I had pulled the light of my power as deep into my core as I could, and I had shrunk my body to its smallest possible state, and when I spoke to the child, I had tried to be as gentle as I could, but I would have understood if she was afraid and she ran away from me, and my question.
I was death personified, and I would not be shocked if a thousand years old Arcanist fled from the sight of me, and yet, despite the fear I could smell from the child, or her wildly beating heart, she did not run, and this fear that I sensed, it was not being directed towards me, but my power.
"This child... why did she not fear me? And why does it hurt so much?"
I saw the child look at the fox in her arms as if for assurance before she looked back at me; then she began to slowly walk towards me, until she was a few feet away.
Her eyes grew wider the closer she came to me, and then she stopped. "Um, El, you should get up," she swallowed. "Lazy cur..."
I flinched, as something like an explosion resounded in my head. The memories of who I was poured into me like a flood, and five of my hands covered my face as every single moment of my life... from the moment of my birth to the first time I woke in the tent outside Caelith Mourne.
And then from that point, everything that had happened, till the moment I came to my home and buried my parents. It was slow, and incredibly subtle, but I think it was at the moment I saw the dead bodies of my parents that I went insane.
I had always thought that madness had to be loud and scary, that I would tear my clothes and spew random nonsense from my mouth, but the truth was much more sinister... madness was silent, and when it came for me, I did not know when I fell.
A gap opened between my fingers, and my red eyes looked at the girl. Above me, tens of millions of souls sighed, and they spoke for me in whispers that carried across the entire continent, "Mel."
The girl shivered, "Elric... are you back?"
With tears of blood streaming down my eyes, I nodded, and I gasped in shock as she ran towards me crying, and I hurriedly found the single arm that was as close to human as possible, and I extended it towards her and carried her weeping body.
By all the lights in heaven, she was so incredibly light, nothing but skin and bones, and I wondered how much she would have suffered while she was alone. Instead of looking for my sister to protect and care for her like my parents would have wanted, I had allowed myself to fall for the allure of madness.
My eyes found the little fox, and she snorted before looking away; her four tails were waving side to side, and I knew she was pleased with herself. "Thank you," I mouthed, but then my jaw went a bit slack when my sister looked away and gestured towards the fox. "Aurora, come over; you are right, he is still my brother; he is just bigger and dumber."
My eyes turned towards Mel, astonished at her resilient spirit, and I whispered, "How can you tell that I am still your brother? I look nothing like him."
She cocked her head to the side, and she shuddered as she looked at my body. A moment before, this body was beautiful in its functionality, and now I wanted to dig a hole to hide myself.
Then Mel looked past all of me and peered deep into my eyes, and she nodded, "It is you... only you would become a god, and still cry like a baby."
The fox, Aurora, began to laugh as her body vanished and appeared on one of my arms. "Ah, Elric, I like her. Now I know where all the brains went in the family, and you are all heart."
I was speechless for a moment, and the only thing I could say was, "You have a name now?"
"What, you don’t like it?" the fox waved her tails. "Well, too bad, you have to get used to it."
I held several arms up, "I did not say I did not like it, just that it was... unexpected."
I detected a light tap on the hand that cradled Mel, and looked at her. "Don’t bully Aurora; she found me and kept me alive," Mel said with a bit of fire in her voice. "Those bad men killed everyone, Elric. I hid in the trees and watched them burn everybody, even the babies. Mum and dad said I should run to the forest to hide, and find a way to contact you, but those men caught me and took me with them. Aurora saved me, and your... storm killed them. Good!"
My eyes widened a bit in shock, not expecting the venom that in her voice at the end, but who was I to speak? I understood that pain and hurt.
"But your storm is killing everyone else, Elric. You have to stop; the bad men are gone, and you are killing everything else. Aurora says it’s not your fault and that there is a bad woman taking advantage of you at this moment."
She slowly pushed herself away from my hand, and she placed a hand on her waist, and I recognized this familiar posture from my mom when she wanted to discipline me. "So, El, what did I tell you about having a wicked temptress whispering in your ears? I knew it; I told mum and dad that you were too young to leave the house without my supervision, and I was right. You have been lured by the honey pot of..."
I coughed, "Mel, I don’t think..."
"That is the problem, you don’t think when you are upset; you just feel. Mum always said that this was your best side, but Dad did not agree; he said that you do not have the heart to be like everyone else with your power."
I fell silent, guilt and shame, and a bit of pride at my sister rippling through me. "That is why you need me, El. Now, tell me where that wicked temptress is that stole your mind, and I shall set everything straight. You don’t mess with the Voss."
My mouth opened and closed, and I did not know when I began to laugh.