Dusk

“I must learn more. I can transform and sneak into Phallun’s facilities, gather information,” Magie gritted her teeth.

“You? I hardly think of you passing the door, sweetheart. Your signature bleeds as would a gashed beast. Leave matters as such to the masters, young one. Who might you be anyway?” a woman with cloudy violet skin and burning embers of hair entered the room. Her eyes glowed green and measured larger than a normal human’s for an almost cartoonish look. She wore loosely a tattered sunset red trench coat and straw hat over a leafy green tube top and skirt, showing her midriff. An odd but not displeasing end to any day.

“Don’t you recognize me? Despite my shattered soul, I remember you, Dusk. The emotion helik. The woman who stands before you is Magilike Eizinhairess and I am well capable of doing just that!” Magie told her.

Dusk threw her head back and laughed, a high pitched cackle that ended in a seqeal with her mouth behind her palm, “Magilike Eizinhairess? The arch sorceress? How fallen are the mighty? You’re but a husk of your former self. With that little power of course I failed to recognize of you.”

“That is enough, Dusk. Let us not forget, we’re all of us needed against Phallun’s tyranny. Most valued is the work of you both. Dusk acts as a spy among Phallun’s ranks. Because of her we determined his presence in Cose territory. And Magilike is an expert on the ghate. As a matter of it, I have assignments of you both,” Spiral spoke, she’d rather expected a confrontation and came prepared as an emissary to the peace.

“I can act as a spy too! Enough of this shard seeking. I want to take the fight to Phallun; he must pay for what he’s done!” Magie stamped her boot.

“No, I think you cannot. Leave such matters to the heliks. For when you transform, your true signature seeps through as pollen in the rain. I, as such, present perfect copies, indistinguishable to all senses,” Dusk transformed as she spoke, first to Isiren, then Phallun himself, before returning to her original form. True to her words, she mimicked them perfectly in appearance, voice and signature.

“You know your transformations, I’ll admit, but somehow you still manage to svitch things up. I remember you from the Heart of Crystal war. Undisciplined, reckless, and you never did grow up. In the white desert, you wandered off abandoning your platoon. And Evrevale, a game of cards burnt down half the town! Spiral, send me to Phallun’s base in Cose. We can’t win this war unless we take the fight to him. One way or another, I’ll get what we’re after!” Magie steamed.

“This I see, your schism has certainly loosened your tongue! Mayhaps you were arch sorceress but now you’re a meager, tiny thing. I have been deeply in Phallun’s general’s quarters to determine flows of nightmares. His operations in any given sector were revealed by my hand!” Dusk leaned in and stared strait through Magie’s eyes. The lights flickered and dimmed in her fury.

Magie herself stood unwavering, “well, I brought down the Devil’s Maw the entire Luvegan army couldn’t breach and countless other vaults. Spiral, send me-”

“Silence!” Spiral raised her voice, a rare occurrence. “Stand down both of you. As admiral, I determine your assignments and follow them you shall both. I will permit not infighting among my ranks. Dusk, head to the war room for debriefing immediately. Magilike, Sayth will make informed your next assignment in the nav chamber. You will continue as assigned to recover your soul. You’re dismissed.”

Magie turned sharply and marched off. Apparently Dusk did the same as the lights blinked back on. Another day she might have relinquished, held back, but not today. Not after Leathenbelle.

“She’s right, you know. You can fool the idiot grunts but against skilled signature engineers, your true self is immediately apparent,” Mr. Shade commented.

​

-The Gatekeeper