Zane, Katelyn, Alec and Brennon all sat around a table, before them were relics coated with power, the metallic scent coating their tongues, intoxicating them in its spell. They were all dressed in fine armour, accomplishment shining off of them. Lorelai stood at  the head of the table looking over her friends, a prideful smile on her face. 

"Look what we have done!" She said joyfully. "We have collected so much power, all for our Lord, our God!"

"Lorelai, what do you mean?" Alec demanded, standing up, his height dominating her own.

"I think you know exactly what I mean dear brother." She said, a sinister smile splayed across her face. "And here he is now."

Behind them, walked in Crnobog, captured In human form, looking like a true king. "Thank you my dear." He wrapped an arm around her waist, kissing her cheek with a sense of familiarity. 

"Lorelai?" Brennon half-whispered, his eyes staring at the scenes of affection before him.

"Oh come now Brennon, you must not be angry with me. Why should I be with you, a powerless little Lord, when with him I can be a queen. A queen over all of Prythian." She said, ambition shining in the whites of her eyes. Pure joy was spread across her face, emotions unleashed that had previously been locked up, unconsciously.  "Enjoy the new world my dears, its going to be explosive."

Screams chorused outside, drowned out by Lorelai's cruel laugh. The two sounds blended together, becoming one deafening, horrific, ear numbing noise. There was no escape from it, from her.  Everything got louder, and louder and louder, until all anyone could do was join in with the screams.

Lorelai and Brennon panted and sat up, their eyes snapping open, sweat coating their silk bedsheets. Lorelai clutched her waist, where only moments ago she had felt Crnobog's icy grip, tears stung her eyes. Brennons hands covered his ears, the screams and laughter still ringing like an echo inside his mind. Slowly, Lorelai turned to Brennon next to her, and as she set her eyes on his scared frame, she burst into tears, sobbing, heart wrenching tears. They wrapped themselves in a tight hug, Lorelai grasping his skin as if if she let go for even a moment, she'd be back in that horrible place. Hot tears ran down her face, her small frame clutching Brennon for dear life. 

"Its ok," He whispered against her shoulder. "Its ok." He whispered again, yet he knew that it was a lie.

                            •❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅

After the dream, she had been shaken. Her mind felt so weak that it felt like it would break in one blow. She couldn't stop the dream from replaying in her mind, over and over again. Was it the future? Was it a message? It had presented a fatal flaw in their own plan, and time was too scarce to think of anything better - she didn't even think there was anything better. Brennon had agreed to put a temporary halt on things while they took a step back, decided if this was really worth the risk. This is how Lorelai found herself back in Velaris, back in the dusty library which she loved so much, tunnelling through the depths down to the lowest levels. Bryaxis was the oldest thing she knew, his mind was filled with legends and wisdom that nothing else in Prythian knew. He had seen wars and the cleaving of worlds, if anything was going to give them once last chance, one last edge, it would be him. 

Walking down the spiralling steps, Lorelai traced the centuries old stones with her hands, feeling their roughness under her calloused fingers, broken from training.

She got to the deepest level, her eyes finding comfort in the familiar, endless darkness. "Hello Bry," She said, a sense of longing filling her words, she had missed her friend.

"You have been busy while you have been away," He spoke, his voice gliding through the air. "I have worried for you greatly."

"The world has become a dangerous place." 

A silence filled the room. 

"There is something you must see my child."  The darkness in the room separated, revealing a pathway that led deep into the room, deeper than she had ever gone before.

For all the stories of Bryaxis' power, his murders, his atrocities - she trusted him, and willingly walked down the isolated path.

"I have been down these levels for centuries child. There are books here from languages whom I am the last alive speaker, there are warnings and tales etched into the walls." He spoke, his voice following Lorelai down the path. Her feet echoed along the stone floors, it then occured to her that she must have been the first person to step foot in here for millennia, the thought sent a chill down her spine.

"I remember when you were born. I felt it, we all felt it, the power which escaped that night into the world, it broke its way across Prythian. Your body, produced by two fae who had died, and had been too close to death more than once, and then brought back to life. The magic that they carried with them - all of it, travelled to you that night as your cries woke up all that slumbered within Prythian. Your power of life travelled through the world with each cry, with each gentle, but harsh release of power. And something called that power to it, something ancient, something wanting releasing." Bryaxis swept the darkness away from a wall, lighting up torches around it in flashes of power. 

Lorelai stared up at the wall, her eyes overwhelmed with all she saw. 

Something was painted on the wall, painted long, long ago from the looks of it. It showed a baby in its fathers arms, a crown atop his head. They stood next to a bed, a mother laying down atop it. The baby was glowing gold, and its light travelled across the wall, down to a place painted with only black. A large gate stood open, the gold light twisting around it, through the gate, yellow eyes struck out, piercing through the darkness.

"This prophecy has been around longer than I have in this library, I apologise I didn't make the connection sooner." His voice continued.

Lorelai's mouth was dry, her eyes burning from her lack of blinking. She couldn't stop staring at the images on the wall. "I-" She croaked out. "Did I-." 

"You released Crnobog."

Lorelai's world shattered beneath her. Falling to her knees, she shook, her body and mind focusing on all the suffering she had unleashed upon the world. "But, th-that must've meant I'd released him as a baby, he only escaped the prison this year." She tried to reason with Bryaxis, hoping this was a mistake.

"He has had a plan many years in the making. Your power at birth shattered his bonds from the prison and he ran through Prythian for no less than a week before returning to his cell. He had set up so many wards around himself, that deep in this library, I didn't feel a thing."

"Why did he return? How did he escape again?" Lorelai asked, her mind running rampant with every sort of theory she could imagine.

"I do not know why he is doing what he has done, but let me tell you child, he has had the ability to leave his cell for 20 years, yet has only reappeared now. He has planned something, something decades in the making, and it has something to do with you."

"Why?" She croaked out, dread inking itself into every bone in her body.

"Because Lorelai, you wield power in amounts that no one else has ever wielded before, and it has lay dormant, for it knew that it would kill you, yet even with the majority hidden, it is still a vast amount. Your power is derived from life itself, and is bound to you and your being in ways that no others faes power is. Crnobog is a being of pure death, his essence is the complete lack of life, it is the one thing he cannot rule over. Since your birth he could sense the explosion of power hidden under your skin, and knew that you ruled over everything that he could not. At first, I assume he had tried to kill you, that first time you met in the spring court, yet as soon as he tried he realised that your power is nothing without you, it is entwined into your soul. Now, I cannot know his plans, but I can assume that he plans to wield you as a weapon whole, with your body and soul intact."

"But, if I broke him out of the prison, surely I can put him back in, right?" Her body was caving in on itself, for at least 20 years Crnobog had been waiting to kill them all, and she had given him the opportunity.

"When you were born, your power was at its full might for only a millisecond before it retreated in on itself, to wield that amount of power again would kill you." His dark matter swirled around Lorelai, comforting her.

Flashes of her court and family swept through Lorelai's mind, she thought of the sprawling streets of Velaris and her loving family that inhabited them. She though of her friends in Illyria, and Brennon, someone who she had only known a short time yet loved more than she'd ever loved before. Tears sprung at her eyes, cascading down her cheeks, she loved them all and would do anything to keep them safe. Clenching her fists, she made a decision, one that stood resolute in her mind. "If thats what it would take, then I'd gladly pay the cost."

"Wait." Bryaxis' voice thundered in the air, echoing through the empty library floor. Lorelai shivered, dust flowing around them at the might of his voice. "I will not let you commit the same self sacrificing acts as your mother and father, you will not be so lucky as to be resurrected."

"Then what am I meant to do?" She cried out. "Let everyone around me die?"

"You wield no siphons." His voice spoke through a breeze, yet there were no windows in these levels.

"They break every time I try." She said, recounting the numerous amount she had worn as she trained to be a warrior, and how they would crack and splinter, precious gemstones going to waste.

"Siphons are extensions of a warriors soul, they help channel their power and energy, but also themselves. Your magic is bound to you, but if you bound yourself to something with enough strength, then it is possible that you could channel your own essence into it, giving enough support for you to use your power for a mere second, enough time for Crnobog to be bound back in his cell. Years ago you made a link with Crnobog, you can use this link to your advantage."

"For me alone...that would mean I have the power to equal seven High Lords. It's impossible."

"Did seven High Lords not give your mother life, was your father not resurrected in the same way?"

Lorelai fell silent, her long purple hair hanging over her face. The thought of all that power just laying under her skin, able to break her mind... the thought made her nauseous. "So that plan, it will definitely work?" She had heard and seen enough of failed plans to now be weary of any that came her way.

"It will work, though afterwards you may be weak, extremely weak, and it is important you make sure not to tie your own power into the spells keeping Crnobog locked up, you are only turning on old spells, not creating new ones."

Lorelai slowly nodded, her brain felt like it was going to explode. She had learnt so much, so much that she had been previously wrong about. Yet something inside her, something buried deep, was telling her that this was wrong. It seemed too simple - much too simple. Yet she had to act fast no matter what she did, the sword had been stolen from Tamlin and the mock-war was due to start soon, time was running out faster than she could blink.

"So what your saying Bry...is that I should gather some of the most powerful objects in Prythian and channel huge amounts of energy into them?"

"Yes," The voice rung out in response.

Something inside her, something deep, filled her with doubt. "Crnobog could very easily manipulate that plan."

"It is the only way."

A soft smile appeared on her face, and she got up brushing the dust that had settled onto her. "Alright then, thanks Bry." She made a move to leave. "Remember when I first came down here, I was so frightened of you I ran out screaming, I'm so happy I got past that."

"It seems like only months ago."

Lorelai paused, fear striking her bones. That was a test, she was never afraid of Bryaxis, it was how they had become so close. Whatever darkness was surrounding her, whatever darkness was in Prythian - it wasn't Bryaxis.

'Help me,' She sent a message to her father, hoping he wasn't far enough away to hear, sending him an image of where she was.

She couldn't let whatever this was loose around Velaris, especially if it was - no, she wouldn't let herself finish her thought. That meant she had to stay here, to make sure that it stayed secured down here. She wanted to send for Brennon, and the rest of her friends to help her - but it was dangerous, and she'd never forgive herself if she drove another to their death. Not after Arin.

"How deep does this library go?" She asked, keeping her tone light and unbothered. She needed to keep it unaware of what she knew. If it wanted to kill her, it would've already by now, which meant unless she initiated an attack, she was safe.

"Deeper then you'd imagine."

"Can we look around?"

The voice stayed silent.

"C'mon, I've always wanted to." She dragged out the words, making everything as playful as she could make it. Maybe while she was stalling, she could learn what this creature really was, and what it had done with the real Bryaxis. 

"Very well, come, let us wander."

As they walked deeper, and deeper into the library, Lorelai realised the mistake she might've made.  Down here, her body would never be found and her screams would be empty echos along forgotten stone.

'Mum, help. Im in the library. Send help.' She sent to her mother. If her father had gotten the message, he would've been here by now - that meant he was somewhere out of range.

If her mother didn't respond, then she'd have no choice but to call out to her brother, who was 10x more inexperienced than her parents, and more liable to get himself injured. She felt sick as the darkness curled around her ankles, weaving in and out of her legs. She kept a straight face, and kept on walking, her lungs taking slow and steady breaths. 

"This place must've not been visited for centuries." Lorelai said, every footstep scuffing dust into the stale air.

The thing did not answer, and so Lorelai began to study it. It seemed like Bryaxis, but as she looked deeper, Bryaxis' usual comforting darkness now had an edge to it, now it held more danger than mystery.

"What were your plans before this?" It asked.

"Hm?" She asked, looking in the direction of the voice. 

"To defeat Crnobog, surely you had a plan of your own to imprison him?"

"We plan to fight it, brute force" She said, mild amusement in her voice, perhaps she could feed this thing false information, and make their chances against Crnobog even stronger.

"Are you sure? I heard differently?"

"How Bry? You can't leave this library" She asked, her blood running cold. She begged that Crnobog hadn't already infiltrated the camp. While her and her friends had abandoned her parents plan, she still thought of it as a back up option - a last resort if all seemed to go wrong. 

"The wind speaks to me my child, it tells me things."

"And what has it told you?"

The darkness paused in step.

"You should've told me you'd invited guests."

In an instant she unleashed her power, surrounding herself with darkness of her own, one made with the magic of dreamers.  "You should've told me you weren't Bryaxis." She gritted out, her hands twisted, gripping her power by the neck.

"Where's the fun in that Lorelai? I do love talking to you, did you like the dream I sent you last night? It was so-"

Before he could finish, her father winnowed next to her, his eyes dark from fear.

A realisation came to Lorelai, one she'd long been avoiding. Amren's voice rung true in her head, 'Crnobog can possess anyone and anything.'

"Fuck," Lorelai swore, "What have you done with Bryaxis?"

"Oh he's still here, buried deep, deep down. You should see how he's clawing to get out, he's putting up quite a fight. Should I take him out of his misery?" 

Lorelai sent a spear of darkness straight into his heart as a response.

'That's Crnobog, we have to go now. Who else is here?' She asked her father, both of them kept their eyes trained on Crnobog.

Emotional pain lashed through Rhys face. 'Your mother is getting the priestess' out, Az and Cass are meant to get here soon.'

'Tell them to stay away, we can't have them here.'

'We need to fight-'

'We will be beaten in an instant! Please, let me lead him away, out of the city, he won't kill me.'

'He can do many things without killing you Lorelai.'

Tears sprung in her eyes. 'I don't know what else to do.'

'I can't have you sacrifice yourself.'

'You must.'

She didn't give him more time to object. Within a second, she dealt blow after blow into Crnobog's  darkness, using all her accessible might to hurt him. Now that she knew who he was, what he was, she wanted him nowhere near the rest of her family.

"I don't want to fight you," Crnobog said, his voice calm amidst the chaos erupting in her mind.

"Then what do you want?" She exclaimed.

"Just you, my dear."

Lorelai stepped back, it had no interest in her family whatsoever. She didn't know whether to be more  happy, or fearful of the news. 

"Alright." Lorelai said simply, "Then come and get me."

She winnowed out of the library, out of Velaris, and out of the court that she loved so dearly. Her heart beat rapidly against her chest as she slammed down into a forest ground in The Middle. It was a long strip of land in Prythian's centre, unclaimed by the High Lords. It lay inhabited by monsters so ancient that many of them were only known as myths. It was a dangerous, corrupt place, far away from civilisation - far away from any innocent fae.

Almost immediately, Crnobog joined her, still In Bryaxis' form. 

"Why don't you show your real body, or are you too scared?" She asked, her eyes blazing with fury at her friends possessed form.

"Why would I, when I know that this form brings out so much emotion in you?"

It was then, as they stood alone in a forest clearing, away from everyone and everything, that she realised she had no plan. She had no way to subdue him, to harm him, and if she escaped whose to say he wouldn't just follow her. The thought pushed its way up her throat, her gag-reflex trying its hardest to keep everything down. As she mets Crnobog's dark form with her fearful eyes, it was then that she made her decision. She would do whatever it took to take down Crnobog - or she would die trying.

"Why waste your time and energy when we could do so much together? You know that you'll lose in the end, why waste your time when you're out of options?"

"I could just sacrifice myself, wind your ass back in jail."

Crnobog uttered a deep laugh. "Like you'd be able to figure out how to bypass your own powers. Only us together can do that Lorelai. I