Emily opened her eyes to the Stone Circle. The Stoneshell fire had gone out, and she stood on a pile of ashes. But this Emily barely noticed, for all around her the statues of Castle Elid were glowing. The air was filled with loud snapping sounds as cracks spiderwebbed across the forms of the statues. Directly ahead of her, Emily saw Aria's beaming face, just as it broke in half.
The marble fell away from her, leaving a tall, elegant young woman with blue eyes and golden hair, draped in a flowing white gown. She touched her face with shaking hands, and tears began to stream from her eyes. "I can feel!" she whispered, her voice hoarse and throaty.
All around her, the other statues were shaking themselves off, staring at their skin and clothes, and beaming with immense joy. Brom let out a hearty laugh, the sunlight glinting off his red beard. Jivaro jumped in the air and danced a little jig—he had grown a foot taller and was almost handsome.
The monks cheered, and even Talyndra and Dorian joined in with whoops of joy. Althea turned to face the Stone Circle, smiling serenely. "The ritual is completed. The prophecy is fulfilled."
"You did it, Emily!" said Aria, hurrying towards her. "When I saw you break down and cry, I was afraid... and that black stuff, crawling up your leg... but you fought! You completed the ritual! I... I can't tell you what it means to me..."
Emily received Aria's hug gratefully, burying her face in the soft fabric of her gown and feeling for the first time the warmth of her body and the beat of her heart.
Aria separated from Emily, looking her up and down. "The ritual's magic seems to have... used up all the Azure Essence."
Emily glanced at her skin, which was indeed free of Azure Essence. And any other kind of covering. The Nightmoss was nowhere to be seen or felt. Did that mean... could that mean that Evangeline had been wrong?
"Don't worry, I remember my promise," said Aria, winking.
Taking the folds of her gown in her hands, Aria pulled it up and over her head in a single flourish and presented it to Emily. She was not wearing anything underneath it.
"Aria, I couldn't."
"A promise is a promise," Aria insisted, even as her cheeks reddened. "Let me... enjoy the air on my skin. It's been a few hundred years."
Somewhat reluctantly, Emily took the gown and pulled it over her own head. It was too long for her, but it felt good to wear something, although she couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Aria was putting a brave face on it, but she couldn't have been comfortable with so many people looking at them. Emily, of all people, knew that.
"At last, fair Aria sheds her stone!" sang Jivaro. "All Thessolan has waited centuries to admire her skin, alabaster no longer!"
"Thank you, Aria," Emily said. She thought back to her arrival in Thessolan, standing naked and dripping in the hall of living statues. Aria had promised to give Emily her gown then, in return for retrieving the Stoneshell from the Labyrinthine Pool, and, implicitly, for breaking the statue curse. It hadn't been quite as simple as that, of course, but now her quest was complete, and she had her reward.
"Let's get you both inside," said Dorian, attempting to shield Aria with his body as he maintained eye contact with Emily. He smiled. "It seems that the worst has not come to pass."
At that moment, Emily burst into flame.
"Ah!" Aria screamed, jumping back as she felt the long-forgotten heat of the fire against her skin.
The fire consumed the gown, leaving Emily naked. Her eyes were wide with fright. "I didn't do that!" she cried.
Emily was engulfed once more. But instead of fire, this time it was a black substance, starting from her ankle. Dark fibres, growing from beneath the Bronzeband, climbed up her leg, her torso, her arms, her neck. The Nightmoss embraced her, soft and luxurious, molding to her form, covering her skin. It then spread outward, forming a dress. It promised Emily that she would never again be exposed against her will.
The dress was severe and elegant, with a high collar and long sleeves ending in gloves. At her waist, it billowed out into a dome shape and reached all the way to the ground, where its hem seemed to writhe with the energy of something living.
Emily closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were pools of pure black.
"Emily?" Aria whispered, hugging herself against the sudden chill in the air.
"The prophecy is fulfilled," Althea said darkly, beckoning the other monks to her side.
With a loud crack, the Bronzeband exploded off her ankle, pieces of metal flying in every direction. One caught Aria in the stomach, winding her and causing her to stagger backward. A root caught her heel, and she fell to the ground, staring up in horror.
Emily looked down at her, black eyes unseeing. She raised a hand, admiring the way the shadowy fabric swirled around her wrist. She pointed a finger at Aria, and a stream of black moss exploded from her fingertip.
Eyes widening, Aria rolled out of the way, the black moss hitting the grassy ground and immediately starting to spread. Bromberht leaped into action, placing himself between Aria and Emily, a murderous expression on his newly-human face. "What demon is this?!"
"Emily, no!" Talyndra screamed, breaking the horrified silence. Hands glowing with green magic, she thrust them forward, and a pair of thick, thorny vines erupted from the ground, scattering the Nightmoss and encircling the dark figure.
Emily watched the vines dispassionately. As they threatened to tighten around her, she grabbed them in both moss-gloved hands. Black ooze shot up and down the bodies of the vines, and they withered in her grasp, struggling against it and then going limp.
Talyndra stumbled back, crying out as if she'd felt the vines' deaths. Growling, she unsheathed her twin swords.
"Stop!" yelled Dorian. "Emily's not in control, but she's still Emily! We mustn't hurt her!"
"Do you have a better idea?!" shouted Talyndra, motioning to Aria, who sat in a stunned huddle, clutching a fragment of Bronzeband to her chest, and then to the mass of Nightmoss that Emily had attacked her with, an expanding, bubbling mass that was rapidly killing the grass around it. "You gonna break this spell, huh?"
"I'm trying!" Dorian rummaged frantically through his pockets, pulling out stones and potions and oddly shaped sticks. "Abbess Althea, do you... where did they all go?"
Abbess Althea and the monks had disappeared, as had most of the former statues.
"Talk about ungrateful!" Talyndra roared.
A shadow fell over them, and a piercing cry ripped through the air, momentarily drawing all eyes upward. As they watched, a mighty gryphon descended from the sky, its wings beating powerful gusts of wind across the plateau. It alighted just outside the Stone Circle, giving another mighty cry that sent most of the remaining former statues running.
"I'm a joker, not a fighter!" Jivaro shrieked.
Only Bromberht remained, standing like a human shield between Emily and Aria, unarmed but defiant.
A tall woman in armor of silver and gold slid from the gryphon's back. Her dark hair was streaked with gray, and she wore a cruel smile beneath striking golden eyes.
"Elara..." Aria said.
Elara's eyes flashed, and she looked around the scene with disdain. "It took you long enough to finish your silly ritual—poor Grifford was getting very tired, circling around! But of course a true mage knows better than to interrupt a spell, and so we waited very patiently. But now our patience is at an end." Surveying the few remaining figures on the hilltop, her eyes locked on Aria. "Is that... it must be. Lady Aria, restored to flesh, just as she was in the time of my ancestor. What a sight! And just like your dear friend Emily, you can't resist showing us all of it!"
Aria avoided her gaze, clutching the fragment of Bronzeband ever more tightly to her chest. In front of her, Brom extended his arms and puffed out his chest, as if trying to better hide her from scrutiny.
"Don't worry, I have a maid's outfit that will fit you perfectly," Elara said, before turning her gaze to Emily, who regarded her without emotion or apparent recognition, saying nothing.
"You're looking a little different today, girl. I almost didn't recognize you with clothes on. I know you don't appreciate my fashion advice, but the black is a little severe."
Emily turned to face Elara, raising her gloved hands.
"She's possessed by Nightmoss!" Dorian shouted. "Get away, you idiot!"
Elara rolled her eyes. "Nightmoss. Of course. Yet more proof that a silly girl like her never should have been allowed to keep the Stoneshell. It's all too much for her. Getting possessed, really now!"
A mass of Nightmoss shot past Elara's head, barely missing her ear.
Elara scowled, raising a staff at her side. "That was uncalled for." She pointed the jeweled end of the staff at Emily, and a bolt of white magic shot out of it.
The bolt struck Emily directly in the center of her chest, and she staggered backward.
"Emily!" shouted Aria, pushing Brom aside and rushing towards her. The fragment of Bronzeband in her hands glowed briefly, and the ground beneath Elara's feet shifted, almost throwing her off balance.
But Emily quickly recovered from the strike. Glaring hatefully at Elara, she forcefully pushed both hands in front of her, palms facing out. The Nightmoss surged forward all at once, leaving Emily uncovered except for her hands. For a moment, the whites of her eyes were visible and her face contorted with pain.
"Fight it, Emily!" screamed Aria.
Elara shrieked as the mass descended on her, staff flailing as she fought in vain to keep it from engulfing her. There was another flash of white magic, and the Nightmoss separated from Elara and returned to Emily, forming the black dress once more. The darkness over her eyes had deepened, beginning to ooze out like tears. Her expression was entirely blank.
Elara sat in a bruised heap, eyes wide and fearful. Her staff had been snapped in two, and her armor reduced to twisted bits of metal. She was naked, bloodied, and bruised. Even so, she regarded Emily not with fear, but with irritation, and perhaps jealousy. Lust for the power of the Nightmoss was written all over her face, even as Emily slowly walked towards her.
Aria stopped in her tracks, transfixed.
Wincing with pain, Elara scrambled to her feet and clambered back up the back of her gryphon. "I'll be back, demon!" she shouted, giving the gryphon a swift kick in the side. "Such power cannot be left in your irresponsible hands! It must be mine!"
With a shriek of pain, the gryphon spread its wings and took off, Elara hugging its neck for dear life. Emily stood, silently watching her go.
Aria felt a hand on her upper arm. She turned to see Talyndra, motioning for her to follow. "We should get out of here before she does something worse to us," Talyndra whispered.
"We can't abandon Emily!" Aria cried.
"We're not abandoning her. It's a tactical retreat. We'll come back for her, but first we need to figure out how to beat the Nightmoss. Otherwise, we're all going to end up like Richard Stoneheart." Talyndra shuddered and gave Aria a forceful yank.
Still unaccustomed to her human body, Aria put up little resistance, despite Talyndra being much shorter than her. She kept her eyes focused on Emily, who still stood motionless, watching the gryphon recede into the distance.
"You're a lot lighter now!" Talyndra exclaimed.
Talyndra and Aria ran down the hill, following Dorian, with Brom bringing up the rear, zig-zagging through trees and bushes, heading for what safety the abbey walls could provide.
They reached the rear gates just as a pair of panicked monks were drawing them closed. Dorian shouted for them to wait, and the monks left enough of a gap for them to barely squeeze through before slamming and bolting them.
"That won't keep 'er out," said Brom. "The moss'll make short work of these wee gates."
"Keep her out?!" shouted Aria. "This is Emily you're talking about! In case you've already forgotten, she's the only reason you're human again!" Aria huffed, placing her hands on her hips and looking about as intimidating as was possible for a pale, red-faced naked woman, winded from running.
Brom looked sheepishly at his feet. "Beggin' your pardon, milady, but you saw what happened up there. You saw 'er eyes. That's not Miss Emily anymore."
"Emily's still in there somewhere," Aria said, casting a hopeful glance back up the hill. "She would not be defeated so easily."
"We broke the statue curse, so we can break whatever this is," Dorian asserted, pulling his tunic over his head and handing it to Aria. "Talyndra and I have been researching the Nightmoss."
"Y-you have?" Aria asked, her hands shaking as she grasped the tunic. "Why didn't you say anything?"
Dorian and Talyndra exchanged glances. "We... tried. This morning, before the ritual, we warned Emily about it. But she was determined to go ahead."
Aria's face became almost as pale as it had been when it was made of marble. "I... she... she did this to herself... for me!" Tears welling up in her eyes, she dropped the tunic and turned and ran, burying her face in her hands.
"Aria, wait!" Talyndra shouted.
But Aria kept running, soon disappearing into the abbey gardens.
"She's a lot more emotional as a human being," Dorian said, picking his tunic up from where Aria had dropped it.
Talyndra scowled at him. "How would you feel in her position?!"
"Aye, I can feel it myself," said Brom, wiping a tear from his eye. "Bein' a statue, it's like you're wrapped up in a thick blanket, separate from the world. You can't feel, or taste, or smell. Or bleed. But now we can. And it's thanks to Miss Emily, and to Lady Aria, who's been her guide from the very start."
Dorian sighed. "I understand. But emotional outbursts aren't going to help us now. We have to find a way to help Emily."
"Wha's 'appened to 'mily, then?" The latest speaker spoke with a mouth full of food. It was Sigrid, strolling through the abbey, munching on a chicken drumstick, completely oblivious. Her cheerful demeanour soon turned dour when she took in the expressions on the assembled faces. "Did the ritual fail? Where's Emily?"
"No, it succeeded," said Talyndra, pointing towards Brom. "See? He's not a statue anymore!"
Sigrid nodded to Brom. "Let's have that arm-wrestling rematch, now that you don't have an unfair advantage."
"I'll beat you even easier!" Brom shouted, flexing his biceps.
"Now's not the time!" Dorian snapped. "As Talyndra said, the ritual was a success. As you can see, the statues are fully restored. But the release of the curse strengthened another malignant magical force attached to the Stoneshell—something called Nightmoss."
"Nightmoss," Sigrid repeated, a faraway look in her eyes. "I heard Emily whispering something like that in her sleep, when we were in the Cinder Wastes."
"It's a parasite," Talyndra said. "It's been hiding on Emily ever since we landed in those dark tunnels. Biding its time, occasionally manifesting in ways that made it seem helpful, controllable. Dorian and I noticed it, but we didn't realize its full significance before it was too late."
"It's not too late," Dorian said, casting a hopeful glance beyond the abbey wall. "We can't talk like that."
"You're right," Talyndra said. "We have to find a way to rescue Emily."
"Have you tried chopping it?" Sigrid asked. She patted the axe on her back affectionately.
"It's too amorphous," Dorian said. "You can't cut something that moves like water—something that doesn't have a single body."
"Welp, I'm out of ideas."
Talyndra chuckled, despite herself. "We should find Abbess Althea."
Dorian nodded, and the foursome headed towards the abbey library.