*tiptoes into the room*
I'll just leave this here...
*tiptoes out of the room*
"The humans have made the world ugly."
Lyra sneered in disgust as she stared out of the window of a New York high-rise, the sound of clanking metal filling the air from behind her. The witch turned around to join Elyon next to a table filled with strange and unidentifiable instruments and papers covered in scribbles and diagrams scattered about.
"How could it have come to this? The land, the seas, the very air is filled with their poison!" Lyra huffed as she leaned against the table and watched Elyon fiddle with one of the instruments. "I can barely walk outside without choking!"
"You get used to it." Elyon absently as she tapped a spherical object floating in her hands, a metallic orb as large as her head and glowing lines like blood vessels sprawling across its surface. It was Maleficari technology, a tool to map the mana lines flowing through the earth. Elyon, once a noted scholar among their kind, had had one of the most advanced research labs throughout the Imperium, and had preserved much of it after the Fall. Hers were probably the only Maleficari artifacts left in this world, and in top working condition too.
"What happened to the other magakin?" The tanned witch wondered aloud. "The fae would never have let the humans spread their metal cities to such lengths. Where are they? The shifters? And the beasts?"
"You always preferred beasts to people." Elyon chuckled as she tapped another glass object, causing it to beep and flicker with lights. A sad expression crossed her face.
Lyra went cold. "Don't tell me…"
"Many creatures were hunted to near extinction, but don't worry, some survived." Elyon assured her. "When it became apparent that the humans were unstoppable in their evolution, the fae crafted a new dimension for themselves, and all the other magakin facing annihilation at the hands of the mortals."
"Well, that certainly explains why magic disappeared so quickly from the earth in only a few centuries." Lyra muttered. "I entered Dium Somnium little more than six-hundred years ago. I didn't remember the magic being so low when I was still awake."
"The majority left around the 1700's. There are still strongholds, of course." The blonde witch hummed. "Magical sanctuaries hidden throughout the world, hidden from mortal eyes. But the beasts could not hide, especially larger creatures like dragons or giants. They kept running into humans."
Lyra sighed in disappointment.
"Some, a few of the fae and shifters, chose to integrate with human society, keeping their powers a secret, of course." Elyon continued. "But human pollution had a particularly negative impact on those with the earth affinity. Most chose to leave."
Silence reigned as Lyra digested the new information, turning to leave the room. Elyon would not find it rude, she was more distracted by her gadgets anyway. Following the sound of clanking metal, Lyra wandered into the kitchen and left Elyon to her work. The sources of the metal clanking noises were made evident when she walked in and past the various pots and pans and other utensils floating around the kitchen as a team of five pixies cooked them dinner.
Pixies were little more than eight inches tall or so, a sub-species of fae that were capable of a modest amount of magic. They usually specialized in plant-based magic, though they could also levitate objects and use minor curses. Elyon had befriended this little tribe of pixies when she was living in the Bay Area, having rescued them from a pack of wild dogs trying to eat them. Since then, the pixies stuck around, often helping the witch with chores around the house while she did her research.
They were vaguely humanoid in nature, slim but sexless in that they did not appear to be male or female, and their heads a little bigger than their bodies with big round eyes, making them look childish. They had pointed ears that often stuck out from their hair, with feline eyes that reflected light. Their skin was usually pastel-colored in greens, pinks, yellows and blues, their hair just as varied in color. Their wings were insect-like, some resembling butterflies while others resembled dragonflies, thin iridescent membrane stretching across paper-thin bones.
"Hello my lady!" The pixies chorused in their lilting voices as she entered the kitchen.
"Hello little ones." Lyra smiled softly as she deftly avoided a floating spice bottle that a pixie was flying from the cabinet over to the stove, adding a dash of rosemary to the pot. "What are you making?"
"Chicken pot pie!" One of the pixies answered with a high-pitched giggle, pale green with dragonfly wings, with blue hair falling down her back between her wings. "It's a dish from our homeland!"
The witch blinked, trying to remember what the humans called it these days. "You mean… uh Albion?"
"Not anymore." Another pixie answered, this one fluttering her wings as she came to hover in front of Lyra's face. This one was rather portly with ladybug wings, with pinkish skin and a tuft of black hair on her head. "The humans call it England now. Or Britain. Or the United Kingdom. So many names!"
"Ugh!" A blue pixie huffed, standing on the counter next to the stove as she stirred the pot with a spoon. She had white moth wings and curly white hair, her ears twitching in annoyance as she wrinkled her nose and scoffed, "No power in human names! They take the magic out of everything!"
Lyra chuckled in agreement as she grabbed an apple from the refrigerator – at least some things never changed – and headed back to the living room of the condo, which had been renovated into a large laboratory at some point in time, when Elyon had bought it.
As an immortal, Elyon had spent many years accumulating wealth and she did not survive the witch hunts by remaining idle. She had safehouses around the world, and contacts among both the human and magical societies.
A week after she had appeared in Elyon's apartment in San Francisco they had fled to New York, knowing that the magical signature left by Lyra's teleportation from Colombia to California would be drawing the attention of every magakin on the continent. Lyra still wasn't quite sure how she had managed it, to be honest. Teleportation without an anchor was not only extremely dangerous but also cost a lot of mana, especially when jumping continents.
A week later and Lyra's mana levels were still low.
Further evidence of how much of the world the humans were destroying. They had purged magic from the world by hunting down the magakin – the faer, the shifters, and all other manner of magical beings. As magic died in the world, it was harder for magical creatures to draw upon what was left of it.
Not to mention Lyra was starting from square one in terms of magical prowess. Not only was she low on mana, but her reserves were smaller, her body was out of shape, and she had no idea if her daedra would answer their summons if she called them. She had slept for centuries on earth, and there was no telling how long it had been for them. Time ran differently between the realities of Terramun and Inferno, and daedra were notoriously fickle creatures.
Not to mention she had no weapons.
Lyra cursed at the thought as a frown settled upon her lips, biting into her apple and gnashing the fruit between her teeth with unnecessary force. She really missed her halberd, and the weight of the double-bladed staff against her back. She could use other weapons, of course. Lyra had quite the stockpile in a pocket dimension she had created during the last war, but that dimension was tied to Mictlan, part of the fifth plane of Inferno. Until Lyra had reestablished her connection to her summons, she would not have full access to her Infernal gifts.
Which meant she was practically helpless at the moment.
It drove her mad.
Coming back to the makeshift laboratory, Lyra leaned against the wall and continued to munch on her apple as she waited for Elyon's attention. She was always at a loss of what to do these days, and usually waited for Elyon to give her direction.
Before the fall of the Imperium, Lyra's place in the world had been assured. She had been a soldier. She had loyalties to the Pharis, to the empire, and to her fellow soldiers. She had been a talented warrior too, earning fame and titles. The structure of the military and the call of duty paved a path for her to follow, a steady regimen that told her what to do and where to go.
Now, she was lost. She looked into the future and saw nothing. She woke up in the morning and didn't know what to do. She had to reason to get out of bed, no reason to wake at all, really. Everyone she had ever loved was dead.
Nowadays, getting out of bed was merely a habit.
Lyra glanced over at Elyon once more, who was still immersed in her studies. This time, the pale-blonde witch was messing with a large floating map, similar to a hologram except it was tangible and responded to touch. From where Lyra stood, it looked like a map of the Trinity, the three realms of existence. The earth, Terramun, sat in the middle, while the other realms, shaped like a flat circle, circled around it in uneven orbits, sometimes crossing over Terramun and passing through it, causing the sphere to ripple.
Lyra contemplated the holographic image of the planet. It was so very different from the images of the earth she had seen in her youth. New lands had risen where there had once been ocean… and others had fallen, like her own beautiful kingdom, resting at the bottom of the oceans, their wondrous and magical secrets buried with them.
She wondered, for a second, if there would ever be a place for her in this world again.
The emptiness in her heart answered those thoughts.
"Hunters."
The creature that descended from the circle of light was like nothing they had ever seen before. It looked like a bird…man…thing. Standing on two legs with digitigrade hindquarters and covered in feather down, legs bent and heel raised up like a bird, it had tri-pronged feet that were tipped with long, curved talons that were at least six inches long or more.
Its torso was that of a man, but still covered in a thin coat of white downy fur, with muscular arms that ended in an appendage that seemed to be a cross between a human hand and a bird claw, with four fingers tipped with sharp claws. Then it went back to being more birdlike, with an elongated curved neck and an eagle-like face, it's beak colored bright red and gave off a metallic sheen.
The top half of its beak seemed to extend all the way to the back of its head, like a biological helmet, coming to a point at the back of its head as it dips and then curves upward slightly so that it looked like a curling wave from the side. Two beady eyes gazing out from just underneath the edges, hooded and impassive, completely black and without irises. Oddly enough, the creature wore a leather skirt around its waist, like those that the Roman gladiators once wore, the strips of leather dotted with brass bolts.
Most striking, perhaps, were the two white wings which sprouted from its back, the edges of the feathers glinting golden. They were as long as the creature was tall at about eight feet, and clearly meant for flight.
It blinked once, twice, and then cocked its head like a bird as it's gaze honed in on Napir.
"Maleficar." A deep, guttural voice growled.
The Young Justice team members gasped.
"It can talk?!" Kid Flash whispered loudly, voice rising in pitch.
"Elasa trian noan teloch!" It snarled as it flared its wings and widened its stance, opening its mouth just enough for them to see the rows of small serrated teeth lining the beak, baring its teeth at the witch boy.
"Just as ugly as I remember." Napir said dryly, a small whirlwind surrounding him as magic leaked out of his body. He leveled the creature with narrowed eyes. "I'm not planning on dying again any time soon, birdface. You'll have to cut me to pieces before I go back to sleep!"
It lunged, swiping its claws at the warlock, moving so fast that the heroes barely had time to blink before Napir and the creature were colliding, Napir standing his ground as he conjured a barrier between himself and the winged monster. The glowing lines of the floating diagram flared as claws tore into the invisible wall – BOOM! – the impact creating a shock wave that made everything around them tremble, the members of Young Justice stumbling as the ground quaked.
"Oi, get us outta here!" Tommy Terror yelled in a pitched voice, fear evident on his face as he knelt, still handcuffed, next to his unconscious sister. "I ain't stickin' round for this!"
Aqualad nodded in agreement. "Superboy, Wally, grab those two and get them out of here." He turned to the others. "Surround that… thing. Be ready to help if Napir needs it!"
As the team fanned out around the now thoroughly destroyed city intersection, Superboy grabbed Tommy Terror under his armpits and jumped into the sky, while Wally pulled Tuppence Terror into his arms – silently thanking Napir that the cranky woman was knocked out – and sped off in the direction of Superboy and the nearest police station.
Meanwhile, Napir and the winged monster began trading blows, each hit becoming faster and faster until the team only saw blurs of movement.
"Whoa." Artemis muttered, her bowstring taught, though she dare not aim in the direction of the fight in case she hit Napir, "He's almost as fast as Kid Flash."
"He's using the same technique as that girl in Colombia!" Zatanna exclaimed. "Using magic to enhance his physical abilities!"
"Then his normal abilities must be off the charts, even without magic." Nightwing said with a glimmer in his eye.
Zatanna glanced at him with an exasperated look. "You want to fight him, don't you?"
Nightwing just smiled.
"Argh!"
They turned their attention back to the fight just in time to see Napir take a hit to his side, flying into a building. Just as he was about to hit it, however, the world around them seemed to stutter, like someone had hit pause and then play again, and Napir appeared across the intersection next to a fallen street light. The glow of the light highlighted the shadows under his eyes and the grim line of his mouth. He was still standing, but panting and clearly losing steam.
"He needs help!" Miss Martian worried.
"No!" Napir growled, surprising them that he was even listening while an eight-foot tall birdman attacked him. "This doesn't concern your kind!"
As if to contradict his statement, three more circles of light appeared in the sky, widening as three more winged monsters dropped out of the portals, landing on the concrete with a low rumble. They were armed this time, one wielding a sword nearly as tall as a man, the other two wielding halberds.
"Goddess." Napir swore. "Guess there's no holding back now."
"You were holding back?!" Artemis griped as she shot three arrows at one of the new arrivals. Then her vision faltered, tilted, she blinked and found herself staring at her arrows sitting neatly in the creature's claws. "Did that bastard just catch my arrows?!" She asked in outrage.
The monster roared in response and leapt across the street at her.
"Everyone!" Aqualad yelled. "Look out!"
Artemis felt the blade of the monster's giant sword nick her shoulder as she dropped and rolled away, hearing the air whistle as the blade sliced downwards. By the time she popped up the blade was coming at her face again, and she thought it might actually hit her, but then something wet wrapped around her waist and pulled her out of the way just in time. She landed next to Aqualad, his water-bearers unravelling around her waist, and then solidified into a sword and shield in his hands.
The bird-creature shrieked as it charged at the Atlantean, swinging its sword in a downward slice. Aqualad held up his water shield to catch it, but was truly shocked at the force of the blow, gritting his teeth and digging his feet into the ground, the stone cracking beneath his feet from the weight.
"Nrgh! It's… strong…" Aqualad grunted as he pushed the creature off and attempted to stab it with his own sword, only for the winged monster to parry his blows as easily as if it were sparring with a child.
Meanwhile, Zatanna and Miss Martian were struggling to fend off one of the other creatures. It had engaged the Martian in battle from above, swooping down on her in the air. She tried to dodge its attacks as fast as she could, but she was no match for its speed, and she could only fly as fast as her thoughts would allow her. Then birdman caught Miss Martian off guard, shooting towards her and then halting abruptly in midair, snapping its wings open to create a gale wind that sent her flying head over heels. Miss Martian had only just managed to right herself when she felt its talons ripping into her back as it kicked her, sending her flying to the ground, landing with a hard bam!
"M'gann!" Zatanna gasped, turning to the creature with narrowed eyes, holding up her arm as she chanted, "Gniylf pots!"
The creature paused.
"Gniylf pots!" She tried again.
She saw the air shimmer around the winged monster for a second, making it tilt its head in confusion, before it seemed to shrug off her magic and focus on her with a baleful glare.
"What? It didn't… my magic didn't…" Zatanna was so shocked that she was unprepared for the creature to swing at her, saved only by Nightwing tackling her out of the way.
"Keep moving!" He yelled at her as he pulled the young magician back to her feet and pushed her in the direction of Miss Martian, who was lying unconscious on the ground. Then he spun around to dodge the blade of the creature's halberd, stepping to the side as his eskrima sticks appeared in his hands and he engaged the winged creature in a game of hit-and-dodge.
The creature soon proved itself to be of superior speed, however, as Nightwing found himself on the wrong end of a very brutal beating. He lost his weapons at some point, and was simply trying not to be hacked to pieces in between getting punched and sliced with the birdman's talons.
"Need help?"
A yellow blur came charging in, smacking into the winged monster and sending it reeling back, though to their amazement, it didn't lose its footing. Kid Flash appeared next to Nightwing, glancing at his torn costume and the gashes on his torso worriedly. "Tough huh?"
"Don't take your eyes off it!" Nightwing hissed, ignoring the blood seeping from his side as he straightened and fell into a defensive stance. "These guys are as fast as you!"
"Well that's not good." Kid Flash muttered as he and Nightwing teamed up against the strange creature.
Superboy had returned as well, just as the creature with the ridiculously large sword broke through Aqualad's shield and sent the Atlantean flying into a tree, then grabbing Artemis by the throat and holding her up in the air as its claws pierced her skin.
"Let her go!" Superboy snarled as he leapt over to them and landed a hammer kick on the monster's arm, forcing it to let go of Artemis. He spun around to punch the birdman, only to gasp as the sword impaled his torso.
"No!" Artemis cried. "Superboy!"
Zatanna stumbled over to Miss Martian, mind still reeling, wondering what the hell was going on and how they could possibly win this fight.
"M'gann!" She hissed as she knelt next to her friend, shaking her by the shoulders. Zatanna glanced up to see Aqualad and Artemis barely holding their own against one of the creatures, then to Nightwing and Kid Flash, who were on the defensive and barely able to dodge most of the time. "M'gann! Wake up!"
When the Martian didn't wake, she took a deep breath before hissing, "Pu ekaw!"
Miss Martian sat up with a gasp, Zatanna catching her by the shoulders and snapping her fingers in her face. "You up?
"Y-Yeah…" Miss Martian winced, rubbing her head. "I can feel the bump forming already…" Then she seemed to remember that they were in the middle of a fight and glanced around with wide eyes.
Zatanna glanced up again and her breath caught at the sight of Napir, facing down two of the birdmen.
The warlock was struggling, she could tell, but not nearly as in bad shape as the others. His skin was glowing now as magic roiled just beneath his skin, his eyes glowing orange. The fighting had caused his hair to come undone, the curls floating around his head like a halo. Watching him fight the two winged monsters was like watching a fight scene with someone tapping the fast forward button. The creatures would land a hit on him, only for her vision to flicker, and then he was attacking them from a completely different direction.
He blocked their hits with small force fields, circular diagrams the size of dinner plates blooming from his fingers as he tapped the weapons that were aimed at him, the blades bounding off the magical shields. Then he ducked into a punch, the magic in his fist sending the creature flying backwards into its partner, bowling it over and sending the two birdmen into a pile of feathers and metal.
"Time to clean up this mess." Napir stood up straight and spread his arms wide. "A GRAA ORPHEUS!"
The world shook again, and not only did the sky darken even further, but all the lights on the street flickered and went out. The wind picked up and made an ominous moaning noise as it swirled around the Maleficar, and then the ground beneath his feet began to crack, erupting into fissures, malevolent red light seeping through the rifts.
Then Zatanna realized that the tremors weren't from the ground fracturing, but it was a growl.
"Anything?" Lyra asked as Elyon reached down to make quick scratches on her notes.
"I'm worried about the effect of the Awakening on the world." Elyon mumbled quickly as she wrote something down on a piece of paper. "As more magical beings reemerge – and powerful ones at that – the more magic will seep back into this world."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Lyra asked as she bit into her apple.
"Yes and no." Elyon answered. "The mana lines are already shifting, growing." She nodded at the spherical object she had been holding before that was pulsing with glowing lines. "The other magakin have no doubt already noticed."
Lyra picked up the sphere and brought it up to eye-level, eyeing it. "Do you think they will cause a problem?"
"For us, no." Elyon shook her head. "Even if the Maleficari are just a myth to most magical societies today, they are not stupid enough to get in the middle of a war between two factions of extremely powerful magic-users." She stopped writing and began to nibble at the end of the pen she had been writing with. "However, with the return of magic to the world, many magakin will be getting a power boost. They might decide to cause trouble."
"And why is that our problem?" Lyra asked in an amused voice, crossing her arms and leaning her hip against the table. "Since when do you care about the mortals?"
Elyon's lips twitched downward, which as all but a full-on scowl from the older witch.
Not knowing how to interpret the expression, Lyra put the instrument she was holding back onto the table and took another bite from her apple. "What about these 'superheroes' that you've told me about? Aren't they supposed to protect humanity?"
"They've fought magakin before, 'tis true." Elyon conceded. "But this time will be different. Because the Maleficari are awakening, magic is returning to the world en masse. I doubt they have anyone among their number that can face the rising tide."
Lyra resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Elyon-dah, we have other problems to worry about." Lyra admonished her. "Like the bastards that put me in that goddamn crypt, for one. Those Solasari." She spat, angrily chomping at her apple.
"I haven't heard anything about them in years." Elyon muttered. "The last witch hunt I heard about was in the 1920's."
"That doesn't make me feel secure." Lyra growled, absently rubbing her stab wounds, now fully healed. "They were always good at hiding. There's no way they decided to just retire, and I doubt we are lucky enough for them to have died out."
"Probably not." Elyon agreed. "More than likely, they are still manipulating the human kingdoms from the shadows, as they have always done throughout history."
"No doubt they are already aware of the Dreamers awakening." Lyra said in the low voice, narrowing her eyes. "They'll come for all of us."
They both paused as the world quaked. Normal humans would not have felt it, but they knew that every magical being on the east coast had probably sensed it, the mana lines in and around the northeast were bulging and rippling as something big pulled on their power.
Lyra's eyes got big. "Was that –"
"I sense Solasari magic." Elyon narrowed her eyes. "But more importantly, I sense our magic… someone is summoning their daedra."
Nothing more needed to be said as the two witches disappeared from the room with nary a whisper, the papers on the table fluttering as the air shifted.
Claws poked through the fissures at Napir's feet, curling over the edges until she could see the knuckles of long, sickly thin fingers curl over the edges, skeletal with pitch black skin draped across the bones and nothing else. They were monolithic in size and could probably fit a small car in their palms. Ruby-colored nails – well, long enough to be claws, really – scraped against the surface of the ground, leaving long grooves in the pavement, as if Hades himself was attempting to crack the world open from within.
The battlefield seemed to freeze for a split second, and then chaos broke loose.
The winged creatures all shrieked at once, abandoning their opponents to attack Napir altogether, four giant winged monsters descending on the young warlock with their weapons raised.
"Napir!" Several of the team members cried in warning, but the boy did not move, seemingly frozen by his spell.
They needn't have worried, it turned out, because as soon as the creatures were within range, one of those emaciated hands shot out of the rift, bones and sinewy muscles visibly rippling underneath ebony skin. Two of the birdmen screeched as they were caught in a vice, looking like little dolls in the grasp of the ridiculously large and monstrous hands, which squeezed them until the claws pierced their torsos, making them scream as blue blood began to flow from the winged creatures.
"Oh… my god…" Someone on the team whispered fearfully.
The remaining two birdmen squawked as they flapped their wings and pulled away from Napir, hovering in the air just out of range of the demonic hands. Things got worse when Napir stumbled, and then fell to his knees, eyes still glowing and distant. Zatanna didn't have to be an expert to know that he was losing control of the spell.
"Everyone!" She yelled, "Get away from Napir!"
They didn't have to be told twice as the ground began to shake even harder, quaking so badly that it was hard for them to walk on it without stumbling. Aqualad dragged the heavily injured Superboy away from the growing fissures in the ground, Miss Martian quickly coming to his side and fervently attempting to stem the blood flowing from the hole in his torso. Kid Flash blurred for a moment and then reappeared with Artemis clutched in his arms, her hand cradling the claw marks on her neck as blood dripped down her front. Zatanna found herself leaning against Nightwing as they all watched Napir anxiously.
The clawed hands were multiplying now, from just two to five, then ten, and then more beyond counting. A sea of skeletal black hands were reaching up from the cracks now, grasping at the air, clawing at the edges and leaving long slash marks in the dirt, as if trying to find purchase. Some of the hands braced themselves on the ground and made a pushing motion, as if attempting to pull themselves out of the ground. Zatanna wondered what manner of demon lay beneath all those limbs, and hoped dearly that she would not find out.
"Napir!" She screamed over the howling winds and the angry screeches of the birdmen hovering above. "Control it! Please!"
She felt Nightwing's hand tighten around her arm as they watched with increasing trepidation. The young warlock remained completely still, staring into the sky with bright orange eyes, magic pouring off his body in waves and being immediately sucked into the pit where the demon arms writhed.
"If he loses control," Zatanna said loud enough for Nightwing to hear her, "There's no way we can stop that thing!"
The earth cracked again, the arms pushing the fissures wider and wider, more arms spilling out, growing longer and longer as they clawed their way out of the crevasse.
"That's so gross." Artemis commented, though her voice trembled.
"HMM… KAR SHA SEEH…"
They all tensed as a voice like the rolling thunder emerged from somewhere beneath the sea of limbs. Then a giant, bright yellow eye peered out from beneath the writhing mass of limbs, so large that the whole eyeball was not visible through the pit. It had a vertical pupil, darting up and down, side to side, as if to get its bearings.
"That's…. grosser." Kid Flash muttered.
Above them, the screeches of the winged monsters rose in pitch as they descended on the demon attempting to worm its way into the world, hacking away at the limbs reaching out from the rift with sword and halberd.
They were forced to pull back as the limbs surged upwards, one of them grabbing ahold of the creature's leg and digging its claws into its ankle until blood flowed freely. Other hands quickly joined in, gradually pulling the birdman down even as it flapped its wings as hard as possible. More and more limbs extended out from the pit, grabbing the creature's legs, then torso, wings, and finally its neck, yanking the winged monster down into the mass of writhing arms. It's last desperate shriek made them all shiver in fear, grating on their ears as it rose in pitch and then was suddenly cut short.
The last birdman cawed angrily as it flew in circles around Napir, but every time it attempted to swoop down and stab the warlock, the arms shot out from the rift in an attempt to catch it. The birdman retreat, squawking angrily.
There was nothing anyone could do except watch. Without Constantine, they were totally unprepared to face a demonic entity head-on. No one knew what to do, and all the heroes watched helplessly as Napir seemed to become consumed by his own magic.
Then, a woman's voice rumbled in the air.
"That is quite enough."
Translations:
"Elasa trian noan teloch!" – You shall die!
"A graa Orpheus!" – Behold/Come, Orpheus!
Author's Note:
Sorry for the lack of updates everyone, for all of my stories. I've been in and out of the country in the past year or so. I'm trying to update more, I really am. I promise I've been writing, but I'm just not ready to publish half of my story material.
This chapter is similarly unedited, so I apologize for any grammar/spelling mistakes. I'll review it when I have more time.