The Chronicles of Delilah Faylinn: Volume 2

"Game, Set, Match..."

(Elders) We must come up with a better plan to eliminate the Faylinn girl. Our last plan was ultimately a failure. When the Jinn returns we can plot our next move. What is taking it so long, we should have heard something by now. Can we trust that demon scum, it has failed us before! It is bound to us and it would not dare fail us again! It's last punishment was not near torturous enough! Spending centuries trapped in a prison, we could not bare! It did appear grateful to be called into our service again. Yes, we must be careful and watch it closely.

    A couple of days had passed since the Jinn was summoned and sent to spy on Delilah. The Jinn ensured to remain strategic in his movements ever since he left the prisons. He waited until the Elders recalled him after being released by Delilah, knowing they would once she returned home. For all the Elders knew the Jinn was still in the prisons when they called for him. He also made no attempt to rush back to his masters as he really had no information to give them. It wasn't before long that the Elders grew impatient awaiting his return and summoned him again to check on his progress. With nothing to offer them the Jinn decided to tell the truth. His version of it anyway.

(Lazarus) You summoned me, my lieges?

(Elders) What have you to tell us of the Faylinn girl?

(Lazarus) I have learnt a great many things in my days lurking about the compound.

(Elders) Why do you pause? Must we ask again?

(Lazarus) No, my lieges. I just do not believe it is of any consequence to you.

(Elders) Does she suspect us?

(Lazarus) She and the one called Lovell seek counsel  on your governances.

(Elders) They seek to remove us?! Who have they spoken to? What do they know?!

(Lazarus) I do not know to whom they speak or the definitively what they know. They suspect something is amiss, but they do not know exactly what.

(Elders) They will discover us! How can they, we do not exist in their history. They are too young! How can we be sure?! She destroyed the shade! That was pure luck, she found out nothing!

(Lazarus) Should I leave you alone to discuss?

(Elders) You stay there! You may have to start being of some actual use to us now!

(Lazarus) I understand.

    The Elders deliberated amongst themselves telepathically. To the Jinn it appeared as if they were glaring at each other in silence but he knew better. They argued back and forth about how they should proceed in getting rid of their problem without condemning themselves. They desperately wanted "out" of their suitcases of flesh & bone, and desired even more to get off of the miserable planet. Having to perform these daily rituals of governing over simpletons was nauseating. What was the point of having a Jinn if it could not be used to carry out their intended purposes?

(Elders) How is it that one being has caused us so much anxiety? She is no ordinary being, none that we have encountered anyway! Have the Jinn get rid of her for us, it should be simple enough for it to handle and "it" can carry the blame. That Jinn is bonded to us just as that shade was! We cannot make the same mistake twice, surely she will follow the trail straight to us! The Jinn is more powerful that the shade ever was! If we cannot use it for its intended purpose what good is it to us?! It is decided! The Jinn will kill the Faylinn girl!

    The Jinn, even though unable to hear the conversation of the Elders with its intuitive powers already suspected the next move they would take on Delilah. It was why he warned her on their last encounter. After all, they never got their hands dirty. They would never implicate themselves. It came as no surprise when they broke their ranks and informed him of their decision.

(Lazarus) Let me guess... you want me to kill the girl.

(Elders) You've overheard us?!

(Lazarus) How could I? You used telepathy.

(Elders) Are you calling us predictable?

(Lazarus) Not at all my lieges, I knew my summoning would be for the sole purpose of reconnaissance. 

(Elders) You must do what you were made to do.

(Lazarus) They do not call me the "Harbinger of Death" for nothing. When does this need to be carried out?

(Elders) We leave that to you! It must appear as an accident!

(Lazarus) As you wish my lieges.

    The Elders felt a bit of relief a the Jinn dismissed itself. Surely he would succeed where the shade could not. Soon they would be able to go back to their way of life, the planet would once again service their needs and the Jinn would take the fall only to meet his demise with a permanent death to cover their tracks. None would be the wiser. How naive of them to be playing checkers when the Jinn was playing chess. They over calculated their wisdom due to their age and foolish to assume that their was no being alive that could outwit them.

    The Jinn proceeded to devise a plan for Delilah's accidental death. Should he fake her death and expose the Elders? Should he let her in on the plan, but would she be able to pull it off? He knew he was the "fall guy" after all. Killing her exposed him and the Elders knew it. He was to be a pawn, the sacrificial lamb. Not if he had anything to do with it.

    In the days ahead the Elders played the role of the council members treading carefully, campaigning peace throughout the land and ensuring not to trigger any red flags. They were even able to quell the Radagast family in the death of their son and ruled the case as justified. Yet again they grew impatient with the Jinn and called him forth once more to explain himself.

(Elders) Do you take us for fools?! How could such a simple matter take so long to execute?

(Jinn) I mean no disrespect my lieges, but if it were so simple you would not have called on me to do it.

(Elders) The impudence! Are you saying you are too incompetent to complete the task?

(Lazarus) I am up to the challenge but please allow for more time, so that I can make this flawless.

(Elders) We shall grant you three more days! If the Faylinn girl is not dead by then we will have your head and call forth another to do our bidding!

(Lazarus) I am quite sure that you do not.

(Elders) What was that?!

(Lazarus) Nothing, my lieges.

(Elders) Get out of our sight!

    The Jinn knew that the Elders must have been quite desperate if they summoned him for this task having banished him for centuries in the prisons of the afterlife. It was he they used to release the shade the first time, and it was he who witnessed her return after her failure. She was the most powerful shade they had in their inventory and they would never admit that losing her crippled them. Why else would they be physically on the planet versus simply having another shade to service their needs behind the scenes as they have done countless times before? It was all too clear that Delilah's very existence made them vulnerable and now they were making mistakes out of desperation. He had to use this to his advantage, he had to find a way to free himself. 

(Elders) That miserable dog leaves us exposed! We do not think he can be trusted! What can we do about it? We must find a way to keep a closer eye on him! We must conjure a lower level shade to track him. Using that kind of power will attract unwanted attention! Summoning that Jinn was a risk in itself! What choice have we? The longer we stay here with all of this good will and peace, our power depletes! We need chaos and death to feed on! Then how can we make some?! "We" do not need powers to manipulate the weak. 'We" like where this is heading!

    The Elders conjured a shade to watch the Jinn and to report on its efforts. They increased taxes in the provinces to sow discord amidst the wealthy and the needy under the guise of planetary security breaches in order to manufacture weapons. With the poor getting poorer the death toll increased while the wealthy lost inheritances and financial security trying to keep up with overwhelming costs. Lovell felt powerless to help as he could not prove negligence on the councilmen, he lost credibility with the people and he was therefore banned from the governors compound by their design of course. Lovell eventually retreated to his and Delilah's compound after many failed attempts to expose their tyranny, only to appear as if he had given up but they had no idea how determined he could be. 

    Lazarus understood that his time was running short and managed to reach Delilah before the shade began to track him. By the time the shade caught up with him the plan had been set and he had already realized he was being tracked. He sent the poor thing on a wild goose chase. All the information it gathered was useless to the Elders. By the time the Elders became aware of the useless information figuring the Jinn was trying to buy itself more time they intended to summon him only to find that on his third day he showed up of his own accord. 

(Lazarus) The plan is set and currently in motion.

(Elders) Why were we not made privy to this information? What exactly is your plan?

(Lazarus) I did not appreciate being tracked like a dog. Especially not by a being beneath me.

(Elders) We do as we please, and we do not answer to you! Have you forgotten that you answer to us?! What is the plan?!

(Lazarus) The girl has been poisoned with a tonic that will cause her to exhibit the same disposition as when she was possessed by "your" shade. She will once again wreak havoc across the provinces for all to see. She will not be able to deny that it was her this time. You will no longer need high taxes to cause destruction.

(Elders) We have tried this already when the common folk bore false witness!

(Lazarus) It is clear that your power is lacking in execution. Delilah "will" actually be there in the flesh. 

(Elders) Brazen are we now?! You mock us with this foolishness!

(Lazarus) Not at all! I just needed you to tell the truth.

(Elders) Whaaaaat?!

    Lazarus bowed his head to the Elders as if to take an exit when simultaneously Delilah and Lovell emerged by his side. The Jinn could not help the devilish grin now on his face. From his bow he stood now in defiance of the Elders. Delilah waiver her hand and removed the camouflage spell she casted on the room which revealed an audience of Amarinians on her side and Lovell removed his shadow spell revealing the Edomans on his.

(Elders) What is the meaning of this? Why are all of these people here?!

(Lazarus) They came to bare witness to your crimes.

(Elders) What have you done, you fool?!

(Lovell) We shall take it from here Lovell. Thank you for your efforts.

(Lazarus) Much obliged.

(Lovell) You stand accused of crimes against the people, conspiracy to commit murder, abusing your titles, and treason!

(Elders) You cannot accuse us! This was your plan all along demon Jinn!

(Lazarus) My name is Lazarus and it was not my plan it was Lovell's. Being bound to you, I could not expose the "real" you of my own accord. This was the next best thing, a loophole for me if you want to call it that. His plan in its simplicity was quite marvelous actually.

(Delilah) I think you struck a nerve Lazarus.

(Elders) You peons cannot outwit us! We are the forsaken... immortal beings...celestials!

(Delilah) Excuse me, but you're the what now?

    In their frustration the Elders had given themselves away just as Lovell planned. He only intended for Lazarus to antagonize them into revealing their misdeeds as mortals so he could at least expose them and have them legally removed from office and it worked! He had no idea that in their angst they would also reveal their true identities. They cursed themselves for being played so easily, but had just about enough of the foul play.

(Elders) It seems our time here has to come to an abrupt end! Surely it would be better to show you who we are than to tell!

    The ground began to rumble and shake as if it were splitting apart. Parts of the ceiling cracked and crumbled under the weight of all the pressure radiating from the power of the Elders. Lovell shouted out for all the spectators to run to safety as they knew they had to brace themselves now for a fight.

    By the time Delilah, Lovell, and Lazarus secured the building of innocent bystanders they looked up to find the council members were no more. Their mortal shells had melted away to the floor into a pile of black tar-like ooze. What stood before them now was indescribable. The Elders were of one snake-like body now with six different monstrous heads. The Jinn quickly realized that he had never seen the true form of his masters and by the sight of them they were more than he what he bargained for. He took this as his opportunity to abandon ship, and disappeared in a haze of black vapor.

(Lovell) That coward!

(Delilah) Are you really that surprised?! A promise is a promise, we must hold our own!

(Elders) You think you can handle us! How foolish are you?!     

    One by one each head of the monster spit out poisonous hot sludge at Delilah and Lovell as they advanced on them. They were able to avoid being struck as they hit the surroundings behind them. Delilah used the water particles in the air to send frozen shards at the ooze trying to freeze them in place as they melted through the floor and everything it touched. Much to her surprise it did not work. Lovell decided to try his luck and slew balls of fire hoping to incinerate the ooze. The monster blew gaseous fogs before impact that forced the fire to fizzle out.

(Delilah) What are you?!

(Elders) Not that knowing will do anything to help you, but if you must know we are the "Guild of the Forsaken", fallen celestials abandoned and shunned from our home! We have had just about enough of you trifling in our affairs! We finally see that if we want something done right, we must do it ourselves!

(Delilah) What have I done, to make you despise me so?!

    At this point the monster had had enough of talking, they were truly annoyed and now all bets were off. It was either all or nothing being this exposed and vulnerable to unwanted eyes. Delilah and Lovell were giving everything they had to fend off the creature and yet were still unable to make a dent in it's attacks. The monster sneered and snickered as if they were toying with pets. Delilah and Lovell knew they could not give up realizing they were beyond their depth or the monster would destroy everything in its path. They both took off at a sprint towards the monster. Lovell attacked one side as Delilah attacked the other.

(Elders) The two of you are pathetic! How do you expect to beat us?! Its laughable!

(Lovell) We will not allow you to leave this building and hurt all of those innocent people!

(Elders) As if you could stop us!

    The monster managed to capture Lovell in mid air and threw him in the path of several pillars that collapsed from impact. His body crashed into the wall causing him to fall limp and bloodied onto the floor. Delilah screamed as she raced to his aid only to find him unconscious and disfigured.

(Elders) This is the most fun we have had in a millennia! We should truly do this more often! 

    It continued to hurl charge after charge at Delilah while she protected them both with a shield of spells. In her desperation to wake him she touched his face pleading for him to open his eyes. As she held his face a surge of energy began flowing up her hands and throughout her body. She thought to herself... "What kind of strange magic is this?". The feeling overwhelmed her as she started to feel reenergized. As the energy took hold of her she noticed that Lovell's face began to lose color. In reaction, she immediately removed her hands to find which resulted in the slow return of color back to his face. Delilah however was still left with the energy thinking that Lovell must have subconsciously been trying to help her. The monster had no idea was going on and continued use its attacks to try and penetrate the shield. As they did this Delilah saw that the strength of each strike was beginning to lose its power.

(Delilah) I wonder if I can put this energy to good use? Our powers separately did nothing to affect this monster, maybe now that its weakening our powers combined can to some real damage!

    Delilah knelt down in front of Lovell's body and allowed her new found power and anger to build up inside of her. When she rose again to look at the monster her eyes were on fire. The ground shook beneath her as the rhythm in her breathing  increased. The air around her began to swirl as steam radiated off of her body.

(Elders) What is that you are doing? Do you think you can intimidate us?!

(Delilah) You are about to find out! 

    The ground continued to quake as Delilah's body combusted into a dragon. Now she was head to head with the monster and Lovell's body was out of view hidden behind her large frame. As she looked herself over acknowledging her transformation she knew that the last time she had done this it was a fight or flight reflex that left her weak. This time however, she had full control. 

(Elders) What is this? How did you do that? What are you?!

(Delilah) Never you mind that. Let's dance!

    Completely bewildered, the monster sprung wings and took off in flight as Delilah gave chase. Once she caught up with it in mid air she threw it to the ground and the two began a violent waltz of attacks. As they fought the building began to crumble under their combined weight. By now Lovell was far out of the monster's reach and still protected with Delilah's enchantments. The Elders clawed and bit Delilah in desperation to get free as she slew fire and rained lightening strikes down on their heads.

(Delilah) You are running out of power, you are growing weaker!

(Elders) We still have enough to defeat the likes of you!

    The monster conjured an explosion of water to rain Delilah's fire out.

(Delilah) I refuse to be drowned again!

    She casted an enchantment to encase the water and used it to blast the monster away. 

(Delilah) You and the shade seem to have the same attacks! Don't you have any new tricks?!

(Elders) Surely, we would be more than happy to oblige!

    The next thing Delilah knew there was some kind of invisible force weighing down on her. She could barely keep herself from being leveled to the ground. They were trying to crush with gravitational force!

(Elders) Not so powerless are "we" now?!

(Delilah) Try not to be so full of yourself, its not very becoming of you!

    As she struggled, there was no way she could go up so she decided she would have to go down. She allowed the gravity to appear as if it had crushed her to the ground but instead tunneled her way underground. Once the dust settled the monster looked around to find where she had disappeared to.

(Elder) Come out, come out wherever you are?!

    The monster was completely unawares that Delilah had nestled herself only a couple of feet below where they stood.

(Elder) Come out or we shall destroy everything!

    Delilah focused her power to create a massive crater in which the monster fell. All the earth that she displaced had to go somewhere so she used it to crush the monster once and for all as she simultaneously flew out of the hole just in time. The monster had nothing left and laid on the ground staring at Delilah with a defeated look in its eyes. 

(Elder) You do not know what you have done, you are strong but not nearly strong enough!

(Delilah) I'm strong enough to defeat you!

(Elder) With us gone, you give way to something far worse... "She" will awaken, for she must collect!

(Delilah) Whoever it is, I will destroy them as I have done with you!

(Elder) Foolish one... you could never defeat the "Insatiable One"...