Aftermath
This chapter will have a switch in POV from Dana to Doya and you'll know exactly when.
Enjoy :)
Dana's POV
I saw them... I saw my parents. It had been so long, but we were in Káremuul. Back home, in our shack in Urkael. Mother was cooking while father was chopping off wood blocks.
It was a sunny day. Everything was normal and peaceful. We were happy.
Then the world began to darken.
The light faded from the sky, and the warmth of the day vanished. I heard screams in the distance, mixed with hushed whispers. Before I could move, something seized my arms and leg, dragging me down and forcing me into the ground.
They were laughing.
I struggled against them, kicking and clawing, but they held me tighter.
My parents... they just stood there. Laughing.
Watching as those things held me down and did unspeakable things to me.
"Mama! Papa! Help me!" I screamed, tears streaming down my face.
But they didn't move. They didn't even look away. They only laughed louder.
And then I began to scream.
"Hold her down!"
The voice cut through the darkness.
Agonizing, burning pain exploded through my body.
I gasped as my eyes snapped open, a scream tearing itself from my throat. Everything was blurry. So many people surrounded me, their faces were unfamiliar and distorted.
"She's awake!"
"Don't let her move!"
Hands grabbed my shoulders and pinned me down.
Panic surged through me.
"Get off me!" I screamed.
Someone said something, but I couldn't make out the words.
I struggled against their grip, but the second I moved, pain shot through my limbs and my vision went white.
My heart pounded as I looked from face to face.
Who were these people?
Where was I?
"You're safe, Dana. You've been unconscious for a few days..." one of them said.
Days?
"Where am I?" My voice came out hoarse.
The people around me exchanged glances.
"You're in Thyr Vael," another replied.
Thyr Vael.
The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't remember.
A searing pain shot through my skull, and I winced.
"Easy," someone said. "Don't force it."
"What happened?" I asked.
Someone who sat at the edge of the bed spoke.
"There was a war." A small smile touched her lips. "We won."
Images flickered at the edges of my memory, but before I could grasp them, they slipped away.
Just then, the door swung open.
A man stepped into the room.
"Dana..."
The people around me bowed their heads and moved aside, clearing a path for him.
"Thank the heavens that you survived."
He approached me and stood beside the bed. Then he reached for my hand.
I stared at our joined hands before slowly looking back up at him.
"Who are you?"
His expression changed. He glanced at one of the people standing nearby.
"It will take a while for her memories to return," one of them said quickly.
His gaze settled back on me.
"What is the last thing you remember?"
The question should have been easy. Instead, it felt as though I was reaching into a thick fog.
"I..."
My head throbbed. Images flickered through my mind — my small shack, mother's smile, father's laughter.
"Káremuul," I whispered. "I remember Káremuul."
Confused murmurs spread among the people gathered around me.
The man's eyes widened slightly.
"Anything else?"
I tried to think. The effort sent another sharp pain through my skull.
I shook my head. "No."
He left my hands and whispered something to one of them then left the room.
***
Doya's POV
They kept me locked inside one of the interrogation chambers for three days.
Three days since the attack.
Three days since the war ended.
I still had no idea what had happened.
The last thing I remembered before waking up in this dark room was Dana wrapping chains around me after I tried to kill myself.
Or after Balshak tried to.
I wasn't so sure anymore.
That was the worst part.
I could no longer tell where my thoughts ended and his began. I didn't know which decisions had been mine and which had belonged to the thing that had lived inside my head.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw their faces — the Bound, the guards who got too close and Ascend Seraphine. They're all dead because of me. Because of what I had become.
I remembered the power. The strength. The feeling that nothing in the world could stand against me. How much I had craved it. How much I had loved it.
That thought haunted me far more than the bloodshed.
In less than a day, I had become everything I once swore to destroy. I had become evil, and I had done horrible things.
But it wasn't the killings that kept me awake.
It was the fact that a part of me had enjoyed it.
Balshak may have guided my hand, but the hunger for power had always been mine.
And no matter how much I wanted to blame him for what happened, I couldn't escape the truth.
Some part of me had loved every second of it.
During the three days I spent imprisoned in Thornwick, I never once felt the urge to reach for the urn.
Balshak's voice was gone. The whispers were gone. The constant hunger for life was gone.
For the first time in a long time, my mind was truly silent.
The power within me had vanished. I could no longer channel. I could no longer feel the currents moving through me.
Yet somehow I was still alive.
I didn't understand it.
By all accounts, I should have needed the urn. I should have been desperate for it.
Instead, something else filled the void, leaving me with nothing but guilt.
I couldn't even begin to imagine what Dana thought of me now.
No one had come to see me.
The only reason I knew three days had passed was the narrow barred window near the ceiling. It was barely large enough to let in light, but it allowed me to watch the sky shift from day to night and back again.
Food was pushed through a small opening in the door. Just a small tray sliding across the floor before the opening slammed shut again.
A bowl sat in the corner for when I needed to relieve myself.
The space was cramped, stuffy, and reeked of sweat, waste, and damp stone.
It was disgusting, but I endured it.
Around that time of day, I usually heard footsteps approaching the room... I had expected to hear the scrape of a tray being pushed through the opening in the door.
Instead, I heard the rattle of keys.
My eyes shot up instantly in surprise from where I sat against the wall.
A moment later, the lock clicked, and the heavy door swung open.
A guard stood in the doorway.
His hand rested on the hilt of his sword, like he was afraid of me.
"Come with me," he barked.
I pushed myself to my feet. The chains followed me across the floor, rattling with every step. The shackles around my wrists felt so heavy, dragging at my arms and forcing me to stumble forward.
The guard took a step back as I approached.
He was terrified of me. I saw fear in his eyes when he looked at me.
That made me feel terrible.
I lowered my eyes and followed him into the corridor.
We passed corridor after corridor, before being led into the open. The sunlight was blinding. The air outside Thornwick was so refreshing.
Two guards walked behind me. Two in front. Keeping me enclosed in their center.
They led me toward the Sanctum. Then onward, into the Great Hall.
At the far end of the hall, in the highest seat, sat Ascend Kaelric.
When we reached the center of the hall, they stopped, and one by one, they turned and left.
The doors closed behind them, leaving me alone with Kaelric.
His gaze moved over me, from head to toe, then back up to my face.
I stood there in shame and lowered my eyes to the floor.
"Look at me!" he snapped.
My eyes lifted at once to meet his.
"How many do you think you killed before the battle ended?"
I stayed silent, holding his gaze. I just couldn't respond.
He rose from his throne and began walking toward me.
"Ascend Seraphine is gone..."
My heart skipped at her name. I saw it again — the blade driving through her chest.
"I..." I tried to speak, to say I was sorry, but my throat refused to form the words.
How many 'I'm sorrys' would ever undo what I had done?
"Do you still hear him in your head?" he asked, circling me now.
"No..." I nodded slightly, my eyes lowering.
"Are you sure he's not in there?"
Balshak's method of manipulation was unlike anything I had ever known. I no longer knew whether I was deciding for myself, or if he still controlled my mind, shaping my thoughts.
"I don't know..." I said honestly.
Kaelric stopped in front of me and looked directly into my eyes.
"We would have gotten Kumbuye to go into your mind, but he's been unconscious since the battle."
My chest tightened. Kumbuye was suffering because he tried to save me.
"Where is he now?" I asked.
"With the healers," Kaelric said. "Same as Dana."
"How is she?"
He hesitated, "She..." he exhaled. "...her memories are fractured."
"What?"
"The healers are doing everything they can," he continued. "We believe it's the effect of the Cranium's power. She will recover."
Thank the Light she survived. I was partially relieved that it wasn't the worst of it. I couldn't imagine losing her.
"C-Can I... can I see her?" I asked.
"No," he said flatly. "We have to be certain you're no longer corrupted."
My chest tightened.
"Where is Balshak?" I asked.
Kaelric sighed. "Balshak is in the dungeons of the Black Hold. Inside a cell specifically made for him."
He turned and began walking back toward his throne.
"We'll keep him there until Dana regains her memory. She's the only one who can reach into him." He added.
"Please... let me see her." I swallowed hard, forcing the words out. "I could help her remember, regain her memories."
"Can you channel?" he asked instead.
I shook my head. "No... I don't feel the current in me."
"We cannot take the risk of you seeing Dana," he said. "You could still be his weapon."
He walked to his throne and sat. His eyes flicked to the chains around me.
"We don't even know if the collar blocks Mind-thralling. We've never used it on a Mind-thraller before — he would be the first, so we have no reference for its limits."
He paused, then finally said. "That is why you are restrained."
The words resonated within me and everything suddenly made sense. Why they had kept me locked in that room for days.
They all feared me.
They thought Balshak might still be operating through me.
A cold shiver ran down my spine. The room was perfectly silent. But deep down, in the darkest, quietest corner of my mind... I could have sworn I heard the faint echo of a laugh.