Elmira
The shift in tone was palpable. “What about me?” she wondered.
“You are insolent. Troublesome. Reckless. You play the Reds as well as you do Hana, and you bribe my guards to look the other way. Shall I go on?”
Her lips curled into a tight smile. “If you must, sir.”
The darkness of the expression still revealed a flicker of something. Amusement? Admiration? It was hard to say. She watched him drink, bracing herself for the unavoidable. It was a fate she had made her peace with a long time ago.
There had always been the presence of the possibility of a day when she would no longer be idly accepted by them. When smart remarks and clever jabs would no longer be enough to sway the fickle tempers here. When one step became one step too far. The scars that marked her back were a constant reminder of that very fine line between insolence and ingenuity, between survival and irrelevance.
Kollisi put the glass down on a coaster. “You have an eye for patterns.”
She let the words hang in the air for a second, considering the possibilities of her next move. “I dabble as a compound guide, sir, it comes with the territory.”
He let out a soft snarl. “I’ve dealt with many such guides. They all come up woefully short,” he said, his voice light. “Yet you… Well, you’re different. It’s as though the maze speaks to you and only you, no one else. Quite infuriating, I must admit.”
“Why settle for anything less than being the best?” she replied, the edges of her mouth tugging up despite herself.
He laughed at that, a quiet sound that seemed to rumble. Now was a good opportunity to down the rest of her drink. She fought the urge to cough as the burn made its way down her throat, feeling the heat settle low. The taint in it didn’t even bother her anymore.
“Why indeed? But there’s still the matter of your debt.”
Her shoulders tightened. “Are you still sore about that toad for a major?” she asked, trying her best to sound lighthearted, to make it seem like old news.
“No,” he said. “Turns out he was a spy sent by the Emperor. You did me a favor, actually.”
“Then what debt are we talking about?” she asked, leaning back slightly against the table so it could steady her, keeping her voice even. “Last I checked, I was square with the sanctum.”
Kollisi stepped closer, his silent prowl more frightening than any words he could have spoken. She held herself still, resisting the instinct to recoil from his approach. It was only then that she understood the true nature of the power he wielded and why he had risen to such heights. Why he was so dangerous, even now.
His eyes never broke contact as he closed the distance between them, his palms resting on the table on either side of her, walling her in. Only now did she notice that he must be a good 6 feet tall plus some. He smelled of leather, his breath scented with moonshine and lavender, and she was acutely aware of his physicality and how close he was.
So close she could smell the faintest trace of adrenaline that buzzed beneath his calm exterior. He was too close. Too aware. But so was she.
“I wish more of my men had that flame in their eyes," he whispered, his voice a growl.
There was something in his words, something that made her pulse quicken. Her mind began to stir, prickling with a sudden sensation. A foreign presence pressing against the edges of her thoughts. He wasn’t just speaking to her. He was reaching for something deeper, trying to slip inside. It wasn’t arcane or magic, that wasn’t possible, but something else entirely.
“What is your name?” he wondered, the words echoing ever so slightly.
The image of a young, scrappy, black-haired street urchin cowering in a frost-bitten back alley sprang to her mind. She could see the girl so clearly, her defiant stare, the dirty hands, the faint scent of winter on her. She almost smiled at the memory.
“Auriel,” she answered, the word slipping away before she could stop it. “Damaris.”
“Where do you come from?”
The alley made way for a larger cityscape. Destroyed. Desolate. Scarred. “Japhaia.”
Something in his eyes shifted, but it passed too soon for her to grab onto. “Who have you told about my plans?” he asked.
“No one,” she said, genuinely taken aback by the question. “I don’t know when your cause became my own, General, but it is mine all the same.”
"I don't believe you are quite truthful with me."
He said it calmly, but there was nothing calm about it. His sword rested on his hip, and she didn’t doubt that he could reach it within seconds. Just as she didn't doubt she wouldn't reach her daggers in time.
"Of course not," she said and stuck out her chin, leveling his gaze. "So why am I alive?"
His jaw clenched. “You tell me.”
With nothing to lose, she forged on, driving him back with a strength she hadn’t felt since graduating from the Academy. "Because deep down you know that we are the same. I, a girl from the Emerald District forced to survive in the ashes, fighting for food with the rats. You, a boy hauling his ódir through the mud, harping on about some agarthian angel. I pitied you."
“Who told you that?” he snapped, eyes widening briefly.
“The kind of friends you should never share anything with. I’ve been around.”
It was easy to lie. Too easy. This cover for a cover for the girl she'd once been, it was as if it inhabited every fiber of her being. She let her memories of Japhaia run wild at the surface of her thoughts. Memories of joy and pain, of the city’s fleeting beauty, and the ashes that had slowly choked the life out of it. She knew he was reading it all. The bitterness and resentment that always lived at the edges of her heart were perfect for this. The mask she wore, the one she had forged in the fires of survival, never felt so real.
"Who are you to command this army? Who are you to decide who lives and dies because of your boredom? No one. And I don't care. I forged my life from the ashes of my childhood. I bribe your guards with drugs because it's the only way they won't desert you. I have made this Base run for you so that one day you may just be good enough to make it fly. And I hope you do a damn sight better with your people than you did with your so-called brother."
That last sentence came out like a hushed fury of a whisper. The mention of General O'Hagan stung him like a fresh wound. The rumors surrounding his disappearance swirled around her like smoke, but in her heart, the connection to O'Hagan felt closer than she would ever admit. Something screamed and pulled at the back of her mind, but the moonshine silenced it. The man before her didn’t rise to the challenge, but there was anger towering in the corner of his mouth. Her nails dug into the palms of her hands.
"Good," he said after a very long pause. The confusion and relief must have shown because Kollisi pulled back with a bark of a laugh and poured them both a hefty top-up from a new bottle. She swallowed half of hers in one go before forcing herself to slow down. An addled brain was a dangerous thing, and hers was beginning to swim. Absently, she noticed the distinct lack of poison. Small victories.
He eyed her up and down in a way she was not entirely comfortable with. There was something predatory about it, the way his gaze lingered and then receded, but it didn’t matter. She had already made her move. Trust was not an option, but she would play his game. If only to survive it.
“How would you like an assignment, Auriel Damaris?”
She forced a crooked smile, feeling the edges of her mask once more settle into place. "I have one. I am the Maze Hunter."
“Do you know why I have had you collect these?” he asked, gesturing towards the table where she had placed the transistor.
She shook her head, her heart in her throat. This is it. She was walking the edge now, and there was no way back.
"It is a key."
“Pretty elaborate for a key,” she said, falling into her role.
“It opens the Weave,” he said. “And the Veil between realms.”
"Impressive," she said, keeping her voice level. “You have created a door opener. Congratulations.”
“Careful,” the voice said, but it was dripping with something she’d never heard before. Fear. But El did not care about a key, no matter how much Elmira did. El listened, filed it away under useful information, followed the thread.
"It is more than that," he said, his eyes narrowing as he spoke, almost like he was reveling in the weight of what he was about to say. "I will use their power to cause their doom. And then, I can finally begin my mission."
El shuddered. She had seen this before. Megalomania. Hubris. Destruction was his means to an end, and that end was always something worse. No one asked what happened after the revolution.
“And what do you want from me, sir?”
“I want Arman,” he said, a strange, knowing glint in his eyes. “He and I are having a little disagreement at the moment. You and he, on the other hand," he added with a suggestive look, "don’t seem to have that problem."
The words hit her like a slap. Arman. She had not lied to Noke about his abilities; she knew them well. Knew him well. A simple love story, though nothing was ever simple when you were dealing with a mind like his.
"And if he doesn’t listen to me?" she asked, her voice steady despite the sudden tremor of doubt creeping up her spine.
"Then it is I who will pity you."
The change in him was subtle, but it was there. An unspoken threat wrapped in the calm of a man who had long since abandoned any pretense of empathy. His eyes never left hers as he said it, and for a moment, the reality of every word settled over her like a dark cloud. It was a promise and a warning all at once.
She took the box of components and sealed documents without another word. The mission was clear now. Her task was set. Go to Arman, convince him to build the key, and tie them further into Kollisi’s web. She left the room with the box clutched tightly in her arms, feeling the pulse of the secret world she was about to enter.
"Good girl," Kollisi called out after her as the door swung shut behind her. Mentally, she gave him a good beating, the sound of her quiet fury ringing louder than any physical blow ever could.
