Ecency: Mortis
Hi all
This is the follow on of what Zak posted on Tuesday. Refer to Part 40 if you feel a little lost.
And ran headlong into something solid. His vision swam, and his ears rung. Had he run into a wall? No, this was more yielding, as a second later, he heard something hit the ground with an audible groan.
It took some time for his vision to clear, but once it did, he was stunned into silence by what sat before him. No, not what, who. Covered in blood and injuries, was his twin sister. She looked sick, tired, and at the end of her rope.
Despite him being the younger of the two, he immediately felt he needed to protect her from whatever had hurt her. Then he remembered the shadow following him. He sprang to his feet, and stood before his sister and wished he knew how to defend her. He was useless with a sword, but he had to give her time to recover. Yet, behind him, there was nothing. The mysterious entity was gone. However, his left arm felt heavy. He looked down and saw a bright light encompassing the limb in a shapeless form.
“What the…” he muttered.
“Adrian?” came a worried voice behind him.
Forgetting the shapeless thing on his arm, he spun to see his sister slowly sitting up. Her eyes were deeply set on her face, and she was pale. She was sick and he was powerless to help her. He didn’t even know where she really was right now.
“Magna.” He went to his knees and placed his hands on her shoulders, “What is going on?”
But she didn’t answer, her eyes could barely focus on him. He looked over her to see what the matter could be. He paused and felt bile rise in the back of his throat when he saw the wound to her neck.
“You’ve been attacked.”
“No…you’ve been attacked.” Muttered Magna.
Adrian first thought she was delusional, but the more he looked at her, the more he realized she was shifting from solid to transparent. She was stuck between life and death. Hot tears came to his eyes, and he choked back a cry of anguish. He hugged his sister; he didn’t know what else to do. The light on his arm encompassed them for a second and then dimmed to nothing. His sister wriggled in his arms before she looked up into his eyes. She seemed to take a deep breath and wanted to say something, but then she vanished.
Adrian remained kneeling for a few more minutes before he got to his feet. His sister was alive, but he now knew that he too was stuck in between life and death. He turned to look behind him again. The shadow was after him. He was promised to it. He didn’t understand that, but he understood that remaining in one place for too long would mean his demise. Wiping his face clean of tears, he quickly moved away.
Adiran left arm ached and he grimaced at the pain. Helga was sure he was having a heart attack, but he had assured her he was fine. He looked to where the undead knight sat with his niece in his arms. Mortis was hard to read, but Adiran knew he felt great guilt at what he had done.
When the mage had seen what the knight had done to Magna, he was ready to roast him, but there had been no time. Now that they had taken the time to cool down, Adiran knew there had been no other way, and he was grateful that Magna still drew breath.
“But for how much longer?” came the voice of Kern.
Kern disturbed Adiran, and he didn’t know why. It was as if she could sense what he was thinking.
“I don’t know.” He admitted, “Magna is strong…”
“She’s a little girl you have brought on a suicide mission. Do you even know the name of the one who holds her like a babe?”
“Magna named him Mortis.”
“You didn’t answer my question, Mage.”
Adiran did know who Mortis was, but it wasn’t his place to tell anyone that.
“You should know that names hold power.” Was all he offered to the warrior.
Gorox was sleeping beyond the fire, and next to him was Noxus who seemed to be dozing off. Derric had wandered off to catch them something to eat. The group needed to survive on more than hunger-numbing herbs. They had been travelling for days, and the end wasn’t in sight. They were tired and on the point of giving up.
Mortis seemed to sigh as Magna moved in his arms. Since the last time she had called out to her brother, she had remained silent. She slept deeply, likely because the knight was on the verge of reverting back to mindlessness.
“Are you planning on feeding him one of us?” demanded Kern.
“If you don’t stop the endless chatter, yes.” Snapped Adiran.
Mortis looked up and his face remained expressionless, but from his voice, it was clear he was exhausted.
“I can’t last much longer.”
“Then I will slay you…” Kern rushed to her feet.
“Enough.” Said Noxus softly. “The knight and princess are joined; you can’t kill the princess.”
“Princess? What princess?”
“You have been around Kai temples for years. Surely you know the great Adiran by name and his family?”
Before Kern could answer, a bloodied carcass landed next to her. Unimpressed, she looked up at the even-larger-than-before Derric.
Food. Eat.
Derric looked to Mortis and nodded his head toward the darkness.
I have checked. They are clean. I hope they will suffice.
Mortis bowed his head before gently laying Magna on her bedroll. He then got to his feet and wandered into the night to eat whatever Derric had gotten him.
The giant wolf padded over to where Magna lay. He curled around her, keeping her warm, as her protector had left her.
We can’t stay here forever, Adiran. Why are we still trapped here? Have we not passed our trials yet?
Adiran hated that he didn’t know the answers, and so, he remained silent.
Sorry to leave you all with a short piece. Guess @zakludick will have to make it up in his next piece!
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