GREY

Amaryllis

The sound of a crackling fire was the first thing she perceived when she came to. She tried to move her limbs with little success. Her eyes flared open, and she noticed that she was in a dimly lit room, with a small fire burning in a heath on the adjacent wall. An elderly woman walked towards her, holding a bowl of some steaming contents.

"Ah, you're awake," the woman said. Pearl tried to sit upright, but none of her muscles responded. So it had not been a dream...

Pearl recognized the woman as the witch who had implanted the summoning glyph on her in the human plane. An old associate of Grey's. The witch helped her sit against the headboard, then she fed Pearl some gooey brown soup. She could not even taste it. Her senses were slowly returning, the fog clearing from her consciousness. She had a vague memory of what had happened, and she did not want to think of it.

The old woman smiled at her after emptying the bowl, then left saying something about preparing her a decent meal. As she left via a low archway, another person entered. There was no mistaking him. For some reason, Grey had shifted to his younger self, and his cold gaze was settled on her. It made her self conscious.

Pearl reached to touch her hair, but her head was bald. She looked at her hands, discovering that she could move to some degree now, and what she saw brought tears to her eyes, only that the tears did not come. She looked at Grey accusingly. Her looks were her only power, and without them, how could she even survive?

"You'll be fine," Grey assured, which did not sound so assuring. "Quite sooner than you think, actually."

"What...where am I?" Pearl started, finding her voice hoarse and distasteful.

"Well, it's a long story. Let's just say you lived to see another day. Listen... I need—"

"No," Pearl said firmly. "I want nothing to do with you. You should have left me to die."

Grey dragged a chair from the heath and sat by the bedside. Pearl knew Grey had no soft tongue, try as he might, and anything he said would likely make things worse. He looked her in the eye, trying to appeal to her good nature.

"I'll grant you the power you seek," Grey said eventually. "All of it ."

"I don't want it anymore," Pearl muttered, surprising herself. "Go find yourself another slave to do your bidding. I'm done being used."

There was a momentary silence, and Pearl thought Grey would simply leave, but he didn't. Not for the first time, Pearl sensed that something had changed within the harbinger. It was as if he was vulnerable, as if he was trying hard not to show how much he cared. The stoneheart portion was very good at helping with that, but Grey was sober.

"You were already dying by the time I located you," Grey said. "So I offered a deal to your sister instead. She wanted nothing to do with me unless I helped you."

Pearl wanted to punch Grey in the face. She had never been violent, but Grey was managing to bring out the worst in her. Her wrath was so intense that she did not care what Grey offered. That he wanted to give her what she had pursued for her entire life as a harvester. There was no use now. She could not live anywhere in peace. Her home had rejected her, the human plane was full of holy zealots who would have no qualms murdering her in cold blood even if she meant them no harm. It was all thanks to Grey.

"Where is Prissy?" Pearl asked.

"Asleep," Grey answered. "She has never left your side since we arrived here three days ago. The restlessness finally took a toll on her, but she will be glad that you woke."

Pearl doubted it. The way she looked now... she did not even want to see her reflection.

"Why did you come? I know it wasn't anything heroic, so please don't lie."

"I wasn't planning to. It's simple. I need your help, and since you're no longer bound to me, I will offer you compensation in return. I can use Prissy, of course, if you persuade her..."

"No," Pearl said, exasperated. "I don't want her to end up like this."

That, and she didn't want anyone else to harvest Grey's power. It made her feel like a hypocrite, but she could not help it. There was just one problem. To extract a victim's essence, the succuba used lust as the catalyst. She did not need a seer to tell her that the only feeling anyone could have towards her was repulsion. And even if she was complete and unscathed, Grey had proven time and again that he was sexually neutral. Or maybe he restrained himself?

Grey stood and walked towards the heath, hands clasped behind his back. It looked strange, watching him act like an old man in that young body. Yet more often than not, Pearl had noticed that Grey had no grand view on life. He just did what needed to be done without broadening the spectrum of possibilities. In a way, Grey was still a child. A child who adamantly refused to grow up. He clung on to his stupid beliefs that he was a tool to cut the rot that was the Leistars off the flesh of the kingdom of Egnir. He had foreseen a Leistar releasing the five emissaries, but ironically he had been the one to let the most dangerous live.

In place of anger, Pearl found herself feeling empathetic towards Grey. After all, he had known no proper family, and the only constants in his existence were protecting and destroying.

"Did you know that you were an empath?" Grey asked, looking at the flames that crackled in the heath. "Or you just ignored what you felt thinking it was natural?"

Pearl did not know what to say. Like always, Grey could read her like an open book. He knew her fears, her desires, and he had a bad habit of using both against her whenever she felt reluctant to comply.

"Do you want to use me again?" Pearl said eventually.

"I thought so at first. But I've been down that path with two others, and I regret how things went. I face an adversary with great strength, and there is a possibility that her power will grow as much as her allies will multiply. I never thought I would fail, but there is a chance. You might end up dead if you follow me, so I wanted you to know the risk before you decided. And to answer your question, if it makes you feel any better, I don't want to use you. I need your help."

Silence lingered in the room for a while. Was Grey trying to appeal to her conscience? Pearl certainly did not trust him. In the end he would just discard her and go his way. But then again she did not blame him for it. That was who he was. You could only make what was grey white by removing the black in it. Pearl felt her heart beating. She could not place whether it was excitement or fear, but something became so clear to her that she cursed herself for not seeing it earlier.

All these years she had poured more black into Grey's existence out of dread. That emotion had marred her own purpose to the point where she became wholly subservient to him. It was so wrong. All that time, she could have tried. She could have, one fleck at a time, picked the black out of Grey's soul. That was her destiny. Whether or not she would enjoy it, only time could tell.

Pearl slid out of the bed, standing proudly in her unclothed, burnt form. She was not embarrassed. Not anymore. She had all the power she needed.

"I will help you," she said. "But I have two conditions."

"Speak," Grey prompted, looking at her with a faint hint of surprise.

"First, you will ask the witch to bind me as your familiar. And after that, we'll find Prissella a safe place to stay."

Being bound as a familiar was a spiritual tie, one that could only be severed through death. It was unheard of for someone to willingly subject themselves to another, much less so when the master was an unpredictable harbinger. For the first time since knowing him, Grey faltered.

"Why would you want such a thing?" he asked.

Pearl smiled. "That's for me to worry about. You want my help or what?"

"Very well," Grey submitted. "Come, I want to show you something."

Pearl walked forward and stood by Grey's side.

"Place your hand in the fire," Grey said.

Pearl shot him a venomous glare, but Grey just tilted his head towards the heath. The memories of her combustion were still hazy, but she was fine that way. She'd do anything to have that awful experience removed from her mind and...

She thrust her hand into the fire, shutting her eyes as the orange tongues licked at her burnt skin. The sensation was ticklish, and warm. It raced up her arm and spread through her whole body. She shivered. In an instant, her body felt refreshed, as if the flames were rejuvenating her strength. She opened her eyes and almost fell back in shock. Her body was on fire... again. But the only difference now was the absence of pain. Her flesh glowed as tiny hairs of flame moved to and fro on the surface of her skin. She looked at Grey questioningly.

"You died in the flames," he clarified. "And I brought you back. What killed you has now become your strength. You can restore what you lost if you wish. The power of fire not only consumes, it can regenerate."

Pearl felt the flames coursing through her veins, but unlike blood, she could manipulate them if her mind attuned to their rhythm. It came naturally to her, though it was not perfect. She smiled once more, savoring her first real ability. Pyrokinesis. Not bad. She closed her eyes, channeling the flames to restore her muscle and skin. She felt her curves returning, her nails growing, but her hair remained a mass of flames. She released the fire, and she felt complete.

"Where is my hair?" she asked with a frown, feeling for her head and touching a bald scalp.

"I don't know," Grey answered with a chuckle. "You can't master everything in one day. You will get it back, eventually."

"Well, at least I got my charm back," Pearl said, still elated by her newfound powers.

"There is plenty of clothes by the closet. You can borrow one of the witch's garments if you like."

Pearl noticed the blush on Grey's face. Maybe he did feel something.

"I haven't earned my right to wear clothes," Pearl objected.

"And how do you..."

"A succubus can only wear clothes after successfully sleeping with someone. We can..."

"That won't be necessary," Grey said quickly. "You're no longer confined to the laws of your world, after all. This is your new beginning."

"Might as well get a new name," Pearl mumbled in disappointment.

Grey smiled. If Pearl did not know any better, she would think the young man was affectionate. For a moment her heart skipped rhythm.

"How about Amaryllis?"

"What?"

"It is a flower. A fire lily. It suits you well, since you are born of flame...and you are beautiful."

Pearl blushed to the roots of her... well, her baldness. Grey never complimented anyone. Might have been his desperation to get her on board, but she savoured it nonetheless.

"I am flattered," Pearl said. "But I think I prefer something that suits your previous naming conventions, as your familiar."

Grey raised an eyebrow. "I see. You had something in mind?"

"Yes," Pearl answered, failing to conceal her smirk. "How about... Blaze?"