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It forced her to dive even deeper.
More of them appeared in the gloom, Ax’s light stark on their bony, wasted faces. On their skin like bark and paper. Unlike the Thodelemaia Chasm, the creatures transforming here were overwhelmingly Fae, with the exception of a few creatures she didn’t recognize. Even the newest of them were frail in a way she couldn’t quite put her finger on. It was possible they were Fae, she supposed, but there was no way of knowing.
Not like you can ask them.
Actually, if her plan worked, Lunara hoped she’d be able to do exactly that.
She approached the least disfigured of the bunch, her eyes roaming over their limbs and torso. Similar to Fern in size, but distinctly childish.
Sure you should start on someone so young? It…doesn’t feel right.
No. It most certainly didn’t.
Moving on, the next was in a similar state and undeniably older, much to her relief. New enough that she swore there was the faintest heartbeat reaching her ears from within them, begging to be strengthened.
Ax’s soft whoo felt like approval.
A breath to center her, shaking herself loose, and Lunara moved.
She grabbed it, misted back to the edge of the Woodmaia Chasm—outside of the shadows—and laid it down, then stepped away to see what would happen.
She waited, pulse roaring. One second, two…
Ten.
Twenty.
The creature twitched, eyes like smoldering coal blinking open and turning straight to her. With a jerk, it sat up, one bony arm reaching out, its razored teeth snapping.
Right.
No communication outside of the shadows then. That’s good, at least.
Better than good. She could work on them one by one out here, the moons’ light aiding her.
She sent Axanderus into the air to keep watch, the owl swooping in silent circles. Then, using the same magic as the cage she made for Brand, Lunara pinned the Forgotten to the ground. Her heart turned over at hearing its feeble shrieks, as if it wasn’t quite ready to make any sound, but she was too single-minded to be deterred.
“I’m sorry, my friend. Truly,” she whispered. “I wish it hadn’t come to this. If all goes well, you can berate me later. If it goes wrong…” She pressed her hands to their jutting ribcage. “Perhaps, at the very least, I will have eased your suffering. Either way, forgive me.”
With that, Lunara released her power.
Lunara misted home to the same spot she left the night before, right outside their bedroom door. Heart pounding, she sent Axanderus back to the ether along with a prayer to the Sisters that Fern was still asleep, turned the knob, and slid inside.
Everything was as she left it, except for dawn light peeking through the curtains. The furniture around the fireplace was the same, the baubles and trinkets were untouched, and a glance at the mantel showed her Brand’s dagger still perched in its place, gracing her its usual drop of comfort.
Which meant Fern never woke up. The whole room would be torn apart if she had.
When faint snoring reached her ears like music, Lunara melted.
She did it. She actually got away with it. Not that it made much of a difference, all said and done.
Creature after creature succumbed to the Veil as she experimented, and she was still no closer to understanding who or what was consuming and transforming them.
Not true. You know it’s the same entity. Or, at least, fragments of it.
Fair. The energy in the Forgotten had the same essence as the beast, but weaker. Less concentrated. The same hunger, too, but not the sentience. Unfortunately, no amount of healing power or redirected moonbeam was able to push the darkness out of them.
Though one, right at the end, showed promise. She’d been certain her magic was working, the creature so new to its transformation that their eyes hadn’t even begun changing, but something essential was missing from within them. Whatever it was made it impossible to grab hold of their fragile heartbeat and revive it.
