C8

Pandora almost gasped when she stepped into the healer's house. The thick scent of burning herbs and the sharp tinge of iron hung in the air. It looked more like a witch's lair than a healer's dwelling. Dark, dried roots dangled from the wooden beams, and strange symbols were carved into the stone walls. A fire crackled in a pit at the center, casting flickering shadows that danced like spirits along the ceiling.

Her eyes darted to the corner, where her parents were seated on a rough wooden bench, and Ely lay across their laps. His chest rose and fell softly, his face pale but peaceful for once.

"Mama, Papa," Pandora whispered, stepping inside.

"Ora, come over here. Are you okay?" her mother said quickly, motioning her forward with trembling hands.

"Yes, Mama. I'm fine. What about Ely?"

"He's okay now," Aurora murmured, brushing a strand of hair from her son's forehead. "He was in terrible pain earlier, but he calmed down. My poor son."

Zack said nothing. He simply patted the space beside him. Pandora walked over and sat, and he gently rubbed her back in a slow, soothing rhythm. It made her feel like a child again, safe, if only for a moment.

"What about Pandora?" he asked.

The healer, Eliara, didn't look up. She was bent over a rough stone table, organizing strange herbs and vials of glowing liquid. Her fingers moved swiftly, but her face was unreadable.

"Say something, Eliara," Aurora said. Her voice was thin, almost desperate. "We found her this morning on the dining room floor, confused, with no memory of what happened. You told her to stay outside when we arrived, then suddenly rushed out saying 'finally.' Please, tell me what's going on."

"Haa, Sister," Eliara finally said, still not looking up. "You talk too much. I will explain. Just give me a moment."

Pandora sat stiffly, wringing her hands. Her heartbeat was loud in her ears.

"Mama," she said, her voice trembling, "Am I... am I getting sick too?"

"Shush, my dear," Aurora said, pulling her into an embrace. "No, you’re fine. Mama is just worried something is... affecting you. It’s okay. I promise."

Finally, Eliara sat down before them, her face now grim, her eyes shadowed with something unspoken.

"The seal is broken," she said flatly.

"W-what? No!" Aurora gasped.

Zack sat forward, brows furrowed. "What do you mean, Eliara? I don’t understand."

"The seal placed on her... it’s broken. I don’t know how, but it’s been compromised."

"But you said it was permanent! You said nothing could break it!" Aurora’s voice cracked.

"Let me finish," Eliara snapped.

Zack gently placed a hand on his wife's shoulder. "Dear, calm down. Let your sister finish."

Eliara's expression darkened. "Yes, it was meant to be permanent. But something... something stronger than me opened it."

The room fell silent. Only the fire crackled. Aurora’s hands began to tremble.

"Something stronger than you?" Zack echoed, his voice barely audible.

That single line chilled them to the bone. There was only one being, a person, stronger than Eliara, and that creature would never open the seal, in fact, she would bury it deeper if she could.

"I don’t know what did it," Eliara continued, "but I will go into her mind. Maybe I can see what happened."

Pandora, who had been listening like a ghost among the living, blinked in confusion. Seal? What seal? Why were they speaking like she was some... some vessel?

She looked at her parents again. Their faces were twisted in worry, fear etched into every line. She remembered overhearing her mother weeping at night, blaming herself for Ely's illness. Her heart clenched.

No more pain. No more worry.

She steeled herself. "Aunt... let’s do it. I’ll go through with whatever you need."

"Ora, no," her mother whispered. "You don’t have to do anything, not if you’re scared. It doesn’t matter. We’ll find another way."

"I’m fine, Mama. I’ll be fine."

Eliara nodded solemnly. She took a piece of black chalk and drew a wide circle on the stone floor. In the center, she drew a closed eye surrounded by curling runes.

"Sit here," she said to Pandora, gesturing to one end of the circle.

They sat at opposite ends and clasped hands. The room instantly grew colder, the air thick. A wind rose from nowhere, swirling between them like a tornado of whispers.

Aurora held Ely tightly while Zack pulled her into his side.

Then it happened. Their eyes snapped open, glowing white. Pandora’s entire body pulsed with strange, eerie light.

Eliara entered.

She found herself standing in a gray, mist filled void. The world around her cracked with lightning and the roar of distant thunder. The broken seal stood before her, half-open and twitching like a wounded beast.

She muttered incantations under her breath. A black mist began to gather around her hands, threaded with strange violet veins of magic. She shouted the final words and hurled the spell toward the broken seal.

But it recoiled violently, slamming into her chest and flinging her backward.

She groaned, struggling to stand. If she had used more power, it could have killed her.

Outside, Zack watched Eliara twitch and cough up blood.

"We should stop this. She’s bleeding!"

"No!" Aurora gripped his arm tightly. "Interrupting her now could kill her."

Eliara convulsed again, then stilled.

Inside the mindscape, she had just begun to rise again when a thick shadow struck her back and sent her sprawling.

A voice, smooth and venomous, echoed from the fog.

"Well, well, well... who do we have here?"

Eliara narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?"

"Me? Oh, where are my manners," the voice said mockingly. From the gray emerged two gleaming red eyes. "I’m the new owner of this space. And you, well, you're trespassing."

"This is my niece's mind, you parasite."

"Parasite? Oh, healer, how cruel." The being emerged, a tall, distorted humanoid figure with shifting skin, half-shadow and half-nightmare. Before she could react, it seized her by the throat and lifted her into the air.

She kicked and clawed, gasping.

"How the mighty have fallen," it sneered. "Weren’t you once feared across the whole provinces? Look at you now."

She couldn’t speak.

"Ah, cat got your tongue? Fine. Answer me this, who placed this seal, and why?"

Eliara's lips quivered. "It... it’s none of your business, paras...."

"Finish that word," it hissed, tightening its grip. "And I end you here."

It let her go. She collapsed to the ground, coughing violently.

"She felt familiar," it said thoughtfully. "Locked me out of a cave last month just by... wishing it. That’s what drew me here. I wanted to know what she was. The seal... only made me more curious."

Eliara stood slowly, pain etched into her features. "End your curiosity. She has nothing to do with you."

The being chuckled darkly. "Ah, but that’s the problem, dear healer. I can’t. She’s... absorbing me."

Eliara’s heart stopped.

"What?"

"She’s drawing me in. Consuming me and breaking the seal, even now. A force that shouldn’t exist inside a child... yet here she is."

Outside, Pandora sat still, eyes blazing white. Her fingers trembled slightly now, the first sign that something, deep and ancient, was stirring.

Zack clutched his wife tighter. "What’s happening in there?"

Aurora could only whisper, "I don’t know, but I am afraid."

"Why dear?"

She looked at him sadly and worried,

"It's Pandora, I am feeling something else from her, it's as if.....she is no longer ours"