239 Give In

Vy looked around and noticed that they were surrounded by other frost elves. The one who was standing nearest to her was holding Lycster in his hands. 

"What do you think you're doing?" Vy asked in a cold voice. 

She took to her hybrid Kyu form immediately, her nine fur tails sprouted from her back as a pair of ears appeared on the top of her head. Something did not feel right, her vision remained blurry and Vy could barely see anything around her. 

She stepped out of the water cautiously as the people around her closed in. 

"She should not be awake!" one of them spoke. 

Vy instinctively noticed the difference in the way the frost elf had spoken. They spoke in clicks but she was still able to understand what they were saying. But without her sight, she was not able to see who said it. 

She could, however, hear their every move. 

"Strike her down!" someone shouted from behind. 

Vy tried to take to her full Kyu form, but as soon as she tried she felt a wave of pain surge through her entire body. Blood rushed through her throat and out her mouth. The hybrid form was all she could manage now. 

Unable to see where her enemies were coming from, Vy focused on what was most important, her brother. She focused on her brother's scent, but the sulphur smell of the hot spring made it more difficult than usual. 

Just then, an enemy came up from behind and grabbed hold of Vy. She struggled through their grasp. But Vy did not have enough physical strength, her body was still weak from the injuries she had suffered. 

Hence, Vy harnessed her elemental power instead. Covering herself entirely in flames, she attempted to burn the frost elf. Her eyes turned from grey to sapphire blue. Vy looked down. For a moment, her vision became a little clearer. 

She realised she was not held by arms, but by a pincer. Was her vision playing tricks on her? Something was not right. Vy tried to call out to Aether again. But he was nowhere to be found. Could he have been taken by the frost elves as well?

She shifted her focus back onto Lycster. In the distance, she could see him being taken away. Her brother was still unconscious. 

"LYCSTER! WAKE UP!" she shouted across. 

But her voice was not loud enough to reach him. More frost elves blocked her off as she continued to struggle. One of them came up to her and held up her chin. Her fire was not strong enough to harm them in any way. 

"Give up the shipment, human, and we will let your brother go," the frost elf threatened. 

"You're after the shipment?" Vy said as she put the pieces together in her mind, "I won't give it to you." 

-Keep it together.- she said to herself. 

One of the frost elves stumped their feet onto Vy's back, causing her to groan out in pain as some of her stitches reopened. 

"Give it up, if you want to live," the frost elf who stepped on her warned. 

Another frost elf came up to him and said, "We need her alive, Orkin. If not we won't be able to get the shipment!" 

"We can pry it off her corpse," the frost elf named Orkin replied as he pressed down his foot on Vy's back with greater force. 

Vy refused to scream out in pain. She bit down hard on her teeth. The taste of blood and iron in her mouth was bad enough. In the back of her mind, a pair of red eyes lit up. It began to whisper into Vy's ears. 

-Use our power.- the voice spoke. 

-No.- Vy replied.

The last time she used those powers, she managed to fight off Princess Viviana and fled with Lycster. But the price she had to pay was too great. The power of the Dark Kyu had been growing within her. 

She had chosen to suppress and ignore it, not wanting anyone she held close to getting hurt for the choices she made. The voice took the form of a shadow Kyu, stalking Vy in her own mind. It circled her as it whispered about its powers. 

-Have a taste of what we can do.- the voice declared. 

Vy felt black flames surrounding her right eye. 

-Look around. What do you see?- the shadow Kyu asked as it stood beside Vy. 

Vy looked up and around. Her vision was no longer blurry. It was clear. She could see everything around her. Looking at the feet of the people who had trapped her, Vy realised these were not elves. 

Each of these creatures had six legs and two pincers. A tail that curved upwards with what seemed to be a poisoned tip at the end. They had been tricked and lied to! Anger and rage burned in her heart. 

Revenge. 

As the emotions grew stronger within her, it was getting more and more difficult to ignore. 

-Give in.- the voice whispered. 

"If she does not give up the shipment, we'll have some fun with her brother," Orkin said to the other. 

At the current state she was in, there was no way Vy could recover quick enough. Not without some help. In her mind, Vy turned to the dark Kyu and reached out to touch its head. As soon as she did, the shadow Kyu turned into dark coloured ice and froze her in place. 

In the real world, Vy's fur coat changed from white to black. With the power of the Dark Kyu flowing through her veins, she was ready to put up a fight. Before Orkin could even react, ice shards protrude out from the ground, impaling him in place.