Xilanada - Pursuit Of Regretted Truths/Part 11

There comes a moment in a person's life when they realize they are experiencing more pain at a single moment than they ever will again. For Ava Spyefel, there was no wondering when that moment would come. She was in it right now. The only question now was whether or not the pain was going to kill her sooner or later.

Ava thought she might be on the floor but she wasn't sure at this point. All she was sure about was that the worst poison she'd ever heard of with all her education was inching its way through her veins. The only reason she wasn't dead already was the ridiculously complicated flows of healing Charms she was throwing at it.

In Sijan, Ava had been the greatest healer in the city. She knew her skills surpassed even Tepet Seya and she'd never met another Dragon-Blooded who know more of medicine than she did. Part of that was because her Exaltation gave her a purity and strength that made Charms come easily to her. The other part was her intense desire to be involved in something living to balance all the death in her life as a Funerist.

But she wasn't good enough to stop this poison.

As it trickled inside through the wound, Ava spared a fraction of her concentration to contemplate the afterlife. She had no illusions about it and had no intention of remaining a ghost. The Funerist tradition, and the Deathlord cult view too, were both fundamentally flawed, she felt. Death might not be natural to life but reincarnation was natural now. She had nothing worth staying here for, nothing worth enduring the gray Underworld for.

No, Ava was hoping for a very nice rebirth. Preferably one that involved a husband and children. Her one regret, she now realized, was that she'd only known love once, for a brief time. She'd never experienced the joy of having her own offspring. Now that she lay here dying, she knew she was never going to and that made her far more sorry than the prospect of death did.

Large hands suddenly lifted her. Ava opened her eyes and couldn't see anything at all. Had the poison blinded her?

"Ava, you're still alive!" That was Glee's voice. She sounded so cheerful! How could anyone be cheerful when there was this much pain in the world?

"Not for long, I think," Ava managed in a shaky voice. "I'm hurt very badly, Glee. I might have a few minutes but there's nothing anyone can do. I don't even think Sweet Cordial or a good Seven Bounties Paste could cure this."

"No, no, no, you can't talk that way," Glee insisted firmly. "You're going to be okay. You have to believe that."

"Glee, if I let go of my Charms for a second, I'll be dead in ten. Do you understand me? My life is measured by how long I can sustain these Charms. And that's not going to be very long."

"Oh. I'm sorry," Glee said awkwardly.

"Oh, you're sorry? That's it, that's all you can say?" Ava glared in the direction of Glee's voice. "Am I that unmemorable? I'd have thought my tongue would have earned me a little sympathy at least." She didn't keep the bitterness from her voice. Why should she? She'd kissed the woman because she was grateful. Glee's inadequate apology was spite, an insult to her good act.

"Ava!" said Glee, shocked. "Wow, you never used to be this forward. I'm going to have to have Seya cure that Ravishment. Don't get me wrong, you're still a nice person but...I miss the old Ava."

"Well, they're both going to be dead in a minute, well before Seya can fix me. Sorry, Glee, I'm out of luck."

"Yeah, me too. Mom's here so people are going to be dying pretty soon. Or turning into monsters. I hate that one."

"Wait...Erembour is here?" Ava stared, rather uselessly given the lack of light. "You're telling me a Third Circle Demon is loose?"

"Yeah, 'fraid so. Ummmm...if you hear a horn, try not to listen to it, okay? I don't think it can do much to you but I've learned never to underestimate Mom."

"There's something...really funny about you calling the legendary That Which Calls to the Shadows...Mom." Ava actually managed a laugh. Thankfully, the poison was a nerve-toxin of sorts, which meant it was just causing her unbelievable agony. Her lungs worked fine, she wasn't short of breath or anything, she only had to worry about her heart giving out from the strain in...about four minutes she guessed. Unless the poison reached her brain, in which case everything would shut down including her ability to laugh, or breathe for that matter.

"Ava...there's something I can do," Glee said, in a totally different voice. "I can ask Mom to save you."

"Now...why would she do that? What makes you think she can?" Ava pushed at the poison. It didn't move, only squirmed through the purifying flame of her Charms. What was it?

"She'd do it because...well, it'd probably do something to you. Sorry. But I know she can heal you. She loves murder, poison and all things done in darkness, Ava. You've been poisoned and, in a strange way, that puts you under her power. She can dispel it, I know she can."

"Well...I guess I'm not doing anything else right now," Ava said mirthfully. Funny how absolutely shocking agony was skewing her sense of humor. "Sure. If you think she can get here in the next two minutes, we have a deal. As long as it doesn't involve me serving the Yozi's. I'm no Akuma."

"That will not be a problem," spoke a sweet voice that seemed to lick every inch of Ava's skin from head to toe. If she hadn't been hurting so much, that voice would probably be the most seductive thing she'd ever heard. Hurray for pain.

"Where'd you come from?" Ava asked, looking around in the darkness and finally seeing specks of light that looked like...highlights on someone's hair?

"I am everywhere in the School, for as long as this Sorcery persists. I heard what Pyarali said and it pleases me to answer her this time. Do you think me unkind, daughter?"

"No...Mom," Glee said, sounding more scared than Ava had ever heard a person, ever. Even more scared than those poor slaves her Brotherhood had rescued in the North. Maybe this was a bad idea.

"That is a lovely shadow in you, Ava. A most rare and deadly poison, its making lost in this misbegotten Age. And...why, Ava, I can taste Pyarali's mouth on your soul. Daughter, you impress me."

Glee started crying. For some reason, that was what finally allowed fright to penetrate Ava's preoccupation with her pain. She'd never known anyone to be that scared, especially not from idle conversation with their parent. Of course, not many could boast a Third Circle demon as their mother. Was Erembour so terrible?

Deeper, chest-wracking sobs echoed in the darkness. Apparently so.

"Amazing," whispered the demon in her ear. How had she gotten so close? "Pyarali has darkened you but even so you are...pure. A virgin, in flesh and in spirit. Not since a certain Immaculate I dallied with two centuries ago have I encountered a soul so perfect, so pristine...so bright. You are loved by Gaia more than most, and precious you are to your precious Mela." A thousand hisses sounded all around Ava and soft hands brushed across her shoulders. "I would kill you for it, if I did not have much better plans."

"What are you going to do to me?" Ava whispered back. She was tempted to try for an Elemental Bolt but even with her diminished self-control she knew better.

"This," the demon said soothingly and suddenly Erembour shoved her hands inside her body. Ava screamed at the impossible intrusion, felt the hot-black Essence of the monster, and felt something...change.