I know who killed your father

Nherisa followed the river straight back to the castle. She didn't stop for anything. Not even for Cordelia. And she wouldn't stop for a few guards either.

After all the chaos that Cordelia caused earlier, sneaking in was almost a breeze. She swept right past the guards.

The halls greeted her with tension as she walked through. The guards had their work cut out for them outside. That would keep them busy for some time.

Nherisa didn't check every room. She didn't feel the need for such an exhausting job. Instead, she went straight to Eric's room. The way there, she could never forget.

She opened the door gently. It made a quiet, hard to notice noise until it opened enough for her to pass. When she did, the room was empty. No, Eric, no egg. Just a well arranged room.

Without knowing why, Nherisa walked in. She looked around at the gold that decorated the room along with other natural resources. She, for a reason unknown, saw history in the gold. Like it was somehow tied to her, in a way.

With that, she was stuck. She found herself pulling closer to the pillars, arms stretched forward.

Her longest finger brushed it, and the others touched it afterwards. Her head threw back, and her eyes were glowing. This time, she fell to the ground. And, what she saw this time, it changed the whole story.

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"I will not let them do this to us." The face was unfamiliar, and the voice, strange. But the person sitting beside him. That face, Cordelia couldn't forget. "This is equivalent to slavery."

"But Jasper," Pherisa, Cordelia's mother, said. "They are powerful people. You can't fight them. At least not alone."

Jasper.

Jasper was the person who the king killed.

He was the same one in my vision, Cordelia thought. She had taken his body once. Putting all that together...

"Father." Cordelia said, her heart pounding, her hands shaking.

She reached out to him, and he was gone.

She was pulled back to reality where a palace guard was about to stab a spear into her. Shifting aside, she held the spear and pushed the blunt end against the guard's stomach.

She picked another piece of rock out of the ruins of her father's house. Her psychic eyes opened again. This time, she saw the king. Seward came along with a procession of guards to Jasper's house.

The guards hit him and hit him until he bleeded.

"Wait!" Seward said in the vision. "We will hand him over to King Harold. He will kill him with his bare hands."

The guards held Cordelia's father by and dragged his wounded body up to the shore, leaving Pherisa there: crying, pregnant."

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Nherisa looked around the room. She saw a little boy by the window, looking outside with curiosity. She struggled to see through the window without letting go of the pillar.

She did manage to see a man dressed in a regal attire standing by the lake. She immediately guessed that he was Harold, the former king. But beyond where hs was standing, out of the lake, Seward, his face unmistakable, appeared. Behind him, a couple of guards pulled Jasper's head out of the water.

The king spoke a few words, as did Seward, and a minute later, castle guards went out and dragged Jasper on dry land. Nherisa waited alongside the boy. That wasn't all. There had to be more.

Before Nherisa could finish that thought, she saw the king storm in with a few guards dragging her father in after him. They dropped him at the boy's feet and left the room, closing the door behind them.

"You see this thing here?" Harold had said. "This is a traitor. An ungrateful being. And what do we do to traitors?"

"We punish them?"

"We make sure they never think of doing such a thing again." Harold said. "By making sure they lose the ability to think, forever."

Harold lifted his sword over Jasper, little Eric watching with trembling fingers. His sword came down on his chest, not with precision, not with justice, but with pure, utter wickedness.

Nherisa let go of the pillar.

Out of all the things she could remember about her father, it was his face she could recognise anywhere. That was her father. Murdered by a power obsessed lunatic in the presence of the father of her child.

Her legs failed, and she crashed into the ground, shedding tears. She sat up, burying her head in her her legs and wrapping her hands around them.

Eric had thus had a whole operation going on for so long. And without realising it, she...

The thought of it sent a stab through her heart. She suddenly understood Cordelia's reprimanding. That child. Was it really a mistake?

Would Nherisa's child give her nothing but regret?

Jasper.

Harold.

Eric.

But Pherisa was missing from the equation. Why did they kill her? Was it Harold or Seward that killed her? Was she even dead? Had her visions been

Questions that couldn't be answered by sitting and crying. Eric had answers. Only he could tell her the truth.

The door opened, and Eric walked in.

"What are you doing here?"

Nherisa looked up, not bothering to wipe her tears. "Where is my child?" She said, standing up to look Eric in the eye.

Those eyes.

Although Nherisa didn't quite get know them well, they looked different, lighter, like a whole lot of weight was lifted off them. Like they were new

"He's safe." Eric said.

Nherisa never thought of it before, but Eric's eyes had always looked... not human. Like there was something supernatural yet sadistic in them. How did she not notice it before?

"What are you doing here?" Eric asked.

Nherisa actually cringed at that question. Such anger that a person would have after getting hit on the head with a stone. "You seriously just asked that question?" She asked.

Eric, like he didn't understand Nherisa, walked to the door and stood there for a second, not watching, not listening but sensing around for something.

When he couldn't sense anything, he closed the door and walked back towards Nherisa. He grabbed her by her hand and dragged her to the farthest corner of the room. "Look." He said. "I can't do anything right now, she us always watching."

At first, Nherisa didn't quite understand. "Who is watching?"

"The spirit." Eric said. "She is in everything, everywhere and every person. No one is safe. In fact, she could be in this very room right now, Nherisa."

"I don't understand, Eric." Nherisa said.

"You don't need to." Eric said. "I'll try to save our child. You leave right away. Before she comes."

Eric pushed Nherisa towards the door.

"Go!" He said, pushing her out and shutting the door in her face.

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"Remain calm, Cordelia." Cordelia said to herself. "You will not succumb."

On the outside, Cordelia looked like a mad woman to the guards who were now dragging her to the palace. But on the inside, she was fighting a battle on which their life depended.

"What are you doing here again?" Cordelia said, taking a journey into the bright darkness of her mind.

"Oh, nice to see you again." The spirit said. "Did you miss me?"

"No!" Cordelia said. "I did not miss you. Rather, I want you to leave. Forever."

"Hmp. You want your freedom." It said. "But that is what I'm here to give you."

"I want to be free from you!" Cordelia said.

"Ha ha ha. You were captured but humans and are now being dragged to captivity bu a few sea dwellers, and you want freedom from me? You have the power to rule both words to hold them in your grasp, and yet you were held prisoner in both. And you say you want freedom from me?"

"I don't need your help." Cordelia said. "I can handle myself."

"But you do need my help. And I never gave you a choice." The spirit said. "You don't have what if takes to hold this power. You need me."

"I need you to leave."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I was always a part of the equation, and I still am. Perhaps I didn't introduce myself he last time we met. I am Vane, your new consciousness. And..."

"I don't care."

"I've been around a long time and..."

"Spare me your origin story and leave."

"...and I know what happened to your mother."

"What?"

"And it was neither Seward nor Harold."

"Lies." Cordelia said, her tone coming out lower than she anticipated. Why? Because she believed her.

"Your mother was taken captive by Seward when she found his truth. And when Harold heard about it, he ordered that she should be brought to him. He kept her captive in hus own dungeon."

"Those monsters," Cordelia said, full of rage.

"It gets worse." Said Vane. "Eric. He is the one who killed your mother."

"No...no, he was just a child."

"He grew up." Vane said. "He had rage. Some might say he was possessed."

Vane looked at Cordelia. She didn't need to say another word. Her job was done. Cordelia was fuming. I was so angry it could be noticed a mile away. Chains, out of nowhere, appeared around her. Once again, she was tied down.

Time to act.

Vane took her place in Cordelia's mind, being able to control her thoughts, channelling her anger to create something far greater.

Power.