Chapter 640

Chapter 640: An Elf’s Tale, Part 4

“Girian Mist, in case you’re curious, the Tower Magus of Astra. I’m sure you’ve already guessed, but he will be the attending Magus to your Conversion.”

Eshwlyn was still hurling, the bathroom echoing loudly with her retches. Her shoulders were twitching, her arms spazzing as her knees dug deeper and deeper into the grooves of the floor tilings.

It was as if she was being emptied of all her organs, she was without control, and every time she attempted to repress the urge, the feeling would only swell, prying her lips wide open... and the harsh echoes would repeat again.

“Don’t... don’t force it to stop, if you could...” Terra gently advised her, the curls of her robes vaguely skirting the corner of Eshwlyn’s eyes. “... and let me... let me know if you start seeing blood, alright? But hopefully the damage isn’t to that extent...”

After feeling herself diminished of all fluids, Eshwlyn whirled around, feeling her body slumping limply against the nearest wall. Everything, everything, the world a spinning, disorienting, and feeling her stomach churn again at the sight, she forced her eyes shut in a painful grimace while trying to dampen her burning throat with feeble wheezes of cold air.

“Conversion, as... as I said... it can be quite the agony. Anything that meddles with the soul does really, but Conversion especially... it’s... well it’s just simply despicable...” a sympathetic sigh sounded. “It’s a miracle you’re even alive... are you alright, Eshwlyn?”

She only managed a stiff, sluggish nod.

.....

“Oh, Ehswlyn...” Terra muttered, a torrent of emotion shaking her voice. “I hate this for you. I can even begin to imagine what it’s-your sister begged me all the way here for a way for me to help you, but I just can’t... I-I don’t know. I want so badly to help you, but I-I don’t know what to do...I-”

“Take care of her,” Eshwlyn parted her eyes open in narrow slits, and Terra was looming over her as a murky, gentle outline above. “When I’m gone... your word, your promise... take care of Lenora...”

A request from an Elf, a plea to a human. Heresy in the eyes of most everyone, but for only them, only her... Terra clasped Eshwlyn’s hand into hers, and held it tight.

“With my life, Eshwlyn,” she said, and Eshwlyn could see the sincerity overflowing in bright rims of blue. “It’s a given... after everything... you saved my life... both of you... I... I only wish I could do something to save yours...”

Then, as a sign of a trust forged over years, Eshwlyn gripped her hand back, gently assuring, “You already are.”

It was early into the arrival of the night when she finally regained her composure, a sliver of her strength returning, able to walk the empty halls again without stumbling, and slowly, she began making her way back into her room.

“Are you not coming?” Eshwlyn asked, turning back only to find Terra a stagnant figure in the distance. “It’s quite possibly our final time together, I would like for you to be there too.”

“Your final time together, exactly,” She called back, pacing backward. “So, please, per my request, cherish every second.”

“And how about you?”

“Me?” A forlorn sight, Terra’s petite figure in the vastness of the hall. In her drab robes, in her doleful stare, her smile only exuded a ringing sorrow as she spoke, “Well, I’ll... I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Eshwlyn was then promptly left to wander the chateau on her lonesome, the blue-tinted hue of the moon from glazed windows her only guide and company, and futilely, she tried hastening her pace. Leave Lenora alone long enough in worry, and she’d probably wander the halls in search as well. It was best she didn’t waste any more time than she has to.

There was a junction in the path... and vaguely, she tried to recall... was it left or was it right? She was sure it was right and affirmed her decision with a stride toward the chosen direction. Then she came across another crossroad, and here she struggled harder to remember.

Left? Right?

She chose left this time.

Gradually as more twists and turns emerged before her, her confidence began to falter, passing by rooms and chambers unfamiliar, and every attempt to realign herself only drifted her further away from any sense of direction.

Doors after doors, beset on either side, all she strolled past, sealed shut, she glimpsed right, and found one parted ajar, strolling past again, and then suddenly, she heard an alarming shout.

“Enough! I won’t hear any more of this, Tilina!”

Wilvur’s voice traveled the entire length of the corridor in a resonating echo. It instantly paralyzed her in place. All these years, all this time, Eshwlyn had never heard him this furious. But what had her cautiously retreading steps, furtively peeking through the gap in the doorway was the other voice that came right after.

“Master, but you must hear me, please!” Tilina unraveled, desperate, a pleading figure in the center of a large, splendid bedroom. “It is still not too late to stop this! You don’t need this! You don’t need another Knight to see your ambition come to fruition-please, see as I do-you already have!”

Wilvur was a blur of movement, large aggressive steps pacing across the room back and forth, and what little Eshwlyn could catch of his expression, it was entirely void of patience.

“You’re disobeying now?” He grumbled, hoarse words grounded through gritted teeth. “This unprecedented act of insubordination, you won’t listen-you leave your post, you barge into my room, and here you stand daring to still defy me now?”

“In your best interest, Master!” Tilina retorted, the glow of her wide eyes trailing him around. “You have to understand. All that I do, all that I am, stems from only wanting the best for you!”

“And that is why you’ve done as you did, did you? Belittling my very authority, Ignoring my orders-insisting that Eshwlyn not be my Knight. The culmination of all my years searching, all my life wanting, you dare make a mockery of it?” His voice rose again. “All in my best interest, you say?!”

“She is not loyal to you, Master, and you know it!” The Knight’s shouted, almost equalling in intensity. “Eshwlyn only does as you tell her to out of devotion to her sister, not you! If not for her, had you not attained this piece of leverage against her, she would have only continued to defy you to her dying breath!”

“Tilina, I am warning you... you are on the brink of my contempt,” Wilvur whispered dangerously. “Leave the question of Eshwlyn’s loyalty to my discretion. I suggest you bow your head, you leave this room without another word, and return to your post before you make this situation any worse for yourself than you already have.”

“How? How Master? How can this be any worse for myself than it has already?” Tilina challenged, all rationality lost. “I am to lose my place beside you! I will be relegated as secondary! Another common Knight in a long line of Knights! I suspect you may even send me to the servitude of another Master! Come tomorrow-I will lose everything! I will lose you!”

“I am not yours to lose!” Wilvur barked, drawing up within inches of Tilina’s face. “Not anymore! You and I both know that you have never been what I was looking for! Exceptional but not great! Strong but not powerful! And you have proven that recently. Tell me, then-what do you have to offer that Eshwlyn does not already provide?! You’re a fraction of her potential, a minuscule percentage of her greatness, indulge me, Tilina- just what else do you have to give of yourself that she can never?!”

“Loyalty! My unwavering devotion! All yours to do with as you see fit! And...!” it was a vain try, a desperate attempt for him to finally see to reason, her lips quivering, parting, risking everything. “My love, Master. The blood flowing through me, the life beating in me, all of me, I relinquish entirely to you. Master, I love y-”

The building must have exploded. The noise, the echo that followed, Eshwlyn felt it ring in her eyes, felt herself eyes recoiling, blinking, at the moment of impact. She fluttered them open, and saw Tilina sprawled against the floor, her lips gleaming, dribbling a dark red, and Wilvur standing above her, his hands formed in trembling reddened fists.

“Love? You say love?” Wilvur’s words were smothered in a loathing Eshwlyn had never heard in his voice. “I ask you for your loyalty, not your affections. Since when did I give you permission to be overtaken by your emotions, you stupid fucking Elf?”

“M-Master...”

“No!” Wilvur kicked, Ehslwyn flinched and Tilina gave a feeble whimper. “Do not call me that. Do not call me anything! Loving a human, you sicken me. Get out of my sight, Elf. I do not wish to see you again until tomorrow. I have no more words for you now. Go.”

Tilina slowly and silently staggered back upright, and with a repulsive sneer, Wilvur veered his sights away to the smoldering fireplace, his hardened, furious expression reflecting in a blaze of wood.

“Don’t bow to me,” He stiffly said, as if sensing her intent. “Just go.”

Eshwlyn quickly moved away, rounding a corner and peeking over to see Tilina leaving the room, her head hung low, in the silence, whimpers, and sobs could be heard resounding, fading... as she gradually disappeared into the darkness never to be seen again.

Until tomorrow.