All that matters

“On your knees, both,” Selena said.

She was standing in the middle of her chamber in the tower. Before her, two disheveled men dropped on their knees. They fought together until other members of her guards caught them, bound them, and brought them to her. One of them was one of the most respected priests in the Silverhold, the second one was the new servant she hired.

“You can go now,” Selena told the men who brought them.

“But, Your Grace, they can be dangerous.”

Selena gave the guard a side eye. “Are you telling me you are doubting your holy saintess?” she asked. “After she won a war with the Silgorod?”

The guard lowered his head.

“Out!” Selena said.

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Selena waited and then locked the door behind them. Turning her back to both men kneeling on the ground, she rummaged around until she found the ritual sharp dagger the old priest used to use. Seeing the same blade that had been used to cut her every night and causing her so much pain, Selena realized she wasn’t feeling anything. Now, she was the one cutting herself, to mix her blood with the blood of others, to make them listen to her.

“I didn’t want to do it,” she said, “but you left me no other choice.”

Stepping to Kasian first, she cut her own hand. Throwing the dagger onto the ground, she caught Kasian's long black hair tied in a ponytail and pulled his head up to let her blood drop straight into his mouth.

She then stepped aside, going to Soren. She didn’t have to force him to raise his head. He obediently touched her wound with his lips, licking her blood. She had to bite her lips to prevent a moan from escaping.

“You really developed a fetish out of this,” Kasian remarked.

She could feel her cheeks burning. Letting Soren still drink her blood, she turned to Kasian. Her eyes flashed red. The blood of the holy saintess churned within Kasian’s body. She let her spread around, trying to possess each one of his cells. But only in this case, it did not work out. His body was rejecting her fully.

“Stop it,” he said. “Or I will have to throw up.”

She stopped controlling her blood. Turning her attention to Soren, she let him stand and took him by his hand. His eyes were hazy now, and he was able to fully control them. She guided him to her armchair and let him sit down on it. Then she sat on his knees, making herself comfortable in his lap. He leaned toward her back, nuzzling his face in her long black hair.

Kasian wondered if she did that just to make him jealous. The thing was, now, when he was dead, he was not able to feel much.

“You just destroyed my plan now,” Selena said. “I was not feeding Soren my blood, so I could observe his actions. You see, I remember him from the war with Silgorod. He was holding their banner. I would be a fool if I didn’t remember him. Everything was going well, and now all three of you had to come in and wreak havoc. Now I had to feed him my blood, so he won't get suspicious about my actions towards all of you. Now I won't be able to clearly see what his intention was.”

“What was his intention? He was a royal advisor in Silgorod. His king ordered him to kidnap you and bring you to Silgorod. What kind of confirmation do you want from him? Now you made him obsessed with you and pretend you don’t like that?” he asked her. “Do you want me to behave the same? You could've just told me that. Ages ago, and I would have obliged.”

“You are so rude to me, my guards would be ready to execute you on the spot.

“The holy saintess is trying to possess me and control me, along with the number of priests and guards living in the Silverhold and the whole Lunaria kingdom, and I am the rude one? You are amusing, my saintess.”

“They are following me because they want to,” she said. “They are following me because I will bring them salvation and save them from the calamity.”

“No. That is what your priests are saying, trying to brainwash everyone. While my two friends were fooling around, I was able to find out what you are doing. You are taking your blood and mixing it with the blood of your priests. Then, they share it as a wine during their masses with common folks, letting them drink it, letting you control everyone in this kingdom.”

“How is it possible, you can still reject my blood? It is not the first time I have given it to you. Should I force more down your throat?”

“I am bound with an old magic,” he told her. “You can control the dead ones, because it was you who killed them. I was killed by someone else. Even though you are powerful, you are using the same kind of magic as she is. She was the first one, so she has the right to control me. And yet… she doesn’t wish to do so,” he added softly.

“You… have died already in this world?” Selena asked, her voice almost a whisper.

“Yes.”

“But… My undead ones are looking different. They are already rotting inside their bodies, their skin barely holding them together.”

“Your magic is incomplete,” Kasian explained to her. “You are powerful, but you were not taught properly how to use it. You do not know the laws of magic. You are like a loose cannon now. And yet, you don’t care. You force everyone. Or you kill them and raise them. Hearing the prophecies about the holy saintess, we thought we would meet a saviour who would help us. We met a monster instead. You have changed so much, Selena.”

She winced upon hearing her own name. It has been months since someone called her that. Last time, it was in her original world, where she belonged.

“You must have mistaken me for someone else,” she said firmly. “My name is Lena and I am the holy saintess.”

Kasian looked into her eyes. He bowed. “As you wish, Your Grace. You made your own decision, and I will accept it. I can serve you and help you, but I will never be fully yours.”

She bit her lips. Hearing his rejection now, after all that mess which happened in their original world, hit her hard.

“Very well,” she said, hiding her pain. “Let us then come to the dungeons.”

She turned to Soren: “Stay here and wait for me.”

Lena unlocked the doors to her chamber and opened them. Together with Kasian, they descended the stairs and went straight to the dungeons.

“Your Grace!” the guard standing by the entryway to the dungeons bowed to her.

“I wish to speak to our prisoners,” she said to him. “Leave us.”

“As you command, Your Grace.”

Once the air was clear, Lena entered the dungeon. Both Leonard and Mira were still locked inside, in the cells next to each other. Kasian did not say anything, but he knew they were capable of escaping if they wished. They did it once in Silgorod already, they surely can do it the second time. He was glad that Mira decided to stand by and not do anything hasty again.

“Oh! The holy saintess is here!” Mira noticed her first, shouting at her through the bars. “I wanted to talk to you for so long!”

Lena turned to Kasian. “What is wrong with her?” she asked him.

He understood her real question.

“She is using her memories as a price to pay for using her spells, Your Grace.”

“You told me my magic is incomplete, but she needs to pay each time she uses hers,” Lena scoffed.

“Each spell needs to be paid for. If you think you don’t have to do it, it just means you don’t know what you are losing.”

Ignoring Mira for now, Lena turned to Leo, waiting near the door.

“I understand that you three came here together. I came to talk to you to find out about your goals. If you want me to start trusting you, better to spill everything now.”

Leonard stepped closer, leaning to the bars. “There is an execution order on my head. If I stay in Silgorod, I will be dead. So I decided to go to the Lunaria.”

“What about Mira?” Lena asked.

“She is the same,” Leonard answered her. “We met in the dungeon and decided to travel to Lunaria together. Soren can confirm that, as he knows both of us.”

“How can I believe you that you are not planning to do as he and you won't kidnap me?”

“No, no, no,” Mira called out. “That was never a part of a plan,” she said clearly. “We are interested in your magic.”

“Speak for yourself,” Leo interrupted her.

“Tell me you are not intrigued by one bit?” she shot back at him. “In Silgorod, magic is banned, yet they desire the holy saintess, not knowing she is a witch. If they find out, she will be burned at the stake. In Lunaria, priests pretend that magic doesn’t exist, and yet they are wielding it, calling it holy powers, gatekeeping it from common people. You are using forbidden magic, lady, and I want to learn more about it.”

“Forbidden magic,” Lena echoed.

“You have the power, and you don’t know how to use it. I don’t have the power, but I know how your magic works.”

“How can you, when you are coming from Silgorod?” Lena asked her. “If the magic is banned there, who would teach you? Did you experiment by yourself? How can I know your teachings are the right ones?”

“It's easy,” Mira laughed, spreading her hands wide. “They were embedded into my own body!”

Her eyes flashed, and inky snakes full of spells glided over her skin.

“What's that?” Lena asked.

“Mages and witches, sorcerers or saintesses. All people using the magic need to have two things,” Mira said. “First is the power or mana. Second is the knowledge of the spells. You cannot cast a spell if you don’t know how it's done. You can try and use your intuition, but if your senses are corrupted and your mind is not clear, you won't be able to listen to the whispers of gentle mana vibrations in your body telling you how to do it. But I can do it, I can feel it. I was created to assist the people using their powers. Therefore, I believe our cooperation has mutual benefits. I can guide you and learn more about your powers. You will be able to learn more and progress. You need to learn to control your powers properly to guide and protect the whole kingdom.”

“One mistake and I will have you all executed here, or I will exile you back to Silgorod, where they will do the same,” Lena said after a while.

“Yes!” Mira screamed. “When can we start? We need to do it as soon as possible! I still do not know what the predicted calamity brings, but we need to be ready.”

Lena ignored her excited blabbering, turning to Leonard.

“What do you want from me?”

“I failed my own kingdom,” Leonard told her. “I was supposed to lead the war I did not want, to win the fight I wanted to lose. Everyone told me I was the brave hero, but I am just a coward. Nothing more, nothing less. I want to change. I want to be strong enough to make the right decisions. If there is a calamity coming, as everyone is saying, I believe we won't win if we fight over the saintess, but we need to forge an alliance.”

Lena smiled at him. All four friends were reunited now. And three of them changed. Only Leonard, the summoned hero of Silgorod, was able to retain his own beliefs. Maybe he was the strongest of them all.