Enid sat on the bench under the roses vines that grew over the arch. She was flush from the night’s hunt. Eyre sat down beside her looking flush as well.
“Can you believe that man thought you were my daughter?”
Enid shrugged.
“You look old.”
“Considering who is talking I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Enid frowned.
“You are a pest of a child.”
“Going to shake your cane at me?”
Eyre stuck out her tongue.
“I wish you were still young enough I could spank the brat out of you.”
Eyre laughed.
“You promised to tell me what happened with Lucius tonight.”
Enid frowned.
“Hmm I had hoped you’d forget I said that.”
“If you don’t I’ll pester you every night for the next thousand years.”
“I’m already regretting turning you.”
Enid threw up her hands.
“Alright, to get the whole picture I’m going to read from Mariana’s journals and fill in what I remember. Some of it I wasn’t part of directly, she went off on her own.”
Eyre nodded.
*****
My name is Mariana Aurelius Sextus. I am one hundred and sixty-seven years old. At least by the calendar of Caesar. I have seen the rise and fall of Emperors. I’ve seen the four corners of the empire, I’ve fought in the sands of Egypt, froze with my men in Britannia. I write this as a record of what I’ve seen these last few years. The Black Sun is rising, my father doesn’t believe me, in his arrogance he thinks it’s just a mortal cult. I know the truth. I see the dead and they are acting strange.
I formed the Black Legion to fight for the soul of Rome. What I did not realize is that it would fight to save creation itself. I believe my nephew’s arrival prodded him to act rashly. He rushed his plan, and he has made a mistake. I have determined that his greatest weakness is mortal consensus of reality. Jesus has started a movement, a movement that will make it much harder to for the Black Sun to breach this reality open and end creation.
I have determined he needs mortal souls to enact his great endeavor. He has been trying to accelerate the process by buying up slaves and having his cult ritually sacrifice them. He has been gaining a great deal of power. The more souls he acquires, the faster he gains power. I need more knowledge of the necromantic arts to fight this foe.
Tonight, I enter the nether realms. Limbo. Father has told me often of Atlantis frozen in time, stuck at the moment of destruction. An infinite instantaneous point in time. Stuck on the razers edge of oblivion. When he saved Enid, I watched him, studied his spell, saw the mix of blood and chalk. I will make my own doorway and seek answers that he will not provide from the libraries of Atlantis itself. Whomever finds this letter seek out Enid, give it to her. You must save creation because if you find this I did not return.
*******
Mariana finished the letter and stood up. She pulled on her centurion armor, sheathed her gladius. She looked at herself in a polished silver mirror. She didn’t bother with her helmet. She adjusted her black hair. She was pale, unlike the rest of her kind. She had always been pale and unhealthy looking, blue tinge to her nails and lips. Her father’s gift had just enhanced her natural appearance. She often used black make up to cover her lips. She never bothered trying to make her cheeks look flush. No matter how much she fed she could never hope to appear alive. She looked to the side and raised her chin. Her skin was a perfect alabaster. If not for her dark eyes and hair she could be mistaken for a statue. She was a dark twin to Enid, she was the same age when she was turned. Par to of her curse meant she was always small for her age and still looked as if she were a teenager. Often mistaken for a child of one her great-great grandchildren now. She looked down at the silver ring on her finger. Her sister Enid wore its match each contained a gem with a drop of the other’s blood in it. She had often been jealous of the rosy cheeks her sister possessed her lust for life. Death had always been Mariana’s gift. She rubbed the ring with her thumb.
Sister, I hope I am making the right choice. God grant me strength and forgive me for the violation of your sanctuary.
She made her way to the ritual chamber her father kept. She bit her hand mixing her blood with chalk in a silver bowl. She drew a door on the wall, writing words of ancient power in its center. She touched the writing with her bloody palm. She spoke the words of power she’d hear her father use so more than a century ago. She felt the walls of reality tearing a way and a swirling vortex of green light flashed into existence replacing the granite wall. She shielded her eyes from the brilliant flash. The portal dimmed and shimmered there casting a green glow. She closed her eyes, took an unnecessary breath and stepped through.
On the other side she was greeted by crumbled marble ruins. Ornate pillars broken and scattered. The shining sun blinded her and she instinctively tried to jump back through the portal but found herself slamming into a set of sealed platinum doors. She frantically tried to open them. In her panic she didn’t notice her observer. She pounded on the doors bloodying her fists, but it was no avail. She turned and slid down the doors curling up in the fetal position trying to hide as much as exposed skin as possible. It hadn’t occurred to her she wasn’t burning until she heard a man clearing his throat loudly. She spread her arms slightly to look at the speaker. He was an old man, not a speck of clothing on him. Long hair and long grey beard. Once he had her attention he spoke.
“All that panic, I’m not that scary, am I?”
Mariana’s eyes went a bit wider and the old man looked down at himself.
“Oh, you humans and your whole need for clothing. Pish.”
He snapped his fingers and a white robe covered him. Mariana still sat with her back pressed against the doors. She looked about herself quickly one side to the other.
“There’s no dead here, just those frozen in time. Get up, get up, get up. Do I look like I have all day.”
He laughed and slapped his thighs.
“Actually, we do, we have eternity. Or we’ve already screwed things up and you’re been gone for a thousand years. Or maybe you’ll go back a thousand years before. Wait what were we talking about again?”
Mariana quirked her head to the side and pulled herself up on the ornate silver doors. He looked her up and down.
“Have you come to kill me? Wouldn’t that be fun. I haven’t been killed in so long, or is it yesterday, maybe it was tomorrow.”
He rubbed his hands together. And slapped his chest over his heart.
“Stick me right here, make it quick hate when it’s slow.”
Mariana shook her head.
“I have no wish to harm you, old man.”
“Well poo, I was looking forward to dying again. Or is that I haven’t died and I’m remembering next year wrong.”
He scratched his head.
“You’re making no sense, how could have died next year, or yesterday if you’re still alive.”
“You act like you can’t die more than once, why I’ve died at least….”
He started counting his fingers then his toes. Then he started grabbing Mariana’s hands and counting those. Mariana pulled them away and backstepped towards one of the broken pillars.
“Oh, you have cold hands. Maybe you died yesterday.”
“I died over a hundred years ago, you strange, weird old man.”
“And you said you can’t be alive and dead at the same time. You say I’m the one who’s strange, old and weird.”
“What do you want?”
“I can’t remember.”
He laughed again, holding his side.
“You are quite the comedian. I thought that Eddie Murphy was funny. But you, you’re a riot.”
“Who are you talking about?”
“You don’t know who he is? No of course of course, of course, of course, of course, of course, of course. Wait what were we talking about?”
Mariana shook her head.
“I’m sorry old man, I don’t have time for this, I need to get to Atlantis and find a way to stop the Black Sun.”
“Time! Hah, time… Time is always it, you mortals always in such a rush, there and back, soccer practice, and then back to the castle. Or was it to the battle and back to the condo. Time doesn’t matter! Time is time. Time is time. Time is time. Hey, you know what, you won’t need those here.”
He snapped his fingers and Mariana found herself completely bereft of clothing. She covered herself quickly with a gasp-squeal of surprise.
“Oops too much!”
He snapped his fingers again and she found herself in a long black robe with a scythe that felt like it was hollow. And a skeleton mask made of some sort of weird flimsy material, she pulled it off and dropped the scythe.
“Much more you!”
“Please stop that! Just give me my clothes back.”
“You’re absolutely no fun. Wait who are you? Do you want to talk to my manager now?”
“Yes, yes I want to talk to your leader!”
The old man did a raspberry and danced around in a circle yelling out a long tirade of gibberish.
“He says go dip your head in lava for all he cares. Or was it stop being an idiot Ezekiel and give the girl some real clothes and let her on her way. He’s so hard to understand sometimes. Especially when he’s mad.”
He looked up as storm clouds formed and he sighed snapping his fingers. Mariana found herself dressed in more strange clothes, black pants of some description that were skintight but comfy and some manner of shirt that a skeleton on the front and writing on the back she could make no sense of and a pair of boots that looked different than anything she’d ever seen before.
“These still aren’t my clothes.”
“He didn’t say what clothes to give you. Wait, who are you again and why are you wearing my Iron Maiden concert t-shirt?”
Mariana rubbed her temples, took a few deep breaths.
“I’m sorry sir, I am not understanding most of what you’re saying, nor do I know what this tunic is, or what these pants are.”
“Oh, those are leggings, I invented them don’t you know. Men prayed for something that they could gawk at women in and the women would wear because they were comfortable. All me, he had nothing to do with it.”
The old man pointed at the sky.
“Well, they are not very modest.”
“Well, that would spoil the whole point of them, wouldn’t it?”
He looked up at the darkening sky.
“Okay, okay I didn’t invent them I stole the idea from Atlantis.”
“You know where Atlantis is?”
“Of course, I do, I was there tomorrow! So were you! Or were you there tomorrow, and I was there last week.”
He scratched his beard.
“Sir, please which direction is it in?”
“Pish, what direction is it in? It’s in every direction. Up is down, down is up, right is right, left is right, and right is left!”
“Sir, please focus on me, it is very important I find Atlantis, everything in creation is in danger.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you’re here then isn’t it, we can go relax in the garden, safe and sound.”
“I cannot let all those innocent people down. I have the power to save them, it is my responsibility to do so. I just lack the knowledge. Please help me find it.”
“Oh! You want to be a hero, do you? Where’s your cape?”
Mariana sighed patting the old man on the shoulder.
“I am sorry Ezekiel, but I cannot stay I need to find Atlantis, I wish I could do something to cure you of whatever it is you are sick with. Maybe something in Atlantis will provide a cure.”
Mariana walked into the forest before her, the trees reached skyward thousands of feet in the air. The canopy was thick yet somehow sunlight shone through. She held her hands out letting the sunlight kiss them with its warmth. She hadn’t felt it as a comforting warmth in over a century. Before today it had been the fires of death. She wandered through the forest, almost aimlessly. The sun never set, and she never grew tired or hungry. She could have been there for minutes, hours, or years. The bushes and trees along her path blurred together, she couldn’t tell which way was east or west, the sun was omnipresent. She looked up into a stream of sunlight and spoke.
“Please God, just let me find Atlantis, or a way out if you don’t want me to interfere.”
She continued walking and within a few minutes she reached the edge of the tree line, it changed suddenly into a black beach. A horde of monstrosities populated it, and men, and half-wolf, half-men. She started with a jolt when she was suddenly in the midst of the clashing armies. Every single being was frozen in time. Some had blades piercing them. Others had opposing soldiers in their razer sharp teeth, snapping them in half, frozen at the very moment before death. Dead also lined the beaches. She saw a bridge in the distance that led over the still waters to a massive city, it rose above the waves it looked like it was made of diamonds. The sky here was a wall of dark clouds lightning crashing down and making contact with the ground but was frozen. Vampires with their fangs out were caught midair from the blast. Others had some sort of device in their hands that shot beams of blue light beams, that would never reach their target.
She began to cross the bridge. It was the site of the worst fighting it appeared. Parts of it had been collapsing but were held there. As she stepped across the chunks of marble, they sunk a bit further. From the bridge she could see the main road into the city and at its center, up on the highest tier she saw a great ball of energy frozen in time. The building that had contained it had pieces of it stuck in the air. Others chunks of rubble from the building seemed to be caught mid-disintegration.
She made her way through the streets of the city, it was tiered and had different levels. It was nothing like Rome. She saw what looked like civilians in the midst of running in terror. Some of the flying monstrosities had reached the city and were killing civilians with zeal. Tears of blood rolled down her cheeks. She knew she couldn’t change their fate. They would be here frozen forever. Their last thoughts were of terror. If her father’s people could have been saved, he would have done it. And as his daughter they were her people too. She remembered how he had described the fall of Atlantis in a moment of weakness, how he had made a terrible choice and condemned his people to eternal imprisonment in hopes he could save creation. To free them would to be to kill them and he didn’t have it in him. She remembered Enid saying he was weak for his choice. She was still young at the time. Mariana understood though. So long as they were alive even trapped there was hope. And hope is the greatest gift God had given his creations.
She did not know how much time she spent in the city searching for a hint as to where the books were stored. She finally found an unattended tablet, just a white edge over strange glass. It seemed very durable. She had seen some of the people who were frozen in time looking at blue writing on the screen. She fiddled with it for what seemed like an eternity. Eventually the glass lit up with blue light. The writing was a language her father had taught her many years ago. The same language as the runes she’d used to create the portal here. She poked and prodded it, learning how to navigate with swipes and touches. She walked through down the street staring at the tablet and bumped into a griffin. Claws extended. She jumped back before coming to the realization he still hung there frozen in midair one of the claws was buried in a child’s chest. Mariana turned away quickly. She saw a house directly in front of her. The door was open, so she went inside. The house had been abandoned and there was no sign of the violence outside.
She sat down in a chair her arms leaning on a table that seemed to be made of a similar material to the tablet’s screen. She paid it little mind as her eyes scanned the glowing blue text of the tablet. It seemed to have a wealth of information that would be useful to a healer, but not her, as she dug deeper she found a map of the city. It pointed out the font of knowledge. She stood up and started to walk out of the house she tripped over something on the ground. It was an unassuming pack. Also of a strange material. It liked like some sort of fiber, but it was hard. She opened it and it was pitch black inside. She reached in and her arm went all the way into the shoulder. She pulled her arm out quickly. She did it again. While looking at the outside of the bag.
“That’s interesting. It’s bigger on the inside. Great now I’m sounding like Ezekiel.”
She shook her head and turned the bag over shaking it. A pile of various items steamed out topping out at about three feet high. Clothes, tablets, some strange sort of armor, and more of those odd weapons that shot beams of light.
She bent down and started to shovel the contents she’d emptied out of the pack back into it. She slung the straps over her shoulders and made her way towards the Font of Knowledge. The part of the building had collapsed in front of the entrance. She willed her blood to her muscles and with the short-lived burst tossed the slab of marble aside. She entered the building. It was in shambles tablets scattered everywhere. The battle outside had caused chaos inside the Font. She’d have no hope of determining what belonged to what section, or what topic. She shrugged and picked up a tablet, sat on what used to be a desk and began to read. She did that for countless hours trying to get some sense of how to make things work. Mariana spent what seemed like an eternity in the Font of Knowledge, reading every tablet that she could that was in one piece. She began to organize them into different areas of knowledge. Slowly she began to piece together what had happened to Atlantis, and how their magical devices worked. The transformation of some to vampires to fight the incoming horde. The special armor to protect them from the sun. The magical core of the city that the central building housed. The risk it could be overloaded by an unscrupulous enemy. The forbidden device her father had employed to stop the utter destruction of Atlantis. She also came across some information on what may be affecting Ezekiel. It was something called temporal psychosis. She also determined as a vampire she’d be immune to its effects. With that knowledge and the knowledge that she could transfer wounds and illness from others to herself she could cure him. After what seemed like several more hours she finally found the tablets she had been seeking. All the information she could want about the Black Sun, and an in-depth treatise on Necromancy. She had found other books of magic, but that was the one she needed to fight the Black Sun.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“Never going to be able to read all of these in the time I have. But the knowledge must not be lost.”
Mariana sighed. She decided to collect more of the extra-dimensional packs to get as many tablets as she could. She also gathered extra armor, and weaponry for Enid, she knew she would love them. She’d also found out what the amulet did. It would make her immune to sunlight’s harmful effects at the cost of losing all her vampiric abilities in said sunlight. She searched the entire city looking for another of its like for Enid, but she came up empty. Once she’d collected everything she could from the Font, she moved on with five of the packs dangling from various body parts.
Almost don’t want to leave, there is so much more I can learn. But the Black Sun only grows stronger in my absence.
Mariana took one last look over the vast reaches of the city and the black ocean from the highest balcony in the city and then made her way through the streets, across the bridge and across the black sands and into the forest. She focused on her memories of the platinum gateway with her minds eye and began to walk into the forest. It was nice to feel the sunlight on her skin again, and to be away from the scenes of death and terror that had been her constant companion for what seemed like centuries as she researched. She noticed a change in the forest as unkempt woods gave way to a beautiful garden. She followed the winding paths, and finally came upon Ezekiel sitting cross-legged in the dirt drawing circles and humming a song she wasn’t familiar with.
“Ezekiel!”
“Oh it’s you thief of Iron Maiden concert t-shirts, didn’t you make my life miserable enough tomorrow?”
“Ezekiel, I know how to cure you.”
Mariana put her packs down and smiled kneeling beside Ezekiel.
“I’m fine, you’re the one who needs a cure, living dead girl.”
“Shh, I will make it better. Just give me your hand.”
She gently took his hands in hers and she closed her eyes. Willing his afflictions and wounds to herself. She could feel the confusion and mashing of timelines slam into her mind. She focused on her own identity. She forced the physical damage to her brain to heal. She opened her eyes and she was holding the hand of a creature that seemed to be made of pure light. His hair was long and flowing, but it glowed with the light of the sun as did the wing like projections from his back. She released his hand and fell backwards. He laughed; The sound filled her very soul with joy. He looked to the sky.
“I win that one boss.”
He offered one of his glowing hands to Mariana. She took it and he pulled her up.
“He said you’d lose patience with me, he also bet me you wouldn’t risk yourself to cure me. He lost. So you’ll be free to go with all you’ve retrieved from the garden.”
“But you…”
“I was never sick, Lilith cursed me or tried to so she could get a fruit of life for your sister. It seemed like an amusing diversion and trick to use on the next visitor which was you.”
“But why did you let her take one?”
He laughed.
“It served the big guy’s purpose. He wants me to tell you that your kindness and selflessness will not go unrewarded. You may take one fruit of life and one fruit of knowledge. Use them wisely this is the greatest gift he can give.”
“The fruit of knowledge is forbidden!”
“If you consider that, then realize the kind of gift he offers. Take his gifts and go in peace.”
Ezekiel motioned to two trees baring silver and golden fruit of various descriptions, he snapped his fingers in Mariana found herself dressed in her centurion armor with sword at her side, the shirt and the leggings remained underneath. Mariana approached each tree in turn taking one fruit from each and putting them in one of her packs. She gathered them all and started stringing them over her shoulders. Ezekiel walked between the trees, motioning for Mariana to follow.
“Follow me.”
Mariana followed after him, finding herself back at the marble entranceway, with the forest behind her and the portal in front of her. She approached it but the paused looking back at Ezekiel.
“How long have I been here?”
“A few minutes to those outside, to you, how long do you think you were here? Does it matter? You’re immortal.”
He smirked and motioned with his hand sending Mariana through the portal. She stumbled on the other side and fell on her face and heard a woosh as the portal closed behind her. She picked herself up and shook her head. She looked back at the wall, no sign of her scribblings. She rubbed her nose gingerly and walked to her room shaking her head. She reached down to the parchment on her desk crumpled it up and tossed it into the fire.
*****
Mariana was on her elbows wearing the strange black body suit she’d rescued from the ruins of Atlantis. The helmet lay at her side. She was using a pair of range finders or so the Atlantis archives had called them. The magic they possessed let her see things at a distance as if they were close by.
They are rushing the sacrifices.
Mariana heard footsteps behind her, she back at her sister.
“What in the name of the gods are you wearing?”
“Shh, there is an army of cultists down there.”
“Yes, they’re down there, and we’re up here.”
“The dead have ears and there are a lot of them around here.”
Enid crossed her arms, she was wearing her black chain mail, and the sword gifted her by Sextus on her wedding day. Bloodseeker, the blackened silver blade had always given Mariana the chills. She could hear the souls it had devoured screaming to be let out.
“You should have brought the Atlantean weapons and armor.”
“I’ll rely on trusty metal thank you.”
Enid crouched down, taking a knee.
“What is the plan sis? This is your battle.”
“I waited until it was storming. We will come from either side and use the energy from the storm to kill as many of the cultists as we can. The Black Sun must realize something is up he’s accelerated his ritual sacrifices.”
“What about the witnesses in cages?”
“They’re innocents, we should let them go.”
“Oh, so let a bunch of witnesses see us call down the power of Zeus. That will go over well.”
“Thus, the Atlantean armor so they can’t identify us.”
“Okay so no slaves die in the lightning storm, what is the rest of the plan, you were very cryptic in your letter.”
“Then we march the Black Legion into Hade’s realm and break the Black Sun’s hold on the souls so he cannot use their energy to unleash the end of all creation.”
“Okay, and father isn’t here because?”
“You heard him when I tried to get him to recognize the threat. He didn’t believe me, but I know where the Black Sun is. I will open a rift and we will end this like he didn’t the last time.”
“Well Lucius is waiting with the Black Legion like you asked, why isn’t he here with us?”
“He has no talent for wielding the power of creation, not like us, he’s never tasted the fruit of life. Alright, the storm is reaching its peak, we should get started.”
“May the Gods look upon us with favor. Let us bring the storm.”
Mariana nodded and put her range finders in her pack. And pulled her helmet over her head. Enid nodded and pulled up her hood drawing Bloodseeker. They mounted their horses and galloped down either side of the rise, it was too late for the cultists if they noticed them now. They were amid a killing field. Like the disturbed bees of a hive those that were armed in the camp started rushing to either side. Enid and Mariana raised their hands to the sky in unison, their chants creating an inhuman echoing sound, the words were intelligible save to a very few. The effect was obvious, lightning stroked down from the sky and hit their upraised palms and in unison they unleashed a storm of death on the cultists of the Black Sun. In a brief flash and instant the small army was now so much crumbling blackened ash.
The pair rode down into the midst of the remaining cultists. Their blades cut many down before they realized what was happening. Mariana rode past Enid, Enid stopped by the massive pyre they were using to burn the bodies. She reached out her hand, invoking the ancient words again, the fire sucked into a glowing ball in her hand hovering above it, a group of cultists were fleeing ahead of her and she throw the fire into the air in an arch the explosion scorched the ground, there were only parts of the cultists left. The ones that were lucky enough to be outside of the immediate impact were smashed together as the fire incinerated the air. There was a giant crack as air came rushing in to fill the void. Enid’s horse reared at the noise, well trained as it was, she pulled the reins hard and pressed her knees together. And forced her mental will on it. The slaves who were to be sacrificed were running every which way in terror.
Stories would later say that Pluto came out of the earth on the back of a flaming horse, and Jupiter flew the sky on a horse of lightning. The pair slew the heathens of the camp. Others would say two angels arrived from the heavens and smote the unbelievers. In either case when the dawn came not a single slave was dead and every servant of the Black Sun had perished.
The grim work done Enid and Mariana rode like the wind towards the necropolis of Rome. Where a Legion awaited. When they arrived, Enid looked to Mariana after they hopped off their horse.
“Mariana, why do you call the Black Legion a Legion? Its only a thousand men.”
“When we enter Hade’s realm you will see. For every man here, I have ten on the other side, loyal to the glory of Rome even after death.”
Enid’s eyes went wide.
“I will need you to step back, once we are through the battle will be on the legion, yourself and Lucius, opening a rift this size will weaken me substantially.”
Enid stepped back Mariana signaled her men to do the same. Enid took her place at Lucius’s side.
“I take it the battle went in our favor?”
“We had the storm’s help.”
Enid pointed at the sky. Lucius nodded.
“Do we know what to expect on the other side?”
“For the legion to be outnumbered ten to one. Mariana is confident in their strength though.”
“How are we getting out if she dies?”
Enid shrugged.
“I honestly think she hasn’t planned that far ahead.”
“Not like her.”
“No, it’s not, something has her agitated, and I cannot see the other side of this battle.”
“Does it matter as long as we’re together my love?”
Enid took Lucius’s offered hand and squeezed.
“That is all that matters husband.”
The pair shielded their eyes as a Mariana’s very being flashed with the power, she was calling up from the earth beneath her. A crackling purple lighting arched along her body the ground began to shake. A vortex of lighting swirled around her and she reached her arms to her side extending her fingers. Her voice was echoed by a thousand others. The lightning arced from arms crackling in the air a brief instant and then reality was torn asunder by the force of her will. Inside Enid and Lucius could see row upon row of legionnaire who stomped their feet and stood at attention swords held aloft at the sight of their General. Mariana walked through the breach. Enid and Lucius hesitated for a moment before moving forward. The legion behind them showed no hesitation they marched straight into the underworld after their immortal General. The gateway crackled behind them but did not vanish.
“Black Legion, I address you who would serve Rome onto death and beyond. This night we will stop the Black Sun, we will tear him down, tear his army down and we will be victorious for if we are not Rome will fall with the rising dawn.”
A roar erupted from the legion as swords slammed on shields.
“Grey legion you will guard this portal with your very souls not one soul makes it through.”
Half of the legion of ghostly soldiers smacked their shields holding aloft their tattered banners and standards.
“Black Legion we shall take the battle to the Black Sun. For Rome!”
“For Rome!”
Ten thousand voices joined her chorus. Mariana stood beside her brother and sister.
“If things go wrong you must make it to the rift as soon as possible, it will stay open if I die, but not for long. I did not exaggerate if we fail here, everything we know is doomed. You must warn father if we fail.”
The legion marched to the ghostly version of the pit they had wiped out earlier. Long rows of slaves with chains around their necks marched steadily forward. The army they had fought as living breathing humans now stood black wisps of energy leaking off of them. Enid looked to Mariana who answered without looking at her.
“Not unexpected.”
“You mean we have to kill them again?”
Mariana nodded. Enid shrugged and drew Bloodseeker, she could feel its eagerness to get on with this battle. It was almost too eager, and it scared her. Mariana looked to her brother and sister held her sword up for what seemed like an eternity as the Black Sun’s armies charged at them then she brought it down and in a deafening voice yelled.
“Charge!”
Her eager army road down the two slopes mowing down the charging ghosts. When the reached the bottom, the battle began in earnest. Mariana leaped down into the pit, Enid and Lucius followed. A ghostly shape with human form and crackling purple lightning arcing through it stood twenty feet tall at the center of the pit.
“If it isn’t the spawn of my old rival come to stop me too late.”
“I’d like to say just in time.”
Lucius grinned at his wife’s jibe. Enid held up Bloodseeker who was thirsting to bite into this foe with more lust than she’d ever felt from it. The creature recoiled away from the blade. It hissed.
“No! I destroyed that vile thing.”
“That would explain why it wants to eat you so badly.”
The Black Sun started moving its arms in an intricate pattern, it’s voice mimicking the words spoken by Mariana and Enid when casting their respective spells. Mariana leaped through at him sword drawn and buried her blade in his thigh. Enid and Lucius leapt to follow but were blown back by a wall of ghost stuff and purple lightning. The picked themselves up. Enid cursed.
“Damnit Mariana, you should have waited for us.”
“No help for it now my love, that battle is hers and we have ours.”
Lucius pointed to the Black Legion, it was steadily losing ground from the overwhelming forces of the Black Sun.
“You take the left and I take the right?”
Lucius nodded and kissed Enid.
“Come back to me my love.”
“Always.”
Lucius winked then charged into battle. Enid was just as eager to see this done and started slicing her way through souls. Bloodseeker was in a feeding frenzy the touch of the blade was devouring the remnants of the souls it struck. It started to glow purple. Enid slowed time around her with her blood and sped herself up. Bloodseeker refreshed her with the energy it devoured. It drove her forward mercilessly and Enid didn’t resist. The souls she was fighting began to show fear and flee from her in terror, right into the waiting blades of the remaining Black Legion. She looked to the right something felt wrong. She saw Lucius getting overwhelmed and fell. Enid screamed out. And charged drawing power from Bloodseeker a ball of purple lightning formed in her hand and she reached out to the closing forces of the Black Sun who were about to end her husband’s life. The lightning arced through them their souls bursting into black wisps of energy and evaporating. She stood above her fallen love Bloodseeker in both hands. The souls before her hadn’t tasted it bite yet, but they would.
She began cut all comes down, using the energy from Bloodseeker who gave it willingly to destroy more of them. She was a rage of purple lightning and black blade across the battlefield. An unstoppable force of destruction and she did not stop until every last soul who had dared try to injure her husband was disintegrated. The Black Legion on this side had been wiped out. A battle still raged on the other side of the pit. Neither side was gaining ground. Enid picked up Lucius and put him over shoulder putting his unconscious form behind one of the alters. She stood up and then was blasted back by a surge of energy. It was so strong that the armies that still clashed were blown down as well.
Enid picked herself up and looked at the source of the blast and saw Mariana laying unconscious at the ghostly feet of the Black Sun. His form looked like it had been disrupted purple gouts of energy were erupting from numerous wounds. It looked weakened and Enid didn’t hesitate she called on every drop of blood she had to move fast enough to catch it by surprise she jumped up on an alter as part of her charge and leaped through the air holding Bloodseeker in two hands she brought it down in the spot to looked to be the Black Sun’s heart, where purple light pulsed inside. The Black Sun began to disintegrate from the blade of Bloodseeker outwards. Its dying words were unintelligible. Enid landed on her knee as she passed through the miasma that remained. She held her chest. She felt her heart break suddenly. And felt Lucius slipping away.
“No!”
Enid spun and rushed to where he lay. His body was there, but she felt no trace of their bond from it. She could still feel him, but he was distant. She scooped him up. She ran towards the center of the pit and the remainder of the Black Legion. The souls in her way parted driven away by the threat of utter destruction Bloodseeker represented.
“Father will know how to fix this.”
The Black Legion now had their backs to their General they had formed a circle, even with Enid’s fury they were outnumbered. Amara knelt beside Mariana’s body.
“She still lives, but she is weak. We must get out of here.”
“How we’re outnumbered, and the portal will close soon, we can’t leave the Black Legion trapped here like this.”
“This was the plan; They had no intention of leaving. They knew the sacrifice coming her would mean. Mariana knew we would be outnumbered. We will send the Grey Legion to reinforce them.”
“But they’ll starve.”
“Sometimes sacrifices must be made.”
“You always were heartless.”
“I understand the cost of war, you don’t yet, but you will one day.”
“Give Lucius to me, I will carry them, you make a path with that sword of yours.”
Enid gave Lucius to Amara with a bit of hesitance. Then the pair stormed through the souls who scrambled to escape Enid’s blade.
*****
“This crime cannot go unanswered Sextus!”
Sextus sat amid the Imperial council. Among them Lucius and Enid. They surrounded Mariana’s sleeping form.
“She cannot be judged without being able to defend herself.”
“You cannot wake her she is too dangerous. She ripped a hole into the land of the dead herself! She could kill us all.”
“With your cursed magic.”
If you raise a finger to harm her that cursed magic will burn you to ash Kapitos.
Enid glared at the councilors who were trying to have her sister executed for saving the world. The arguing continued. Enid tried to take Lucius’s hand who swatted it away in annoyance. She recoiled him like he had slapped her. Angered she slammed her fists on the marble slab her sister rested on causing a large portion of it to shatter. The fires surround them flared and intensified.
“I will not let you do this; Try to execute her I fucking dare you.”
“Silence woman, know your place.”
Lucius’s voice spoke the words and it was like he stabbed Enid through the heart. Enid’s eyes flashed with Rage and she felt firm hands grab her shoulders. The strength was such she couldn’t escape and she looked back to see her father holding her still.
“Calm yourself Enid, the law was broken, no matter the reason we must hash this out it applies to all equally, or to none.”
Enid struggled for a few more seconds. Sextus looked at his son speaking with a firm voice.
“Respect must be maintained in this council chamber, even if she is your wife. You should know your place.”
“Enid if I let you go will you cease breaking things?”
“Yes, father.”
Enid spit the words out. Sextus released her and returned to his spot at the head of the council.
“Our law states that all are due a trial by their peers and a right to speak in their own defense. We cannot execute her without waking her up.”
“Let’s call a vote on it.”
“There will be no vote she will be woken up and we will have a trial.”
“No, we won’t wake her up. There will be a vote, as crown prince I will call it if you don’t have the courage to do what needs to be done.”
There were nods and cries of agreement from the council and Sextus frowned.
“Very well, that is your right.”
“All in favor of waking her for trial. State your vote.”
Only Sextus and Enid raised their hand. Enid tried to raise Lucius who slapped her in the face now, Enid raised her fist. Sextus shook his head.
“She’s your sister!”
“She broke the law and is a threat, she must be dealt with now. If you keep this up we’ll declare you complicit and put you on trial.”
“Silence!”
Sextus’s booming voice cowed the assembled council.
“You have violated the sanctity of this council chamber with violence! You are ejected Lucius!”
“You know he was going to back our vote, so you’re getting rid of him? Nice application of justice old man.”
Enid glared at Kapitos. The man had always listened to his fear.
“And what of you Kapitos, what if you break the law, would you like a trial? This sets a precedent where we can just skip one for those, we consider too dangerous. What about the rest of you cowards? As a Seer I will be happy with those changes. Especially with you lot.”
The assembled council pondered Enid’s words and Sextus silenced everyone again.
“All in favor of executing Mariana state your vote.”
Lucius raised his hand, Kapitos, and four other counselors. Sextus’s brother abstained.
“Execute her now.”
“No, she will die with dignity. Amara!”
Amara entered the chambers. Sextus met her gaze and there was a pause.
“Please see to it that Mariana is beheaded and placed in the family crypt. With all her belongings.”
Amara bowed and moved towards Mariana’s sleeping form. Enid lost it at those words. Her fingers clinched and she leaped forward pushing Amara back.
“You were like her second mother! Don’t you touch her! I will kill you Amara, I swear to the Gods I will end you.”
Enid’s words cut into Amara deeply, she could tell by the look in her eyes.
“Please move out of my way Your Highness, the Emperor has spoken.”
Lucius grabbed Enid who struggled violently against him. He whispered in her ear.
“I told you to learn your place woman, behave or I will make you.”
Enid’s eyes went wide, and she struggled even harder. Kicking Lucius in the knee then striking him in the face and between the legs and stomping on his chest. When she looked into his eyes there was nothing of the man she’d fallen in love with and married. Another councilor tried to grab her. She threw him into a wall shattering the marble.
“Enid calm yourself!”
“No, I will not calm myself, I’m going kill every fucking one of you who voted to kill my sister. Starting with that thing!”
She pointed at Lucius who was on the ground his spine snapped.
“Enid you don’t know what you’re saying you’re just suffering from grief.”
“That thing is not my Lucius!”
Sextus moved with such speed that none in the room could perceive it and pieced Enid’s chest with a stake. Enid lay there paralyzed with her eyes open watching Amara carry her sister away she was screaming in her mind.
“We should execute her as well! She assaulted the crown prince!”
“You will respect your crown princess, or I will execute you Kapitos, you’ve already taken one of my children this night, do you care to try to make it a second?”
The emperor’s piercing gaze cowed the councilor. Tears welled in Sextus’s eyes.
“This session is over; Someone tend to my son, while I tend to my last daughter.”
*****
“They killed her just like that?”
Enid was standing by now fists clenched. Even now she wanted to punch something.
“Yes.”
“Was Lucius always like that?”
“No, he never once talked down to me or treated me lesser then him. I do not know what injury changed him, but I feel nothing for him except hatred.”
“Well, they do say that the quickest way to have someone hate you to is to have them fall in love with you.”
Enid chuckled.
“Stronger the love, stronger the hate.”
“Did you kill the council that voted to execute your sister?”
“Not yet. As soon as father is gone though I’ll be Empress and then I will watch Bloodseeker devour each and every single one of them.”
“Who will be empress after you?”
“You, I assume.”
“If you do not become Empress, and I do, I will execute them on your behalf.”
“Well, maybe I didn’t go all wrong when raising you.”
“They were quick to kill someone who saved their lives, how long before you or I are the target if they think they can get power?”
“Another reason they need to go. Lucius is probably not pleased with my taking his place, but father knows he’s changed too. He is not he son he knew. He told me as much just before I left Rome.”
“You left Rome?”
“After the fire and mother being murdered. There was nothing left for me. My children took their families elsewhere. Lucius betrayed me. Mother was the only reason I stayed as long as I did. Also, the council were so paranoid about me killing them they had started sending assassins.”
Enid interlaced her fingers. She looked over the sea.
“So, by mother you’re talking about Aurelia?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know what happened to Morag?”
“No. I never saw her again after she left the village.”
“Where did you go after Rome?”
Enid wrapped her slender fingers over the rough stone of the sea wall. She smiled slightly at the memory.
“Oh, that is a much longer story kid.”
“Looks like it was a good memory.”
Enid would be blushing were she alive.
“You could say I had fun.”
Eyre leaned on her palms, elbows on the wall.
“Are you going to tell me about it or just keep fantasizing. I need details.”
“By the gods, I’m your mother.”
“So?”
Enid shook her head and motioned to the horizon.
“Tomorrow, the sun is coming up.”