Prologue: Confronting Your Demons II

“You started it.”

“Yeah, yeah, well…” the demon huntress sighed. “Let me finish it, okay? Can we just shut up and watch for the demon while we figure this out?”

“I’ll help you, Tris, but I’m not staying here in silence watching this hol—barrow den—for hours on end. I’d just rather dive down in there and cut up some of those cultists. I need the practice… apparently.”

“While that’s an option, it would tip Liidala off to our presence.” Araatris replied, frowning. “I’m not sure either of us want to do that.”

“You’re not sure you want to do that,” Ary quipped. She swung her feet again in an attempt to kick her sister’s horns. She missed entirely and slipped from her perch, but was able to scrabble to keep her balance on the branch. She cleared her throat and resumed speaking as if nothing happened. “But I don’t rather care. She has no quarrel with me.”

“You seem so confident,” Araatris would have rolled her eyes had she still had them. “Look, I’m actually asking for your cooperation right now, okay? This… this is more important than most other hunts.”

“Because you’re losing your abilities? Or because you screwed up the life of this ‘Syrona’?”

Araatris grumbled. “Maybe…”

“So, tell me again what happened, and don’t leave out any important details, okay?”

Araatris sighed and also pinched the bridge of her nose, mimicking the habit of her human counterpart. “Alright, fine. It all started when we learned of a set of AESOP records that had vanished…”

Ary listened to the story as Araatris repeated it, stopping every few sentences to turn her attention back to the cultists below, but always resuming where she left off. She detailed the discovery of the pendant, the fel-echo as seen by Rephaia, and Syrona’s odd behaviour. Ary nodded at her sister’s words, rolled her own eyes to underscore her opinion on a few matters, but otherwise remained silent.

“And that’s why we’re here now.” Araatris motioned towards the barrow den entrance. “Waiting to see if Liidala has plans to do anything drastic before we’re able to muster a proper response.”

The cultists below the pair milled about their dark work, each maintaining the ritual circles and fel-sludge pools that were tucked away under the corrupted boughs of Felwood. They did not appear to be working towards any specific goal, but instead filled their time with the mundanities of cultist life. Araatris found it rather amusing. Ary found it downright boring.

“So, do you think she was soul-shaped?” Ary asked after letting the story settle in her mind for a few moments. The silence was probably getting to her.  “Was her soul split?”

“Arcadius is the son of Malfias, and I’d suspect that both are good at reshaping and manipulating minds. But I’m not sure either one is a soulshaper.”

Ary frowned. “Eraelan said there were only three: himself, Shazadi, and Sraath...”

Araatris twisted her lips at the mention of the elder Netherbane, but kept her comments to herself.

“...and I don’t think any of them had anything to do with her.”

“Sraath is defeated and Shazadi is dead, so unless your master had a hand in this, then I don’t think she would have had her soul shaped, no.”

“Well…”

“Look, Ary, I need you here to help us block any mental manipulation that Liidala tries to throw our way. I need you as a shield, like I mentioned.”

Ary frowned at the interruption, but nodded. “Fine, fine. I’ll be the ‘shield’ against whatever she throws at you. Do you even know what she’s going to try to throw at you?”

“Hopefully not a paladin.”

“Rephaia’s probably rather heavy, yeah. But you know as well as I do that we’re talking metaphorically and not literally.”

“I don’t know, no.” Araatris shook her head. Her attention was still focused on the cultist activity. “We don’t even know the extent of her power, just that Arcadius seemed to fear what she may have been capable of.”

“Have you asked Tharion how he handled her when she was captured originally?”

“No.”

Ary raised an eyebrow. “And why not?”

“Because this is my hunt, Ary. I can’t go back to Thar on this one. This has to be all me.”

Ary raised her other eyebrow. “You say as you ask for my help and have an entourage of newbies following you around. Plus Shizu. How much has she actually done that you’re currently incapable of doing, hmm? I’d guess you’ve turned to her for her felsight more than once, haven’t you?”

“Maybe.”

“Look, I at least need to know what I may be facing. I can be a shield—I’ve done it plenty of times before, but I at least want some level of expectation set. What level of power are we dealing with?”

“She took Rephaia right out from under us without anyone noticing. Rephaia was unconscious on the stone floor right next to where Shizu and I were standing. She just… vanished. And none of us were the wiser. No sensation of the fel, no time manipulation that we could pick up on, nothing. Just gone. So, I’m guessing she erased our memories of what she did as she was doing it.”

Ary lowered her eyebrows into a furrowed brow. “Well, that does take some strength. I can do that, too, but not while carrying a plate-encumbered sleeping draenei paladin. I need a ritual circle and reagents…”

“Do you think she’ll be a problem for you?”

“I think she’ll be a problem for you, yes. I’m not planning on being in direct line of sight if I can help it.”

“We’ll have others there for support, too.”

“Others that I barely know or barely trust.” Ary replied flatly. “I prefer to rely on myself where possible.”

Araatris took a deep breath and nodded her head. “I… I appreciate anything you can do.”

Ary chuckled. “That felt like it took an effort for you to say.”

“Too much of one, yes.” Araatris grumbled.

“Well, maybe it’ll hurt less when you do it next.” Ary kicked her foot out one last time, striking Tris’s curled horns with her heel.

“Ow! Stop that, dammit!” Tris spun her head to glare at her sister.

“Anyway,” Ary ignored the expression and hopped down to the next branch. “I’ve promised my help, and I’ll meet you here when you say. For now, though, I’ve got preparations of my own to make.”

“What preparations?”

“Like I said, Araatris, I’m going to need ritual circles and reagents. If you want me to go up against something as powerful as you fear, then I’ll need to sharpen my tools.”

“You’re going back to Eraelan, aren’t you?”

“And so what if I am? If he can offer advice, will you be too proud to accept it?” Ary looked at her sister with a slightly tilted head.

Araatris remained silent.

“I didn’t think so.”