Morph
39. I Live

Part two, just me, scary right? No, brave, I’m not afraid at all. I’m tired, I look a mess and I’m unsure about every life choice I’ve ever made but I’ve taken an entire day on planning this, alone.

And then I trapped the lords of the depth manor in a force field together, and I left. As sacrifice? I don’t know. But its time I face the music, the corners.

“Courageous are we?” Daelortoze snarls, his anger still as sharp as the last time. “Do you really believe yourself to be stronger than the creators of your very life?” Analexania doesn’t giggle at this like she usually would, she stands next to her brother in mid air with a snarl as deep as his. Though hers holds disappointment as well as anger, embarrassment even. Oh so she’s embarrassed of me? I’ve heard them mention numerous times that she is the ‘creator’ of the morpher species but I mentally smile at her embarrassment.

Repoeine wears a blank face as well as Callene and Kelenimen who stand next to him. The biggest threats I have ever come across yet, threats that may diminish me, but I won’t give them a chance too, so I form a ring of fire at their feet while leaving Analexania and Daelortoze floating in the air.

“We were prepared for that.” Daelortoze snickers, waving his hand and with it, my mother appears. When you know a woman all your life, when you grow up around her no matter the circumstances she is your mother. “So I had the mother of tricks up my sleeve.” He laughs at his own twisted joke.

“As did I.” Analexania nods, more serious than I’ve ever seen her and with a few mumbles of words from her, I stare at both my mothers.

“Am I suppose to be afraid?” Danielle’s eyes water with tears as she stares at me, courtesy of Daelortoze and his psychotic nightmare corner and what I’m sure is the real Emilia scowls at her. “So your a nightmare freak and you can concoct Danielle here, and so you made the morphers and Emilia’s here, I’m stronger than some mothers that were never mothers to me.” At this, a sob so realistic leaves Danielle’s mouth and I force myself not to look at the imaginary version of her.

“Concoction? Darling, this is your mother in the flesh, not at all a concoction.” Daelortoze says, his siblings only nodding in agreement, I’ve seen that he’s the one who usually calls the shots. “See we all know how you love your rings of fire, and how I love manipulation.”

“Baby.” Danielle cries, inching closer to me, I back away.

“Danielle.” I say coldly, they want to distract me, I won’t let them.

“Don’t ever, call my daughter that.” Emilia interjects, her voice filled with millions of emotions.

I choke back my tears, my fears and I raise my hand taking them both with me, they yelp in surprise. “Sorry, no time for a family reunion.” Danielle looks scared for her life while Emilia looks annoyed. In a few mutters I push them into the animation forest and close it up, pushing my emotions to the side and turning to look at an angered Daelortoze.

Emotions, they have no place here so I throw everything away and force the raw burning anger to appear within me. I stare at Daelortoze, I smirk at him. “Now why’d you have to go and bring family into it?” I question, pulling Analexania toward me and squeezing her in my hands, she thrashes against it but I wrap her in fire before she can do it to me. Then, I throw her back into the air and she floats, unable to see talk or move.

I go on to silence the protests of the others with a clear adhesive to their mouths, I’m used to dealing with the clearer brother. “Look at that, now we’re both angry, what’s the fun in that.” Burn, I crave to burn and so I do, I blaze a ring of fire around us all, trapping us into one place and my smirk only grows. “Tell me, what is it you want? I’m being generous this once.”

He scoffs at me. “I assure you queen, anything I desire is mine.”

“I assure you Daelortoze, anything you harm that is mine, won’t end well for you.”

“Is that a-”

“A threat?” I cut him off. “Yes it is, figured I’d give what I’ve been taking but its a promise more so than a threat.” I clasp my hands together, something I’ve picked up from them. “The time is ticking for your requests, see I hold the remote here.” I hold up my hand, waving it to him.

Time to test it, I look to Repoeine and think of the way he gashed Libra’s beautiful face, retaliation is all I think of. Hot, merciless, fire and I stare at him thinking of what this would look like inside him. Seconds later he thrashes in the ring, his dreadful knifes replacing his fingers and at the sight of them my anger grows, how could he touch something so dear to me.

I rip the air from his mouth and let him scream in agony as his sibling stare in awe and Daelortoze screams in protest. After a few seconds, I stop burning him from the inside with a grim look on my face. “That shouldn’t have affected me.” He croaks out in a hoarse voice, his eyes panicked and frantic, I didn’t even think that would work.

“You don’t want to test me queen, I’ll tip your crown a few notches.” Daelortoze growls, floating toward his brother.

“No, you don’t wanna test me corner, I’ll give you color.” And with that, I burn him from the inside, it doesn’t effect him as it did Repoeine. It instead fills every clear space and causes him to float haywire, like a switch is broken in him. I giggle, its funny to watch but there’s business at stake, so I stop. “Let’s make a deal, shall we?”

I pull up a chair and sit, of course its a chair of air, I’m still getting used to that. Then I sit Daelortoze as well and tape his dear brother’s mouth back up. I look at him, all tied up with air in a tiny invisible seat, how cute. “Make your request.”

“We want to throw you into the volcano, or you could raise our father yourself.” He snarls. “What’s yours?”

“Why is this place a threat to me?” He only smiles.

“You’ll see soon enough queen.” Daelortoze says, his purple eyes fixed on me. “Very soon, let us go now yes?”

“We’re not done here.” I shake my head. “If you don’t tell me what I ask of you, I’ll leave you all here.”

“Together you are no match for us, we are trying to spare you but you’re making it quite difficult.” I stare blankly at him.

“Maybe I like difficult.”

“Maybe I couldn’t care less.” He growls, the impatience showing in his voice. “Father?”

“Son.” A voice calls making me stumble back into my seat of air, looking around frantically for the voice, coming up dry. “I see you have brought the queen to me, she is lovely.” My heartbeat is through the roof as I still come up empty, but there’s a feeling in my gut, the same feelings that lets me know whether someone is a threat of not that tells me this voice means me no good. “Hello queen, I am Ecladen.”

At this moment I regret every decision that lead up to this one.

“What do you and your family want?” My voice trembles.

The deep chuckle of Ecladen rumbles through the space and I realize his voice is coming from the volcano. Ecladen is in the volcano or is the volcano, what is with these people preserving themselves this way. “I want nothing you can help me with you poor creature.” I see the resemblance in him and his children immediately. “I need to help you, actually.”

“How can you possibly help me?” I stand, walking toward him, drawn toward the voice from the volcano. “The only thing you can assist me in is ridding me of your dreadful children.”

“Mind you tongue when you speak of them.” These words silence my every bad thought of them, there’s a weird ring to his voice, like everything he says is final without question and I notice Daelortoze says nothing as I continue walking to the volcano.

I’m walking to the volcano, what am I doing?! I stop in my tracks at this though hearing Ecladen chuckle at this as all attention is turned toward us. “Now, darling, I have come to make an exchange with you.”

“Exchange?”

“Set me free, I’ll call my little ones off as well as pass you a piece of irresistible information.” Still I’m drawn to this voice but still I stand my ground.

“I need nothing from you.” I say making him chuckle again. “How do I know you won’t join your children in making my life hell if I set you free?”

“My word is my life.” Oh he is Daelortoze’s father alright. “I can never betray it, and I give you it.” I think it over, his word is his life, his word is his life. When Daelortoze told me that he stayed true to it, so should I set free something more powerful than us all based on his word only?

“I need proof, some type of deceleration to show me just how strong this word of your is.” What could he possibly use as proof, don’t be stupid Serenity.

“Daelortoze, come.” At his father’s command the corner stands with ease from my homemade chair, shocking me, and floats silently away to and inside the volcano. “Show the pretty little queen my proof.” Daelortoze doesn’t come back, for a few more minutes I wait, and he doesn’t come back. “You see they can’t deny me, their father and I can store them away when they’re naught little Reclenands, set me free and I’ll keep them in check in return, my word.”

“Reclenands?” I ask him. “How can I trust you?”

“Yes darling don’t tell me you thought the actual term for us were corners.” I feel stupid now because I thought exactly that. I think.

I think for what feels like forever before I make the choice, the ultimate choice. I see that he lives, but I live also, I live to make decisions for my people.

The place is a threat, which makes Ecladen a threat, right? But this threat will do me justice, so I raise water and dirt, I bring fire, I listen to him chuckle in appreciation and I hope that I don’t overload again.