Mendacium Speculorum
Chapter 1: Forced
The witches of the Senate were growing impatient.
They were unusually very anxious and impatient for their own good that day, being witches who were constantly bored for the rest of their eternal lives. Although there were grandiose preparations for the Senate's most important discussion of the century, the witches could do nothing but wait and squirm about in their seats as they were supposed to remain seated until the most powerful witch in the universe has arrived in the meeting hall. The demons who served them didn't know what to do really, for the witches seemed too restless to be served properly with all the sudden happenings that they themselves proposed to carry out. There were witches of all ages, ranging from a few years old to expanded centuries until they themselves had lost count. Most witches had their Readers standing by their side, but some didn't even earn them yet and some just preferred to read their games themselves. One hundred out of one hundred and one were present. For short, the witches of the Senate were very slothful, greedy, pretentious, childish, twisted and most of all, rather jumpy at these types of situations.
Thing is, this time, they weren't any of those attributes although they were gossiping with their mouths full of half-chewed cake and confectioneries.
"When is Aurora coming?" a witch whispered to another who seemed to be shorter and younger than her by a few decades, childlike even. "She's usually never this late."
"I don't know. This is the first time that she's been this late. It's been ten minutes since the scheduled time, and she's not here yet," the witch responded, playing her hair with her fingers and yawned as she beckoned to her Reader. "Reader. What time is it now?"
The Reader checked her watch and replied, "Ten thirty, postmeridian, milady."
Another witch sighed. "It was supposed to start at ten twenty. Can anyone control time here? Is anyone the witch of time or anything here?"
"Perish the thought. No one can control time no matter how much we try."
"True. All we can do is wait for her until we grow older than we already are!"
The rest of the witches couldn't help but wait for the witch as they resigned themselves to the usual tea and confectioneries, and it was such a pain to act civil! Only certain witches could pull it off splendidly, but to the rest, it was simply too hard! They could've done all sorts of things while waiting for her, such as playing games with their Readers, spilling tea on other witches as revenge for past games and so on, so forth. Some of the witches at the left table spoke with each other amiably, but there were a few witches who preferred to stay as civil as they are instead of shifting and squirming in their seats like they had withdrawal symptoms.
Notably the 34th witch of the Senate, Lady Lambdadelta, the Witch of Certainty.
Lambdadelta did have many witches and humans who feared and respected her due to her powers affiliating with universal human (and witch) nature, which earned her a place in the Senate of Witches (or the Witch Council as they simplified it). Wearing the customary grey gown that each member of the Senate of Witches must wear during important discussions, Lambdadelta merely peered over the 33 witches before her as she glanced at the exit without a word. Two tables full of witches (50 of them at each table and the high podium at the far center was for the long awaited witch) faced each other, from the first member to the one hundredth.
"The most powerful witch in the universe, Lady Featherine Augustus Aurora, Witch of Theatregoing, Spectating and Drama has arrived!" a demon announced.
And at last, the hall fell quiet as the doors opened to welcome the arrival of the most powerful witch in the universe, Lady Featherine Augustus Aurora.
The witches stood up in respect as the illustrious witch placidly walked on the red carpet of the meeting hall to her seat at the podium at the far center. Unlike the formal grey gowns the witches wore, she wore her usual pink kimono-like gown with an array of colored sashes below it. Her green sash, hung on her shoulder never ceased to boast to the world about her achievements by the medallion she had strapped on the sash itself. Featherine's long, ebony hair just flowed as she walked, her cane supporting her as she walked although most witches thought that it was mainly for show. And she wore that same condescending, empowering smile on her face as she graced the hall with her appearance, overwhelming most Readers with her presence alone.
She did say she was an old, old witch, but they thought she was cruelly mocking them for being much, much older than her.
Oh, how they hated her.
"Please be seated. The Senate of Witches will commence its seven hundred and eighty-first discussion!" And they sat.
Featherine then took a few papers in her hands, arranged them and cleared her throat a bit before speaking to the council. The rest of the witches did as well, and noticing the displeased expressions on their faces, Featherine couldn't help but giggle as she thought them rather amusing to see at the dead of the night. Opening her mouth to speak, she found herself giggling again with callous amusement, much to the annoyance of the other witches.
"I'm terribly sorry for my tardiness today," she began with a smile. "I had some matters to take care of before I came here, so please forgive me if I had...offended any of you in the Senate of Witches at this hour."
The 97th ranked witch in the council spoke immediately in an indignant tone. "Was it that important, Lady Aurora, that you forgot to bring your Reader?"
"Lady Lucinda!" a witch gasped, rather shocked at the rudeness of the young witch towards Featherine, followed by many others.
Featherine looked around with a surprised expression, left and right as if to humor the young witch. "Oh. It seems that I didn't bring her today. Oh my. Thank you for pointing it out, Lady Lucinda. Though it wouldn't be possible to bring my miko to the council due to my matters being attended to earlier. Oh well."
The witches from both tables ended up whispering to one another, wondering what did Featherine mean by that. Lady Lucinda shot Featherine a questioning look, deeming it safe to ask the benevolent witch the question that was on every witch's minds. "What...do you mean by that?"
"Let's get to business, shall we?" Featherine spoke, completely ignoring Lady Lucinda's question and got out the papers and her quill. "We are quite late due to my tardiness, so I will try to finish this up quickly for all of you who graciously decided to attend this important discussion. As you all have been notified, the purpose of this discussion is to select a new, suitable witch in the council to replace me as the most powerful witch in the universe, to which I have consented due to my being bored of the position after holding it for centuries on end.
Lady Lucinda scowled at the word 'bored', thinking it was another way of displaying how arrogant Featherine could possibly be. The rest of the witches took out their papers and quills, ready to write down their opinions. Lambdadelta, who apparently forgot to bring her ink bottle to the discussion, tapped on the shoulder of a witch beside her to lend her some ink to use. The witch lent it to her without complaint, seeing that Lambdadelta was a rank higher than her, and the fact that Lambdadelta asked in a kind manner for it.
"Oh, you don't need to write anything for the time being," the Witch of Drama spoke. "In fact, my matters did tie heavily with today's discussion, and as I have been tasked to prepare the game against my as-of-yet chosen opponent, I regret to say that I have, in human terms...slipped up."
The entire council fell silent. "Slipped up?" the silver haired witch who sat at the right long table questioned.
Featherine nodded. "Sadly. Let's just say that I have...disgraced myself by committing a Logic Error as well."
"WHAT?" Lady Lucinda slammed her hands on the table, resisting against the pulls and shushes of the witches who tried to get her to calm down. "You dare march in here to start the meeting when you have committed a Logic Error that you have stalled to complete? And what are you even doing here if you have committed a Logic Error? You should be rotting in your Logic Error, the one that you shouldn't have made because you are the most powerful witch in the- ack!"
Lady Lucinda was harshly pushed down by the two witches beside her, berating her to shut up if she doesn't want to land herself in trouble.
"And as for the reason why I'm still here today, it's because I have put my miko in charge of fixing up the Logic Error for me."
Many heads whipped up as the one hundred witches looked at Featherine with shocked expressions, horrified that Featherine would do such a thing to her cheerful Reader who came to her beck and call as far as they could remember her doing so. The young Reader with her gentle purple eyes and long, flowing blue hair always smiled when she resumed her work or read aloud Featherine's announcements to the council and out, and her fellow Readers nearly gasped at the mention of their associate being tasked the heavy burden of solving Featherine's Logic Error; the Logic Error that she purposely didn't want to solve by her own.
For short, that was the ultimate betrayal from a witch to her Reader. No witch would've imagined the audacity to even do so!
Simultaneously, Lambdadelta and a younger witch with silver hair who was seated at the right long table faced each other in shock, still rather taken aback at the tragically sudden news about Featherine Augustus Aurora's nameless Reader. The poor girl was about Lambdadelta's age, and Lambdadelta spoke to her on quite a few occasions, bought her some kimchi to eat as well when she ran an errand for her. Found her to be a rather nice girl, but to be subjected to that fate either meant that she did something terribly wrong, or it was on a whim. The Endless Witch, Beatrice spoke up, raising her hand slightly to indicate that she needed to speak.
"Please permit me to ask. Why, Lady Aurora?" the silver haired witch asked in a slightly worried tone.
The ebony-haired witch smiled as she wrote down something on her parchment paper before proceeding to answer. "Let me answer your question in reward of asking politely, Lady Beatrice. The game I have constructed for quite some time is mandatory for the duel that is about take place, which involves my opponent and I to see if she is worthy of my position. And it was deliberately on my part to add my miko into the mix to make it more interesting, don't you think?" The last part was addressed to the entire council as they witnessed Featherine Augustus Aurora's face contort into an unsettling smile of twisted amusement. "That should cover all your past questions, Lady Lucinda. Are you satisfied with the answers?"
The pink-haired witch could only stare at Featherine with her wide, shock-filled eyes. "Y-You MONSTER! Subjecting your Reader to such a fate- A-AH...ack...h-hah...!"
"Lady Lucinda, please compose yourself!" a witch spoke, not wanting her fellow witch to be subjected to any form of punishment for talking back to Featherine, but it was too late. Lady Lucinda suddenly found her neck constricting by itself, choking the witch mercilessly as she struggled for breath, flailing her arms everywhere as she struggled to take hold of something to keep her standing. Unfortunately, Lady Lucinda ended up being nearly choked to death; saliva pooled from her mouth to her chin and neck, her eyes rolled back and her tears completely destroyed that haughty look on her face. Lady Lucinda slumped on the table, trying to recover her breath as Featherine revoked the magic constricting her, still smiling that homicidal smile that only senile murderers would smile after stabbing and disemboweling their victims for more than they could remember.
"Thank you for understanding," the high witch smiled in an amused manner. As if she had made a boring statement, Featherine sighed dramatically as two demons and a witch helped Lady Lucinda out, exiting the meeting hall. The rest of the witches still wore horrified expressions on their faces, and a few Readers gripped onto the headboards of their masters's chairs in fear. Looking at her blank parchment paper, Lambdadelta put her quill back, passed the ink bottle back to its rightful owner and stayed quiet, reserving her thoughts to herself like she always did.
She decided that she didn't need the ink after all.
Featherine cleared her throat once more. "That aside for now. I have already chosen my opponent for this unusual yet entertaining game of mine, and when I call your name, please step forward and stand at the center of the hall so that everyone may see you." Picking up a scroll, she proceeded to name the person; her opponent for this game that will determine everything.
"Ranked 34th in the Senate of Witches, Lady Lambdadelta, Witch of Certainty."
Lambdadelta clicked her tongue, as if it wasn't anything new.
As Lambdadelta walked to the center, many witches eyed her as if they knew something might happen to the serious, stoic witch. She could feel the eyes of many rest upon her with mixed emotions, as if she was the main attraction of a carnival. There were mutters that were something like, 'The 34th? Oh, I don't think she'll survive...," "The 1st should be more suitable to go against Lady Aurora...," "W-Will she be okay?" and the like. Standing there, Lambdadelta paid no heed to anything else around her as she curtsied before the council, her expression unwavering as she conjured up a white glove; signifying that she accepted the magical challenge and duel Featherine Augustus Aurora had set. And as Featherine looked at her opponent with a gentle smile, Lambdadelta looked at her square in the eye, as if she had no regard for any consequence that might befall her or just didn't regard being indignant to the current most powerful witch in the universe. There was nothing to lose anyways; she lost much more before, what could Lambdadelta possibly lose in a duel like this?
"I, Lady Lambdadelta, the 34th Witch in the Senate of Witches, the Witch of Certainty, hereby accept the invitation to participate in your game," she spoke.
And as Lambdadelta spoke those very words, Featherine Augustus Aurora felt something very...foreign in her. Something that she hasn't felt for a very long time in her cycles of life and death. It was that euphoria when games started getting interesting, that sheer obsession when she gets hooked onto the game. And for some reason, Featherine felt that feeling all over again when she decided that Lambdadelta would be her opponent, which puzzled and delighted the Witch of Theatregoing at the same time. Oh, this would be interesting. Very interesting indeed. Such blank, yet determined amber eyes looked at her in such a delightfully indignant way.
Oho, and what's that? The eyes of a human reflected in a ranked witch?
No one would've guessed that about serious, stoic, no-nonsense Lady Lambdadelta at all.
But this would be interesting, and Featherine knew it.
After all, what better opponent to play with than an opponent who had been through a Logic Error like her stupid little miko?
"I do hope that you know what you are doing, Lambdadelta," Beatrice spoke, her eyelids not opening one bit, nor her serene aura wavering just a little.
"Your well-being is hanging on a balance at the moment, and as a fellow witch, I'm concerned about you." The meeting was dismissed, leaving the two acquaintances having a private discussion among themselves at one of the grand balconies of the council's towers. The long, silver haired witch had a certain symbol that looked like a single designated wing on her gown, something that never failed to leave her attires no matter what. The colour was very royal; gold in fact, and it looked most regal as Lambdadelta let a small smile grace her lips a little as she saw it.
"It's not like I wanted to be her opponent. And if I refuse or lose, I will-"
"Die. Or be humiliated before the court as a coward and then die. The rules must be adhered," Beatrice continued.
Beatrice so happened to be the only person Lambdadelta felt free to interact with as an acquaintance. It was as if Beatrice was the only sane witch there asides from her (oh, who was she kidding, Lambdadelta herself was a tad loony in her mind at times) in the entire council, and probably the only sensible one there. Although Beatrice was much younger and more inexperienced (in rankings) than her, Lambdadelta always found a mature, motherly air in her, as if she could be mistaken for a witch who had went through so much in her entire lifetime. But most of the witches knew that she still had a long way to go, and that Beatrice had still so much to learn in order to become a properly experienced witch in her own right.
"You never cease to have that symbol on, do you, Beatrice?" Lambdadelta spoke. "And you don't have to worry about me. I've been through worse things than what could possibly happen in the future. You should worry more for Aurora's Reader instead of me."
Beatrice shook her head. "It's not wrong for you to believe in justice, love and all that is good. Don't abandon them, Lambdadelta. I know that the Logic Error has been hard on you..."
"You don't," the blonde-haired witch bit her lip. "None of the witches in the council has ever experienced a Logic Error in their lives. It was a mistake on my part. I should've been more careful with my games, but at least it taught me to wake up from my delusions and the fairy tales I've indulged in."
"But Lambdadelta-"
"How's the little princess?" Lambdadelta cut her off immediately, not wanting to hear her friend speak any more about the subject. "Is she working hard to become a witch like you, or has she given up entirely just like the rest of the stubborn apprentices who simply refuse to go on if they can't manage one spell they can't master in a day?" As if she was miming the impression of Beatrice's young student (who was ecstatic on becoming a witch just like her beloved 'Teacher' after an incident involving a vase), Lambdadelta donned a whiny, childish voice and made her cheeks puff out as if she was a little child, exclaiming, "Teaaaacher! I wanna be a witch, just like you!"
The silver haired witch gently hit Lambdadelta's arm, as if to rebuke the higher-ranked witch. "Lambdadelta! That's not funny! And...she's doing well, it's just that she tends to play unlikely pranks on me on some occasions...Don't change the subject, Lambdadelta. You know that you have to know what I'm going to tell you!"
Lambdadelta quit her charade as soon as it started, and her expression went back to her normal, grim one. "You're really stubborn, aren't you, Beatrice? I guess I'll have to take it then. What is it that you want to tell me so badly?"
As if it was highly confidential, Beatrice pulled the more experienced witch closer to her and whispered in her ear.
"Lady Aurora is a dangerous opponent. Don't be broken."
Beatrice pulled away, looking at her friend sagely as Lambdadelta looked around to see if anyone was spying on them by chance. Even she herself couldn't tell due to the heavy aura of magic around the council tower, and Lambdadelta could only whisper her questions in the dead of the night.
"Someone could be watching us, is that right?"
"Yes," the silver-haired witch replied.
"What did that last sentence mean?"
"Don't ask what it means, but keep in mind that your virtues must stay with you. Don't throw them away. If you do, you'll be no different than Lady Featherine herself. The Logic Error you have experienced-"
"Don't mention that thing in front of me ever again," Lambdadelta cut her off harshly, hissing through her teeth. "Do you hear me? Never mention it now, or in the future. I don't want anyone to speak to me or ask me anything about it." Her tone sounded rather hurt, angered and venomous, as if she didn't want to remember and relive the same maddening events over again. It was a wonder Lambdadelta even stayed sane after her ordeal. Beatrice realized that it was heavily sensitive, and bowed her head apologetically before continuing.
"I'm sorry. I sense something's very wrong behind that exterior of hers, so as a friend," and with that, Beatrice took Lambdadelta's hands in hers, "I implore you to be careful."
Lambdadelta bit her lip, but mentally braced herself for the worst. She knew that Beatrice was right, and she hated to admit it.
She really hated to admit that a younger witch was right.
But she had no choice.
"...Alright then. I'll be careful. Thank you very much."
Little did she know that she would need more than her steely determination and her barely-mustered courage for this unlikely game.
A/N: Wanted to write something entirely different that even everyone seemed rather OOC around here, xDDDD.
This fic of mine serves as a blast of angsty writing that I actually suppressed for quite some time, so it's the main reason why I felt that my humor's slipping away, derp. If you're wondering to yourself; why is Lambda so...Bern-ish, xD. It's one of my weird imagination's concept for her to be sorta like that before Bern escaped her Logic Error and when she's battling with Featherine in the game Bern's trapped in~ And psst; the character who's named Beatrice in there is actually Virgilia, 'cause she's the current Endless Witch at the time, xD.
Hooooooo boy.
So I miiiight take another long hiatus on Rokkenjima Hotel for this fic for the time being uwwwooooo.
-myheart'sbreakingnooo-
And as usual, thanks for reading! :'D I no own Umineko.
-Densetsu-no-Maguro.