Chapter 35 - Final Battle

35

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Caste's Spiritual Essence lunged forward and began to act of its own accord, manifesting a Light Scythe and ripping through Fiarena's dome with ease. All that remained with the beast slain and the Queen's selfish thoughts laid bare, was the grand finale to this grim fairy tale. Every weapon, every skill, every attack Caste had used against Fiaerna earlier in the fight was thrown right back at her. Fiaerna's invincible mimicry beat, bruised and battered Casterline repeatedly. No matter what attack Fiaerna used though, she was incredibly careful not to touch Rose Quartz Angel Delia. She kept herself just far enough out of range so that the Rose Quartz Angel couldn't do much of anything. Because she had watched her mother so closely, Fiaerna was aware that one's Spiritual Essence could not travel too far from the heart whence they came for fear of causing the heart to stop. Eventually, her battle weary Spiritual Essence retreated back into Caste's chest. At this point her Black Obsidian Armor might as well have been ornamental. Beneath Fiarena's fists, many parts shattered like glass. This left much of Casterline's weak points vulnerable and exposed.

Mercilessly, the one-sided fight continued. Fiaerna watched the disturbing spectacle with relish. And yet Casterline refused to stay down. Every time she was struck, she slowly stood back up. The look of defiance in her eyes, despite the fact that her greatest trump card had failed, despite the fact that her body was being torn to ribbons, was the final straw for Princess Fiaerna. Her little game of torture had dragged on for far too long. "Let's end this." She said without a trace of humanity in her voice. A kick to the skull and all went black.

Casterline awoke believing she was free. Safe. Home at last. She was wrong. The echo of Fiaerna's menacing voice told her so. She would have no grand finale. She would be blessed with no miracles, nor given any heroic fanfare. Just before Caste's blackout, Fi had dropped her defenses. She did so knowing full well that Casterline would lunge at her the moment she lowered her shield. She used that heroic predictability to her advantage, knocking her mother unconscious with a swift, incapacitating kick.

Every bone in her body was broken. Her face was scraped, scratched and mutilated beyond all recognition. Fiaerna showed a small mercy by not sending her tattered remains back through the Mirror Door she despised so much. Ironically, she felt the devastation would be far too great for whomever found Caste's body to handle.

As if she had any sympathy for Caste's plight at all. The real truth was that she'd already won her prize, and saw no use in letting Caste's family have what was left of her. She could easily mend every bone, restore every trace of beauty in Casterline's face..."But where," she mused, "is the fun in that, Mommy? Thanks to your valiant efforts in destroying Sevius, Duchess Gwenevier's fruitless gatekeeper, the Seal on my most potent power has been unleashed at last. The power of Death. Shall I tell you my story?”

“I cannot die even if I want to. I created and unleashed Darkness unto my people. That is the greatest Sin according to the Gods and Goddesses written of in our sacred manuscripts. And so the Goddess we hold in highest regard, The Goddess of Favor, possessed my mother's dying body and sealed away the one Affinity no human has any control over. Death. My mortality was stripped from me so that I may suffer through the ages.” Casterline, now with every memory of her time spent in Odinsai fully intact, recalled a passing conversation in which Fiaerna had boasted that immortality was possible but had yet to happen in the history of Odinsai. The human history of Odinsai. Whatever The Goddess of Favor had done to Fiaerna hadn’t saved Fiaerna’s humanity one bit. If anything, the punishment of life eteranal had only served to corrode the girl’s blackened heart yet further still.

“Would that the Goddess had seen fit to let my mother suffer eternity at my side. Some small comfort to my misery. But it wasn't to be so. She was not absolved of my crime and suffered Death by plague, her mercy being given to the citizens of Krowne, all so very far beneath her. But that was her will, to put Krowne before her beloved flesh and blood. To add insult to injury, she refused to even die by my side! I awoke in the middle of the night and silently followed behind her as she crawled to that wretched Mirror Door with nary any strength left in her frail body. She took her last breath and fell through right in front of me. I never had the chance to say goodbye to her."

Fiaerna's story aligned perfectly with what Caste had witnessed of Delia's past. "My wrath boiled over and since no one but Mother mattered to me in this wretched existence, I ordered the executioners to kill all citizens until no one was left. When there was indeed no one left, the two remaining executioners returned to me.”

“Stupid they thought I was. But I read them. And found they were lying. All of Krowne had been evacuated to seek refuge in the neighboring continents that made up our world as a whole, with Aunt Gwenavier leading the way. This only increased my rage. I rampaged all across the land, turning every loyal subject of every Kingdom into a creature to be slain by my new mother. The one I Scryed from inside The Mirror Door. My beautiful Champion. My fearless murderer.”

“You've saved me from an eternity of loneliness and boredom. You're such a good listener, too! You've been a most magnificent pawn and for that I shall reward you with Life everlasting. I love you so much, Mommy. We'll be together forever."

Thus she began to chant an ancient, forbidden chant. It was this very Spell she'd wrongly read aloud from an evil tome she'd secretly smuggled from the Great Library and into her room at the age of three, trying even then to make her mother stay by her side. Her translations were incredibly rough back then, her accent far too thick. The Death Magic had backfired then. But Fiaerna had had many years to perfect her wording since. And so, it was this very Spell that would rip Caste's Soul from her body and join it with Fi's own. Thus leaving the Spiritual Essence of Casterline Akahoshi, formerly known as Queen Mother Delia The Light Bringer of Krowne, trapped eternally within Fiaerna's twisted mind.