VERMILLION: The fall of Zaleon

Chapter 9

Elize called upon her next meeting with every intention of taking the game forward. She had had enough waiting around and she wanted to attack, as soon as she could. The Vermillion too were desperate for the end of the war, but of course they had been rooting for their own victory. Having heard everything about Amana, Elize decided to leave her out of the meeting, and as the next day Eliana and Razaar departed from Crest to attend to their business, Dregov got called into their next meeting. He was aware his sister had been missing from the rendezvous, and knew exactly why she was missing, and with his fantastic acting skills, he decided to bring the topic up, all the while recording the entire conversation secretly with his phone and broadcasting it to his sister on the spot.

‘Where’s Amana?’ He asked, needing to show his brotherly concern for her, despite it being an act. 

‘Well given everything we’ve been through with Amana I decided to keep her out of this. After all, she’s already picked her side and it isn't’ this one.’ As the Witch spoke something sinister lingered in her voice. Dregov, Daraz and Stregov had not known it yet, but Liem had caught on. Elize was going to kill Amana with the rest of them, though she refused to reveal that play to them just yet. Albeit Liem was a creep after all, who knew when another individual was falling that low in their standards, that they were going to take the life of one of their own, their partner’s sister. She would use Stregov’s own words against him about caring for Elize more, and take away from him and Dregov the one person they cared about in common. Would she succeed, however? It was a completely different question, though her intention was set, and now all she had to do was strike. Against her words, Dregov remained silent, returning to his usual silent self to eliminate further suspicion. ‘Right, so it’s been a while since we’ve united to discuss our strategies, and since the pair is out of the house, I figured we should use this time wisely. Has anyone found out anything about them?’ She asked, mostly targeting her question at Dregov, who seemed to have spent the majority of his time with them. He remained silent until she gave him a knowing look and he shook his head. 

‘I’ve only spent a day with them, like ordinary people. They told me about their pack and how they merged their pack and community, that’s about it. Nothing else is known to me, especially not how to kill immortal individuals’ he responded, getting to the point. It wasn’t a false statement as the man truly had no idea how they were to be murdered, though he didn’t care, for he needed them to terminate this war to begin with. 

‘Great, we’re off to a useless start already’ she whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear. ‘I’ve been doing some research, and I can’t seem to find anything on immortal beings. Now no one is truly fully immortal, or they would be considered Gods, and since we already have the flame, I doubt they’re Gods. I can’t get much because I don’t have access to their minds for some reason, but perhaps a bit of physical contact can change that. So, tonight, when they are asleep, I will go to their chambers and infiltrate their minds, surely they know how to terminate themselves’ she uttered, horrifying Dregov. The rest seemed nonchalant about her plans and simply nodded or shrugged, except the second Doirekh, who stood in the corner, silent and unable to say anything. 

‘What happened then? Say you do find out how to kill them? What are you going to do?’ He asked, attempting to get all the information so he could pass it on to the immortal pair.  Truthfully, working for the right side had brought him a joy that nothing else in the world had, and he had absolutely no intention of giving it up, for absolutely nothing. Now that he was free and on the right side, he would stick to it, or die. 

‘What do you think I’m going to do Dregov? I’m going to kill them as soon as possible, depending on how I’m supposed to kill them’ she snapped angrily, unaware of his true intentions. He remained silent, thinking of what to say to go against her, but could come up with nothing. The only thing he could do now was talk to the immortal pair, and get them to take the precautions they needed. Everyone else scattered away from the room slowly, not caring about the intentions of the evil Witch, but Dregov made his way to Amana’s chambers, where they would have to take their plans up a notch. 

Amana, who had heard everything through the live recording, was fuming when Dregov returned. 

‘Who does she think she is? What-’

‘We already know what she’s like Amana. We need to get over it and get to Tetra to inform Eliana and Razaar. 

‘I’ve already sent them the live recording, they’re asking us to come to Tetra. They want to take us to the Galon’ mentioned the Doirekh female, sweaty, nervous and excited at the same time about finally getting a glimpse of the only other thing they didn’t have on Crest: the flame. There were several doubts and questions as to why the flame had been so cruel to most of the strongest 6 but so nice to a particular few. Why was that? What was really going on in the head of Leopold when he scripted his plans? No one knew, yet they carried on with what they could, and got ready for another day of escaping to the world of the Amethyst. 

Making sure not to get caught, they travelled all the way down to the borders, where Remo was the first person to appear, eager to see his mate again. 

‘Paulina, Eliana and Razaar are waiting for you by the Galon. Come, I’ll take you there’ he mentioned, grabbing hold of Amana’s arm and taking her along. The pair had spent the entire night talking to each other on their devices, and still they had not had enough of each other. It was only a matter of time before they realised they would want to mark and mate, though that would have to happen in secret, or after the war. Dregov remained silent, with his hands clenched to his side as he controlled the urge to attack Remo for touching his sister in his presence. Though he attempted to understand the concept of mates and kept walking, following behind the top guard of Warmecks. 

Soon enough the trio came into sight outside a large door in the middle of nowhere, and Amana and Dregov’s heartbeat increased by the second. They had never felt such a strong pull to anything in their lives, until their eyes had fallen on the door of the Galon, and they wanted nothing more than to open the large door and discover what was beyond it. 

Wordlessly, Amana ignored her surroundings and pushed the door open, and nobody protested, watching the woman go into a trance. They allowed both the members of Vermillion to walk through before going through themselves, and the mesmerised siblings watched the sparkling flame at the end of the hall, their eyes never leaving it. Behind, the Galoness opened her eyes, ready to welcome the newest members onto safe territory for the first time. 

‘Dregov and Amana Doirekh, welcome to the Galon’ she spoke from behind, but neither made an effort to look at her, instead, their eyes remained on the glowing sparks of Leopold, something they had been missing out on their whole lives. 

‘So this is the flame?’ Asked Amana absentmindedly, lost in the flecks emerging from the fire. 

‘This is the flame, and I am the Galoness, messenger of the flame’ the Galoness repeated for confirmation. ‘Lower your hands into the fire, both of you, and get the blessing and protection of your creator’ she mentioned, and watched them do so, respectfully. If anything, the act gave them an extra surge of power, and they felt connected to their lands for once more than anything in their life. Until then they had relied on the human world and all that they had seen on human technology, that was all about to change as they began seeing the value in themselves, their alternate forms, their abilities, mates and the people on their planet. Bringing down the hierarchy was now of top priority to them, and they would go to lengths to get it done. 

‘Galoness, why us? Out of all the Vermillion’s, why were we chosen to have mates and be able to cross the border?’ Posed the Doirekh female, though deep down she knew the response. 

‘Those who hate upon the flame do not deserve it’s love and kindness, those who have their mind in the right place will. You have received the blessing of the flame to enter land that isn’t your own and have mates, this is a clear indication of whose side you’re on, if you had any malicious intentions of any kind in any way, the flame would know, and you wouldn’t have. The rest of your kind won’t be able to cross the border ever, because none of the others are worthy, but you two’ the Galoness explained, and at the back, Paulina, Eliana and Razaar got their confirmation that their intentions were, in fact, pure. 

‘Thank you’ responded Amana, before they all began their journey out of the Galon. Dregov and Amana had left the establishment more enlightened than before, and both knew now what they had to do. 

Travelling to the offices by the border, they resumed the conversation they had put on hold for a while. 

‘Elize, she’s planning on sneaking into your room at night, and conquer your mind, you mustn't let her or she’ll find out how to kill you both’ she re-introduced, though the pair and Paulina had seemed quite relaxed about the matter. Why? On queue, the door opened, and Zoraya and Irina walked in, heading straight for Eliana, whom they were glad to see alive and well. One by one they greeted everyone, and finally introduced themselves to the Vermilion. 

‘This is Irina and Zoraya. They are Amethyst Witches. Irina is the Coven leader, and Zoraya is her second, though before Irina, Zoraya was Coven leader’ they explained, and the Doirekh’s remained still, not knowing what to say or do aside from nod and introduce themselves. ‘Irina and Zoraya are here to help us with the upcoming issue with Elize’ explained Eliana, and it all clicked. 

‘Alone, perhaps we can’t do anything, but we’ll gather a team, and perform a ritual tonight when you sleep, it will ensure that Elize won’t be able to penetrate your minds, not now not ever’ Irina commented, and Pualina nodded, their response being enough to deal to deal with the upcoming issue. 

‘Thank you Irina, we appreciate your help. After Elize refuses to penetrate their minds, she might call upon another meeting, watch out for that. She’ll be angry, very angry’ Eliana then pointed out, and no one opposed. 

‘Whenever that does happen, we’ll plan what comes next then. For now you need to get back, and remember, today is the day you should bring up the conversation about bringing down the hierarchy with them. You two act like you disagree and then at night, the Amethyst Witches will get to work’ wrapped up Paulina, commencing the process of sending her best students back to their temporary home. Amana and Remo bid each other goodbye, before they all parted ways to fulfill their duty to the planet.  

They took it in turns to return to the mansion. The immortal pair went first, Amana flew in a miniature dragon form to her window, and so did Dregov, noticing that no one had noticed their disappearance. As dinner arrived and everyone came down for the big feast, the immortal pair looked awkwardly upon Dregov and Amana, and did their best to keep their distance and pretend like they barely spoke to each other. The meal began with silence, no one uttering a word until Elize spoke up.

‘How have your travels been going?’ She asked, making it even more opportune for the pair to introduce the topic they had been waiting to discuss. 

‘It’s been alright. Quite tiring having to cross through borders everyday, if you ask me. LIfe would be so much easier if the hierarchy and the barriers wouldn’t exist, don’t you think?’ Asked Eliana, faking a laugh at the end to ease the topic in. A rigid moment followed amongst the strong 4, who glanced between each other oddly before looking back at the Hybrid leader with an innocent smile. 

‘I quite like the barriers, it creates order, and I think any planet needs order to survive. I think that if we didn’t have these borders or the hierarchy then there would be a lot more chaos. It’s much like the human world really. There’s the rich, the poor and the middle class, we aren’t too different from them’ Elize responded, proud of her answer. Silence took over the air again until Razaar dared to speak. 

‘If there was no hierarchy we would all be living an equal life, and that is always a good thing, don’t you think?’ He then posed, and the topic had already begun strumming the nerves of the evil Vermillion Witch. Her discomfort had been noticed by Stregov, who decided to butt in on her behalf. 

‘Even then, there would need to be a higher power to guide and direct. There always needs to be something higher, equality just isn’t practical’  he added calmly, as if he was just conversing, though the entire thing had been getting to Elize, and she was just about to explode about it. Eliana decided she wanted to push the woman’s button’s and decided to press matters more. 

‘We all have leaders already, which means we already have order. I just mean that the planet needs a mutual ground, with no barriers, no upper and higher, just middle ground. That would create order, not a hierarchy’ she added, equally as casually. 

‘Well people on Zaleon are created a certain way and given certain powers and abilities for a reason, so we should take the hint’ backfired Elize, her tone changing slightly now. The pair noticed their opportunity, and took it. 

‘Yeah but the divide of the hierarchy has nothing to do with that-’

‘Yes it does!’ Snapped the Amethyst Witch ‘We are the strongest 6, you are leaders of people who can merely shift, and people like Yolegs, who have a purpose and can control nature are in the middle. It’s all laid out perfectly, and order of power because our abilities are all different’ she concluded, attempting to calm her tone down slightly, but failing. She pretended like she hadn’t just yelled at the woman, and carried on with her meal. 

‘I understand that, but just because there are others more powerful that shouldn’t mean that they live in better conditions, is all I’m saying. We can all exist on mutual ground, and still have our differences. That is true order’ she replied.

‘That would be quite hypocritical given that you are here and your people aren't’, wouldn’t it?’ Mocked Elize, now blatantly being disrespectful rather than covering it up. From the corner, every Vermillion glared at the woman from the corners of their eyes, though this is all the pair had truly wanted, Elize at her angriest. 

‘We’re here to make peace, because of everything that has happened. We are here for the treaty, we are still travelling back and forth from one territory to another. That is why we brought it up. Not to trigger you or take anything away from you Elize. Nothing is changing, we’re merely saying that we can all exist on middle ground, unless you’re suggesting that you would be one of those elitists who didn’t purely based on the fact that you think you’re stronger and better?’ Pointed out Eliana, and it silenced Elize right up. By now the Witch wanted to rage fully, but she kept her mouth shut for a moment, only speaking the next words through her teeth. 

‘Of course not, sorry, I get riled up easily’ she seethed, and they carried on eating in silence. The rest of the dinner passed by with Stregov and Elize exchanging tense glances and Amana and Dregov stifling their laughs, and Eliana and Razaar doing the same. It had been good to know that they were not alone in this, and that at least some Vermillion had a brain enough to be on the right side. 

They had now done their part in triggering the woman, and as they went to bed that night, they checked with Paulina that everything was in order before the Witch would slyly try to get into their mind. 

‘All done?’ Asked Razaar, ensuring that they were all set for the night before they allowed themselves to sleep peacefully. She nodded, taking a deep breath of exhaustion.

‘All done, now we sleep’ she repeated, and in the arms of her mate, she slid in, giving herself enough time for some mating before the two knocked out as fast as light. They had only just begun to sleep when the Amethyst Witches had begun their rituals, and had gathered together to protect the only 2 people who would be able to bring peace to their planet. It was a process that took a couple of hours in total, though they managed to finish just before the evil Vermillion Witch entered the room impatiently, tip-toeing her way through to the bed, where she first went to her mortal enemies side: Eliana Genova. 

The woman was now fast asleep, and Elize took a moment to glare at her sleeping figure before placing her hand on the Hybrid leader's forehead gently, so she wouldn’t wake up. Excitement fluttered within Elize as she closed her eyes and she began her journey into the mind of...nothingness. A confused Elize opened her eyes and tried again, seeing only black when her eyes closed, and nothing else. She tried relentlessly a couple of times, her frustration getting the best of her as she trekked to Razaar’s side and attempted the same. Still she got nothing, and she stepped back to look at the pair with complete disbelief.

‘How?’ She whispered to herself, attempting it once again without the touch, and noticing that now she was not even capable of doing that. How had they done that? She wondered. Something was definitely up, and an angry Elize stormed back into her bedroom, slamming the door shut and startling Stregov, who had been waiting patiently for her return. 

‘Elize what happened? What did you see?’ He asked instantly, getting to her side within seconds.

‘Nothing, I can see nothing. Blanks, that’s all I got. I don’t understand, how is it that suddenly I see blanks? Why is the flame so against us? This is outrageous! If I could murder the flame, I would happily do it right now, it’s a piece of-’

‘Elize, calm down. I don’t understand. So you tried to look into their mind, and it was blank? Maybe it’s because they’re sleeping-’

‘That’s not how it works, Stregov!’ She yelled, not even bothering to be quiet. ‘When I touch them, I’m supposed to see everything. That goes for anyone I touch, it doesn’t matter who. Somehow they’re not affected by it, so please explain to me what other explanation there is’ she spoke to him in the most patronising tone ever. It was a surprise the pair had lasted this long when this was pretty much how the pair spoke all the time. 

‘Ok so maybe this is all happening because they are the prophesized 2, but that doesn’t mean we can give up-’

‘Then what are we supposed to do, Stregov? I can’t think of anything else! All because the stupid flame hates us! Well guess what flame, we despise you too!’ She yelled out the window into nothingness. The woman had completely lost all her nuts and bolts, and from afar, Dregov and Amana had heard the entire interaction between them. They laughed between them, knowing their plan had succeeded, and waited for the next gathering to take care of the next part of the plan. 

So far it seemed the Vermillion were losing this terrible war that was discreetly already happening, though would it last? Or would they figure it out and overpower the immortal 2 of Zaleon? The flame certainly knew whose side he was on, and it seemed the rest of the Vermillion did too.