Princess Mae's quieted whimpers were the only sound the filled the silent palace--egging the antsy soulless on more. Ellery quietly walked down the hallways, effortlessly dodging the spikes of granite that littered the walls, her face stony and neutral.  One of the stray soul demons got a little too excited by the new arrival's anxiety and took a swipe out of the prisoner. A little strand of light ripped from the core of the royal, the girl's essence hungrily devoured. 

With a quick flick of the wrist, The Soulless was impaled upon the wall's devilish skewers. Ellery's faithful shadows pressed into them, unwavering."Stop. You will not hurt the Light Lucharian. If any harm comes to her, I will permanently eradicate you."

The Horde screeched angrily back at the apprentice's threat, their monstrous bellows bouncing off the walls. Mae's eardrums writhed from the assault as Ellery stepped over her helpless body. After their dramatics, the demons liquified then dissipated through the stone.

Dark eyes met Mae's bright ones. "Piece of advice, if it wasn't already obvious. They feed on fear, so stop blubbering."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize Malena's henchmen are incapable of understanding a basic emotional response to trauma!" The Princess seethed back angrily, blood and charred fabric her new perfume. Her wispy restraints dissolved into nothingness as she scrambled up to face the Dark Apprentice. Ellery remained neutral at the royal's aggression, arms crossed. 

"Actually, quite the opposite. We know everything there is to know about fear." The brunette took a step backward, hands raised. "Malena's most painful lesson is that fear makes a soul...easily corrupt." 

"If you want to survive this place, you'll do your best to remember that."

Before Mae could respond, the tiles slid out from beneath her. Another ear-shattering scream was cut short as the cryo tank below swallowed her whole. The gelatin vat froze over slowly, perfectly preserving it's captive. To Ellery's surprise, the princess crossed her arms and kept her mouth shut. Mae was going to make that bitch pay for this.

Ellery swiveled on her heel, power walking away from the scene. She would leave the transportation of the Lucharian's new prison cell to the other trainees. Guilt scratched at the surface of her mind, but she ignored it. The throne room's sinister doors came into view, giant slabs of black tourmaline greeted her as she froze right before entering. She cleared her throat, nails digging into the palms of her hands. Malena cannot control me. After repeating her mantra three times, the young apprentice relaxed into a quite state of emptiness.

Malena was exactly were Ellery left her, perched up against her throne. Her cinched dress flared out over her crossed heels, three soulless lazily loungig at her feet. Sharp nails rested upon her chin, her other hand drawing calculated circles onto the armrest. 

"Miss Ellery, how lovely of you to join us." The dark sorceress stood up, rapidly phasing across the room to stand in front of the girl.

Ellery didn't flinch as flaming red eyes scanned her own. "I ran into the Wielder." No point hiding it since Malena was already rummaging through her memories.  "I decided to disengage."

The haunting look dissipated quickly, a false politeness took its place as Malena circled around her apprentice. "Tell me, do you believe your work was satisfactory?"

"I retrieved the Luchar--"

"DO YOU BELIEVE YOUR WORK WAS SATISFACTORY?" 

"Yes! If you wanted me to corrupt the Wielder then include it in the next mission's inscription!"

Malena snarled at Ellery. "How dare you! I've seen your mind, girl. You cannot hide your true feelings from me."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ellery kept her face blank, emotions buried deep beneath her core.

Malena cackled. "You're quite the little soul reader yourself, aren't you.  Admit it. You didn't want to hurt him because he epitomizes goodness. You have always struggled to corrupt the really pure ones. You can see it in their eyes."

The apprentice said nothing. 

"His eyes look vaguely familiar--like little Ophelia's. Poor thing, she'll be heartbroken when she finds out about this."

Heat rose up the back of Ellery's neck. "Leave her out of this."

With a quick snap, the loafing soulless at Malena's throne dissappeared, returning moments later with a pale blonde child. "No can do. Our little arrangement means I spare her soul, and you take every soul I tell you to in order keep it that way."

"I understand the terms of our agreement. I asked for Soleil's Lucharian, that should be more than enough for your continued...protection." The words felt tight in Ellery's throat as she struggled to maintain her composure at the sight of her sister. Ophelia had grown a bit taller since she had last seen her. Purple bags cradled her bottom lashes and her hair was in ratty tuffs. Ellery longed to snatch her sister away and comb out the knots with her hands, as if that would erase all the trauma they'd suffered through at the hands of Malena.

Ophelia thrashed roughly against the demons that held her, tears welling up in her bright cerulean eyes."Let go of me!"

Ellery didn't rise to Malena's bait, gaze set upon the crude murals on the walls.  "What would you have me do to fix this?"

"I want you to bring me the rotted soul of the Wielder. Then we can exchange one corrupted soul for another." Malena threw her hand in Ophelia's direction, purple flames erupted around the child. The little cherub screamed in agony as her skin turned inside out. The familiar crunch of contorting human bone rattled Ellery's core. She was powerless to stop it as her sister's body burned away until nothing was left but a floating husk of her essence.

Ellery's ears rang, shock keeping her glued in place. What just happened didn't seem real to her, her mind did everything it could to protect her. Malena analyzed her pupil's reaction as she called the floating black orb to her. She placed Ophelia soul in the gem of her ring, the deathstone capturing another victim.

"If you'd like me to change her back, you'll do as I say."

Ellery gave her a curt nod, swiveling on her heel as her lungs collapsed. She made her exit, before numbly walking the corridors to her quarters. Ophelia's soul was split because of me. The ugly thought was the only thing that she could process. Her filing system of emotions seemed to cave in on her. It bubbled up within her as a scream ripped itself from her chest once she made it to her room. Ellery felt out of control. Anguish and sorrow wreaked havoc on her body, threatening to tear her apart. Shadows seeped out of her pores, demolishing the small number of possessions she had.

"Damn you haven't had an outburst that bad since you got here."

Elle hadn't realized the golden stare of her fellow apprentice when she first entered the room, his jet black hair and mischievous grin normally did wonders to stabilize her mind. Not this time though.

"Vecir...I didn't...I wasn't expecting you to be there." Ellery crumbled to the floor, shame weighing her down.

Vecir knelt beside her, his arms wrapping around her. Electricity buzzed through Ellery, the shock enough to keep her broken heart beating. "What did Malena do this time?"

Ellery coughed, his affection making her uncomfortable. "She turned Ophelia into a soulless."

"Why?"

Ellery pushed past him away. She didn't want another loved one offered up for Malena to torture. "It doesn't matter. You know you aren't supposed to be here."

"I've told you already, Malena has no suspicions about our feelings for one another. Please, Ellery. just talk to me." Vecir continued to pound on the impenetrable walls of Ellery's subconscious. Her heart wanted to confide in him, to tell him about her agony. "Don't let Malena win, she wants to break us, She wants us to go void. Relying on one another is the only thing strong enough to keep our humanity."

But she couldn't, that would only give the evil sorceress more ammunition against her. "I ran into the Wielder when capturing the Lucharian."

Vecir looked puzzled, the cogs in his mind working with the new morsel of info. "Did you not--Oh."

Ellery stood up, arms crossed. "I need to capture the Wielder, that's the only thing I can focus on right now."

Vecir moved towards her but stopped. "Alright, we can work through this together."

"No. You need to focus on your own mission, capturing the Soul Magick's Lucharian." Ellery put her palm to her forehead, her mind starting to ache. "Who knows what Malena will do to you if you fail."

"I know you're upset, but could you please let me in--enough of the magic tricks!"

Ellery turned towards him confused as her blood began to sing. "What do you mean? I'm not using my pow--"

Before she could process, she saw it. Tiny orbs of dark matter danced around her, clinging to her skin. "What the--I'm not doing anything!"

Vecir made another move to grab her but an energy pulse lit up the entire room with a powerful sonic boom, sending him flying into the wall. Ellery gasped. "What kind of magic is this?!"

Every orb that touched her vanished, taking pieces of the Dark Apprentice with them. The last thing Vecir saw of his lover was the familiar grimace on her face before she was swallowed into nothingness.

"WHERE DID SHE GO?!"

--------

End chapter 2!

Let me know where you think Ellery went in the comments!

XOXO

Clo