Everheart: Chapter 13

A gentle caress of the cheek, a brief batting of the eyes and a compliment of the physique.

Men can be so easy to charm, as was that woman.  It's foolish to leave only those interested in women to look after your jail.  It was so ridiculously easy to charm my way into here, it's not even fun.

Of course, there's also the possibility that they were too afraid of saying "no" to the girl with fire coming from her eyes.  I'm okay with that, too.

Ginal strolled down the well lit hall, admiring the finely crafted planks of wood used in place of bars on the cells.  Gridanian craftsmanship at its finest.  She stopped and ran her finger along the lacquered surface of one, and relished in the reflection of the emerald flames.  The criminal behind these beams, some elezen woman, cowered at the sight of her, and Ginal loved every moment of it.

She moved on, further into the hall, and stopped before the cell at the end.

"Hello again." she purred.

The miqo'te man, clad in his gray prisoner's tunic, wearily looked upon her.  He cautiously approached the bars, "Again?"

A playful giggle was her reply as she traced her finger along the planks that separated her from her prey.  "You don't recognize the woman who put you here to begin with?  That makes me sad."

The confusion in his eyes gave way to fear, his ears twitching rapidly.  A mass of purple aether formed in her outstretched hand, then lengthened and solidified, coalescing into a glimmering greatsword.

"You almost killed me, back then.  You almost took me from my friends and my beloved."  Ginal looked upon him with contempt as her tail flicked in agitation.

The Coeurlclaw King had back away until his back was against the wall behind him.  He had nowhere to run, and she could see it in his eyes.  Her ears twitched as she listened to his heart beating rapidly, and she could smell the fear coming off him.

Such an intoxicating scent.

A low swing along the bars, followed by another up high, and a hole formed in the cage as the planks fell over.  She stepped through, grinning wickedly as her pools of living emerald fire feasted upon the poacher's trembling and rapid breathing.

"And now, your majesty, I will take you from all who may still care for you."

Hear...feel...think... Beloved daughter...return home...

"Umm...are you alright, Miss?"

Blinking rapidly, Selah shook herself from her reverie as she realized she had stopped mid-sentence, still clutching the letter.  She looked upon the moogle postman with an embarrassed smile.  "Yes, sorry."  She cast a quick glance around, "Did you hear something?"

The diminutive, fine-furred fellow scratched at his ear and shrugged, "I hear lots o' things, Miss.  But I've heard nothing peculiar, if that's what ya mean."

"Right.  Forget it.  As I was saying, this letter needs to go to Ginal Celah.  You can find her in The Goblet, at the home of the mercenary company Pathfinders, or in Gridania bunking in the Lancer's Guild.  Got it?"

"Right-o!" the postman happily squeaked.

Shouldn't I just use the aethernet to go find her?  This could be talked over and done within hours...

But would she even want to see me?  I know I hurt her badly by even choosing to come here.  I wouldn't be surprised if she had an hour long rant to throw at me, with her fists trembling and tail standing straight.  No, this is best, isn't it?  This way I can let her decide that she wants to come to me.

She'll still want to see me, won't she?

Selah slowly looked about the city around her, trying to identify where that motherly voice may have come from.  Alas, the postman was correct.  Revenant's Tolls was alive with a thousand different sounds and sights, and there was no way to find a mysterious speaker in this mess.

Assuming, of course, it wasn't all in her head.

Terror, pain, suffering, and the finality of death.

What have I become, that I can so easily bring this to the world around me?  And what have I become, that a part of me can enjoy it so much?

Ginal stared into the empty abyss surrounding her, tightening the embrace around her knees.

This isn't right.  This isn't who I want to be.  Those Ixal and their young...  The poacher lord in his jail...  I killed them all... and I'll kill again...

"Don't worry so much, darling."  came a sultry purr.  

Those eyes of emerald fire hung in the darkness, and Ginal didn't need to see her face to see that predatory grin.

"The poacher king almost killed us, just when things were going so well with Selah.  He almost took that from us!  And those Ixal have stabbed us, burned us and cost us our favorite armor.  They needed to be repayed."

And their young?  They did nothing!

Cold, dismissive laughter echoed throughout the void.  "They would only grow to be a threat to others, if not us again.  They're beasts, and I put them down like beasts."

Ginal stood, and stared into the twin flames.  She saw in them her own pain, anger, frustrations and desperation.  The intensity of Ginal's passions poured outward from the woman of flame, left completely unhindered by conscience or control.

This isn't what I wanted of us when I went to rest!  You're turning us into a murderer and a fiend!

"It's not murder if they deserve to die, darling, and I won't stop until everyone has been properly punished.  I believe A'rikia and Robimont are next."

NO!

Ginal ran towards the eyes and pulled the woman of emerald flame into the light, shaking her furiously.

You can't kill them, too!  They don't deserve that!

The eyes flared, and she shoved Ginal away.  Her lips remained twisted in that smirk as she sauntered closer.

"I'm not going to kill them, darling.  I'm going to keep Robimont alive so he continue to suffer the indignity of being castrated and beaten over and over again..."  She paused mid stride as she drew a finger across her bust, her tail flicking about as she purred, "And as for A'rikia...she's going to learn not to reject us.  I'll have my way with her when I find her."

Gods, no, you can't do this!

A lance of glimmering silver formed from light in Ginal's hands, and she charged forward to meet her darkness.  The woman laughed dismissively as her greatsword manifested from the swirling black.

The weapons clashed with a great flare of light and darkness, throwing the two apart.  They tumbled to the ground, both gasping for breath with faces twisted in pain.  The woman struggled to push herself up, looking ahead and finding that Ginal had already collapsed.

"I won't be denied...even by you..."

Her arms buckled under her, and all faded to black.

"Your faith, Emera, is truly unquestionable.  Where our children normally only acknowledge one of us in their daily life, you have always kept your heart open to all twelve of us."

The woman was tall, even for an elezen, with curves and endowments in all the right places along her slender frame.  Strands of raven hair framed the sides of her oval face, with eyes aglow with brilliant gold, and ran the length of her back.  The gown of shining white silk was almost indistinguishable from her porcelain skin, and seemed to flow in a non-existent breeze.  Beams of moonlight pierced the great canopy of the Shroud, casting the woman in an almost otherworldly illumination.  Ginal had to admit to herself, it was a spectacular sight to behold.

For her part, the plates of emerald-adorned shining steel armor that formed her breastplate, gauntlets and boots, however regal, seemed to pale in comparison.  Ginal relaxed the grip on her sword and let it rest in its sheath.  She eyed the woman wearily, though approached with a playful smirk.

"And here I thought I was loved for my impeccable fashion sense..."  She cast her hands down along her body to indicate her armor.  "Or at least my body."  With an impish grin, she bent over to display how her pants fit tightly on her backside as her tail swayed playfully.

I'm glad I prefer pants.  I can't imagine what it would be like for me to be flashing my underwear in a skirt.

The Lady in white answered with a heartfelt laugh.  "We have always found your need to deflect serious matters by way of sexual humor charming, but that is not why we summoned you here."

Ouch.  Most people aren't perceptive enough to see past the surface of my jokes...buy this isn't a normal pwrson, is she?  I can't hear her breathing, she has no scent, and not to mention those eyes.

How curious.

Ginal found a seat on a tree stump and ran a hand through her blonde hair, fashioned in a long braid down her back.  "Well, what did you call me here for?  What does my faith have to do with anything?"

'As we said, your incorporation of each of us into your lifestyle is unique, and your attempts to sermonize to your fellows has drawn our attention..."

"Wait, wait!"  Ginal sprang to her feet and slowly circled The Lady, her ears twitching as she inquisitively looked her over.

"You keep saying 'We' and 'Us...'  Are you trying to tell me that you're some sort of...representative of the Twelve?"

The Lady's lips turned up with kindness as her eyes shone with pride, "Ever perceptive, Emera.  Yes, that is what we are."

 Seriously?  The gods themselves, manifest before ME of all people?  This has got to be some kind of ruse.

"Do you not have evidence enough before you, child?" The Lady inquired.  "Let not your heart be clouded by doubt when your soul knows the answer."

Well, she has no scent, and I hear no breath or heartbeat, so there's that.  She's awfully tall, even for an elezen, and she's undeniably perfectly curved and proportioned.

Not to mention how I feel like I'm drowning in aether while I'm in her presence.

Ginal chuckled as she returned to her seat on the tree stump, "Alright, let's say I believe you.  What, aside from my unusual prayer habits, would make me so deserving of your immediate attention?"

"Things are in motion, Emera.  Dark and terrible things."

To illustrate her point, a wave of her hand produced images in the sky above, of flaming meteors falling upon the earth, sparks erupting from the clash of blades, and rivers flowing a sickening red from an overfill of blood.

"Beast tribes will clash with those of man.  Nations are poised to crumble."

"How dramatic." Ginal commented.  "And let me guess, you need some sort of champion to stand against the darkness?"

The Lady silently nodded.

Ginal considered this as she idly rubbed her chin, her tail softly swaying behind her.  "I'm no champion, Miss.  Just a not-always-humble priest."  

She rose and bowed as politely and sincerely as she could, and began to walk away.

"And you would so easily condemn your Sapphine to suffer in the coming darkness?"

That was the way to get my attention, alright.  

Ginal laughed, accepting her temporary defeat.  "You have my attention."

Birdsong sweetly echoed in Ginal's ears, rousing her from her slumber.  With an indulgent moment to stretch and listen, she purred as she touched and caressed herself.

"Mmm...what a peculiar dream...  And strangely familiar."

The blue of early morning hung in the sky, allowing the land around her to remain shrouded in comforting shadows.  Light shone through the windows of the stilt-supported buildings that hung off the mesa, casting reflections in the rippling waters of the lake beneath.  She leaned over the stream she had awoken by, and admired the reflection of her twin flames.

But forget the dreams.  Perhaps She is right...maybe I'll toy with A'rikia another way, once I find her.  And after that...

Deliberately, she removed her sandals, dress and panties, making a show for any who dared to look upon her.  She sat within the cold water and delighted in the shivers that rippled across her body.  With cupped hands, she poured the water over herself, and relished in the reaction the cold had on her body.

I need to find Selah...she's been such a bad girl.

The noises she made were lewd and unabashed as she pinched and caressed herself.

The things I'll do to you, my darling wife...and the things I'll have you do to me...

Fingers dancing in wet warmth, a palm wrapped around a shaft, and an a capella song of excited moans.  Upon the writhing and shuddering of her climax, she laid herself in the shallow stream, purring, panting and smiling at the lewd thoughts that remained in her mind.

"This is going to be a yummy day."

Creaking, and the sound of bootfall on wood overhead, and a figure leaned over the railing of the bridge above her.  The dark green leather on his torso indicated the elezen as a Wood Wailer.

"Hey, who's down there?  What in Nophica's bosom is all this noise down here?"

She grinned while meeting the man's gaze, her hand covering her crotch in mock-modesty.  "Just a little alone time, sweetheart."

The guard scoffed, "Gods, girl-"  His chastisement halted as she knew the realization of her eyes finally hit.

"Something wrong?" she purred.

The guard stared, slack-jawed at the unnatural fire raging in those eyes.  She smelled the sweat beading on his forehead, and her ears twitched at his rapid breaths.

He's paralyzed.  How deliciously wonderful.

"A-as you were." he stammered, and finally found the power to move.

Ginal cackled at the situation and splashed more water onto her face.  Finished with her bathing, she idly paced and playfully twirled about on the bank, basking in the gentle morning breeze gradually drying her skin.

The sun had broken over the horizon by the time she had dressed herself.  Suantering up the winding hills and over a long bridge, she strolled into settlement proper.

I always loved Fallgourd Float.  It's Vistas are so lovely.

The townspeople looked on fearfully, and the guards all seemed torn between rushing to engage her, or fleeing their posts entirely.  Wisely, they seemed to choose neither.

It's good to be respected.  It's wonderful to be feared.  Whatever it was about that aetheryte explosion that did this I'm most definitely thankful.

She strolled along bridges and over the mesa everything was built off, reveling in everyone's weariness and anxiety at her passing.  Into the grand, multi-storied inn she went, and took a moment to take in the spacious lobby.  Twin pillars, of oak most likely, flanked the open archway doors, and a gray-green rug stretched out between them.  The elezen couple that tended the desk stretching out along the far wall gasped and cowered as her gaze met theirs, and she couldn't help but smile.

Looking to her right, a Wailer stood watch at the base of the stairs that wound up along the wall.  The furred ears on his head flattened as she approached, and his tail flicked to show apprehension.

Just the very sight of me, looking into my eyes, they sense how dangerous I really am.  Would that it had always been this way for us.  I don't think I've had so much fun in my entire life.

After making her way up to the second story, her gaze drifted across the patrons sitting at the tables.  A quiet immediately fell upon the gathered folk.

"Gods be good, her eyes are living flames!" cried an older hyur man, his bushy beard and faded linen clothes indicating a farmer.  He was so startled by the sight of Ginal that he had fallen from his seat, and was cowering on the floor.

Slowly, the gathered patrons rose from their seats and hurried away, leaving meals and drinks unfinished without complaint.  Ginal found a seat near the balcony railing that overlooked the lobby.  She leaned against the table and waited for an innkeeper to come and take her order.

A chocobo should have me to Hyrstmill within a day if it rides swift enough.  I do hope dear A'rikia still lives there, she needs to be taught a very valuable lesson.

As does everyone who's ever wronged me.