Excerpted from Elena’s report for the Eye of Elicia, Her Excellency Lady Nhaka Mezalune…

I’ll have to admit this to you (and only you), my Lady. I made a promise to Claire, that I’d bring her little sister home safe and sound. No matter what, since you know how it is with a Vizier’s word. Weight of the world, and all that.

That’s I’m thinking as I stand before Anna de la Lune. She was, for lack of a better choice of words, on fire – ethereal flames engulfed her flesh in rapidly shifting shades of white and purple, encasing whatever humanity she had within a fiery visage. And from her flesh, right through that burning veil, were black chains adorning her body. They weren’t restraining her, by the way. But rather, quite unnaturally I’d say, a part of whatever she had become.

“We don’t have to do this,” I told her, as I looked her in the eye. “Claire, she’s…”

“Shut up!”

I had barely a moment to get out of the way, when a massive upheaval of bladed chains tore through the earth beneath my feet.

“Listen, damn you,” I said as I grit my teeth, barely able to control my temper. “Claire…”

Before I could finish my sentence (it’s very hard to speak in full sentences when you’re being attacked!), there was another upheaval of bladed chains. I dodged it as easily as I did the first, and as I regained my footing, I saw a chance to counterattack with a group of corpses slumped atop the stairs, close to Anna. They’re Izoria Vhal’s supplicants, I’d reckon, and I commanded their black-robed remains to rise from the dead to restrain her. My reanimated minions never stood a chance, because the bladed chains that lay around her feet sprung to life and shredded them to bloody ribbons.

“Kill you…” she uttered, slurring her words as she looked at me. “Kill you…”

I still remember the look in those green eyes of hers, my Lady. They were strained raw and red, lifeless husks that looked like they were close to being emptied out of everything. She was trembling, and it didn’t look like she was going to last much longer. It got me thinking that I could just wear her out, easily. That she’d faint from blood loss, and I’d pick it up from there.

Nope, it didn’t happen. When Anna began laughing, when the green light of her sigil burned even brighter than before, I was soon to realise that her trembling wasn’t out of fatigue, but from anticipation. There was so much blood flowing down those green eyes of hers, that even from so far away, I was certain that she was drawing strength from some source far beyond her mortal self. And instead of collapsing upon the ground like I had hoped, she steadied her arm, and brought forth a massive tempest of bladed chains that spiralled towards me from every fathomable angle.

There was nowhere to run, or dodge. And it got me thinking, that I ought to change my approach to something far more violent. You know, violence to end violence, and all that. Maybe it was a bad idea, but I didn’t have much time to think. And so, with my sigil, I brought forth the largest concentration of arcane magic that I could, and let it radiate from me in a massive explosion that disintegrated the incoming chains, and all the furniture and corpses around us.

I thought I had won, then and there. It’s easy to think that way as a sorcerer, my Lady, because I’ll admit, it does feel pretty damn good when you complete such a powerful evocation with your sigil. Felt so good, that I didn’t notice that one more of Anna’s conjured chains was coming for me, its edge little more than a half-broken splinter. It got me good, right through the middle of my belly. By the time I conjured a blade of fire to cut it down, it was far too late.

That said, I didn’t let up in the slightest! Even though back there, I’m bleeding dust all over the floor, and I’m thinking that my favourite shirt’s now a whole lot less wholesome, and that it all feels like I’ve been impaled by a massive spike. My conjured blades were still burning hot on both my hands as I staggered up the staircase towards Anna, who gasped bloodily as she backed herself against the wall behind her. There were broken links scattered all over the steps, and I suppose, my Lady, that my arcane vortex had broken through her defences, and that her counterattack was little more than a last-ditch attempt to kill me.

And as I got close, I caught a glimpse of the bloody glow that had been the source of her dark strength. It was a Bloodstone, my Lady. It reeked of draconic sorcery, but it didn’t seem at all like the work of Izoria Vhal. Its crimson glow was faint like the ethereal embers that remained upon Anna’s humanity, that now, simmered weakly upon her skin.

“Claire’s alive…” I told her, as best I could. “She wants to see you, she’s...”

“You… liar… I’ll kill… you…”

The chains that were a part of Anna’s body were rattling at me, their broken edges prepared to defend her. I’ll say that she didn’t believe me, my Lady. And perhaps, for good reason. I couldn’t convince her otherwise, because Claire’s waiting outside, and I can’t bring her here without getting stabbed in the back on my way out.

Damn, I should’ve thought this through, huh? Now, I can say that I know the plight of people who make promises. I mean, these days, it’s so hard to be sincere, you know?

At that moment, if I’m being honest, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. And I suppose, my Lady, that I’ll never know. I say this, because a golden light enveloped the hall. It was concentrated holy magic, and it made me stagger back down the stairs, just as easily as it backed Anna harder against the wall behind her.

When that holy light faded away into the ether, I turned around and saw Iris standing tall in her silver jewellery and white panties. There were bloodstains running down her golden eyes, and she said:

“Stay your hand, Anna de la Lune. I have with me, who you seek.”