Zabah was fast. Faster then Raziel had thought possible given his metallic form. He was across the room in the blink of an eye, his leg whipping around so fast it was a blur of shining metal. The kick caught the blue wraith unprepared in the side with bone shattering force. It sent him spiralling through the air until he tumbled across the floor of the chamber, finally coming to a stop when he slammed up against the wall.
Raziel had a moment of stunned vision before Zabah was on him again, left fist drawn back for a killing strike. Realising the danger only at the last second, the wraith ducked under the pair of blades which stabbed into the wall where his head had been only an instant before. He rolled free and clear, summoning the wraith blade and arching it around towards his enemy's unprotected flank.
But as the blade neared Zabah's waist, the metallic body responsed instantly and began to thicken, forming protective plates which deflected the strike. Instantly Zabah's right arm whipped around, the blades jutting from the back of his knuckles slicing across Raziel's chest and carving deep. Raziel staggered back with a grunt of pain, the energy that sustained his physical form pouring out of him from that slice.
Zabah came at him again, relentless in his attack. Quickly, realising the danger his enemy posed, Raziel brought up his shield and activated it. The barrier formed only just in time, the two blades on the back of Zabah's left fist straining to push through. Quickly Raziel rolled and ducked, avoiding a swipe as his enemy's right arm came around with the blades whistling as they sliced the air.
He took the opportunity to attack, lunging in with the wraith blade in a thrust directly to his enemy's midsection. But as he did, once more the metal body reacted on its own, thickening its armour in the spot that was about to be struck so that when the wraith blade plunged forth it was deflected off to one side.
Zabah lashed out, plunging his blades down towards Raziel's head before the wraith could move out of the way. Umah leapt forward, slamming her own metal body into their enemy and forcing him to stagger off to one side. Raziel used the distraction to constricting his body as tight as he dared before unleashing that pent up energy in a kick directly into Zabah's chest. It knocked the puppet backwards and onto his backside.
Quickly Raziel was on him, slicing the wraith blade at the one spot he knew was vunerable, the head and face. But once more the armor formed by the element of earth within Zabah protected him, thickening the defense and leaving the strikes of the wraith blade insert and useless. With a grunt Zabah smacked Raziel back with the palm of one hand, forcing him off.
"You Serioli heathens were only tolerated because you were useful!" He growled, standing back up with his arms outstretched. Each blades sprouting from his arms and legs glistened in the golden light he gave off. "You could kill Hylden! It was your only redeeming quality!"
Umah tried to run at him again, but this time Zabah was ready. He turned like lightning, grappling with her and pushing her back. A pair of blades lanced forward in a punch but Umah leapt to one side and grabbed his arm under her own. Zabah stabbed with his free arm and again she caught it, pinning it to her side. When she had both of his arms locked to her, she jammed her head forward and smashed her helmet into his. The sound of metal ringing on metal made a loud echoing clatter.
"It was you Divus that inspired the Sarafan!" She snapped angrily, taking the oppotunity to punch Zabah across the face. "It was you who had Moebius cut off my father's head!" The armor thickened in response to her attack but it wasn't enough to keep Zabah from staggering back a few paces. She launched on in, punching into him over and over. "It was you who directed men to hunt down anything that defied you like an animal! Everything wrong in Nosgoth can be traced back to you and your disgusting religion!"
She went to punch him again but Zabah reacted fast, grabbing her wrist with his left hand and then in the same fluid motion running her through with the blades on the right. Each of them was long enough to puncture right through her armored body and emerge out the back.
"That is the natural order." He said in a low, flat tone. Umah slowled turned her head and looked down at the blades stuck through her mid section, the inner glow of her own soul leaking out around the wound.
Raziel was on him in a flash, leaping onto him from behind and grapping over his helmed head with his bare talons. He scrabbled frantically and savagly, scraping, digging, clawing like an enraged beast. Zabah released Umah and staggered back several paces, struggling to disengage the wraith from between his wings. Umah dropped down to her knees with a clatter, still staring down at the wound and cupping it with her open hands.
"You confuse nature with selfish desire!" Raziel snarled, scraping his talons across Zabah's face as deep as he could. Once more the element of earth served its master well for as fast as he was clawing away, the armor was reforming and even thickening to protect the face.
"The Lord is the hub! The center and the beginning and end of all things!" Zabah declared back, reaching back and managing to grab ahold of Raziel's right foot. "His will is the will of the Divus!" With one powerful tug he tore the blue wraith from his back.
Raziel spun free, using his shield to deflect stabs and lunges by long blades, forced to back off step by step as Zabah pressed him. The blades tore at the shield without pause, slashing from the right, the left, above and below, trying to find a way around it. Raziel had to keep moving his arm to protect himself.
Realising he had to try something new, the blue wraith clenched the fist of his left hand and thrust the shield forward just as his enemy lunged. As he did, he called forth the element of water it had obtained. With a blush of blue, constrasting with the golden light, the shield flared with the new energies. A thick ring of blue ice formed out of mid air around the shield, snowflakes forming, dissolving and reforming around the extended aegis.
Zabah grunted in surprise and backed off quickly, withdrawing the blades he had been attacking with. He held them up, revealing that they were now encrusted with a thick coating of ice that spread down over the hand until finally ceasing its advance just below the elbow.
"Serioli wizardry." He muttered with some disgust and clenched a fist, shattering the encrusting ice into fragments.
Raziel went forward, moving in on the offensive. The shield protecting him was now large enough to keep Zabah's slashes away from most of his body and allow him to strike back. Try as he might, Zabah's claws could not get through the barrier and each time he tried his limbs became more and more encrusted with thickening layers of ice.
Raziel kept up the pressure, advancing with the shield and forcing Zabah to retreat. As the ice spread, the metal body of his enemy began to slow, movements stiffening and joints creaking loudly in protest. By the time Zabah noticed, looking down to see his feet suddenly stuck to the floor by growing pillars of ice, it was already too late. Raziel advanced quickly one final step and pressed the shield directly into his face.
Ice flowed over Zabah's body, layer after layer of it piling one atop the other until the entire metal puppet body was encased. When the ice was perhaps ten inches thick, Raziel stepped back several steps. Zabah was now a statue, arms raised to try ward off the advancing enemy and head turned to the side. Within the ice, the golden glow was still just as strong as ever.
Raziel knew an oppotunity when he saw it and summoned the wraith blade. With as much strength he could muster he brought it around in a rolling slash, then back from the other direction, move and over.
With his metal body frozen, Zabah's armor could not thicken to protect him, so this time the wraith blade slashed deep into his puppet body. The ice was shattered but so too was his armor. The blows were deep and savage, biting almost all the way through, leaving thick oozing golden spirit dripping out of the thick cuts.
Trailing thick ice shards and golden light, he staggered back and then dropped to his hands and knees. His armor was rent and broken all over him, dropping away and turning to thick piles of dust as they hit the floor. Raziel knew better then to allow him the opportunity to recover and stepped forward, raising his sword to stab it through his enemies head.
Zabah loked up sharply seeing the oncoming attack and as Raziel lunged, he rolled off to one side. As he rolled he swung his leg around, knocking Raziel's out from under him. The blue wraith fell to the floor with a thud and quickly struggled to rise again, but that break in the action was all Zabah had needed.
Already he was summoning replacement armor pieces, the floor beneath him suffering from his drawing elements from it to form it; cracking and splintering as it weakened.
"Those who defy death are punished with death!" Zabah declared with rightceous fury as his helmet reformed over his face. "You will all turn the wheel!"
Before his armor could reform completly however, Umah was suddenly behind him. With one fist she slammed a punch into his still unprotected back and deep into his body. Zabah gasped and lerched forward. Umah clung to him, her arm sliding deeper and deeper into his body.
"All you are is krill in the mouth of a whale!" She snarled at him, hauling him back so his chest was exposed. "And I'll be damned before I join you on the dinner plate!"
Armor was moving across Zabah's body, sliding from the front to the back in an attempt to force her out of him. Weakened by the blows he had suffered, Zabah could not completely cover his body and had to choose which parts of himself he could protect.
Raziel quickly took the offensive and stabbed the wraith blade in between the parting armor plates, directly into his enemy's chest. This time it went in unhindered and deep. Zabah let out a grasp and a cry of pain which was abruptly cut off when the blue wraith brought the blade up sharply, cutting through his torso up through his left shoulder. Sliced open completly, armor falling off him in large chunks to disolve into dust, Zabah collapsed beneath Umah's weight and was pinned to the floor.
"No! Not again!" He cried out, the instant before Raziel's talons smashed through his metal face with a loud crunch and into the recesses of his skull.
Umah wrenched her arm free and moved back quickly, watching with disquiet as Raziel did what he knew he had to do. Once more he called on the gift of the grubby soul of Elzevir to syphon the soul out of the vessel it had briefly occupied and into a far safer container. The soul of the devoted Divus servant and fanatic struggled and squirmed like a caught fish but Raziel methodically drew it out.
Inch by inch he tore it free until the metal puppet, empty of any animating force, collapsed to the floor inert. The shield flickered, its water energies receeding. Then with a flare a new golden light took its place. The barrier it protected widened to cover Raziel almost completly, its outer edge shown by clumps of dust and debris orbiting in a slow circle. The device at the center, strapped to the wraith's arm, throbbed with newly absorbed power glowing a deep yellow.
-0-
"Reinforced and strengthened, the shield was now forged with the elemental power of Earth. I could feel the very ground move and shake beneath me in response. Perhaps now my way through Fanum-Divus would no longer be obstructed."
-0-
Slowly Raziel straightened, pausing to admire the new barrier the shield protected with his outstretched left arm. It seemed every time a soul was added, the larger the protective area became. He could feel the new elemental force within ripple like small aftershocks of an earthquake. It made his arm tremble to hold it forth like that, as if trying to hold up a tremendous weight.
Quickly he dismissed it and turned around. Umah was still crotched over the puppet's remains. The armor which had coated it had dusted completly to dust, leaving its battered and rent form lying face down on the ground. The two stab marks were still quite clear in her mid section right above the naval.
"Are you alright?" He asked, coming to her side. She looked down, pressing one hand to the holes.
"I feel no pain." Umah told him, shaking her head. "I don't feel anything in this body." She stood up and began to clear the dust off her hands. "It just stunned me for a moment. I havn't been run through before. It caught me off guard."
"It didn't damage the structure of your vessel, did it?" Raziel asked. She took her head again.
"No, I am intact." She gave him a long look through, head tilted to look directly at the device on his wrist which formed the shield.
"What did you do there?" She asked him in a low almost frightened voice. Raziel raised his hand, turning his wrist so they could both see the centre of the strange device. There were two lights circling one another within it now, one blue and the other gold.
"I placed his soul into something far more suitable." He said, admiring the two lights like they were fireflies.
"You can do that?" Umah sounded startled. Raziel raised his eyebrows in the best his ruined face could manage of a smile.
"Apprantly I can." He remarked. Then he caught her looking at him speculatively. "Within limits, Umah." He told her sternly. She made a dismissive handwave to reject his rebuke.
"If Ukko could do this to souls, then this is indeed the place we seek. The key to reviving Ashar must be here!" She said. Raziel was inclined to agree. From the little he had seen so far, this place was a haven of secret techniques which defied the imagination. Exactly how this mysterious mentor of Ajatar's had been able to perform such miracles, beyond the wildest dreams of any current Serioli, was for the moment unknown.
Slowly Raziel reached into the folds of his cowl and took out the key he had been given. His instincts told him where he needed to go now but the problem of the dilation of time concerned him. If indeed he was returned to the normal flow of time disproportionate to the amount of time spent there, then he risked losing whatever time of preperation they might have before the Promised Day arrived. Was that why Ophiel had given it to him? To lead him on a wild goose chase through Fanum-Divus with no other purpose then to distract him and waste his time? Somehow Raziel did not think so.
"What is that?" Umah asked, spotting the strange device in his hand. Raziel frowned and turned away.
"I may be gone for some time." He said determinably and swiftly pressed the button like jewel in its centre. The last he saw of Umah was her taking a startled step away from him as the world around him peeled away, leaving a white void of nothingness. Then once more a new environment formed around him, sliding into place to take the place of the old.
He was back standing before the massive sealed metal door he had left behind. About him, the towering and labarinthian maze that was Fanum-Divus loomed; as large as the world and the origin of all myths of an angelic afterlife. From a distance the city with all its laid out splender did indeed appear as most religious texts would describe heaven. But close up it was revealed for the imperialistic dwelling of generations of slaves it really was.
Before him the door with the two large statues either side was still sealed firmly shut. He did not know if his instincts were correct but he did not have any other option but to try. Raising his left hand, he called forth the element of Earth. His arm trembled as the shield manifested its new powers, spinning its three prongs faster and faster with the circling dust becoming shards of flint like stone which droped large flakey particles all about him.
With the low grinding sound of protesting metal the two towering statues began to move, slowly at first and then with gathering speed. Each of them freed a hand from their weapons and moved them over to grasp one of the thick bars barring the door. With a firm grip the statues pulled the bars free and off to one side, the obstructions cleared with a loud echoing clang.
Then the door itself began to open, the doors moving inward with the creeking of large hidden mechanisms. Beyond the door was another tall hallway leading up a marble incline to some chamber far above.
-0-
"Once more the doors of Fanum-Divus gave way to me and the path was clear. The fact that such barriers opened to me only upon the infusion of force within the shield did not escape my notice as being exceptionally conveniant."
-0-
Quickly Raziel advanced into the opening passage, moving up the hallway. The walls were tiled with equally sized squares, some darker then the others which formed complex alternating patterns. The floor was marble so highly polished he could see his own reflection in it and in an extremely petty sort of way which he knew was childish, he felt a bit of satisfaction that he was leaving dusty footprints all over it.
The path up was short but steep, leading him up what felt like a good few hundred feet before he reached a level path which curved around a corner to his left and into a wide open space. The chamber he entered there was another large chasm of an opening, similar in shape to the one where he had encountered Asmodeus and the dragon, although slightly smaller.
It had dozens of levels along the walls linked by long curving stairscases and long bridges of oynx and marble and the walls and floors were all highly polished and decorative. Light came from large and very complex chandeliers which hung from a curved ceiling far overhead. They were large brass constructions with the light coming from sphere shaped crystals hung from thick chains. Each one was like a small star and together they made an illuminating galaxy.
But the chamber's most prominent feature were the uncountable rows upon rows of books, scrolls and tomes of all kinds which lined every single wall on every single level right down to the floor far below.
-0-
"And so I beheld the great library of the Divus. It put any collection of knowledge in the normal world to shame with its sheer size. One might search forever within this cascade of books and never emerge. If the tome of my first incarnation was truly here then I would have to devise some means of pin pointing its exact location."
-0-
The blue wraith came to the edge of a bannister and looked down over it. The floor was far below and from above he could see that the pattern the tiles on the floor formed was the infinity symbol that once he had taken as merely Moebius' sigil but which he now knew represented the entire Wheel of Fate religion. But also, just as he had feared, he could see the forms of homunculi standing guard.
Most were stood at the tops or bottoms of staircases but a few were patrolling, walking slowly back and forth along the bridges which stretched between the various levels. He could see about twenty of them from where he was standing but undoudtedly there would be many many more, not to mention the possiblity of any Divus themselves taking advantage of the books. Openly exploring this library was out of the question, not unless he wanted to bring the entire city down on his head.
Quickly he climbed up onto the banister and then leapt, taking hold of his wings in mid air to glide forward. His wings carried him forward swiftly until he caught hold a length of chain which hung one of the large chandeliers from the far ceiling. He slid down it swiftly until he came to the chandalier itself and there he crouched, as close to the chain as possible.
When he saw no movement, not sudden cry of alarm, he leapt once more from his perch and took to his wings. Silently he glided from chain to chain, pausing at the chandeliers to look around and ensure he had not be spotted before carrying on. As far as he could see the library only had homunculi guards here. He could see no other people about, but that did not mean they were not here.
As he glided, Raziel looked for some means of finding the book he sought. If it were truly as important and essential as it seemed to be, he doubted it would be simply stuffed into some random shelf. Such a tome as that would be somewhere central and isolated, perhaps even protected.
The library seemed logically organised like any other library, the books and other tomes arranged in alphabetical order. Although not in the modern Nosgoth alphabet but rather the older language spoken by the Ancients. It was similar to the modern in some ways but it had a different arrangement of letters and even a few unique figures to it. The beginning with 'A' seemed to begin at the bottom of the chamber with himself hanging near 'J'.
Taking a chance, Raziel leapt out and glided over to a nearby floor. He had seen no homunculi there from his perch but for all he knew, one could come along at any moment, so he had to be swift. Quickly he went to the rows of shelves and began rummaging through them. He had no illusion that the book was here, but he needed some kind of reference to help him navigate this chamber or he was getting nowhere.
The book he withdrew from the shelf was a large box, very much like the one he had seen his first incarnation holding up in the floor mural. Within were thick pages of textures parchment upon which were jotted a very spidery sort of writing which at first made no sense. It was written in the ancient language but the font being used by the writer scrawled so much that Raziel frowned in concentration as he attempted to read it.
Whoever had written this called himself Uriel-Divus and it seemed to be some sort of chronicle detailing the events of some sort of migration. Written down were thorough and meticulous records of births, deaths and numbers of those who made the crossing as well as what supplies were brought with them. It was only when Raziel came across a passage that read -'Thus have the lower cracks been filled with industry and work'- did he realise what exactly he was reading.
This was no document detailing a migration or evacuation. This was a book that recorded how the slaves of Fanum-Divus had first been transported to the city. They had begun as soldiers in Moebius' uprising army and then once their purpose was fulfilled, they had been taken here to work throughout their future generations as labour. An entire new race of humanity in eternal servitude.
The men described in the book were not spoken of as living sentient beings or even as cattle, but rather as assets, resources to be used or abused depending on whatever need arose. Raziel frowned, an uncomfortable parallel forming in his mind. During Kain's rule of Nosgoth the humans left there had been treated almost exactly the same way, thought of as livestock and fresh supplies of blood and little else. He himself had thought of them this way, barely giving a human being a second though beyond the need to feed or whatever small amusement might be taken from them.
His brow creased in thought he pushed the book back into place. He recalled Kain's words when they had met at the chronoplast. They had been arguing the merits of the Sarafan order and Kain had said 'Their agenda was the same as ours'. Neither of them could have known just how apt that statement was, now their true enemies were revealed. It was not a comfortable comparison.
"We have to be better." Raziel found himself saying out loud, one hand still on the spine of the book. "We have to be better or this struggle means nothing." Within his mind and very soul he could feel Ariel's presence, her agreement with his statement a powerful reassurance.
"We all do, Raziel." She told him with regret of her own in her voice.
Raziel continued, moving down the rows of books, occasionally casting glances over his shoulder for signs of the guards. His search was proving fruitless. So far any tome he came across seemed a written testiment from a specific Divus about important events ranging from the trivial to the important and all points inbetween. While perhaps a study of the history of the city might be fascinating from a purely scholary perspective it did little to further his search for a means of locating the one book he desired.
Finally he came to a tall plain window set into the wall. He was prepared to crotch underneath it to prevent his being spotted from the outside but once glance out of that window made him stop in stunned awe.
"My god..." He gasped.
What he saw he had seen before when he had been searching for Kain, but its current state was what made him freeze for the implications were terrifying.
-0-
"The Ark! The vessel, intended to ferry the Divus and my former master across the stars to whatever end they sought, was complete! Never had a sight been more menacing as this, for it could mean only one thing. They were ready and prepared for their end game, the Promised Day, whenever that was to occur in real time."
-0-
The ship, shaped like a pair of curving swans wings coming together at the bow, was a massive construction. Built here over who knows how long a time, in a city where time meant little, it was a vessel which rivaled a normal city in size. Before it had been covered in scaffolding, slaves brought up to work over its hull. Now that scaffolding was gone and the ship itself loomed, jutting out from the edge of the city into the void beyond like a golden knife. Compared to the bulk of Fanum-Divus around it, it did not appear to be that large but Raziel knew how vast the vessel really was.
As time in Fanum-Divus ran out of sync with the normal flow of causlity, the ships completion was no indication of exactly when the time for its use would be. But if it was complete then Raziel had to assume it would be soon. Doomsday, the end times and the failing of the world was almost upon them and they still had no idea exactly what the Promised Day entailed.
"I confess, I didn't expect you to make it this far so soon." A distrubingly familar voice began in almost jovial tone. "I really ought to stop underestimating you." Raziel spun about, summoning the wraith blade.
Leaning with his shoulder against the wall on the far side of the window like he always been there was Asmodeus. The new King of Fanum-Divus still had his crown atop his head, as if it were a permanent fixture to his skull. His lips were parted in a superior smile which showed off his teeth. A sword in a leather sheath hung at his left hand side, the handle raised up and glistening a pure white.
Raziel suppressed a flare of panic at being discovered. He knew it was only a matter of time until he was found but to come face to face with Asmodeus so casually was not how he expected it to go. He kept himself as steady as he could. Asmodeus was standing at least five paces away. That was more than enough prudent distance for him to react if he were to make a lunge.
Slowly he straightened and stood to his full height, flowing his sword but keeping the wraith blade flickering by his side.
"So my coming here was of your design?" He asked. The new King of Fanum-Divus' smirk widened almost ear to ear.
"Of course, but then you know that." Asmodeus replied superciliously, guesturing one hand all about him. "Everything that happens within this city is by my design." He brought the hand back and laid it across his chest. "Once it was yours. Now it is mine."
"You're welcome to it." Raziel replied with flat disdain, keeping very still and his senses as widly open as he could. He doudted Asmodeus would be here alone.
"Oh please, spare me the act." Asmodeus scoffed at the rebuke, sneering in contempt. "All it would take to make you as you were is the right push, a sufficent incentive." He folded his arms across his midsection and leaned forward slightly, his expression one of smug condesension.
"I knew you, the first you, quite well." He said with malice. "You were spoiled, selfish, stupid and your ego was so enlarged that I find it amazing our God had the patience to deal with you." The new king paused and then chuckled at some personal, private joke.
"And then when you learned of your damned and ruined future you were even worse! You devoted every moment you hand trying to find a way to avoid it, scrabbling and tantruming like a child, even though you knew there was no way you could." He paused and cupped his chin with one hand contemplatively. "Seems that's a trait that hasn't died, I see."
Raziel narrowed his eyes, having had enough of an earful of Asmodeus' goading to last him a lifetime.
"I renounced my past once already." He said with weary but firm finalty. "Now why did you allow me here?" Asmodeus' anwsering smile was oily. He pointed out the window towards the Ark.
"I wanted you to see." He said, briming with self congratulatory praise and his tone dripping with spite. "I wanted you to see what was coming. The Ark you ordered the construction of, that you naively hoped you could captain yourself, finally complete and under my rule. I am going to go on to do what you never could. I will destroy Kain. I will sweep Nosgoth clean of all dissent once and for all. Then I will venture out into the stars at the right hand of my God!"
Kain had told him that it had been Ophiel, under Asmodeus' direction, who had saved him from being cast out in the void in which Fanum-Divus floated. It seemed Asmodeus, if his rant was to be believed, had merely done so because he wanted the glory of killing Kain all to himself once he had disposed of his former ruler. Raziel began to wonder then if this really was goading or if Asmodeus had some deep inquenchable lust and need to spite the one who had once been his master
"If you think you're a match for Kain then you're an even bigger fool than I thought." He said flatly, before he edged one foot closer. By now he was certain. There were no guards or reinforcements coming. Asmodeus had come here alone. "But whatever you have in mind, Asmodeus, no longer matters." With a burst of speed he leapt forward. "Your reign ends here, King of the Divus!"
Asmodeus didn't flinch. His movement was lightning fast, drawing his sword from its sheath and bringing it sharply up to block Raziel's thrust. To the wraith's surprise, the gleaming white blade he drew parried the wraith blade and diverted it off to one side.
The white blade gleamed brightly like a slither of sunlight, its surface polished smoothed like a mirror and engraved with the elemental fire symbol across its centre blood groove. Asmodeus chuckled evily and then lashed out, pushing Raziel back and forcing him to dance out of the range of the swipe. He stared back, startled by the ability of such a sword.
"I told you I was not going to be easy to kill." Asmodeus reminded him, hefting the blade by the hilt in his direction. "So tell me, what do you think of Clarent the King Maker? Forged by Vorador himself and used by William the Just to conquer the east of Nosgoth!" He held it up for Raziel to see.
For a one handed sword it was very long, about the length of an entire arm, but Asmodeus weilded it as if it weighed nothing. Its form was simple, with a straight blade which bloomed out slightly at the tip before narrowing to a point. Raziel was no blacksmith, but even he could see that only a master craftsman of Vorador's calibur could have created such a thing.
"I'd wager its even a match for the Reaver." Asmodeus remarked, raising the sword to head height to cast his eyes up down the reflective blade with a satisfied smirk. Then his eyes flicked up. "But let's put that to the test, shall we?!"