Derek
His sister had always done her best to meet his expectations, but she'd always fallen short and he found a way to justify the pity he had for her. This time, however, he felt nothing for the creature in front of him as his face twisted in disgust at her greatest failure to date.
"We thought that increasing the dosage would produce more favorable results since she'd shown no adverse effect before." One of the robed men explained nervously. "Instead-"
"Instead, she turned into a demon." He finished, then looked at the man, relishing the slight flinch as he lowered his head. "This wasn't your doing. This was the Lord's will. Punishment for her crimes and weakness of faith."
"Yes, Lord Commander." He replied, hesitating slightly before asking, "And the pope?"
"His Holiness can't abide her to remain within the Capital any longer. Brand her and have her removed." Derek said, stepping up closer to the machine and grabbing Melody's disfigured face and ripping the muzzle off. "I renounce you and brand you Heretic."
"Just kill me." She wheezed weakly.
"The Lord's justice will grant you the end you deserve." He said, releasing her and stepping back. "Demons do not make demands of their betters. And I've changed my mind, Hammond, send her back to Veralys. Back to the people she tried and failed to kill. Perhaps they'll have the mercy I lack."
"As you wish, Lord Commander." The man said, bowing low.
Lily
She watched Alice crudely lick her fingers from her cupcake as they waited for Wastkin to arrive with the truck for their supplies. The maid had been her constant companion on these treks into the city, mostly because she resembled a maid, if in dress only. And that afforded them protection from harassment that extended beyond words.
Alice was in her thirties and had a hard life as an adventurer before joining Wastkin and Celestia at the Lightbringer Manor. Most of the staff were like that, but Alice was special. She lacked the grace the other maids had and didn't seem interested in learning, deeming it a waste of time and energy. She also challenged any order given that she disagreed with until it was more thoroughly explained, then she obeyed without question. But nobody thought ill of her and she showed time and again that her loyalty to her employers was unwavering, even if she bickered with them frequently.
"The hell are they doing?" Alice asked, looking down the street.
Lily followed her gaze and watched as kids pelted a hooded figure with rocks and weak spells, crowing 'Kill the monster!' over and over again. The person under the hood ran awkwardly, as if trying to encourage the behavior but wanting to avoid pain.
"Watch out, Lady Venge." Alice said, pulling her out of their path as they ran down a familiar alley.
The person lost footing in a puddle and slammed into the ground without any grace, but the children didn't stop their assault or their chant, despite the figure not showing any signs of movement. Lily wanted to help them, but knew she couldn't do anything to stop the children with no authority or magic of her own.
She looked at Alice, who seemed to be waiting for permission, and pointed. The woman nodded and after looking around for a few seconds, pulled a stick with a sign on it from the grass in front of the sweet shop and, after stripping the plastic sign off it, darted into the alley and swatted each child on the bottom with it before looming over them.
"Go on." She growled.
They scattered quickly, some throwing curses and insults over their shoulders as they ran. Alice knelt down and rolled the figure over and made a face before dragging her to a wall and propping her against it. "Lady Venge, would you come here?"
Lily swallowed, but walked as fast as her legs would allow, trying to ignore the anxiety building inside her as she made her way over to where Alice knelt. The first thing she noticed is that she could see the soles of the person's feet through their boots, and their clothes hung loosely off their frame. The cloak was little more than a cloth tarp with rope giving it shape, but even that was practically falling apart.
"I'm not really sure what's going on but..." Alice pulled the hood off and Lily's stomach turned. "Isn't this the girl that abducted you and tried to kill Master Venge?"
Lily tried her best to maintain her composure. It was, indeed, Melody Indigo. But black scales covered the left side of her face and seemed to join into a single horn that protruded from her skull. The half of her face that wasn't demonic was sunken, filthy, and pale almost beyond the point of recognition, but the single blue eye that stared blankly at nothing was unmistakable.
Her blonde hair, once beautiful and vibrant, was only a few inches in length now and dull brown from who knows how long of hard living. Her first thought was of satisfaction, but she shook that from her head. Cohle had nearly sacrificed his life to save her and that wasn't something to treat lightly, so she knelt down as Alice examined her hands. The nails were chipped or missing entirely and the once slender, but powerful fingers, were beyond skeletal. She could practically see the bone through the skin.
"Should I fetch the Madam?" Alice asked. "I don't think she has much longer without help and I'm shit with healing magic."
Lily nodded and Alice disappeared in a puff of wind. Not for the first time that day, her mind turned to Cohle and she stroked the lopsided hair of her doll. Reva had been absolutely livid when she read the letter sent by Rys, but that was nothing compared to Celestia's wrath. She teleported away immediately, leaving Reva to answer her questioning look with a terse 'he's not coming back for twoyears'.
She tried to get more information, but of the three who'd read the letter, none of them would give her an explanation why. It frustrated her to the point where she'd ignored them for nearly a week until it clicked that they were trying to keep her from worrying about him. While that did little to quell her anger at them, it did make it more tolerable.
She said a quick prayer that her brother would return home safely and turned her attention back to Melody. Something had cut her forehead that they didn't notice before because it hadn't bled, but now a sticky glob of dark red was forming. She searched her pocket for a handkerchief or a tissue, but couldn't find anything and as she was about to run back to the shop, Celestia appeared with Alice.
"Oh, Derek, what did you do?" She murmured, kneeling next to Lily and tipping Melody's head up and toward her. "Blood sickness. Never seen a case this severe and she's had it for months."
"It's a miracle she's alive." Alice said.
"I wonder about that. Miss Lily, if you'd go keep an eye out for Wastkin?" Celestia asked.
She nodded and headed back toward the entrance as she felt the crackle of powerful mana warm the air behind her.
Celestia
"You did the best you could, Madam." Wastkin said, his tone noticeably clipped. "If she were stronger, then perhaps more could be done."
"At least I was able to cure the sickness. The rest will have to be up to her." She mumbled tiredly, looking over at him. "What is it?"
"Madam?"
"You've been acting off since you laid eyes on her."
He sighed and pointed to the horn on Melody's head. "What do you know of demon's horns?"
"It's how you channel mana. If your horns are damaged or, like in your case, destroyed, then your ability to cast spells is virtually nonexistent unless you're a higher level demon. Then it's simply reduced to less than what a human child is capable of." She intoned, rubbing her eyes.
"Correct. But there's one more layer to things. Every demon has horns unique to them. Like your fingerprints or DNA. They might share similarities, but the final shape and size are distinct." He explained. "But that horn is exactly like Corra's. Even down to the waves in the bone."
"Ordinarily, I'd say there's no way you can know that. But blood sickness comes from the transfer of blood from demon to human. I've never seen a case as advanced as hers, but it makes sense." She said, looking at the unconscious teen. "I knew it the moment I saw her."
"That means Corra's still alive." Wastkin growled. "My queen still draws breath."
"There's nothing we can do for her right now. We can't just walk up to the greatest power on the continent and demand they release the queen of demons and expect to survive the ensuing fight." She snapped. "The pope's a sadist, but he's not a fool. And his control over Derek gives him more power than what I can muster."
"Then why do they pursue Cohle? Halfbreed blood is weaker than full demon. And they have the most powerful demon ever born locked away." Wastkin snapped.
"Because half his blood is from the most powerful demon ever born. The other half is human. I suspect they want to avoid this happening again." Celestia gestured to Melody. "And I have a feeling that, for Derek, it's personal. He doesn't want any trace of Than's betrayal to remain."
"Then, despite the danger Tartarus poses, he's in the safest place possible right now."
She nodded. "And hopefully, growing stronger."
Reva
"I know what I asked for, but this is seriously causing me problems." She grumbled, rolling her shoulder to loosen the muscles.
Wastkin examined his sword before setting the tip of it into the ground. "With Keen Awareness active while your movements are limited by the gravity magic, you will eventually eliminate all unnecessary movement from your daily life. It's not meant to be easy, Miss Reva. It's meant to make you better. Your insistence on using dual swords over daggers means you'll need much faster reaction time than even the best scouts."
"And this bullying me you're doing today is all a part of my training?" She snapped. "Ever since you brought Melody into the house, you've been harder on everyone."
"And I will continue to do so and one day you will say 'I need to thank dear old Wastkin for how hard he was on me because I'm only alive due to his training'." He snapped back, readying his sword. "We're continuing."
~
Collapsing on her bed, she was almost grateful for the nearly nonstop direction her life had taken since Rys' letter. It gave her very little time to dwell on her anger and concern for the boy locked inside a dungeon.
Tartarus was a Unique that only opened for a few minutes every two years and the monsters inside respawned twice as powerful each time they were defeated. The woman in charge of his training admitted that they were already too strong for her, but had expressed nothing but confidence that Cohle could reach what he needed and would survive.
In a moment of unthinking anger at being deprived of her friend, Reva had demanded that they push her past her limits as well. And four months into the school year, she was already studying magic she still couldn't cast at a graduate level and her swordplay was unmatched by anyone at the academy.
She'd hoped that Melody would give her an alternative sparring partner, but those hopes were dashed when she finally got a look at the woman who could've humbled Athena in a direct confrontation. Whatever anger she'd wanted to work out on Cohle's behalf faded instantly. Even Lily, who'd once been a victim of a brutal beating at her hands, was caring for her like one would a child.
All she'd been told was that she had suffered from prolonged, severe blood sickness. But from how coldly her caretakers had been behaving, there was more to the story.
"Stop thinking about it so much. Just get stronger, smarter, and better. That's all you can do." She told herself firmly. "If Cohle can't take it easy, then neither can I."
~
"Only a freak like that halfbreed can break spells using only his sword." Rickard sneered. "Why are you trying to copy him?"
Reva scowled at the cut on her arm, wishing she could heal it. But it was minor and the nurses were busy with the current first years. "Why're you complaining? You get to work out your resentment. Figured you'd get off on that."
In truth, she was glad it was Rickard and not any of the other students. Rickard was the leader in their crusade to make her life hell, but he had enough nobility to not openly try to kill her. The others, Reva was certain she'd be carted home in pieces if their wind spells hit her.
"As you wish." He scoffed, pointing his wand at her again.
She readied her swords and put her entire focus on the spellform. Cohle was able to cut through spells on instinct, but she lacked this ability. Instead she was using class to practice finding the weak points. Her eyes could catch them now, but her sluggish body simply couldn't react fast enough. This helped her refine her movements and she was determined that today was going to be the day.
The spell launched at her and her arm moved almost independent of thought and crashed into the wind. "Not yet!" She grunted through gritted teeth, urging more power into the blow until the spell shattered around her, throwing her back several feet. Thrusting her fist in the air, she cried out "YES!" triumphantly.
Wind spells were the second fastest spellforms, which is why she chose them to practice on. And they happened to be Rickard's specialty, making him more useful for her training. It was coming together perfectly.
Sitting up, she grinned at the dumbfounded faces staring at her, unable to believe that she'd succeeded in something so rare without using magic. "Let's go again!"
Rickard blinked and stammered before holding his wand out and casting the spell. "You're insane."
By the end of the day, she could do it consistently and was practically skipping up to the car as Wastkin opened the door. "You look pleased with yourself, Miss Reva."
"I was finally able to take my first step." She said, beaming at him.
Melody
The pink scar tissue extended down nearly half her face and neck before disappearing into the loose shirt she wore. Her mismatched eyes moved away from that disfigurement to the pitch black horn growing from her skull. It was elegant and sat low, flowing with the shape of her head nicely. But that it existed at all filled her with a profound pain that she wasn't able to articulate to herself.
The soldiers had forced her to walk the entire way from the Capital to the gate to Veralys, refusing to let her eat or drink more than a few crumbs or drops and casting body amplification spells to keep her moving. She spent half the journey believing that she deserved it, but a desperate anger began building inside her that turned to resentment.
It wasn't the Lord that had turned His back on her, it was the Church. Her brother. They'd turned her into this horrible creature and cast her out like she was trash and now she was suffering for what they'd done to her. And it was the people who she'd seen as enemies months prior who were caring for her and looking after her with more compassion than she'd ever known in her entire life.
She tries to punch the mirror, hoping to break it, but her blow was insultingly feeble and her eyes are glued to the frail face staring back at her. "I hate you." She whimpered, feeling her legs shake as what little strength she had faded and she sunk to the impossibly clean tile floor. "I hate you."
"You're probably the only one in this house that feels that way." A maid said, leaning against the door frame. "Now, you're supposed to be in the bath, not crying on the floor."
She walked over and hefted her like she weighed nothing and carried her over to a filled tub and pulled the shirt over her head, giving her a once over. "I'll tell Zeke to prepare something with more fat and protein. You're still too thin. Maybe some carbs, too. Give you more energy."
After that, she lifted her over the edge of the tub and set her in the steaming water. It smelled vaguely earthy with a faint perfumey scent Melody couldn't quite place. Despite her gruffness, the maid was surprisingly gentle as she took a rag and the soap and carefully cleaned her thoroughly.
"Hair and horn next. Wastkin says that horns are sensitive, so if it starts to hurt, let me know." She said as she slid the teen deeper.
She winced as the water touched it, but kept her complaint to herself as the maid worked and sat her back up. "Good thing it's so short for now." She said, wiping the rag across her cheeks then turned and rested against the tub with a sigh. "You're about the same size as Bella, so I'm having her bring a few of her older uniforms for you. Figured that'll work for clothes for the time being. We've also got some new underthings for you, too."
Melody felt a tightness in her chest and her vision blurred. "Why are you-"
"There's a multitude of reasons." She responded quickly. "And it changes from person to person. For me it's simple; You need help and I can, so I am. With Lady Venge, it's a bit more complicated. And I'm pretty sure it revolves around Master Venge."
"Lady Venge?" Melody asked, trying to sit up.
"Lily. I don't really understand all the politics involved, but she's officially Master Venge's sister now. She always held a special position in the house being Wastkin's ward, but now she's super fancy. It's adorable how much she hates it." The maid snickered.
"Is Cohle... Is he here?"
"Nah. He went training with Rys from Kingsguard. There was some big blowup about him getting locked in Tartarus. I don't think Madam will be sending him for training again anytime soon." She said dully. "Lady Venge still cries about it and Miss Reva's obsessed with training and learning as much as she can. I think she's pushing herself too hard, but she hasn't really complained, so."
"Reva Alabaster? She's here too?"
"Yeah, but I'd avoid using her family name if I were you." She warned, turning and resting her chin on the edge of the tub. "We're kind of like a house for misfits and castaways. You're a little old to be a ward, though. We'll have to find a place for you once you're strong enough. Only students and Madam herself are free from household obligations."
Melody felt her chest tighten. "You mean I can stay?"
"This is your home now, Miss Melody. For as long as you want it."
Reva
Reva sat stiffly as the member of Kingsguard, Ophelia Black, checked over every exposed inch of her with the detached, analytical eyes of a doctor. That hadn't been far from the truth, either. Since retiring, Ophelia had taken up residence in one of the fringe towns near the ocean and spent most of her time caring for others without the use of magic.
"I'm told you awakened." She said, her voice was husky and alluring, contrasting almost violently with Celestia's clinical, high pitched tone.
"Yes, ma'am."
"That wasn't entirely accurate, unfortunately. That was a reflex awakening, not a true awakening. Your body was just protecting itself."
"Could her condition at the time have played a part in it?" Celestia asked. "She was in rough shape."
"Awakenings don't normally care about the body's condition when they happen. In your case, Reva, I'd say you're in a state of partial awakening."
She blinked at the woman. Partial awakenings were more rare than awakenings themselves were, which was less than one percent of the population. In a way, it made sense, as her sister had awakened while still in the womb. But it also didn't make sense, as Reva had been born weaker than most children. And usually awakenings only happened in those who were already strong to begin with.
"So she needs a catalyst. That's two for two of my wards." Celestia grumbled, narrowing her eyes at the teen. "Why must the two of you be so difficult?"
"Cohle needed a catalyst?" Ophelia asked, her eyes widening.
"His mother's horns. But it screwed with his mana usage. Gave him mana channels when he was like Than originally."
"How'd you get- No, I don't want to know." She sighed. "Knowing you, it was something overly contrived and complicated."
"Like you wouldn't believe." Celestia mumbled, then took a sharp breath. "So, what's the verdict?"
"Surprisingly good. Her mana channels aren't becoming weaker from lack of use, they're actually becoming stronger. Whatever you've got her doing, keep it up. With the way they're developing, I think her awakening is likely going to be oriented toward physical augmentation."
"Like Athena." Reva spat. "Fantastic."
"Athena?" Ophelia asked.
"Her sister. Bad blood is putting it lightly. Athena's awakening was similar to Derek's, but with slower growth." Celestia answered.
"Interesting, but no. I doubt it'll be like that. From what you described, I think it'll be more dynamic in nature. You said that after the explosion you felt drained slightly?"
"Yeah, like my mana had been reduced but I hadn't cast anything."
Reva raised an eyebrow, this was the first time she'd heard anything about this. Ophelia nodded slowly, tapping a red fingernail to her lips. "Mana absorption isn't new, but with how her channels are developing, I think maybe... Hm."
"Phil?" Celestia asked.
"We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" She replied with a smile, then turned to Reva. "Keep pushing, young lady. Break through all the limits you and others have set for you."
"Er... I'll do my best?"
"Great power waits for you on the other side. You just have to be bold enough to claim it. Don't let anything hold you back anymore, not even yourself."
"Need I remind you that she's my ward and, more importantly, my student? She's already well above her peers at school."
"Need I remind you that I've always seen more than you?" Ophelia purred. "Don't start doubting me now, dear."
Reva wasn't sure to make of what she'd been told, but now that she knew she needed a catalyst, she was going to work even harder to ensure that her body was fully prepared when she finally found it.