An Acolyte of Zero
Chapter Nine
Tarbes died in the night, drowned in blood and screams. The same principle applied to the mansion of Count Mott was applied to the biggest building of the village —a strange metallic warehouse, filled with some kind of long cross-shaped object.
The nearby family had actually hidden inside the warehouse, crying and praying for the 'Dragon' to awaken.
If the thing was supposed to do something, to be some sort of magical artefact, then it clearly didn't activate with the cries and the tears of children…or with their blood splattered on his belly.
Louise watched the zombies slowly stumble on their feet, their gaze vacant and their mouth open. Steelmourne was a Runeblade, and as all blades forged through the will of Ner'zhul, it stole souls. The corpses twitched and moved, obeying her will. They were slow, but unyielding. She spun her sword in the air, before giving a short order.
"To Tristania! We shall conquer the capital before the day breaks!"
To her scream of rage, the answer that came back was in the form of high-pitched screeches and moans. She ignored the fleeting feeling of having done wrong. Even as a zombified child stumbled on the ground and then began to walk on four legs, his bones starting to protrude…even as a pale skinned woman with her entrails out of her body wobbled forth…
Even then, she tried her hardest to ignore it.
Because, although slowed down considerably, her heart still had a beat.
Tristain Academy
"EMBRACE THE COLD!" the Frost Nova slammed into the body of the first brave student that tried to leave the academy's central tower by the main doors.
The brave ones that were close behind him died immediately, the frost uncaring of their skills or wits. The cold embraced all. It embraced the living and the dead, making one weak and the other uncaring. The cold winds of Northrend bellowed in her stomach for release, as her mouth opened to release a steady stream of condensed ice.
Her magic was there, strengthening with its triangle power her already considerable Lich ones.
She was faithful to Ner'zhul…to the Lich King, for the undeath was all she had dreamed of, all she had aspired to be…and all she had become.
"Is that princess Henrietta!? Oh Founder!" a girl screamed, and because it annoyed her, Henrietta slammed a bolt of frost through her chest, letting blood spray out as crimson snowflakes.
"All must bow beneath the Scourge!" she screamed, half crazed as she watched the Ghoul charge forward snarling. A wave of fire washed over them the moment they tried to enter the main hall, as a powerful gust of air and rock debris scattered their corpses away.
Headmaster Osmond and Professor Colbert walked outside, both wielding staves. Their looks were grime and stern, and as they entered the courtyard where the Princess stood, Henrietta hissed back.
"You owe fealty to me!" she screeched. "Your lives…are mine."
"No, my dear," Osmond replied kindly, his voice strained. "I can sense your spirit suffer beneath this dangerous grasp, but fear not," he added. "Your suffering will end soon."
"My life is sworn to the Lich King," Henrietta replied in a low hiss. "Your lives are sworn to me! Those who kneel hereby shall survive the night! Those of you who will renew their allegiance to the Lich King will see a bright new dawn beneath the banner of the Scourge! Those who refuse however…they shall be destroyed."
"What makes you think anyone would follow you, demon? You may wield the Princess' skin, but you are not her!" Colbert exclaimed as a massive jet of flames erupted from his staff, soaring in the air, as it turned blue from the heat.
A torrent of water materialized from Henrietta's palms, becoming azure as it sailed in the air to crash against the flames, emitting a wide berth of steam.
The Headmaster plunged his staff on the ground, bellowing a strong yell.
"Be gone! May you find peace in the embrace of the Founder!"
Jarred rocks ground out from the floor, slamming into Henrietta's chest that held no blood within. The princess gasped, gurgling as she tried to talk, if not for a spear of rock jabbed in her throat.
She grasped at it with her milky hands; pale and cadaveric as they were she still gripped tightly on the spear and pulled it out.
"YOU!" then the flame snake continued its path unstopped, burning Henrietta. In a show of light, her soul departed with a sickening scream as the ghouls around her scattered back, leaving through the gate in a disorderly fashion. They didn't make it far however, as Wardes burst forth with his wand shooting lightning from its tip.
Colbert exhaled; sweat fell down his brow, as he turned to the Headmaster. "Headmaster?"
"I am afraid the barrier is no longer a valid defence, if it can be breached this easily," Osmond remarked. "We must make haste to reach for the capital…have the carriages prepared, Colbert."
The Flame Snake nodded grimly, and then headed off.
"To think the Princess…" Wardes' words died in his mouth. "How did the barrier falter?"
"M-Malicorne is dead!" the exclamation caught the attention of everyone; Guiche trembled while taking careful steps forward. "The Water tower…it's encased in ice," he whispered then. "I…I saw it appear from nowhere and…"
"Indeed," Osmond's face was a grimace. "The Princess was a powerful water mage, and whatever sordid powers brought her back to become that…they must have changed her radically."
"Then, what of Louise?" Wardes asked. "If the Princess became that…what of her?"
"I fear Mademoiselle de la Vallière is beyond redemption at this point," Osmond whispered. "Further, if her words are true, then we must query whether the sacred text spoke of this…Scourge, before."
"A message to Romalia then?"
"Out of the question!" the Cardinal chose that moment to appear, his robes billowing behind him. "If the Pope knew of this, he'd order a holy crusade on our heads! We must solve this problem internally, before the news lapse outside our borders!"
Osmond gave one hard look at Cardinal Mazarin, and then slowly brought a hand to his beard. "When the Queen knows of the death of her only daughter, Cardinal…what do you think will happen?"
"She mustn't know," the Cardinal retorted hotly. "She can't be informed either!"
"So what do you hope for, Cardinal? What if another of those monstrosities arrives? What if a bigger army comes? Tristain can't face such a threat alone…"
Wardes remained quiet, but he did click his tongue to attract his griffon closer to him. The beast heard him even though he was far away, in the stables.
It arrived with a screech, flapping its powerful wings. "Well," the Captain of the Griffon Guards began. "My duty is to protect the royalty. I failed with the Princess…but I must attend to the Queen, and Cardinal…she will know, whether you think it is best or not. I swore fealty to her, after all."
With those words, the Griffon Knight took to the skies.
"We have to empty the vault," Osmond said then. "Professor Cambert? Take Miss Longueville and proceed to carry all the important and dangerous artefacts to a carriage."
Cambert, the lightning professor of the higher years, nodded stiffly. His pale blue hair was standing upwards, as if a thin veil of electricity currently surrounded him.
"Course, course…I'll do it soon!" he nodded vivaciously, before breaking into a quick run.
Osmond sighed. There was much to do, but one thing was clear in his mind: he would protect Tristain's future generations of nobles no matter the cost.
Tristania
The three Crypt Fiends neared all at the same time, their bulky masses uncaringly scratching against one another as they tried to bring their fangs to his flesh first. Mordeau was not in the habit of enjoying being the interest of gigantic spiders, and so fired a bullet in the mix of tangled undead limbs towards the closest of them.
He then slammed his shield against the hopefully 'dead' spider, using him as a shield of flesh while he escaped from the flanking attempt. The killed Crypt Fiend was riddled with acidic holes soon enough, as Mordeau jumped at the right time beyond it to let his warhammer come down crashing against the other spider's head.
The creature made a sickening sound like that of a squashed melon, as it fell on the ground. Mordeau brought his shield up, as a blob of green came for his face.
The sensation of the acid quickly devouring the steel spurred him into action, unbuckling the straps of the shield and dropping it. Wielding the warhammer with both hands, he charged ahead screaming.
Two clear gunshots echoed behind him, the product of a twin discharge of lead from Agnes —who now had two fuming pistols.
"I'm recharging!" she exclaimed, getting down on one knee as he closed the distance between them. Mordeau's warhammer swung against a Ghoul who had appeared from a corner, and smashes its ribs to paste as it then delivered a subsequent blow to the monster's head.
He heard the crackling sound of a musket going off, as a tall and blue haired musketeer appeared from a nearby window holding her own firearm.
"Captain!"
"Am I glad to see you, Danzika!" Agnes yelled back, as she finished priming her guns. "Let's go Mordeau, Danzika, can you reach us at the Church!?"
"Will do Captain!"
They broke into a mad run then, dashing along the cobblestone street towards the Church. The armour of Mordeau clanked, and its weight slowed him down, but he didn't stop. Sweat trickled down his brows and chin, his breathing grew ragged, but he wasn't about to let the Captain of the Musketeer guard slow down to wait for him.
They would be needed, both of them, to save the Queen.
Queen Marianne kneeled in front of the altar of the Founder's Holy Church. She prayed with her hands clasped together, her eyes shut close. She prayed for the safety of her people and of her daughter. She prayed for the Founder's Wrath to cease, for what else could this blight upon her land be, if not a sign of displeasure from God?
She knew she had been a weak Queen, leaving the Cardinal to act and guide along Henrietta's future rule.
Yet the death of Henry had caught her wholly unprepared, and she had grieved far longer than needed. Now, the country was crying out for salvation. The horrors were at the very doors of the city and—
A loud crash echoed through the church, making her turn to stare in wide horror as a giant six-legged spider walked inside.
"For Nerub," the spider hissed out with a throaty voice. "For the Scourge."
"Be gone!" she yelled back at the creature, pointing her wand at him. "Fool creature of hell! Demon conjured by heathens! This is holy ground! You cannot trespass in here!"
"Your Kingdom shall fall," the Nerubian spoke darkly, "Like ours did. None shall stand in front of the Scourge…so FALL BEFORE THE SCOURGE!"
A powerful jet of water shot out of her wand then, slamming the spider against the wall as it writhed with its legs twitching spasmodically.
Then the spider fell down, and began to open its fangs.
She produced another torrent of water, one that would have crushed a lesser man.
There was a sickening crack as the carapace of the spider broke, and yet it still wobbled back on its feet afterwards.
The wounds slowly closed.
"Upon the Blighted Ground we walk," it rasped. "What tangled web we weave…"
The Crypt Fiend jumped, fangs bared, and the Queen ran to the side of the altar. The spider crashed against the altar, tearing it into chunks of rock as its abdomen rose to release the stinger the creature possessed.
"Back! Back in the name of the Founder!" Marianne screamed as more water poured from her wand. She spun the wand then, in her heart asking forgiveness to the Founder, as the water became a tornado that lifted up in the air the monstrosity.
Another flick of the wand, and the same strength that pulled the spider up began to push it down.
It crunched as it slammed against the ground, twitching and trying to free itself as the downpour of water upon his body stopped him from doing that.
It twitched one last time, as Marianne was just about to finish her strength.
Silence then descended in the Church.
"Founder…be praised," swiping her forehead, the Queen recollected herself and dusted off her dress.
"Marianne, you can do this," she said to herself. "Ignore the giant spider, and leave."
She groaned as she looked towards the door, and another spider peering inside with its eyes. "Why isn't Karin here? She'd know what to do!"
The spider then talked.
"Your Highness?" the voice came from its belly. "It's Agnes," the head of her captain of the guard emerged from beneath the —now clearly visible as a carcass— spider, soon followed by two other belonging to another musketeer and a man wearing the guard armour and the rank of Captain —judging by the full-plate he wore.
"Agnes, my dear!" Marianne exhaled in relief, "I thought myself in dangerous peril once more, why I thank you deeply."
"Y-Your Highness, there's no need!" Agnes exclaimed back. "It's my duty and honour!"
"Still! How are we going to leave, Agnes?"
"The corpse of the Fiend could—"
And in that moment, it began to rot. The action happened quickly, far faster than any could possibly understand. It simply was one moment, and then was no longer the next.
"How!? No!" Agnes screamed, trying to recover something from the now ash-mound that once was a Crypt Fiend.
"The ground might be the cause," Mordeau grimaced. "Everything it touches, rots."
"No, I don't think so," the musketeer woman —Danzika— said then. "They all disappear when killed after a short while."
"Foul and blasphemous magic," Mordeau spat out, "What else could this be!?"
"I hope for the safety of my people," Marianne whispered. "Is this…widespread?"
"Your Highness, last we heard all news went directly to Gaugin's ear. He is the highest ranked noble without you."
"I see," Marianne nodded. "Very well, we must leave through another mean and quickly."
"Maybe we can use the altar's top or a bench as a cover?" Danzika suggested.
"It would be impractical to attract attention like that," Agnes murmured. "Isn't there a secret passage or something, in the crypts? Maybe…yes! The sewers!"
Marianne grimaced. She knew that, eventually, she'd have to do something unpleasant as a Queen.
She didn't expect it to be going in the sewers of her own city.
Louis
He closed his eyes. He looked back at the crypts near him, at the main camp, and then he slowly acknowledged their silence.
He looked at his fellow acolytes, as the mine itself unsummoned.
"The resources are claimed, brother," an Acolyte remarked. "The mission is over."
"Another mission waits then," Louis commented. "There is a Necropolis to build in Tarbes, and the Blight is to spread through whatever mean available."
"We shall do as you command, brother," the Acolytes all said bowing their heads slightly.
"Louis?" the voice of his master called to him, and he answered back.
"Yes, master?"
"I feel tired all of a sudden."
"The mission was completed."
"Ah…I see. But I wanted to conquer Tristania next…"
"If you are feeling tired, my master, I suggest you rest. Maybe a Crypt Fiend can tie you to the saddle so you don't fall?"
"Yeah…yawn…I'll do that…"
Louis exhaled.
What did the completed mission unlock now?
Probably something to aid in the invasion of Tristania, but what precisely could it…
The Slaughterhouse felt summonable.
And if it was the Slaughterhouse, then it could only be one single object.
The Meat Wagon.
He gave the mental order to the Acolytes close to the capital, and received confirmation. Upon the capital of this country, soon, it would rain blood and corpses.
Acolyte.
The voice, cold and uncaring, froze him on the spot.
"My Lord?"
You owe me your fealty, your soul, your very being.
"Yes, my Lord, I bow and serve for the Lich King," he bowed profusely, even though there was no one near him any longer.
Then why is it, that I cannot command you?
He stilled.
"My…Lord?"
Carve your heart out.
His hand went to his dagger, as the runes lightly shone on the back of his right hand. He brought the tip close to his chest and in that instant…he hesitated.
A thought —randomly— reached through his brain to widen his eyes in realization.
"I…I cannot."
Those two words held a finality that he knew was not only by chance.
I will not tolerate treason in the Scourge, Acolyte.
"I live to serve, my Lord!"
Then you shall prove so.
"How, my Lord?"
You will know when the time is right.
Louis buckled, short on breath, with his knees falling on the Blighted ground. He gurgled and gasped for air as he retched from the effort of holding such a taxing conversation with the Lich King. He was trembling like a tree shaken by the wind, sweat copiously falling down his forehead.
The Lich King had ordered…
And he had not obeyed.
Something impossible had happened…something that wasn't supposed to.
Still, the Lich King had been merciful.
Merciful?
Wasn't Death supposed to be his purpose? Why was he…growing attached to his own flesh? Why was he…afraid of dying?
The face of Louise appeared in his mind for a moment, as the runes kept up their light shining. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. He had no desires, no emotions. He lived for the Scourge. He was the Scourge. He was a part of a greater whole.
Undeath was his purpose, his finality, his only desire.
This…This could not be.
As he teleported back into the Halls of the Dead, he watched the map of the countries strewed across the table. A light black dotting covered their position, and spread from both Tarbes and the surrounding lands of Tristania and the Academy.
It didn't engulf the Capital however, nor did it grasp the Academy.
Had the Lich failed?
He gave an order to the Altar of Darkness, and watched from the window as it lit up. He exhaled. The Lich had been defeated.
He supposed he should have sent an Acolyte to prevent the wizards from leaving the place —with Spirit Towers and Necropolis.
It was too late by then —the mages had probably left already.
His master was asleep; he could hear her soft snoring through the link they shared. He tactfully decided to keep this information for himself at present: there was no need to disturb Louise's sleep.
La Vallière Estate
Karin the Heavy Wind clenched her right hand tightly against the message she had received.
Slowly, she stood up and dismissed the messenger. That…
That stupid, stupid man.
"Eleanor!" she barked, entering the library of her eldest daughter.
"Mother!" Eleanor exclaimed dropping the books she held in her hands in fright. "W-What can I do for you?"
"Eleanor, I will be leaving for the capital. I want you to rally the La Vallière vassals and warn them of war," Karin replied swiftly.
"M-Mother?"
"I have no time to waste," she added then curtly. "Your stupid father decided to play the hero once again, and the capital is under siege," she clenched her fists and strode forward, before bringing her hands down on Eleanor's shoulders and holding them tightly in a steel-like grip.
"Stay safe, my daughter, and look after Cattleya."
Then she turned and left.
She had an imbecile to save after all.
Author's notes
Anyone knows what the Duke of La Vallière name is?
