A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Time stood still. The world around them disappeared, as Erik and Runa stared into each other's eyes. Yet, Erik still looked like one of the guards so, despite a strange sense of recognition, Runa still appeared confused.

"W— What did you say…?" she mumbled sceptically. "I don't know you, boy… But I suggest you leave quickly. That woman you know as Lilith is probably already on her way here."

Instantly, Erik frowned and panned his gaze towards the door. "Elora…?"

"I don't know…" the fairy immediately answered sceptically, her omnisense now blasting at full power. "I haven't noticed any warning systems, and those guards weren't connected to Lilith in any way I could tell, but perhaps your mother knows something we don't? Either that, or she just means it as a general warning, rather than specific knowledge."

"Either way, I'll hurry," Erik quickly responded. "Keep an eye out, little Ember." Then, he focused back on Runa.

His conversation with Elora took less than a second, and in this time, Runa continued inspecting the guard's face, still feeling a strange sense of connection and recognition, but not knowing why.

Suddenly, her answer came.

The guard's skin began to shimmer, before turning into a full-body black armour. Then, the armour receded, folding into an armguard, and revealing a face she'd been aching to see again. It was older, more rugged, and the soft, kind eyes she was used to had hardened, but she knew it was him.

Her eyes went wide, and her mouth fell open. Then, small tears appeared on the corners of her eyes as realization began to set in. "Erik…?" she whined softly, full of pained emotions.

"Yeah, Mom… it's me," he smiled softly while beginning to approach her. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get here, but I'm back now…"

Surprisingly, however, Runa didn't appear elated. When true realization set in, she attempted to jump up with fearful eyes, "Eri—?!" but was instantly pulled back down by her chain.

Coughing and slightly chocking, she instead waved her arms fearfully. "I— I don't know if this is another one of Edda's plans to make me sink into despair with some illusion, but e— either way, you need to leave! You can't be here, Erik!"

Inside Erik's soul, Elora perked up her metaphorical ears. 'Despair….?' she mumbled thoughtfully to herself. 'Why does that wording feel significant…?'

Yet, she couldn't realize immediately why that particular wording was significant, so she didn't say anything. She did, however, turn her vigilance up another notch.

Erik furrowed his brows in confusion, but didn't stop. When he was close enough, he stuck out his hand towards her. in an attempt to put her in his dimension, "It's fine, Mom, I just need to touch you once, and I can—"

"No!' Runa roared while extending her hand in his direction despite her words.

Fwoom!

Suddenly, a powerful wall of shadowflame sprang to life around the chained woman, interrupting Erik, and forcing him to back off. "What the…" he muttered in surprise.

Meanwhile, Elora immediately cursed in his mind, "Spirits! A shielded sigil! I didn't think they had the capability to make those, yet!"

But Erik was quickly pulled out of his surprise when he felt a searing pain on his hand. Looking down, he realized shadowflames were burning on his flesh, so he cursed and quickly mobilized his own power to suppress them.

Fortunately, although it was clearly Lilith who'd been responsible for this sigil, the fact it was a sigil meant its power was limited, and Erik managed to suppress the flames that latched on to him before any significant harm was done.

Still, a wall of shadowflame now remained between him and his mother, that he couldn't so easily cross.

"Can you remove it?!" Erik immediately asked Elora, while turning his attention to the closed door. Suddenly, he began to fear that his mother really did know something they didn't.

Before Elora could respond, a panicked Runa screamed, "Dammit, Erik, flee! Now! If you are real, then don't get killed over me!"

Unfortunately, it was too late.

"She's here…" Elora muttered helplessly. "There must be shielded warning sigils as well. And she's surprisingly fast."

Instantly, the doors crashed open, and a widely grinning Lilith walked through. Power thrummed around her and oppressed the very air. Third rank pressure filled the room, and Erik groaned softy, before Elora's pressure negated Lilith's.

"Well, well, well," the childhood-friend-turned-traitor purred domineeringly, her eyes roaming over Erik's body. "To think you fooled me so completely, little Erik! I'd love to know how you did that! Can I assume Aaron and my healer are dead?"

Without waiting for a response, she continued with shining eyes, "And you aren't even a third ranker! How are you projecting a third rank aura and pressure, without actually being one?"

Erik didn't care to answer her. Instead, his eyes flew around the room to look for a solution. "Elora?! Ideas?!" he exclaimed inwardly, but the fairy's response was less than helpful.

"I'm thinking!" she answered tensely. "Keep her busy!"

Inside his dimension, the situation wasn't any better. His allies were looking at this scene sombrely. "Everyone prepare," Astrid ordered with a frown. "Worst come to worst, we need to all jump in while overcharging our runes and magic cores…"

Grim expressions spread, but they all nodded in agreement. Yet, despite their agreement, they wondered if Erik would even allow that. They wouldn't put it passed him to use some last-ditch effort to escape with his dimension intact, before dying from the strain.

Somehow, he and Elora seemed to always have an answer to deal with any eventuality. But did they have one this time?

Meanwhile, seeing Erik's severe expression, Lilith chuckled cruelly. "My, my, I can see you've changed a lot, my love! What I wouldn't give to know where you've been!"

Then, she raised a hand, and conjured her shadowflames again. "But don't worry," she grinned sadistically. "I'll pluck all those delicious secrets from your brain, and then, when I've properly tamed you, perhaps we can see about continuing our romance! Wouldn't you like that?"

Erik grimaced and baulked at her implications. He was surprised she'd apparently stepped away from killing him, and now wanted him as a pet, but neither option was appealing to him.

"I'd rather choke on my own shit, you delusional bitch!" Erik cursed and spat on the ground. "I've already spent far too much time in this lifetime being your unwitting toy to now become a witting one!"

"Awww, you don't look back on our time together with joy?" she pouted slightly, before her face split into a wide insincere grin again. "That pains me, you know!"
Stay connected through empire

While they talked, Elora continued to wreck her brain for a plan, and Runa looked between them with tortured confusion.

On the one hand, she was increasingly sure this really was Erik, which not only finally validated all the hope and conviction she'd held for the last eight years, but most importantly meant she finally had her son back!

On the other hand, it might be too late…