44: The Vita necklace

The words that left the King's mouth left me speechless, and clearly, Diana as well. Sebastian’s mother, however, seemed to have much to say, just not with her mouth. Instead, she used her fist which she launched towards my face, as a means to show her absolute disapproval of the union between her son and Diana. I wanted to block her off, but Diana's reflexes were slow- I assumed it was due to the shock of her potential future mother-in-law trying to strike her. And so, I felt the impact of her cold, hard fist against my cheekbone, shattering it in the process. The pain was excruciating, but what was worse- much worse- was the hot, heated feeling of pure, hot *rage* building up within me, searing right through every vein. Diana was extremely angry. In fact, I'd never felt rage quite like hers. It was intense and strong and deep down, I feared its volatility.
A low, deep growl ripped from my chest and I could feel my eye throbbing red as I gazed up at Sebastian's mother who looked down, panicked. The whole room froze, all eyes were on me, and the tension regarding what I'd do next, was inescapable.
"Mother," Sebastian whispered out urgently, taking a step in front of me, in case I tried to launch myself at her. I was personally grateful, but Diana was not, and she showed it by letting another growl emit from her chest. "If you touch her again, I won't stop her from ripping you to shreds. How dare you lay a hand on my future wife!"
His mother's eyes widened, and she pointed a finger at me, "*That thing* will never be my daughter-in-law. I won't allow it-"
"But I will." It came from Sebastian's father who had now gotten up from his seat at the throne. He neared his wife and took her arm forcefully in his. "You will not take this from him. He loves Diana, and I'll be damned if I let you take another precious thing from my son again. Now, Sebastian, take Diana out of the room and calm her down. I'll tend to your mother. We can talk more about your engagement later."
Sebastian nodded, and I felt relieved at the feeling of calmness, beginning to cloud the rage. I could even feel my eyes regaining their previous golden colour, and my cheek beginning to heal. Sebastian turned towards me with an apologetic smile on his face, took my hand, and began leading me out of the throne room. Once we were outside and away from the hearing space of the King and Queen, he let out a deep sigh of relief and ran his fingers through his blonde hair.
"I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am for her behaviour. But what's done is done. I am going to marry you, and heaven forbid anything getting in my way... even my mother." And as he said this, I felt a deep, warm blush across my cheeks, and I smiled. It seemed Diana was beyond happy to be engaged to Sebastian. I couldn't say I was hurt by it. How could I when I was feeling what Diana was feeling? Her love, her attachment, her connection to Sebastian. It was intense, to say the least, and I wondered, for a moment, if this would be what I'd end up feeling for Sebastian too. Not only him, but Demetri.
"Sebastian," I uttered out.
He smiled and gently cupped my face with his soft hands. "Yes, Diana?"
"I love you." I said.
Sebastian looked startled once it left my mouth. His eyes were wide, and his lips were parted slightly. Eventually, a small smile pulled at his lips and he chuckled. "I love you too Diana. It's you and me against the world. And don't you dare leave my side."
"I wouldn't dream of it," I said. When it left my lips, I felt myself shake within her. Diana *had* left Sebastian's side, and that was the bittersweetness in all of this joy of hers. She parted from Sebastian, and somehow, somewhere it had something to do with me. And for a moment, I couldn't help but think back to the fact that we looked so identical. Who were we to each other?
Sebastian pulled me closer, disrupting me from my thoughts. I could feel his warm breath against the skin of my lips and my heart began racing in anticipation.
"You'll be the death of me. I won't go any other way." He whispered, before closing his eyes, leaning in and kissing my lips gently. When we parted, he smiled down at me and I smiled up at him, content.
"Oh, before I forget, I have something for you. I couldn't quite get you a ring, so I got you something better... rarer."
My eyebrows raised at his statement, "You... expected to propose to me?"
He froze, looked up at me, and a small, nervous smile made its way onto his face. "Well... I was *thinking* about it."
"For how long?" I asked as he retrieved a box from the pocket of his trousers.
Before handing it to me, he smirked again and whispered, "It's been three months now. I carried this around with me every day in hopes that somewhere, somehow, I'd find the courage to propose to you. Now it didn't go quite as I planned, but I hope this makes up for it."
Carefully he handed me the box and I opened it. Nothing, however, could have prepared me for what lay inside. A beautiful silver chain, and in the centre a ruby gleamed beneath the light of the dimly lit corridor. It was my mother's necklace.
"It's beautiful," Diana exclaimed.
"I'm glad you like it. But there's something you need to know about this particular necklace," He said, taking it out of the wooden box and placing it around my neck.
"This necklace was given to me by Lucretia, the witch from the netherworld. She calls it the Vita necklace."
"Lucretia? How did someone like you get an audience, much less a necklace from her?" I asked. Even I knew Lucretia. She existed in my time as being the most powerful witch there ever was. Rumour had it, she was hell's daughter, the Queen of dark magic. Her magic was renowned for being the most powerful, most incredible and most costly. There was always a consequence to using witch's magic, and dark magic was even more costly.
"Well Lucretia owed me a favour. Let's just say she set her eye on someone in my court."
"Oh, so you were being a match-maker then?"
"Of course. Now, as for the necklace, the stone inside is not just any ordinary ruby. It's imbued with soul magic, making it the world's first and only stone of life. Within it, you can hold the soul of a single person at a time, provided, their soul has no vessel current."
"And what's the cost of keeping someone's soul in this stone?" I asked.
Sebastian chuckled and then raised a brow, "The soul within the stone sacrifices their soul to be cast into the depths of hell. They face eternal damnation. But that's not what you should be concerned about. Hell down there is no different to the one we face up here. The concern is the price of resurrecting the soul from the stone."
Resurrection? I'd never heard of such a thing. People had tried to bring people back from the dead for years, and still, they had not succeeded. And so, I found it hard to believe that this necklace could even begin to resurrect anyone. Then again, this was Lucretia we were talking about, daughter of hell.
"To resurrect someone, you need an empty vessel-"
"You don't mean-"
"I do, Diana. You'd need someone dead. A soul for a soul. That's the only way the soul can slip out of the stone and attach itself to a vessel. The vessel needs to be someone from the same bloodline though. But that's not all. You'd need an anchor, a tie to the life the person had before. Again, a bond... or a connection begins to form between the person and the anchor. Anchors can only be found in the lives someone has touched and can expand to their descendants. The price of an anchor is eternal connection. But some souls, depending on their age and their strength, require more than one Anchor. After that, well, the soul and the vessel will begin to bond. Now, this is of course hypothetical, and no one has ever resurrected anyone else before, so things could change during the actual process."
By the time Sebastian said this, I felt a sense of dread flow over me. It was so potent, it had me wanting to be sick. I could feel my skin break out into a cold sweat. My stomach began to develop sharp, strong pangs and soon, I began hovering over as another wave of nausea swept through me.
"There is always a price." A voice said from in front of me. I looked up slowly, and gasped when Diana's golden eyes met mine.
"D-Diana. W-what's going on?" I gasped, now struggling to breathe.
"An empty vessel, an Anchor. An empty vessel, an Anchor, a dead child. An empty vessel, an Anchor, a dead child, a dead mother. An empty vessel, an Anchor, a dead child, a dead mother, a resentful father..."
She kept on droning on and on, almost robotically, and as she did, I gripped at my throat, struggling to get any air into my lungs. Eventually, all I could hear was Diana's voice, and all I could see was darkness, covering me in its coldness. Then, all of a sudden, silence. But in that split second of dark, cold silence, it all began to make sense. The reason Diana and I looked so alike... the reason we had the same mate... the Vita necklace...
*I was Diana.*
---
Surprised? Or did you already suspect this?
Stay safe! Stay healthy! Sending my love!