Keydis Lysistrata
Caeancora
Caeancora
Phantoms pt X
Wordcount: 1500
Her eyes opened to a sky full of stars.
Wind blew softly by, brushing against her skin, ruffling her hair. How long had she been falling? Keydis slowly realized that she didn't feel like she was falling at all. She turned over.
Below her there was only an orange sky, near sunset or sunrise. 'Below' might not have been accurate, however. On one side, night; on the other day. The ground was nowhere in sight and there was no sense of up or down. Keydis floated there, her mind foggy and distant, trying to think of why she was there, how she had gotten there.
She looked down at herself, only then realizing that she was wearing nothing, carrying nothing.
Was this death?
"Yes," a voice answered in front of her. Surprised, Keydis lifted her eyes... and looked into her mother's. The woman stepped forward through the air and embraced Keydis in a sudden, warm hug. "I'm so sorry, baby girl," she whispered as the girl stiffened. Her mother's hand rubbed her back in sympathy. "I know you tried so hard, but it was foolish to go up against that... thing!"
"But I..." Keydis started to argue, before trailing off. What argument was there..? Eyes starting to water, she laid her head against her mother's chest. "I thought... I cut its heart! I felt it!"
"It's not a normal creature, honey," her mother chastised gently. "You never had a chance."
The girl's shoulders slumped. "I had to try, though," she whispered back. "It killed you and dad..."
"Oh sweetie," her mother said, sudden pity in her voice. "Did you forget..?" Confused, Keydis looked up, gasping at the hollow, accusing look in her mother's eyes. "You killed me!"
Stunned, Keydis took a step back, only to realize she was holding a sword in her hand... and the sword was pierced through her mother's stomach. "No... I didn't!" Her mother let out a cry and fell downward, her body spinning through the endless sky. "No! Mom!"
Disgusted, Keydis tried to throw the sword away, but it stayed right there in her hand, dripping blood. "No, this isn't happening..! I didn't..!" She flailed desperately trying to get rid of the incriminating weapon. Then suddenly it hit something else.
"Keydis..." Her father gasped, clutching at the gaping wound in his stomach. "Why..?"
"Dad..?" Fresh tears burned. She watched the light fade from her father's eyes. His body fell, as well, falling through nothing. Keydis fell to her knees, trying to catch him, to go after him.
"What's with all the tears?" a voice asked, adding a harsh laugh.
Slowly, Keydis looked up. In front of her was a perfect image of herself, though fully clad. The other Keydis had on black boots, grey shorts and a red tank-top. Her black long-coat covered everything else, and the hilt of a sword rested on her hip. Her doppelganger's hair was spiked up in her own usual style, bangs dyed red. She lounged against an invisible seat, cocky smirk on her face and a predatory look in her violet eyes.
"Who are you?" Keydis demanded sharply.
"Caeancora," the doppelganger answered easily, her smug expression not relenting in the least.
Confused, Keydis blinked several times, trying to discern the meaning. Where was she, where had this... copy come from? She groaned, trying to remember. She looked down at her hands and froze. Her skin was black, covered in pulsing veins of violet light. The corruption was already above her elbows, pulsing and throbbing and slowly engulfing more of her.
Understanding came at once and she glared at the other Keydis. "You're the vistra!" she declared.
It laughed harshly, the voice taking an otherworldly quality. "No," it said in a mixture of Keydis' voice and something inhuman. "You are the vistra."
Keydis tried to rush over to sink her fist in the imposter's face. Her feet found no purchase in the open air, though. She hovered in place, just out of reach. Enraged, she tried again and again, shouting threats at the top of her lungs.
"Get the hell over here!" she finally yelled, desperate. "I fucking killed you!"
"Like you killed Mom and Dad?" it taunted, sending a wave of revulsion through her. It shook its head. "No, what you killed was slime that had outlived its usefulness. Thank you so much for that!"
Keydis shook her head incredulously. Was all that effort really for nothing?
"Imagine what your parents would think if they saw you now! Their precious, darling daughter become an uncouth, foul-mouthed sword-for-hire. Selling your skill to the highest bidder. Havital knows," it mocked, "and that's why he tried so hard to set you on the right path. But we both know the truth.
"You were fated to always be a disappointment, not just to your parents, but everyone around you. Like dear uncle Havital... and your esteemed teacher Sanctum... and even your new bestie, Annora."
The young woman could offer no retort, sinking to her knees and gritting her teeth. Havital... was always disappointed in her, and made no secret of how her parents would have felt about her lifestyle. Sanctum had never shown any pride in the work she showed him, often giving an impartial judgment of its worth and nothing more.
And Annora...
Keydis lifted her head, eyes narrowing. "That never stopped them, any of them, from supporting me!"
"And thanks to that, you've become everything you hate!" The unsettling combination of voices seemed to grow louder.
Taken aback, the girl nonetheless pushed herself back to her feet. "I won't."
"You already have."
"Only if I let you."
"You don't have a choice." The doppelganger's sneer made her feel queasy. "It's your fate to fail. It's your fate to fall." It shook its head in pity. "Just like when you killed your parents."
Tightening her fists until her knuckles were white, Keydis growled, "I didn't kill my parents! You did!"
The doppelganger tapped its chin as if thinking. "Did I..? Maybe I did. I've just killed so many pitiful people over the decades that they all kind of run together." It smiled wryly and then threw her own words back at her. "Why should you care, though? You never knew them."
All at once, Keydis heard herself saying it, again and again. "Why should I care? I never knew them."
"It's no big deal. I never knew my parents."
"Don't sweat it, I never knew them anyway."
Her eyes shut tight, tears welling up again while the monster laughed. Then, Keydis felt a rush of wind, wet vapor surrounding her.
Daddy, I was inside a cloud! The voice is clear in her mind, the memories of her parents' faces fresh and clear. She isn't sure why she's remembering this now.
"Take her and get out of here!" her father yelled. There's pain there in his eyes, the pain of loss, the realization that he won't live to see his little girl grow up.
Her mother buried her face against Keydis' neck, one arm holding the girl deathly tight. "No matter what happens, baby, Mommy and Daddy are always right here with you!" she whispered in a rush, tears running down her cheeks. "Don't ever forget that!"
Keydis opened her eyes, and then launched herself forward at the laughing vistra. This time, her feet found purchase. "How could I not care?!" she shouted as she slammed her fist into its face. "I never knew them!"
The image of Keydis shattered like glass, revealing a vaguely humanoid purple haze underneath: the true form of the corruption within the vistra, its pravum. Then it, too, shattered into dust.
Her eyes opened to a sky full of clouds, rapidly getting further away. She was back on the wreckage of the Promoveo, amid the decomposing remains of the vistra... and she was still falling. The side of the mountain was rushing up to meet her.
Blackness engulfed her arms well past the elbow. Without thinking about it, Keydis grunted and drew upon the raw, unrefined power bubbling up inside her. Excruciating agony shot through her arms as she snapped them outward. Glowing purple veins tore away from her arms, somehow grabbing at the air itself. The girl's arms snapped tight, nearly ripped from their sockets.
Beneath her, the airship slammed into the side of the mountain, wood and metal flying everywhere.
Keydis hung suspended almost fifty feet up in the air. It was only for a few seconds, and then the veins disappeared, leaving bloody trails all over her arms. Her eyes rolled back into her head, and Keydis fell into blackness.
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