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Vexilla Regis Prodeunt Inferni
just another dead reptile
The Cast...
RUIN... Mulciber
HATE... Avery
MADNESS... Evan Rosier
OPPRESSION... Wilkes
The Arrival
Four ominous jets of thick black smoke rocket past the storefronts of a crowded London shopping center, all aiming to converge at the same point. Many people stop to watch, wondering if it's some kind of very strange lights show - while a small handful recognize with jolts of horror what is about to happen.
Just before they meet in the middle of the most heavily trafficked part of the building, the inky torpedoes suddenly drop and collide with the ground. The billowing smoke becomes four people, dressed all in black from head to toe - black masks, black cloaks, black robes, black gloves, boots, everything. No one moves or speaks for a moment. The curious crowd, whose instinct to panic has not fully set in yet, regards the four strangers:
The first is a man with dark, malevolent eyes and muscles that bulge even under his cloak.
The second speaks to the first in a woman's voice, one that's full of hatred, saying something about 'filthy muggles'.
The third is very tall and has a strange symbol painted in gold on his forehead. He stares silently with hypnotic pale-blue eyes.
The fourth, and also the shortest, has a more refined, aristocratic posture and a slightly more detached look than the others.
Silence.
Then the colored lights start flying, and the screaming starts. Blood slicks the floor, enough that a girl slips and is trampled by the crowd of people trying to get out of the way. There are blinding flashes of a sickly green light and a rushing sound, and each time someone falls and doesn't get up again. A red electric-like tendril explodes from a wand, connects to an old man, and he begins screaming as if knives are being pushed through every inch of his body. Something explodes, violently, eliciting cheers and congratulations among the assailants as a portion of the ceiling caves in.
The scene has, in moments, descended into absolute chaos; people are trampling each other, shoving each other out of the way, parents are abandoning their children, lovers leaving each other to die. An armed guard rushes to the rescue, but before he can even take aim he's vomiting black blood under a large potted plant, his weapon forgotten, while the attackers split up.
The malevolent man wanders off on his own, blasting apart everything he lays eyes upon, collapsing entire stores onto those taking refuge inside.
The hateful woman heads in the opposite direction, dragging people - particularly children - out of their hiding places to detonate their bellies or melt their faces off.
The tall man drifts away like a will-o-the-wisp, leaving an unpredictable and utterly obscene trail of death in his wake.
The shorter man has already disappeared from view, but he's still around: in the very eye of the storm, a glassy-eyed mother is strangling her five-year-old son while the outline of a man watches.
The banners of the King of Hell advance.
Review, please.
Lord Voldemort would probably not take too kindly to his Death Eaters wearing their uniforms when they're not on official missions for him. Hence, the black hoods instead of white masks. The title of this story is a Latin phrase. It means something like (my Latin is not very good, sorry) "The Banners of the King of Hell Advance", the last line of the chapter. And as for the cast... you'll meet them soon enough. Update comes in three days.