41: An inconvenient truth
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3rd person
Victoria sets her golden head band in her hair, looking at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She glances outside of the door to see that other members from the Magic Community making their way over to the Majestic Estate; the only property the Magic Community owns in the real world with humans. With the Caster Trials already gone through, today's where the former Magic Community members guilty of treason will receive the death penalty.
"Today's will mark one of the darkest days of the Magic Community, next to the First Great Caster War, where the Rogue Magic Community rose into power, and tried to slaughter the other Casters against it; Victoria, if you're fooled by this 'justice', you're truly a fool. In this world, nothing's done in the name of justice, it's all done in the name of revenge of the victors. Remember that." Vanessa's warning rings through Victoria's mind. She decides to head down in the basement, where the others are gathering. She pushes through the crowd, all dressed in dark clothing, she finds Vanessa standing next to the entrance of the two huge double doors, labeled with The Demon's Nest on top with strange symbols on the letters; where the mass executions will take place.
"Stay with me Victoria, we should back away from the entrance." they stand away from the door, Vanessa hangs her head,
"Why do they want us here? We have nothing to do with this," Victoria pulls down the sleeves to the cloak that she's forced to wear. Vanessa glances over at the doors to the Demon's Nest,
She swallows, "They've asked Sebastian and Claude to help take place in the executions, and since I'm a House Master, I'm forced here anyway; now what's it have to do with you? I don't trust anyone else with you, not with this atmosphere here in the Majestic Estate." The door that opens to the basement opens, the two sisters turn their heads along with the others down with them, a sense of dread washes over the room. Two other people dressed in the dark cloaks walk towards the Demon's Nest with a convicted not dressed in the dark cloak trailing behind them. The male Caster stares at the floor in front of his feet as they come to a stop. James emerges from the crowd, and stands in front of the door next to the prisoner.
"Aaron Olaf, you understand your crime correct?" James questions, the prisoner nods
"Treason and war crimes, for the man slaughter of my fellow House members." The prisoner draws his head. "Mustang, do whatever you please to me, but it won't change anything! They're all dead and the Nephilims that possess Magic Cells will continue to exist! Elias' the first to take revenge against humanity, but others will fall in his footsteps!" He chuckles, "And there's not a single damn thing you can do about it. Go ahead and throw me with those Demons! You can't keep the Rogue Magic Community under your thumb anymore Mustang." Mustang nods his head, other two people in the dark cloaks as well, stand on each side of the doors, pulling down on these huge levers. The chains that coil around the doors begin to move,
"Any last words?" Mustang questions coldly. Aaron nods, he looks at Vanessa.
"To the current House Master of Shiren, beware of the other shades, because you're only three shades away, your sister isn't too far behind you either..." Vanessa's facial expression doesn't stir. The door opens, and at that moment, the two cloaked people who escorted him down, step aside. Aaron looks at the abyss of darkness beyond the doors, tiling his head as he sees two pairs of sinister eyes illuminate from the darkness. Something ghostly shoots out knocking Aaron on the ground, it coils around his body and drags him inside. The doors slam shut after he's swallowed into its depths, there's screaming and thrashing coming from the other side of the mysterious doors. Victoria buries her head into her sister's arm, Vanessa covers her mouth looking away from the doors. The sisters jump as there's an abrupt movement of the doors, as if something was thrown against the doors, a silence following after the chilling sound of bones snapping.
A cloaked man opens the door, walking inside; Victoria gasps as she sees the man stepping out the door dragging Aaron's mangled body behind him. Blood streaks against the floor after him, "Bring the next one." Mustang orders, keeping his head low. Vanessa's hold tightens around her sister's shoulder. The men who're in charge of bringing the prisoners begin to move.
"James wait! You can't do that!" Victoria blurts out pulling against Vanessa, James continues to ignores her. She grits her teeth, this time pulling harder, causing Vanessa to lose her grip, the cloak comes off. Victoria runs over to where James' at, right in front of the Demon's Nest. "Don't!" she barely gets out before the situation changes drastically. In a split second, the same ghostly white thing shoots out, right towards Victoria. James pulls her into his chest, shielding her. The ghostly object stops suddenly, as if it's sensing where Victoria went. James and Victoria watch as it slowly retreats back into the depths. Other Casters close the doors immediately, James releases Victoria, Vanessa hastily drapes the cloak on Victoria.
"Cortez," James barks in a foul tone, Vanessa looks up, "If you cannot control your sister here, leave. This kind of behavior isn't suited for this."
Victoria's eyes swell with tears, "How can you do this?! They're your fellow Casters! How can you just send them to their deaths like that?!" She screams, James gives her cold eyes,
"You think I want to slaughter my fellow Casters? Grow up Victoria, this is the burden of the Celestial Gate Keeper and the Head Master. For the safety of the Magic Community that relies on me, I will do everything necessary to protect it. If you want to protect those you care about the most, you must be willing to discard your sense of humanity." Victoria sniffles,
"If discarding your sense of humanity means feeding your kind to Demons, I'll forever cling onto my humanity and never grow up!" James directs his attention to Vanessa.
"I order you two to leave, any fellow House Master that wishes to leave may as well. The executions will continue, you've convinced me not to go through the Oblivion Spells, but this will not change." Vanessa pulls on Victoria's shoulder, motioning her to go with her.
The sisters head over to the House of Shiren. On the outside, it seems like an average sized house, unlike the other Houses. They step inside, and a huge crater filled with water greets, Vanessa strips the cloak off, and plunges into the water. She swims to the edge, waiting for Victoria, she does the same plunging into the crater. Vanessa swims over, places her hand on her sister's abdomen, causing her lower body to become a tail. Vanessa dives under the water, Victoria follows after. Victoria gasps amazed by the rest of the House under water.
Other Sirens swim around, with bottles, thick books, and a bit of everything in their arms. She swims over to a wall to find marine animals living in the coral against the walls. She looks down to find stingrays swimming against the sandy floor. She glances up to find colorful fish swimming around, one comes near her, and she realizes that its scales shimmer with thousands of colors. "This way Victoria," Vanessa calls out, she sees her turning into a hallway. With a flick of her tail, Victoria goes after her. The hallway's water suddenly drops to cold water. Victoria shivers a bit as its darker than the main room. "Careful of our sharks, they won't bother you." Victoria's shoulders tense as she sees a small tiger shark swim past her, "They'll only attack people who aren't from here, you're fine. This way," Victoria catches up with her sister, they turn into a room that's filled with hundreds of books and scrolls. Vanessa swims towards the top of the room, pulling out a scroll.
"What Aaron said, before his execution, left me with a bad feeling." she opens the scroll that's written with the strange symbols from the Demon's Nest; Victoria brings her eyebrows together, trying to make sense of the symbols. "It's Toruh, one of Sorcery's oldest forms of magic. You remember how Aaron said to beware of the Shades? He was referring to a curse from the Books of Toruh, the Shades of Sin." Vanessa informs her sister.
"Those cloaks that we were wearing, does it have something to do with it?" Victoria questions, with replays of the attack from earlier when the cloak came off. Vanessa shakes her head,
"Not exactly. Those cloaks were made to conceal a person's soul, Concealment Cloaks. Back then, before Casters had the Magic Cells that we do today, would wear those when they were in areas filled with Demons. When kept in total darkness, Demons have a sense known as Soul Seeking; that's where Demons can sense for a person's soul in absolute darkness. A very frightening power even to this day, where Casters have a way to fight back. If you noticed, the prisoners brought down didn't have those on, so that way Claude and Sebastian can only target them. Now regarding to the Shades of Sin curse, it's a very dangerous curse that's managed to bestow on generations to generations. You're aware of the 7 Deadly Sins right?" Victoria shakes her head, "Supposedly, if a soul commits all 7 Deadly Sins, that person's soul becomes the ideal Demon meal. A person's soul starts off a certain color, for example, yours a white color, while mine's a lilac color, for every Shade of Sin committed, that soul turns dark, and once when all 7 Sins stain the soul, it becomes onyx. Black's the preferred color by Demons making it easier to consume since they're creatures of darkness." Vanessa looks down at her hands, "Sorcery's a blessing and a curse to humanity; ever since when an Angel and a Demon introduced raw Celestial Magic to humans, horrible fates came upon us. An Angel introduced Saints to Celestial Magic to use during exorcisms on extraction of powerful Demons. Upon this discovery, a Demon did the same thing expect to humans with dark intentions to counter attack the saints. What was first a method of counter attack warfare against the other in the early stages of the Immortal War, lead to something that both sides feared."
"And that's the Casters and Wizards right?" Victoria questions, Vanessa nods
"The birth of Sorcery, the Magic Community, the Rogue Magic Community, and just basically my entire mystical world. Both sides realized that their first weapons were becoming a threat to them, they decided to make a new biological weapon to wipe us out, the Nephilims. Once again, their plans backed fired when the Casters and Nephilims made a pact on not to attack the other; and the two kinds figured out how to strike back. Casters came up with a kind of magic to slay both Angels and Demons, while the Nephilims started forging Starshots. Over time, both strategies crossed over."
"How much longer do you think the executions will take?" Victoria glances over at the clock in the room. Vanessa shrugs
"Last time I can recall of those condemned, somewhere around 15, let's just say that the Majestic Estate will have crimson stains by the end of the day." Victoria glances down at her fingers, questioning herself whether or not to ask,
"Vanessa...?" She turns her head towards her, Victoria swallows, "The Oblivion Spell, why did you another with the others not want that?" Vanessa bites her lip,
"When James became the Head Master, the Head Master before him taught him one of the lost forms of Sorcery, one that a Wizard known as Barrow Blackwell created during the First Great Caster War; You've heard the myth of Prometheus correct?" Victoria shakes her hand, meaning that she has, but doesn't recall. "In Greek mythology, he stole fire from Zeus the god-king, and gave it to the humans, allowing them to thrive. The same concept happened with Barrow Blackwell, he went into the area of Hell known as the Depths, where the flames of Hell come from, he stole a small amount, and took it with him back to the human world. He then used his Netherworld Flames and burned his enemies out of existence. These flames will burn your physical body, and then after it's done with your body, it'll burn your soul to nothing." Vanessa and Victoria shake at the thought. "Since we're only a few shades away, I think we need to seclude ourselves away from everyone."
Victoria swims in front of her sister, "We just couldn't possibly leave!" Vanessa gives her stern eyes
"We have to, we'll die and Demons will consume us if we stay. It's too dangerous having any kind of contact with Demons, the state they're in makes them too dangerous Victoria. We'll only leave while Sebastian and Claude stay in their hunting season, giving them so many human souls over a course of days provokes Demonic Pressure within the area, which can cause us to develop further more shades. Our father has a lodge in the mountains, we'll stay there for about a week, when Sebastian and Claude should come out of the hunting season. I'd suggest that you go gather your belongings at the Trancy Estate before Alois can prevent you from leaving with Claude."
"Head Master, may I speak with you in private?" Wizard Media whispers standing next to James, he motions to the other Casters down with him to continue the executions, they step into a room alone. Wizard Media's tongue forks out of her mouth, sensing something. "Thank you for giving me your attention, I have something I would like to discuss with you in private; I was advised to speak with you only about this subject, for the other House Masters will give too much input on your decision." James gives her stern eyes
"Please Wizard Media, I do not have all day, I have to get back to the executions downstairs." Wizard Media returns the same blank eyes,
"The Child of Prophecy has not been born yet," James maintains a neutral face, but in reality his blood stopped in his veins. Wizard Media licks her lips, "I along with the other Wizards took the liberty to investigate after the war. I have strong suspicions that Elias Michealis was not in fact the Child of Prophecy as he so claimed to be." James leans against the table, crossing his arms over his chest
"What gives you those suspicions? If indeed what you're saying turns out to have some truth, this poses a very serious threat." she holds her fingers up, then continues
"One, I was able to consult with Kizuna about the subject, since she was the founder of the House of Shiren; I questioned her around what time that wording of Toruh originated from, she mentioned that during that time, the Toruh language contained hidden messages within it; if you ever heard it from left to right, it seems fluent with each other, then very rigid, so the Wizards and myself began to take our focuses to the possibility of a hidden message. What we noticed, it kept hinting towards the possibility that this 'sky' and 'sea' people had to convince their child willing. Elias however, was not convinced willing. The House of the Dead allowed us to examine this Vivian Malarkey Siren's autopsy, there were signs of her trying to interrupt her body's natural hormones during the time we believe, she must had her sexual intercourse with the Demon, Dark Crow. After this discovery, we shifted our attention to the possibility of another Demon standing in place of the 'sky' character. From the records of the accounted Nephilims with Magic Cellular bodies, we noticed a trend. These children were all off springs of Demons in the same ranking as Dark Crow, excluding those of Angelic origins. From our knowledge of the social hierarchy within Hell, upon investigation of each court, only 4 Demons had that rank; Night Crawler, a member of the Court of Venom, Mar the Wicked, from the Court of Zero, Phantom Flame from the Court of the Depths, and lastly Dark Crow from the Court of Flight. That's one way we pinpointed the sky member, now with the sea, you're not going to like our conclusion."
"It's her isn't it?" James spats out, the words leaving a thick bitter taste in his mouth. Wizard Media nods,
"We suspect that in fact Cortez was fated in the Prophecy to bare the child; of course we suspect, if she does not have any relationships with the Demon in those terms, then of course the child cannot be born. We decided to give you the information we came upon, to allow you to think your plan of action, unlike past Head Masters. I leave you to your executions downstairs." On that note, she retreats out of the room, closing the door behind her. James clenches his fist as flames of black and white colors burn into the air around him. He stares at the flames slowly consuming the air, he feels the temperature dropping as the flames continue burning to the point that the cold begins to burn the wallpaper. He calls the flames off heading back downstairs. "Simple, I'll get rid of the problem by preventing it."
