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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2018 8:21:41 GMT -7
july 31, 2024
purifiers base, location unknown
Zytka wasn't alone at the Purifiers base, but she felt like she was. Ever since getting tangled up in the Purifiers, for Diana's sake, she had felt like she was alone - an island in an endless ocean of suffering, and pain. It sounded melodramatic, even to Zytka's own ears, but at the end of the day, it was the truth. She was only in the Purifiers for Diana, and though she had tried to hide that fact, Zytka was fairly certain that everybody knew. She wasn't sure why she had been assigned this task, above all other people in the organization. Zytka was not a murderer, not like some of them. She valued life, perhaps the most of anyone she had ever met, but the question that she was asking herself at that moment was what life, exactly, she valued. The person she had been charged to kill was not without his flaws. In fact, some would say that he was the devil incarnate - but Zytka didn't believe in the devil, and she wasn't sure that she believed there was anyone who had committed enough sins to warrant being executed.
But it wasn't her choice. And her murder weapon wasn't exactly her choice, either. The magic she had been asked to perform was forbidden, a bastardization of the healing magic she had devoted her life to learning. How was it fair, to take someone's life and use it to feed her own? It wasn't fair. That was the only answer that Zytka could come up with, but every time she had that thought, she was reminded of the same thing - life was not fair, nor was Elaine. The weight of what she was going to do here today was going to sit heavy on Zytka for the rest of her life, and that was not fair, but it was what she had to do, to protect Diana... and, she admitted, to protect herself. If she refused Elaine's command, then she was as good as dead. She had thought of running, before, but even that seemed futile. Zytka could not spend the rest of her life running from someone else - it was easier to run from herself instead.
Finally, her victim was lead into the room, looking slightly lost. Zytka wondered if the Imperius Curse that had been placed on him had been lifted for the last few minutes of his life. It wasn't out of the question, especially if Elaine wanted him to know everything that she had done to overpower him - all the ways she had succeeded where he had failed. The majority of the ritual had already been set up - the lines of chalk sketched, the amulet Zytka had created was sitting in the hollow of her throat, replacing the amulet of protection that normally sat there. She took a deep breath, but the necklace was a heavy weight on her chest, and Zytka felt as if she could barely breathe.
It was better to get this over with quickly. The victim knelt in front of Zytka, and there was no recognition in his eyes. He would never know that she was just as much a pawn in this crazy game of chess as he was. He had thought himself the king, but if there was one thing that Zytka had learned about chess metaphors, it was that people rarely knew their true place on the board. In the end, it didn't matter who was who, anyways - any piece could claim the life of the others, as long as they were in the correct position. Zytka had been placed carefully, to be able to fell this man. If she were to fail in her task, then there would be another person to take her place... maybe even Diana. Zytka shuddered at the thought, and then placed her hands on the man's shoulders. He was bound, so he couldn't do much about the gentle pressure she was placing on him.
The room was cleared, until Zytka really was alone - her and the prisoner. There were no doubt guards outside the doors so that she couldn't take him and run. She was going to do this, Zytka realized. She had run through every possible scenario, and there was none where she didn't leave this room a murderer. The thought was sickening, but the inevitability of it ultimately gave Zytka a sense of calm. When she spoke the words of the ritual, her voice didn't waver, not even once. The stream of words felt almost endless, but it wasn't the words that Zytka was focused on - it was the man in front of her. From the moment she had began he had started hunching, slowly being drained of all of his energy, all of his magic, and all of his life. The amulet around her neck, which was serving as the totem for the ritual, was beginning to burn as it accepted everything that was being taken. Even though she was the one performing the ritual, Zytka felt oddly like a bystander in all of it. She was... a conduit, that was the word for it. She was the tool of something greater, and the calm that had first found her was growing - festering, almost.
The body slumped over, a shell of what had once been Alastor Draven. Zytka didn't pay attention to the sound of it hitting the ground of the dungeon she was in. The world felt like it had come into focus, not suddenly, but since she had begun the ritual. Zytka had always fancied herself a free-thinker, someone who could make change in the world of her own volition... but that was wrong. She was not independent, she was not brilliant. She was a tool - a weapon, even, one like the Purifiers had never seen before. She had found her clarity.
Zytka made her way to the exit, throwing open the doors without a care for who was on the other side. She needed to see Elaine. Of course, the immediate assumption that she was trying to make her escape, but the serenity that Zytka possessed as she nearly floated out of the room was enough to give the guards at the door pause. "Draven is dead." Zytka announced, voice more pensive than authoritative. The death meant much to the Purifiers - but most importantly, it meant that Elaine had assumed full control as the group's one and only leader. Zytka offered the group of people staring at her a serene smile.
"Long live the queen."
