The Azure King's Last Life

A nice place to die, all things considered.

She heard a masculine voice call out to her. " if we"re doing this it has to be now. I can sense them approaching. They"ll be here soon. " Tension colored his tone.

"Are the preparations complete? "

At tall figure emerged from the shadowed gloom and Lilith was able to put a face to the voice, one she knew well. Rhys, one of the two young orphaned warriors she and her sister had the pleasure of surviving with these past months.

He was tan-skinned with broad shoulders and a robust physique. It was a shame he had such a large scar marring his otherwise handsome looks. The white flesh went from the corner of his left eye down towards his right armpit, running over his lips and splitting his face in half.

It was not the only scar he claimed as his own but it was the only one Lilith felt entirely responsible for.

" Yeah. Call James so we can begin. I"ll let Reina know. "

" Will do. " The golden-haired boy replied.

After seeing him off Lilith walked to the other end of the hall where a large dais was raised. it was there that her sister Reina stood, her long blood-red hair set ablaze by the light streaming in from gigantic stained gla.s.s window behind her.

She was vastly different from how she was just a few months ago. Almost like a completely different person. Stronger, more confident.

But now, looking at Reina standing their bathed in sunlight, in Lilith"s mind she looked so solitary, so alone. Unreachable.

Lilith"s throat felt raw but the tears didn"t come.

It took a while to calm herself.

" Everything"s in place." She informed. "We"re just waiting for you. "

" ... Okay, I"m already done here." It was a soft, pleasant voice that didn"t suit the coollness with which it was now delivered. Where was the warmth? The kindness? "The spell requires a lot of concentration, I was just preparing myself. Don"t worry, I"ll be fine. We all will" she said. As if that"d make Lilith feel better at all.

For a moment it felt as if Lilith"s heart would break instead. But even with the risks involved none of them would live past the day at any rate. Only knowing that could Lilith allow her sister to go through with something like this.

She thought back to the day that started it all. Nothing out of the ordinary at all, then darkness. They were seperated. As with Rhys and his own sibling, Reina and Lilith were lost to each other.

They were all each other"s weakness. They cared for little, but their family was sacred. Of course they"d do anything to find the other.

Believe anything.

That"s why when they were lent a helping hand they didn"t question a thing.

Turned out they were little but dogs sent off to fetch whatever bone their "benefactors" said were needed to find one another and send them back home.

They were fools to think those people had good intentions. Now here they were, about to die, having offended great people. And a great many great people at that.

Even now it felt like they were only delaying the inevitable.

"How can you be so sure?" she asked. " Nothing has been alright so far."

Reina shook her head.

"Doesn"t matter. Once he arrives we won"t need to worry about anything anymore."

Lilith couldn"t help it. She laughed. It was bitter. "I wish I shared your faith. Even if he could help, would he? We don"t know him at all, nor he us. You know how beings like him are. Fickle. Careless. Self-centered."

She hadn"t ever found evidence to the contrary.

Lilith was quiet a moment. "We"re going to die either way. Now, later, it makes no difference. The only reason we lived was to be thrown away. " The truth of that made her hands shake. With helplessnes, with fury, she didn"t know which. " Rhys and James were right, we should"ve just stayed and fought. At least then we aren"t just doing what they already expected us to. At least then we chose our deaths."

"No. You"re wrong." Reina"s calm eyes bore a hole in Lilith"s skull. "You don"t understand. You don"t feel the power of the blood, the strength of our connection. This will work. Believe in the blood, sister. The source of it"s strength isn"t something peope such as they can hope to measure."

Lilith wasn"t convinced. The power she spoke of was the problem. Though she supposed they wouldn"t have had a chance to live at all either if it wasn"t.

" You haven"t even met the person yet. You don"t know anything about him at all. Having such baseless trust isn"t like you, Rei. What happened to that ever-pessimistic sister of mine?"

The calm broke. Finally something flickered. Wavered. And was gone in an instant.

"Hopefully gone forever."

Reina hated herself. Lilith was the only one who knew how much.

Weakness was sin. It was a belief their kin had beaten into them since young. Reina had the marks to prove it.

Or she used to. But ever since Reina ingested that stone, that changed. They were cornered then and it"d been done to spite their would-be killers. If they wanted the thing so bad they"d have to get their hands dirty to rip it from her corpse.

A petty move, wasn"t it? It was the only thing she had to get back at them though, insignificant as it was.

Lilith found out even that was just another of their little games. A test. A roundabout way of experimenting with their lives. It paid off. Reina"s body glowed and burned their attackers till only ash remained.

Then they made their escape, through one pocket of s.p.a.ce to another till they found themselves here. Who knew what planet they"d ended up at?

Somehow Reina channeled a source of strength and knowledge she"d never displayed before and that"s the only reason they made it this far with a gang of Immortal goons after them.

She"d come to acquire a taste for battle and power, far from the crybaby she used to be. Honestly though? Lilith wasn"t sure she liked it. This wasn"t the sister she knew. But she still is, even if Lilith barely recognized her.

And if this faith of her"s gave her some comfort then Lilith didnt want to take that away from her. Rather, she wished that she also had such feelings. But the reality of the situation made that difficult.

Whatever abilities she gained from that thing were far from enough to save them. Something about the blood was...incomplete. Limited, somehow.

This was Reina"s idea and she didn"t know herself who the drop of blood belonged to. They only understood that whoever it came from was someone the people who used them were pretty p.i.s.sed at considering what they"d wanted the drop for.

h.e.l.l, everything they were doing might just be sending that person to an early grave.

Maybe he or she could save them now but it was entirely possible they were s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g the person over in the process.

Lilith fought back the nihilist in her. It was hard these days. She almost wanted to just give up and ask for a quick death. If she thought she"d get it she"d probably do it, too.

Reina regarded her evenly. "You"re scared and feeling helpless." Her lips quirked. "I understand more than anyone how that feels. But like I said, it"ll be fine. The things I can do now are just the tip of a much larger iceberg. And the one I"m calling for is the base. I believe in the blood. You? You just have to believe in ME."

Her eyes shone with a peculiar light. Lilith had seen those eyes before from every member of her very large family whenever their father pa.s.sed by.

They were worshipping eyes. The eyes of zealots

"Right." Lilith didn"t know what else she could say. There was no use talking to a person like this anymore, their minds would never be swayed.

"I heard you guys are ready to begin."

Just then the doors to the building opened. Two young men walked inside. One was Rhys, the other a youth who could"ve been his twin. Close enough. He was the younger brother, James.

He was just as blonde and beautifully masculine as his brother. His hair was shorter than Rhys" though, one of the only indicatiors of which was which.

As they entered the light their skin became an even more dazzling gold-brown. The two brothers were just as young as Lilith and Reina but were so mature-looking and muscled that they could"ve been mistaken for those warrior angels Lilith had heard stories of in her childhood. All they were missing were flaming swords and a pair of wings.

"Yes, we are. Hurry up and form the circle."

Reina commanded. They took their positions without another word.

The three clasped hands.

Lilith felta strong current of mana reaching out for her own, mingling together. Having that much power coursing through her was exhilerating. Suppressing the feeling, she held a palm out to her sister, ready to transfer the power neccessary to start the summoning.

Reina took a knife and p.r.i.c.ked her finger.

A single bead of blood pooled at the opening. Except it wasn"t as dark as normal blood. It was brighter, like a ruby held up to a lamp.

For a moment Lilith thought she saw her sister"s eyes flash a ghostly blue. But it was gone so fast she couldn"t be sure it wasn"t a trick of the mind.

That drop of blood fell towards the floor. Yet it didn"t even fall half a foot before it stopped in midair.

It hung there, gathering light, gaining more and more heat with every second. It distorted s.p.a.ce itself and made them feel like their bones were being bent. Not broken, but warped.

That was just the beginning. When their hands finally touched it was like something was sucking the energy right out of her at an astonishing rate. It was like a vast, bottomless abyss with infinite hunger.

A large magic circle appeared on the dais they stood on, illuminating the entire room. It seemed as if everything else faded from existence.

Although it was Reina who actually performed the spell Lilith could feel the enormity of the universe along with her.

It was a odd feeling, with no words to describe it. Not really. But if she had to say...It was like your sense of self grew weak.

It was too much. She thought her head would explode, as if her soul would be ripped apart and thrown across the endless void of time and s.p.a.ce.

Reina must be feeling this far stronger than any of us. Her mind, how could it withstand something like that?

It couldn"t. None of their"s would even despite them not being the caster. Lilith already struggled with the pounding of blood between her ears.

Even worse than that was the silence. The complete and utter lack of noise. Quiet enough to hear your heart beat, to hear your blood flow through your veins.

You heard every slight pull of your muscles, could tell each time your bones ground against one another.

It was enough to drive you mad.

Every breath Lilith took threatened to break her sanity. For a while she even thought it did.

This was taking too long. How many minutes had it been? Five? Ten? Or had an eternity already pa.s.sed by? The light had reach a point where she"d thought her corneas had been burned out because all she saw was nothingness.

Her chest tightened.

Where were the others? She lost her senses. Touch and smell had left just as sight and hearing did.

Was she dead? She had to be, right? So everything was useless....She"d been ripped apart along with Reina and Rhys and James, all for nothing. She died like a coward clinging to a false hope and now she was trapped here in this purgatory, alone.

She was just a hairsbreadth away from breakdown.

Then the doors were torn open.