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Chapter 18 - Fight Back

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The energy high left Rena's body feeling drained as she poured it into the sceptre, leaving it glowing in her hands.

She fought off dizziness as the extra two tails disappeared, leaving her usual five feeling sparse behind her as they twisted together protectively, well out of range of the djinn's hands.

She didn't need to ask if it'd worked. Silvery white lines were etched into the wood of the sceptre, making it appear almost fae in nature. The crystal at its heart resonated with the same energy as her crystal key. It flashed when she reached out to it, testing their connection.

"It is now yours," said the djinn. "Well done. I'm impressed, I barely had to guide your energy with your key. It seems to have a talent for energy abilities after all."

Rena followed his gaze to her tail. Instead of its usual burnt orange with the brownish tips, the fur was streaked with silver, creating an interesting effect when she waved it back and forth, catching the light on the strands.

"Will it stay like that?" Rena asked.

The djinn shrugged. "Most likely not. Kitsunes tails are prone to change with use of ley, though most have a default colouring. I suspect in a few hours, it will have returned to its usual state. May I see the sceptre?"

Rena handed it over. Out of her grip, the silver lines faded, leaving the wood looking as normal as ever. The crystal suddenly looked more like the tree had grown around a rock rather than the core of a weapon.

"It's a good attunement," said the djinn. "Not perfect, but it will improve with use and time."

The djinn turned the sceptre, observing it from various angles while stroking the chain of Rena's crystal key. She kept her ears perked, pretending to be studying the sceptre and the light it left in its wake. She had little idea what she'd done to it or if the effect was permanent, but she didn't particularly care. She wanted her key back around her neck, safe where it belonged.

The djinn nodded to himself and handed the sceptre back. It flashed as Rena gripped it, like her touch had breathed life into it.

"Good," he said. "This confirms my suspicions."

"Your suspicions?" asked Rena.

"That feeding off the defiler was holding you back," said Qariinn. He waved a hand. "But he won't be an issue any longer. I've ensured he won't be holding back your progress any longer."

Rena's tails stood up on end. "You... what?"

"You were far too attached, Emberheart," said the djinn. "Links to the Order are dangerous to our mindset. It's much easier to slip back into your previous mindset, to forget your responsibilities to this world, but that does not make it the right path. The defiler had to be removed."

Rena's heart jumped into her throat. She swallowed it back down, telling herself that Cayden knew how to fight. He wouldn't go down easily--but what if he'd been surprised? She couldn't get Nazine out by herself. Of that she was sure. She needed Cayden, if not for Nazine than for her own sanity in this place.

"Oh, Emberheart," said the djinn, giving her a sad smile. "Just your reaction tells me I've made the right decision. But he was poisoning your mind, trying to convince you that saving the phoenix was the correct path. To work against your brothers and sisters."

He knew.

Rena backed away from the table, raising the sceptre between them but the djinn seemed unconcerned. The stairs were somewhere behind her. She had to run. Get away. Escape the threat.

But the threat's hands were on the chain of her crystal key.

"Give it back," hissed Rena. "Give it back, and let me out."

The djinn ignored her. "It's true that without his human counterpart in control, the phoenix will soon burn up and turn to ash, but it's natural for a phoenix to do so. When he dies, the spirit will reincarnate in another body. That is natural. What is not natural is the way the Order prolongs this process and encourages the artificial life."

The djinn continued forward. Rena backed down the stairs, ears flat against her head. She didn't know what to do. Didn't have a choice without her key's safety. One touch, one thought from Qariinn and he controlled her.

"Think, Emberheart!" said Qariinn as they reached the bottom floor and he circled her around the marble tiles. "You have so much potential to unlock! Nine tails are so easily within your reach, but you shun them! And why? Because whether you realise it or not, the Order has suppressed your will!"

"They are afraid of the power Mythics wield, Emberheart! Terrified that one day, we will realise how they are using us and question their teachings!" The djinn's gaze crackled. "And they should be. Because when we reclaim what is rightfully ours, when we take back the portal heart at Leristith, the humans will know our fury."

"This isn't the way to do it!" said Rena. She barely knew what she was saying. "Attacking Leristith isn't going to hurt just humans, Qariinn, it's going to get Mythics killed!"

"Our spirits are immortal!" said Qariinn. "We will rise from the ashes of ourselves and save the portals before the humans corrupt the last of them! Or do you not see, Emberheart?" When she stared at him, he shook his head. "The whole reason the portals are infected with chaos is because the humans are exploiting them! Our source of energy, our source of life, and they are purposefully destroying it!"

"They rely on it just as much as we do!" said Rena. "They use it for healing and crafting, for--"

"And they have no right to do so!" The djinn lowered his voice. "But you will see that in time. With the defiler out of the way, you will soon come to realise the fault in your thoughts. After that, you will be ready."

Rena didn't like the way he was looking at her. "Ready for what?"

"For union."

She didn't believe what she was hearing. "To who? Why?"

"To me," said the djinn in the same tone as one would discuss the weather. Simple. Like it was fact. "And because it will help you achieve the nine tails, among other reasons. A kitsune's bonding process is unique. No matter where their life mate is, no matter how great the distance, they may draw on their strength."

"It's not happening," said Rena.

The djinn's smile didn't agree. "I have heard of the kitsune's charm. I thought myself relatively immune, but apparently it is not so. I tell myself this union would be best for the Unbounds, but I can't deny the personal desire I feel towards you without lying to myself."

Rena had somehow let herself be backed into the corner. The djinn held out a hand, allowing the excess ley to flood from his skin, filling the air around her with the heady scent of power.

"You felt my power when you fed from me before, Emberheart," said the djinn in that soft, silky voice that had entranced her earlier. Rena struggled to keep her head above it. "That can be yours. Your kitsune wants it. You want it. Don't deny yourself your true nature."

The taste of ley drifted over Rena's lips. Unable to resist, she licked her lips, inhaling the scent, finding herself drowning in its promise. She gripped her sceptre harder.

He killed Cayden, she told herself. Cayden is dead because of him, and if you don't do something, he's going to get Nazine next!

The thought sobered her up. With one huge effort of will, Rena raised the sceptre in front of her and fired a shot pure energy formed from the djinn's own ley straight back at him.

With barely a metre between them, the djinn couldn't dodge it. The blast caught him on the chest and knocked him back, sending him crashing against the tiles. His robes caught around his legs as he scrambled to his feet while Rena was paralysed, frozen in place as she realised what she'd done.

"It seems the defiler's influence on you was stronger than I realised," said the djinn. No longer was he happy. The cloud of ley around his form crackled with lightning. "I suppose I'll have to break it."

Rena leapt to the side as a bolt of light struck down from the ceiling, now broiling with stormy clouds. Panicked, she called to her ley, transferring it automatically into the sceptre in her hand. Almost out of habit the ley shimmered around her, fracturing her image into three parts, each oriented to a different direction.

"That trick won't work with me, Emberheart," said the djinn. "I can see your energy. There is no hiding among yourself from me."

He proved his point by striking her location with yet another bolt of lightning. Still, the extra limbs and tails seemed to throw his aim off, and it bought her time as she dodged around the room, trusting her legs and tail to keep her balanced.

She didn't have enough for another energy attack, not with only five tails. It left fire as her only offensive capability, and she doubted she was going to get the jump on Qariinn again.

But she had to try. As Qariinn brought his hands down again, in the moments it took for him to raise them again, Rena focused on his robes, imagining the threads turning to embers.

A flame blossomed just under his right hand sleeve. He didn't seem to notice the heat at first, but as it grew, he couldn't ignore it. With a shout of surprise, the djinn sped to the corner of the room, placing his sleeve in the fountain.

Rena made a dash for the door. She pressed her palm against the carved stone, but it refused to budge. Banging on it with her fist didn't help either.

"Annoying," said the djinn. "Though it proves even more that I made the right decision. None of my other subordinates would dare fight back against me."

Probably because they aren't stupid, thought Rena. It was an effort to keep her breathing under control. What would Cayden do?

She didn't get an answer to that question, because two things happened at once. 

The first, the djinn's voice. "As you can tell, you're quite sealed in here with me."

And the second: the wall beside Rena cracked as the chaotic banshee from the portal ceremony several days earlier entered the heart of the Starali'lai temple. 

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A/N - Yay hour in a horse paddock! Can I ask if you think the quality's dropped significantly, or if you still consider it readable? 

Vote/Comment if you feel generous to show some love <3 Mythic reached #13 in fantasy last update, can you get it that high again? ^_^