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Hello Chamber-mates! It is another Wednesday so here is your update! Hope you enjoy!




Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


She could still hear the hard tread of Edrick’s steps even after the heavy doors leading to her rooms had been closed behind him. The calm countenance that she had perfected for the rare moments that she was in the presence of other, quickly melted away leaving the rage she felt obvious on her beautiful face as she turned away from the exit in a swoosh of the gauzy fabric that she had donned and her golden tresses. Her chest heaved with suppressed emotion.  He had dared to enter her chambers seeking answers and explanations from her?  Alyssa questioned herself in mild disbelief as she made her way over to her vanity the table crowded with vials and brushes. Seeing her flushed skin as she peered into its mirror she willed her body to calm and took a seat at the cushioned ottoman before it.

A cool sensational grazed her bare ankle and drew her attention away her reflection in the mirror. Turning to the floor beside her seat, Alyssa reached down and picked up the snake that slithered there. Its green body entwined with gold and white markings, coiled around her slender arm to hang around her graceful neck.

“There you are Abiti, where did you run off to?” she cooed to the reptile, its forked tongue danced delicately at her ear as she listened to it.

“Yes Abiti, you are as always right it is fine time that we rid ourselves of Edrick. I begin to tire of him and Phalan is more than eager to take his place.” She spoke softly in return a coy grin stretching her rose colored lips.

Breaking their tranquil and private reverie Abiti suddenly turned towards the nearby window and released an angry hiss. Alyssa turned to see what had disturbed them, only to see a large black raven perched upon the sill. Quickly dismissing the bird presence Alyssa turned back to peer into the mirror as her other hand idly soothed the reptile with a casual stroke along its body.

“We meet again, Badbah.” Alyssa spoke after a moment spent between them in silence. She was in no hurry to acknowledge the scheming shrew. “I would not like to think that this is becoming a habit.”

The raven shuffled quietly on the ledge from leg to leg and gave a muted caw it’s wings ruffled by a sudden gale of wind that blew through the open window behind it. With a snap of the air, a shadowed figure stood in the raven’s place before the sill.

“I would not dare to dream of making my presence as frequent as to make it a habit, my Lady.” Badbah spoke as she bowed slightly.

“There are a great many things you dream of, Badbah.” Replied Alyssa dryly as she studied her hands. “I have not forgotten in all these millennia the part you had to play in this current situation.”

“That is why I now wish to be of some service to you now my Lady.”

“So you say, what then brings you here.”

“As you know my information gathering is far reached,” Badbah started slowly, “My attention was drawn to the East by the sightings of a group of elite guards racing towards Okeanida.”

“You are not telling me anything that I am not already aware of and my patience is running thin.” Badbah looked towards the beautiful Alyssa as she sat before the gilded mirror feigning disinterest. She knew it was only an act and could see the strain evident at the sides of her mouth. Badbah chuckled to herself silently taking some little pleasure getting under her skin it almost made up for the constant degradation each visit was riddled with.  

“They did not succeed.”  Badbah spoke, deciding to curtail her enjoyment, for the moment there would be other opportunities to lord over the self-important witch. “ Phalan and his men did not capture Mordan, he got away.”

“What would I care for Mordan? He has long too been out of my favor” Alyssa asked.

“You know as well as I, that you seek Mordan for he is the only way to find the key.” Alyssa scoffed loudly. “You need that key, without it you would never find her, you will never truly be a power.”

Alyssa’s head snapped quickly towards Badbah a burning rage filled her eyes.

“I am a power,” She rose from her seat and plowed across to where Badbah stood so quickly that Badbah only knew Alyssa had moved as she felt her wrapping around her neck. Alyssa glared down into Badbah’s onyx colored eyes and gloried in the spark of fear that lingered within them her grip around the other woman’s neck tightening. “Do you think I do not realize what you are doing? Did you and Izeha believe that I would fall for your baiting?” Alyssa looked over the other woman, at her wrinkled and paper-thin opaque skin and the white hair that flowed past her shoulders and underneath the robe she wore. “Your very existence, I could snuff out it in a moment.” She spoke slowly pondering on the moment. Alyssa’s body began to take on a greenish glow and an invisible wind lifted her golden locks exposing the serpent that coiled around her neck ad shoulders baring it’s sharp fangs, “Is it not a most wondrous thing?” she continued her smile spreading across her face, “You think that I, Alyssa Queen of all that lays before you, am not a power?”

Alyssa released her hold on the woman before turning away from her hunched over body. Badbah’s coughs echoed throughout the cavernous room as air filled her chest once again.

“No power that you have now will matter when faced with Katjiya, you know that as well as I. You need Mordan and you need the key in order to defeat her!” Badbah shouted her words gaining strength in between heaving breaths.

“I know as I must,” Alyssa snapped in reply, “ I do not need some magpie servant that Izeha found in the pits of hell reminding me of what is mine!” Badbah felt the blood in her body freeze at Alyssa’s words. “Yes, I know your secrets as well Badbah, I know why you still do as Izeha bids,” her lowered to a whisper “I know what it is you seek to gain in your servitude. Go and tell your master that I would not be provoked today, I will have the end that I seek all in do time. Tell him to watch, I will give him a show that he will enjoy.” With those final words turned away from Badbah and quit the room through a small door off to the far side.

The quiet slam of the door rang in Badbah’s ears.

Turning to the window, Badbah quickly extended the energy that was more natural to her than the very skin she wore and took flight into the star studded sky. Skimming the currents, she coasted over the masses of the city as she journeyed west towards the Navik Mountains, the last stronghold of shadow and the night. The beating of her magnificent wings quickly ate up the distance and the sun was only just beginning to peek above the horizon as she made her final descent in the enlarged turret nestled within the stone the mountain. Flying into a room through the arching window, one of many that dotted the building and changing into her skin once again Badbah turned her gaze out into the clinging darkness of the night. Her thoughts clouded with her anger as she pondered over what had transpired. Hostility was to be expected, old wounds irritated by her reappearance in this quest but to be humiliated—Alyssa would pay, Badbah would make sure of it.

The shiver up her spine told her that he had entered the room and the invisible weight; heavy on her shoulder turned her towards the hooded figure that had appeared in the room. Badbah quickly bowed her head and drew on her hood covering her silver white hair as she waited for him to speak.

“You have done well, Badbah.” He spoke grandly.

“Thank you my Lord you play me the greatest of compliments.” Badbah replied graciously allowing her eyes to locate Izeha’s location within the room. He stood in the distance ensconced in a large stone terrine on a circular pedestal as though his presence in her rooms where within his right. Badbah was familiar with Izeha’s penchant for believing that nothing was beyond his influence—beyond his domain.

“Tell me.” He spoke again without turning, “How did you find her?”

“She was as you said, anxious to ferret Mordan out hiding.”

“Good.”

“Alyssa seems reluctant to admit her vulnerability in what is to come.”

Izeha scoffed, “Did you expect she would be glad?” he continued finally turning away from the table towards Badbah. Her eyes quickly found a point beyond his shoulder along the wall, not daring direct contact with the ancient’s eyes but still close enough to be sure that she had his full attention.

“Alyssa knows that this is the year of new rising and that only by finding the key and exact location to Katjiya’s prison will she be able to seal her away indefinitely. Katjiya is the only perceivable threat to her power.” Badbah paused in her speech and risked the briefest glance at Izeha, the killing glare he directed at her made her realize her error and a profusion of apologetic words stumbled out of her mouth. “ Forgive me my Lord, I did not mean to say—I did not mean to disregard your--”

“You would take my regard for you too far one day Badbah. Although you seem to forget who I am, I assure you that Alyssa is not that foolish.”

“Forgive me my Lord.” She spoke earnestly and let silence fall between them but curiosity continued to bite at her heels and it was that regard that said he had for her that granted her the courage to continue in the same vein.

“You do not mean, my Lord, that she would gain enough, in killing Katjiya to rival you?” Badbah asked in confusion as pieces of the puzzle scattered to the air in her mind.

“Alyssa has strayed too far, crossed the lines in her desperate search for power that should never have been crossed. There was no power gained or that can be taken that would quell the grudge she wishes to bear on all. She would rein her fury on man and ancient alike. She has forgotten that with everything there is a natural order and balance that must be maintained and all that was meant to come to its end will do so.”

“Can she be stopped?”

“You must see that she is. If you should fail in this Badbah, the end that you too desire will never be.”

Samsel

Izeha lingered for a moment and watched as the meaning of his words sink in to Badbah the brief alarm that flittered through her dark eyes convincing him that her fervor had been renewed in seeing the tasks he had laid out for her to accomplished would be so. Satisfied with that, Izeha vanished from the room.

 Badbah was left standing in the bluish glow of the sun as it neared her mountain dwelling. Her mind, a riot of thought with no real clear answers, she did not wish to involve herself in this fight but she knew there was no escaping it if they meant to threaten the one thing she loved—it was time that she began to make her own preparations.






Chapter End Notes:

Thanks for reading and I hope you are enjoying the adventure so far! Lots more to come! I would love to hear your thoughts so please feel free to comment and I will answer any and all questions! (no spoilers!)

Until Next Week!

 







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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.