Mack and Deliliah turned to look around the space, there were still a few marks of battle here and there including dark splotches on the ground where something had been rapidly decayed into nothingness. Ianna stared at the spots, sensing the death energy that still lingered in them and pressed her lips together, trying not to think too hard about the pain she’d experienced each time that mechanical monstrosity had exterminated her. Mack was the first to turn back, “So you awoke here?”
“Yep,” Ianna said, patting the sarcophagus, “Just got done telling the others, but long story short, messy ritual hijinks dropped me smack dab in the middle of the continent. Only decent corpse for miles was the one in this here box,” she said and tilted her head, “Remember that labyrinthian queen I told you guys about back at the palace?”
They looked at one another for several seconds, Delilah was the first to piece it together with a look of growing horror on her face. She swallowed and pointed at the sarcophagus, “It was in there, wasn’t it? Her body?”
Mack went pale and Ianna shrugged, “Yep,” she sighed, “Gave me some benefits, and drawbacks,” she mumbled the last part, “Like… I don’t get a whole lot of experience points,” she sighed, “I’m at my level and I was rocking a fifty percent penalty for forever. I’d be a much higher level now if it weren’t for that.”
“Woah,” Mack gasped, jumping to his feet, “That’s not a bad thing, you know?”
“Huh?” Ianna asked, tilting her head.
“Some skills and abilities are easier to train when you’re a lower level, your body starts to adjust to what you’re good at and you specialize. That's what we learned in Katal. Your slow start might have really helped you out,” he explained, counting on his fingers, “The first ten levels are crucial for a foundation.”
She pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows. “Huh! I hadn’t noticed,” she glanced back at the sarcophagus, “I guess thanks are in order you wicked old bitch, not that you can hear me,” she laughed and sighed before turning back to them. “She tried to possess me for a while. Wasn’t fun. Kept saying dearie all the time,” she wrinkled her nose.
Miranda snickered, “It was… an unusual personality trait.”
“I got better!” Ianna laughed.
“What happened to her?” Delilah asked, looking a little captivated by all she was learning. To her side, Azrael winced and cleared her throat, Miranda shifted in her seat and looked away as well. Ianna frowned and stared at Delilah for a moment to the point that the young woman shrank a bit in her seat on the floor, “D-did I say something wrong?”
Ianna let out a breath, “No, I just…” she sighed and scratched the back of her head, “Look, I was in a bad place at the time and I was in a hurry. Osan was under attack and I needed to get back to help them. That and I really… really hated that woman for everything she was trying to do to my mind. She made me so reckless I was borderline suicidal,” she explained, running her hands over the surface of the sarcophagus and tapping her nails against it. She collected her thoughts, “We fought in my soul space.”
“Soul space?”
“Where you go when you level up,” Ianna said, “They told you about attributes but didn’t explain where you were going when you bumped up, crazy,” she shook her head, “We fought, I won, I could have spared her and let her move on into the afterlife,” she paused, “I didn’t.”
“I’m sorry?” Delilah blurted, “What does that mean?”
Ianna gave her a deadpan stare, “I destroyed her soul, obliterated it, annihilated it, ripped it from the mortal cycle to never return in any form, not even as a bug,” she said, her tone going cold as she examined her fingers, curled like claws, “I enjoyed it too,” she snarled, “I was punished for doing it, the gods, admins, whatever they are, one of them made me pay a steep price for it,” she bit out before exhaling and hopping off the sarcophagus. “So yeah! Not a good day,” she said merrily even as the atmosphere in the room went south real fast, she paid it no mind, walking past them to get some distance and catch her breath. She could hear her blood in her ears just remembering it, the rage boiling inside of her just waiting to be unleashed.
“Do you regret it?” Mack asked into the deafening silence.
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She turned to him, “She basically created the cycle that brought us here and damned a people to an eternity of torment and endless death,” she said, “No, not in the least,” she met Azrael’s gaze and her sister nodded to her in grim agreement. “She deserved it. My only regret was that I didn’t drag it out a bit longer,” she said before leaning against a pillar, Nephral darting to her side to rub against her leg. She slid down and pulled him into her lap, scratching behind his ears and resting her face against his warm fur. “Thanks buddy.”
He purred noisily in response and curled his tail around her arm as she sat in silence for a while. The others did as well for a bit before going about setting up a camp for the night. Azrael ended up being the one to talk to Mack, Ianna was not in the mood anymore.
“Mack, I heard about your maneuver against the madcaller,” she began and he frowned.
“Not my proudest moment,” he said, “Though I did manage to kill it, I’ve almost leveled up again!” he added brightly.
“Well that’s good, but let’s talk about it,” she waved a hand, “You realize we had to carry you here, right? We also had to use finite resources to heal you.”
He frowned, “Ah,” he said thoughtfully.
“It wasn’t a bad move!” She said, holding up her hands, “Heat against wightlings works! It really does! But that explosion almost cost you your life, you would have respawned back at Katal, saved you the trip but you’d have lost out on experience. Worse, you’d be alone after having left for a long period,” she added, “On top of that, I understand that heroes have limited lives even if you get one when you level up. That’s not something to waste like that.”
Mack crossed his legs and looked at his feet, his brows furrowed.
“What I’m getting at is that your instincts are good, you need to figure out a way to use those skills of yours without getting yourself hurt in the process,” she finished, reaching forward to pat his leg. “You’ll do well, that new Aspect is really working out for you.”
He looked up at her and brightened, “Thanks general.”
She rubbed her neck, “Ah…” she looked awkwardly over at Ianna before clearing her throat, “Just… just call me Azrael, alright? It’s fine,” Mack smiled even brighter before glancing past her shoulder. His expression grew sheepish. Azrael frowned, “She’s grinning like an idiot, isn’t she?” she asked him, deadpan. He gave her an apologetic look and she rolled her eyes, “Get over yourself!” She shouted up to the ceiling.
“So cute! They’re growing on you!” Ianna called back.
Azrael hopped to her feet, “I’m gonna kick your ass!”
In a matter of seconds the two of them were tussling on the ground, wrestling back and forth while the other three watched. Delilah sipped at a canteen of water before holding it out to Miranda who took it and passed it to Mack. Miranda pulled a metal flask out of her own bag and sipped at it instead, she tilted it a little for Delilah to take a sniff while Azrael got Ianna in a headlock. “Say it! Say it!” She growled as Ianna reached up and gripped her arm only for Azrael to squeeze tighter. “Say it!”
“I miss my sisters all of a sudden,” Mack mumbled, sipping at the canteen again.
“You have siblings?” Miranda asked.
“Three,” he said, tilting his head, “I didn’t die well in my past life. I wonder how they’re doing.”
“Did you fucking bite me?!” Azrael shouted, rolling off of Ianna.
Ianna hopped to her feet grinning ear to ear, “Ha ha! All's fair in- OOPH!” Azrael tackled her back to the ground.
“I’m sure they’re fine, if they’re anything like you, they’re survivors,” Miranda said and pat him on the shoulder, she sipped at her liquor again and squinted at the pair, “We really should break it up, shouldn’t we?” She grumbled.
“Yeah,” Delilah said, “It’s amazing to watch, though, no one would ever believe me if I told them.”
“The Great Demon Lord and her top General wrestling on the floor like children,” Mack agreed.
“Alright!” Miranda called, “Break it up! You’re noisy!” she shouted and waved a hand, a wall jutted from the ground between the two of them as they charged one another. In their furor they didn’t notice until they both slammed headlong into it. Miranda sighed and lowered the wall, “You two okay?”
“I’m alive!” Ianna called.
“Ouch… yeah I’m good,” Azrael grumbled before sitting up and grinning at her sister. Ianna grinned back and wiped a bit of blood off her lip, “Nice punch.”
Ianna beamed back at her, “That headlock was nasty.”
Miranda sighed and checked her flask again, “I’m gonna run out at this rate,” she mumbled.
That was when a wave of energy washed over the room, it wasn’t particularly strong, but everyone felt it. They all went quiet and glanced at one another. Ianna turned towards the sarcophagus and scowled, “I didn’t like that.”
“Was it related to her?” Azrael asked.
“No, but it was definitely labyrinthian, got a taste to it,” Ianna murmured before starting towards the sarcophagus, “I thought I killed this place,” she growled.
“Braziers still work,” Miranda pointed out, “I think there might be something leftover.”
Ianna paused and tilted her head, “Or…” she grinned, “Something even better.”