Up and out. Up and up and up, and out out out.
She whirled and tumbled, seeking out the Mistress. Her original intent quickly forgotten, like the flicking of a silvery wibbly-squibbly fish tail under water, and so she wandered beyond the walls, beyond the veil. Wherever her tether pulled her, she floated, not needing wings like the others did. No, she was not bound by gravity, unless she willed it, and willed it she did, to plummet aimlessly.
A fear from when she had not been a cosmic being tapped in her chest, claws raking, teeth biting at her ribs, and she curled tightly before launching herself up again, leaving off her gravitational pull, to zip and swerve upwards and follow the tether. Follow the trail, follow the scent of the dragons, the Skylanders.
The Skylanders? Oh how marvelous! A show! And if she was lucky, one of the sad fops would die at The Mistress’s claws, and it would be dinner AND a show! Using the ethereal fog that made up her lower body, she fashioned a chair of sorts, floating above the island that served as a battle ground.
Mother against child, child against foe and friends, friends who forgot they were foes. Old faces, faces she knew when she sank in through The Little Mistress’s skull to her dreams, such tortured and delicious dreams! Poor lass, poor Little Mistress! The Mistress screamed and railed, outraged at some betrayal. It did not matter, but the djinn leaned forward in her chair to listen more closely….
The world exploded into color, pain an instant on its heels, and she went tumbling again. Soaring, then falling, then caught, and pain in repetition, until her claws latched onto a face and raked down. She was released, and fell against the ground.
“Only cowards watch a battle,” a voice said, thick with a strange accent that was familiar and alien to her. The cosmic being lifted her head, and rose to her full height, the tips of her ears and her crown of horns easily towering over the pale spit of a Skylander. She opened her muzzle to speak, but out came sound instead of words, a winded grunt as her gut was jabbed by a fist, clad in thickened leather and tipped with a metal plate.
Claws scrabbled to grab into something, the arm to render it useless, to rip it off, but her claws plunged through smoke, and her entire body went cold. With confusion mounting, she shifted out of a physical form, and her opponent fell through her as if he’d been leaning on air. Twisted, and pounced, and began to slam her paws into the back of his head, feeling bone crack, but then she was flying again, and it was her turn to be pummeled.
“Only a coward attacks from behind!” the brawler shouted in between strikes, and she attempted to defend herself. Finally, one of the gloved hands slammed down on her throat, and began to press. “If you are not with us, you are against us. You will die for this, traitor!”
Can I die? Is it possible for me to die anymore? Or am I beyond that point, now? Stars I wish I knew…. Black spotting her vision faded in an instant, as she realized she’d just been thinking. Thinking. THINKING?!
With a roar that shook the earth, she flipped them both, until he was on his back and she was coiled around him, a great snake that crushed at his bones, until he screamed. How dare he, after all this time! Millenia had passed, she had not thought in entire MILLENNIA, and only now, when she had sworn loyalty to The Mistress and her cause, did he bother to appear. She hadn’t even known she could think again, but knew that HE was the cause of it. He was the balm, the start of the cure…and he stood against her. How dare he exist?!
“Djinn!!” The Little Mistress’s voice rang out, cutting through the ringing in her ears. The red began to fade from her vision, and she lifted her head. “Djinn…you….you’re here?”
“I followed the tether, Little Mistress.”
“But…Mother didn’t say she wanted you involved?”
“Mistress and Little Mistress control what I grant with my powers, but I control whither and where it is I choose to be. My tether pulled me here. To kill this.”
“What’s thi….oh Eon! Night Shift!”
The entity looked down from the point she’d been staring, finding her victim mostly healed. There was a spot where his lip had been split, but other than that, he was fine…winded, and probably weakened from the healing, but whole. She grabbed him by his cravat, hauled him up as Little Mistress approached. She heard the Queen’s girl stop, and out of the corner of her eyes saw the young dragon open her wings to keep the other Skylanders at bay.
“Is he an ally to you, Little Mistress?”
“Well, yes, of course!”
“You are his friend, Little Mistress?”
“I-I…yeah, or, I was. Not anymore n-now that Mother took me i—”
“You needn’t explain your shift in loyalties, Little Mistress,” the djinn interrupted. “Mortal politics are a mystery, but Kurosian customs are not so mysterious to me.”
“I’m…I’m sorry, Djinn…I know you are still loyal to my mother.”
“I am loyal to whomever holds my lamp in their possession, Little Mistress.”
A pause. Hm. Perhaps this wasn’t the best time to mention that. She growled, eyes beginning to glow again, as she thought once more. She tightened her grip on the vampire’s cravat, as he bared his teeth at her, clearly still unable to do much but display.
“Shall I end him, Little Mistress? Do you wish him to stay alive?”
“D-don’t kill him, Djinn. Let him go. That’s what I want.”
“As you say.” Without a second glance, she released her foe, heard him drop. She turned to the Lost Queen’s daughter, and bowed her head. “I will not kill him now, nor attempt to in the future, Little Mistress. You would be wise to avoid The Mistress’s ire. I fear I shall not meet you again.”
“I’m so sorry, Djinn…but…can’t you stay?”
“No, I cannot. The Mistress calls to me.”
As she left, they both knew it was a lie. But The Skylanders did not make to go after her, and along the way, she felt the sanity snap off.
Back and back again, down the rabbit hole, into the prison, into her haven, her heart and her hell…where she hid away for years, until a passing of the lamps occurred, once, and once again.
“So,” she said, on seeing who the new Master was. “It would seem Little Mistress is now The Master, nnh?”
“Yes,” Cynder replied, sighing out a breath of relief. “But please…don’t call me Master. Call me by my name.”
“A name you do not deserve, so says The Mistress in her sleep.”
“I…I know I don’t deserve it….but, call me that anyway.”
“If this is your will.”
“It is.”
“So then it will be.”
And so began her trip down another rabbit path, surrounded by these adorable mice, to overthrow The Mistress and The Emperor, once and for all.
I blame weirdlanders and shalonesk for getting me into Skylanders fanfiction/art.
Skylanders and all themes are © to not me
Art and Koof/Djinn © to me