The second floor of this castle was very different than the first. Where the first floor had been long hallways, spacious and empty the second floor was more compact and strangely alive. Or rather undead. There were a bunch of zombies milling around and they looked like they were performing the role of servants.
Some of them were continuing to work while others scattered away the moment they saw them arrive. The death of Lust didn’t seem to have changed the status quo up here meaning they didn’t know about it or they didn’t care.
They could all feel the magic on the air, making everyone tense. “Oh, this is a scary group.” They looked and watched as Greed walked toward them clapping their hands slowly. They kept their head bowed for a moment, their face still hidden behind the hood. Ryze approached quickly his teeth gnashed together but they held their hands up.
“Hold on now. I’m just delivering a message. Nothing more than that,” they said quickly. Flipping their hand, they manifested an envelope and tossed it out to Vayne.
He raised his eyebrow at this and took it slowly. Greed took a step back putting some mild distance between them. “What’s this?” He turned it over a few times and saw that it wasn’t sealed.
“Just a message from Pride. An invitation even. Read it,” they said smirking.
Pulling it open he saw the note on it and the script wasn’t something he was familiar with but it was readable. “You’ve done well to come this far. I invite you to come watch the ritual and be a part of this new world that I am ushering into being. If you refuse, enjoy your stay in the Necropolis.”
“Oh that’s a high invitation,” Greed said waving their hand. “I guess she wants me to escort you up then.”
“Quit the games Greed,” Ryze said closing the distance between them. He shoved them back grabbing the collar of their cloak.
Greed laughed looking at him and rested a hand against his wrist, “What’s wrong Ryze? Not ready to see mommy yet? Or maybe you’ve still got something left to prove hm?”
“Ryze. Calm down. He’s just baiting you,” Ryza said glaring at Greed and pulling her brother back.
“Pride is pretty confident if she thinks she can invite us into her ritual and think we won’t stop her.”
“Pride has been planning this for quite some time. There’s not much you all can do to stop it,” he said dusting off his clothes as Ryze let him go. “So come along now. Let’s go and watch the coming of a new age.”
“What do we do?” Benidict asked. “This stinks of a trap.”
“That it does. But we’re going to go there either way,” Morrigan said folding her arms. “So we stay alert and work our way there together. And get ready to fight like hell.”
“A pretty simple plan,” Orion said. “I like it.”
“Shouldn’t we go back for the others?” Virgo asked softly. “I mean leaving them behind here. In this place. It seems like we’re asking to get them killed.”
“Can we afford to split up further?” Benidict asked.
“If we were to, we’d have to do it in a small group,” Alistair frowned. “I’m worried about my sister and the other Zodiac as well.”
“How about this. Me, Alistair, and Virgo stay behind and try to meet up with Alison and the others.” Vincent said. “Once we find everyone we’ll come running.”
“Assuming they’re all still alive,” Vayne said simply and then raised his eyebrow at their faces. “That’s right. You all prefer to think positively.”
Morrigan turned to look at Alistair and he gave her a small smile. She shook her head and wrapped her arms around him tightly. They shared a chaste kiss not needing to express words in this instance. Just feelings. Benidict pressed his forehead against his and stroked his cheek.
Vincent looked at Virgo and he saw her trying to put on a brave face. He saw the way her eyes fidgeted and he could almost feel the worry coming off her, “Hey. I’m sure that your friend is okay. She looked like a good fighter. And I know Alison and Penny are also reliable. They’ll be okay. Same for the twins.”
Virgo nodded quickly folding her arms. “You’re probably right. Gemini, Cancer, and Stingie. They’re really great. I know they are. But I can’t imagine losing them. Not again.”
“Again?” Vincent asked.
She shook her head, “Not properly. It’s. Hard to explain.”
“Magic stuff,” Vincent shook his head. “I get it.”
“Not magic,” she said quickly but laughed. “You know. A friend we met in the Sanctum talked the same when we tried to explain it to him.”
“Ha. Finally. Someone else who can be on the same page as me.”
Alistair joined them and once they were good, they retraced their steps. The others however looked to Greed who was starting to walk down the hallway. They nodded together and followed them.
In many ways, this floor reminded Morrigan of a dark shadow of the Cerisan castle. There were small patterns in the carpet like flowers. Servants lined this hallway placing frames on the walls with pictures housed within them. Morrigan never got to see what was in those pictures but the setup was familiar.
“Mori. Are you seeing it too?” Benidict asked and she nodded. “Okay. It’s not a coincidence.”
“You’re redecorating,” Ryze commented. “Finally decided to make this place look like more than a brick and mortar prison?”
“Oh you didn’t like the old decorum Ryze? I heard it was great for teaching brats their fundamentals. Few distractions. Too bad little Ryza didn’t get to experience it.”
Ryza glanced around shaking her head, “It is interesting to see but I would have gotten bored quickly. This place stifles creativity. Wouldn’t you say brother?”
He smirked, “Yeah. I did my best work once I left this place.”
Greed looked over their shoulder at them and sighed, “You two are going to be trying pair.”
They walked in relative silence taking lefts and rights going through the castle. It became obvious that without this guide they would have been very lost. A final staircase appeared and they climbed them but this was different.
There was a light at the top of the stairs and the air that flowed over them was more than cold. It was like hands rushing over their skin, reaching deep through them and into their souls. An invasive touch that only happened for a moment but lingered for far too long.
When they finally crested the top of the stairs they were assaulted by the air. It tore at their clothes and scratched at their skin. Even if it felt like they were outside they were still inside. They were in a massive ballroom with the ceiling taken away entirely.
The dark sky above their heads was still starless but it was more aggressive. Like the essence of the sky was roiling together with something aggressive. But their eyes all homed in on the woman in the middle.
She had discarded her robes standing with a sleeveless shirt and pants tucked into boots. Her arms were covered in tattoos that glowed with magic. The same glow of magic was within her eyes. Standing beside her was another tall robed figure with a deep hood and an arm being held by an exposed bone.
“Oh Greed you’ve brought them all here,” Gluttony said finished her meal. “Too bad I just finished eating. Unless you’d like me to raise something for me.”
“Ignore her. Gluttony has manners but she’s always thinking about food,” he shrugged going toward them. “Then again I can’t call everything you consume to be food.”
“Anything can be a meal if you broaden your mind.”
“She is correct,” Pride said shuddering.
Her shovel and another were buried into the cracked marble floor. Along the shafts of the shovel were glowing chains that connected to one of three shapes lying on the ground. The armored and black caped great leader of Noria, the cloaked and still shape of the Free Lady and the pristine corpse of the queen of Cerise.
It took everything in Morrigan to not snarl and attack on sight but she kept one hand on her sword, “Is that her?”
“That’s her,” Vayne said evenly.
Pride lowered her head and looked at the assembled and quickly snapped her fingers. The skeletons leaped from the ground immediately. Their hands grabbed at the assembled dragging their legs forward and piling on their backs and pinning them against the ground. All except for the sibling necromancers who were all that Pride had eyes for.
Pride let out a sound of pleasure and ran forward. She reached out toward Ryza and Ryze and both recoiled drawing their shovels. She stopped short of them, maybe out of caution or because she hadn’t actually wanted to touch them. But the way she looked at them made both squirm and not meet her gaze.
“Ryza, it has been so long since I’ve laid my eyes upon you. You’ve grown into such a fine necromancer. And Ryze, you’ve come into your own finally. The power, the confidence, every bit the potential I saw within you being realized. I’m so proud of you both.”
Ryze swung his arm out and the ground in front of her cracked in a half circle. “We don’t need your praise Pride.”
“Now Ryze. Is that any way to talk to your mother?” she asked. “I hope after killing your former master you haven’t forgotten respect.”
“Respect requires reverence towards an individual,” he said drawing his shovel. “And all I have for you is contempt and your insanity.”
Her smile didn’t fade as she wagged her finger at him, “I may have to discipline you after all son. But that’s fine. You are home and that lightens my heart.”
She moved faster than either could have anticipated and pulled them both into an embrace. They froze in the hug and she just squeezed them. Not with any strength, just the worn affection of a mother who hadn’t seen her children. Ryza was the first to move.
She pressed her hand against her mother and blasted her backward. At least that had been her intention. Pride hopped away from her before she could have connected. Ryza glared at her silver eye glowing brightly. “No. You don’t get to hug me after everything you’ve done.”
“Oh Ryza. I should have fought harder for you. After your father spirited you away, I thought you lost forever. But I should have known better. Vermire wouldn’t have harmed his precious daughter. You remind me so much of myself when I was young.”
“I wonder if that’s a compliment or a reflection on my own choices,” Ryza said shaking her head. “I’ll come to terms with that after this is over.”
“Both of you. Come closer. You have to see this up close,” she said ushering them forward and walking back toward the shovels.
They looked at each other and then looked at their companions struggling against the skeletons but their mouths were covered. There was no way that they were getting any words out in this condition. Ryze lingered on Vayne who stared at him with calm eyes. He wondered what the necromancer was thinking but he was sure that he wasn’t stuck. He was waiting for his time.
Stepping forward Ryze narrowed his eyes but followed his mother, Ryza following after a delay. They followed and stopped just outside of the range of the Gods and their vessels. Pride kept going wrapping her hand around her shovel and the magic surged to life making the Free Lady and Great Leader writhe.
“Only the Sanctum is left,” she said. “And with these three I’ll have more than enough power to crush them. Even now my plan is starting to come to fruition. A perfect world of the undead. And I will usher it in with the power of a Calamity the likes of which this world has never seen.”
“A calamity,” Ryza repeated. “How? That’s a natural phenomenon. Not even the God’s control it.”
“Oh little Ryza you’re thinking small. Magic is a force and we are the channel. We can direct it as we see fit. But the more power we hold the more we can truly use it. We can control and influence the weather. Why not the Calamity?
“I’ll bring down the Sanctum in one fell stroke. It will overrun this country and then spread. These children, Zodiac, show me that even I had been thinking too small. Far too small. There’s so much more world for us to take. This is only the beginning.”
The sibling necromancers stared at her and flinched as lightning flashed above their heads. Ryza looked at her brother and then at her mother, “I used to think about you mother. Wonder the type of woman you were. If father was right to take me from you. From my brother. The few times that I met my brother I was sure that he was wrong. That we should have stayed together as a family.
“But Ryze is right,” she took a step back pointing at her. “You’re insane. And we’re going to stop you.”
Pride looked at her daughter before finally sighing. Shaking her head slowly she let go of the shovel and walked toward Ryza. She came closer and smiled at her daughter, “You really do remind me of myself when I was young. Clever and stubborn. You and your brother both are talented but short sighted.”
She raised her hand and the ground erupted with skeletons. They lunged for the pair but they rebuffed them swatting them away with their shovels. Ryze lunged at his mother stabbing with the shovel. She caught the blade but it dug into her palm. Stepping to the side Ryze stumbled past her but she turned to focus on Ryza.
Ryza raised her hand, swiping it across her shovel and the runes came to life. Translucent spirits leaped from her hands and lunged at her their hands grasping where they could. Pride swatted them into faint mist sucking the essence of them around her wrist. She then thrust it forward a smoky amalgamation of departed wraiths screamed and charged at Ryza.
Eyes wide she jumped back breaking it apart with a swing of her shovel. It split into several separate entities and continued its onslaught. Spirits flew out of the ground and surrounded her protectively. Ryze got to his feet and created a ball of fire and unleashing it onto Pride as he darted toward her shovel.
Pride took the brunt of it dispelling the magic but shot her arm out. She grabbed Ryze in a ghostly grip and turned to throw him into his sister. He scattered her phalanx of spirits and knocked them both down. Taking a further step back Pride thrust her hand forward and blew both necromancers away.
“It’s good to see you working together, if pitiful in the end,” she said and returned to her shovel to continue the ritual.
Ryze jumped back to his feet and sliced his shovel across the ground. A trio of skeletons emerged from the ground and sprinted toward the tied-up Gods. Ryza pressed her shovel to the ground and white spirits latched onto the skeletons making them faster.
Greed leaped in the way of them and their hands glowed. A wave of purple magic wafted over the skeletons scattering the spirits and locking the skeletons in place. They touched their foreheads leaving a runic mark on them and watched them shudder then turn around to face those that created them. “You thought that was going to work? Obviously, you forget what I can do.”
“No. It was a distraction,” Ryza said and clanged her shovel back against her brother’s. A wave of magic radiated backward and the skeletons that dragged down their companions shattered. The five of them were shocked but stood up quickly drawing their weapons.
“Putting up with you for all those years, I learned exactly what you can do,” Ryze said. “And I learn quickly.”
Pride stared at them raising an amused eyebrow, “Greed, entertain my children and their friends. You as well Gluttony,” she said tapping her shoulder. “I look forward to seeing your struggles.”
Gluttony stretched her arms above her head, “Oh boy playtime. I was wondering if I’d get the chance to try them.”
“You may eat them all but do not kill my children. I’d rather bring them over to undeath myself,” Pride commander and then returned to her ritual.
“No fair. I wanted to get a taste of them.”
Greed motioned to the others, “It’s fine. The pickings are not slim.”
Morrigan cut her sword across her palm sharpening its edge with her blood and whipping it forward. “Your mother thinks highly of these two. Is there something we should know about them?”
“Gluttony can eat anything that gets into her mouth. So be careful. As for Greed. Harmless unless you’re a necromancer,” Ryze said through gritted teeth.
“Then I suggest we renegotiate our dance partners,” Benidict said motioning toward Greed with his sword. “We will take them. You three take Gluttony and the moment someone has an opening on Pride we take it.”
“That works for me,” Morrigan agreed.
“And me,” Ryza added.
“We’re all in agreement then,” Orion drew and flipped their guns around. “Let’s go kill them for good.”
The Harlequin Library 