friends, got into a handful of fights… all in all it was an amazing vacation. Anyways, years later I returned, only to find the earth scorched, the people killed, the village burned and amidst the ruins a weeping creature waited for me." I closed my eyes, the anger and insecurity of a time long gone swirling through my mind like the tide crashing against a rocky shore. My memories still held much sway over how I actually felt.

"A bloodthirsty, imprisoned creature I myself had freed, ages ago. It had followed me, like the night follows after the sun, and there, it had finally caught up. Now, before I get lost in my own memories, let's cut to the chase. What would you have done? Taken revenge? Killed it?" Nobody replied and I shook my head sadly. "It hadn't killed them. Quite the contrary. It was weeping because it couldn't save them. After I had left it had lived there peacefully and known happiness for the first time. What I'm getting at is this: there is no coming back from taking a life. You might be sorry, you might regret your actions, but it's simply too late. Unless you think you're infallible, you're god himself, it's not your place to judge… it's only your right to protect and to defend."

Silence followed my words, broken only by the decidedly inappropriate giggles behind us, where Pete and his family were still trying to coax Brianna into opening her eyes.

"What did you do," Ahri asked quietly. A self deprecating grin tugged on the corners of my mouth.

"That's not really a part of the story, but… I searched far and wide for the noble who was responsible and, together with my newfound friend, rained down heaven and hell on him and his soldiers. If god was to judge them, I wanted to make sure they'd meet their maker soon enough for the verdict to actually matter. I've told you before, I'm a bloody hypocrite. Reality more often than not screws our convictions over more thoroughly than we can even imagine."

"Then… what's even the point," Morgan asked, confusion clearly written across her face.

"That we try… I'm not above murder, as you all very well know, but I'm never going to accept it blindly. Second guessing, quarrelling… it's important and in essence, I think it's what differentiates us from my siblings. They simply don't care. I've lived it before and I'm not going to ever again."

Erya shook her head, her obsidian horns glowing in the sun. "So you're going to fret and doubt but, in the end, still strike those down who are in your way? Doesn't that mean we should simply let Alassara do as she pleases? And why did you even bother with that story?"

"You wanted to know why I'm always making a fuss, or rather, take avoidable risks instead of… a clean cut. That's why. I'm no god and I make mistakes. I'd like to stick to rectifiable ones and this one might just not be one of them."