“For you, my dear sister.”  Lillian smiled at her like he was the older sibling and she the confused child.  He spread his arms wide and gestured to the entire cavern.  “Every bit of this was done for you.”  

Raeya’s lingered on Tarence’s and Kaelnef’s crystals.  “But… the fire… you are supposed to be dead!”

“All of it was a ruse to throw off your captors until I was able to obtain the power I needed in order to help you.”

“My captors?  What are you-?”  Raeya looked around the huge cavern filled with crystals.    She was suddenly struck  with how many there were, how many lives had been lost to them, including those dearest to her.  “You… have done all this…” Her voice started weakly but gained strength through anger, “You have captured these innocents, for me!?  Why the hell would you think I would want such a thing?!”  

She ended up on her feet screaming in his face.  His always calm and collected face twisted into one of anguish before he screamed right back at her, “I have captured the souls of those who took you from me and those who got in my way!”  Just as quickly he went back to calm and soothing.  Lillian took her hand in both of his and gave her a bright smile.  “Don’t worry, you’ll understand soon enough.  All that matters is that we can be together again.  No one will get between us.”  

His eyes darkened and he squeezed her hand painfully.  Raeya’s anger was lost amidst her confusion.  What was going on?  Was this really her sweet little brother?  Lillian looked down at their hands and his tight grip became a vise.  “No, they will not take you again.  They are not worthy of you.”  

Raeya let out a whimper in surprise.  “Lilli, you’re hurting me.”

Lillian shook his head jerkily.  “Could never hurt you, you’re Raeya.  You’re too strong for me to hurt you.”  Lillian looked back up at her, and Raeya finally saw the fevered look in his eyes.  He let go of her hands to grope at the front of her armor.  “Right, Rae?  We’re going to be together now, right?”

Raeya grabbed his hands, the look in his eyes making bile rise in her throat.  “Lillian, what are you talking about?” she said carefully, “No one ever took me from you.  I went of my own-”

“Lies!”  Lillian screamed and jerked away from her.  “You… you’re still brainwashed aren’t you?”  Anger turned to pity and Raeya was getting thoroughly tired of his mood swings.  

“What do you mean, brainwashed?” she spat.

“Poor thing.”  Lillian shook his head.  “You don’t realize what he did to you, do you?”

“Who’s ’he’, Lillian?!  For the love of all that is good, just spit it out!”  

“Him!”  Lillian screeched and pointed at Kaelnef.  “It’s all his fault!  He spirited you away, made you his bride, and no one thought to question it!  Even Tarence bought into the whole thing and refused when I went for his help.”

Raeya jerked her head to look at her other brother.  “Is that why you…?”

A low, cynical laugh was heard as Lillian walked over to Tarence’s crystal.  “Shortly after I burned my shop, I spent months underground looking for my brother.  When I found him he was working on a method of using the souls of dying beings in ordre to gain their knowledge and power.”  Lillian held out the salt crystal pendant that hung around his neck.

“When I requested his help, he refused, spouting lies about you being bound to him.”  Lillian nodded his head towards Kaelnef.  “It was then that I knew what I had to do.”  Lillian reached up and laid his palm against his brother’s crystal, an almost sorrowful look on his face.

Raeya fought the urge to run as fast as she could from the cavern.  She knew what he was going to say, but she did not want to know what her little brother was capable of doing.  He turned his head back to her, his face blank and his voice toneless, “I killed my brother, stole his magical technique for capturing souls, and began plotting my revenge against the one who stole you.”

Nightfire could feel herself growing tired with every slash of her scimitars.  Judging from the frustrated growls from her ally, she wasn’t the only one.  They had been fighting for only a short while, but it felt like hours.  For every golem they cut down, two would spring up.  

What was worse, the golems were becoming more intelligent, working together to distract Nightfire and Kitska in order to hit them in their blind spots.  As Nightfire slashed simultaneously at a golem in front of her about her, a third golem slammed into her back, knocking her to the ground and sending her scimitars skidding away.

As the golem’s claws scrabbled against her armor, there was a huge rush of green flame above her and the golem disintegrated.  Kitska’s huge form loomed over her, giving her an opportunity to get to her feet.  Nightfire dashed towards her scimitars, only to barely miss them as they suddenly sank into the ground in a golem’s grasp.

“No!”  Nightfire screamed, throwing herself at the spot where her precious swords had disappeared, frantically trying to dig them up with her bare hands.

What is she doing!? Kitska pounced on another golem as it headed for the distraught half-phoenix.  A swipe of her claws sent it into the wall.  Kitska gently nudged her friend with a huge paw, trying to get her attention back on the force of golems advancing on them.  

“My swords!  I need my swords!”  Nightfire moaned in response.

Kitska growled in irritation.  This isn’t the time to worry about your stupid swords!  Kit continued to nudge her friend, cursing the fact that she couldn’t speak in her current form.  As she did so, she searched the golem ranks for a weakness… there!  For some reason the ranks thinned considerably towards the direction Raeya and the Guide had gone.  

When Kitska tried to point this out to Nightfire however, Night turned and screamed, “Leave me alone! Don’t you get it? I can’t fight without my swords!”

Kitska was done being nice.  She let out a snarl and pinned Nightfire to the ground with a huge paw easily as big as her torso.  

With a huge set of sword-like teeth near her head, Night gulped, “Or I could just use my Sol-given powers to blow up the golems.  You know, whatever works for you.”

Kitska gave a satisfied snort before leaping on the golem’s weakness she had spotted earlier.

Not wanting to be chastised again, Nightfire followed, alternately freezing and setting flame to the golems in her way.  Just before she caught up with the demon, three golems managed to pin her again.  In her panicked and weaponless state, Nightfire let out a larger than normal blast of magic, destroying the golems.  Black flames crackled around her form and she could feel her more feral state begin to awaken as she reached her friend.

Close to the exit, Night turned to see how far behind the golems were, only to find there were none.  “What the…?  Kit! Hang on.  Look!”  Nightfire grabbed one of Kit’s tails and dug in her heels.  Kitska slowed down and turned around, hackles raised as she let out a low growl.  

“Yeah,”  Nightfire nodded, “I still sense them too, but where did they go?”  As soon as she had said these words, the entire world seemed to lurch and a loud rumbling came from behind them.  

The rumbling grew louder and more threatening.  “Crap.” Nightfire swore.  “I just had to ask.”  Kitska took off down the tunnel again, ignoring the fact that Nightfire was still hanging on to one of her tails and being dragged.   They slammed into the end of the tunnel, meeting unyielding earth.  Kitska began slamming her huge body into it, trying to break it down, ignoring the fact that the rumbling was getting even louder and closer.

Nightfire turned to look in time to see a huge tidal wave of mud and golems bearing down upon them.  She threw herself next to Kitska, lengthening her nails into bird-like talons and clawing out chunks of earth, desperate to get out of the tunnel.  The wave crashed into them before they could break out.  Try as they might to fight against it, Kitska and Nightfire were caught in the golem’s trap.  Their nostrils and mouths filled with mud, and everything went black.

“Nobody took-!”  Raeya stopped mid-sentence, pinching the bridge of her nose to try and calm down.  The pissed-off approach was not getting her anywhere.  After a few long seconds and deep breathing exercises, she said calmly, “Why do you think someone took me from you?”

Lillian smiled at her, delighted that she was finally going along with what he was saying.  “For the years after I left to start my store, You and I exchanged letters frequently, but shortly after you suddenly ’became’ a Dragonlord, I stopped receiving letters from you.  I had a suspicion that something was terribly wrong.  When almost two years had passed and I hadn’t heard anything from you, I started researching into Dragonlords and their origins.”  Lillian began pacing between the two center crystals, his brow furrowed.  

“What facts I was able to find were suspicious, and in many cases there were disagreeing accounts on the most vital of information.  My suspicions grew stronger, and I knew that in order to save you I would need help. I burned my shop to the ground, to cover my tracks and went in search of Tarence.

“For several months I wandered underground, nearly dying several times, but I was determined to find him.  Finally I was captured by a few of his underlings and taken to his laboratory.  While I was there, I begged for his help, but he refused.  I knew he had the power to help me save you, he was the one who designed this system of stealing souls and their powers and memories.  He tried to turn me from my course, saying that you were destined to be a Dragonlord, but I knew the truth.”

Lillian scowled at his brother.  “He always hated you, was jealous of your ambitions.  He refused to help us, his only remaining family, out of sheer spite!  He didn’t deserve the power he held, and, sadly, there was only one way for me to take it and accomplish my goals.  I killed my brother, and used the amulet he created to retract his soul and took it for my own.  I couldn’t let his petty jealousies stop me from saving you.”

“Hypocrite!”  Raeya spat, “You talk high and mighty, but you’re guilty of the same thing!  All of this happened because I was too busy with my training and my husband to write you a letter.”  Raeya sighed sadly.  “Time passes differently for me, Lilli.  A few years feel like weeks.  I was having trouble adjusting to it, and before I knew it, two years had passed and my brothers were dead.  I’m sorry I was distracted, but that gives you no reason to steal my husband’s soul out of ’petty jealousy!’”

Lillian was shocked to say the least.  “You think… He was the one who deserved to die most of all!” he roared.  

“Why!?”  Raeya screamed, “Because he loved me?!  Because he finally made me happy?!  Or is it just because I was happier with him than with you?!”

“He stole your soul!  You think I could forgive that?!”

“You are insane.”  Raeya hissed through her teeth.

Lillian shook his head, “Tarence explained it to me.  He said that before you were born, your soul was split in half and given to him.  You were being held captive by a man who held half your soul.  I had to kill him.  At least then you would get your soul back.  So I waited for the right time and I killed him in a way that wouldn’t raise suspicion.”

“The storm.  You created the storm that killed him.”

“Yes, and in the confusion  I stole his soul and freed you.”

“BASTARD!”  Raeya’s sais found their way into her hands.  “I felt him die!  Half my soul died with him, and you dare say that you saved me?!  You cast me into Hell!”  Raeya charged Lillian, weapons raised, tears running down her face.  Lillian snapped his fingers and tentacles of mud sprang out of the floor and wrapped around her tightly, stopping her sais an inch from his eye.  Raeya strained against the bonds, unable to move an inch.

Lillian looked at her disappointedly.  “I knew it would take a lot to convince you, dear sister.  That is why I have waited this long to contact you.  I needed to collect enough power to be worthy of you, to be worthy of standing by your side, and to gain enough power to be as immortal as you are.  I have accomplished this goal.  Just look at all I have achieved!”  

Lillian flung his arms wide, gesturing to the cavern filled with stolen souls, a fevered, maniacal look in his face.  “No longer am I the little boy who needed protection.  I am more powerful than my brother could have ever hoped to be.  I am the true Lord Hikari!”  

He beamed at her.  Raeya glared at him, sneering, “Only in your dreams.”

Lillian’s face fell, and he narrowed his eyes at her.  “Then I shall have to prove it to you.”

He turned away from her, and waved his hand.  The ground around some of the surrounding crystals rippled before pushing the crystals aside to make a large clearing.  A huge mud bubble bulged out from the center of the clearing.  With a loud splat, the bubble popped to reveal Kitska, still in her large demon form, and Nightfire lying flat on the ground surrounded by a circle of golems.

As soon as they felt air on their skin, Kit and Night began coughing and retching up mud, sucking in air greedily.  “That’s it,”  Nightfire moaned in between gasps.  “I’m moving to a Sol-damned desert after this.  I am tired of all this egg-sucking mud!”  

Lillian laughed.  “Oh, my dear, you are not going anywhere ever again.”  With these cryptic words, Lillian began chanting lowly under his breath, one hand clutching his amulet, the other pointing towards  Nightfire.  More mud bonds wrapped themselves around her, holding her tightly as a ring of crystal surrounded her.  

“What are you doing to her?!”  Raeya yelled at him.  Kitska ran forward to try to help, but was restrained by a good number of the golems.

Lillian’s chanting shortly ended and the crystal ring began growing into a round dome, completely encasing Nightfire.  He smiled as he turned back to Raeya.  “I have discovered a way to use the powers and knowledge of a living specimen.  I knew that you would bring your strongest allies to face me.  Now, thanks to you, I have the final piece I needed for my collection, a living reservoir of incredible power.  I will be able to constantly drain magic from her, and what’s more, she will be able to replenish it.  Even after she dies of old age, her soul will still be a useful tool, considering she is the most powerful creature in my collection.”

Nightfire could feel a sense of cold dread wash over her as the crystal prison completed itself and her bonds were released.  He was going to keep her in this dome until she died of old age.  She still had thousands of years left to live.  She was trapped, her fate to be a tool for an insane mage.  She always seemed to just be someone’s tool…

“She’s not just a some creature you can collect, Lilli!”  Raeya was worried about Nightfire.  Her friend looked terrified, and on the brink of a mental breakdown.  “She doesn’t deserve to be kept in a prison for the rest of her life!”

“Oh, doesn’t she?”  Lillian smirked, “She dared presume that she was worthy of standing next to you.  Such audacity requires punishment, don’t you think?”  One of the golems walked up to him.  Without hesitation, Lillian stuck his hand into the golem’s flesh, ignoring the angry growls it made, and pulled out Nightfire’s scimitars.  He studied them intently.  “I have to admit, she is a fascinating creature.  Perhaps when her body no longer serves a purpose, I shall use it in some experiments.”  He shrugged and tossed the scimitars over near Night’s prison.

A loud snarl from Kitska drew his attention.  “Now, now,” he said, “Don’t think I’ve forgotten you.  I tested you, along with the half-breed, to see if you were strong enough to capture, but you failed the test.”  Kitska’s mind flashed back to the time she had first seen the golems and they had caused her to faint.  

Lillian sighed.  “So, sadly, I have no use for you.  Kill the fox,” he ordered the golems.  At least twenty golems swarmed from the ground and leapt for the fox.

“Leave her alone!”  Raeya screamed as Nightfire slammed her fists into the walls of crystal.  Kitska fought valiantly, her fur soon became matted with blood and mud.  Raeya quickly closed her eyes, and focused on letting her human form dissipate.

The bonds slipped from her as she dissolved into red mist.  “Not so fast, Rae!”  Lillian spun around, hand raised, and a force like a cannonball slammed into the red mist, causing her to rematerialize in human form and smack into the floor.  The force held her pinned there, unable to Change and help her friend.  Nightfire was equally helpless as she flung blast after blast of black fire against the walls of her prison to no avail.  

Kitska slowed, blood pouring out of her nose and many wounds.  Her blasts of green fire grew weaker and weaker, until they barely singed the enemy.  When one jumped on her back and wasn’t burnt off, the rest of the golems surged forward, overwhelming the demon.  Kitska was covered in the things to the point where no one could see her.  

Suddenly, there was an agonizing scream cut short by a crack like a gunshot.  The writhing mass of golems melted away to show that one golem had the back of her neck in it’s massive jaws.  The golem shook her again like a dog with a rat, then dropped Kitska’s limp body to the ground as it slowly shifted back to her humanoid form.  

“Kitska?”  Raeya asked softly, not wanting to believe what she saw.  Kit’s neck was clearly broken, her head twisted at an impossible angle and her body limp and broken as a rag doll.  There was no way she was still alive.

Raeya gritted her teeth, trying to control her tears as she remembered the determined look on the face of the fox so desperate to travel with her.  “I’ll not go home a failure.  I have nothing to lose,” the fox had said.  She had been so very wrong.  The little vixen had lost everything.

Another scream rent the air, and Raeya twisted her head to see Nightfire with her head in her hands, keening her grief loudly enough to be heard through the crystal.  As Raeya watched, Nightfire’s control over her powers was shattered, and the black phoenix began to form.  Her hair turned to feathers, her wings became black bird wings, and her arms ended in a bird’s black talons.  Her eyes became pools of insane purple.  Black fire whirled around her, and she began to attack her prison yet again.  The walls shook with the force of her attack, but held firm.

Lillian began laughing at her futile attempts to escape.  “Don’t you see, Rae?”  he said, obviously proud of himself.  “Do you see the weaklings you surround yourself with?  How unworthy they are of you?”  Lillian walked over to Kitska’s body and held her up in the air by her hair.  “Do you see Rae?!”  He asked again, insanity evident in his voice as he shook Kitska towards her.  “I have defeated those you call allies so easily it is sad.  Even now, your half-breed friend unleashes her full force against my prison and yet she is still trapped.  I have spent centuries working towards this moment, this moment where I have become worthy of standing by your side.  I am the only person worthy of standing by your side.  I am your brother, Lord Hikari!”  Lillian threw his head back and laughed, never noticing the cause of his demise.

In a sudden burst of movement, Kitska dropped the illusion surrounding herself, and slashed across Lillian’s throat, while digging the claws of her other hand into the arm that held her.  Lillian screamed in pain and dropped the fox.  Kitska sprang away lightly to stand over next to Raeya.  

Lillian grasped at his amulet to cast a spell on the fox, but only met cloth.  Kitska gave him an evil, fanged grin.  “A word of advice, Lord Hikari,”  Kitska chuckled as she held his amulet high above her head, “Never expect a trickster to play fair.”

“NO!”  Lillian screamed as Kitska smashed his amulet against the floor.  Immediately his spells began to unravel.  The crystals around the souls and Nightfire crumpled into piles of salt, chunks of the ceiling fell away to reveal beautiful daylight, and the force holding Raeya disappeared.  

There was a myriad of multicolor lights as the stolen souls escaped their bonds.  “No!”  Lillian wailed, “My collection!  All my hard work!”  Raeya slowly stood up from the floor and took several long strides over to her little brother.  “Rae!  You have to help me!  We have to-Ghrk!”

Raeya’s dirk slid swiftly and smoothly into his stomach.  Blood dribbled out of Lillian’s mouth and he looked at her in confusion.  Raeya slowly bent to whisper in his ear, “You are worthy of shit, and you are no brother of mine.”

“Raeya!”  Kitska called, “I need some help over here!”

Raeya slit her dirk out and ran over to Kitska and Nightfire, leaving Lillian to crumple and bleed on the floor.  Nightfire was still partially the black phoenix, black fire swirling around her and glancing around nervously like a wild animal caught in a corner.

“Stay back.”  Raeya told Kit, Night?  Raeya tried to mindspeak her friend.

Pain. Anger. Loss. Pain Pain Fear.  It hurts.  Don’t want be used. Poor little fox.  Pain Fear ANGER.

Raeya winced.  Nightfire had almost no control left.  “It’s okay, Night,”  Raeya soothed as she slowly walked over, palms upraised.  “Kitska is right behind me, she’s not dead.  No one is going to hurt you or use you.  Everything is going to be all right.”  Raeya reached out to try and grab hold of Nightfire’s shoulder.

Pain. Fear. Anger Anger ANGER!  NO TOUCH!  Raeya didn’t have time to react as Nightfire’s right arm came up and slashed her talons across Raeya’s throat and down her collarbone.  Nightfire snapped out of it when she felt hot blood coat her arm and spray across her face.  She could only watch as her best friend fell to the ground with her throat torn out.

Kitska could only watch as her hero was cut down in a matter of seconds.

Lillian could only watch from his place on the floor as his invincible sister was sent to the afterlife before him.