Chapter 41 Her Name’s Anira

[POV: Lydia]

Lydia woke with a jolt, her head heavy and her limbs sluggish. The ground beneath her was damp stone, and the taste of copper was sharp in her mouth. A pair of hands steadied her. It was Stabs, his face unusually grim, pulling her upright. Her vision blurred, but as her eyes adjusted, she saw Nira… or what should have been Nira… standing before them.

“Nira, w-what are you doing?” Lydia’s voice cracked, part fear, part disbelief.

The woman turned, silver hair flowing like liquid moonlight, her lips curling into a mocking smile. “Are you blind? Look at the dress, the voluptuous curves, and the height. The name’s Anira, dear… and sit.”

With a lazy flick of her scepter, the ground churned. Clay swirled up, hardening into chairs that shackled Lydia and Stabs. They were pressed into their seats as if invisible hands pinned them. Lydia struggled, but the bindings held her fast.

Blue flames surged along Anira’s scepter before she plunged it into Lydia’s shoulder. White-hot pain lanced through her body. She screamed, “Aaaah~!” Her voice echoed across the dungeon walls, brittle and raw.

Anira leaned close, her breath tinged with heat and smoke. “You just had to ruin it for me, you little bitch! That was my only chance of killing that thing. Oh, the essence I would have absorbed from him… it would have been cathartic.” Her voice shivered in delight before it sharpened to a snarl. “But no… you had to ruin it.”

Tears pricked Lydia’s eyes, though she bit them back, forcing herself to gather what strength she could. She whispered the first syllables of a spell, trying to channel her power. But as soon as the light formed, Anira waved her hand and the magic fizzled into nothingness.

“Your magic,” Anira sneered, “is even more pathetic than I imagined.”

Gritting her teeth, Lydia hissed back, “He will come back… and when he does, you will suffer for it.”

Anira laughed, long and sharp, like a blade scraping across stone. “Hah~~! That ghost? That fool? Don’t make me laugh. I’ve already banished him back to his own world. Most otherworlders would rather cling to their dull, wretched homes than endure the burden of being heroes or kings here.”

A voice cut through her laughter, calm but edged with defiance. “I don’t know about that.”

Anira’s eyes widened. Lydia’s heart leapt as she turned. Out from the swirling black void behind her stepped Renzo, the faint glow of his ghostly form illuminating the shadows.

Anira’s smugness shattered, her expression twisting into raw rage. She gripped her scepter tighter, blue fire flaring wild. “Such an insufferable fool, you are…” she shrieked, the flames roaring higher with her fury. “Now, I am going to have to torment you.”