The first thing that struck me when the memory changed was Elyonari's expression.
Mintheris was burning.
Green flames appeared across the horizon and the acrid smell of smoke and charred wood mixed with the scent of blood so thick it seemed to coat the air itself was all she could smell. All we could hear were the screams of hundreds of thousands, the wailing of children and the cries of wounded adults.
Krepsunas had invaded the Borough, which was literally impossible.
The Divines of the Mintheris Dynasty fought with everything they had but even their power couldn't stop the tide. Each strike sent Krepsunas screaming yet for every one that fell, ten more came. The sky was filled with streaks of mysticism, blood and green flames.
Ely ran.
Arrows and Mystic Circles burst around her, cutting down Krepsunas in enormous waves. She used the wind to dodge the airborne horrors as she flew. She ignored the crowds of terrified Mintheris civilians around her. She was focused on one target: the Temple of Mintherenia.
The Borough itself was a scene that was the definition of devastation. Streets that had once teemed with life were littered with bodies, screaming for mercy before death silenced them. Shops and homes were burned to cinders. The canopy above was covered with trails of clashing Divines lighting the night. Blood literally formed rivers. It reminded her of the Village massacre but amplified a thousandfold. Its scale and horror was multiplied beyond comprehension.
When Elyonari finally reached the temple, her gaze fell upon the ground. Corpses of Priests and Priestesses lay scattered across the steps. All were drenched in blood but some were missing limbs. Others had their throats cut. The green flames covered the entire temple.
The wounds, the positioning of the corpses and the precise but vicious nature of the kills weren't done by Krepsunas. Someone had slaughtered them and that someone was an Elf.
The shock was immediate but she didn't let it paralyze her for long. Elyonari's eyes narrowed as she barged inside the massive building.
Inside the temple, the devastation was almost too much to comprehend. The interior was unrecognizable. Altars and statues of past High Priestesses were shattered. Walls scorched and cracked. There were massive holes in the floors from falling debris as well. Elyonari's boots splashed through pools of blood as she ran.
She knelt briefly beside one priest, checking for any sign of life. The markings on the bodies was the work of an Elf who wants nothing more than to cause carnage. Elyonari's fingers gripped Touch so tightly that the glowing lines along the bow flared. Her entire body hummed with Nature Energy. She only had one thought.
"The Elf will not leave the temple alive."
As she walked deeper into the temple, dodging fallen beams and the remnants of the green fire, her Mystic Circles spun into existence with blinding light. They surged forward, sweeping aside debris and incinerating lingering Krepsunas.
The moment Ely kicked the massive doors of the main altar open with a force that splintered the frame, her bow slipped from her hands, clattering against the stone floor. What she saw before her was something that no training, no preparation could have ready her for.
High Priestess Aria hung suspended in the air. Her body was grotesquely torn apart. Her body was severed cleanly from the head, torso, and limbs yet each piece floated, fighting against its own dismemberment.
Blood oozed from every wound, dripping endlessly. The fluid sizzled when it hit the stone. Her body tried to heal itself and in that attempt, the flesh fused and tore itself apart again and again. It was like some cruel, eternal punishment that had no end.
Below her, the silver coffin glowed with a horrifying radiance, consumed by green flames. The flames warped the metal inside there was no movement. The Mystic Circle etched beneath it was not sacred. It was made entirely of blood.
The walls told their own story of slaughter.
Priests and Priestesses had been skewered on the walls with sharp, twisting vines that burst from the walls. Their torsos had been impaled through the chest and the vines held them high, swinging them gently as blood poured down their bodies. Limbs dangled. Their heads tilted at unnatural angles. Their expressions were frozen in sheer agony. The green fire reflected their wide glassy eyes. Their blood flowed freely, gathering at the base of the walls and feeding into the blood-made Mystic Circle.
Standing near the silver coffin, with her arms crossed casually, was a woman who had given her life, who had abandoned and ignored her and who had caused a lifetime of pain by neglect.
Ely's knees buckled under the weight of the horror. Her mouth went dry but she forced herself to breathe.
Elyonari's body trembled with rage. Her arms shook as she reached for Touch, her Divine Weapon but even the pull of her bowstring seemed insignificant compared to the scale of atrocity that lay before her. She knew she wouldn't win. Her mother was a Nexus. With just a blink, she could kill her.
But what could she do at that moment?
She could feel her bow calling to her but it was meaningless compared to the scale of destruction before her. Her stomach churned and yet despite every fiber of her being screaming to flee, to vomit or collapse under the impossibility of what she was seeing, she didn't move.
The room stank of blood and death. Every movement in the corner of her eye-the slight twitch of Aria's floating limbs, the shimmer of the green fire on the silver coffin, the way Arthrea's smile creeped her the fuck out-was seared into her consciousness. All the Priests and Priestesses had been obliterated. Their bodies were used as instruments in a display of power she didn't even understand.
Arthrea spoke but what she said made Ely remember why she came to the Borough in the first place.
"Happy Second Birthday, my daughter."