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“Hey Callum, did I ever tell you all the amazing spells you can do with elf hair?”
The young high mage’s eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen, the scene before him making his stomach roil. Finding himself fixed to a crumbling wall in the ruins of Elarion by an immobilization spell was hardly surprising; he had gone to follow a potentially dangerous lead after all.
The fact that said immobilization spell had been cast by Claudia, someone he had once called a close friend, hit an awful lot harder.
The fact that some Earthblood elf at her side— What was his name? Terry?— had been positively starry-eyed at her ease in capturing him was just rude.
Viren, who Callum had last seen plummeting to his death from the top of the Storm Spire over two years ago, was alive and breathing beneath what looked like a giant pulsing cocoon attached to the rocky ceiling. Despite this, he still looked as if he were barely clinging to life, his face pale, his skin sunken in, and laying on a ratty cot. And that still wasn’t the worst part.
No, by far the most horrific sight was what— or rather who— Claudia had chained to the wall beside her. The one who had made it her mission to track down Viren and end him once and for all. Who had not counted on an ambush of such proportions awaiting her when she inevitably succeeded, because Callum knew her skills were incomparable, and he knew she would succeed. The one Callum had woken up every morning thinking about and gone to sleep every night dreaming of for over two years, now at long long last kneeling on the cold hard ground only mere feet away from him.
Rayla… he had never seen her look so frightened as she had been when he entered that cave. She was skinny, shivering, and covered in scabs and bruises, her voice dry as sandpaper when she called out his name. It was then that he had made the mistake of rushing towards her, the mistake of running right into Claudia’s trap and winding up in just as tight of a spot as she was. Not exactly the brightest move for the High Mage of Katolis. But for Callum, who had desperately missed and worried for his best friend and dearest love for months upon months? Anything to be closer to her. Anything but to find her here. Like this.
“Leave her alone, Claudia.” His tone was even, utterly determined to keep the tremor out of it when she withdrew a rusty knife from her belt.
“It’s super powerful,” the dark mage went on as if she hadn’t heard him, stepping closer to where Rayla was bound to the opposite wall. “My Terry lets me use his for healing, don’t you?”
“Sure do, Clauds!” Terry called enthusiastically as he passed a canteen of water over to Viren, who scowled as he took it from him.
“Moonshadow elf hair though? Oooh, you can use it for concealments, fog spells, even shrouding a whole room in darkness. And she has so much of it!”
If Callum shut his eyes, it was as if Claudia was her old self again, excitedly explaining to him how the practice of dark magic was performed. For years he would have listened to her with rapt attention, hoping that someday she would give him a proper lesson, just the two of them. He didn’t even know who that little boy and girl sitting in the castle courtyard were anymore; it felt like a long forgotten dream. But this was reality— a living nightmare— and he couldn’t look away, not now. Now when he looked at that girl he once admired, he only saw the wild gleam in her dark eyes and the way her toothy smile didn’t reach them. It disgusted him.
Rayla hissed as Claudia seized a fistful of her hair, readying her knife in the other hand. “But you’re not interested in my kind of magic, are you Callum? Guess I’ll just be taking it for myself.”
“No!”
“It’s okay, Callum,” Rayla said weakly. “It’s just hair.”
“You shut your mouth!” Claudia snapped, all traces of pleasantness gone the moment she turned on the elf in her grasp. In one terrifyingly swift motion, she swung the knife through Rayla’s long silver tresses and severed them, leaving uneven jagged edges in its wake. Callum struggled against his shimmering translucent bonds, but they only seemed to tighten as Rayla bowed her head and trembled harder.
“Hang onto all this for me, would you Terry?” Claudia’s call sounded so far away under the ringing in Callum’s ears as she summoned her Earthblood elf friend. There was something so violating about watching the two of them gather up Rayla’s hair and just throw it in a bag, a piece of her suddenly and violently taken away without her consent, and it filled Callum with a rage the likes of which he had never felt before.
“Alright, that’s enough!” he shouted, his voice echoing in the damp space. “What do you want? Me? My magic?”
Claudia burst out laughing, hard and almost maniacal, hanging onto her side as if he had just said the punchline to the best joke ever. “You?! What good would you and your pretty primal magic do for me?!” Snorting, she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “Oh that was funny, Callum. You’re thinking awfully highly of yourself ever since your brother gave you my father’s royal title, huh?”
Watching the grin slowly slip from her face, Callum leaned back as Claudia swept over to him, titling his chin up with the dulled point of her knife. “Crazy how our positions would be reversed if your vile little friend here had just learned to leave well enough alone back at the Storm Spire, huh? Well, looks like even now she still hasn’t figured it out.”
“Let go of him!” Rayla cried out hoarsely, trying to pull herself up by her legs with what little strength she had left. “I’m the one you want, Claudia! Just leave him outta this!”
“Rayla, no,” Callum breathed out tremblingly, and Claudia stuck out her lower lip.
“Aww, this would be so cute if you weren’t in love with the elf who murdered my father and— well, pretty much ruined everything now that I think about it.” Swiping the knife upward, she casually nicked the end of Callum’s chin before crossing the room back to Rayla.
“So that’s what this is?” Callum growled. “Revenge?”
“I mean, it could be,” Claudia shrugged nonchalantly. “But you know, I’m not the one who waltzed in here with vengeance on my mind.” Narrowing her eyes, she knelt in front of Rayla and grabbed her face. “There was no way you were gonna win this. And whether you live or die tonight depends on if he complies.”
Rayla wrenched her chin out of Claudia’s grasp and whispered, “Don’t bother. I’m already dead.” She had failed in her mission to finish off Viren once and for all. And she had failed to leave Callum, the one she loved more than anyone else, out of it entirely. He was here. He had come for her. He was ready and willing to sacrifice anything and everything for her. Which was the very last thing she had wanted to happen. If she had to die in order for him to leave here safely, she would do it in a heartbeat.
“Looks like we’ve got a couple of martyrs on our hands, Terry,” the dark mage simpered to her elf friend, who was mixing up some sort of concoction with a small wooden bowl and mortar. “How should we handle this? We’re running out of time, after all.”
“What do you want, Claudia?” Callum repeated, slowly and deliberately. As afraid as he was to take his eyes off of Rayla for even a moment, he let his gaze sweep across the room quickly, allowing his mind to focus and take note of his surroundings so he could recall it with perfect clarity to Ezran and the high council. It was something he had always been able to do ever since he was a small child, and the older he got, the more useful he realized such an ability was becoming.
The huge glowing cocoon pulsed silently and eerily above them all, almost like an impending omen. Claudia appeared callous and confident when tormenting him or his love, but the truth was that Callum had known her for most of his life and he could tell when she was anxious. Her jaw was set tightly and her eyes darted quickly between her elf friend, the cocoon, and her father, who had not tried to attack or provoke them once. He had not even gotten up from the worn dirty cot since Callum had entered the ruins, he just lay there frowning while the Earthblood elf made him drink some sort of potion he’d mixed up.
Perhaps… He’s not able to. Something clicked into place in Callum’s brain. Viren was fading fast. And whatever Claudia needed, it was to help him.
“As much as my gut is telling me to just hold you here and let you watch as I rip your girlfriend apart piece by piece, even I’m not that cruel.” Vainly cleaning the blade of her rusty dagger with the frayed hem of her black robe, Claudia paced the floor between where Callum and Rayla were bound against the fractured walls across from each other. “It’s pretty simple, Callum. We each have something the other needs. I have your elf. And you have the Key.” She kept her eyes fixated on him, her lips curling upward when she saw the shock flicker across his face.
“Key?” he tried to ask innocently, his face completely blank even though he could hear his heart pounding in his ears. But Callum knew it was too late; she had caught him off guard and he gritted his teeth in defeat. “How did you—?”
“Oh you thought you were special. You thought you were the only one being all buddy-buddy with the Startouch elf in the mirror, didn’t you?” She leered in his face once more, “Stop me if this sounds familiar: He promised to help you find the one you missed most, which led you right into this little ambush. Oh bravo, ‘High Mage’ Callum.”
“I said leave him alone!” Rayla’s scream pierced its way across the room so sharply that even the cocoon seemed to pause its movement. As if her ire at Claudia’s taunting of Callum had injected fresh adrenaline directly into her veins, she tugged as hard as she could against her chains to wrench herself free, crying out at the strain in her left wrist which had never fully recovered from her assassin’s binding.
“No you don’t!” Terry suddenly sprang into action as Rayla attempted to kick herself into a standing position from the floor. Flinging his arms out in front of him, the dried vines hanging from the crumbling pillars behind her suddenly sprang to life and curled themselves around Rayla’s legs. She shrieked as they were tied together at the ankles, then enforced all the way up to her knees, a second set winding their way tightly around her arms in addition to the already painful chains.
“Nice one, Terry!” Claudia squealed, throwing her arms around him and kissing his cheek while Rayla whimpered against her new bonds.
“Aw, it was nothing really,” Terry blushed, nuzzling his face into hers. “Figured it was the least I could do after she found my concealed tracks. I felt like I failed you, Claudia…”
“You could never fail me.” She pulled the Earthblood elf in for a deep wet kiss, leaving Callum to steal a moment with his own love from across the room.
“I’m sorry, Rayla,” he let his soft tender voice waft over to her on the cool drafty breeze, swallowing the tears welling in his throat as she met his anguished emerald gaze. “That you’re here… that this happened… I’m so, so sorry.”
“Don’t— don’t do it, Callum,” Rayla shook her head desperately, tears sparkling like diamonds in the corners of her violet eyes. “Think of Katolis. Think of Ezran. Whatever this Key is, whatever Claudia wants from you, it’s not worth it!”
“That’s it, I’ve about had it with you!” Claudia pulled away from her boyfriend and whirled towards Rayla, her eyes flashing. “You’re nothing but a means to an end. And I’m gonna make sure you know your place.” Plunging a hand into the satchel on her waist, Claudia withdrew an artifact that instantly unlocked a scarring memory in Callum’s mind. He only saw the small mummified cat claw for a moment before she crushed it in her fist, saying the haunting incantation that sent the green mist swirling towards Rayla’s face.
“Close your mouth, Rayla!” Callum cried out. “Don’t let it in!” But it didn’t matter. The foul mist snaked right past Rayla’s tightly pressed lips and into her throat, swiftly retrieving the small glowing ball that was her voice. She gasped and coughed, the tears spilling down her cheeks when she tried to speak and made no sound, and Claudia smirked as the ball of light flew directly into the claw in her palm.
“Well done…” Viren trailed off weakly from his cot, a faint smile appearing on his lips before his eyes fell closed and he drifted into unconsciousness. It was as if he was already preparing himself for the possibility of his daughter taking his place in this world— that thought alone being too much for Claudia to bear as she hastily blinked back the sudden dampness in her eyes. This had to succeed. This had to happen tonight, one way or another.
“Incredible,” Terry murmured beside her, and Rayla glanced up at him through a thick veil of tears. She had been nothing but revolted by the Earthblood elf’s devotion to Claudia throughout the duration of her confinement, how he hung on her every word and whim and marveled at her abilities in the art of dark magic. There was still a sense of marvel, even wonder, but his amber eyes behind his glasses betrayed something of… uncertainty. Even unease. As if he was slowly realizing Claudia could have performed a spell like that on him at any moment she wished.
“Listen… I know what it’s like to lose a parent now, Callum.” Claudia’s voice was low, constricted; it had lost its harsh edge and was replaced with something that resembled sorrow. “I know how you must’ve felt when you lost your mom and stepdad. It’s… indescribable.”
“Don’t,” Callum spat angrily, glaring daggers into her dark eyes. “I know what you’re doing Claudia, and it’s not gonna work this time.” His foolish heart had allowed her to manipulate his feelings once— shame on him. Fool him twice though, and Rayla could die. It wasn’t a chance he could afford to take.
“But dark magic, sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears let me transcend death. It let me bring my father back to me against all odds. I’ve done something no primal mage has ever done in the history of this entire realm. And now…” She knelt in front of Rayla again, “My father’s killer just happened to scurry right into my clutches. And I caught her right on the end of my blade.”
“Claudia, don’t—” Callum started to plead, then gasped when she swiped the knife across Rayla’s cheek, thin blood dripping down her face from the gash.
“Vial,” Claudia demanded shortly, holding out her hand as Terry quickly pressed an empty one into her palm. Uncorking it, she used the rim to scrape the blood off Rayla’s cheek and into the thin container. “Oh, that felt good.”
“You’re sickening,” the high mage hissed, shaking within his translucent bonds. “Touch her with that knife again and I’ll kill you.”
“Ooh, strong words, Callum,” Claudia’s eyes widened, pressing a hand to her chest. “What happened to the sweet prince who used to give me flowers and draw me cute little pictures?”
“I get it— you need the cube to free Aaravos from his prison.” he snarled, ignoring her jeers.
“Once he’s free, I can fully resurrect my father the easy way. Otherwise I’ll have to resort to… nasty measures.” She let her eyes trail over to Rayla, then back down to her dripping knife, humming to herself. “An elf born of the Moon arcanum… a bridge between the world of the living and the dead…”
“You wouldn’t.” Callum’s entire body shuddered beneath his restraints, desperately trying to move his fingers in order to sketch primal runes to no avail.
“You know there’s a moon magic spell dark mages can replicate,” Claudia prattled on, pacing the floor back and forth distractedly and erratically as if she didn’t even hear him. “It’s temporary, but it can force someone to tell the truth.”
“Vis Verus,” Callum muttered knowingly, keeping his eyes locked on Rayla and her bleeding face, and she gazed up at him with sad, quirked lips that resembled a smile. Perhaps she could tell, merely by his knowledge, that he had been attempting to master the moon arcanum in her absence.
“But I’m gonna need elf parts a lot stronger than hair. Or even fingers or horns. No Callum, to replicate this one—” Her sneer was back, “It calls for Moonshadow elf blood.”
“Claudia, are you—?”
“Yeah Terry, I’m sure,” she replied shortly to her boyfriend. “And lots more than just this tiny vial’s worth.”
“Why?!” Callum yelled in a cracked voice as Claudia dragged Rayla into a kneeling position. “You know I love her! I’ll do anything for her! So why are you doing this?!”
“‘Cause I’ve been waiting for this, Callum.” Claudia’s voice shook with suppressed laughter, shaking her head back and forth. “Ever since I learned my father was pushed off the top of the Spire by a Moonshadow elf carrying twin blades. She’s ruined my life for the last time, and I won’t let her or you get in my way again.”
With the distinct sound of metal meeting flesh, she made a long deep cut in Rayla’s forearm as Terry hurried to catch her blood with one of his girlfriend’s empty jars before any of it dropped off the end of her elbow. Rayla flung her head back, her mouth open in a dry voiceless scream as her face twisted into agony, yet she kept shaking her head at Callum. The message was loud and clear: “Don’t do it. Don’t give her what she wants.”
“Enough?” Terry asked, raising his eyebrows expectantly as he held up the half-full jar of crimson liquid, but Claudia shook her head.
“Until she’s felt even a fraction of the pain she’s put me through—” She grabbed her by her right horn, yanking her head back to expose her neck. Making absolutely sure that Callum had a clear view, Claudia made a grand flourish as she brandished the dagger at Rayla’s throat, “—it’s never enough.”
“Stop!” Callum roared loud enough to shake the ancient pillars into dust, writhing so hard against his own magical shackles that he could feel them burning dangerously into his skin, but he didn’t care. It was nothing compared to the torment Rayla had been enduring. Torment that ended now. “Stop it, Claudia!”
“Tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing! Look me in the eye, Callum, and tell me! If you had the elf who killed your stepfather in this position, wouldn’t you want this too?!”
Rayla’s breath hitched, stifling a gasp or sob in her throat, her violet gaze finding Callum’s face in the dim light and searching it beseechingly. His eyes narrowed at Claudia, the cool fury within shooting icicles back at her blazing fire. And then, he shook his head slowly.
“No. I wouldn’t.”
“Liar,” Claudia snarled.
“I’m not like you, Claudia. You know that.” He panted as if he had just run a great distance, his heart pounding in his ears like a resounding drum as he watched her twist the blade into Rayla’s neck.
“So you’re gonna be the noble hero and keep your secrets to save the world?” She ignored the Moonshadow elf’s whimper as a slight incision was made near her jugular. “What a shame.”
“Wrong again.” Callum’s voice trembled, but he stood his ground to prevent Claudia’s knife from performing any more of its terrible dance. “You want the cube? It’s yours.”
“What?” The blade nearly slipped from her suddenly fumbling fingers. “Just like that?”
“I was ready to give it to you the moment I saw her.” Tears clouded his vision before trickling down his cheeks, warm and soothing against the cold night air. “My only aim tonight— my only aim for the past two years has been to find Rayla and bring her home safely. And—” His voice broke, “And I’m already failing at the second part.”
He kept his gaze fixated on Claudia, on Terry, on Viren’s unconscious form, on the wall, on the ominous cocoon— anywhere but at Rayla. He couldn’t watch her face crumbling, her shoulders quaking with silent sobs at what he had just chosen to do.
“You do realize what this means, right?” Claudia asked, lowering the knife slightly. “My father will live? Aaravos will break free?”
“I do,” Callum nodded.
“And you’re willing to sacrifice everything… for her?”
“Didn’t you sacrifice everything for your father?” He sighed out something that sounded like a dry laugh, “Maybe we have something in common after all, Claudia.”
Silence rang within the ruins aside from the rushing breeze and the unearthly pulsing of that chrysalis, as if it were going to split open in anticipation. Claudia’s eyes quickly darted between her father, Terry, and the captured lovers, then swallowed hard. “Where is the Key?”
“With me,” Callum replied. “It’s here in my bag.”
“Terry, hold her down.” Claudia yanked Rayla back against the wall by her horn, the Earthblood elf reluctantly taking the knife out of her hand. “Don’t worry, she can’t fight back. She’s just really squirmy. Enough blood loss and she’ll weaken though.” She stepped towards Callum, holding out a hand stained with Rayla’s blood. “If the new High Mage of Katolis is lying, I’ll give you the signal to slit her throat. Got it?”
“G-got it, Clauds,” Terry stammered dubiously, his grip surprisingly strong as he hooked an arm around Rayla’s collarbone, yet his way with the knife left much to be desired. Callum knew if Rayla were free and had her butterfly blades in her possession, she could disarm him in a half a second.
“I have nothing to gain and everything to lose by lying,” he affirmed calmly, despite his pulse hammering in his throat at Claudia’s threat. “Let me go so I can show you.”
Claudia bit her lip, then wrenched her bloodstained hands out in front of her, a sensation like shockwaves coursing through Callum’s body as the shimmering bonds rescinded. Stumbling forward, he felt for his bag and sketchbook on his hip, then hastily opened the flap and found the familiar cube he had turned over and over within his hands for the better part of two years.
“That’s it!” Claudia exclaimed, her eyes lighting up hungrily when Callum held up the artifact etched on all sides with each of the six primal sources, the sky rune pulsing in the high mage’s direction. “Finally… oh Dad, it won’t be much longer now.”
“Hold on,” Callum said pointedly. “First give Rayla back her voice.”
Claudia blew a raspberry through her lips, “I don’t think you’re in a position to be making demands right now, Callum.”
“You have no idea what I’m capable of, Claudia. But I bet your friend Aaravos does.” He clutched the Key against his chest, wondering if he had gone too far— if Claudia was going to turn around and order Terry to do the deed, and Callum would be forced to watch the light leave Rayla’s eyes forever, cradling her as she drew her last breath.
Claudia scoffed as she pulled out the cat’s paw and flung it on the ground, forcing it to release the glowing greenish ball of light so it could swirl through the air and back down its owner’s throat. “Terry,” she smiled sweetly at her elf friend, indicating the knife in his hand, “Shoulder.”
“Argh!” Rayla’s shrill crackled scream pierced through the night as the blade tore right through her clothing and skin, spilling more blood down her opposite arm and torso.
“This actually worked out well, Callum. Now you get to hear the consequences of your actions!” Claudia cackled over Rayla’s hard, wracking sobs, each one piercing Callum’s heart like the hottest, sharpest sunforged blade. “Need any more reminders on who has the upper hand?”
“No…” Slowly, he stretched out his hand gripping the cube and held it directly before the dark mage. “Take it. Take it and let her go.”
“That was the deal, wasn’t it?” With both hands, Claudia lifted the cube out of his palm and cradled it between her own, a myriad of emotions playing across her face: Relief, triumph, guilt, even sadness as tears began to bead in her eyes.
“Claudia, you’ve done it,” Terry breathed, letting go of Rayla and handing his girlfriend back the knife before cupping her face and pressing a tender kiss to her lips. Sniffling, Claudia pressed her forehead against Terry’s and sighed.
“We can save him now…” She frowned over at Rayla slumped against the wall and waved a nonchalant hand towards her. The vines binding her to the pillars disintegrated into dust, and the chains around her wrists and ankles transformed into snakes, slithering along the stone towards Callum before disappearing completely.
“I’ll never understand what you see in this Moonshadow filth,” Claudia growled, dragging Rayla up from the ground by one of her gashed bleeding arms and flinging her across the room into the waiting arms of her prince.
“Callum!” Rayla’s legs gave out under her as she collapsed against him, her strangled cry dissolving into unrestrained weeping, fists and dirt-crusted nails practically tearing at the front of his robes.
“I’ve got you— I’ve got you now, Rayla.” She was so thin, her frayed silver hair coming off in clumps in his hand as he stroked it, shivering as her blood seeped warm and sticky into Callum’s clothes. It was over. It had cost him everything, but after two years, his search was over. “You’re gonna be okay.”
Shifting Rayla so she was tucked into his side, Callum’s head instantly snapped over to Claudia and Terry, who had made their way over to Viren’s form with the cube, his emerald eyes flashing as he shot out his hand towards them. Rayla’s jaw dropped as his lightning fast fingers sketched the sigil in the air before roaring, “Aspiro Frigis!”
Claudia shrieked as a wall of ice rose between her and Terry, icicles forming around her arms and legs to hold her in place. Terry tried to run to her but Callum quickly erected a second glacier around him as well, breathing heavily through his nostrils as he watched the both of them struggle.
“Callum, you little—!”
“I told you,” he said in a low, vicious tone, “that I’d kill you if you touched Rayla again. If you harmed her again in any way!”
“Callum, please…” The plea hadn’t come from his victims, but rather the feeble voice of the elf in his embrace. Rayla’s face was pale, tinged with grey beneath the dirt and blood, sweat mingling with her tears, struggling to remain standing as her blood continued to run over his arm, her eyes beginning to flutter closed against her will. “I’m already dead. Just let me go.”
“Never,” he whispered, bringing her face close to press his forehead to hers, breathing in her pine and lavender scent beneath the grime. “You’re alive. We’re together. And we’re going home.”
“Home…” Rayla leaned her head against his shoulder, draping her arms around his neck with her nose buried in the soft, familiar warmth of his red scarf. Now that she was safe and loved, she was suddenly cold and very very tired…
“As for both of you—” Callum rounded on Claudia and Terry, their lips blue and teeth chattering within their icy encasements. “You’d be dead by now if she wasn’t so badly hurt. Do whatever you need to do with the Key. And if you try to follow us? Don’t expect a third chance.”
“Oh don’t you worry about that, Callum,” Claudia smirked through shivering lips. “You, King Ezran, and the entire world will see exactly what you’ve done to save your precious elf in no time at all.”
“Manus. Pluma. Volantus.”
And with a whoosh of his mage wings, Callum lifted himself and Rayla high above the ruins of Elarion, carrying them away from one tribulation before another loomed to take its place.