Bound Evil

The capital city of Sam’eth. Day of Emily’s arrival.

The sharp click of heels on the marbled floor echoed through the vaulted cathedral halls, breaking the serene silence of prey time in the church of the five pillars.

Lady Bereen carried her son’s broken, bleeding body past the countless Oathsworn kneeling in prayer.

Even with the grizzly sight in her arms, Lady Bereen showed no emotion on her face as she approached the inner sanctum of the church.

Ahead stood a massive set of sealed doors, where all the Oathsworn desired more than anything to enter.

Without hesitation, Lady Bereen continued forward, activating all her skills and pushing them beyond their limits. The air around her crackled with unyielding strength, a testament to her noble lineage, as if the very space bowed to her will.

The doors open of their own accord as though unwilling to bar her entry into the room beyond.

Lady Bereen stepped across the threshold and into the domed Solarium; where hundreds of people sat in worship. Their colored robes encircled the central dais, each group sorted into their five gods colors. Surrounded by each faction was a gargantuan pillar decorated with hundreds of years of history etched into its hallowed surface.

Lady Bereen ignored all of this and walked toward the dais. Heads turned in shock at her presence but then immediately turned away, unable to stare directly at her while her skills were unleashed.

The sound of the passionate sermon fell silent as the chamber filled with only Lady Bereen's progress through the hall.

As she neared the center dais, five seats came into view as the afternoon sun streamed in through the glass ceilings. Illuminating the chairs and their inhabitants in the glow of daylight. The closer she got to their seat of power the more her skills were restrained until all they could do was offer her a measure of protection from the presence beyond. Nearby onlookers became more daring as they gazed upon Lady Bereen with suspicion and outraged faces.

The older man in the black and white seat stood and turned to face Lady Bereen. Inclining his head just a couple of degrees. Gasps of wonder and shock spread throughout the room at the sign of respect the White Cardinal showed her.

“Lady Bereen, it's a pleasure, but you can not be here right now. Why not allow one of my aids to take you to my office. I will be there shortly.”

Lady Bereen dropped down to one knee, ignoring his command entirely.

“Apologies my pillars, but I can not do that. I come here today to beseech you all to heal my child. Please! On behalf of House Bereen, first protectors of the pillars, I beg you to bring back my son”

Even with all her skills in place, Lady Bereen couldn’t help the waver of desperation that entered her voice.

All five seats exchanged glances, each likely plotting how to gain the upper hand in the situation, but Lady Bereen could do little more than hold her son’s broken form before them.

It was the Green Cardinal that spoke first as she rose to her full height.

“ I’m sorry for your loss Lady Bereen, but if revival is what you seek then you should have gone through the proper channels. Inter him in our catacombs and we will get to him when the time is right.”

Lady Bereen wanted to laugh, in the last two decades only three people had been seen worthy enough for the Cardinals to revive for the catacombs. The list was so long that most gave up hope before they ever saw their loved ones again. However, Lady Bereen would not give up.

“Thank you, Cardinal, but my son died on one of your missions near Lorthil. The information he holds may be key to our war efforts. Though it is months away I beseech you to perform the rite now.”

Whisper echoed out at the disrespect Lady Bereen was showing, but she toned it out. Even as the whisperings of a war ignited a sense of fear in the chamber.

None of the five chairs looked happy, but they didn’t deny the rumors, lest they confirm it.

The young Yellow Cardinal, barely out of his teens leaned his chin on his hand.

“His soul has left his body it will be hard to ask lord Spiritus for its return. Perhaps you could ask lord Origo to convince my lady to hand it over, Green Cardinal. Though as of late you’ve fallen out of favor haven’t you.” the teen said in a mocking tone.

Before the Green Cardinal could defend herself the Blue Cardinal sat up straighter, their fair features twisted with disgust.

“Enough, it takes all of us working together for such a monumental task and I won’t join my power with those who would indulge as you do, Yellow Cardinal.”

The Yellow Cardinal snorted and rolled his eyes.

“Oh, you think I don’t know about your forays in the pleasures of the flesh? At least my pursuits do not leave others irreversibly twisted.”

The Blue Cardinal responded but Lady Bereen wasn’t listening; they were so caught up in their own internal power struggle that they could barely see two meters in front of themselves. The Red Cardinal had only perked up at the mention of war but other than that he’d been ignoring all of them since she entered.

The only one to look worried for her was the White Cardinal, and so he spoke with a gentle voice.

“We are so sorry for your loss Lady Bereen, why don’t you return for today? I will talk with my fellow Cardinals and see what we can do to help you…”

Lady Bereen looked up at the five Cardinals, not a single one of them willing to help. The Black Cardinal had not been seen in the city for some time, but even if he were he probably would not be able to get them to listen.

Lady Bereen looked down at the face of her son, his cheeks marred with the dirt and grime battle. His armor was dented and worn from so many attacks; even his golden hair was matted with sweat and blood.

Laying his tired body down at the bottom of the step with shaking hand Lady Bereen lowered her head her voice just above a whisper.

“Please, Cardinals, gods, anyone—bring my son back to me. I’ll give you everything…”

The White Cardinal's eyes widened and his head shot up toward the sky. Almost at the same time, a collum of white and black light descended on the stone pillar. Those Oathsworn nearest to the light fell unconscious under the divine source falling from the skies. Everyone in the chamber not on their knees fell to them now, even the five Cardinals.

The room shook and divinity descended, its voice filling the space.

“We come to set right our state. Fighting amongst yourselves shall henceforth be prohibited. We have selected a Chosen, care for him and he shall lead you to victory in this war.”

A small portion of light separated from the collum and the Yellow Cardinal stared at it with wonder in his eyes.

Lady Bereen looked on as the light rushed toward her son and sunk into his chest turning his blond hair black as the night sky. Wounds healed in a flash and breath filled his lungs. No sooner had he sat up, alive, than the column of light blinked out of existence.

Not a sound came from the chamber save for the man's harsh breaths. Clutching his head he groaned and hit the ground causing a spiderweb of cracks to spread through the marble floors.

Lady Bereen couldn’t care less about his changes and let out a joyous cry as she pulled her son into a warm embrace. He froze up for a second as though he didn’t recognize her but then spoke.

“Mother? Wait…Where’s Emily?”

Present day.

The wind rushed past Emily's ears as she clung onto Mist with her legs, looking behind her. Cupcake had healed well after receiving Gerade’s tonic. So much so that the she-wolf could already put most of her weight on her leg. Emily still wanted to let her heal before she asked if she could ride her, but Cupcake was well on her way to recovery.

After packing up camp and heading out in the early morning the Wandering fangs had traveled for the last six hours at a moderate pace. So far nothing as strong as the Bruins had appeared but they did run into more elves and other game.

Alex had been right about collecting as much food as possible while on the journey, because with this many people, even with their reserves, Emily was certain they could probably only last a week on their rations alone. Thankful the wilds were choked full of nutrients if one knew where to look.

As luck would have this was Alex’s specialty. He, along with Atticus and Vivan would mark areas for collection or grab the spoils if it was quick enough to do between their duties.

While they were busy Emily had a passing thought.

“Hey, Alex when can we open that letter we got from the Nobel guy?”

Alex picked the last of the pink berries off the bush while avoiding the toxic green ones.

“...That might be a little hard. If we open it, and they have a Messenger they’ll know we tampered with it.”

Emily shrugged.

“Then we either forget to deliver it or say it was opened by someone else.”

Alex snorted but his head whipped around towards a brush further away from the pack.

“Probably won’t work, I might know a way but I’m still weighing up if it's worth insulting a faction like the ‘Frontiers’. Now ‘shh’, I think I spotted a target.”

Emily pursed her lips as Alex drew a bow and edged Mist further into the forest. Cupcake followed behind seeming to know she needed to be stealthy. Ever since Emily had saved her the she-wolf seemed more than content to stay by her side, and Emily wasn't going to complain about the extra set of teeth.

As they got further from the group Emily started to notice signs of an animal nearby. She never would have before, but Explorer let her know the snow was distributed in an odd way uphead. That, along with the half-eaten shrubs, suggested it was probably a medium-sized herbivore.

Emily was proven right a couple of seconds later when a reindeer came into view. This creature looked almost identical to the ones on Earth, but its antlers appeared to be made of a semi-transparent material, almost like ice or crystal.

Alex drew his bow and took aim. Emily had already seen the guy was proficient with the weapon, managing to shoot birds down from trees whenever they were stupid enough to hang around.

This shot should be a piece of cake, but Emily felt something was off. She couldn’t put her finger on it until Alex let loose his arrow. One moment the deer was there and the next it burst into a cloud of vapour and took shape a meter away.

As the creature turned and bolted away, Alex cursed, spurred Mist out of their hiding spot in the dense vegetation, and nocked another arrow to his bow.

He released it only for the reindeer to blink a meter to the right this time seemingly having eyes in the back of its head.

Alex frowned but pushed Mist on and while the reindeer was fast, the Rimewolf seemed built for this. Chasing after the beast and making last-minute turns each time it blinked away. Cupcake helped to corral the reindeer and on one particular blink, Alex let loose an arrow and hit it in the rump.

When it did, cracks splintered in the image and the beast shattered into illusionary shards. At first, Emily thought this was another of the creature's abilities but Alex suddenly grabbed Emily and turned Mist completely around.

“Fuck! Blue Assassin!”

Emily had just enough time to realize what he meant before she heard the sound of branches snapping and two crossbow bolts exploding from the tree cover and heading straight for her skull.

Blood points: 34