*******************
Virgil 'Wraith' Boone
"You did what?"
My teeth nearly shatter against each other as I force out a slight whisper to Autumn's admission of guilt. The woman kneels and begs for an apology as Blodwyn sleeps just a few feet away. The Arca is like a child, unable to do anything but eat, cry, or grow frustrated when awake. Only the Arca packs a serious punch, capable of shattering steel with his grip alone. I have to be supremely cautious with him. Even more so that I am with my little sister.
Nevertheless, Autumn answers my question, and I do all I can not to explode in furious darkness. Meanwhile, tears splatter against the ground from her eyes in a flood. The master of water seems to be able to cry more than others.
"I... I couldn't bring myself to reveal Ryder's weaknesses. I'm sorry. I—I'm so sorry. He's my brother... He was dying, and the only way he could survive was with the Blooming Spider Lily. I didn't know what to choose. The man who has saved my life many times or the twin I grew up with. So... I was frozen and chose neither. I didn't help Ryder, but I didn't tell you guys either. I'm... sorry. I—"
I glance over at Blodwyn, wielding Wyatt's face as they peacefully sleep. A part of me is wrathful at what she did—hiding away two very transparent weaknesses of Ryder. The man couldn't even see out of the corner of his eyes. Does she know how easily I could have won that fight in that case?! It'd have been over in two seconds or less.
No... I need to calm down.
Speak first, think after. Focus on questions. Calm ones.
"You were twins?"
Autumn nods as she gets up from her kneeling position, falling onto her butt. Her dark blue hair is frazzled and all over the place from her panicked declaration. I can't hold it against her too severely.
She told us. We won. And...
"Yes. We share both the same mother and father. Shared. We were unlike any of our father's other children. We both specialized in liquid water as well. However, he branched out into blood for his 6th Sigil while I stayed with pure water."
Families are my weak point. Or, more specifically, my family. Even still, I understand. If I was forced to choose between Wyatt and one of my brothers or sisters, even if they ended up like Ryder did...
I don't think I could field an answer.
I think I might freeze as well.
"Enough. I do not forgive you. Even if none of us died... I will remember this. But... it is not my forgiveness you should care about. You will have to ask for Wyatt's forgiveness when he awakes. For now... let me find Abraham. I need someone to watch over Blodwyn. I obviously cannot trust you to this for an extended period of time."
Autumn raises an eyebrow at me curiously while her face shows the hurt she feels. She stands to follow me with a question.
"Why do you need him to watch Blodwyn?"
I point to the unconscious figure in our shared room. Blodwyn is snoring, but even still, I can feel the reverberations of the might within that form. Two Angels. Three if you count the Lily.
"I can't be falling behind. I need to go and find my own wings."
My thoughts are identical to my words as I turn the doorknob, but I stop at the doorway. I pivot back to her, finding something she can do for now. I can trust her for this... most likely. I need to find out where Abraham ran off to.
"Watch him until I come back. If he wakes up, feed him, and do not stop feeding him food. If you do... Blodwyn will remember that Wyatt is asleep."
Autumn nods eagerly as if wanting to make up for her failures. I return the gesture and close the door. I hear a feeble sob from our room before I even reach ten steps away from the room.
I pause again but quickly return to my pace. I feel for her, honestly, but...
She did it to herself—her own overconfidence and arrogance. I did the same when I believed I could protect Vernon from the threats at Rustbank. I was wrong, and so was Autumn.
Overconfidence...
It is the bane of us all, while the lack of it shelves us to be nothing but mediocre.
My feet carry me to Abraham's room, the one he requested to be separate from us. I saw no reason to deny him his privacy, so I agreed back then. Yet, when I open the door, no one is there. All I find are several packs of tightly bound candles in the room.
I lift them and sniff the candles to find them with the scent of sulfur. Either he brought these underground, or... he prayed to the Devil with them in hand. And with this thick stench, it'd have to be many times. Sulfur only grows minorly with each prayer. Or... a massive one. Hmm...
Abraham...
What did you do?
I leave the room quickly, heading right to the innkeeper. I give the many only a moment to be aware of my presence before I begin grilling him.
"The pale man. Goes by Abraham. Perhaps something else. You know of him, yes?"
The innkeeper nods profusely, terrified by my appearance out of nowhere. I notice his hand stretch toward the gun he has under his desk while he meets his eyes with his guard.
"No. Tell me where he went or if you heard anything lately about him. You keepers hear an awful lot, don't you?"
I slide the man some coin while simultaneously clamping down on his gun with a Nightwhip. The keeper looks me in the eyes and answers slowly, obviously attempting not to stutter in fear—something he quickly fails in the endeavor for.
"I—I saw him head toward Scoesden across the street! He hasn't left yet! The windows are clear, and Scome only has one exit! He's there!"
I nod to him, sliding across thirty more dollars worth of coins. Then, I Flicker away, reappearing inside the inn across the street.
"You should've gone further, Abraham, if you were doing something like this. Who knows what that bastard will do."
I mutter under my breath, but I smell sulfur the instant I enter the walls of the building. Sighing, I walk along the rooms, searching for where the smell is the strongest. At this intensity... he'd be found out in hours by a Hunter within the Territories. Here? I'm not sure. Surely, Maddox would take it as a threat, though. Still... it could not have been a simple prayer.
Striding forward, I waft a scent of sulfur with a hint of flame. There. Turning, I find a locked door. With only a heft of my mind, I'm on the other side, a little more Ether locked in my veins.
And it's here that I realize something awful must have occurred. A bowl is filled with blood with slight waves to my footsteps while two candles are about to burn themselves dry beside it. Atop that bowl is a balancing beam of wood.
Yet, there is no alabaster-haired man in the room. Scuffed footprints end at the center of the candles. It doesn't seem as though they ever left the central location, either. The footprints are... a single set, and they never turned around. No signs of jumping are here, either. Only... falling?
I have enough faith in my tracking skills to know that something happened to him.
I've never seen Devil worship like this before. I knew Abraham's mother had faith in the God from his own telling of it, but I didn't know he followed her in it. I thought that necklace was as he said it was. The last thing he had of her.
Dammit, Abraham.
What did you make a deal for?
I'll have to speak to Maddox shortly. He has an Augur beneath him skilled enough to find nearly anything upon the surface. Before that... I'll have to be worthy of dealing with.
Seems I'll have to leave Blodwyn to Autumn a little longer. Do I trust her that much?
No.
Hmm...
I'll have to wait, then. Surely, Johnny isn't too far, right? He did promise Bonfire to meet him here, after all.
*************
Wyatt Graves
I awaken on a bed of red spider lilies, their petals stretching endlessly in all directions. The flowers surround me in a sea of crimson, their vibrancy contrasting with the darkness that cloaks the landscape. The familiarity breeds a sigh of relief from me, but the situation still causes me worry.
My heart beats faster at the memories of what happened recently, but even still, my tiredness lingers. Usually, a single wave of adrenaline removes any sleepiness I have, but not this time.
Struggling against the remnants of sleep, I rise to my feet by pushing my hands off the ground. The ground beneath is a soft bed of petals, their delicate touch betraying the unsettling nature of how I got here. A sudden headache and then blackness?
Not mention... I don't see or hear Lily anywhere.
The pitch-black river flows nearby, devoid of any reflection under the moonless night sky, just as always. The Cardinal, regardless of the world's conditions, courses like normal.
Confusion clouds my mind as I gaze around, searching for any sign of Lily. Yet I find none. I am left stranded amidst an infinite field of red blooms.
"Lily! Lily!? You here!?"
I call out to her as loudly as I can manage from my lungs. Still, there is no reply. My eyes shift across the river, finding not even the hard to discern figure of my father.
So, instead, I step away from the riverbank, heading deeper into the sea of lilies. The ramshackle cabin that Lily lived in with my father is out there somewhere. It's the only place she can be.
I'll head there for now. If Lily is not there...
Then I don't know what to do.
I navigate through the sea of petals without much other choice, each step accompanied by a soft crunch underfoot. For many steps, I wonder if Lily can feel it whenever I step on these flowers, but I don't linger on that thought for very long. Instead, I consider the fact that I am now an Angel.
Not that I've been awake enough to feel it. I wonder... Why did I fall asleep? Oh, right... Didn't Kate go into a slumber after she advanced? I don't know how long she was asleep or if she still is stuck in that hibernation.
I can't help but feel excited, even with all the grimness and severity lately. I'm so close. Only a few more Sigils, right? Even now... I should be strong en—
No. I don't think I'll ever be strong enough until others treat me as they do to Desolation. A walking cataclysm. Only with that level of power will people leave me and mine alone. And I won't be like Vincent. I'll help those who need it. Because if I don't, then... what is the point? Power exists to be used, not exploited.
My thoughts continue as I walk, but I gradually fall into a sense of boredom, simply watching the lilies pass by. I don't remember the walk being this long. Perhaps it felt shorter with Lily by my side.
After what feels like an eternity, I stumble upon the cabin. It stands as a fractured refuge, its windows shattered and door broken, yet it resonates with a strange sense of familiarity. I guide my feet forward as I stride towards the dilapidated structure. I pause at the threshold for a second, gazing inside.
My attention ignores all the scattered and broken things, focusing on the monument at the front of it all, directly beyond me. Lily is here, yet not.
The worktable holds disassembled parts of a revolver, its intricate design adorned with an inlay of endless red spider lilies. Memories flood in as I step into the cabin, reaching for the parts. My hands freeze partway as I notice the notebook beside the segments of Lily.
I pause, unsure of which to look at first, but my curiosity overwhelms me in only a few moments. She can wait a few minutes, right? Who knows how long I was asleep, anyway?
I open the pages and scour the words of the books, practically inhaling the wisdom of my father. I stop to understand what he is saying several times, but my eyes never leave the page.
It has been a while since I wrote the previous words for you to find here. This is not a live message. I wrote this the moment I had a minute of reprieve. I am still alive, though, for how long is unknown. The Weirs have never treated the Gods well, let alone a man such as me. Gradually, my body falls apart faster than I can repair it.
Yet, it is both my folly and that of the deals I have been forced into.
But you are not here to read about my time. You have been unconscious for... a month and a half. Not bad. Some are longer. Some are shorter.
At that time, I peered closely into Lily, discovering the way forward and the paths that are open to her as of now.
She is incredible, far more so than my Datura.
The little girl has watched you for so long she has grown envious of life. Eh... perhaps that is an inadequate term. She wants to join you more than she has in the past. Unlike humans and most other creatures, artifacts are not nearly as limited when it comes to their Powers, Virtues, and Dominions. The soul of an Arca is moldable and without much structure. They can shift them with enough desire so that they are precisely what they want and need when they form. We are alike to them in a way, just not as easily manipulated.
Remember that. It will be vital in the coming days.
Lily will follow you from now on. Whenever you pull that trigger, an avatar will manifest. I'm not sure for how long or with what abilities, but I know it will be substantial. It will be connected directly to the Cardinal, after all.
I think Echo is an apt name for it. The echo of a falling lily upon a river, swaying along the current. It brings comfort merely to imagine.
I must say, though, I am proud. When I discovered you underwent Artifiction, I was worried. Truly. Yet, you have joined the many who came before us. For centuries, not a single one of us who has lived to adulthood has not gained their wings. Many... many think otherwise, but adulthood for a Graves is different. It is not based on age but instead on achievement. Your first Sigil makes you an adult, just as it did for me.
Congratulations for joining us.
But prepare yourself. You might have passed the greater length of the road, but it will only become steeper. It will become so impossible to climb that there will be nothing to grip onto but thin air.
I do not know how Vincent managed it. I simply did as I promised many years ago. Perhaps I'll find him when he begins his descent and ask him. It has been a long while since we spoke. Almost as long since I've seen you.
Enough of storytime.
Rebuild her. She is ready.
And before your heart twinges, I do not need saving. I know your thoughts better than you do. Do not come for me. I wish this Hell upon no one but those who can destroy it once and for all. If you are to walk unto these Weirs with anything less than a Dominion, you will fall, powerless to the tide.
For the way forward, for her 9th Sigil, she must devour the souls of two beings who possess Dominions. Whether they have eight or nine does not matter. They must only bear a Dominion.
The words end abruptly without a goodbye. For a few sentences there, it almost seemed like Killian Graves cared about his son beyond what he could do for this world. How much of that I believe though...
I would like to believe he cares for me. It's not an easy task to do, though.
A smile does grace my lips, however, even at the near-insurmountable task ahead of me. Lily won't have to be as alone anymore. Whenever I fire the Colt, she'll appear.
Not to mention, I'm confident she'll be an irreplaceable asset in a fight. With actual limbs and who knows what abilities, she'll be able to do some serious work after some practice.
The only issue is that to practice, we either have to waste a bullet she's built up or consume my lifespan.
My eyes turn to the table once more, and I move my hands to rebuild her as my father asks. However, As I do so, an even greater grin wrestles onto me.
Six. She has six bullets.
There are six individual rounds, wrought with the intricate red lines of the lilies she's known for, lined evenly on the far side of her parts. When Lily advances, it appears that she builds up quite the store of her Power.
Seems we'll get some of that practice in after all. Though, I'll want to save at least half those bullets for anything else.
My fingers close carefully and meaningfully as I rebuild the Blooming Spider Lily. Pieces easily fall into place without even the slightest error. I've taken care of enough guns in my life that it's no issue at all. Plus, I made sure to pay close attention the first time I did this.
I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last.
But as I finish the reconstruction with the barrel, my attention falls to the fact that Killian said I have been asleep for a month and a half. Why so long? What's happened in my absence?
A month isn't very long, but my unconsciousness was very sudden.
I wonder... is Blodwyn asleep, too?
"Hey! Hey! Hey!"
I turn right to find Lily standing beside me. But unlike before, she isn't wearing the tattered and rough clothes of a peasant. Instead, Lily has a long, flowing dress nearly touching the floor with crisscrossing lines of darkness, reminiscent of the Cardinal. It's far better than what she used to have. Just as she grows stronger, so does her manifestation in this world of hers.
"Hey. How are you feeling?"
Lily practically ignores my question and throws herself at me, hugging me tightly as her red eyes and sharp teeth bear at me with raised cheeks.
"Great! I feel amazing, even if it took you forever! Oh, that was... harsh. Thank you! Thank you! Now I can follow you! Even if only for a little while."
I return the smile and pat her head. The tightness of her grip threatens to break my spine, but I don't think about that and instead embrace her. She's... incredibly joyful despite the bizarreness surrounding her like all other artifacts.
Lily fits in the slight valley of being uncanny and being wholly human. And I can't help but want to protect that grin, even if it's filled with fangs.
I wonder...
Is this what it's like to have a sister?
I think I can understand why Virgil is so protective now.