Chapter 10: Les Ailes de la Mort
Dionna had led him to a dark area that appeared to contain a sword that was stuck in the ground. Raphael had expected to see Soul Edge, but this was a completely different sword. The sword looked a lot like his Flambert, but it had some differences. This mysterious blade was a dark purple, almost completely black. Its hilt was lined with blood-red streaks, in the shape of what appeared to be thorns.
"L'aile de la mort" he heard Dionna quote in perfect, fluent French. "Death's wing" Raphael continued to stare at the sword, wondering why the goddess had brought him to the sword. Dionna answered his question, as if reading his mind.
"I want to know if you are worthy of wielding it. Try to pull it out." she commanded.
Raphael grabbed the hilt of the sword, and hesitated for a moment. "If I do pull this out, will a disaster occur?" he wondered. Then again, he might not be worthy of the sword at all. But he would still try anyway.
He attempted to pull the sword up, and it came out of the ground with ease. Immediately, Raphael could feel power flowing through him. Power that seemed to surpass even that of Soul Edge. Dionna smiled. "I was right. You clearly are worthy of the sword."
Raphael went to put Death's Wing in his sheath, but Dionna stopped him and pointed to the raven mark she had burned onto his hand earlier. "Really Sorel, what's the need of sheathing it when you can simply summon and cancel it at will?" she asked playfully.
He realized that she was right – at a mere thought he could make the blade appear and disappear.
"It's an interesting sword, isn't it?" Dionna asked him. Raphael nodded his head in agreement. "I've never wielded anything like it before" he replied.
The two walked back towards the entrance. Dionna turned to Raphael, a more serious expression was on her face. "Sorel, now that I know that you are worthy of the blade, I'll let you decide who to kill or not kill. However, you will still follow my orders when I give them to you. Do I make myself clear?"
Raphael was surprised and suspicious of Dionna's statement at the same time. "So I still have to serve you, yet you're giving me more of independence?"
"In a way, yes." she replied, as Raphael began to climb through the entrance.
Dionna watched her servant go back through the mirror into his castle. As the entrance faded away, she smiled. There would be a surprise waiting for him…. and his shock would most certainly be amusing to her…
Back in his room, Raphael took one last look at his left hand. The raven symbol still showed against his pale skin. He was still curious about why she had put this symbol on him. Did it have something to do with his new weapon, or was there something more to it?
He didn't know how it happened, but the thought that he should check on Amy entered his mind. He decided that checking on her wouldn't hurt…
However, as he got closer to her room, he felt that something wasn't right. It was as if something had happened while he was gone, but no possibilities entered his mind. He couldn't have been gone that long… could he?
Raphael opened the door to his daughter's room. A few steps into the room and he could clearly see the problem: Her usually neat bed sheets here wrinkled, and they were soaked in some sort of substance, as was the carpet in some spots. He gasped as he realized what the substance was – her blood. Raphael flung the bed sheets off to find an empty bed, soaked with even more of his daughter's sparkling, crimson blood.
The smell of blood made him feel dizzy, a symptom he often had whenever his thirst for blood began to return. As the dizziness went away, he noticed a piece of paper on her table… with Dionna's symbol on it. Raphael took the paper and looked at it. He teared up and shook with anger as he read it. On the paper were words written in fine, lady-like cursive:
See? I told you that your beloved daughter would one day be mine.
Don't expect to see her again.
His beloved daughter was gone.
He had to tell someone about this.
And he knew just who to get help from.
He looked for a long time at the moon-lit sky.
"Amy, don't worry. I'm going to get you back home."
To be continued….