THE JEALOUSY OF JALICE

Before Elothel could elaborate, Jalice gasped sharply. She sat upright again, and her vision focused on something past the trees.

“Why are we back here?” she asked as she turned towards Annilasia and the mirajin. Her stars sizzled a tepid grey that also smoldered in her eyes.

“We’re in the Apparition Realm,” Annilasia explained warily. “I brought you here so this mirajin could help you.”

Jalice gaped in disbelief. “This isn’t the Apparition Realm. We’re in the Black House. Why did you bring me here?”

Annilasia eyed Elothel. “I don’t understand. Why does she think . . .” She trailed off, unwilling to utter the name of the accursed place. She watched Jalice, who was surveying her surroundings with fearful agitation. “You never answered me whether that liquid she’s vomiting will harm her.”

“It’s better she got it out of her system,” said Elothel dismissively before addressing Jalice. “What are you looking at, Tecalica?”

Jalice’s focus remained fixed on some invisible mirage. “Why are they here? What’s going on?”

Elothel was quiet for a moment. “How did you get here?”

The question startled Annilasia. At first, she thought it was meant for Jalice. She shifted nervously when she realized that wasn’t the case.

“What do you mean?” she asked innocently.

“How did you translate her here?”

Annilasia pursed her lips. “Aether.”

Though no more than a murmur, the answer didn’t escape Elothel. The mirajin’s expression was impossible to read beneath the cloudy disposition, but the tone in faer words propelled condemnation.

“You should’ve told me that before I performed the soul coalesce,” fae said. “You’re a fool, starborn.”

Annilasia bristled, clenching her fists. “What are you talking about?”

“A soul coalesce should never be performed in junction with such a crude conduit,” fae said. “It’s equivalent to performing surgery on the physical body with eating utensils.”

Jalice scrambled to her feet, swaying off balance in the pool of dark liquid. “Why isn’t it stopping? I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to see this.”

Elothel continued, ignoring Jalice’s inquiries. “The aether you laced her with is affecting her perception. She isn’t in control. She’s locked on some other track of reality.”

Jalice started forward as if dodging something, and stumbled. Her eyes followed an invisible object as it passed her.

“Please make it stop,” she whimpered. “Get me out of here.”

“What are you seeing?” Annilasia called out.

“You don’t see this?” exclaimed Jalice. “I can’t make it stop. We’re going towards it. There’s a girl—” Her eyes widened.

“What girl?” asked Annilasia. “What are you going towards?”

“The Black House,” wailed Jalice. “Make it stop!” She waved frantically at the phantoms that plagued her.

“Elothel, we’ve got to do something,” said Annilasia as she looked expectantly to faem.

“I’m not sure what we could do,” replied Elothel. “Her mind could be reacting to the extraction I performed. Aether is an unpredictable element when abused. It’s even possible the dokojin has caused this reaction in retribution for the soul coalesce.” Fae shook faer head. “I’m wary of trying to interrupt it. I’ve already done enough damage with the soul coalesce.”

Annilasia’s aura shuddered. The orbit of her inner stars accelerated as she watched Jalice respond to people and surroundings that remained unseen.

“There has to be a way to stop this,” said Annilasia.

“Which is part of what we need to discuss,” said Elothel, a grave note in faer voice. “Come with me.” The mirajin quietly turned and walked away.

After observing Jalice’s bizarre behavior for another moment, Annilasia went to stand with Elothel. The two remained close enough to observe the Tecalica, but at a distance that drowned out her rantings.

For a brief second, Elothel’s silhouette rippled at the edges. A crackling sound erupted, and contained lightning flashed within faer form. The web of light shot out and collided against the confines of faer cloud in quick succession, illuminating Elothel in a brilliant display of chaotic energy.

“I’m fading faster than I had anticipated,” said Elothel. “My time fending off the dokojin attached to her memories drained me. I won’t last much longer, and there is too much to discuss.”

“What needs to be discussed?” asked Annilasia. Heightened anticipation slipped into her words. “Did you see something during the soul coalesce that could help us?”

“I restored a few memories. In one, she conversed with something that seized me with the most extraordinary terror. It frightened her greatly, and she fled its presence.”

“A dokojin,” whispered Annilasia with certainty.

“Indeed. But this was no typical dokojin. Many that skulk this Realm are newborns bred out of the violence over recent decades. The parasite that blocks Jalice’s memories is such a one. But the dokojin residing in the Black House . . .” A cross between loathing and veneration edged into Elothel’s voice. “That one is ancient. Powerful. Minacious.”

“What else did you see?” Annilasia needed answers and was convinced Elothel was on the cusp of vital information.

“I witnessed conversations she had with a young man—the one we know as the Sachem. He seemed . . . different. Kinder. And Jalice’s brother cropped up often. The emotions wrapped in those memories were confusing—full of affection and paranoia.” Elothel grew quiet. “Then I was confronted by the infant dokojin within her mind, and it forced me to flee.”

“Is that all?” Annilasia held none of her dismay back. “Then this was a waste of my time.”

“Perhaps,” agreed Elothel. “Foolish without a doubt. But this endeavor may yet yield clues that we desperately need. Regardless, our plan has now changed.”

Annilasia’s stars flickered with alarm. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve jeopardized her mental state. The soul coalesce has scarred her, and I have no way of undoing it without being present in my full form.”

Annilasia’s alarm intensified. “Then it’s a good thing we’re coming to meet up with you in person.”

“We’re on a tighter constraint than before, Annilasia. It is paramount that we get Jalice to the Black House immediately.”

Elothel’s words struck Annilasia in phases while agitation disarrayed her stars. “What in blazing comets are you talking about?”

“I think Jalice will go mad as a result of this botched soul coalesce unless I perform a proper extraction of the dokojin inside her. In order to do that, we need to take her to the Black House.”

Annilasia’s aura stars shimmered as anger charged them with a vengeful energy. Some of the stars even collided to produce short burst explosions. Fully aware the mirajin was sensitive to inflamed emotions, she attempted to keep her feelings contained.

“We’re not taking her to the Black House, Elothel,” she said in a clipped tone.

“By Sahruum’s grace, we will,” fae rebuked as another bolt of lightning erupted through faer countenance. “The Black House will be the only place I can extract the dokojin from her mind. Trying to force it out of her now would seal her fate to certain insanity. She could even die. It must be coerced out. I can think of no other way to do this than to take her to the Black House.”

“Elothel, I’m in great debt for your willingness to soul coalesce. But you’re out of your starblind mind if you think—”

“The memories that dokojin is guarding relate to her memories of that place. Bringing Jalice there will irritate it. When Jalice’s mind attempts to conjure those memories associated with the House, the dokojin will leave its post in her soul and slip out into the Apparition Realm to scare her away from that place.”

“How in deep dungeons do you know that’s what it’ll do?”

“Because it’s an infant,” said Elothel, keeping faer tone controlled amidst Annilasia’s rising temper. The cloud hosting the mirajin no longer retained a humanoid form. Instead, fae was now reduced to a hazy plume as sparks and veins of lightning continued to explode within the cloud.

“Infants react,” fae continued. “They have no patience, and it’ll make the mistake of reacting to our trap. It’ll leave her mind, I will vanquish it while it’s in the Apparition Realm, and she will be free of it.”

“But why does it matter? Getting her here was as much inconvenience as I was willing to permit myself. I don’t have time for any other detours. Stick to the plan—we will meet at the Nova Oasis, and I’ll leave her with you. Then you can take her to that damn House if you’re death-bent on it.”

Elothel’s form continued to evaporate, leaving little more than half its embodiment left. Yet faer voice lost none of its serene command.

“She will not last that long,” Elothel said. “Listen and do as I say, starborn. Take her to the Flock of Tents encampment at the edge of the forest. I’ll meet you there; then, together, we’ll take her to the Black House.”

“I swear on every dark crevice of the universe, if you’re not at the Nova Oasis when I get there . . .”

“If you don’t adhere to this, starborn, I’ll relinquish my aid in your quest and ensure you answer to Sahruum for Jalice’s demise.”

Before she could protest further, the cloud imploded, a thunderous clap swallowing it in a flash. Elothel vanished.

Annilasia glared at the empty space, her aura bustling violently with stars. Nearby, Jalice let out a shrill cry, but Annilasia didn’t acknowledge it. Dying stars, I’ll strangle Jalice. And damn every mirajin still in existence. It had been a mistake to visit this Realm, and an even worse mistake to summon Elothel.

Jalice’s voice finally filtered through Annilasia’s thoughts. With mumbled curses on her tongue, Annilasia turned to retrieve the deranged woman. She’d taken only a step when revulsion swept over her without obvious reason. The urge to look down at her ankle hijacked all other instincts. Her hands trembled. A presence lurked behind her. She didn’t even have to look to know what she’d see.

Don’t let your fear overcome you. If she could quell her fear, the hallucination would dissipate.

Annilasia’s willpower faded, and she lowered her eyes. The trembling spread as she observed again a third line of lifechain. It slipped out of sight in the direction of the looming presence at her back.

The impulse to escape threw her into a sprint. Panic stripped her of her duty to the chieftess. Jalice’s wails grew distant.

Something as bleak as death nipped at Annilasia’s heels while it crowed one phrase repeatedly. A multitude of crazed voices blended as one, scratching like fingernails inside a coffin. No matter how far she ran, it was never far enough. Eventually her mind submitted to the incessant command, and her own voice joined in under an obsessive itch to comply.

“Get the book!”