Aliya's Shoes-Chapter 572: What is she?

There was just so much going on in the room that, for once, Currey and Murray were at a loss as to what to do. First, it was the witch going out of character, and then she involved Shelby’s father, supposedly. Were they supposed to follow this or not? Whose arrangement were they to heed?

Brian was excited to see Samantha and was in no mood to wonder who or what would be burned.

Shelby, hearing his thoughts, couldn’t help but laugh even in a situation like that.

They all found themselves outside and somewhere in the vineyards, a little later, as Ian felt that his cold room was being crowded.

The skies had long since darkened.

The witch lingered before the painting of the desert, which had been propped against a vine. Her eyes stayed fixed on the tiny, writhing figure in the dunes, its mouth open in a soundless scream. Shelby and the rest were not even surprised that the Witch had entered the painting and come out. What was strange was the fact that The Timeless Witch knew about it.

At this moment, they all stood by watching the ominous painting.

For a long while, the witch said nothing. Her calm, ancient gaze betrayed no alarm. But then, just faintly, a strangled dry cry seeped out of the canvas, muffled and distorted, as if it came from beneath sand.

Shelby had not really thought it through and had wanted Aliya locked up in there forever. She had thought that it would be the most effective way. The person in the world of the painting would hear everything, and that would add to their distress, but none of them had thought of a higher power breaching the boundaries of that world and bringing Aliya out. They were lucky enough that the Witch had no such thoughts.

They watched as the Timeless Witch only reached out, her fingertips brushing the frame. The cry inside the painting swelled into a wail.

’See, I did it with my own hands!’ She thought to herself as if communicating this to an unknown entity.

"Burn it!"

Her childlike lips curled into something too ancient to belong to a child.

Murray wasted no time in setting the frame aflame.

The cries grew louder, echoing unnaturally all around them. The figure in the painting began to thrash, as though sensing its doom.

As the frame engulfed it, the painting shrieked. It was an unearthly sound, like a hundred voices dying at once. Suzie shuddered and moved closer to Murray, who had stepped back, looking at the flames. He reached out and held her hand, bringing the comfort that she desired in that moment.

Flames licked the frame, and the painted sands twisted and warped in agony. It was indeed not a cry that anyone could bear to hear.

Shelby was wrapped in Ian’s arms as they watched that thorn in their flesh get burnt away. The world of the painting no longer existed, and neither did Aliya. This time, she was not trapped. She was erased, never to exist in any timeline or void.

When the fire died, the ground was bare. There was surprisingly no ash, no soot, nor sign that the painting had ever existed. Aliya was gone with that temporary cage. One would say that she was at least freed from her torment.

"So...?"

Shelby and Ian sighed at the same time, looking at the enthusiastic Timeless Witch who seemed to have already assumed the role of their child.

The two exchanged a few words in their mind link, and then Ian gave Currey a little nod.

"What deal did Mr. Monroe make with you?" Ian asked suddenly, and the witch smiled,

"Nice try.... Deals are between the impacted parties only. I won’t even tell Mum about it, not to talk of you."

The two and everyone else didn’t know how to handle that piece of news, but Shelby smiled suddenly.

"Whatever it was, I am sure that Daddy had his reasons, but why -"

She sighed,

"I hope you don’t go back on your words."

Then Shelby took one last look at the place where the painting had been a few moments prior.

"Don’t worry, Mummy-"

"Can you not call me that, please? I am even younger than your great-great-great-great .... Grandchildren, if they existed."

A few chuckles went around when the Witch feigned an aggrieved expression, making Shelby shiver, but she looked cute in a way.

"I want to call Mummy as Mummy. If I call you Shelby, wouldn’t that be disrespectful?"

Shelby sighed yet again. This was turning out to be an impossible child.

"What should we call you?"

"I don’t know... No one has called my name in centuries."

This made the little-looking witch take on a faraway look.

"It’s Isolde..."

It was but a whisper, but they all heard it.

Shelby smiled, "Isolde .... That’s a lovely name."

Catching the witch by surprise.

"Well, it’s settled then!"

"Ehhh ....." Brian whispered,

"Miss Isolde,"

The Timeless Witch snapped her head at him, all politeness gone, as she assumed her witchy self.

Brain swallowed dryly.

"What is our Queen? She looks human, but is not, and she was able to awaken the Resonant, too. That tells me that she is no ordinary human.... Do you ...."

He let his words trail as he maintained a humble stance. They all noted how he had referred to Shelby as Queen as if she had already accepted this role.

Isolde looked back at Shelby, wrapped in Ian’s arms.

"Shelby is human, alright, but she carries an inherent trait that will be passed to all her children.

Shelby is the last princess of the spatial docile mer people. She did not have their power, but I doubt even her father knew how much she could harness till later on. He wanted her to live freely in the human world with no entanglements from them, but she took more of him than he thought possible. She is a powerful vessel to pass on those powers! I can feel it brimming from the one in there."

She paused and looked at Shelby’s big tummy,

"That half of her is what helped her when she took that beauty pill Clara had sought. She would have suffered repercussions for what was used with Aliya’s last authentic tear from her innocent self..."

Shelby widened her eyes from this and the following words,

"Shelby is a vessel, but can sometimes burrow power. Monroe wanted the best for his daughter, but some forces had already marked her down, from the way she liked to play in the water as a child.

So, he sacrificed himself to save her, ensuring that she would be safe for her lifetime, notwithstanding what happened to her. So, to answer your question, she is Spatial Docile - a tiny section of the siren and mer-populace, who live in exclusion and her father was the king and the last of their kind.

She is but a living vessel whose presence can bend the currents of power itself, amplifying what dwells near her. No compulsion can bind her, for she is not the flame, nor the water, nor the song ... she is the breath between them all."

At this, the gazes turned to Shelby in reverence, some gaping, for this blew their minds and what they ever thought of their mistress and Queen. Ian tightened his arms around her,

"... and now, awakened through her blood, her offspring will inherit abundance. They shall carry all, magnified beyond measure. Combined with Ian’s lineage, the child in her would be a force to reckon with."

The witch then turned to Samantha,

"I know that sometimes you think of who your birth parents were and why they abandoned you. Do not care so much about that, for fate has a way of getting you on its right path. They loved you but thought that you had a touch of evil. You were born to humans, so they could not fathom why there was sometimes an unexplained aura around you.

At birth, some Resonant have what is known as the Veilmark – a faint silver shadow that rests across one eye. As they were in a superstitious community, they also believed that they gave you up for fear that you would bring bad luck. But the stars always align at the end, and you found your rightful place."

At this time, Samantha was not so much worried about her birth parents. Maybe, some time in the past, she would have been sad, but after meeting her new parents, she was in a better place, and even if she met her birth parents, she would have thanked both them and Aliya for paving the path to her new parents.

Brian bowed deeply in gratitude for Isolde’s info. This was data he would never find in the archives. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Before anyone could react to this, another interruption occurred, but as the witch had not given any reaction, they all knew that there was no malice from the new person. They heard the person before he appeared.

"Made ’is min’ up th’t dis ’ere hunk ’o land be mine fer a spell, eh? So ..." the man’s grin split wide,

"I’ll finally be layin’ eyes on th’ Que’n ’ere? The human world, so pretty it near blinds m’ eyes!"

And then, as though on cue, his gaze caught Shelby where she stood as soon as he appeared. All at once, his shoulders sank low, his arms sweeping in a theatrical flourish. He bent at the waist, too low, too long, an exaggerated reverence, but genuine, nonetheless.

"Mi Qu’een..." he crooned, forehead nearly brushing the dirt ground.

A ripple of laughter escaped Shelby. The corners of her lips curved upward. This Fae was and probably will always be a breath of fresh air!

"You bow so low I fear you’ll split in two," she said lightly, amused.

"Yu call me Fad....." He smiled broadly, and one could see his oozing excitement as what lay ahead. He knew he was in the right place after following Murray back. There was one other person, who had insisted on following, but was hovering in the background, unsure of how to approach, and this was the headguard.

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