Another flash and a battle raged around them. Leytouched stood side by side with their guardians, facing overwhelming numbers of both mages and warriors alike. They fought fiercely, bravely, but they were pushed back, regardless. Slowly but surely, the fight moved up the steps and into the inner sanctum of the Nexus. Each time the defenders retreated further, they were forced to leave the bodies of their slain behind. Felix watched as a blond leytouched man was dragged away by two others, screaming in agony, when a tall warrior with a long red braid was cut down just ahead of him. As the woman’s blood spilled onto the stones, the glow of the man’s ley markings dulled along with it.
A handful of bedraggled leytouched and their warriors made a desperate last stand in the same grand, vaulted chamber Felix and Isolde were standing in. The fighters created a shield wall with their bodies, seemingly absorbing the offensive magic thrown at them by the much larger group of mages pouring into the sanctum. Mages making the mistake of coming too close collapsed to the ground almost instantly, their magic and very life drained by the last few remaining leytouched. No matter their vast power, though, it was not enough. A ball of fire soared over their heads, hitting the wall behind them. Debris rained downon the cornered defenders, and in the confusion, they were easily overrun by the overwhelming numbers of their assailants. Felix and Isolde stood by silently and witnessed the end.
The desperate battle faded, but the large vaulted room remained, the sounds of fighting replaced by an oppressive silence. A crowd of mages surrounded a handful of dishevelled leytouched. Most looked injured; all looked broken. Their stares were vacant, and their bodies slumped. Heavy metal collars hung around their necks.
Time passed. The bound leytouched were left, abandoned. They were strong at first. Some tried to break free. Some tried to end things differently. None succeeded, and eventually they withered away, forgotten. When the first few died, the ley lines surged and crackled until they were replaced one by one. The cycle repeated again and again over centuries.
Finally, an unconscious leymarked young man, barely more than a child, was dragged into the room by two burly fighters in leather armour. Behind them walked a mage, who gestured to an empty slab.
Fifty years since then.
Felix spun around. The last leytouched, as withered as before but standing up and alert, stood behind them.
I didn’t know anything. I was alone, no one was on my side.
He turned, looking at Isolde with that awful, otherworldly stare.
You have each other. Please. Release me. Break this cycle.
Isolde nodded, her eyes shining with tears. She made to turn away, but stopped herself.
“What is your name?” she asked, her voice shaking.
The leytouched tilted his head ever so slightly, the first truly human gesture Felix had seen him make.
I do not remember. It was a name for another life, a life that was never lived.
The vision faded, and they stood back where they were before. Isolde still gripped Felix’s wrist. The leytouched’s hand slipped out of her grasp, his body silent.
“This was a happy place once,” Isolde said quietly. “A place of… of community and knowledge. Why did it have to change?”
Felix shook his head. “Something must have happened that led to this. When something scares them, most people’s first instinct is to destroy it.”
“They were all pairs…” she continued, glancing at him. “Do you think it will take both of us? To undo this?”
“I don’t know… Maybe?” Felix answered. “What do we do?” He turned to the leytouched and considered the creepy metal collar. “Should we take that off…?”
Isolde reached towards it tentatively. “I think we should, but something about it feels wrong. Dangerous.”
“Don’t touch it,” Felix said, stepping in front of her. “I’ll do it.” He took a long look at the cold chain links and their eerily glowing crystals, then set his jaw and seized the collar.
Immediately his arm burned all the way up to the shoulder. Wave after wave of pain surged up through his hand, paralysing his muscles, contracting them in spasms. He squeezed his eyes shut, gritted his teeth and pulled. The chain links seemed to be fused to the poor leytouched’s skin, ripping off layers of flesh when Felix tried to drag it over his head. If the withered man felt anything, he did not show it.
With a last tug, the collar came off. A lifetime of hurt surged through Felix in seconds. A malevolent presence slithered around his heart, cracked it open and peered into its deepest, darkest depths. His vision went black. A voice sounded in his head, both familiar and utterly alien.
You’re not even a little special, are you? A worthless, nameless boy, hacking away stupidly at things he doesn’t understand. What makes you think you have any value? Even your own parents did not care for you. You’re not worthy of her. You’re not worthy of anything. It would be no loss to anyone, truly, if you did not exist at all.
He was distantly aware of his knees hitting the floor. The chain continued to singe the palm of his hand, tendrils of agony wrapping around his arm, under his skin, into his bones. There was no point. No point in any of this. Best to just give up.
So weak, no spine at all. Pathetic. Run, coward. Run like you always do.
Something bright and blue appeared in the periphery of his mind. Small at first, then it steadily grew.
“Felix!”
Don’t delude yourself. She doesn’t care about you. You’re nothing.
“Felix! Snap out of it!”
