Athelei and Aria were standing on Lady Karire's chair in the lady's study. In front of them lay a thick grimoire opened to a blank page. The grimoire looked like any mundane object, its pages were a little rough, its covers were a little damaged, and the marks of writing lay behind the previous pages.
Athelei glanced at Aria and saw that she too had glanced at him at the same time. They both shrugged before looking at the book again,
"Uh, Young Lady Aria," Athelei leaned forward to grab a small needle he noticed lying precariously on the desk.
"This might hurt, okay?" He gently said and received a nod in reply.
Aria stretched her hand out for Athelei to grasp.
Athelei held the soft, fragile hand in his own dainty palms. He held the strangely hot needle in his other hand and in the blink of an eye, a blob of red appeared on one of Aria's fingers.
"Ah," Aria softly yelped as Athelei guided her finger to drip her blood onto the blank page.
D r i p
Athelei watched as the droplet of crimson stained the page and spread into a little blotch. He nodded to himself as he pricked his own finger and allowed another drop of blood to fall.
D r i p
Two splotches of blood looked like a pair of lonely planets on the light brown page. Athelei drew a simple Mystic Pattern that served as some sort of password. Milky white light trailed from his fingertips to depict the two ears of a rabbit, one straight and the other slightly bent.
The white pattern lingered in the air for a moment before Athelei swiped down and sent the Mystic Pattern into the grimoire.
A warm glow began to emanate from the two crimson stains and Athelei and Aria suddenly felt a wave of power wash over them. It was a gentle caress, just like a breeze during spring. It wafted over their skin and made their hair flutter as it draped Lady Karire's entire study in a lively light.
Athelei blinked and he noticed that a Mystic Pattern circle had manifested above the grimoire. It was like a campfire, lighting up the room and bringing warmth.
The room was aglow with reds, oranges, and yellows while a faint hum of energy churned.
"We should be safe now," Athelei gave words of encouragement to Aria as they sat down in Lady Karire's chair. The two of them fit into one comfy seat with room to spare.
"When will my parents come home?" Aria asked as she fidgeted where she sat, "Are they going to be okay?"
Athelei rested his head on the soft backrest as he shrugged, "They will come home eventually, Young Lady Aria."
He paused as he drew the symbol for Libra, "As for their safety, we can only pray that they return alive."
"...Oh, then let's pray for them to come home soon. Is that okay?"
Athelei nodded, "That should be fine, Young Lady Aria. I'll lead, so just follow after me."
Hypnotic chants then echoed out from two squeaky, innocent voices for a few minutes. A soft hum had followed right after, leading into an atmosphere of comfiness. Without her noticing it, Aria had been lulled to sleep by her own voice and the hums of the young boy beside her.
Athelei too, fell asleep, allowing a grey fog to spread throughout the room.
He could sense the presence of eleven Nightwalkers lying right outside. They were doing something weird to the barrier that divided them from the children. Because of that, drool had constantly been threatening to drip from Athelei's mouth the whole time he sat beside Aria.
'Ah,' Athelei sighed in ecstasy, 'The smell of full consciousnesses... I can taste the flavours... I can hear the songs of their screams...'
Memories of a burning house, three charred corpses, and the smiles of those who loved him flashed in his mind, "More vengeance for me..."
The cackles of a hungering predator rang noiselessly while a grey fog began seeping through the cracks in Lady Karire's defensive measures.
A sinister crystalline sheen gleamed like clear ice among that grey fog. The Nefarious Icon hadn't seen action in a long time.
Another opportunity for it to shine had come.
.
.
.
"You... the One-eyed Harbinger...?" A young woman's melodic voice flowed despite the ragged breaths that occurred in-between her words, "Why are you... here...? Who... hired you?"
The only thing that answered this youthful lass was a deadly flash of light heading straight for her throat.
The lady's eyes shrank as she dove to her side in an attempt to dodge. The deadly light whistled past her neck, but a knee had planted itself into her chest.
Crack!
A rib was broken, and the lady clawed the next few attacks away from her vitals. It made her nails bleed as a small knife kept gunning to draw blood from her arteries. Fighting back seemed impossible with the flurry of well-placed strikes that kept flashing into existence.
It made the young woman feel sick as more nicks and slashes appeared all over her body.
"Answer me! You monster! Say something!" The young woman wailed as tears welled from her eyes.
She had not expected an intruder at this moment in time. All of her comrades were fast asleep, executing missions and causing havoc. The few of the crew who were usually awake were already lying lifelessly here and there. Blood poured from different places on their bodies, creating rivers of blood that coursed across the black night oak.
Fwhip!
A dull pain assaulted the young lady's right shoulder, and she reeled back in pain. Her footsteps were badly placed as her body swayed back and forth. Her vision was hazy from the blood loss.
She could vaguely see a limb lying on the ground in front of her. The sleeve on the arm looked familiar... it matched the clothes she was wearing...
'Is that... is that my arm...?' Horror filled the young lady's expression as she spat blood from her bleeding gums.
"Mission completed," A raspy yet eerily calm voice rang in her ears like a bolt of lightning from the blue.
"May you enjoy the rest of your evening, Madame Claire. My employer wishes you the best."
"You shit-licking sadist, how can your employer wish me the best? Huh? Does that even make sense!? Put my arm back, damn it!" Claire let out a hate-filled roar, but her voice cracked more than a few times due to her weakness.
"My employer says it is best that you return to her. She says she misses you."
Gusche flicked a card towards Claire, and it embedded itself in her flesh.
"Ergo, stop messing around with the Illum Spiritualists. There is no hope for them no matter how hard they fight."
"What a load of garbage," Claire spat as she watched her scarred enemy slowly step into the veil of darkness and fog.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Madame Claire. If you need me, just call." Gusche's calm, monotonous voice echoed throughout the ship, "I will be taking my leave here. Goodbye."
A burst of manic laughter uncharacteristic of the calculative Gusche suddenly shook the air. It laughed endlessly as it gradually faded. After a while, it sounded like the owner of those laughs was drowning at the same time. Gurgled giggles haunted Claire's ears as she desperately stopped the bleeding in her arm.
When the laughs no longer scratched at her eardrums, she fainted where she lay.
.
.
.
"Oh... Apple," The cold voice of Lady Karire sounded in Apple's ears as the man stepped onto a dimly lit rooftop.
"You look horrible, Kar." Apple grunted as he threw his sinister bone dagger into a wooden beam, "Where's Xiu?"
"My husband should be dealing with the undead... And you have no right to say that I look horrible, you rascal." Lady Karire threw a bottle of clean water at Apple, "Your little brother is here again, isn't he? What are the Exiled really after?"
"Knowing my brother... he wishes for verification... And what he calls the Oxhorian Spawn is going to give him that." Apple said before downing the entire bottle's contents in three seconds.
"The Oxhorian Spawn... The natives who live beneath the earth... Why is Illum going after them too?"
"That, I don't know. All I know is that those fog-faced bastards who blow themselves up are called Nightwalkers. And they have connections to the Illum Spiritualists... But that's what that traitor told me. Trusting his words is a double-edged sword."
Lady Karire could only sigh when she connected the dots, "Nightwalkers... No wonder there seemed to be a conflict of interests back at the God's Altar... Illum is a country filled with crazy people."
It was then that Lady Karire saw a wisp of light travelling towards her and landing on her forehead. It then transmitted a vision depicting an image of two children dripping their blood onto the page of a book. Worry welled from the depths of Karire's heart, 'My grimoire... Is Aria in danger?'
ROAAAAAAAR!
Unfortunately, she was in no place to worry, for there was another beast rapidly rising for the waters. A horrific amount of teeth was illuminated by the small torch by Lady Karire's side, and its roar made the torch's flames quiver.
"...At least let me rest!" Lady Karire boomed as she willed another Mystic Pattern circle to life. Lightning lit up the surroundings and paralysed whatever beast had appeared before her.
Boom!
A blazing fist then blasted the beast's scales, sending it far, far away. A gaping hole could be seen in its electrified body.
'I hope Aria is safe.' Lady Karire thought to herself as she stood up to resume battling once more. She still had a city to protect and a fate to fight against.
"I won't hold a funeral for you if you die here, old friend." Lady Karire grimly said but her words only brought about a few chuckles from Apple,
"Me? Die? Maybe in your next life."