It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Chakken thought to himself as he ran carrying an unconscious Ribold. He was gonna make a break for it and escape but the cardinal was faster than they imagined. Now their best hope was Draihan killing the cardinal, however that seemed unlikely. Traditionally the Unholy 7 had to be even more dangerous than a cardinal to survive. But the Unholy 7 traditionally fought resourcefully and underhandedly, using summons and magic creatively to overwhelm and get the upper hand. Draihan wasn’t like the others. He fought barehanded and relatively straightforward in comparison to his peers. From what Chakken knew, the cardinal who sanctioned the job was one of the stronger ones, and a terrible matchup for Draihan.
As they continued deeper into the tomb and passed by the bloody remains of Viti Alfso spoke up, “Chakken right? Is there a way out?”
“There isn’t.”
“It’s an ancient tomb, there has to be. Maybe a secret passage or something.”
“None that I know of.”
Alfso fumbled with a small pamphlet given to him by Vol, filled with clues and a map of the tomb. It seemed that Chakken’s bandit friends hadn’t bothered to explore much of the tomb. Past the bedrolls and tents the Jovial Wolves had erected a simple wooden gate with bells to alert them in case something came from the tomb. It was a famous place for necromancers to make a pilgrimage. Alfso’s map indicated past the fence was a deep set of chambers filled with not looted corpses and treasures. Written on the map by Vol was a note, go to the central chamber and summon the beast I gave you.
As Alfso and Chakken pushed through the fence jingled loudly echoing throughout the cavern. Chakken panicked, “Shit! They could be looking for us! Don’t make so much noise!”
“Don’t write off our master Draihan. He might come looking for us.”
“And if it’s the red bloke with the fiery sword?”
“Well, we won’t have many problems after that. But it won’t come to that. I’m sure of it.”
“How do you know?”
“We’ve lived through so much bad things just have to turn around eventually. I refuse to think it’s all for nothing.” Alfso placed his good hand on the stone wall of the chamber and sliding out of existence was a massive wooden box that dropped to the floor of the chamber with a thunderous BANG!
Chakken’s panick got worse, “Holy bloody fuck boy! Did I just not say to be quiet.”
Alfso tried to shrug and with a pained expression he simply whimpered embarrassed, “Sorry!”
The horse with the reptile skull pranced out trailing blood and Viti’s mutilated skull was still perched in it’s ribcage. As it pranced around the room excitedly it left behind a trail of blood. Alfso watched the gruesome site for a few minutes until he heard behind them the bells chimed.
“Shit! We’re trapped in here!”
“Just let me think! Besides it may be Draihan. He’s not one for subtlety.”
“Well if you’re wrong we’re about to be trapped in here with an apex predator that really wants us dead!”
As he thought about the apex predator he noticed his chimera had changed it’s movement and was now crossing by them repeatedly dripping blood. That was when Alfso realized he wasn’t supposed to follow the creature, he was supposed to see the pattern it had made out of the trail of blood. The chimera created a pentacle and Alfso felt it’s magnetic draw. It’s magic wasn’t just any necromancy, but specifically that of the breeder, the same wavelength Alfso was. He responded by placing his hand within the pentagram and watched as the massive black wall filled with inscriptions opened. The limited light within the cave from the campfire failed to reveal what was inside. The wall wasn’t merely a meager hall but large enough to accommodate 16 horses standing upon one another. Alfso stood in awe as the stale air blasted outward reeking of death. Behind him footsteps coming down the stone stairs.
Chakken turned in horror to see at the other end of the antechamber was Cardinal Della Rovere. This time without his sword. “Oh shit! It’s the cardinal!”
“Run!” Alfso shouted and he sprinted into the pitchblack room
“Give me the boy!” bellowed Della Rovere menacingly as he broke into a sprint. Chakken carried Ribold and ran deeper into the pitchblack tomb. Chakken chose not to drop Ribold because Ribold was his last bargaining chip. If they couldn’t get away he could maybe bargain his life out of the deal. But for now he’d follow Alfso deeper in hopes of an exit. Chakken didn’t want to rely on an inquisitor’s mercy.
Della Rovere held onto an amulet on his person and cast a ray of light within the tomb. Chakken and Alfso were running past and into massive bones. Della Rovere froze in fear for a moment. This wasn’t just any dead creature. It was Magnus Bahamut, wielded by Kleber the Magnificent. A member of the Unholy 7 whose use of Magnus Bahamut had made him so dangerous that 7 of the 9 cardinals that fought Kleber died before Kleber finally succumbed to his wounds in the area near Fafnir’s tomb.
Della Rovere renewed his sprint, determined to reach and destroy them before they awoke a power they couldn’t control. He dodged and weaved between it’s 4 legs and massive rotten leathery wings. Alfso lead them to its mouth where on a pedestal was a black orb. Alfso began to reach for it when the cardinal appeared in line of sight.
“Stop!” Della Rovere screamed desperately. If they awakened Magnus Bahamut everyone would potentially die, including his unconscious son. Della Rovere continued, “Don’t touch that boy! We can work this out!
Alfso tensed up and turned to face a man far beyond his own league and shouted recklessly, “Leave us alone!”
“Just give me that boy necromancer and I’ll let you and your friend go free.”
Alfso was undeterred, “Get out of here! Now! Or I’ll make you regret it!”
Della Rovere raised his left hand while cradling his yoyo behind his back in his right, “Easy boy. A man of God will keep his word.”
“No you won’t! You’re just a bunch of self righteous liars! Just like the one that promised my dad would come home! Well, he didn’t!” Alfso started crying, “He died doing a man’s duty to his lord in a war that has no name!”
“I’m sorry that man of God was wrong, but he surely wanted to comfort you!”
Alfso’s tone changed to rage, “Like when he moved in with my mom?! Or when he smiled when word came that Da fell in battle! You look at this big animal like it’s a monster! Well you’re the monster! All of you who wrap yourselves in a cloak of righteousness!” Alfso screamed definitely, “Screw your righteousness! If you and your god are so just I’ll become the devil! If men like you are righteous then I’ll become evil itself to protect all the monsters you condemn!”
Chakken despaired, the last thing he wanted to do was die because an acquaintance insulted and blasphemied the most powerful Inquisitor in all of the Catholic Church.
Della Rovere’s face darkened, the truth stung and this boy was likely telling the truth. Despite his efforts Della Rovere’s own branch of the church was filled with fleas and parasites that covered up all manner of corruption. Yet only the Pope himself had the unlimited authority to cast them out. For that matter Della Rovere wanted to kill them. Yet here and now Della Rovere had found puppies and kittens. If he didn’t stop them now they’d surely become wolves and lions. Della Rovere really didn’t want to kill these children but with Magnus Bahamut within reach and his son’s life on the line he couldn’t hesitate. He threw his Yoyo with all of his might straight at Alfso.
Alfso saw the golden toy expand to the size of a horse carriage and heard a piercing whine as it rotated to rpms he couldn’t comprehend. Chakken launched a volley of chains that crashed into the side of the yoyo changing its direction to pass harmlessly through the empty space between the monster’s skull and collar. As metal debris rained from the impact; Alfso enraged, grasped the orb and dumped his magic into it. The smooth round stone orb appeared as if a light blue liquid was mixed into black water and changed color.
“Damn you!” Della Rovere shouted as the beast’s massive limbs began to move and its empty eye sockets illuminated with a deep red light. All around Della Rovere was strips of flesh whipping about and regenerating the most dangerous beast in the history of the Church. Della Rovere recalled his yoyo and launched it again straight at Alfso. As it raced towards him a broken blade exploded out of Della Rovere’s chest and the yoyo crashed to the ground at Alfso’s feet. Behind Della Rovere was Draihan who put the cardinal into a headlock.
“Impossible! How are you still alive despite being smitten by God?!” the cardinal cried out in pain.
“Your kind are no men of God,” Draihan growled as he looked to Alfso and Chakken and shouted “Run you fools! Magnus Bahamut is not something you can control so easily! It’ll kill everyone in miles and wreak havoc from here forward. You must escape!” Alfso stood in shock while the massive claws of the Magnus Bahamut grasped Chakken and an unconscious Ribold and ate them alive.
Cardinal Della Rovere fell to his knees in despair, Draihan was so stunned he hadn’t realized the cardinal was no longer in his grasp, and Alfso watched in terror as yet another monster supposedly under his control attacked his friends.
***
Ribold awoke in a field of white flowers. His nose itched from their pollen and he sneezed. As he sat up he could see rabbits hopping about the field and butterflies fluttering about. In the distance was home. A simple wooden home, a refuge from an evil rotten world. Ribold stood up, patted himself off and saw placed carefully in the grass was his favorite book The Sad Little Goat. Ribold was drawn to the story. It was unlike the other fairy tales his mother read to him. It’s ending was bittersweet and open ended. He’d read it and read it and read it until he fell asleep in the warm sun. Now the clouds were coming, a cold breeze followed the shade. Thunder would ring out a last warning, and then the rain would wash away the pollen.
As Ribold walked home he saw one of the rabbits hopping in front of him. He decided to chase it and ran with the book under his arm. As the rabbit zoomed away towards the house, the front door opened and a beautiful woman stepped out. Katharsis Merron was the light to Ribold’s world. Warmer than the sun, with skin so white it was nearly radiant that occasionally flushed with pink or red if she stayed in the sun too long. Her hair too was so white it outshone the clouds. With smiling violet eyes Katharsis regarded her son,
“Ribold! Dinner’s ready!”
“Mother there’s a rabbit!”
“We’re not eating rabbit tonight Ribold!”
“It’s almost to you!”
Katharsis Merron lunged forward with incredible speed and pulled the animal up by its ears. It squirmed but couldn’t escape the Twilight Witch’s grasp. Katharsis turned to her son and raised a brow, “This one?”
“Yeah...” Ribold said out of breath. “Thanks.”
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“What for?”
“Catching him!”
“What do you want to do with it?”
“I don’t know. Can I keep it?”
“Only if I can keep you.”
“I love you mother. I’ll always be yours.” Katharsis dropped the rabbit and it bounded off in a flash. Ribold was shocked, “Why’d you let him go?!”
“He’s yours to keep.”
“But you let him go!”
“I let you go, don't I?”
“What do you mean?”
“Most people put them in cages and stare at them. Should I lock you in the outhouse and stare at you?”
“No.”
“Good. You need to realize just because something is yours doesn’t mean you can just lock it away. It’ll come back on its own.” Katharsis picked up a basket of vegetables. “If you feed small simple animals, they’ll return.”
“How do you know?”
Katharsis bent down and grabbed his cheek, “I feed you and you come back!” Ribold batted away his mother’s hand and ran inside embarrassed.
***
Some time had passed, Ribold couldn’t be sure if it were a few hours, days, years, or minutes but he was sitting home reading when Katharsis returned wearing thick travelers clothes and she wore a wig of long black hair that mostly hid her true features..
“Mother, why can’t I go with you?”
“The world is dangerous my son.”
“But you go.”
“I’m your mother. It’s my job to protect you.”
“But I read in Heroic Tales a man must always protect women.”
“You’re just a little hero. So you can protect little girls. But I’m a big girl so I protect myself,” she said and stood confidently.
“It’s no fair! I want to go with you! Keep you safe from the bad men!”
“I wear a disguise so they don’t know I’m there. It’s fine.”
“What’s it like out there past the fields?”
“It’s a town run by bad men that want to hurt you and me. They hate people like us. They want to kill us.”
“Why?”
“They are afraid of what they don’t know.”
“I don’t know them but I want to go. I’m not scared.”
Katharsis kissed his forehead. “It’s because you’re brave. Now go to bed.”
As Ribold brushed his teeth Katharsis went into a closet to change she left a locket on her dresser. Ribold picked it up and realized it had a little latch. It opened to reveal a handsome smiling man with a funny hat. Something about him seemed familiar as if Ribold could remember a nostalgic smell but couldn’t place it.
Katharsis stepped out of the closet in a white nightgown and froze. Ribold turned and looked to see his mother inexplicably sad, with her eyes watering and her lip quiver. She stepped forward and gently took Ribold’s hands and clasped them together, closing the locket.
“Mother, why are you sad?”
“I didn’t want you to see it.”
“Why who is that man?”
“He’s a dangerous man who wants to hurt me. To hurt us.”
“Why do you have his picture?”
“So I will never forget him.” Katharsis gently took the locket back and reopened it, she hadn’t looked upon his face in a long time. She turned to Ribold composing herself, “Listen up ok. Your mother loves you very very much. So if you ever see this man, run away. He’s very dangerous. He will say and do anything to hurt me. You don’t want to hurt me do you?”
“Never! I love you!”
“Then if you ever see him, and I hope you won’t, don’t believe anything he says.”
“Ok.”
“You understand?”
“Yes I understand.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“So if you ever see him, what do you say?”
Ribold looked at the picture of a Cardinal and said, “I say I don’t know you go away.”
“That’s right. His name is Della Rovere and he’s very dangerous, so if you see him don’t ever let him catch you.”
“Ok.”
Katharsis smiled and stroked his hair, “I love you now go to bed! And think happy thoughts.”
The next day the house burned to the ground and that man wearing a funny hat appeared, the same man destroyed all Ribold knew and loved. Katharsis lured them away and Della Rovere nearly discovered him. Ribold hid under a bridge as the Cardinal’s pale mare stopped above.. He ran through the woods terrified and scared entering the world beyond the field’s not knowing if his mother were even alive.
He tripped and fell into mud and arose groggy and anxious in a pitch black place. Chakken screamed as Ribold rose covered in some sort of slime on a strange moving surface. He was thrown to a wall of soft warmth and felt a set of stones in the middle with small gaps of light. The entire room moved and Ribold peeked out. Below Draihan and the Cardinal were fighting. Ribold realized that he was trapped in the jaws of a massive beast. His head began to hurt and his whole body convulsed as his nervous system did it’s best to relive being devoured alive. He collapsed and vanished below the beast’s tongue while Chakken used his chains to attach himself to a fang. He sent a damaged chain to catch Ribold but missed and the massive tongue began to beat him repeatedly as it tasted him and smothered him.
***
“Let me go! I can save him!” Della Rovere shouted frantically as he pulled the broken sword out of his back.
“No.” Draihan said coldly, having circled around him and was now blocking Della Rovere’s path.
Della Rovere tossed his now massive yoyo at Draihan.
Draihan spun and kicked the yoyo the instant before it would have destroyed his body and lost only most of his foot while the yoyo skittered and bounced away erratically before lodging itself in the bones of Bahamut. “You’ll never see him! My orders are clear. If you capture that boy we’ll be wiped out! Even if it eats him alive, at least you won’t have him!”
Della Rovere tried to pull his yoyo back when a piece of regenerating flesh trapped it inside it’s massive muscular arms. The creature just watched them as they fought. Alfso was just frozen in place in stunned silence but Della Rovere couldn’t kill him and dispel Bahamut so long as Draihan was keeping him occupied. Without his yoyo or his sword Della Rovere was at a distinct disadvantage. In a barehanded contest Draihan was slightly stronger and more skilled. Furthermore Della Rovere knew if Draihan survived a flaming holy sword through the skull then there was no way he could kill him with his bare hands.
Della Rovere pulled back on the string to no avail, deep inside the Bahamut’s regenerating arm was the yoyo slowly spinning up but was yet to break free. Draihan rushed Della Rovere and locked their hands together. Draihan slowly began to overpower Della Rovere.
Desperate to save his son, Della Rovere tried to reason with him, “Listen you fool! I know you’re not really Draihan the incarnation of death. You’re Donatien Gange, a man that was wronged by the church!”
Draihan looked somewhat taken aback before doubling down in an attempt to shatter Della Rovere’s arms. His voice cracked with emotion and half sobbing Draihan spoke, “Wronged? You bastards killed my Peggy! My Louise! I wasn’t wronged! They were! I turned against the church that screwed my country. I might have lost but I accepted my place in the flames. I’ll accept my place in hell! But Peggy! Louise! Their only sin was loving me! Me!” Draihan blinked through the salty tears and screamed, “FUCK YOU!” and headbutted the cardinal with a sickening crunch.
Della Rovere fell to his knees. The Cardinal of the Interior was tired and in despair. Catholicism's most dangerous foe was unleashed, his son may be dead, his skull was cracked, and he usually wouldn’t admit faults of the church even to himself, never mind an enemy. Through a blur of pain and exhaustion Della Rovere muttered, “Donatien Gagne, you’re not my enemy. I knew you were wronged and I couldn’t stop it. That’s my sin. I was there, I saw it all. I was the one who replaced Cardinal Tiore and ordered your beheading. I couldn’t save your family. But in this moment, here and now, I’m begging you to save mine.”
Draihan tossed Della Rovere to the floor, “What are you talking about?!”
In a low voice certain Alfso and those in the beast couldn’t hear; Della Rovere revealed the truth, “Ribold is your apprentice, and he’s my son.”
Draihan was taken aback, his face crinkling with shock and anger, “What?”
“That’s right. And man to man, father to father, I appreciate you taking care of my son. But I’ve come to get him back. I know your hatred of me and the church is justified. But if you don’t get out of my way I’ll obliterate you.”
Draihan stood emotionlessly and Magnus Bahamut roared a shrieking echoing roar that shook the entire tomb. From it’s mouth poured blood and drool and Ribold leapt from under it’s tongue with Chakken in his arms.
As Draihan looked back Della Rovere seized the moment and pulled with all of his might, the yoyo shredding through the Bahamut’s flesh and bone causing it’s right arm to buckle and collapse. Draihan turned but couldn’t react in time. As the Magnus Bahamut roared in agony Della Rovere slammed the massive rotating yoyo down upon Draihan and he vanished into a spray of gore and debris. Ribold landed safely while Bahamut was crying out behind him. Ribold regarded the man in front of him with utter hatred in his heart. Draihan wasn’t the monster he regarded himself as, he was Ribold’s teacher and the closest thing to a father he had ever known.. And this other, this Cardinal just killed him. The same Cardinal that drove away his mother, shattering his happy little world and plunging forward into the unholy nightmare that was the life of a necromancer.
“Ribold! Drop that man and come with me right now!”
Ribold “You killed M-Master Draihan...”
“I did what was necessary to protect you my son.”
“You’re the same monster Mother warned me about!”
“I don’t know what your mother told you but I’m your father and I love you!”
“You fucking Catholics are all the same! Just like Mother said!” Ribold shrieked enraged. He reached down and picked up a mangled foot that once belonged to his master,
Della Rovere naively reached out his hand, “Come with me son, I’ll explain everything once it's safe.”
“Catholics don’t have children and they call everyone son and father! You’re full of shit!” Ribold tossed a dagger at his father’s head and ran back to the Bahamut. Della Rovere barely managed to dodge and the dagger knocked off his cardinal’s cap. Alfso was calming the giant beast patting it’s drooling chin gently with both hands and whispering gently to it. Della Rovere drew his yoyo once more.
Ribold shouted, “Alfso! I hope that thing is under control! We lost Draihan and need to leave! Now!”
“I think I got it!” Alfso shouted and grasped onto the scraggly hairs growing from its back and scrambled onto the wailing monster. Della Rovere ran forth and it slammed it’s massive claws in his way and roared at Cardinal. Della Rovere stopped to avoid being crushed and swung his yoyo at it’s face slamming into its partially exposed skull and shredded apart half of its face. The creature staggered and leaned over revealing Alfso. Della Rovere had heard through his spies that Alfso was his son’s friend, but this boy was starting to gain control of the Bahamut. Della Rovere slammed down the massive spinning yoyo and even blind in one side it raised it’s claws and caught the yoyo. It’s fingers began disintegrating and the yoyo tore through the wrist with enough pressure to break the still regenerating bone he pulled the yoyo out of earlier.
Ribold leapt over from behind the Bahamut and swung his dagger. Panicking Della Rovere tried to pulled back and slow the yoyo, Ribold slashed the yoyo with his dagger and redirected it harmlessly away from the Bahamut’s stump of an arm. Ribold’s dagger was ground to dust. He landed safely in front of Alfso on the Bahamut’s back and Chakken gingerly climbed up from behind.
Della Rovere shouted, “Son! Please! You have to come with me! It’s not too late!”
“I’m a necromancer, just like my Mom!” Ribold shouted. “You and the church will always be my enemy!” Turning to Alfso, Ribold said quietly, “Get this thing moving, blow right past him. I don’t know why but he wants me alive. So if I stay close he can’t attack.”
“Right” Alfso nodded grimly and the Bahamut roared and scrambled forward. Della Rovere swore and swung his yoyo with all of his might into one of the knees of the Bahamut severing its lower leg. The creature barely slowed as it lunged right past nearly crushing Della Rovere under its weight before breaking through a weakened part of the cavern ceiling. Like a bee exiting a honeycomb, the massive Magnus Bahamut emerged from the depths with three little necromancers as mites upon its back. It let out a piercing roar that could be heard for miles, reigniting a new era of terror across Christendom. It extended its massive tattered black wings and sprinted clumsily forward before gliding into the moonlit sky, casting a massive demonic silhouette upon the forest below.
Della Rovere stumbled towards the exit as the tomb crumbled behind him. He may have killed one of the Unholy 7 but he had lost. His son thought of him as his mortal enemy and the Magnus Bahamut was unleashed from Fafnir’s Tomb. The Pope would not take this news well. Della Rovere shuddered to imagine the consequences of this encounter, and how far the church would go to stop them.
His hand shaking with stress he stroked his sweaty exposed hair nervously, “Damn you Kat.” He said exhausted and breathless, “God damn you...” Della Rovere said as he sat, clothes tattered in the moonlight with the distant echoes of the Magnus Bahamut’s roar echoing further and further away, carrying all that he loved with it.