"It's said that the sea elves have a special cadre of earthen mages for the upkeep of their underwater cities and villages, how we haven't been able to crack yet, but reports from the Imperium shared intelligence effort against them tells us they have been hard at work the past 100 years on building defenses for their outlying settlements..."
Hearings on the enemies of the state.
Calcar'UR flexed her powers as the mortal coil shook around her very being, She saw the progeny of Vermilion at the throes of death by the vilest of magics the All-Father let be made manifest and felt pure wrath boiling under her Demonic Skin, If she had the pleasure to catch whoever unleashed the Smile upon these children she would flay their souls for a millennia!
The oath that bound her to the Fairtides tinged with crimson inside her soul, her eyes widening as she cast a glance towards Mihaly, The poor kid nearly wet himself when he fulfilled his part of the deal not too long ago, she saw the plague beneath his skin, wreaking havoc to his body and soul as he coughed up blood "No" her words carried power as she took two steps and grabbed him with both arms.
"The sickness" he spoke in a pained whisper "Is contained here, but it won't last long...I am sorry we had to summon you like this Lady UR" she hushed him as her pact cleaned the foul magick out of his being "Worry not, child of the tides, and rest now" she gently placed Mihaly on a chair as his eyes closed. He fell into a deep slumber, Calcar felt her body tremble from the Smile, the hard part had begun.
Someone cleared her throat "Lady UR, we have placed the ones with outward displays of the Smile in this section of the building if you could follow me" Ah it was the Duchess of the cold realms, her blood was also within Calcar now, a rare thing but expected by the ancient Fairtides "I can feel it all over the building child of men, smell it in you as well and yet you stand tall"
Lucrezia gave her a grim "Working through pain is a learned skill, Are you alright with this many people? the last time I was told it nearly unmade you for a century before intervention from other Demons"
Calcar walked towards the sick "Yes...that time was up in the tens of thousands, This will be no less painful but I shall not be unmade" A smile befitting a High Queen of the Hells blossomed upon her fair face. She stopped near some students and felt the plague surge upwards, flying towards her with killing intent.
"Impressive, even when deployed to target mortals the spell's roots seek out demonkind like a moth to a distant moon," Lucrezia said as she summoned a rod of magic "This will ease the pain and put you a lot to sleep" she spoke to the shocked children as Calcar nodded "You learn fast child, come then for I need to be close to the one who binds me to the mortal coil"
She healed Lucrezia every time the pair did the rounds, as the situation inside the building went from panic and doom to quiet impatience as they did the rounds, the thing with the Smile, and Calcar was sure the woman next to her knew, was that she had to suck it out of the people infected with multiple times, depending on how long the plague had been inside their bodies and soul.
And the soul told her many a thing.
"The taint of those beyond the cosmos is strong within you Lady Wulfgren," Calcar said after they had cleared a third of the people inside, Lucrezia's maid had emptied more healing rods before going down to the long sleep "It chums and broils around your very being, and yet many a God blessed you, what a unique mortal you are"
"We all have things we wish we could cast away, daughter of the deep" Lucrezia said and Calcar bared her teeth in glee "Ack, knowledge that few have, especially up here in the mortal coil"
"Ah, I feel the presence of your leaders, the dreadful Rage burning bright and red, seems the Queen herself came for a visit, it's been a long time since last I saw the woman" The demoness waved her arm as more and more people recovered from the plague " A few more rounds and this should be over, of course the maladies of the mind are beyond my skills but I am sure your people can handle it"
Hours went by as the Palace's delegation came through to check on the Students, armed with enough Miracles to protect themselves from the plague at first but once the danger was confirmed to be over, the Queen gave a short few words to the few who remained awake, the quarantine would stay for a while until both Calcar and the Gods confirmed the plague had been entirely destroyed.
Calcar smiled, she was delighted to be afforded a few more moments with the mortals, they fascinated her with their many bizarre ways of living, imperfect creatures made as a foil to the perfection of yore...
"How is it, being made out of pure ambition?" she looked around, seeing Lucrezia slumped against a chair "Must be nice, not to be bothered by uncertainty" Calcar approached her as more of the hardier mortals remained awake and neared them.
Soft snoring echoed throughout the hall as most of the people slept their pain away "Ah, it is nothing like you I imagine, we were made to be perfect, to be exalted and worshiped, It's a shame it gets boring after a while" one of All-Father's greatest mistakes, but the man had a way of turning even the direst of situations into something that could benefit him.
"The Queen was none too pleased you survived, one could even imagine she was the one who commanded such an act" Lucrezia waved her musings off with a cough that turned into a bitter laugh.
"Nay, nay this was the product of something far less nefarious, Love" She pointed towards where the body would've been, had it not been consumed by the plague after Lucrezia killed the perpetrator. "She was in love with Prince Arthur, I am afraid this is just the start of this...stage..."
such a strange way of saying the Demoness thought to herself as she snapped her fingers and summoned a throne made out of the arcane fire "My, it almost sounds like a game when you said it like that, Your mortals truly are fascinating, and yet...I have a proposition for you Lady of the North, if you would hear it of course"
Another cough "Aye, happy to help"
"Marvelous! Now the usage of this plague is highly frowned upon and each and everyone who does so is tainted down to their core, with the girl's death I can no longer properly punish her in my courts and that's a huge issue as I am sure you are aware, usually I would let matters lie, as it is incredibly, nigh impossible to get the Undying to part away with his hoard"
Calcar's eyes bore into Lucrezia as she made the request.
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"Venture to the Long Queue, seek the one foolish enough to use the Smile and bring her soul back, Should you succeed in this endeavor you will have my and my realm's full support for all matters demon-related"
"Should you fail, that would be just that, a failure, Speak with Mihaly when he comes back from the realm of dreams so you can contact me with the conclusion of this little event we had, ah It appears my time is up, it was a pleasure Lady Lucrezia, and take care"
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A few hours had passed, and the weight of anxiety had been lifted from the Academy grounds as Lucrezia sat down with Mihaly and his parents to hash out payment for what was a Clan secret, an open secret, but secret nonetheless.
"...And so It happened, my sanity waned and ebbed but the visions were true" The old man who shook Lucrezia's hand was his grandfather, age was not kind to him she could see but the man looked pleased, as if some great prophecy his delusions showed him had happened.
Mihaly's mother heard Lucrezia's and her son's retelling of the events and nodded "To think this would happen before a war, worry not Lady Lucrezia, it was the right thing to do" Her husband nodded and said "Be proud son, for today you made your forefathers happy, we are the shield against such evils and rarely we get to fully shine, alas..."
"Coin, we need coin" The woman spoke first as the entire family cringed at the mention of the item of want "You probably know that we have fallen into hard times of late, and we had to use much of our reserves to fix certain...issues, so If you could help with coin, then we will consider this debt paid in full"
"How much do you need?" Lucrezia asked.
"Five hundred thousand gold coins" The woman smiled a bitter smile and Lucrezia nodded "Done" She felt a whisper of the wind behind her back, Saa'ryu dashing towards the Silverbrand's HQ to procure the coin no doubt.
"I can't believe it, this early and I will have to brave the place where souls go to get judged," Lucrezia thought to herself with a wry smile "Now, how to acquire passage to the realm of the dead?"
Lucrezia closed her eyes as she felt the wind blow past her, slowly levitating above ground as she started flying towards the likely place her friend could get an audience with the big man downstairs, Castra-Cam usually wasn't around the grounds when the sun was out, even as a High Undead she still felt the power of daylight like a nasty migraine if Lucrezia's memory was right.
"I could also petition to the Gods...maybe not, they aren't happy whenever there's dealing with their older siblings after all" Lucrezia floated across the Academy's many rooftops, looking for the place where the Undead congregated, a shaded section of the Academy with trees especially made by an ancient lich of the country, the air cold and crisp as she stepped into the solid ground again.
A male human, vampire by the looks of his garbs stood watch in the checkpoint that denominated the start of the undead grounds, a thankless task as she was aware, since people could come and go as they wish, as seen by the undead as punishment for many minor infractions of their particular codes and rules...the vampire was napping as Lucrezia woke him up with her steps.
"...Oh Blimey a human, yes how can I help?" he spoke with tiredness stepping through his voice.
"Is Castra-Cam in the grounds today?" Lucrezia asked and the vampire looked scared for a split second "Aye, she is training with the others" Lucrezia nodded and went through the checkpoint, the man went back to sleep as she made her way through what would be a very spooky forested area had she not gone through the many things she went, she could feel shades and specters in the shadows, scanning her and informing their masters of her presence here.
"I swear, it's like some of you enjoy the scare factor" she spoke out loud for no reason and was sure some of the shades laughed at her in hushed whispers, it didn't take a while to hear sounds of combat as she walked along the path.
"Castra, you have a visitor" a colossal ogre spoke in a deep rumbling voice as he pointed towards Lucrezia, his skin as pale as snow "Lady Lucrezia" a stiff bow was performed as Lucrezia bowed as well.
Castra turned towards Lucrezia, who closed the gap and offered her friend a hug, cold, with not a hint of sweat on her body as the woman smiled "Good to see you friend" She parted the hug and addressed the ogre "Ser Udra, this is the friend I spoke about, a most unique mortal as you can surely see now that she's right in front of you"
"Indeed" Udra spoke as his voice echoed "Powerful, tainted by the powers from beyond, but powerful nonetheless" Lucrezia saw Castra's face twist into a smile when Udar mentioned the beyond. She couldn't help but smile as well.
"Aye, a sinner" Lucrezia replied with a nod "But I was forgiven by the big man upstairs"
"I am willing to guess this meeting is about the Incident at the Cafeteria?" Castra asked as she sat down on the ground "Summoning Demonic Royalty was not a skill I thought you had you know?"
Udra shook his head "Not her, the boy from the Healer Clan" to which Castra nodded with approval on her face "Ah makes sense, it is heavily regulated but still, it has to be related right?"
Lucrezia nodded "Indeed it is, as the pathogen unleashed was the Smile" She saw both undead cringes" When the High Queen was done healing the others she tasked me with a complicated task, to repay the favor"
"Plus a sizeable amount of gold to the Fairtides, but that's not really an issue" Lucrezia finished as she also took a sit in the dusty arena,
Udra shook his head "Bad dealings with the Demons, they are too unruly, do not respect proper authority and customs" he had a negative force behind his words, as if the very concept of not following rules was a personal affront to him.
"Well I can put two and two together, the Queen asked for the soul of whoever was dumb enough to unleash the demon killer plague in the mortal coil" Castra sighed, Lucrezia could see the woman rubbing her forehead, one of the tells she had for when she was annoyed.
"If my blood still flowed, I am sure this would be quite the headache I'd be having at this moment, alas I make do with phantom pains" Castra dusted herself off "We are off to the Cathedral then" she pointed to Udra "Wanna come?"
The ogre smiled "It would be my pleasure, it has been too long last I stepped into the Long Queue"
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The realm of souls being ready to be judged usually did not take kindly to the Living prancing about it, but exceptions to the rule were a thing whenever the Higher powers of the realm, The Undeath God did not take kindly to this but even a Hard Rules person like him knew sometimes it was better to acquiesce than to be bogged down into the God equivalent of a shouting match.
He had souls to process, realms to send them, and enough paperwork to make the All-Father blush after all, so when one of his top agents in the Mortal Coil sent him an impressive missive about Heretical plagues being unleashed and stopped in a matter of hours he figured he could help Castra and her very unique friend, one who had sent quite a few to the Queue not too long ago, Kin including.
When another letter arrived, from a cousin he tried his best to not interact with, he couldn't help but laugh.
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Lucrezia stepped into the inner sanctum of the cathedral, Together with Udra and Castra as the Ogre chanted a spell to open the way to the Queue, Lucrezia helped him by channeling mana towards him together with Castra.
It took a while, but she was granted passage as a cool wind blew from the portal, its arcane shape much akin to a doorway than the usual circle she was used to, a bit of flair from Udra no doubt.
"Off we go into the wild pale yonder" Lucrezia spoke as both undead looked at her with puzzled faces before shrugging, Udra walked first and Castra second, with Lucrezia following at last.
Cold spread through her limbs, then searing hot flames, she felt like her entire being was being pulled apart and then remade like a playdough doll, Lucrezia screamed in pain as the entire soul that was housed within her frame quaked in pain and fear.
"Never too pleasant for the living folk" Udra spoke with sympathy in his voice "The realm isn't made for them so it must bend the rules for their trespass, and that is always a painful process"
Lucrezia felt the cold in her hands "I suppose a bit of fake Undeath does fit someone who meddled with necromancy" to which Castra and Udra laughed.
"It is no fake Lady Lucrezia, temporary is the right word" Castra laughed as she spoke with the tone of a teacher "Welcome to the Unbroken ranks, enjoy it while it lasts because your ghosts won't"
Lucrezia made a puzzled sound "I thought that was just propaganda to stop wizards and such from blasting down the doors looking for their loved ones, will I actually be haunted by the ones I sent to an early grave?" then she heard the wailing.
"Yes, yes you will" both Udra and Castra spoke as they started walking, in the horizon a bloat started to form as the trio arrived at the tail end of the Long Queue, the reality of the task fully settling as Lucrezia took a deep breath and made a small gesture "God be with me"