Title:The Seventh Sacrifice
Author:superhackaninja5
Rating:T
Summary:see chapter one
Warnings:see chapter one
Standard disclaimer applies.
Italicized speech means another language
`...`means telepathy(communicating with minds)
" `blah..blah"means prophetic speech
Wow I am so sorry for not updating in like a year!It's just I have been so busy with my horrible health and school and extracurriculars and then working on my other stories. Well at least I finally started this.
Chapter 3:The Tomb
I never did get another good night's sleep after I discovered that my powers were strongest while I was unconscious-but tonight, tonight was different. This dream was different:this dream was about my comrades. This vision was about me.
I saw myself, and the other six, all grouped together in a large, round, windowless room. There was a clear divide, though;the fourth and the fifth were still clad in their uniform heavy black cloaks, while the rest of us were in tattered grey jumpsuits, bound in chains from head to foot.
"This is the end, Hiwatari;the end for you and all of your kind."
For the first time, I saw the face of the last member of our little band of misfits. The stranger was taller than me with gleaming violet eyes and violently bright crimson hair that hung in two thin strands that shadowed his forehead. At the top of his head, the hair culminated into almost horn-like shapes, making him look almost frighteningly similar to a demon.
In the very centre of the room, there was a wooden block that looked uncannily like a guillotine-with a razor-sharp, silver blade that shone menacingly in the lack of light. Seeing that reminded me of what the Aquaron had said to challenge us during the battle in the Umortis' fortress. He told us to prove that we were worth sacrificing-and from the looks of things, this was a sacrifice.
Torches suddenly blazed to life all around the room, showing the bulky, hooded figure, standing atop the bronze raised platform at the front of the underground chamber. It was the man I assumed was the leader of the Umortis;the one who had been at the fortress and who obviously knew the Necromancer.
I could just barely make out his face from beneath that heavy leather hood and what I saw there was definitely not human. Not that any of us were, but he was the only one who looked like something else.
Though I couldn't see his eyes, what little I could see of his face was bloodless and pale and made up entirely of sharp angles and jutting bones. His chin was abnormally large and pointed out like it was swollen to its size, instead of being natural-and then there was his smile;it was scary wide and showed unnaturally long teeth that looked more like a shark's than a human's.
When he opened his mouth to speak, the voice that issued out of it was strangely familiar. It was unnaturally frigid-and Russian, just like mine.
"You were never meant to make it to the finish line. None of you were. This was always your destiny;to die at the hands of the very ones who you were created to fight. "
We were beckoned, one by one, toward the executioner's block while the blade was sharpened against a dark grey whetstone. It looked like this was going to happen in order, because Ray was the first in line.
He stepped forward with his head held defiantly high;Ray Kon, still trying to act brave to his very last breath. His head was forced roughly down into the slot beneath the silver guillotine, his head falling around him like a disarrayed, dark waterfall. The Umortis leader came to stand in front of him, next to the faceless executioner.
"This is going to be the fate of every last one of the Seven-and I won't rest until all of your blood stains the rim of this blade."he declared icily, a flash of purest crimson creeping out from underneath his hood.
The blade began to lower slowly. Ray's face showed nothing of the fear he should be feeling;his face was the last thing I saw before there was an almighty crash and then everything went black.
My eyelids flew open rapidly and I shot up as I had been electrocuted, hand shooting forward, only to grab a handful of air. I blinked, looking around in an effort to get my bearings.
That was how all of my visions had always ended;every time I had woken up from one of them, it would always take me a minute to remember that they hadn't happened yet, that they weren't the present, that they weren't reality. Or, at least, not quite yet. I exhaled slowly, wiping a drop of sweat off of my brow.
That had been one of the most real-seeming visions I'd ever had-and not only because it was also one of the most disheartening. I'd seen loads of deaths before, but never ones of people I actually knew and was close to. Seeing Ray's was about as far from cheering as can get.
The aforementioned Shielder was lying on the bed next to me, clad only in a pair of jeans and a loose-fitting t-shirt. The Necromancer had brought us to a concealed hideout that he'd been using for the last few days, offering us a place to sleep before we set out for this Reaper's tomb the next day.
He was slowly waking up, apparently roused by my abrupt rising. He sat up gradually, rubbing his eyes and turning his amber gaze on me.
"Let me guess:you had another vision?"he broke the tense silence knowingly, tentatively placing his hand on my right shoulder. A heavy sigh left my lips, but I had no choice but to admit it;after all, he knew the signs almost as well as I did. Sleeping next to me for the past several years had numbed him to the shock of it all.
He nodded his understanding carefully, pausing briefly before asking another question. "What was it about?" I pinched the bridge of my nose, eyes slipping shut while I debated whether or not I should really tell him what I had seen;I didn't want to worry him. Not after the day that we had had.
After a moment, I decided it was more prudent to tell him;he did deserve to know, after all. "I saw all of us dying,"I declared, reopening my eyes to meet his.
Ray blinked, expression turning faintly bemused. "Oh, is that all?"he replied dryly, rolling his topaz orbs expressively at my lackluster tone before adding, "Wait, all of us?Does that mean you saw who the second is as well?"
I inclined my head in an affirmative. "I did,"I admitted in an undertone, this time looking away from him so he wouldn't see the emotion breaking through my usual granite mask. "He's about my age, but I didn't see anything else. Besides that, all I saw was his hair colour."
"Well, that's not going to be of very much help,"I heard the Chinese male mutter beside me, letting out an exasperated breath. He rubbed his eyes, trying to clear the sleep from them. "What exactly did you see? How did we all end up dying?"
"We were being sacrificed,"I stated through clenched teeth, that last words leaving an unpleasant taste on my tongue. I took a second to regain my composure before elaborating; "All seven of us were in some underground chamber, waiting to be lead to the executioner's block,"
My companion appeared to consider that for a few moments. "I was the first to be sacrificed, wasn't I?"he guessed flatly, no longer meeting my eyes but ducking his head so his bangs shielded them. I gave a non-committal shrug and he scowled darkly. "That can't be right."
"My visions have never been wrong before,"I pointed out matter-of-factly, folding my arms. Ray set his jaw in a familiar determined expression, "Well, there's always a first time for everything,"
We were interrupted at that moment by the sound of our door swinging open. We both fell silent, swiveling our heads around in that direction.
Rider was standing in the doorway, the hood of his mottled green cloak half-shielding his olive-skinned face from view. "Time to go,"his Japanese accent broke the questioning silence blandly as Ray and I both arched our eyebrows at him. He looked directly at me when he finished his sentence, "The tomb is where all of our powers originated. The Reaper created us all, and I think it's time we found out why,"
In the lands of the lost, the demon slumbers. The great Rider, known only as Death, waits for his seven new souls;appeasement had never been this complicated.
Their mission is to rip us all to pieces. This is what the Seven were truly meant for;complete and utter annihilation
"The Seven really think they're meant to save the world from some great evil, when really, they are the only evil that the world needs protecting from,"the leader of the Umortis declared with a sneer, eyes glinting malevolently beneath his dark hood.
In one of the many rooms of his fortress, he was surrounded by what was left of his followers, including the Aquaron and the Telekinetic. They were, every one of them, cloaked to hide their faces;the fourth was in dark red, the fifth in pale blue and all of the rest in black leather. Cumulatively, they made a rather imposing group.
The marble floor was stained with the remnants of their previous battle. Blood streaked the dark stone like splattered paint, giving the fortress a decidedly macabre touch.
There was a brief silence during which his soldiers contemplated what he had said. They knew this already;this was what they had gathered for. The silence lasted for about a minute, and then, one of the other concealed members spoke up. "You sent the seventh his warning." It wasn't really a question.
Their leader inclined his head in an affirmative. "He knows that he and his friends can't win, especially not with the sixth as their guide. He's already failed once to save what matters most to him;it's practically guaranteed that he will make the same mistake again,"he stated with what sounded oddly like glee;he should have been stating the obvious. Every person in the room knew exactly what he was talking about-well, except for the traitors, of course.
The male at his right, the Aquaron was the next one to break the silence. "What of the second? Our scouts have made no further progress in locating him and as long as he is waging his own war against us, we have no chance of capturing the others,"he quipped dully, feigning disinterest;he knew if he showed concern, there would be consequences.
Their nameless leader turned back toward him, bloodless mouth compressed into an inscrutable line, while the rest of his face remained hidden. It wouldn't do for anyone, even his followers, to have knowledge of his identity just yet.
"Well, then I suggest you increase your efforts toward the search,"he intoned dangerously, "Because if he and the Seventh meet before we've managed to turn him, our entire plan will be completely derailed,"
"Don't even worry about a thing, Master,"the maroon-cloaked Telekinetic spoke up confidently, showing his vaguely pointed teeth, "We'll make sure that that doesn't happen,""See that you do,"the elder male reiterated firmly in a tone that left no room for argument, staring holes in his subordinate's head.
The two bowed their hooded heads in acquiescence before disappearing to complete their allotted task. They were on a very tight schedule.
The Necromancer lead them out of the hideout where they had temporarily taken refuge and into the wilderness surrounding it. He stopped where the tree cover was densest and turned around to face his three companions.
"I chose this place as my base for a reason,"he spoke matter-of-factly, locking eyes with the dual-haired Intuitionist as if trying to convince him that he was being truthful. He waited until it became clear he had the bluenette's full attention before continuing.
"This forest was where I first found out about my powers-because, you see, these woods are also a burial ground," His eyes slid shut and he raised his gloved hands. Then, the ground began to tremble beneath their feet.
Robert and Ray both narrowed their eyes while Kai retained an air of almost frightening calm. The tremble escalated into a rippling fissure that split the mossy terrain in half.
Clouds of smoke and dirt blew up around them and the smell of soil filled the air. The fissure grew larger and larger until it formed a rather large trench behind the apparently unfazed Necromancer.
Oddly, the trees remained inert and weren't dislodged. And when all of the debris cleared and the shaking came to a halt, a twisting marble staircase appeared inside the gaping fissure, spiralling under the ground into blackness.
The eldest of his three allies scrutinized the entrance to the underground cavern critically. "Don't tell me,"he said with ill-concealed exasperation, "We're going in there?"
Kyoya shrugged his slim shoulders. "Unfortunately, that is where the tomb is. And we need to know exactly what we're dealing with here,"he reasoned flatly, turning around and beckoning for the others to follow him. "Besides, nothing can harm you down there-not as long as I'm here. After all, places of death are where my powers are strongest."he added as he descended the marble steps, disappearing gradually into the dark.
Robert made to follow him, but Kai unexpectedly pushed past him and took up the lead. "Kai, what-?"he started to ask, a confused expression crossing his pale face, but the Russian male was gone before he had a chance to finish, causing him to frown.
He cast a searching look over his shoulder at Ray, but the Chinese male appeared just as baffled as he was, if not more. "What do you think that was about?"he quipped, knowing Ray probably didn't have an answer.
Just as he'd expected, the blacknette couldn't do anything but shake his head, clearly at a loss. "I don't have a clue,"he admitted with obvious frustration. He set his jaw, "But I intend to find out,"He raised his chin determinedly and stalled after Kai and Kyoya into the lightless catacomb.
Robert stared after him with a raised violet eyebrow, wondering what the hell had suddenly gotten into his friends. Ray and Kai had never been the most functional of couples, but they'd never acted quite like this before.
Inhaling deeply, he composed to himself to go after his companions. He needed to get to the bottom of not only their situation, but also of his two comrades's strange shift in comportment.
The four powers traversed the ancient staircase, each one of them noticing as they did so that it was getting steadily darker and darker the further down they descended. Kyoya was, of course, the first to reach the bottom;the second his foot touched a flat surface he presumed was the floor, he stopped, casting his haze around to see if he could make anything out through the gloom.
Since he was in a place of death, his powers were strengthened-and that includes his not-usually-necessary night vision ability. Using it, he was able to peer through the darkness and make out a corridor that he knew would lead to their destination. He realized, though, that his followers were going to need some form of illumination in order to see.
"Hiwatari,"he called over his shoulder, his voice echoing eerily off of the stone walls. He waited until he heard the familiar "hn" response before voicing his idea. "You were able to conjure fire during the battle with the Umortis;perhaps you'll be able to do so again to light the way for you and your friends?"he suggested offhandedly, knowing the Russian would never back down from a challenge.
The dual-haired teen shot the Necromancer a dark look out of the corner of his eye. He had never conjured fire before that battle;for all he knew, that had been a one-time fluke and he would never be able to do it again.
A corner of his mouth lifted slightly. Then again, there was no harm in trying...
He raised one of his hands in front of him and opened it so that his palm was facing upwards. Exhaling softly, he attempted to clear his mind and visualize a flame filling his open hand.
He hadn't thought it would work;he'd never done anything like this before. Yet somehow, it did work;his hand started to heat up and then suddenly, there was a ball of orange fire resting on top of it.
He blinked, hardly daring to believe his eyes. Alerted by the unexpected blast of light, his comrades were having a similar reaction.
Ray, his boyfriend, was wide-eyed and awed. "How did you do that?"he wondered in a stunned tone, unable to tear his amber gaze away from the ball of fire.
The Intuitionist didn't know what to tell him. He didn't know how he'd done it;he just had.
He shook his head, unwilling to show his puzzlement. "Never mind that,"he waved away the question and pointed at the now-visible tunnel in front of them, "We have more important things to worry about,"
Not giving anyone a chance to pry any further, he took up the lead and started toward the narrow passageway with deliberate speed.
The others fell into step behind him, walking down the curving corridor with only Kai's fire to light the way. He lead them into the centre of the catacombs, uttering not a single word the entire journey.
The deeper they ventured, the more Kai began to feel an increasing sense of foreboding. Something was calling out to him, something dark. And he wasn't so sure he could ignore it.
When they reached the end of the tunnel, they were able to see why it was called the Reaper's tomb. The corpse that lay atop the obsidian casket was holding an iron scythe in its skeletal hand.
Kyoya made his way to the front of the queue, shooting Kai a swift, searching look before breaking the silence once again. "This is where all of our powers came from,"he declared in barely above a whisper, running a gloved finger over the edge of the casket behind him. He waved a hand in the direction of the surrounding walls, which were covered in swirling archaic sigils. "And these writings tell the story of our creation."
The Intuitionist came to stand next to him, the fire in his hand sputtering out as his hand retreated into the pocket of his trench coat. His amethyst eyes scanned the walls analytically, attempting to detect the language the symbols adorning them originated from.
Though he didn't manage to figure that out, he did discover something else. "I can read these,"he realized with a jolt, unaware that he had spoken aloud.
Kyoya's aquamarine orbs narrowed when he heard those words. To his knowledge, he should have been the only one with the ability to read those sigils.
"What do you mean you can read them?"he queried suspiciously, crossing his arms over his chest. Kai answered without looking at me, "I mean, I've never seen this language before in my life, but I can read what's written ere as easily as if it were English,"
"What does it say, Kai?"Ray spoke up from his back, the tension in his voice painfully obvious. Robert said nothing, but his mahogany orbs were boring holes in the back of Kai's head.
The bluenette inhaled sharply before reading the inscriptions to them. "When death and darkness fall across the land, seven great men shall be born by creation's hand. The first, with the power to conceal his form;the second, to change shape into a wolf, as is the norm. The third, to look into another's mind;the fourth, to control the wind and the tides. The fifth, to move with only a breath;the sixth, ultimate domain over the realms of death. And finally, the seventh will have the power to look beyond time itself, into outcomes of which, perhaps, he will not be fond. Though they have been brought to weather the hail, they will die and, in the end, inevitably fail."
Silence rang out after that;the four males were all too shocked to speak. This was definitely not what any of them had expected to find here.
Ray swallowed and finally worked up the nerve to ask, "Does it say anything else? Like about the Umortis?" Kai sighed and replied in as even a tone as he could muster, "It lists our names and it calls us the Seven Sacrifices."
He gritted his teeth as he inwardly seethed. So the Aquaron had been right;they really were meant to be sacrifices. But that also begged the question:what were they being sacrificed for?
It started as a barely perceptible whisper inside his head, so faint that he thought he was imagining it at first. Then it grew steadilylouder and louder until he couldn't ignore it anymore and had to listen.
Being a Telepath and all, he was used to hearing voices inside his head, but usually they were familiar ones. This time, though, it was a voice that he had never heard before speaking to him in his mind.
A low, gravelly Russian accent filled his ears,speaking as if to a very slow child(m2bi) "You don't know me, Robert Jurgen, but I know you-and I know your friends,"
There was a brief pause during which Robert tried in vain to block out those suspicious words and go back to sleep, but to no avail. The voice continued a second later, still in that same deliberate tone.
"I'm leaving it up to you to deliver this warning;the Umortis are not the true enemy. The greatest evil lies within your ranks."
THE END. Lol, I wrote this entire thing on my ipod pretty much. That was good times. I'll try not to wait like a year and a half before another chapter. Kudos to anyone who is still reading this.
