Philyra watched the crystal flames pulsate with heat around her daughter. Ursa stood as frozen as the flames that encapsulated her in a cocoon of orange, red and gold. Her expression was unfocused and pitiable; as if she knew she was doomed. Philyra had been keeping vigil over her daughter's form for days, hoping that she would stir with life once again, but it was in vain. The despair of watching the daughter she’d birthed and raised be taken by evil gnawed at her soul. Philyra remembered holding the little babe in her arms after hours of pain; remembered promising herself and the gods that she would teach the innocent girl compassion, love and strength. If she had known that the depth of her daughter’s love, her compassionate nature and the unwavering strength of her will would lead her into eternal damnation...
Finally Philyra gathered herself and turned away from the small cavern. She strode back into the tunnels, feeling that each meandering path was twisting her heart and hardening it further. Eventually the path she'd followed emptied into a large cavern filled with magical apparatuses, bubbling containers and the most vile being she'd had the misfortune of encountering.
"The time you bought is almost up," Narissa idly mentioned as Philyra emerged from the dark tunnels.
Philyra reached up to touch the empty spot on her neck where an amulet had been. It had been an heirloom passed down among the women in her family and though it would've fetched her little in the marketplace, its sentimental value was unmatched. Narissa must've known somehow, because that had been what she'd asked for in exchange for allowing Philyra to watch what was left of her human daughter. Philyra had wanted to give the necklace to Ursa when she'd had children of her own, just as it had been passed down to her, but it seemed that none of that would come to pass now.
Philyra's gaze darkened upon the demon. Narissa was shamelessly smirking in delight at Philyra's pain. Her beauty belied the darkness of her soul. The demon considered the Greek woman mockingly over a cauldron of lightly bubbling purple liquid, idly flicking other ingredients into the pot. Narissa’s crystalline blue eyes flashed deceitfully as she laughed, "My poor woman, your sorrow has touched my heart."
"I find it hard to believe that a creature like you is capable of understanding human pain," Philyra muttered.
"Perhaps you're right," Narissa smirked. "I am however, capable of offering you an opportunity to rescue your sweet little daughter."
Philyra's brown eyes narrowed suspiciously, "An opportunity like the one you offered to my daughter?"
"Now, now. If your daughter had fulfilled her end of the bargain, I would've given her precisely what we had discussed. I cannot be blamed for a failure on her part," Narissa tutted. She rolled a lock of blond hair around her finger, almost bored with the conversation.
"Your tricks won't work on me, witch," Philyra snapped.
"Trickery or not, it is your only option if you wish to save your daughter's humanity," Narissa smiled knowingly, glancing at Philyra with a sidelong gaze.
Philyra gritted her teeth.
“This is impossible, Lyra,” Xanthippos shook his head after Philyra explained the deal Narissa had offered. Their camp was situated a mile down the path from Narissa’s cavernous lair and it was the closest the twins had been allowed to get to the devious witch.
The twins exchanged worried glances from inside their tent where they were supposed to be sleeping. Their gangly forms were pressed against each other to peek through the small gap they’d opened in the tent’s cloth door.
“What choice do we have, Xan?” Philyra frowned.
“What you’re talking of doing puts us all at risk! You and I are not heroes blessed by the gods to face such evils,” Xan hissed.
“We can’t just abandon our daughter to that witch!”
Xan gritted his teeth. He wanted nothing more than to go into that cavern with his sword raised and slay the demon that had captured his precious daughter, but he couldn’t. He had to help his wife see reason. He softly pleaded with her, “I don’t want to abandon my Ursa either, Lyra. There must be a method to save her, but it isn’t this way. I don’t want to get Ursa back only to tell her that I lost her brothers or her mother on this fool’s errand. She would not be happy knowing that we traded one of our lives for her’s.”
Philyra’s strong exterior cracked as Xan’s logic began permeating her stubborn singlemindedness. Her hands trembled and tears gathered in her eyes as she threw herself into her husband’s arms for comfort.
The twins exchanged grim glances between the two of them and without speaking, nodded to each other.
Shortly after, Philyra went to check on her boys; sighing in sorrow as she pushed aside the flap of the tent. Moments later, her eyes widened in fear and she cried out, “Xan!”
The two hurried up the path to Narissa’s cave, through the winding paths until they reached the main cavern.
“You’re too late,” Narissa laughed as Xan and Philyra stumbled into the cavern in their rush. The twins glanced back at their parents; Chrys’s gaze laced with guilt while Calix’s eyes belied stubbornness in the face of the disapproval he was anticipating on his parents’ faces.
“No,” Philyra breathed out in fear.
“What have you done, witch?” Xan snarled. “What did you agree to do boys?”
“We took the deal that you wanted mother to turn down. We’ll perform her tasks to get Ursa back,” Calix crossed his arms defensively.
“You shouldn’t have done that without speaking to us!” Philyra cried out.
“It’s not too late,” Narissa smirked. “You may join your sons in their attempt to free your daughter.”
Philyra closed her eyes against the tears as Xan gritted his teeth, “What would you have us do, witch?”
With a flourish, Narissa conjured a scroll. She let the lower edge of it fall to the ground so that the writing was visible. She informed them, “Here are your tasks. If you are able to gather these items before your daughter completes her transformation, you may have her back.”
Calix took the scroll without hesitation and the family crowded behind him to read the words closely. A few items down the list, Xan turned his eyes up at the witch. The repulsion he felt towards her was quite evident in the acidic tones of his voice, “Is this a trick? Some of these items are merely stories!”
“I assure you, everything listed on that scroll is very much real, no matter what you’ve been led to believe,” Narissa smiled. “Once you have all seven items, return here to reclaim your daughter. The manner in which you… acquire these items is irrelevant to me.”
“Can we really accomplish this before Ursa finishes her transformation?” Chrys murmured to his father.
Narissa supplied, “Ursa’s metamorphosis will not be quick. One must burn in fire and drown in despair for quite a while before the soul is ready to take the final plunge off the mortal ledge. You have some time yet.”
“How much time?” Philyra asked.
“At the rate her torment is progressing, I would say nine years,” Narissa shrugged. “But it is not an exacting matter.”
Calix adjusted the eyepatch over his left eye. Time and suffering had weathered his face much beyond his nineteen years. He was now older than Ursa had been when this wretched quest began, but they’d somehow managed to do in six years what they’d set out to accomplish in nine.
It hadn’t come without its sacrifices.
It was more than the obvious injuries they’d all sustained; Calix’s left eye to the Harpies, Chrys’s hand to the Bacchans, Xan’s fingers and toes to frostbite in Khione’s realm, Philyra’s voice bartered away to Ekho. The mental anguish and suffering they had endured was considerably more painful than their handful of physical ailments. Calix closed his eye momentarily, thinking of how they’d come so close to pulling through this without losing more family, but during the last leg of their quest, Xan had fallen prey to one of the archers guarding Artemis’s forest.
When his brown eye opened, it was filled with a tenacious will that demanded that he continue to move forward; move past the pain and focus on the quest at hand. His father’s sacrifice must not be in vain. His father would be proud of them for concluding his task and rescuing Ursa. That is what Calix had to focus on now.
“Narissa,” Calix snapped into the empty cavern. It seemed as though Narissa had long abandoned these caves and taken up elsewhere, but despite inquiries in the local area, Chrys had failed to uncover any leads as to where she’d relocated. The only option they had was to try the dusty old cave and hope that Narissa still remained aware of it.
“I wonder if Ursa is still down one of those paths or if Narissa took her along,” Chrys murmured. “Mother says the tunnels beyond are many and confusing. Perhaps we should’ve brought her along to lead us to Ursa’s cage. She might’ve been able to retrace her steps through intuition.”
“She’s still injured. She would’ve slowed us down if we need to fight the witch for Ursa,” Calix reminded him.
There was a time when Chrys would have immediately rejected the idea of becoming victorious over a witch, but they’d seen and experienced much over the last six years. They might not overcome Narissa, but they could perhaps surprise her long enough to escape with their lives. Still, to brutishly rescue Ursa was beyond their means, despite his twin’s bravado.
“As you say,” Chrys murmured. “Then our only choice is to make the witch appear.” “Narissa, we have brought what you asked for. Show yourself, witch!” Calix yelled,
his voice bouncing off the cave walls and momentarily drowning them in an awful din.
When the echoing died off and silence greeted them once more, Chrys made an attempt, “We have travelled far and gathered all the items that you requested. Please return Ursa to us!”
Once again silence was their only companion. Calix lost his calm, “Get out here and complete your bargain, you ugly toadstool!”
“Now that is uncalled for,” Narissa crossed her arms behind them. The boys jumped at her sudden appearance and were forced to take a few steps away from one another so she could stride through them towards the center of the cave. It was as if a magnetic force
had repulsed the two away from one another. The witch glanced around the cave, almost nostalgic as she murmured, “Ah, the memories this dank place brings. “
“What took you so long?” Calix sneered.
“I’d forgotten who you were,” Narissa shrugged as she turned around to face the boys. At their disbelieving expression, she raised an eyebrow, “You didn’t truly fancy yourselves as the only pathetic souls that I’d offered a bargain, did you? How quaint. You were saying you have what I asked for?”
“Yes,” Chrys answered urgently before his twin could launch into an angry tirade that would more than likely get him killed. Chrys lay the sack he’d been carrying at Narissa’s feet. He opened it eagerly to show the authenticity of their treasures so that they could reclaim their sister, but Narissa stopped him.
“No need,” her eyes shone with delight. “I can see their magic through that raggedy pack. You have indeed done me a great service.”
A moment later, Chrys was staring down at his empty hands as the pack was magicked away. Calix’s grumbling called from behind him, “It was not in your service that we obtained these items. Release our sister!”
Narissa tapped her chin in thought, “Now let me recall this bargain we made… I believe I promised that I could return your sister if you managed to return with those items
before her metamorphosis was complete, isn’t that correct?”
Chrys nodded as he retreated back to stand beside his brother, “Yes, and as promised we have brought you the items before the end of nine years.”
Calix’s skin prickled in the anticipation of trickery before Narissa even opened her mouth to rebuke, “Nine years? I promised nothing on the passing of nine years. I only estimated that is how many years it may take for her change.”
“Yes, but only six have passed. We have returned in plenty of time,” Chrys insisted. “Have you?” Narissa smirked.
“What is the meaning of this, witch?” Calix growled.
“You see, the metamorphosis relies on the suffering of the soul. The deeper the anguish in one’s soul, the quicker the change happens,” Narissa explained; her voice silky and dark. “And poor Ursa could see so much more from her cocoon than you could ever imagine. She could see every agonizing minute her family spent in their labor to rescue her from her inevitable demise. She could see how they struggled in vain, never knowing that the more they suffered on her behalf, the quicker they lost her.”
Calix’s face was pale, “Are you saying…?”
“Yes, I am little boy. Your quest to save her, the toils your family endured quickened her change. I believe it was the death of your father that… sealed the deal, as they say,”
Narissa laughed.
“That only happened last week,” Chrys moaned.
“Making you a week too late,” Narissa cackled. “Thank you for your hard work. But I’m afraid you are much, much too late.”
Chrys fell to his knees in despair, letting the jarring pain from the rock floor shake his very soul. Calix reached for his sword and yelled a battle cry as he swung at the witch. She turned to mist as the sword passed through her. Her presence filled the hollow space.
Her last words were meant to leave them with no solace, “Her guilt for your suffering was too great for her to bear, so she’s shed away everything to do with her mortal life. Her body, her memories, her love for all of you. It’s all gone. She is now simply a demon in the service of my lord. And what a magnificent fiend she has already proved herself to be. Despair not, little ones. She may have forgotten her time in this world, but this world will never be able to forget her.”
Her laughter rumbled the caves.
Reply
