Back to the heroes who are now being lead down the hall from the throne room by Faeroria the Eternal…
The snow leopard gracefully walked down the hall in the front of the group as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles followed behind, observing the grand sights before them. Faeroria pointed out some interesting mosaics on the wall that explained her story better. The first scene she pointed out was of her and her pure world, then it changed into her meeting Vaefora who was nothing but a whirlwind of evil in the picture, then finally of her sealing Vaefora underneath of the earth. Then there was a mural farther down the hall that had the Seven Archangels of Virtue painted on it with people smiling and praying underneath of them.
"There is a sister portrait to this one. A much darker version found within their castle of the Seven Archdemons of Sin. I've never seen it in person, but it's what I've heard from a couple of freed souls that were redeemed through the light. I just thought it necessary to show you this. Also, there is one more thing I would like to show you here in the Castle of Courage. That would be the room where the original blades are held. The time is drawing ever nearer to put them to use after so long. Come."
Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all followed her into an empty room as she chanted something that none of them could hear. Suddenly the floor turned to glass and two sword stands stood in the middle of it, each holding a rather unique looking blade.
"My first ever Arisen member has been the only one to ever brandish these blades. Vaefora took him several thousand years ago and I've never felt his presence since. The blue one was specifically made to destroy chaos demon's souls, and the yellow one is to destroy spirit demon's souls. Now you must go and be there when the portal does eventually open. This is THE final stand, children. I hope you know this. Good will either win, or be extinguished in totality."
Sonic swallowed hard. "Well those are some high stakes, but I will do my absolute best. Everyone will. I just have one question about Vaefora. What does she look like?"
Faeroria thought about that. "I've only seen her materialize herself into something one time beforehand. Whether it's her true form I have no idea, or if she took my image. She was a black leopard with six orange reptile eyes, two sets of cicada wings, a devil's tail, and a bloody halo. Her full name is simply Vaefora the Evil. I hope this answers your question. Now, you need to be down on the earth helping the others. I will be here until the designated time comes."
The angels escorted the heroes out of the castle as Faeroria still sat in the blade room, pondering about what was to come.
Vaefora… I know you'll be there… You can't put off your fate for too much longer. Nor can your sins. My Poor Iris…. I'm sorry my daughter, but it has been far too late to save you. Far too late… But before I destroy you, let me at least show you what should have been. I shall summon your angelic self from beyond our veil…
While the angels were still preparing for the time that the portal would reopen, far off in the distance a certain human was creeping around a small village, doing his master's bidding. He had found two people thus far, but wanted to find more. After all, he wanted his mistress to have a big cult to serve her. He travelled to the next village over with the other two following behind and approached a prison.
"Now be quiet. I can't afford to draw attention to what I am doing. Stay back while I try to enter this prison and possibly find more people to join us." The cultist said as the other two listened and stayed back behind a building.
The man slipped through the market square quietly and watched out for any Arisen activity. Seeing none, he slipped around to the back of the small prison and saw that it was severely overcrowded. There were ten small cells in total and they had four prisoners in each cell.
The Arisen have been busy. Figured as much. How can I free them without being seen by the guards?
The cultist looked over to see one of the prisoners staring at him and he mouthed that he was there to free them through the window. The prisoner nodded and appeared to have told the others in his cell. They all looked at him as he mouthed for them to be quiet so he could slip in unnoticed. From his observations, there were two guards. One looking out at the main door and one inside of the room, who looked very tired. The cultist pulled out a small bag of ashes that his mistress had given him and poured a small heap into his palm. He put his hand up to the barred window and blew the ashes into the room. The ashes circled the guard's heads as they were inhaled by the mobians, knocking them out cold. The cultist then pulled out one of Iris' small creatures that was curled up in his robe's pocket and told it to grab the keys off of the one officer. It did so gladly and used it's beak to try the different keys on the ring to open the window to the outside. Once it had, the cultist slipped in and took the keys himself. He started unlocking all of the cells.
"Why did you let us out? To be honest that was incredibly stupid." One prisoner said as the others nodded in agreement and started to circle him, possibly wanting to fight him. "Now what do you want?"
The cultist raised his hands in peace as Iris' creature perched itself on his shoulder, screeching at the maybe enemies. "I freed you all so that you could contribute to my cause. How would you like to be a part of something big? Something so great, that it will leave your name in the history books. Join the cult, and you will receive many rewards for your efforts."
The criminals looked at each other and laughed.
"Yeah right." One said. "Like we'll believe that."
Then there was one prisoner who had stepped forward. He had a strange emblem burned into his arm and looked hardened by years spent in jail. The spotted turtle walked up to the cultist and then turned around to face the others.
"I used to belong to one of these cults. I remember hundreds of me and my brethren making sacrifices to our queen at her altar. Tell me, what cult do you belong to?"
"I am the head of the Cult of Vanity and am recruiting members. Would you be so interested in joining the new queen's cult?"
The man thought about this. "Yes. That must mean Nandraina has fallen, and that daughter of hers had taken control. I will still continue to serve the royals to the best of my abilities."
Everyone else had no idea what to make of this, so the old cultist told them all flat. "Well, would you like to be part of a winning team, or a losing one? The world is in peril. If you don't join, you will die with it as well."
They all had agreed that it was better to be part of the winning team and not dead, so they all had agreed to join and were being led by the head cultist back to the altars. But the cultist was curious about one thing that the old cultist had not explained to him.
"Hey, if you belonged to her mother's cult, how are you still alive? I though that cult disbanded hundreds of years ago due to her insanity and being unfit to rule properly."
The old cultist looked at him with a smile on his face. "Because I was the leader of her cult. As a gift, I was the only one she had made…immortal."