The Price of Power
5
“Soone you cherished bartered a soul to call us forth, yes? A soul potent enough to birth another .”
Eydis’s lips twitched, almost forming a smile. Almost. Cherished. The word rattled through her mind, out of place. She could almost hear her mother’s laugh.
If the forr Queen of Shadows were still alive.
Her father had always obsessed over preserving the kingdom, but her mother had pursued a darker calling. As the bearer of Pride’s ever-watchful Eyes, Mother rooted out weakness before it could fester. Many who bore those Sins had willingly surrendered their souls.
Eydis wasn’t surprised when her mother disappeared; chronicling humanity’s flaws had consud the Queen of Shadows in the end.
“Humans,” the forr queen used to say, “would hurl their souls into the abyss for the faintest glimr of their desires. For power. For hope. And for that most insidious, selfish flaw of all. For—”
Love. The word scraped against her thoughts. Love was the flaw Mother despised most, the one that nearly unraveled their sanctuary.
Mythshollow was a kingdom hidden in shadow, forsaken by the light. Outsiders called them reapers, witches, soul traders—any na that fit their fear. But they were more than the shadows they carried. They were a community, bound by oaths and shared understandings.
But oaths, like people, break.
As a child, she hadn’t believed that. She’d stolen her handmaidens’ books, burying herself in tales of love—of knights and princes. Much like Damien.
Perhaps that’s why she had disliked him.
Back then, she had lived to defy her mother. To prove that love wasn’t weakness, that it could be strength. That perhaps the Queen of Shadows was wrong.
But Gidion had proven her right.
In his pursuit of sothing more, Gidion had done the unthinkable. He had duplicated one of the strongest Sins to ever exist: Greed. Bearers surrendering their souls was nothing new in Mythshollow, but an Archmage betraying them all, betraying himself?
That was tragedy.
Eydis growled and shook her head, driving off these unwelco mories. The past had no right to intrude now. Not here. Not in the middle of a fight for her life.
She balanced on Envy’s coiled body, knees bent as the massive serpent twisted beneath her. She twisted sharply, guiding the serpent into another evasion. Its overlapping scales shimred as it slipped past Greed’s feral strike.
“Is running all you’re good for now?” Greed roared. The winged figure beat the air with powerful strokes, then lunged in pursuit.
‘Your Majesty,’ Envy’s voice whispered into her mind. ‘He does have a point. Are we executing a strategy, or is this just another one of St. Kevin’s PE session?’
‘Careful, Envy,’ Eydis shot back silently, urging the serpent to duck under a swiping claw, ‘or I might think you’re enjoying this.’
‘Enjoying this?’ Envy’s hiss vibrated in her thoughts as its body twisted violently, barely dodging the next strike. The force of Greed’s blow sent the serpent into a chaotic spiral, its shimring form flickering as it fought to reassemble, movents slowing.
‘I am the one enduring these near-death experiences while you’re taking a scenic route! I have feelings too, you know!’ Envy’s voice cracked. ‘Ouch!’
Eydis felt a sharp tug in her chest as Greed’s latest strike grazed Envy’s tail. The familiar link strained, siphoning her mana to keep Envy manifested.
‘Feelings?’ She said. ‘Pain receptors don’t count, especially for a creature whose greatest accomplishnt is turning self-pity into performance art.’
‘Even your insults are as depleted as your mana, Y—’ the serpent’s voice cut off as Greed’s next strike hit ho. A sweeping claw tore through Envy’s coiled midsection, shattering the serpent into a burst of violet mist.
The ground rushed up to et Eydis. She crashed down, barely getting her arms up in ti. The impact knocked the breath from her lungs. Pain lanced through her side, and the ntal bond with Envy sputtered into silence.
Above her, Greed descended gracefully, their polished shoes pressing into the charred earth. “Out of mana already?” they cooed.
Each casual step toward Eydis was deliberate, taunting. “So weak. So pitiful. It’s almost a sha to end this ga so soon.” They cocked their head. “We were almost enjoying the banter.”
They knelt and drew one claw with a cruel gentleness down Eydis’s abdon. Then Greed pressed hard into the wound.
The pain was imdiate, but Eydis refused to flinch. Her nails dug into the dirt as she forced her face to remain impassive.
“I live to amuse,” she bit out through clenched teeth.
“Indeed,” Greed purred, talons digging deeper to draw a sharp gasp from her. “And you’ll amuse further… right up until you shatter entirely.”
“The ga’s barely started,” she said. “Raven.”
“Fascinating,” Greed replied. “Are those the words of soone holding an ace, or just the last desperate quips of a cornered rodent?”
The claws punched through her abdon. Eydis clenched her teeth harder as fresh agony ripped through her. She could feel her mana flickering.
Still, she forced out words. “Ace? I suppose you’ve taken to card gas now. Almost as… fascinating as Gluttony’s ice theatrics and your… plumbing fixation. Adaptive… like parasites.”
“Gluttony is here too?” Greed asked, their breath reeking of decay as they leaned in closer. “That bloated fool was barely a Sin. An afterthought. And you? Even less. Especially when your threats are as laughable as… well, you.”
Eydis’s smile didn’t wavered. "Ah, illusions… of grandeur. An intoxicating… drug… even for you. Perhaps you have more in common… with your puppets than you care to admit.”
Greed’s grin faltered. They were too arrogant to notice the soft violet glow now emanating from Eydis’s right hand, pressed tightly against her own stomach. Slowly, painfully, she channeled mana into the gaping wound, knitting torn flesh and staunching blood flow.
Before they could respond, she struck again. “When you’re so busy pulling the strings… it’s easy to miss the ones tightening around your neck.”
Her left hand shot up from the dirt. A ripple of arcane energy pulsed outward as she summoned Envy back from the void. Envy’s jaws snapped open and struck. Two long fangs sank deep into Greed’s face with a wet crunch, flesh peeling away to reveal ivory bone.
Greed scread and staggered, massive wings thrashing, black feathers raining down. But their recovery was terrifyingly fast. With a snarl, Greed drove their taloned hand straight through Envy’s spectral body. The serpent didn’t even have ti to hiss. Its form burst apart into ash under the force of that single blow.
“Impressive,” they rasped, their voice bubbling wetly until the regenerating flesh restored their jaw. “Impressive… while it lasted.” Despite the wound still knitting over their cheek, Greed managed a mocking grin.
They spread their arms wide and summoned a wave of acidic water, crashing toward Eydis.
Eydis rolled out of the wave’s path, narrowly dodging the attack. She ca up kneeling, then slamd her palm against the earth. There was a sharp click beneath the soil, followed by a familiar tallic grinding like gears turning. A pillar of violet light erupted from the ground at her touch. Once again.
For the third ti.
“Another one?” Greed muttered as they rose into the sky, their eyes scanning the glowing markings. A sigil. Drawn by…their own attacks. Realistion sank in, and their face darkened. “So this was your plan all along, wasn’t it?”
Slowly, Eydis rose to her feet. One hand clutched her abdon. A soft aura of violet light still pulsed around her fingers as healing magic continued to nd what it could.
“How does it feel, Raven?” she asked, her voice almost light as she regained her strength, “To carve your own cage? You’re certainly the first of your kind to achieve such… artistry.”
Greed fell silent for a long while, their gaze lingering on Eydis, as though weighing their next move. Then, they broke into laughter. “An elegant effort, truly. How… creative of you,” they said. “But surely you must see, as clever as you are, how pointless this all is.”
“And here I thought you’d keep up your… little act a bit longer,” she said. “All that goading about binding you, while plotting to consu everything once the seal was complete.”
Greed’s wings flexed as they descended slowly, circling closer. “Ahh,” they chuckled darkly, “you figured us out. Is that why you tethered us to this mortal’s pitiful body instead? To test your little theory?”
“Theory?” she repeated, her hand tracing the arcane flow of the sigil she had manipulated Greed into completing. Chains of light erupted from the ground, their sharp edges ringing as they clamped around Greed’s wings and limbs.
“In true scavenger fashion,” Eydis murmured, “you always wanted everything. Both of you. One cage isn’t enough. This isn't about testing theories, Raven."
Greed thrashed against the bindings. “Arrogant fool! Do you think this will save you, little queen? Or are you so broken that you’re courting death at last?”
Eydis let silence answer first, watching as Greed's smile stretched, their gaze raking over her bloodied, trembling form. “Upon reflection,” they drawled, “you’d make a splendid vessel—frail, yes, but with so much potential to bend… and break.”
“At the height of my power," she whispered, “containing you wouldn’t even be a challenge.”
“Are you suggesting that you were once less pathetic than this frail shadow of a queen?” Greed crooned in amusent. “And tell , little wretch—how do you plan to bind now?”
“Plan?” Eydis tilted her chin. “Let’s call it a hypothesis this ti. Shall we test it?”
Sothing in her eyes must have given Greed pause: a reckless glint, a dare.
“How dare you—“
Eydis didn’t let them finish. “Let put it in terms you’ll understand, Raven. You hoard power like a gambler collects cards, convinced that more is always better, that it will guarantee you the win. But you’ve forgotten one fundantal rule…”
“You presu to lecture on a ga I've mastered?" Greed scoffed.
“No, I’m just reminding you. See, Raven,” she said, her eyes gleaming as the chains tightened, glowing brighter. “The house always wins in the end. And in this ga?”
The sigil beneath them flared. The chains constricted further, draining Greed’s strength with every pulse of power. She stepped right up to the edge of the swirling sigil, eting Greed’s panicked, furious gaze with a taunting smile.
“I am the house.”
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