“Ferian?” Angelica let out.
Both of the sides were caught off guard by the arrival of the alleged vindex. Both stared at him as if he was some oddity which he definitely was given the situation.
The man was dressed in a long darg blue coat, adorned with medals of all shapes and sizes. His nose was a bit crooked, but it only accentuated his rather stupid smile
Ferian held his stone spear over his shoulder has he looked around at both groups, “Where are those bells coming from?” he pointed at Angelica and Leren, “It sounds like its coming from over there, but I don’t see any bells on you two.” He leaned a bit closer to them, squinting his eyes, “This is hardly a safe place for a girl. What are you doing out here? What’s that guy with the masks deal anyway. Kinda weird if you ask me,” he turned back to the shadows who considered him closely, “Well not as weird as them. Where are those damn bells coming from?”
Leren had stopped still, it appeared as if the man's attitude had even thrown him off guard in his powerful state. Angelica had to blink a few times to regain her train of thought. She spun around and hissed at the Jester who ceased the bells immediately.
At the disappearance of the sound the man nodded to himself with a self-satisfied smile, “Well what do you know? They're gone now. Everyone else heard them too, right?” he received no response, but turned to face Leren, “I’m guessing that light came from you? I mean I don’t think those shady figures there could do it, and…is that a cross on that mask? Makes a lot more sense if that was the case.”
Angelica finally shook the surprise from her limbs, “We were trying to get the attention of the one responsible for the stone statues. So…have we been graced with his presence?”
Ferian began to pick at his nose, “In the flesh. I kinda left a lot of that in the streets actually. Do I have to pay for that?”
Angelica had no idea how to respond to that, but The Red Mist responded first, “You’re the one responsible for the death of the others?” He said with indifference.
Ferian nodded his head quickly, “Yup, if by others you mean…like you.”
“How fortuitous.” The Red Mist said.
“Oh, do any of you know where I can find a towering monster about that big. Breathes fire, goes by the name of Heava…”
The Vindex was cut short in the blink of an eye. Where he once stood, The Red Mist had taken his place, and a streak of red coated the building behind him, “Such a simple matter. My Mistress will be…”
“OH NO!”
The shadow's usual apathetic expression shifted to one of bewilderment as he spun around.
Willin Ferian stood there with his hand on his nose, “I had a finger in their friend! Here tell me if it still looks alright.” he displayed his same crooked nose for all to see.
The Red Mist looked to where the red streak was and where some of Ferian’s presumably body parts lay, “Impossible.”
Ferian went cross eyed to look at his nose, “Wait what does that mean, is it good or…”
The Red Mist rushed through the other vindex one more time, sending his remains in every which way, significantly messier than his first attempt.
The Red Mist looked at his work quite pleased, but when he turned around, he was once again face to face with his opponent.
“No really, does it look bad or…”
The area the two were at became a cyclone as Angelica watched on in horror, “Leren what am I watching?”
“The Vindex are powerful and mysterious individuals.”
“I know that! But how is this possible!”
Leren turned back to her, “There’s a reason why they’re called army killers. Though it seems that Melgon's Vindex really was killed. He must be the replacement.”
“Did you doubt what I said?!”
“When it comes to the death of a Vindex that is usually the safer option, and as history as proved the correct option. Though I still struggle to believe such a replacement was found so quickly.”
“Well, you just gonna have to believe it because it's true. Hey does my nose look right to you?” Ferian said from besides Leren.
Leren practically jumped in his new skin, “How?”
“Is it really that bad?”
“You nose is fine!” Angelica shouted, “How are you here. I thought you were…”
Ferian gave a long sigh of relief, “Thank you! Finally, someone gives me a straight answer!”
“But what about…”
Ferian waved her words away, “It's best not to worry about.”
The Red Mist was now covered in blood, he took special interest in his now red hand, “You’re a slippery one, but no one it immortal not even a Vindex.”
Ferian started to pick something out of his ear, “True, but going back to my original question. Have you seen Heavens Bane around here anywhere?”
“You’ll have to kill me first before you find him.” The Red Mist said simply.
Ferian scratched his chin, “hmm…how long do you think that would take?”
Suddenly a shriek came up from the other two shadows and the Rogue was suddenly thrown past Angelica and Leren.
Angelica gritted her teeth, you should have waited
It seemed like the right time.
Ferian considered them for a moment, oblivious to the Rogue, “Are your buddies doing all right?”
“They’re fine.”
Ferian nodded at that, “So again how are we looking time wise.”
“It all depends on you.”
“What does that mean exactly.”
“How many times it takes for you to finally stay dead, or how long it takes you to catch me with your spear, and in all my life no one has ever done such a thing. Not even another Vindex.”
Ferian took his finger out of his lips then ran it across his lips, “Hmm…tell me one more thing.”
The Red Mist waited quietly.
“If I were to leave now to go find Heavens Bane by myself, what would become of the girl and old man behind me?”
“Old!” Leren let out.
Angelica kicked his shin, “Your dead! What does it matter! I would rather not die over such a thing!” she said in a hushed whisper.
“They would surely die by my hand just have you have many times now.” The Red Mist said.
“Really?”
The Red Mist spread his arms out wide, “If my Mistress wishes it I will make it so. Such is the nature of the debt I owe to her.”
Ferian readied his spear, “That settled it then. Guess I can’t go leaving now. Say, you said ‘another Vindex’ before. Does that mean you have the mark too.”
“Of course.”
“What country may I ask?”
“Gretal.”
Ferian threw his head back with laughter, “Gretal!? You wouldn’t catch me dead in that God forsaken country! If you're the Vindex of that country you must not be very good at your job!”
The Red Mist clenched his fist, “How dare you! My name is Darel Gaal, The Red Mist!”
Ferian shrugged, “Never have heard of you.”
“How!” Leren’s outcry gained the attention of the two Vindex’s, “You’re a Vindex! How can you not know something as simple as that!”
Ferian tested his spear in the air, “I’ve never been one for politics. I go where they tell me to go and do what I have to.”
The Red Mist went rigid, “they’ are you one of their tools? I shameless can you be. Are you not driven by honor or duty?” The Vindex’s voice slowly lost its apathy and took on a deadly edge.
Ferian gave a goofy grin, “The only things that drives me is money and women. Oh, also booz…”
A blur and he was suddenly sent flying towards the sea wall. The impact from his collision sent cracks all along the wall.
“Why didn’t I die from that?” Ferian groaned.
Another blur and his body suddenly didn’t have a head with The Red Mist standing over it.
Ferian appeared behind him once more, stretching his arms into the air, “Thanks I really needed that, so back to what I was saying, the last thing that drives me is booze. Lots of…”
The Red Mist seized him and the two disappeared and in their place a blurry ring ran around the area, blocking Angelica and the other shadows in place.
Angelica glanced at the ring with great distaste as blood seemed to leak out of it. A shiver went down her spine, and Leren took notice, “He’s probably fine. I know that doesn’t make that ability of his any less unsettling to witness.”
Angelica shook her head, “I’ve seen enough blood tonight. Enough to last me a life time.”
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Leren gave a grim nod, “You saw enough blood to last a lifetime when you were little on that night. Let’s ensure that no more is shed. Well at least none with consequences,” He watched as the red liquid started to approach them from the ring.
The spectres appeared around Angelica and she glared at the shadows, “Tamer ram them with everything you have.”
The Tamer simply nodded.
“Rogue slither around them like the snake you are. I don’t want to see them lay a finger on you.”
“Of course, but that demon blood is a hassle.” Angelica gave him a side glare and he bowed, “I live to serve.”
She went on, “Jester you’re not good at many things, but you make a good distraction, so just do that. I want them swatting at you like a fly.”
“Yes, my Lady, I’ll see to it that their ears are never empty. I might have been a knight in life, but I’ll give them a performance that…”
“And Priest…just keep doing what you’re doing. Unless you can do anything else.”
Leren shook his head, “I can only perform miracles, but I can’t control them. Are you sure the lightning won’t strike you.”
“God declared me a saint, so I would hope that he wouldn’t want me gone so soon,” Angelica gave a deep sigh, “Let’s hope we get a miracle tonight.”
In the blur of blood, the two Vindex’s fought, though it was more like a slaughter.
“You are an insult to the whole order.”
“Order…we…don’t…even…talk…at…least…give…me…time…to…say…something.”
Ferian was ripped apart every single second. Wherever he appeared he would be seized by the Red Mist and torn to bits.
“Why do you even fight me? Do you expect some payment at the end of this! Do you think women will flounder all over you because you could kill me!”
“No…nothing…of…the…sort.”
“Then why.” The shadow hissed.
The Red Mist held his throat as he ran around the area, it wasn’t the ideal situation, but at least he could speak, “Come on now. I couldn’t just let that girl and priest get slaughtered.”
“Yet you killed the others even before that. Why? Why would you protect people that aren’t your own!”
“I don’t have to justify it to you. From what it looks like you're a shell of a man with that shadow. The only people I answer to are far from here and are sure as hell not concerned with you.”
That seemed to break The Red Mist as he broke out into a small laugh, “Not concerned! I know who you speak of! That damn Zoo! They are what did this to me! They will get rid of you one day as well.”
“I find that unlikely.”
The Red Mist Eyes went wide and Ferian was thrown from the circle landing in between the other shadows and Angelica. To him it looked like they were swatting at flies, but what he didn’t see was the hordes of endless spectral animals, the hidden blades, but he did hear one thing, “Those damn bells are back.”
Suddenly his head was crushed into the ground and his body went limp.
“Unlikely!” The Red Mist howled, “They are a wretched group! I should have killed them all when I had the chance!”
Ferian dust himself off from behind the other Vindex, “That’s great and all but…”
The Red Mist gave him not one chance to get another word out. The apathetic man had vanished and was replaced with an outburst of rage and grief, “They told me to abandon them! The children to! Abandon them to that horde!” He ribbed through Ferian like he was paper, “I could not accept such a thing! Leave those people behind! For what! Because there was another pressing matter? Because I needed to guard the prince while he retreated! Abandoning all those poor people! I knew I was fast enough! I could save them all! I was The Red Mist after all!” A wild smile appeared on his face, “I did it too! My loyalty and honor compelled me to! Things that you don’t have! Yet despite that those wretched fools saw me as too powerful, one that couldn’t be controlled! They tried to…tame me. If it wasn’t for my mistress, I would have ended it all,” his voice stumbled, but he regains his strength tenfold, “But I don’t regret a thing! I stayed true to the duty of a Vindex! I protected those I serve! So, tell me, why are you helping these people! They are not your own! No more lies!”
Ferian took a slow breath. His spear not even at the ready, “Truthfully.”
“Do not test my patience!”
“One of those shadows killed me when I was blissfully drunk…sobered me up on the spot.”
“What?”
“I was having a great time and then…”
“YOU FRAUD!”
The Red Mist was on him. He died an uncountable number of times. He died and revived so fast that it appeared to the naked eye that he stood still. The Red Mist clawed at his skin, ribbed his limbs, cut into him with his knife. There was no refinery in it. Simply pure savagery of emotion that Ferian had unleashed upon himself.
Angelica even gulped as she looked upon the scene, wishing for that miracle now more than ever.
The Red Mist shouted insults as he slaughtered the other Vindex, “Fool! Fraud! Charlatan! Vagrant! Thief! Lo…”
His words suddenly stopped, and his face was set in permanent shock as he looked down at the spear point in his stomach. He looked up at Ferian face was now stone, “You ran right into that one.”
The Red Mist seized the shaft of the weapon and tried to pull it free. Ferian didn’t try to resist the action, “You can try all you want, but it’s over.” Stone started to creep over the skin around the hole the spear had embedded itself in.
The Red Mist went slack jawed, “How is this possible.”
“Your downfall wasn’t because of your honor or duty. It was because of a lack of judgment. Even now I don’t know if you know the meaning of the words, seeing as you been helping massacre this town. I had to stop myself from laughing when you flaunted your moral superiority when you didn’t even see your own disgusting actions.”
The Red Mist looked around him and smelled the death in the air, “Lies…lies,” he moaned. The stone was at his shoulders now.
“Even now in this demented form, you let your emotion overcome you. Did you really not consider how predictable you would become after you killed me so much. I’m actually disappointed that I didn’t guess where you would go sooner,” A smirk came to his lips, “You see the thing about a Vindex is that they gotta be smart enough to judge who it is they’re supposed to protect. You guessed wrong.”
The stone was at his neck now, “Mistress I failed you.”
“At least in this life you knew for certain, but it seems you chose wrong,” A wide grin game to his face as he rubbed the back of his next, “What do I know though. I’m just a fraud.”
The stone crept over his head, finishing the immaculate sculpture in front of the victorious Vindex.
Ferian’s spear crumpled to dust as he a new one formed in his hand. He looked back to where the other two shadows stumbled about themselves, looking like drunkards. He spotted the smaller one, leaking blood from his mouth. He was away from the brute and didn’t seem to notice Ferian. An easy target.
What he didn’t see was the massive spectral lion that the shadow was struggling against, but in the end it didn’t matter.
The Vindex took an exaggerated stance and threw his spear with all his strength.
It whistled through the ear with incredible speed, skewering the shadow into the sea wall.
The shadow looked down at the spear in shock as stone crept up his body. He gave a bloody smile that would be made permanent in stone. The statue fell to the ground as the spear once again crumpled to ash. The only sign of the act, a black mark left on the sea wall by the things blood.
The Ram furrowed his eyes at the scene. He grabbed the Rogue who clung to his back and swung him away. He then backhanded the Jester, sending him flying away and silencing his jibes.
Ferian pointed his spear at him, “In all honest I don’t realy feel like coming over there, so can you just walk into this?”
The Ram looked around. The Tamer approached him, cracking his whip as spectre that shifted from one beast to another licked at his heels. The Rogue held his knife steady, ready to pounce.
“My oh my! This is just not your day!” The Jester laughed.
Lightening still rained from the sky, illuminating the shadows grim face, his eyes set on the Priest and saint at the other end of the plaza, “You don’t know what forces are out play here. What you interfere in.”
Ferian scratched his ear, “I’ve interfered in a lot of things and it seems to have worked out alright.”
The shadow was not looking at the Vindex though, but at the Rogue, “I will warn you as an old friend. As one that shared in my betrayal. You do not want to anger my mistress. She will make it so you wished you never lived, and you will go crying into her arms for it.”
The Rogue twisted his knife in his hand, his black mask showed no emotion, but his sneer said it all, “I’ve gotten on the bad side of many people. Right now, I’m just trying not to get on the bad side of my mistress.”
The Ram shook his head, “Your mistress is a mouse compared to mind in wisdom and power. You have no idea the forces at play. Even the Zoo looks like a circus compared to it,” he looked back at Angelica, “And that is why I must carry out her orders.”
The Ram’s legs tensed as he leapt into the air. The Rogue summoned his crossbow, but it was already too late, his bolts were ineffective. The shadow held its war hammer aloft ready to strike his hammer down upon Angelica. His face: visage of pure resolve.
Angelica could barely react. All she had the time for was to instinctually cover her face. Leren stood still.
A flash of crisp blue sent the Ram howling. Smoke curled from his chest. His body went limp and he was sent backwards. Right where a stone spear was waiting for him. His torso was impaled upon the spear and he looked upon it with defeat. The hulking mass seemed almost comical held up by the slim Vindex.
The Ram looked around as the stone crept up his body, “My mistress will be coming for you. The man who laughs will also take notice of what has transpired here tonight. Prepare yourselves. You have my deepest sympathies,” he looked back at the Rogue, “I forgive you for killing me Snake just make sure that the others receive what’s due.”
“Already had that in mine.”
“Of course, you did.” Those were his last words.
Ferian hefted the statue onto the ground, “Well that was all well and good.”
Angelica gazed up at the sky, “We really did get a miracle didn’t we Leren.”
“I had no doubt that we wouldn’t”
Before she could do anything else, Ferian took her hand and graced it with his lips, “It’s been a pleasure. I have to get going. I’m sure that mistress is somewhere nearby.”
He stood back up and nodded to Leren who stood silently. He began to walk away, but began to stumble and fell to the ground, “Damn it…”
Leren rushed to his side and inspected him, but Ferian simply laughed, “Not everyone’s immortal…that really was a close one. Hey, Priest can I get a little miracle perhaps.”
Leren ran his hand over his body, “If you don’t die first.”
“What have you done!” A voice seemed to call out to them from each shadow around them.
Angelica looked around her at the source of the voice. Even her own shadow made by the light of the moon was not free of suspicion.
“There.” The Tamer said sternly.
Angelica followed his gaze and found a hunch over woman in black, cloaked in shadow, up on the sea wall.
The Jester looked from her to Ferian, “I reckon you found her.”
The voice once again reverberated around them, “What have you done to my poor children!”
Ferian looked around, deadly pale, but what the source was couldn’t be determined. He gave a weak smile, “They make great statues, don’t they? I think they would look great in a gallery.”
The woman began to sob, “They have suffered so much and yet…you do this to them! You mock them with their last moments permanently displayed!”
The Rogue inched forward, but Leren’s hand caught him, “Mistress of Tragedy!” He called out.
The sobbing stopped and all the shadows seemed to watch them silently, “So you know who I am.”
“I have heard the story demon!”
“Demon! Demon!? Why would you think such a thing! I am more like an angel. I rescue those who need it from despair.” She yelped.
Angelica mustered up her courage to give a fake laugh, “An angel!? You mock the title. You masacre my town in cold blood.”
“But a necessary evil. It must be done for the safety of all. I have even rescued many of the inhabitants from this cruel cruel world tonight.”
Angelica couldn’t even speak she bit down so hard in anger that she could taste blood.
“What are you!” Leren called out.
“As to that I’ll leave you in ignorant bliss. However, tell me priest, in the story were their others like me.”
“Yes…”
“Then I’ll show you a story come to life this night.”
The earth started to rumble under their feet as waves crashed over the sea wall.
“I will present you with another one of these so-called demons. Betrayed by the men and woman it helped. Betrayed by the ones it selflessly carried across the waves to distant lands.”
A tentacle the size of a tower burst forth from the ocean, grabbing the see wall, sending it crumbling to the ground.
“I am so close. So, close I can only grasp it. Your deaths will be the finishing touch.”
Another tentacle slammed onto land, and slowly a creature lifted its head out of the water. It was clothed in shadow. The size of the grandest palaces. It had a bulbous head and huge dark eyes. Its tentacles came out of a torso with dark blades coming out of its back. It showed its teeth, reavealing thousands of fangs.
The Mistress of Tragedy motioned her arm towards it, “I present you with the Beast of Curiosity. What’s left of it.”