Sage

Sage

Home, she thought. Home.

Smoke hit her first when her feet found solid ground. The scent of smoke filled the air, choking her and burning her eyes. The sky was blotted with it, making the afternoon sun glow a sickly red overhead. Then she smelled the blood, the tangy mixture of copper thick in the air.

She turned, looking down a hill at a village burning. No one screamed, and no one ran from the blazing homes. They were all dead. The Demon horde was busy tearing apart the village, ransacking the burning homes. No one noticed her.

“Sage?” the voice came behind her, hoarse and dry. Well, one person noticed her.

She turned to see Kade, in his Demon skin, wearing pale silver pants and no shirt. His glyphs blazed in the dim smoky light, burning as bright as his golden horns. He looked tired but mostly shocked. He reached out to her, as if not believing she was truly there.

His claws turned into hands as he gently cupped her chin in his palm. She shivered at his touch, so warm and familiar, but strange still without the bond flaring between them. His red eyes widened, and he looked angry.

“You can’t be here!” He hissed, suddenly pulling her towards him. She fell against his chest, breathing in his scent - but his usual woodsy smell was masked by blood and smoke. She felt tears prick her eyes. What had his father forced him to do?

“Kade, I-” he held a hand over her mouth, silencing her.

“He will kill you - kill you Sage! I cannot… I will not…” he shook his head and for the first time she noticed his eyes growing wet with tears. “I can’t let that happen. It will break me.”

Sage lifted a hand and brushed the tears from his eyes. Slowly, she pulled his hand from her mouth and said, “I am still pissed off you threw me into the portal. But we can talk about that later after I’ve dealt with your father.”

He gave her an incredulous look. “Sage, there is no dealing with him. He’s a monster - a real one. It took everything I had, every ounce of strength and guile to save the others. They are just as stubborn and pig-headed as you.”

Sage smiled. She could only imagine the look Wraza must have given him when he tried to tell her to flee, to hide from the Demon King. “It’s a miracle you’re not melted,” she said, and he glared back.

“This is no joke - why are you joking?” He snapped.

“Because she knows this is her end.” The deep voice boomed behind Kade.

Sage felt him stiffen against her.

“No,” he whispered, his eyes going wide. He turned, placing himself between her and his father.

“What did you say?” His father asked, looking bemused.

“I said no!” Kade growled.

Sage watched as his father narrowed his eyes at them, at the annoyance that flickered across his face when he realized his heir was standing up to him. Zaniel’s words flitted through her mind then - their father was afraid one day Kade would rise up against him, and take his crown.

He would stop at nothing to ensure that didn’t happen. Even if it meant killing his only heir. Sage slipped out from under Kade’s arms, sidestepping him as he tried to pull her back.

“You and I have unfinished business,” she said, glaring at the King.

He regarded her like vermin - something small and merely a nuisance.

It pissed her off.

She threw a bolt of magic at his face. He blocked it with his shadows, then threw them at her. Sage called up the winds, blowing them back at him, and knocking him over. In the back of her mind, Gabriela laughed. Her soul poured every ounce of her gift into Sage.

Before she had been in pain, wounded, and struggling to adjust to the sudden loss of her bond with Kade. Now she was whole and focused on one thing.

He landed on his ass, looking bewildered. She would have laughed if it wasn’t for the onslaught of Demons that ran up the hill behind him. Kade looked shocked, but quickly recovered, grabbing her arm.

“Take the Tear to the cities. The others are there.” He said.

Sage shook her head, then quickly pressed her lips against his. “I love you. Meet me at the cave,” she said, then patted his shocked face before moving. Kami’s shadows pulled her until she was behind the Demon King, who still hadn’t stood back up.

She placed a hand on his shoulder, smiling down at him as she said, “Let’s have a nice chat.” The world spun before he could answer, and soon they were back in the cave.

Sage kept her eyes on the Demon King as he roared to his feet. She would not look at the table or the corner where her friends died. She would not be distracted.

“You!” Dragula growled, the shadows around him growing and expanding as he drew himself to his full height. He towered over her, a thick, imposing wall of darkness and magic that sucked the air from the cave. Normally she would have coward away or shrank under the dense pressure of his power.

But not this time. She felt the souls of her friends inside her and pushed. There was no magic behind it. It was simply a shove. But it wasn’t what he expected. He expected her to use her power, to try to outmatch him with her collective gifts. He had not thought she would simply shove his ass into the portal.

He fell through, his face contorted into shock.

And fell through after him.

Together they fell between the planes of the worlds, traveling through the darkness and the shadows until light smacked them and they tumbled out into a twin cave.

Her cave.

Sage stood stretching out her body as she felt the gravity of her old world weighing down her as the magic was sapped from her body. She glanced down at her side to see the Demon King felt it as well.

He was on his knees, gasping for air. Without his magic he looked like a normal human man. Maybe a little tall, but normal nonetheless. Sage stepped in front of him, bending at her hips to meet his wide eyes.

“What magic is this?” He gasped.

She smirked, “None. Not one ounce of magic here at all.” She waved her hand, wiggling her fingers to show him. “See? Can’t even use mine here.” She frowned, then stood up, “That’s a lie, actually.”

She held out the Tear, teaming with magic.

“I can if I crush this. It’s the last bit of magic the Goddess bestowed on us. Took me a second to recognize it for what it is. I actually had to travel to the Goddess’s realm to realize it. Kade once told me the reason these were rare is that they take a lot of magic to create - which is partially true.”

She pulled her hand back when he made a swipe at it. She tutted, then slapped him across the face. His body rocked back violently. His eyes widened in shock - she doubted anyone had ever slapped him before.

“I let you and your bastard son drone on and on while you murdered my friends.” She bent back down and sneered in his face. “Now shut up and listen to me. I’m willing to bet you know exactly what this is, which is why you’re eyeing it like a drowning man eyes air.” She waved it in front of his face. The Tear glowed in her hand; when she first laid eyes on one, she thought it resembled sea glass, but it took seeing the pools in the Goddess plane to understand what it was. Pieces of a pool from the Goddess plane that Nevia gifted to her Maidens. The pool was magic itself, portals into other worlds, into the very fabric of time and space, and they harbored pure magic inside. It could not be nullified by her world, or any world, since it was once a lens into worlds.

“I’m not wasting it on you, you worthless excuse of a man. I’ll use it to go home, my real home, the one I will make with your son after I rip your fucking heart out.” She drew her knee up, smashing it into his jaw. A satisfying crunch rang out as he fell backward, groaning through the blood and broken teeth.

“You only have yourself to blame. You made the pact with my family - if they hadn’t tried to sacrifice me, we wouldn’t be here. If you hadn’t murdered Kade’s mother and forced him through the barrier, we wouldn’t be here. But here we are. And here is where it ends.”

She pulled out her whip from her waistband. It was a normal whip in this world, albeit a bit heavy. But it was manageable, the perfect size for his neck. She wrapped it around his throat, then pulled it until she felt him gasping.

He reached back, trying to push her off, clawing at her with dull human nails as she tightened her grip. But she did not relent.

She could leave him here, in this world, to rot without magic, to become some beggar on the streets. But she wouldn’t risk it. He was too dangerous to let live. For all she knew, he’d figure out a way to make a life here, to become rich and powerful and keep being the terrible person he was. Sure, he’d die one day being mortal. But letting him breathe air for one more day was unacceptable when her friends weren’t granted the same.

She threw her entire body into it, pulling back against his weight until his body was holding her up. He choked, letting out a strangled gasp until his body weakened. They both fell to the ground, but she only held tighter until he stilled completely.

Even then, she gave his throat one last pull, making sure he was dead.

She kicked him away, crawling out from under him to rest against the cool cave wall. She took a few breaths, calming herself as hot tears began to sting her eyes. He was dead.

The Demon King was finally dead. Zaniel was dead. Vinciei was dead. They were all gone, but she felt no victory.

Naru, Gabriela, Clara, Kami, and the Hunters - all gone too.

She felt an emptiness growing inside her that had nothing to do with the loss of her bond or magic. It was the loss of loved ones, of the people she’d sworn to protect and failed. The pain of that loss was eating away at her, and no matter how many of their enemies she killed, it would never, ever fill that hole.

She opened her eyes, reminding herself she needed to find Minx now, praying she was alright.

A shuffling caught her attention. She glanced over, stilling when she saw her mother standing over the stone table, her ceremonial knife raised above Minx, who was tied to the table staring at her.

Her mother’s face was ashen, her bright sapphire eyes glittering with malice as she watched her.

Sage looked down at the bodies of Minx’s mother and bodyguard, then at Alec and a strangely familiar homeless man behind everyone.

She looked back up at her mother, and suddenly that empty void called to her. She might not be able to fill it with the deaths of the Demon King, or his son, or Vinciei - but she sure as hell could fill it with her family.

The very people who started this all.

So, she met her mother’s eyes, holding her gaze for the first time in her life, and smiled.

“Hello, mother.” She said.