Hand off

Somewhere else within the dried-up landscape, the enormous skull of a dragon sat still, having long integrated itself into the land. A red-haired woman stood outside it, leaning against an animal that resembled a horse with pure-white hair. Strapped to the animal was a young girl with long black hair, dark skin, a covered-up mouth, and a sorrowful expression, not that the red-haired woman paid her any mind. She glanced over quickly, feeling the girl's eyes tearing into her, but simply looked away without care.

“Don’t glare at me with those fake emotions; I know they aren’t real.”

The red-haired woman refused to make eye contact from then on, simply staring off into the distance, with her eyes only perking up once she caught the glimpse of a four-legged creature heading their way.

“Ah, there they are!”

She took a slight stride forward, standing ready as the creature came closer, soon stopping in front of her. Climbing down from its scaly body was a man she knew; Zayden of the dark suns, and following soon behind him was the brown-haired girl she recognised as the chosen one.

“Took you long enough; I can’t stand being in this place any more than I need to.”

Cecilia crossed her arms with assertiveness, whilst Zayden, fully taking in who was standing in front of him, glared at her with nothing but vitriol.

“Cecilia …I should have known it would be you.”

Cecilia smirked, quite happy to induce such ire from someone such as him.

“I volunteered. After all, I do feel responsible for you two, in a way.”

“I don’t care how you feel; is Layla okay?”

Cecilia scoffed, walking back over to Layla, the girl strung by ropes to the side of her horse-like animal, taking a sword out of her scabbard and cutting her free, allowing her to fall right to the floor without remorse.

“‘It’ is perfectly fine. Return the chosen one, and it’s all yours.”

Cecilia grabbed Layla by the hair, taunting Zayden as she dragged the girl forward. He gritted his teeth, unsheathing his knife and taking it to Reyna’s throat, trying to match Cecilia’s control as much as possible.

“Alright; release them at the same time.”

Cecilia smiled and proudly stepped forward, continuing to drag Layla across the floor, whilst Zayden stepped forward with Reyna carefully. Once both were at an acceptable distance from one-another, they acted quickly, with Cecilia throwing Layla forward, and Zayden pushing Reyna away. Cecilia quickly stood in front of Reyna, standing between her and the others, whilst Zayden scrambled to help Layla off the ground, the two quickly clinging to each other in an embrace, with tears streaming down Layla’s face. Cecilia hardly gave them a second thought, turning around and addressing only Reyna as she moved towards her mount.

“Don’t worry, chosen one; you’ll be safe with us. Let’s go.”

As the woman moved past her, Reyna felt something push down on her; a desire to go along with her. She didn’t even have time to think about it, but there was something strong, almost like an invisible force, compelling her to oblige. Her body began to move, almost through a will entirely of its own, climbing onto the horse-like animal without a single word exciting her mouth.

Cecilia looked back at the father and daughter duo, elegantly holding out her hand as a horde of giant Hidreuze emerged from the dragon’s skull, scurrying out at lightning speeds and pouncing on the two, with Zayden being the first to notice.

He pushed Layla to the side, brandishing his knife and using it to fight back the oncoming monsters. As he did, Cecilia cracked the reins on her steed, causing it to dash forward towards the two. As Zayden put all his effort into fighting back monster after monster, Cecilia sped past Layla, leaning over and extending her arm, scooping up the girl and causing her to yelp as Zayden called out.

“Hey! I thought we had a deal!”

Despite his outrage, Cecilia’s expression remained ambivalent, pressing Layla tightly against her front and allowing her no movement, explaining herself without remorse.

“We did, but I would be stupid not to take the chance to rid the world of this filth whilst she’s in my grasp.”

“Ugh, then I see you haven’t changed; just a heartless monster who puppets people around!”

Despite the harsh words, Cecilia stared down at the struggling man with a condescending glare.

“Say what you will; at least I know I’m on the right side.”

With that, she had nothing more to say, turning her steed around and starting to ride off. Zayden began to panic, switching straight from defending himself to sprinting after them.

“Wait, no! Leave Layla! Give her back!”

Despite his pleas, the animal kept going, getting further away with each step, causing the pain in his voice to get louder.

“Chosen one! Please, do something! Don’t let her take her!”

Reyna heard his words, but she didn’t respond; she couldn’t. Part of her felt like she wanted to, but it was only a small part, crumpled down by the rest of her mind; the part that was telling her to simply follow Cecilia’s will.

Dark energy began to form around Zayden’s chest, transforming himself into a shadow as he gave chase, but just as he caught up to the animal’s hooves, a Hidreuze dropped onto him, beginning to leech the energy out of him, reverting him back into humanoid form; he struggled desperately to wrestle free, trying to push the creature off him to no avail.

“No, no, no! Get off me!”

As he struggled and struggled, Cecilia, Reyna, and subsequently, Layla, rode further away. HIs own mount did the same, startled by some of the Hidreuze that tried to attack it as well. In a last-ditch effort, speaking only with desperation, he reached out his arm as he stopped fighting entirely.

“Layla! No, no don’t take her, please! Layla!”

They only ran further, and his voice got weaker, losing all will to fight as his arm flopped to the ground, watching without hope as his daughter escaped his sight.

“No … no …”

Looking straight forward, Cecilia rode her beast undisturbed for a while. That was, until the animal instinctively stopped in front of a large Hidreuze. It wriggled and squealed as it bared its jaw, looking ready to pounce. Reyna tensed as she prepared for what was to come, but Cecelia gave the creature an intimidating glare, and it settled down, turning docile.

“Impressive, isn’t it? That’s my magic, the ability to influence other’s wills to follow my commands; it works perfectly for my role as a soldier to command people in battle! Seems like it’s affecting you too, so I apologise; that happens to people who don’t have the will to resist it.”

Reyna didn’t respond; she didn’t have a reason to. Cecilia smiled at her regardless, but quickly turned to a grimace as she spoke to Layla.

“Alright, I can’t stand carrying you on my lap any longer.”

She threw Layla off, watching as she smashed onto the floor, getting off herself and leering over her.

“I should have done this ages ago, but here we are.”

She drew her sword that was sheathed to her waste, pointing it down towards the girl. Reyna watched, completely still and without complaint, almost lifeless.

Although she was flowing with tears, Layla’s brow furrowed and dark energy began to swirl around her chest. In an instant, one of her arms morphed into what resembled a pink tentacle, and shot towards Cecilia. The woman swiftly leant to the side, dodging it without effort, and jabbed her sword into its flesh. Layla yelled, retracting the tentacle as it morphed back into a human arm. Although only a little, Reyna’s eyes regained a bit of life as she faintly spoke.

“Her magic is shapeshifting?”

“It is. Not that it matters; she’ll be gone soon.”

Cecilia turned her blade back towards her helpless victim. Layla closed her eyes tightly, squealing in desperation as she hoped for anything to save her. Cecilia didn’t care, bringing down her sword, until, just before impact, a singular voice called out.

“Wait!”

She turned to see Reyna, now standing on the ground, glints of passion returned to her eyes.

“Let her go, please.”

“Why? You don’t even know this girl.”

“I don’t, but …”

Reyna couldn’t help but think back to what had happened with Zayden, the way he fought so desperately, and how he begged for her to help him, how he begged for Layla not to be taken away. Combined with what he said to her earlier, it made her think about her own relationship with Emily, causing her to stand forward with confidence.

“... I know what her father is feeling, and the pain he would feel if she was taken from him!”

Cecilia stared, completely shocked at the newfound will this girl had suddenly drawn upon, not understanding at all what could have made her feel this way. Regardless, she has to prioritise her target, asking the chosen one a direct question.

“If I let her go, will you come with me; no more resistance?”

Reyna looked down at the girl on the ground, hesitant, but ultimately deciding to put her first.

“Yes, I’ll do what you want.”

Cecilia took her sword away from Layla, looking down at her with a blank expression, speaking in a harsh, blunt manner.

“Quickly; leave.”

With fear that she could still be attacked any second running through her, Layla scrambled to pick herself up. She ran away from Cecilia and up to Leah, quickly stopping in front of her, tearing off her coverings as soft-spoken gratitude left her mouth.

“Thank you.”

Reyna smiled, replying in earnest.

“It’s okay, it just felt like the right thing to do.”

Layla’s eyes shone with admiration, though soon looked away and ran off, leaving Cecilia and Reyna alone, the former quickly saddling back up on her ride.

“Okay, no more wasting time, we ride to the light kingdom, now.”

Reyna didn’t respond, this time out of choice, slowly climbing up before she decided to speak.

“Why do you hate her so much? She’s just a girl.”

“She’s not ‘just a girl’, chosen one; she’s a monster. Let me tell you the truth about her; maybe then you’ll understand.”