Elegy for a Star

CHAPTER SUMMARY - SPOILERS

Miri whirled into the forefront of their shared mind. Her body shifted, hands growing sharp claws and mouth sprouting fangs, skin growing pale and hair turning white. Her eyes flashed yellow and a pair of bloody horns slid out from her head.

Mairaela’s expression betrayed her fear. “Tess?” She gathered up her bow and slipped an arrow into it.

Whipping one hand out, Miri’s claw swiped through the bow, snapping it in half and sending the splintered pieces down the street. Mairaela backpedaled, and as Miri lunged, the disarmed archer slipped under those claws and dashed a few meters away.

Miri crouched and then propelled herself, leaving cracks in the stones beneath her feet and a small thunderclap of noise in her wake. Mairaela spun away with a pirouette. As she evaded, her soul began to burn around her like a golden light. Miri brought a hand back and ripped it directly through the glow of Mairaela’s soul. Rending the light directly from Mairaela’s body, Miri sliced the light with her other hand.

“How?!” Mairaela shouted, “What are you, Tess?!”

“You shot Tess, so I’m here now,” Miri replied with a hiss.

Mairaela furrowed her brow and called out at the top of her lungs, “Joyona!”

Miri grinned and said, “Yeah, let’s get her over here, too.”

Mairaela clenched her fist, and the two ends of a golden bow burst out of her hand and filled her grip. She drew back on the bow and a crackling arrow of lightning formed upon the bowstring. The moment it was fired, a lightning strike bolted toward Miri. It struck her outstretched hand, leaving a trail of steam and smoke. Miri shook off her hand and grinned at Mairaela, “It’s been a long, long time since I’ve had a good fight.”

The Fey must’ve been racking her brain. Miri loved the power she felt, “But unfortunately for me, it’s going to be longer still until I have one.”

Mairaela’s eyes flicked to the side and Miri perked up just as the building beside her exploded in a shower of wooden splinters and stone chunks. Joyona came running from the side of the building, armored up like a juggernaut and barging through the structure directly at Miri. An outstretched gauntlet threatened to grab her by the neck.

Miri ducked and snagged Joyona’s wrist with both hands. The demoness used the giant’s momentum to flip her over Miri’s head and into the street with a heavy slam.

Mairaela readied another arrow, a beam of light rather than lightning. With a flash, Miri’s fist shot forward, vanishing into a portal of her own soul that connected to another rip in space that appeared just behind Mairaela. Mairaela fired her shot, and Miri’s fist yanked Mairaela through the portal, just in time for the Fey’s arrow to strike herself, piercing her own throat.

The archer’s bow vanished. She took a few steps back and collapsed to the ground, choking. Miri stood over, watching her.

Joyona was back up, her helmet drawn back, exposing her face. She was rageful, but instead of attacking, her armor flew off from her body and encased Mairaela instead. A soft light shown from within the cracks in the platemail.

Miri flicked her hand, claws growing longer and more vicious, disproportionately so. She slowly approached Joyona, who stood her ground.

“Miri!” Gwendolyn’s voice cut through the hum of the armor protecting Mairaela. Miri twisted and looked to see a roughed up Gwendolyn exiting the alleyway and staring at her, brow creased, anger and sadness on her face. She was bleeding from the corner of the mouth and the right brow. There were bloody scraped down the right side of her face. Still, she asked softly, sadness in her eyes, “What have you done?”

“She would have killed Tess,” Miri replied, her hand normalizing back into its typical size and shape. She licked at a fang before saying, “So I stopped her.”

“And I’m glad you stopped her,” Gwendolyn replied, holding out a hand for Miri to pause, “But you’ve gone too far. There’s a stark difference between pacifying and murdering.” Gwendolyn shook her head and approached a little closer, “You’ve crossed that line, by far.”

“Tell that to them,” Miri grunted, gesturing toward Joyona and Mairaela. Joyona was on guard, but allowed Gwendolyn to do all of the speaking. “Didn’t you hear me? They would have killed Tess. That Fey bitch shot her in the heart. I saved her. That’s what you wanted.” Miri gestured down to the arrow sticking out of where a heart should be, the one that she took when Tess was in control. She ripped it free, snapped it in half and dropped it to the ground. Blood poured from the wound, but it was quickly clotting and healing into a scab.

“Miri, I’m glad you saved her, but all of this was a misunderstanding to begin with. Just stand down. Please,” Gwendolyn requested, “We need to explain to them that Tess is not evil.”

Miri grunted and scoffed, “I expected it from Tess, but even you don’t have the balls to do what needs to be done, Dame? Didn’t expect that, Dame. I’m doing this for Tess, you know.”

“I know you are,” Gwendolyn assured her, “But she wouldn’t want this. She will never forgive you. She won’t let you live, even if she takes herself down with you.” Gwendolyn approached, now within a few meters, hands still held out in a peaceful gesture, “So do this for yourself, too. Let’s relax and figure all of this out.”

Miri was quiet for a time, considering the knight’s words. She wondered how long she could keep control and leave Tess locked away in her mind, but the moment that they returned to the Corps, there was nothing she could do to maintain control. Eventually, Miri shrugged and stepped aside, “Fine. So what do you want?”

Gwendolyn moved forward, looking to Joyona and then to the entombed Mairaela. “Is she going to be alright?” Gwendolyn asked Joyona.

“Should be,” Joyona said, gritting her teeth and not taking her eye off of Miri, “But how could you possibly salvage this, Gwendolyn? You and I had a scrap. Mairaela shot Tess in the heart. Miri shot Mairaela in the throat.”

“Technically she shot herself in the throat,” Miri corrected.

“Mairaela was trying to execute her. Tess defended herself and brought Miri out,” Gwendolyn insisted. Even Gwendolyn didn’t look like she thought she could salvage this party; these friends. “And, well.. Miri defended herself, too.”

The exposed Joyona glanced toward Gwendolyn, “Mairaela had good cause. Dark Wyrden cannot be allowed to live. Deception is what they do best.”

“Like self-defense isn’t a good cause? If Tess were a Dark Wyrden, why didn’t she incinerate Mairaela?” Gwen snapped. She took a break to calm herself, “I told you to leave her alone.”

Joyona ignored the told-you-so. She gestured to Miri and asked, “So who is she?”

“I’m Tess’ owner. I just take her for walks from time to time,” Miri commented with a smirk.

“Quiet,” Gwendolyn said over her shoulder to Miri. She looked back at Joyona and explained, “That’s Miri. I’ll explain everything once Mairaela wakes up. It’s complicated.”

“It’s not that complicated,” Miri interjected, “Tess and I were brought here in a ritual that the knight fucked with and we were cast into the same body. Got a real nice dick out of the whole ordeal though, so it wasn’t all bad.”

Joyona looked at Gwendolyn with an incredulous expression, “And you thought that would convince me that Tess wasn’t a danger?”

“No, Joyona,” Gwendolyn tried to explain, “But can’t you see it isn’t Tess’ fault? She doesn’t know who she is. She can be saved.”

“Dark Wyrden cannot be saved,” Joyona insisted.

Gwendolyn let out a sigh and shook her head, “Just.. just give me a chance. She’s special in so many ways. We don’t know if she’s Dark Wyrden.”

“I won’t give her a chance,” Joyona grunted, gesturing toward Miri, “Maybe I’d give Tess a chance.”

Miri rolled her eyes and said, “Alright, but if you try to hurt her again, I’ll rip your fucking head off. You and that other bitch.”

Horns slipped back into Miri’s head, eyes shifted, claws withered away into hands, and fangs retracted. Miri retreated back into the subconsciousness just in time to hear Tess say, “What happened?”