“Finally!” the shade of Elise spat, her voice sending chills of dissonance through Leon. “Look at her! The bitch is as ugly on the outside as she is on the inside…”
Leon grimaced as he took in the sight of Maia down in the dry pit left behind by the pond. Her lower half had been turned into the long, scaled tail of a snake. She was curled up in a ball, her lake-blue eyes squeezed shut, her arms wrapped around herself. She twitched a few times now that the pond water was gone, showing that she was aware of where she was and the events transpiring around her on at least some level, but she wasn’t responding to Elise’s words or to Leon’s attempts to contact her through their connection.
Leon was tempted to call out to her, but he refrained, reasoning that he didn’t want to speak her true name aloud when he could sense even just Xaphan and Nestor listening in, let alone who else might be watching that he wasn’t aware of.
It took some effort to ignore the shade behind speak. Her words infuriated him, and he was offended on many levels that it was wearing Elise’s face as it spoke such vile things, but it was still wearing Elise’s face, and that made it difficult for him to violently rebuke. He’d already had to cut down the image of his father today, and to do the same for his fire-haired lover wasn’t something he was quite emotionally ready to do.
As if sensing his reticence to engage with her, the shade almost soundlessly approached Leon from behind and wrapped her arms around his neck, causing him to freeze in shock and indecision. Elise’s soft red lips were brought close to Leon’s ear by the shade as she jumped a bit onto Leon’s back.
“Look at her, my love,” she whispered, “she thought she could take advantage of you when you were most vulnerable—in this very place, no less—and force herself upon you! She thought she could come into our home and take you from me! She thought she was worthy of bearing your child, of becoming a part of our family! And when she realized her true place was out in the muck and dirt and far away from the light of civilization, she left! Only to come back and—”
“Enough!” Leon firmly growled. That the shade wore Elise’s face only went so far—and it wasn’t even Elise’s face, not really. Elise had some light freckles on her nose and upper cheeks, barely discernable under normal conditions, and a small mole high up on her forehead that was normally hidden by her hair, none of which this shade had. But Leon knew her body better than anyone else, he could never miss these little details of his first love’s face, let alone how her breasts seemed a little bit bigger, her waist a little bit slimmer, and her hips a little bit wider. This shade looked like Elise, but it wasn’t her. It was some idealized copy of her formed from Maia’s memories, much like the too-perfect Valeria that Leon had seen in Gaius’ trial world—or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that this shade was exaggerated almost to the point of caricature. That Elise was fully dressed was probably the only reason it remained even somewhat true-to-life.
That made things easier. Leon was fiercely attracted to Elise on a physical level, but not even that attraction could survive the words that were pouring from this pale imitation’s mouth.
“Oh? Don’t tell me you’re going to take her side…” the shade said as she let herself down from around Leon’s neck and took a few steps back. She turned away from Leon and hugged her body with one hand as the other gently covered her mouth—not that that stopped her from speaking. “You have me, and all that I bring to the table, and you choose her over me?! Ugh, that just turns my stomach! My husband would rather stick his cock in this monster than satisfy me!”
The temptation to smite this shade grew considerably. Leon knew that Elise would never say these things; she was in love with Maia as he was. That this shade was going on like this was helping him to dissociate it with Elise in his head. And yet, it still wasn’t quite enough for Leon to summon his power and do something.
Instead, he turned away from the shade and started walking down into the pit where Maia still lay.
When he reached her, Leon held out his hand and reached out to touch her shoulder. Maia shuddered and pulled away, but Leon didn’t stop. He just took one more step closer until his fingers rested upon the smooth skin of her shoulder.
[Maia…] he whispered through their connection, hoping that she could hear him even though she wasn’t responding in any way, [I’m here. I’ve come for you. It’s time to wake up from this nightmare.]
He didn’t say anything more; instead, sending a quick burst of silver-blue lightning surging through his hand and into Maia’s body.
The reaction was immediate. She instantly seized up, her eyes opening so wide that her eyes almost seemed like they were about to fall out, her lips pulling back from her mouth in a hideous grimace, and her serpent’s tail first curling up, then lashing out at him. Leon was tossed back like a ragdoll, but he suffered nothing worse than having his back covered in mud.
When Leon groaned in irritation and pushed himself to feet, he ignored the shade’s callous laughter from outside the pit and focused on Maia. He couldn’t be sure if her catatonic state had been caused by the darkness magic of this temple, but he’d been confident that that had been the case.
It seemed his suspicion paid off, for Maia was slowly uncurling her body, her eyes locked on him the entire time.
“… Leon…?” she whispered aloud, her voice like music to his ears, especially as it caused the fake Elise to stop laughing.
“I’m here,” he quietly said as he once more went to her side. He took Maia into his arms and held her close, but the moment was ruined when the shade behind them refused to leave them in peace.
“What a scene this is,” she said, “my husband and his rapist, acting like a loving couple while completely ignoring me! I suppose my first instincts were right, Leon: you are not worthy of me, you never were, and you never will be.”
Those were harsh words, and they cut deeply into Leon. It didn’t matter that he knew this shade wasn’t real, it was still using Elise’s voice, and speaking with a near-identical copy of her face.
Still, he forced himself to remain calm and to take a deep breath.
“I’ve been in this situation before, believe it or not,” he slowly whispered to Maia, who looked up to him in surprise. “A couple years ago, a few days or so before we met, I was attacked by a vampire that used darkness magic. He hit me with some attack that caused me to hallucinate something much like this. I saw Valeria, Elise, and my father, all telling me everything I didn’t want to hear.”
Leon began to stand, and with Maia still in his arms, he also pulled her up. Her serpent tail writhed, but after some flailing, Maia managed to get it under her and provide her with a little bit of support, even if she was still leaning on Leon.
“Don’t listen to that thing,” Leon continued, ignoring the shade completely. “It doesn’t speak for Elise. That’s just a monster that lives in your head, not our firebrand back home.”
“An interesting theory, Leon,” the shade said. “But here I am, and everything I’ve ever said to her is the truth. She’s nothing but a monster, and one that should be put down. She has no place in human society! She has no place with us! You both know this… that rabid viper’s place is here, so far underground that she can’t pollute the light of day with her presence! Down here, where she can’t hurt anyone or try to force herself into relationships where she’s not wanted!”
Leon didn’t give Maia the chance to internalize that diatribe, instead responding immediately, “Everything you just said proves me right! I don’t know what you are, but I know for a fact that the real Elise would never say such things! She’s made it clear on many occasions that the past is the past, and that she wouldn’t give up what the three of us have for anything!” Leon then turned his attention to Maia. “You know this. All this thing is doing is playing into your fears. This temple has attacked you with darkness magic, read through your mind, and manifested your greatest fears.”
He paused for a moment, and the shade began to speak again. However, Leon paid her no mind, and when Maia began to turn her head back to the shade, Leon pulled her gaze back to him with a nothing more than a finger lightly touching her chin.
“Look at me, not at her,” he said. “Do you trust me?”
“Without question,” Maia replied, a little bit of iron creeping into her tone.
“All of this is fake, it’s nothing more than some half-baked trial that the temple cooked up,” Leon explained. “Your legs are fine, you’re not a Gorgon. Even if you were, it wouldn’t change anything. There’s no need to worry about any of this, and all that it will take to banish this place forever is to admit what you know to be true: this place isn’t real.”
Leon and Maia held their gaze for a long moment, ignoring the shade that was shouting louder and louder in a vain attempt to get their attention.
And, after several long seconds, Maia said, “This… isn’t real. This isn’t real.”
She spoke with conviction; she believed it, she was just allowing herself to admit it. And as soon as she did, her serpentine tail vanished in a flash of green light, replaced with her real legs. She stumbled a bit, but with Leon holding onto her, she quickly adjusted and got her legs back under her.
Leon was gratified to see that it took so little effort on his part to get her to see the truth, especially with how long it took him to reach Gaius. Though, he supposed that they’d been through this enough times that his saying these words was becoming almost old hat.
Maia smiled, and even though her real legs were back under her, she leaned even more into Leon’s embrace. “Of course it wasn’t real. Thank you for coming for me,” she said.
Leon chuckled and replied, “I will always come for you, no matter what.”
Maia sighed. “I know… you’ve said so several times, by now. I just… it’s one thing to hear it, and another for it to happen. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Leon replied.
The two shared a long kiss, and when they parted, the shade of Elise was gone, vanished like she’d never been there in the first place.
“Well, that thing was unpleasant,” Leon said.
[It was,] Maia replied, switching back to her normal mode of speech. And with a quick flash of light that indicated she was reaching into her soul realm, she was clothed again. [Let’s get this thing done, shall we? I need to get home as soon as possible and… talk with Elise…]
From the lascivious feelings Leon was sensing through their connection, he imagined that there wouldn’t be much talking between his lovers; instead, they’d be doing something a little more strenuous and… pleasurable. The thought of that had him ready to go in many senses of the phrase.
“Yeah, let’s just head back to the shore really quick,” he said. “When I tried to find you, this temple led me to Gaius first…”
The two began to walk back toward the shore in a fairly slow, languid pace as Leon explained everything that had happened after he, Maia, and Gaius were separated. By the time they left the trees behind and appeared back on the lakefront where Gaius was waiting, Maia was fully caught up to speed.
Gaius waved as the two approached, his casual demeanor relieving most of the anxiety that Leon had felt ever since they’d parted.
Leon waved back and asked, “Anything happen here?” He’d been monitoring Gaius every so often with his magic senses, but he wasn’t omniscient; maybe Gaius saw something he hadn’t.
“Nothing,” Gaius replied. “Everything good with you two?”
Leon glanced at Maia, and when she nodded, he said to Gaius, “Yeah, we’re good.”
Gaius slowly nodded as his face contorted in muted confusion. “Uuh. That’s good, but…”
Before any of them could really delve too deeply into that unspoken worry, however, the cave began to grow dark as the ceiling faded away and the walls fell back into a dark void.
“Ah, never mind, I guess this is it,” Gaius observed, though he got to his feet and drew his borrowed sword anyway, just in case. “I wonder where Jormun was throughout all of that?”
“Who the hells knows—or cares,” Leon replied. “The less I hear his voice, the better. I’d rather just put a blade through his throat and be done with all of this, but I don’t think we’re going to be lucky enough to just get an opportunity for that.”
“Yeah…” Gaius responded.
“We might be here for a hot second, so let’s get our strategy down,” Leon said, drawing the attention of the others from their darkening surroundings to him. “That gold colossus is probably going to be used against us, unless Jormun goes hard on trying to recruit or subvert us. Either way, that chamber isn’t the final location in this temple—or, at least, I don’t think it is. Jormun is directing the temple’s enchantments from somewhere, and we need to find where that place is quickly enough that we can catch him before he slips away.”
“I didn’t see any doors when we were in that chamber,” Gaius pointed out. “That colossus chamber may not be the extent of the temple, but how will we be able to get to the rest? The same way you broke into our trials?”
“Maybe…” Leon murmured as he contemplated the problem. It wasn’t the only problem they had, either—he needed at least a few contingencies. Jormun was slippery and clever; he’d been able to slide in and out of the Legion’s defenses like they were a cheap whore and he’d just returned to port after months at sea. A man like that had contingencies of his own, of that Leon would stake his life on. So, in the likely event that the pirate ran or otherwise managed to escape, Leon needed a way to follow him to wherever he went, some way he could run the man down and put him in the ground for good.
For that, Leon had a few ideas, but he needed a more knowledgeable opinion before he started giving them voice.
[Nestor, I have a few questions…]
[Share them, please, I could use a distraction from the everlasting boredom of your rustic soul realm.]
Leon ignored the insult and asked, [I need some ways to track someone over long distances, some way I can find them if I lose track of them.]
[I know of far too many ways to do that to count, boy,] Nestor said. [I don’t suppose you could narrow your request down a little?]
Before Leon could respond, he heard Xaphan speak up.
[That lack of a brain must be getting to you, dead man, if you can’t narrow it down on your own.]
[What?!] Nestor shouted back indignantly.
[Leon,] Xaphan began in a deliberate snub of Nestor, [most tracking methods require either more power or more specific power that you do not possess—and I’m not talking raw magical power or access to a certain element, either. However, there are some methods that I think you might find useful in this particular situation.]
[What do you have in mind?} Leon asked, his tone one of happy surprise.
[I have in mind a spell that, if attached to your opponent in some manner, will ‘light them up’, so to speak. If the spell was used properly, you would be able to use an accompanying spell to follow your enemy wherever they go…]
Xaphan quickly described the spell in as much detail as he could without getting overbearing. The gist of it was that the spell would subtly alter someone’s aura with fire magic, marking it in such a way so that it could be tracked with a compass-like spell.
But that was assuming Leon could get close enough to Jormun to use this spell. That might not be the easiest thing to do, especially if Jormun continued his habit of keeping himself distant from Leon. At the very least, Leon doubted that Jormun would be foolish enough to challenge Leon with Maia present, so if he were going to personally fight Leon, he would’ve made his move before now.
[Xaphan,] Leon said after a few moments of thought, [can that enchantment be placed upon something that I can throw… or maybe an arrow? So that I can follow that object instead of a person?]
[Well… the enchantment works by marking someone’s aura. You’d need to either heavily adapt the tracking spell or find something else that emits a magical aura for it to mark. It doesn’t look to me like you have a hell of a lot of time to work with, so that will limit your options even more.]
[I think I can jury-rig something like that,] Leon replied. [I have quite a few gems left over, and I still have that power crystal I got from Nestor’s lab… It won’t be much, but even then, I think I’ll need some help to get it to work.]
[Actually, you know what? You’ve got enough to worry about right now; leave the manufacturing to me,] Xaphan said. [The dead man and I will take care of getting the spell arrow made—those library golems ought to prove themselves useful in this case. You just concentrate on staying alive.]
[Thanks, demon.] Leon smiled as a sense of deep appreciation welled up from within him for his demonic partner.
[Don’t worry about it, human. We’re all in this boat together, and besides, you need to discipline that pirate. It’s been far too long for him to show us such… disrespect.]
Leon smiled. The confrontation with the shade of Artorias had brought out some of the same feelings he’d felt when he’d first lost his father: loss, fear, and loneliness. But with Maia, Gaius, and Xaphan in his corner, the loneliness at least was beaten back, and Leon felt like his position, despite still being stuck in this damn temple, wasn’t quite as dire as it might seem, even with keeping in mind everything that Jormun had managed to accomplish thus far.
With them, Leon didn’t think there was anything he couldn’t accomplish with the right amount of work and preparation.
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