“Ah, you’ve returned,” Victoria greeted her long-time friend as she walked out of a tear in reality, a shimmering portal.
Isabella trotted forth, bringing with her a most potent aura of cold – more than ice it was, colder than the very idea of frost and snow. Wisps of misty white appeared on the floor and on the walls, trails of frozen moisture. A glass of water on the table beside Victoria froze solid almost immediately, turned to ice that was so cold and hard that it was closer to stone. Victoria welcomed the frigid breeze that blew across the chamber with a smile. She'd missed this.
Very few people could linger in the Ice Queen’s presence without freezing to death and fewer still could actively interact with her without shivering uncontrollably. Only the most potent of Dark Lords and Ladies had the strength to stand in the same room as Isabella, but most of them could just barely tolerate her presence at best. The same was true for Victoria in that regard; there were very few who were capable of lingering in her aura. Uriel, her cute little apprentice, was special because he could.
The temperature of their shared quarters dropped to a negative 100 degrees Celsius within a matter of moments. And it would only get even colder and colder. Victoria beamed, unfazed by the Ice Queen’s otherworldly chill, and stood up to greet her friend. They met at the center of the chamber and embraced, "Welcome back; how was your trip?"
Isabella groaned as the portal closed behind her, the bounds and wards that held it together fizzing out. Unlike most other Dark Mages, Isabella was unique in that her eyes did not blaze crimson. Instead, her eyes were blue – a blue so deep as to appear unnatural, a blue that could exist nowhere else, a blue that held the promise of ice and cold.
“I need a shower,” Isabella said.
She did seem disheveled, Victoria noted. Her wavy black hair, which reached all the way down to her chest, was marred by frozen blood. Her robes were similarly tarnished and as was her light brown skin, sporting specks of mortal vitae. And she stunk of death - not quite the odor of it, but those attuned to the energies of death knew the smell all too well, the smell of souls, the stench of the afterlife.
Victoria raised an eyebrow as Isabella sunk into a chair and leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “What happened? Were they harder to deal with than you expected?”
The Crow-Mother sat down across Isabella.
The Ice Queen breathed in deeply, in and out. Her breaths were like geysers of frost and snow. “Yes, they were harder to deal with than most. The humans in that world each possessed strange abilities – some were more potent than others. Purging them took longer than I expected.”
In front of anyone else, Isabella would not have admitted that so easily. Victoria blinked, “Which dimension was this?”
“85B-657A,” Isabella groaned. “I believe you’ve purged a similar world before.”
Victoria nodded. “Yes, most of us have encountered at least one world like that.”
Oh, she remembered how annoying it was deal with the humans of 33C-834D, a parallel world where everyone was born with some sort of ability that ranged from having enhanced physiology to altering reality. Purging them had been a chore, but she’d been successful. She always was. “At the very least, I assume your bounty was sizeable.”
The Ice Queen chuckled and held up her left hand; upon it was a small pearl-like orb that shined with a ghostly iridescence – a world soul, containing the combined spiritual essences of every living creature within a single planet, trillions upon trillions upon trillions. A world soul was one of the most prized ingredients a Dark Mage could possess; with it, they are able to craft potent artifacts or brew the most powerful of potions.
Most of the time, however, world souls were only ever used for one, very particular, thing.
Isabella raised the glimmering orb and swallowed it whole. The strength of her magic was immediately amplified, growing with immense potency as the souls of trillions upon trillions of once-living creatures were broken down and made one with the Ice Queen’s frigid essence.
She sighed and leaned back. “Ah… that feels so much better.”
“Hah,” Victoria chuckled and smiled wistfully. “It must’ve been two decades since my last purge. I haven’t found the time, unfortunately.”
“That’s what happens when you tie yourself down with schoolwork, Vicky,” Isabella snapped her fingers and, for a brief moment, a maelstrom of ice and snow swirled around her. When it was done, all the blood and dirt and grime that’d lingered on her person were gone.
“Oh, we are not having this conversation again, Bella,” Victoria snorted. She’d explained her reasoning a century ago or so that laying down roots and helping to guide the next generation of Dark Mages was strangely fulfilling and satisfying in its own way, especially when the Dark Council did not bother her and she was kept out of politics.
“Fine, whatever,” Isabella stood up and stretched her arms. “What’s been going on since I left? I must’ve missed a bunch of things.”
“I’ve take on an apprentice,” Victoria answered, smiling as she pointed her chin just a tiny bit upwards.
“Oh? That’s rare; didn’t you turn your last apprentice into a chair?”
Victoria pointed at a moaning and groaning humanoid stool that stood gathering dust at the corner of her quarters. She shook her head and sighed. Alexander had shown so much promise during his school years. He was ruthless and talented, always at the top of his class and had even taken control of his clan before he turned twenty, strangling the last Clan-Master in front of the other students. Victoria had been so proud of him, but then the little shit, who barely even understood the depths of power that was available to him, decided it was time to honor the age-old Dark Mage tradition of killing your mentor.
Unfortunately for him, Lady Victoria had been a Dark Mage for over eight hundred years by then. He was nothing to her – not even an insect.
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And now he was a chair – and not even a good chair at that.
“Yes,” Victoria shrugged. “But my new apprentice shows… much greater potential and promise. He’s a Category 10 Flesh-Crafter; there’s never been another Category 10 Flesh-Crafter since….”
“Joseph the Red,” Isabella finished for her, wide-eyed. “Damn… how the hell is your apprentice still alive? I would’ve figured even the Dark Council would start shaking when they hear there’s another Category 10 Flesh-Crafter walking around, not to mention the Vampires, Werewolves, and Faeries, all of whom still remember the scars left behind by the Blight of Agartha.”
“The younger Dark Lords and Ladies in attendance during the ceremony all agreed that we would keep his existence a secret,” Victoria shrugged. “I don’t trust any of them, of course; so, I have taken… some measures to ensure my cute little apprentice is not discovered until the proper time.”
“Eh,” Isabella sat back down and yawned. Her blue eyes shimmered with the promise of an everlasting winter. “You do you, Vicky. I don’t care, either way.”
“What else has been happening while I was away?”
“Well,” Victoria began. “The mortal world’s in flames; you missed one world war and the second one’s just about to end. It’s a lot more complicated than that, but I’ve never cared too much about the mortal world. It’s too banal for my tastes. Vaago’s was recently made a lord; he’s been named the Voivode of the Death-Dealers and is a member of the Cult of Chaos. I think he was in a few of my classes when he was still a student.”
“Vaago? Oh, right, that kid with the Contract Magic; huh, I didn’t think he had it in him to become a Dark Lord,” Isabella said. “But, that’s nice – more Dark Mages to fight the Light Mages in this never ending meat grinder of a war.”
Victoria did not miss the slight sneer on Isabella’s face at the mere mention of the Light Mages. The Ice Queen, of all people, had more reason to hate the Followers of the Light more than anyone else. They spoke of it, once, centuries ago, and never again.
“Any other news I should catch up on?”
“Eh, not much has happened,” Victoria shrugged. “Hellheim, our dear sister-academy, was attacked last week by a coven of vampires. But I haven’t heard much from them.”
“Bleh, no one cares about Hellheim; they’re a bunch of weaklings who can’t even be bothered to hide their academy in another dimension. That’s just stupid. Anything else?”
“We have ten new and very promising neophytes and one of them is a Light Mage mole. I’m just waiting to see what happens.” Victoria added, almost as an afterthought.
“There’s a fucking mole?!” Isabella’s face hardened and her frigid eyes narrowed. Victoria raised an eyebrow, but otherwise nodded – confirming. “There’s a fucking mole and you haven’t turned them into a chair yet?”
“Alright, Bella, turning people into chairs has grown out of fashion; I have a room full of screaming chairs that I don’t know what to do with,” Victoria harrumphed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Second of all… I’m curious. They sent a child to us – likely not even a fully-fledged Light Mage. I want to know why they thought they could get away with that and what exactly they’re after.”
“Or you could just, you know, kill them; it shouldn’t be that hard, Vicky,” Isabella huffed, before sighing and shrugging. “But… whatever; I promised myself I wouldn’t get involved in anything political. So, that’s your problem and not mine. But, also, I recommend turning the mole into a chair.”
“Your suggestion is noted.”
“Whatever.”
“Will you be staying long or are you off to another purge?” Victoria leaned back against her own chair and yawned. It was getting late. And Victoria was admittedly growing tired after a long day of teaching the higher students – Pox-Making and such. She had an appointment with Lucifer tomorrow and the Lightbringer was rather insistent that he meet her cute little apprentice. If she had to guess, the devil was excited about another Category 10 Flesh-Crafter and was eager to make a deal. She could only hope Uriel was smart enough not to agree immediately to whatever Lucifer wanted.
“I don’t think I’ll be up for another purge for at least another decade,” Isabella answered. “That last world was too tiring; I need a break.”
“Ah, well the library is need of a new librarian; the post is open,” Victoria smiled. “No one’s going to refuse the Ice Queen a posting if she wants one, not even the Dark Council.”
“I’ll think about it,” Isabella shrugged. “I’ve never been much of a librarian. But I do enjoy arranging books. How’s the library these days, anyway? I recall you and I used to steal books when we were students.”
“Hah, I remember those days,” Victoria chuckled. “Weren’t we flayed in barbed wires for doing that?”
“Yeah, and we kept on doing it anyway, because we were idiots,” Isabella shook her head, smiling. She then stood back up. “Well, I guess that’ll be all for tonight. I’m going to take a good long shower and sleep for the next few days. What about you?”
“I’ll be taking my apprentice to Judecca tomorrow,” Victoria answered. “The Lightbringer’s been wanting to see him; I don’t know what for, but I can hazard a guess. Whatever the case, I’ll collect a few souls while I’m there – so many sinners just rotting away, unused.”
“Huh, a few of our old classmates would probably be there,” Isabella said. "Eh, I'm off to bed."
At that, Victoria could only nod.
Isabella turned to walk away, before suddenly pausing and turning back to face Victoria with a grin on her face. “So… did you find a good dick while I was away?”
Victoria stood up and began walking away from Isabella. Oh, she was definitely not in the mood for this particular topic. “I’m going to sleep now – see you when you wake up.”
“Oh, come on; when was the last time you got laid, Vicky?”
“We are not having this conversation, Bella. Good night.”
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"Barbarians...." She whispered softly to herself as she passed by the corpse of a young student, whose entrails lay scattered about on the floor. It was a boy, maybe a bit older than herself; all his limbs had been sliced off and it seemed as though he was left here to suffer and die. The look on his face was one of horror and pain, mouth agape in a quiet scream. There was a symbol on the boy's forehead, but she didn't know what it was or what it meant.
Dark Mages were all barbarians - cruel, cruel barbarians who derived pleasure from the suffering of others. Her master was right; they needed to be eradicated. The world was better off without them. And that was why she needed to succeed.
She moved onwards, creeping in the shadows with a simple, but highly effective spell that made her imperceptible to those who weren't actively looking for her. It worked even better now as it was very early in the morning and most students were asleep.
Students in black robes passed her, unaware of her presence. Where is it?
Venturing too deep into the Shadow Academy was foolish. For now, all she needed to do was to find the approximate location of the Hall of Artifacts. Once she found it, she'd return to the dormitory and go about her day as normal. Unfortunately, that also meant her time was severely limited. Two more hours and I'll have to go back....
If only the Dark Mages had been so kind as to give her a map of the Shadow Academy....
Alas, she would have to make do.
She moved onwards and stopped as a droplet of blood fell from the ceiling. If she had been an inch further, it would've fallen on her head. Grimacing, she glanced up and her eyes widened. Her breath hitched. "Monsters....."
There was another student there, hanging from the ceiling. It was girl this time, a bit older than her, but still young. She was nailed to the dark stone with sharp, black shards that kept her in place. The girl was alive, but dying. Blood dripped from her nose and mouth, and her chest was cut open, revealing the bloody flesh within. A low, continuous murmur escaped her crimson lips. Her life was fading rapidly. There was nothing to be done about her. Nothing except....
She pointed a single finger towards the suffering girl and aimed at her heart. "Argentum Sagitta...."
A silvery arrow materialized and launched from her finger and pierced the girl's heart, killing her immediately - quick, clean, and precise. The girl, despite being a student of the Dark Mages, did not deserve to suffer as she did. No one deserved to suffer such a fate.
She breathed in and moved onwards, unaware of the light-green mosquito that flew around her, lingering in the dark.