The Thorn Protects the Rose

Chapter 11

BLOOD

Without hesitation, she raised a hand toward the hungry green crystal, palm facing out. Her veins began to glow faintly with a crimson light, pulsing with the raw power now coursing through her. The air in the room seemed to crackle around her. With a fierce, determined gaze, she clenched her hand into a fist. A sharp CRACK of solidified energy echoed through the room. Instantly, the green crystal was encased, suspended in mid-air within a box of shimmering, impenetrable force. It fell to the floor with a loud clatter. The cube was a dark, sanguine red, with a strange, almost wet shine to its surface—utterly unnatural, yet undeniably solid.

No sooner had the crimson box solidified than the red crystal detached with a wet pop of displaced air, hovering inches from her skin, still flashing to the rhythm of her heart.

Like the Professor's faithful quill, the red crystal floated beside Elara.

But as the aura receded, Elara didn't just feel a subtle drain; she felt an aggressive, sickening withdrawal. The vibrant, narcotic high that had surged through her veins was violently sucked back into the gem. Her knees buckled as the high crashed, leaving her hollow, shivering, and covered in a cold sweat. It took everything she had just to stay upright.

Elara forced her trembling fingers to flex, staring down at her palms as the faint crimson lines faded beneath her skin like dying embers. Her lungs burned, a frantic sigh rasping past her dry lips when she confirmed she wasn't bleeding or physically broken. The phantom rhythm of her chest finally stilled, though a hollow ache remained. Dragging her gaze from her hands, her eyes snapped back to the dark containment resting heavily on the floor.

She forced her uncooperative legs forward, passing Lyra. Her roommate stood frozen, looking utterly hollowed-out by shock. Lyra’s jaw hung slack, her mouth opening and closing soundlessly as she stared at Elara as if looking at a monster.

Elara knelt, her fingers brushing the floor before wrapping around the box. It fit perfectly in her palm, yet it felt impossibly heavy, slick with an unnatural, wet sheen that looked like drying blood. Beneath the dark force-walls, the trapped green crystal pulsed frantically, a caged animal thrashing against its bars.

Lyra finally found her voice, her beautiful face creased in trepidation as she backed away from the otherworldly void burning in the room. “Elle… Are you right?” Lyra gasped, her throat tight as she stared at the rogue crystal stalking her friend.

"I'm fine, Ly. But what are we going to do with this?" Elara’s voice was too quiet, lacking its usual warmth. She turned the crimson cube over, watching the green glow struggle within. "Do you think it's really contained? How long until it breaks out?"

Lyra finally dragged her eyes away from the shard, her mind tracking the cold dismissal of her previous question. "All Hells if I know, Prof Eldridge said he needed it. But how do we even tell him? We don't even know what godforsaken tear in reality you pulled these things out of!"

Elara slowly shook her head, her attention drifting. "I don't know about the portal." She opened her other hand, palm flat to the ceiling. "But it makes more sense that he'd want this one."

With a heavy, suffocating warmth, the red crystal rose. It floated inches above her skin, hovering with a lazy, dominant grace, its crimson light washing over her face like a fresh coat of paint.

"Why didn't he say there were two?!" Lyra’s voice cracked, her eyes locked on the gem that was now bleeding a thick, subtle light into the room. "It's bound to you. It's... it's acting like it bloody owns you."

Hesitantly, Lyra reached out a finger to try to touch it. Before she could even brush the surface, a violent static charge snapped through the air. The crystal violently repelled itself from her touch, the sudden displacement of air hissing like a stepped-on snake. Lyra jerked her hand back with a sharp gasp, cradling her stung fingers. The red crystal instantly smoothed out, drifting back over Elara's palm, humming contentedly like a predator returning to its nest.

“Bloody hell!” Lyra hissed, her eyes watering as she squeezed her throbbing fingertips against her chest. She glared at the floating red stone, her chest heaving as she backed another step away. “Right. Message received. Your new pet is a possessive little bastard and it absolutely hates me.” She looked from her finger to her arm where the crystal had pierced and then haphazardly repaired the flesh. It looked almost normal if not for the large dark scar just above her elbow, lightning-like veins were crackling from the entry point, almost up to her shoulder and down her forearm. It was the same color as the box in Elara’s hand. Dark, with a deep carmine sheen.

“NOT A PET!” Elara snapped back, a deep echo in her voice Lyra had never heard before, making her jump, and sending gooseflesh up her spine. Her attention shot to Elara, her face unnaturally distorted in anger. As soon as it had appeared, it was gone, and she looked normal again, as if nothing had happened.

“E-Elle?” She said, her voice trembling like she’d seen a ghost. She held her breath, her eyes darting between Elara's suddenly placid expression and the pulsating crimson box that had dropped from her hand and onto the floor. Her fingers twitched against her chest, the skin around her newly scarred arm burning with an unnatural, heavy heat. “Right... yeah. No drama. Didn’t mean to offend your... friend.”

She swallowed hard, taking a slow, calculated step backward until the back of her knees hit the edge of her mattress. The bravado was entirely gone, replaced by the stark, terrifying realization that whatever was looking back at her through Elara’s eyes wasn’t entirely her roommate anymore. “I reckon... I reckon we just leave it alone for a bit, yeah? Let's not make it angry.”

Elara stood entirely still, the echoing rumble of that dual voice still vibrating in the small space between them. She wanted to reassure Lyra, to tell her she was fine, but her tongue felt like lead. The aggressive withdrawal from earlier was fading, replaced by something much more suffocating. A thick, oppressive static filled her ears, slowly drowning out the sound of Lyra’s uneven breathing, drowning out the ambient noise of the dorms, until the entire world collapsed into an absolute, localized silence.

The red crystal hovering above her palm didn't flash to her heartbeat anymore. It burned. A sharp, searing line of heat shot up her wrist, sinking directly into her arterial pulse.

‘Why do you let them call you so?’ a dark, ancient rumble echoed—not in the room, but directly inside the hollow spaces of her mind. The voice was intoxicatingly heavy, coiling tight around her consciousness with a dominating, effortless authority that made her lungs seize. ‘You’ve been hiding behind a mask.’

The light from the gem flared, blindingly hot, completely shattering the waking world around her. Before she could even gasp for air, the suffocating presence pinned her defenses down, stripping away the fake, safe persona her family had forced her to wear since the day she was born.

‘Look at me, Roselarae.’



Elara’s eyes went wide, the breath dying completely in her throat.