25 Chapter 25: Rest Mother

Yuliah stopped screaming with the cloth stuffed in her mouth; it was useless. She scooted away from Crazy Eye who inched closer, but there were too many of them, and they held her firmly against the trunk of the tree.

"Reeest Mother. Ressst," Crazy Eye brought the yellow iris to Yuliah's forehead.

She head-butted him. Missed and struck him in the mouth instead. His teeth cut into her forehead, and the taste of her blood in his mouth threw him back. His eyes rolled into his head. Yuliah's face turned another shade of white as Crazy Eye withered on the ground. A minute later his body changed. He stretched a foot longer and his skinny arms and legs hardened with muscles.

"Heeheehee," Crazy Eye sprung up. "Mother made me strong." The other creatures became distracted with Crazy Eye's new body and released her. They began to touch and caressed Crazy Eye while he flaunted around them proudly.

Yuliah slowly backed away, Good Gods! She exhaled heavily through her nose. What kind of evil was this? How did he change so fast? Blood from the gash on her head finally made its way down her face and over the corner of her eye. She wiped it onto her arm.

"Noooooooo!" Crazy Eye screamed. "The blood!" He lunged forward and landed on Yuliah knocking the wind out of her. She slammed onto her back and curled into a ball.

Like a starving cat, he began to lap at her face hungrily. Suddenly the other creatures around Crazy Eye understood him. They too rushed forward to join him in licking the blood from her face.

Yuliah screamed and tossed trying to escape the slimy little tongues that slithered across her face. When the creatures in the front had lapped up every droplet of blood, they all fell back flat — then withered on the ground. A few minutes later they sprung up with newly transformed bodies too.

Her eyes were wide at the sight of the creatures who pranced around in their new forms. They touched and caressed one another admiring each other. Now that they were stronger than before, it took fewer of them to hold her down for the ones who did not get a taste yet.

Humiliated and shamed as they violated her face; all she could do was cry when the very last of the creatures had licked the blood from her face and transformed. They danced around happily, and by now dawn was beginning to break through the clouds.

"Great," Yuliah glared at Crazy Eye. "The yellow iris again. When I escape the first thing I'm going to do is destroy that fucking iris," she took deep breaths through her nostrils. Her eyes were like daggers ready to strike at him if she only could.

"Rest Mother," he tapped the iris to her forehead and just like that - everything went dark.

It must have been hours later when Yuliah awoke to the sound of crickets chirping and trees swaying in the nighttime breeze. She found herself alone shrouded in darkness on a dirt path. Her wrists and legs were no longer bound. Where did those creatures go? She stood up and peered into the dark beyond. She did not remember escaping them.

In the distance, her eye caught a glimpse of a single lantern that burned brightly down the road. Am I dead? Yuliah's brows furrowed together. I don't feel dead.

She had always been afraid of the night. Even into adulthood and thoughts of all the things that could be out there lurking in the dark sent Yuliah racing down the path towards the light, kicking up tiny pebbles behind her.

A single Manor sat alone bordered by a dark forest when she reached the light. She pushed through the front gates and made her way inside.

The courtyard. It felt familiar almost like home. She had been here before she was sure of it, but when?

Yuliah skipped up the steps and pounded on the door; no one answered. She had a stunned look on her face when she peeked through the window. "It's not possible."

She stared directly into the eyes of herself as a child. The younger Yuliah stood in front of the window; her eyes were up at the stars. She must have been six maybe seven years old. A woman sat in the dining room chatting with a Man. Yuliah pressed her face up to the glass. "Mother!" She screamed, and the Woman's head glanced towards the window where both Yuliah's stood. She smiled but turned back to the Man.

Her Mother's long black hair looked exactly like hers except Yuliah had darker facial features.

The Man who sat across from her Mother his eyes were dark and deep set with thicker brows. Features that were nearly identical to that of Yuliah's. The way he spoke and carried himself with poise and confidence hinted more to his identity.

The younger Yuliah hummed in front of the window. With no worries just happy and loved. In her hand, she held a box — a tiny box adorned with jewels.

"The crimson birds!" Yuliah couldn't believe it. The box - it must be her Mother's. She watched her younger self opened the box and take out a beautiful amethyst ring.

"Mother. Look what I found." She slid the ring onto her pointer finger as her Mother glanced over.

"YULIAH! STOP!" Her Mother bolted from the seat knocking the glass on the dining table over. It was too late. The ring already wrapped onto her tiny finger. It tightened. It pierced into her flesh draining blood. The silver band burned a dark red. She dropped to the ground screaming.

Yuliah's Mother and the Man rushed over, as a burst of light exploded from the amethyst diamond. It shot into the air and right through the roof. It drew its power from Yuliah's blood and burned brighter than before. It continued to cut into her finger drawing more blood. Rendering her unconscious, it was a power to much for a child to bear. A series of letters and symbols unknown to Yuliah appeared in the night sky.

Then it came. The low sound of a horn, it sounded off loud in the distance. Yuliah knew that sound. It was a war horn.

Trembling Yuliah glanced into the window. Her Mother tore the ring from her finger. "Quickly! Take the children and go," she tossed the ring into the box. "Don't give this to her until she's old enough to understand its power," she shoved the box into his hands.

"I'm not leaving you," the Man protested. "I won't let him touch you or our children."

Did he say our children? Yuliah watched her Mother hold his hand in hers.

"We don't have a choice, my King," her eyes turned watery. "If he gets all three of us, he'll drain us dry to get to to the Ethereal Spirit." She took off upstairs and within a few moments returned with a baby wrapped in a bundle. "The Nomen's need their King, or they will fall in power with Aleric."

"My King? Nomens? Our children? Who is this Man?" Yuliah felt uneasy looking at him. Could this man be her Father? It made sense. It also explained why General Wey treated her coldly, and lack of resemblance.

His eyes were worrisome when he spoke, "We'll split them up. It's too dangerous to keep them together." He scooped up the child Yuliah into his arms. "I'll take our daughter back to the Ethereal Forest. The Nomens can protect her."

"Guards!" Yuliah's Mother screamed. The guards rushed in. "Take him back to Wey Estates and tell General Wey he needs to leave immediately for the Capital. By my orders." The guards bolted off and not a minute sooner for the horn sounded off again, but this time it was closer than before.

The ground shook and rumbled. Scared Yuliah took a peek down the path. The pebbles hobbled up and down in the air. Whatever was coming down the road was strong. Yuliah could sense it.

"Go! Now!" Her Mother pushed him ahead. He looked at her refusing to budge but Yuliah stirred in his arms, and he hurried off towards the stables.

The horn sounded off again this time it came from right outside their gates. Her Mother calmly walked to the front door and stepped outside. She bolted the gates shut and waited.

It was the night she died. Yuliah felt a chill down her back. "Leave," she chased after her Mother. "You can't stay here! Please," she begged her voice a panic now, but it fell on deaf ears. Her hands could only grasp the air.

The horn sounded off outside the Manor now. A loud bang rang out as their front gate exploded into pieces.

His footsteps were heavy and slow as he came through the broken gates. Yuliah's blood curled at the sight of him. An evil aura surrounded him as he towered above her Mother. Aleric stood taller than any Man she'd seen. His body clad in golden armor. "It will not be easy to kill such beauty," Aleric's eyes swept over her Mother. "The world lacks too little of it already, but I do what needs to be done."

"Don't touch her Aleric."

Yuliah whipped her head around to see her Father stride forward. He moved her Mother behind him.

"King Baasa. I'm surprised to see you here with the Geneoshi," Aleric said.

"The Geneoshi is my wife," he kept his eyes on Aleric.

"I can't leave here without the Geneoshi's blood. It is her fate and yours as well for secretly wedding a cursed woman," Aleric looked disturbed. "If it's of any comfort to you. I'll be quick," his expression changed back to stoic.

An arrow had pierced through his sword arm, and King Baasa stood wounded. He drew his sword regardless, "You will have to go through me then."

"You're injured," Aleric looked at her Father. "I'll let you fight one of my younger Generals," he acted mercifully. "If you survive. I will not kill you, but the Geneoshi is mine."

He called one of his Generals forward. "He was a Nomen like yourself Baasa, but he embraced the full power of Aleric the God.

King Baasa glared at Aleric, "Is that what you call yourself now? Aleric the God?"

Aleric's General lunged forward at Baasa without giving anyone another chance to speak. King Baasa sidestepped and stuck him in the belly. With both hands, he shoved the sword further into the Generals stomach and dragged his sword downward.

Yuliah gasped as his entrails spilled out over her Father's feet.

Aleric laughed. "Very good. I did not expect any less from the Great Nomen King. I will let you live.

"What kind of King trades his life for his Queen?" he raised his sword to Aleric.

The cries of a baby came through the front gates, and Yuliah's heart sank. They dragged one of her Mother's guards inside. Blood smeared down the side of his face along with a gash that ran from forehead to chin. "They surrounded us the moment we stepped outside the Manor," he couldn't look at King Baasa or Yuliah's Mother.

"I don't enjoy killing children. They are the future. I will kill this one if you don't stop wasting my time Baasa," Aleric motioned for another General to bring the child forward and lifted his sword.

"No!" Yuliah's Mother released her Ethereal Spirit and charged at Aleric. He moved faster than any Nomen, Geneoshi, or Man that King Baasa had seen. Baasa had just enough time to throw himself between his wife and Aleric's sword as it came swinging down.

The strength from Aleric's swing crashed down across the King's shoulder splitting flesh from bone. King Baasa dropped to his knees.

"It's not every day we get to see a King kneel," Aleric pulled his sword from King Baasa's body as he fell over. "I will kill the boy if you try anything," he glared at Yuliah's Mother then grabbed her by the throat. "I promised Baasa I'd give you a quick death. Do not make me go back on my word too." At that moment Yuliah's mother pulled a knife from her sleeve and plunged it into her chest.

Aleric cursed as fang's sprouted from his mouth and he quickly sank his teeth into her flesh. He drank from her until she became still. When he finished, he dropped her body next to King Baasa.

"STOOOP!" Yuliah's knees slammed onto the hard ground. She didn't know it, but a burst of Ethereal energy shot out from her body.

Aleric lifted his head and looked right at her. His eyes were menacing and cold.

Yuliah cowered and scooted back as he stalked towards her.

Her Mother grabbed Aleric's leg. Then released her Ethereal Spirit and a burst of light shot at him. He deflected the hit with a blast of energy. Then stepped over her body.

"What do you sense my Lord?" His General asked.

"I heard another voice," as he looked around. "A woman's voice."

"It could be a trick of the mind. You know the Geneoshi Woman is a gifted Ethereal user."

"No. I heard a voice," I'm not able to sense where it's from," Aleric looked around.

Yuliah stopped moving and froze. Another war horn sounded off in the distance.

"The Geneoshi," Aleric's General said.

"Let's go," Aleric glanced around one last time.

"What about King Baasa's Son and the guard?"

Take them both with us," Aleric motioned.

Yuliah sat frozen on the ground even after they left she couldn't get up. Her parents laid dying in front of her, and she was too weak to move. Tears spilled from her eyes.

"I have failed to protect you," she heard her Father speak. "I have failed our children. My people," he gasped. "Aleric has our son, and my life is slipping away."

Yuliah finally crept over. "Father," she kept her eyes only on his face avoiding the open gash across his chest.

King Baasa's eyes searched her face and until he recognized her. "You... My sweet girl," he lifted his hand to her. Yuliah pressed it to her face and burst out crying. The comfort of a Father's touch. A feeling she had never known. His hands were calloused but steady even as he laid dying.

"I have not failed you," he breathed.

Yuliah took in every detail she could of her Father, from his black hair to strong jaw, deep voice, and dark set eyes.

"Yuliah," he spoke again. He touched her arm, and she felt a burning sensation transferred over up into her hand then arm. "The mark of the Nomens."

A symbol formed than vanished from her arm. Only an indent in the shape of a crescent moon remained.

"Father?" But he did not answer only the air that passed through his lips with the rise and fall of his chest as it stopped did. This Man was her real Father. A Man she did not know, but she knew loved her. He gave his life for her. Yuliah traced the shape of his face with her hands then held his hands within hers one last time.

"Yuliah," she heard her Mother say.

"You can see me now?" Yuliah cradled her Mother into her arms.

"Of course. My beautiful girl," her slow breaths made it hard for Yuliah to hear her. "You found your way through the flow of Ethereal Spirit here," a tear fell from her eye. "You are such a capable girl."

Yuliah cried louder. "Is he my real Father?"

"Yes. My love," as bloody tears slipped down her Mothers cheeks. "Have you been well?" She placed her hand on Yuliah's face. "Does General Wey treat you good?"

He treated her as well as he could for not being his real blood. Her life, on the other hand, had not been. She spent most of it alone and tortured by Liang. She had to lie though she didn't want her Mother to know they had died for nothing. "He does, and I am doing quite well Mother," Yuliah began to cry louder. She was so lonely, living just to live, no place that felt like home, never knowing any real love or warmth.

"Those are not the tears of a girl who is doing quite well," her Mother touched her face again.

"Forgive me for not being able to protect you."

Yuliah held onto her Mother's hand and shook her head. Her vision blurred from the tears that continued to pour out of her eyes. She half wiped half cried. Not wanting to miss a moment of her Mother alive. "Please don't leave me Mother. I'm so alone." She caught a few of the salty drops in her mouth as they slid down her cheeks.

"Be brave my sweet girl," her breaths slowed more than before. "Your brother. Aleric will corrupt him. Find him."

"How? I'm not strong enough," she cried louder. Aleric scared her more than anyone or thing. She felt nothing but evil and her blood curl when he came through the doors.

"You have the blood of the most courageous Men within you," she placed her hand on Yuliah's heart. "Trust in the flow of the Ethereal Spirit," she could barely get out.

Yuliah's head tilted back as she screamed. The knot in her chest twisted.

"Find me in the flow of the Ethereal," she took one last look at Yuliah. "Live."

"Don't go," Yuliah placed her Mother's hand against her cheek. The warmth from her body was gone. The light from her eyes dissolved. "Rest Mother. I'll find you in the flow of the Ethereal." Yuliah closed her Mother's eyes.