The Darkness

Power Surge

Dax asked Cage to come inside and help set up a few beds for us in the main building and get changed while Jonas lead me around the building to the small body of water behind.

"Things are a little tight here, as you have probably seen." He had explained, a sad smile on his face. My heart squeezed as I remembered the pups in the cloaks and the man with the apple on the side of the path. "We make due. I apologize for not being able to provide more comfortable accommodations."

We had thanked him, of course, as he directed Jonas on where to find his wife.

It shocked me as we walked up on the woman with flowing silver hair and a beautiful flowy blue dress, ankle deep in the water. Soft colored flowers floated in the water around her, as if drawn to her very essence. It wasn't until Jonas lead me closer that I realized the flowers were actually fish circling her feet.

"Alaray, how wonderful to meet you." The woman said without turning around, her hair blowing in the wind.

"Uh. Ray." I corrected softly, looking down at my own soft blue dress and frowning. This woman made everything look effortless and beautiful. I could understand why Dax seemed so protective if his wife was as free of a spirit as she seemed. "It's nice to meet you too... is it Delphine?"

"While I love pleasantries and do plan to learn about the way you perceive yourself, I don't think you have much time with me." She giggled then, turning to look us over. "Fern really did hog all the glory, didn't she?" I realized quickly that she was speaking to Jonas when he cleared his throat and smiled at her.

Something about her knowing things without us telling her made me a bit uncomfortable. I wondered if that was why Jonas didn't look as excited to come to Fluvis as he had to go to Spiris.

"She's lovely, Jonas." She said then, furthering my level of discomfort. "How wonderful for you to have such a beautiful and powerful daughter-in-law."

"Ah, she's Mated to the pup that's in helping Dax set up for us."

She giggled again then, as if what Jonas had said was the funniest thing she had heard. How much did she know? And how?

Her face was scattered with blue and white speckles, but not in the way Fern's had been. It was as if she had painted her face and fingertips to match the water she stood in. There was a gentleness about her, as if she wasn't as strong as she once was.

As if she had seen a lot of despair in her life.

"You want to save your love." She said then. Not as a question or as a guess, but as if she knew the answer in my soul without even saying what my intentions were here.

She was apprehensive as her fingertips wrapped around my hand. The way she looked at me was as if I would break into a million pieces.

"Do you trust me?"

"I just met you." I said softly, my face screwed up in confusion. Jonas seemed amused, as if for once he could watch someone be just as uncomfortable as he usually felt.

"Maybe in this life."

At this point, I knew I didn't have a choice if I wanted to learn from her. She was strange and I didn't enjoy the way she knew such intimate details about my life and those I loved, but there was a sense of serene that free-flowed from her that felt right.

She pulled me then, though I was apprehensive as the fish began to swim away from us. Why was Jonas allowing this woman to just whisk me away into the water? Why was I allowing it?

For Paeris. I told myself.

"Feel the cool water pull you in. Let your vibrations come to life." She whispered, directing my hand across the top of the water. A fish swam up to my palm fearlessly, though swam away quickly as I gasped.

"Imagine a golden light pouring from your fingertips. Feel your very essence seep into the water - your fears, your mourning. Picture your love, Alaray."

It was the calmness of her tone that forced me to relax. Eventually, the words blurred from English into a language I couldn't understand. The water rose and brushed my calves, pulling me in deeper and deeper.

The world was spinning around me. A force was sucking the breath - the life - right from my body. It was as if my essence hung in the balance, as if my body was an empty shell.

I fell to my knees in the water as the dizziness threatened to make me pass out, blackness clouding my vision. I wanted to scream for Jonas for help, to reach out and cling to Delphine for help.

Slowly, I started to breathe easier, gasping air into my lungs even though they burned. My body was submerged in the water now, only my lips hovering just above the surface as I continued to suck in fresh air.

"There, just breathe." I heard Delphine whisper in a way that reminded me of a song, though it sounded muffled through the water around my ears. "That was very good. Very good, young Queen. Let the water heal you."

A soft vibration rang through my ears and a shot of what felt like electricity flew through my spine. The experience was painful, but also incredibly pleasurable in an indescribable way - as if my soul was being cleansed of all the sadness I had felt for weeks.

At some point, the vibration turned into a soft sort of noise, as if a woman were humming a song I had never heard in my ear. Warmth enveloped me completely and a relaxation took over as my breathing became more labored.

I heard muffled arguments at the bank of the shore, two men yelling at each other. Delphine didn't seem at all distracted by their raised voices. It wasn't until she helped me to sit up in the water that I realized the mist around me was glowing, as if the moisture in the air was full of lights. She chuckled as the droplets danced around me, pulling the light into my skin.

"What's happening?" I demanded, lifting my arms to watch the golden water droplets disappear on contact.

"You just surged your power, dear. If anyone with dark intentions were near you just then, you would have easily transferred your light healing energy to them." She brushed back my hair gently, in a way that reminded me greatly of the way Nym would soothe me as a child.

"Why did I feel like I was going to die at first?" I demanded, though I winced at my tone.

"You very well could, if you don't learn to control it. It's very dangerous magic. Not many elves can do it." She helped me to my feet, supporting my weight as I nearly fell over from the dizziness. "Once you share your life force with another, someone fighting darkness, there is an unspeakable bond. But it could also kill you and your beloved." She helped me out of the water, though I stumbled slightly to get my footing and a different kind of dizziness overtook me. "You are strong."

I sighed, shaking my head. Could I do this? Could I risk my life to save Paeris? If I couldn't, who would save Allie?

"And what would happen to Paeris? Would he be back to normal?"

"Not the normal he was before. Not even the normal you have gotten used to. He may still have some darkness, because he will have a piece of you. This is where the variables are all new to me. Every bond is different. Every person is different." I nodded, understanding how difficult this all seemed to be. But if it saved Paeris, wasn't it worth it? "You see, when your sister brought back your Paeris, she used unnatural forces. When you pay the price for her dark magic by filling him with yours, you are freeing the darkness within him and sharing your own soul, to an extent. You will be very weak for a period of time, but you will have each other."

"But I have darkness. My mother is basically the queen of darkness."

"Her darkness does not decide your own. If the bond is strong enough, if you believe in him enough to give him a portion of yourself... This is the only way, if you wish to save him. You must be absolutely sure." Her voiced relaxed me a touch. "I can help you recover, but you have to be completely sure of your decision. You could lose everything."

My attention snapped back up to the men on the shores, yelling and shoving one another. I rolled my eyes at the pissing contest in front of me.

"What are they angry about?"

"Your friend, he thinks you were in danger. He is afraid for you." She giggled again, her blue stained fingers covering her lips. "Jonas went in to rest. He knows you are in good hands. He is grieving too."

"And Dax?"

There was a twinkle in her eye as she gazed at the man. "Dax is my partner. I saved him from the darkness many years ago. That's why I am so confident that you can do this."

"What happened? Why did Dax go dark?" A silence fell over us and I nearly retracted my words and apologized for pushing for uncomfortable information, but she sighed softly and nodded as if she could trust to tell me their story.

"We had lost so many babies..." I wanted to help her erase the pain that crossed her face. Something began to swirl in her icy eyes that drew me to her, as if I could watch the story she was telling unfold. "I had never carried any of the babies as long as I did the last time. I was so emotionally and physically drained and heartbroken from every baby we lost."

I could almost see her curled up in bed, her white hair clinging to her pillow and a pool of blood surrounding her lower half. I could almost feel tears spilling down my cheeks for the tiny souls she lost.

"We promised we would try one last time. And it worked. We were so excited as we watched my belly grow larger and larger. But the further along the pregnancy went, something felt wrong. I knew I was losing this baby too." Her sad eyes looked toward her partner with the ghost of a memory. Almost as if she had called his name, he looked up from his fight with Cage that was now winding down, a sadness crossing his features as well. It was as if he could hear all that we were saying. Or maybe it was the bond.

"When the day came that I went into labor, we both had such hope that I had been wrong, that maybe the baby was just less active than normal babies were. I have a sense... a knowing if you will. I know things and am very rarely wrong. When my boy was born, he did not cry. He did not breathe." A tear fell down her face now as she rubbed her small frame with grief. "He wasn't alive when he was born. I knew I had felt the life essence leave my body long before he was born, but I didn't want to believe it."

Delphine motioned for me to follow her out of the water, smiling and happily accepting a blanket from the men to wrap around herself. I hadn't noticed we both were shivering until I accepted mine and the warmth enveloped me.

"Dax loved our son from the first moment he saw him. Even though his little lips were blue and his body was so unnaturally pale, he was perfect." I nodded, picturing strong and stoic faced Dax holding a tiny baby, running his fingers along baby soft skin and a touch of a smile on his lips. And tears, so many tears. I could nearly see Delphine screaming in despair at the loss of her child, having gone through all the pain of delivery just to once again lose a child they both so desperately wanted.

"He tried to bring our boy back to us." She said sadly, snapping my attention away from the pictures running through my head.

"Did it work?" I asked softly, nearly afraid of what the answer was. If Delphine brought back Dax from the darkness, who helped their baby? Was he lost in the darkness just like Paeris? Dax slowly moved to his lover's side, her small frame perfectly fitting into his. A silent message passed between the two of them that neither Cage or I could hear.

Cage didn't move to embrace me, knowing now that Delphine didn't wish me harm. Instead, he seemed just as mortified and enthralled with their story as I was. There was something about the emotion in Delphines voice that made us completely powerless.

"No." Dax said finally, wincing at the memory, resting his hands on Delphine's shoulder that looked comforting yet guilty. As if he had this demon to live with for the rest of his life. Cage looked at me confused, but respectfully kept quiet as he sat on the ground next to me, his fingers entangling in mine. "You see, you cannot bring a life back that never existed. Our son was not born alive. But when Dax tried to bring his soul back to his body, it still broke a law of nature. He turned dark, disappearing into the woods and leaving me alone to grieve and bury our son."

Dax's fingers twitched, as if hearing the story was painful to him, though the way his face twisted made me believe that he could actually feel the pain from Delphine as if it were his own. There was definitely a bond between the two of them, as if they shared one soul instead of just a piece of one another. It was interesting yet a bit intimidating watching the two of them interact. I understood now why Jonas had acted the way he had.

"So how did you save Dax if he disappeared?" Cage asked slowly, squeezing my hand. "Allie disappeared as soon as she brought Paeris back, but she came back once and tried to get help from Ray."

"And Paeris didn't start out dark, he just slowly... changed." I offered.

"There were moments of clarity. It wasn't for long and during those times, I was entirely out of control." Dax's sad smile reminded me of the way Paeris would look at me when he was fighting to stay lucid. "The darkness is smothering and cold. It makes you hallucinate and voices tell you to do horrible things. It drives you mad. And the power..."

"It's addicting, isn't it?" I whispered. I knew what it was like to have a taste of the power of the darkness, I always had. There was a period when I had been sure I would give up to it entirely, but my support system helped me to keep the darkness at bay. Cage squeezed my hand again as Dax nodded at my words, a silent understanding falling between us.

"Eventually, I was completely overtaken by the darkness. I was nearly mad by the time Delphine was strong enough to save me."

"How did you know what to do?"

"There was a ritual the people of Essos would complete to cast darkness from the land. It took the whole community to cast it out of vast lands. I took a chance and used it to save my Dax. It nearly killed me." She leaned into him in a way that reminded me of a nuzzle.

"So you're of Essos? Not Fluvis?"

"I came here as a refugee when my Region fell. I fell in love with Dax at first sight." She patted his hand gently, an intimate gesture of love.

"How could this possibly help me though? You said it nearly killed you to save one person. How am I supposed to save two?"

"Thankfully, you are much stronger than I am. But it will still be nearly impossible to save them both if they are both completely dark, even with your strength." I sighed. Of course, once again I would have to choose between two people I loved.

"You will have to make a choice for now. You see, once you save one or the other, you will be extremely weak for some time. Your sister will take the most out of you because she is the darkest. You will need much more time to recover after helping her than you would for Paeris, if he is still fighting his demons."

"And what then?"

"Well, Ray, it's all a gamble. But I feel you can do it."

"Then let's get to work."