The Broken Flame

“Forgive me… Hero--brine.”

*****

Those words rang true in Brine’s mind, words he heard so long ago that were once again imprinted in his mind, just as fresh as the day he heard them uttered.

The hazing rage within Brine began to slowly die down and he found his grip lightening, his eyes softening. His deep sneer fell and his face became more passive. Brine felt himself slowly relaxing. The fog cleared and his face immediately fell to horror as his hands slipped from his blade.

Celina was pinned against one of the stone walls with one of his swords. The blade was through her chest, blood pattering from the wound and onto the ground. He could see her try to open her eyes in surprise, his gray orbs nearly hidden by globules of clear fluid. She had more blood flowing from the corner of her lips as she managed to look up at him.

“Brine,” she asked in a pained whisper.

Brine found his own eyes watering as he looked at his friend. “...Celina? Did… did I… did I do this?”

The queen nodded weakly. “Brine… you--you were… over--take--en by… by something. You were… saying that… my kindness to--wards you… was fake. All of it.” She whimpered loudly. The sword was making her chest ache so badly and her heart was beginning to strain to beat. Still, she had to speak to her friend and make sure this wasn’t a trick. She coughed loudly. “I… I was talking to you… but--you--you were out of control. You--You fought me… I tried to… to talk--to--you. But… you--didn’t… seem to hear… hear me.”

Brine found himself feeling so weak and like he was going to crumble to his knees. He knew what had happened, because this wasn’t the first time that something like this had happened. “She… she did this…”

Celina blinked slowly. “Who, Brine?”

“Glistenia. When I first became ruler of the monsters, she would sometimes use spells to throw me into fits of rage. It was so I could learn to kill without hesitation. She’d whisper dark words into my head using her spells, and that was what I heard when we walked in here.”

Celina tilted her head. “But… are you… okay now?”

Brine nodded. “I am, Celina. I am now.”

“That’s good.” The queen smiled, but her grin was quick to be replaced as she cried out in agony. “Br--Brine…”

Brine looked up at Celina and gasped. “Oh no… oh, no, no, no, Celina!” He quickly took a hold of his sword and yanked it from her chest. He threw it aside as his friend hit the ground and she let out a sharp gasp for breath. Blood was pooled around her and more crimson was still dripping from her wound. Brine dropped to his knees next to the queen and took her into his arms, holding her in his lap. “Oh, Gods… Celina, I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just… please, hold on. I’ll fix this! I can fix this!”

The queen only stared emptily up at Brine with her gray eyes looking very glassy. Her wound was still bleeding, her body was limp as a ragdoll and she only looked up at him with such pain.

Brine looked around for something, anything he could use to save her. He spotted her backpack lying on the ground, the contents spilled across the floor. He carefully set her down and ran over to the items, spotting one of Celina’s Regen-Healing potions. There were only a few left, with her having used the rest on her own wounds and his when he needed some extra healing to his own abilities.

Brine picked up one of the remaining potions and ran back over to Celina. He scooped her up again as he popped the cork. The queen suddenly began to try and speak to him, but he quickly responded with, “Celina, I don’t think this will save you by itself, but I have an idea. This is going to hurt, but I think we have no other choice.”

The Demi-God set the bottle to the side and took out one of his swords, placing the bladed ends in one palm. He quickly clenched down on it and pulled it across his hand. He grimaced, then took the bottle. He tilted his hand over the top, a few drops of purple blood falling from the wound on his hand. The potion let out a small puff before shifting to a white color with a glow to it.

Brine picked up the bottle, seeing Celina look at him with fear. He found himself sighing softly. “Celina… I don’t know how much this is going to hurt you, but--”

Celina simply spoke to him in the weakest voice, barely above a whisper. “Brine… please… save me.”

Brine nodded, took one more deep breath, and poured some of the potion into her wound.

“AAAAAHHHHHHHAAAAAAHHHHH!” Celina screamed at the very top of her lungs from the sharp, burning pain now taking over her body. She kicked her legs around and arched her back, crying out and squeezing her eyes shut. She squirmed and flailed about in her friend’s lap and he could only watch her with horror, hearing her shout out as loud as she could.

The queen’s body convulsed and she felt like every nerve in her body was being pulled apart and burned alive and she screamed again. Tears ran down the sides of her face to every movement, but she couldn’t find herself being still. Everything hurt to a degree Celina had never felt before.

After a few more minutes, the queen managed to look at Brine, her vision blurring in and out, before she let out a sharp gasp and passed out.

The pain was just too much, and she was just so tired. Celina just needed a good night’s rest.

*****

The next time the queen awoke from the deep black that cradled her in safety, her eyes opened ever so slowly. She could see colors bleeding into shapes and everything began to get a tiny bit brighter. She could feel herself lying down, but what she was lying on was a mystery to her. Celina shook her head very, very slowly, feeling so weak and so tired.

Brine could feel movement from his lap, and he looked down at the queen’s head to see her eyes barely open. He took in a small breath, waiting to see if this was real or not.

Celina managed to open her eyes a bit more, and they threatened to spill over again as she tried to see if she could move. She could certainly feel her aching body, and wiggle her fingers, but not much beyond that. The queen tried to sit up, putting her arms back to push herself up. Before she could, a gentle hand moved her arms back up. 

“You shouldn’t move, Celina,” came Brine’s voice, soft but firm. It still echoed as it always did, but it sounded like his normal echoing rather than the dark and twisted voice he had used in his rage.

Celina nodded and put her hands on her chest, wincing as she did so. Everything hurt so badly, but her chest was probably the worst right now. It ached and burned like she had been thrown into lava. 

Brine saw Celina taking deep breaths, her eyes a bit unfocused as she continued to regain consciousness. She looked very tired despite how long she had been out of it. But then again, he had used what he could only guess was a very powerful mixture on her wounds to save her. His own healing blood hurt him greatly on larger wounds, and he had felt the pain of the Regen-Healing potions of the queen’s making. That pain must not have been pleasant.

Celina blinked a few times with her vision still being a little hazy. She could feel bandages under her hands and that was when it struck her. She remembered… she remembered the sword. The sword being stabbed through her chest, and telling Brine that she was sorry she didn’t protect him. She remembered him speaking to her again after coming out of his rage. She remembered him pouring the potion into her wound… and then there was that memory of all the pain from the potion. A light shudder ran through her as she recalled the pain from whatever Brine had done.

Celina knew Brine had done something to her potion, but she had been so close to the edge of death and so out of it, she didn’t see what. All she remembered was him pouring it into her new wound and suddenly she was in terrible agony.

Brine could hear the queen let out a tiny whimper and he looked down at her to check on her. She looked confused. “Are you okay, Celina,” he asked softly.

The queen looked up at him with those big gray eyes, blinking moisture from her eyes. “Brine,” she asked in a voice barely above a whisper. “What… what happened?”

The Demi-God shifted a bit, holding her close, before asking, “What do you mean?”

“I… I remember… the potion… then the pain. What did--you do… to it?”

Her voice was still very weak and a little hoarse, but Brine expected that with how much she had screamed before passing out. He sighed softly. “I… I was afraid your potion wouldn’t be strong enough… so I combined some of it with my blood. You’ve seen the healing properties my life fluid carries, and I’ve seen what your potion can do as well. So I put them together to save you.”

That would explain why Celina was hurting so bad. She was healing from the powerful concoction that Brine had made. She found herself looking up at her friend as he looked around, seeming to have heard something and making sure it wouldn’t be a threat. She carefully reached a hand to his arm and placed it on him. “Brine… how long--have I been… been out?”

Brine looked back down at the queen and sighed. “About five days. I’ve been sitting here that whole time to make sure you were healing and to make sure you were breathing. I cleaned up everything that fell from your backpack and set it aside, then pulled you into my arms to keep you safe.”

Celina shook her head. “Brine, you… you didn’t have to sit here that whole time. You could have set up my bed.”

“No, I needed to. It’s my fault that this happened to you. I almost killed you and it’s no one else’s fault but my own. I let myself be overtaken by Glistenia’s spell and I almost killed you because I wasn’t strong enough to keep control of my mind.” He looked away in what looked like shame and the queen’s heart wrenched. “Celina… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I nearly killed you because I couldn’t keep control of myself. I nearly killed you and… I… I don’t…”

Celina patted his arm with her hand, making him look down at her. “Brine… it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. I could have--”

“But you didn’t, Brine.” The queen’s voice got a little stronger as she spoke. “You didn’t kill me, you snapped out of it when I really needed it, and you saved me. After all that rage, and whatever the Nether kind of spell was placed on you… you still saved me. After all that… you’re still you. You’re still my best friend. You’re still Brine.”

Brine looked at her with his mouth slightly agape as she spoke.

“You’re still you and you saved my life. And I promise you, I will protect you and keep you safe from anything she might try to do to you. I won’t let her hurt you anymore.” She realized something and sighed softly. “Do you think this means that she knows we’re here?”

Brine silently swore upon that realization. “I didn’t think about that… but I believe you’re right.” He carefully ran a hand along her hair, petting the silky black locks. “But we’ll worry about that when you’re healed. You’re not in any condition to move around right now, so don’t worry about it, my friend. Just rest, and I’ll watch over you.” He took a hold of one of Celina’s hands and gently squeezed it. “I won’t let anything hurt you. I promise.”

Celina nodded and let her eyelids fall over her tiring orbs. She was getting sleepy from the pain and all the talking she had just done. And Brine was right, she needed all the rest she could get until she was healed. As sleep began to take her, Celina knew one thing was certain:

The fight to save Steve wouldn’t be easy, but they just had to fight with everything they had.

“Fight a good fight, to the very end,” she whispered as she fell back into the black.