"Nell?! Nell, for God's sake, pick up! I spent three hours teaching you how a phone works, PICK UP!"
You scream fruitlessly into your phone and almost spike it on the ground when she doesn't pick up. You're really starting to panic now. You know why she's not picking it up. You start running a bit faster. A black hand creeps out of your shoulder.
'It's likely she's been waylaid by the same group that's been trying to harass you.'
"I know," you groan. "This can't be possibly be anything but a targeted attack at this point." You blow out a breath through your teeth. "It's her. It's Lilith."
'It's been over a decade since the last time she sent someone after you.'
"She's never had a problem playing the long game. She's on the run from the Order, I'm not surprised it took her 13 years to finally scrape together enough to hire some decent assassins to come after me."
'If that's true, then if they are attacking Nell right now, and that's why she can't answer her phone, you know it's a trap meant to lure you in.'
"Yeah." You narrow your eyes. "I don't much care."
'I agree. I will prepare as much Spark for you as possible by the time we get ther --- Nessa, look out!'
Your head snaps up. The hand suddenly tries to expand in size to intercept what you're only just now realize is a very large amount of Void energy heading directly for your side. Your eyes widen. You bring your hand to your chest. Too later. The energy collides with the hand, now significant larger, barely managing to keep it from striking you. You look in the direction the energy came from. You see a figure in a black cloak with a hood pulled up standing a short distance away. One of their hands is up, lightly bouncing a violet sphere of pure Void energy in their hand.
You narrow your eyes and tap at your chest. The Voidheart wakes up and you immediately start pulling Spark from it into your hands.
'Nessa...'
You look at the hand. Your breath catches in your throat when you see violet light crackling and sparking off of it.
"Volatile Spark....!" You murmur. The attacker pitches the sphere at you. It strikes the hand and the energy crackling over it explodes, hurling you off the ground. You slam into a wall and crumple to the ground. Your ears are ringing and your vision is swimming, but you're vaguely aware the attacker is coming closer.
"C...Cornelius...are you okay....?" You murmur as you try to get your bearings back enough to bring your hands together.
'My physical form on your body was destroyed by the Volatile Spark.' His voice is more distant than normal. 'To reconstitute, I'll need five.....I'll try to make it three minutes.' This is about the most urgency you've ever heard in his voice. It underlines that you're in a very bad situation right now.
"Come on, come on, come on....!" Your hands are shaking as you try to make the right signs. You're growing more and more aware that the attacker is getting closer. You manage to strike your right hand against your left wrist in the right cadence - two purple circles with runes inscribed in their surface burst to life upon your wrists. You snap your arm in the direct of your attacker and basically blind fire a Void Bolt. It's enough to get them to dodge away at least. You shove your fingers onto your temple next and after a very unpleasant jolt runs through your entire body, you feel your vision clearing up and are able to get back to your feet. You raise your hand up at them.
"...you shouldn't have gotten involved with someone like Lilith," you snarl out, feeling what you're pretty sure is bloodlust building up in your stomach. It feels horrible. "I won't be responsible for what I do to you if you've done anything to my cousin."
"..."
The attacker doesn't advance, or retreat. They bring their hands up to their head and pull their hood back to reveal a dark-skinned face with purple eyes and white hair. The hair is longer and less maintained, the face is more mature and the eyes have more rings under them than the last time you saw them, but...you recognize all of them. Your hand falls.
"...Dimitri...?"
He stares at you without saying anything. Then, you feel the anger within you welling up far, far worse than before.
"So Lilith is willing to stoop even this low, huh?!" You vaguely hear Cornelius' voice distantly tell you not to rush in. You ignore it and, well, rush in. "STOP WEARING MY COUSIN'S FACE!" You scream as you charge in, firing more Void Bolts at him. He weaves around them as a Void Barrier builds around his arm. He sinks his Barrier-covered fist into your stomach and knocks the wind out of you with one punch. You crumble to the ground again, clutching your chest.
"So I'm just wearing your cousin's face, huh?" He asks. You almost cover your ears when you hear that voice. He leans down next to you. "Tell me something. Is Nell just wearing your cousin's face too? Or do you actually believe that she's really Nell? Because I have bad news for you. Whatever you believe for her, you have to believe for me too."
You try to crawl away. He doesn't pursue you yet. You look back at him.
"Dimi....you're really....you're really Dimitri?" You ask. And the question you never were able to bring yourself to ask Nell comes out. "H...how?!" Dimitri stares at you for a second. Then he opens his cloak and pulls down his collar.
You immediately recognize it when you see it in his chest.
It's the Void Shard you saw in your dreams. Implanted in his chest, exactly like it was in your dreams. Dimitri puts his cloak back in place and glowers down at you.
"All five of us. Ben, Fran, Gale, Nell and me. We were all brought back to life by Grandmother Lilith, using shards of the Voidheart." Without you realizing your hand was on your chest, your fingers find the place on the Voidheart you've touched hundreds of times, where it's missing those shards.
He runs at you, raising his Barrier-covered arm again. You try to conjure a Barrier of your own, but he punches right through it and socks you in the cheek. You stumble backwards and try to fire a Void bolt at him, but he smacks it out of the air with his bare hand and punches you again. Every attempt you make to defend or counterattack with your own spells is hasty, unfocused and easily turned away.
"You're the one who killed us, Nessa! You used the Voidheart to do it!" Dimitri yells out. "Grandmother Lilith revived the five of us for one reason. To take the Voidheart back from you!"
Your hands completely stop moving. You just stand there, too stunned to even defend yourself. Dimitri punches you in the stomach, then square in the nose. You drop backwards and land on your back. Your hands come up and cover your nose. He stands over you and raises his arm up, and in that second, you know, he's about to do it. He's about to rip the Voidheart right out of you.
You don't think you can stop him.
You don't know if you should even try.
Before he can do anything else, a giant black fist shoots out of the Voidheart and punches Dimitri square in the jaw and, due to its size, most of the rest of his head too. He flies backwards before landing on his feet and skidding backwards a few more feet. He rubs the side of his head, which has a quickly summoned Barrier on it that, after that punch, is mostly in pieces. He dismisses it and lets out a sigh. He clearly was trying to get this done before Cornelius reconstituted.
He then looks off to the side. He touches his hand to his ear.
"I'm here."
...
"Where?"
...
He looks back at you. He narrows his eyes. Between having to deal with Cornelius now and whatever's happening on the other end of that call, he clearly doesn't like this situation anymore. He turns and starts to walk away. Cornelius' only priority is to protect you, so he does nothing to stop him. You on the other hand.
"Dimitri, wait!" You cough, a hand on your chest, blood pouring from your nose as you basically try to crawl after him. "Dimitri, stop! Please!" He does stop and glance back at you.
"Nessa," he says shortly. "The only way the five of us can survive...is if you lose the Voidheart."
A purple aura covers his body and he phases through a wall, vanishing from sight. You stare at the wall for several seconds.
Then you just collapse onto your back and stare up at the sky.
04
You scream fruitlessly into your phone and almost spike it on the ground when she doesn't pick up. You're really starting to panic now. You know why she's not picking it up. You start running a bit faster. A black hand creeps out of your shoulder.
'It's likely she's been waylaid by the same group that's been trying to harass you.'
"I know," you groan. "This can't be possibly be anything but a targeted attack at this point." You blow out a breath through your teeth. "It's her. It's Lilith."
'It's been over a decade since the last time she sent someone after you.'
"She's never had a problem playing the long game. She's on the run from the Order, I'm not surprised it took her 13 years to finally scrape together enough to hire some decent assassins to come after me."
'If that's true, then if they are attacking Nell right now, and that's why she can't answer her phone, you know it's a trap meant to lure you in.'
"Yeah." You narrow your eyes. "I don't much care."
'I agree. I will prepare as much Spark for you as possible by the time we get ther --- Nessa, look out!'
Your head snaps up. The hand suddenly tries to expand in size to intercept what you're only just now realize is a very large amount of Void energy heading directly for your side. Your eyes widen. You bring your hand to your chest. Too later. The energy collides with the hand, now significant larger, barely managing to keep it from striking you. You look in the direction the energy came from. You see a figure in a black cloak with a hood pulled up standing a short distance away. One of their hands is up, lightly bouncing a violet sphere of pure Void energy in their hand.
You narrow your eyes and tap at your chest. The Voidheart wakes up and you immediately start pulling Spark from it into your hands.
'Nessa...'
You look at the hand. Your breath catches in your throat when you see violet light crackling and sparking off of it.
"Volatile Spark....!" You murmur. The attacker pitches the sphere at you. It strikes the hand and the energy crackling over it explodes, hurling you off the ground. You slam into a wall and crumple to the ground. Your ears are ringing and your vision is swimming, but you're vaguely aware the attacker is coming closer.
"C...Cornelius...are you okay....?" You murmur as you try to get your bearings back enough to bring your hands together.
'My physical form on your body was destroyed by the Volatile Spark.' His voice is more distant than normal. 'To reconstitute, I'll need five.....I'll try to make it three minutes.' This is about the most urgency you've ever heard in his voice. It underlines that you're in a very bad situation right now.
"Come on, come on, come on....!" Your hands are shaking as you try to make the right signs. You're growing more and more aware that the attacker is getting closer. You manage to strike your right hand against your left wrist in the right cadence - two purple circles with runes inscribed in their surface burst to life upon your wrists. You snap your arm in the direct of your attacker and basically blind fire a Void Bolt. It's enough to get them to dodge away at least. You shove your fingers onto your temple next and after a very unpleasant jolt runs through your entire body, you feel your vision clearing up and are able to get back to your feet. You raise your hand up at them.
"...you shouldn't have gotten involved with someone like Lilith," you snarl out, feeling what you're pretty sure is bloodlust building up in your stomach. It feels horrible. "I won't be responsible for what I do to you if you've done anything to my cousin."
"..."
The attacker doesn't advance, or retreat. They bring their hands up to their head and pull their hood back to reveal a dark-skinned face with purple eyes and white hair. The hair is longer and less maintained, the face is more mature and the eyes have more rings under them than the last time you saw them, but...you recognize all of them. Your hand falls.
"...Dimitri...?"
He stares at you without saying anything. Then, you feel the anger within you welling up far, far worse than before.
"So Lilith is willing to stoop even this low, huh?!" You vaguely hear Cornelius' voice distantly tell you not to rush in. You ignore it and, well, rush in. "STOP WEARING MY COUSIN'S FACE!" You scream as you charge in, firing more Void Bolts at him. He weaves around them as a Void Barrier builds around his arm. He sinks his Barrier-covered fist into your stomach and knocks the wind out of you with one punch. You crumble to the ground again, clutching your chest.
"So I'm just wearing your cousin's face, huh?" He asks. You almost cover your ears when you hear that voice. He leans down next to you. "Tell me something. Is Nell just wearing your cousin's face too? Or do you actually believe that she's really Nell? Because I have bad news for you. Whatever you believe for her, you have to believe for me too."
You try to crawl away. He doesn't pursue you yet. You look back at him.
"Dimi....you're really....you're really Dimitri?" You ask. And the question you never were able to bring yourself to ask Nell comes out. "H...how?!" Dimitri stares at you for a second. Then he opens his cloak and pulls down his collar.
You immediately recognize it when you see it in his chest.
It's the Void Shard you saw in your dreams. Implanted in his chest, exactly like it was in your dreams. Dimitri puts his cloak back in place and glowers down at you.
"All five of us. Ben, Fran, Gale, Nell and me. We were all brought back to life by Grandmother Lilith, using shards of the Voidheart." Without you realizing your hand was on your chest, your fingers find the place on the Voidheart you've touched hundreds of times, where it's missing those shards.
He runs at you, raising his Barrier-covered arm again. You try to conjure a Barrier of your own, but he punches right through it and socks you in the cheek. You stumble backwards and try to fire a Void bolt at him, but he smacks it out of the air with his bare hand and punches you again. Every attempt you make to defend or counterattack with your own spells is hasty, unfocused and easily turned away.
"You're the one who killed us, Nessa! You used the Voidheart to do it!" Dimitri yells out. "Grandmother Lilith revived the five of us for one reason. To take the Voidheart back from you!"
Your hands completely stop moving. You just stand there, too stunned to even defend yourself. Dimitri punches you in the stomach, then square in the nose. You drop backwards and land on your back. Your hands come up and cover your nose. He stands over you and raises his arm up, and in that second, you know, he's about to do it. He's about to rip the Voidheart right out of you.
You don't think you can stop him.
You don't know if you should even try.
Before he can do anything else, a giant black fist shoots out of the Voidheart and punches Dimitri square in the jaw and, due to its size, most of the rest of his head too. He flies backwards before landing on his feet and skidding backwards a few more feet. He rubs the side of his head, which has a quickly summoned Barrier on it that, after that punch, is mostly in pieces. He dismisses it and lets out a sigh. He clearly was trying to get this done before Cornelius reconstituted.
He then looks off to the side. He touches his hand to his ear.
"I'm here."
...
"Where?"
...
He looks back at you. He narrows his eyes. Between having to deal with Cornelius now and whatever's happening on the other end of that call, he clearly doesn't like this situation anymore. He turns and starts to walk away. Cornelius' only priority is to protect you, so he does nothing to stop him. You on the other hand.
"Dimitri, wait!" You cough, a hand on your chest, blood pouring from your nose as you basically try to crawl after him. "Dimitri, stop! Please!" He does stop and glance back at you.
"Nessa," he says shortly. "The only way the five of us can survive...is if you lose the Voidheart."
A purple aura covers his body and he phases through a wall, vanishing from sight. You stare at the wall for several seconds.
Then you just collapse onto your back and stare up at the sky.