Chapter 10
"Lorelei my dear, you're back." purred a grainy voice in her ear. Lorelei closed her eyes slowly before drawing her sword and turning to face a very familiar figure.
"Go back to Kirth, demon spawn, before I chop you into little pieces."
The red-haired woman with the glowing eyes laughed delightedly. "Oh Lorelei, entertaining as ever! As if you could defeat me... All you have is that pathetic sword. I have all the endless power of Kirth to use."
"Is that why I got away the last time?" goaded Lorelei. "You're nothing but a third rate imp with delusions of grandeur. You're pathetic..."
Demon-Kira's eyes flamed as its voice dropped menacingly. "Could a third rate imp have done this to that tasty little morsel you called a mother?" Suddenly, the figure standing in front of Lorelei truly was her mother. The eyes were terrified and completely human. Kira backed away from Lorelei in horror.
"Lorelei, RUN!"
"Mother..." gasped Lorelei.
"RUN!" screamed the woman as she suddenly convulsed in agony, A dripping black tentacle forced its way out of one eyeball. Her body started to rip apart to reveal something hideous and black within it. "Ruuunnn..."
But Lorelei couldn't hear anything anymore. She started screaming as her childhood nightmares became reality.
The Alvamar and Alyssa were holding a shrieking Lorelei down onto the bed. From outside, came a dragon scream as K'san felt her partner's unreasoning terror through the barely healed bond.
"The dragon!" gasped the Alvamar, looking at Alyssa in sudden hope. "We can reach her through the dragon!"
He leapt out the window, heading towards K'san at a run. She was lying on the ground, twitching as her mother and another dragon splattered mud onto her body with their wings to bring her temperature down. Kevin ran to meet the Alvamar part-way.
"K'san says that she doesn't know how to help Lorelei. The bond is too undeveloped and the pain has crippled her mind."
"Tell her that we can still use the bond to help Lorelei. She just needs to lift herself above the pain." Kevin translated to Treven who in turn telepathed the message to K'san. The younger dragon's eyes flamed and rolled as she whimpered in terror and agony.
"She agrees! Do whatever you have to!"
The Alvamar drove into the dragon's mind and gasped. So much pain! Beside him was the shadowy form of the dragon's being. He reached out to channel some of his strength to it and the pain instantly eased. Now, he telepathed, follow the screaming! The dragon spread her shadowy wings and shot off into the void with the Alvamar, in falcon form, close behind. They cut through the shifting colors, using the sound of Lorelei's shrieks as their guide. But then, the screams suddenly cut off. Thankfully, they had come far enough. The pair slammed through a black wall into Lorelei's world.
In front of them, Lorelei lay unconscious with blue fire flickering over her body and surrounded by gore. Both her arms had been torn off her body, one still clutching her sword. A black, hulking monstrosity crouched chuckling over the remnants of her body as it prepared to rip her legs off. The Alvamar suddenly felt anger, such as he had never felt in his life, burn right through him. His existence coalesced into a single, grinding thought. It was time to destroy... He felt himself change into his Warrior self and willed his father's broadsword into his hands. The dragon lifeforce beside him suddenly expanded in size as it screamed a blazingly furious challenge. A distinct shape began to emerge, that of K'san in her full physical glory.
The creature looked up at the Warrior and grinned evilly. It took hold of one of Lorelei's legs and prepared to twist it off. The Warrior's broadsword swung and took off the creature's head. The head bounced away a short distance and begin to chuckle as the creature's body continued with its work. Lorelei's leg snapped like a twig in its hands. Then a gale force wind descended with the sound of flapping wings and knocked the Warrior to the ground. K'san dragged the creature away from Lorelei and soared up and away with it dangling from her claws. As she began to dismember the creature in her rage, the Warrior walked over to the creature's grinning head and crushed it into a pulp with his heel.
The red curtain of rage faded as the Warrior changed back into the Alvamar and took Lorelei's destroyed inner-self into his arms. Above him, K'san continued to shriek in fury as she tore the demon apart. The Alvamar had never been so afraid in his life as he bowed his head and began to beg Mira silently to keep Lorelei unconscious. If she awoke, thinking herself dismembered, nothing could ever help her heal. He began to draw on his reserves, building and concentrating his power for the next stage: erasing this whole thing from her memory. He thrust into her mind, using K'san as his link and searched for her last memory. When he found it, it began to play for him, showing him all that she had endured. He didn't wait to see it all. He took hold of it and ripped it forcibly out of her.
As K'san landed beside them to nose gently at her partner, the Alvamar looked up into her intelligent eyes. He never let go of Lorelei as K'san flew them both back into reality.
Continued in Chapter 11
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