Chapter 53: Warring Souls

The dark, swirling patterns in the portal hypnotized Nienna as she let her mind circle. She found herself unable to move, paralyzed by the impending duty she had yet to fulfill. It was as if everything in her body refused to follow through. It refused to accept it, rejecting what was coming and find another way, but there didn’t seem to be any other ways. She had to make it all stop somehow. It wasn’t until she heard Seren and Salara call her name repeatedly that she finally snapped out of her spiral.

Aside from some non-threatening injuries, the pair seemed to be okay. Salara cradled her arm against her chest as the pair made their way over to Nienna. Her petals had wilted in the aftermath of their battle with Lord Byrne but they still held their color. Seren helped her along with her arm around her waist. She seemed to be fairing better; her chainmail and plated armor had seen to that. However, the side of her face had a red streak from cheekbone to temple where the skin had been burned and her breastplate had been blackened.

“I’m not ungrateful for what they’ve done, but who are these people?” Seren asked.

“And why are they see-through?” Salara added.

“They are…,” Nienna started, trying to figure out exactly how to classify them.

Behind them, a voice offered a suggestion, “how about…distant family,” Nina replied, having returned from escorting Lord Byrne to his final destination. Her dark robes fluttered behind her as she strode toward them. She looked over at Nienna. “It’s done.”

“Thank you,” Nienna replied with a nod, “for everything.”

Seren’s eyes went wide. “Oh?” She looked at them and then back at Nienna, letting the detail sink in. “Oh! They’re…and we…,” she said as she gestured back and forth between them all.

“It’s time to go,” Nina said with a smile. She adjusted her glasses as she looked Nienna up and down once more. Her eyes fell on the gothic axe resting on the woman’s hip. “I’m glad to see it found us again. I’m glad to see it’s in good hands.”

The reapers departed, but Nina paused and turned back around, motioning for Nienna to come to her. Curious, she joined her ancestor at her side and listened to the words Nina whispered in her ear. When she was finished, Nienna pulled back, her eyebrows knit as she tried to make sense of the request.

“Please,” Nina said, her bright green eyes pleading from behind the lenses in her glasses.

“I can’t. I…I’m not going back,” she said quietly so Seren and Salara couldn’t hear.

It was Nina’s turn to be confused. Her face scrunched. “Is that what you think?”

“Yes?” Nienna said as more of a question than a reply.

“You know what they say about well-laid plans.” With that, Nina left to return to her post, not giving Nienna a chance to inquire further.

Salara straightened and then grabbed Seren’s forearm. “By the Pale Tree, we need to get back to the others!”

The two of them made for the swirling portal, but Seren stopped and turned to look for Nienna, who was following slowly behind. She got the unsettling feeling that something was wrong, so she stopped and called out to her.

“Hey, you coming?” she asked.

Nienna looked down at the ground as a voice entered her mind. It was quiet but not without malice. It called out to her by name from somewhere beyond the river of souls and taunted her with a warning. She turned to look over her shoulder, half expecting to see someone standing there, but there was as no one.

“Hrm?” Nienna uttered, vaguely recalling hearing Seren ask her something.

“We need to get back to the others,” Seren said. “Come on.” She motioned toward the portal.

“I uh,” Nienna began as she tried to figure out what to say. Her mind ran through every excuse in her repertoire, every explanation she could bend or twist to get Seren and Salara to go back without her. She felt her hand reach for her belt and undo the clasp securing her axe. She held out the weapon for Seren to take. “I’ll be right there. You two go ahead.”

Seren shook her head. “No, I’m not falling for that. Come on.”

“Please Seren. I need you two to get back to the others safely, and I need you to make sure they’re okay and…I need you to check on our parents.” Nienna felt herself wince at adding that last detail. She wished she had more time to present this new development to Seren.

Salara looked nervously between the two women. “Why are we still here? We need to go.”

“Okay, now I’m sure that whatever changed your hair changed your brain too,” Seren said.

“I’m sorry. I should have said something before. It’s just that you were gone when I found them, and we haven’t exactly had time to catch up on recent events.”

Seren stared at her incredulously. “How can you just dump this on me now? What do you expect me to do with this information?”

“I expect you to go back to help them and the others.”

“Is that an order?”

“If it has to be,” Nienna warned.

“You can’t tell me what to do. You’re not the commander anymore.”

That hit Nienna hard. Seren was right; she wasn’t the commander anymore. She had given up that title and its responsibilities, but that didn’t matter right now. The longer this dragged on, the less likely she was going to be able to get them to leave. She grabbed Seren’s arm and started dragging her toward the portal while completely ignoring Seren and Salara’s words of concern and protest. The young guardian pried Nienna’s hand off of her and pushed her back, eliciting a colorful exclamation from the necromancer. The two fought against each other: Nienna pushing and Seren pulling, with Salara standing helplessly by, unsure of what to do and not really wanting to get in the middle of what she was witnessing.

At some point during the altercation, one of the blade’s pieces came free from Nienna’s pack. She reached out to catch it from falling, but Seren mistook her move, thinking her sister was reaching out for her. Both of their exposed hands grabbed onto the piece and made contact with the bare wood.

A wild energy surged through Nienna, and immediately the shadow leapt into action and enshrouded her with its protection. However, it still burned with a frozen intensity that made her joints ache and her lungs seize. It felt different though. It was as if two different energies were at war. They tumbled and fed off of each other as they grew into a brilliant green light that threaded along the shaft where its protective spell formed a web. Its filaments reached to the other two pieces and drew them together to reunite the blade.

Opposite Nienna, Seren was not faring well. Her visage twisted in severe anguish, and drops of blood had started to roll down from her nostrils. Nienna fought against the scythe’s power as she slid her hand along the staff to try to remove Seren’s hand. No matter how hard she dug her fingers, Nienna could not remove her hand. She yelled out Seren’s name, trying to get the young guardian to focus on her—to work with Nienna to set her free—but her gaze remained unfocused. It was like she was miles away, even though she was standing right across from her.

“Seren, you need to let go,” Nienna begged through gritted teeth. “Please, just let go.”

“I—can’t. Won’t—leave—you.”

Seren remained holding onto the scythe, a prisoner of its power. Her skin had taken on a ghostly hue, and her eyes grew sunken and dark. Nienna thrashed and screamed, but the blade’s power had grown too strong. Wrapped in a growing shroud of shadow and sickly green light, she could barely breathe now. The shadow that was protecting her started to crack under the pressure. Soon, Nienna would not have any protection at all.

Giving it one last go, Nienna gathered her remaining energy and made her final attempt at setting her sister free from the blade’s hold. She took in a deep breath and focused her energy into a fine point, throwing every part of her into her final attempt. She wedged her foot against Seren’s chest and pushed as hard as she could as she released a wave of dark energy that was met with a flash of blinding white light. The opposing energies arched away from each other, and the magical and physical forces were enough to dislodge Seren’s hold on the weapon. The young guardian was sent tumbling back as Nienna herself was sent flying back in the opposite direction.

Air flew from Nienna’s lungs on impact where she landed some ways off. She coughed, and gulped in air as she lay on the ground, staring at the sickly green sky above her. The incident had left her laying there in a numbing daze. Nothing seemed to exist in that moment, except for her breathing and the sky above. At some point, she thought it would be a good idea to move, and as soon as she did and felt a sharp pain along her side, she regretted it.

“I didn’t think it would hurt this much being dead,” Nienna groaned.

Seren rolled over onto her side and pushed herself up from the ground. “You’re not dead, you stubborn skritt,” she replied, roughly. She coughed and took some deep breaths in and out.

“What?” Nienna asked, not sure if she heard Seren correctly. She sat up suddenly to see if she was okay, which she discovered was not a smart thing to do. Her head spun, and it felt like her world was lurching from side to side. She put a hand to her head and closed her eyes for a few moments until everything settled down. All the aches and pains started rushing in, overwhelming her senses and making her wonder if death would have been better.

“You’re not dead,” Seren repeated as she got to her feet. She stumbled, but regained her footing as she shuffled over to Nienna, “but after all this, I swear you’re going to be.” She reached out her hand and helped Nienna to her feet.

Nienna grimaced as she checked her side. Her coat and tunic had been sliced vertically and soaking with blood. Nearby, the scythe that had caused her and her family so much strife lay on the ground. She did not sense any energy coming off of it. It was now like any other scythe—completely unremarkable, only its edge of its long, curved blade was tipped with red.

Nienna stared at Seren. “How are you okay?”

“I don’t know if you could call what I’m feeling, okay,” she replied with a pained smirk. “I don’t know. I remember the pain when I was holding onto that thing, but then there was this bright light, and I was on the ground. I still hurt, but by Dwayna’s grace, I was still alive.”

Nienna pulled Seren in for an embrace. “By whoever’s hand or grace, I’ll take it. Just please don’t kill me.”

“I guess I could let you live a little longer,” Seren replied as she sunk into the hug.

“In the Blessed Mother’s name, are you two all right?” Salara shrieked as she ran over to them. “What was that?”

“We’re fine,” Seren replied.

“If you can call this fine,” Nienna argued. “Everything does, in fact, not feel fine.”

Salara looked them over and took note and fussed over their injuries. “Well, you’re alive, and that’s what matters.” Salara pointed to the portal. “You should know though, all that light from your struggle went through there.”