The medallion wasn't all that impressive. It was old. The delicate chain it was hanging on was clearly not the original, the links too small and shiny to be made that long ago. The medallion itself was small, no larger than a thumb nail. The edges were worn down, soft and dulled with age.
It was impossible to make out the image on the front. It looked like a figure or symbol as opposed to writing but it was generating miasma too fast to get a good look.
The miasma coming out of Chenzhou had spiked, even though she'd thought that was impossible given how fast it was already coming. He collapsed at lunch and Anna's screaming had brought most of the castle running. Eirian hadn't been prepared to see him so small and still on the carpet and Marian had been so worried about him she hadn't even said anything about Eirian being out of bed.
This was the reaction Eirian had been expecting and seeing him now, she didn't expect Chenzhou to wake up without some kind of significant intervention.
Which she could do.
The only question was if Chenzhou was strong enough to survive it.
With how deep the infection ran, in both Chenzhou and the Camelia, it was possible they would both die along with the miasma if she continued to simply burn it out. But time was limited if she tried to find another way. It was twice as dark now as it had been yesterday. The miasma sensing the treat and moving to destroy it.
Smothering everything in the Camelia as a result.
Arnheim had certainly picked a vicious revenge, though she wondered if he really understood what he'd been doing.
She supposed that really depended on whether or not he'd truly loved Li Ling or if he'd just been the first in the long line of men who had coveted and used her and ultimately destroyed her.
Love inspired truly terrible things sometimes and it was something of a relief to Eirian that she'd never loved that deeply. She was enraged over Philip's betrayal, and she wanted to crush him like a bug under her heel, but she didn't want to destroy everyone around him.
She didn't even really want to destroy that whore he'd picked over her. What was the point? To make more suffering? That never solved anything.
Only sharing suffering worked and Eirian still planned to share all her suffering with Philip someday.
Someday soon.
"Eirian, what is it?" Yuze shook her shoulder, bringing her out of her thoughts.
"The medallion." Eirian responded, poking at it. The moment her finger connected with the medal; sparks flew as Eirian's magic reacted to the poison.
Finn yelped. Anna gasped. The rest of the room inched closer.
The miasma hadn't made it through her magic, so she reached out, grabbed the medallion, and ripped it away from Chenzhou.
The chain snapped, Eirian's magic roared, flames appearing around her hand holding the medal.
"What are you doing?" Anna reached for her, for the medal, but a look from Eirian had Marian pulling her back.
"You know what this is?" Eirian studied her. The other woman looked terrible, her eyes red and swollen from crying, her lips dry and cracked. She had changed out of her robes from the night before and her hands were shaking from the stress.
Anna clutched Marian's hands in lieu of anything else. "It was his mother's. It's the only thing he has left of her."
"His mother? Wasn't she just a common soldier?"
Anna nodded. "His parents met on the battlefield. They were a love match and married as soon as that war was over, but she died in childbirth. She didn't really have anything before she married his father, that necklace was the only thing left for Chenzhou to have of hers."
"The previous Lord Ye made sure it was kept safe for Chenzhou to have when he was old enough." Marian added. "It was kept in the vault until Chenzhou was ten."
"There's no record it was taken out." Yuze muttered. He looked like he had a whole new headache coming on.
Finn winced. "The vault is a mess. It probably needs to be cleaned up."
"Which can't be done without someone powerful enough to handle what's stored in there." Yuze gave Eirian a pointed look.
She gave him a saccharine smile in return. "My plate is a bit full at the moment." The flames around her hand swelled and burst as she pushed magic into the medallion. There was no saving it unfortunately. The poison was so strong that Eirian's magic had to burn so hot it actually burned her hand.
Eirian hissed and bit her lip to keep from crying out. The force of the explosion generated by the poison and her magic meeting created a deafening bomb and enough concussive force to knock everyone else in the room back several steps.
The medallion shattered from the heat, the small pieces embedded in her palm, cutting open the burned skin.
It was a lovely mix of cutting agony and searing pain, but it served to keep Eirian focused, pushing her magic after the traces of the poison contained in the shards until all of it gave way to the fire and there was nothing left.
The effort cost her. It took energy and a significant amount of strength to focus her magic on such a small target and not burn the rest of the world in the process. She was still weak from the previous night, and it was more of a struggle than usual to keep her magic contained. Somewhat controlled when she did release it.
Whatever Arnheim had done to the medallion, and how it had ended up in the hands of a common soldier, he had to have had a wizard's help.
Eirian could see the poison, but she couldn't identify it. It burned bright pink, one of her favorite colors, which helped narrow it down, but she'd still have to do more research when she had time.
Not that she had much of that to spare at the moment.
The skin of her palm was red and swollen, burned from her own flame, which had never happened before, but the medallion had been completely destroyed.
She flexed her fingers and cried out at the sudden sharp pain as her fingers curled and pulled on the burned skin.
Yuze made his way back to her, staying just out of reach. "Eirian, are you alright?"
She had to take a few gasping breathes as the pain receded into a dull throb before she could respond. "Fine. I'm fine."
"Is it gone?" Someone she didn't recognize asked.
Eirian turned to Chenzhou. The miasma was still burst from his chest, though it had finally lost some of its strength. "Not yet, but it will be."
~ tbc