Disclaimer: see Verse 1.
The Everblack Bible
Verse 7
Blackest Night
By Random1377
Alice awoke with a start, her heart beating hard in her chest as her eyes darted around her room. "Is someone there?" she called uncertainly, clutching her blanket close to her chin as she squinted into the darkness.
I should be able to see some light from the moon, shouldn't I? she thought nervously, jumping slightly as something looking like a snake loomed over the chair at the foot of her bed. Just my stockings, she told herself, trying to relax, and I closed the blinds before I turned in – my God, I'm becoming paranoid!
She leaned back on her pillow and drew a deep breath. "Just calm down," she told herself, "we leave tomorrow…"
Several deep breaths later, she was feeling much better about life. Yuri, she thought, feeling a touch of crimson warm her cheeks, why didn't you answer me??
"I want to spend more time with you," Alice could hear her own voice echoing in her mind, the memory of Yuri's broad chest making her arms twitch slightly in remembrance, "I… I really like you, Yuri… do you like me too?"
Can't believe I said that, she thought ruefully, pulling her blanket tighter around her shoulders, but… but at least he held me back, even if he didn't really answer.
"G-get some sleep," Yuri's voice had been so awkward and unsure as he put his arms clumsily around her, "we'll umm… can we talk about this later? I'm really wiped out and I don't… I don't want to say something stupid, you know?"
Alice sighed and rolled over. "Don't make me wait too long," she whispered, "I just don't think I can-"
Her voice died in her throat as her stocking moved.
Wha… NO!!
When Alice had first met Yuri she was a meek, easily frightened little girl, prone to fainting spells and running from danger… however, traveling with a man who could merge with demons, and fighting 'God' itself – as well as countless other denizens of Hell – had changed her outlook on life.
For one thing, she was far less prone to freeze in a dangerous situation.
"Ahh!!"
With a cry, Alice tore her covers back and leapt out of bed, terror lending her the extra speed she needed to avoid the tentacle she had mistaken for her stocking as it shot forward and crashed into her headboard.
"Yuri!" she cried, "Margarete! Master Zhuzhen!!"
A sickening feeling rose in her stomach as she realized that her voice was not going past her door. Silence Sphere, she thought, eying the tentacle as it pulled back to the darkest corner of the room, impossible! We were so careful to ward the inn!
She swallowed as she realized that the corner of the room was writhing, a tangle of black, snake-like tentacles twisting and undulating around a hulking mass of dark, thankfully indistinct flesh.
How did it get in? she thought, taking a quick look at the closed window. …how do I get out??
The creature uttered a groaning, frustrated sounding mewl, its two white tentacles waving in the air in a questioning, seemingly random pattern.
It's blind!!
The truth of this thought hit Alice like a hammer, making her gasp in shock… and in a second, the creature spun to face her, its tentacles lashing out with unerring accuracy and forcing her to dive to the side, making every attempt to land as lightly as she could.
Think… THINK!! She knew she could not cast any spells – the creature would be on her before she could cast so much as a simple protection spell, and she had never been very good at hand to hand combat. That's it!
Without pausing to think any further, Alice grabbed the vase of flowers off of the dresser in her room and hurled it at the window. Praying that the shattering glass would be more attractive than the sound of her feet, she dashed to her wardrobe and yanked it open, all but ramming her hands into her backpack as the creature gave another of its sickening cries.
"Wuff!"
The air left her lungs in a rush as something warm and clammy wrapped around her waist, yanking her off her feet. Just… another… moment… she thought, gasping for breath as the thing tightened its hold, driving the last of her breath from her and making black spots dance in front of her eyes. Th-there!
Offering up a prayer to God, Alice whipped Draze out of her backpack and pointed it over her shoulder, pulling the trigger as quickly as she could. Over and over she blindly fired the heavy weapon, each shot punctuated by a short gasp as the tentacle spasmed around her until finally… it loosened, dropping her to the floor in an undignified heap.
Taking only a second to draw a deep, thankful breath, Alice shot to her feet, trying to steady Draze in both hands and aim at the same time.
She need not have bothered. The creature (she had never seen one like it before, and was at a loss to name it) lay slumped in the corner of the room, a myriad of bullet holes all around its misshapen frame… and a single hole directly through the center of its body.
"Th-the Lord is m-my shepherd," she gasped, ejecting the gun's cartridge and swallowing hard as she found it empty, "forgive me my trespasses, Lord…"
Had she more time, Alice would have offered a more proper prayer – even monsters deserved last rites, as far as she was concerned – but if this was in her room… who knew what the others were facing?
Quickly crossing herself with Draze, she tossed the empty weapon onto the bed and picked up her backpack. Damnation! she thought angrily, disturbed by the eerie quiet, Why can't I ever find anything when I need it!? In the blackness of her room, her backpack's contents all felt the same… and for the life of her, she could not find any of her bibles. There! There's one!
She yanked the bible out of her backpack and dashed to the door, flinging it open and finding herself face to maw… with a nightmare.
"Get down!"
Alice dropped to the floor as a Basilisk leapt at her, all snapping jaws and sharp talons. The creature, not expecting her to vacate the space she was in so fast, hurled over her, a hail of buckshot following it into her room as someone behind it sent it off to meet its maker.
"Th-thanks!" Alice gasped, scrambling to her feet and scanning the inn's chaotic hallway.
Margarete, who did not pause to acknowledge the thanks, was pumping another shell into her ten gauge shotgun and leveling the weapon at another Basilisk, doing her best to avoid eye-contact as she pulled the trigger. A ways down the hall, Zhuzhen was using his staff to fend off a swarm of Wind Shears, noisome monsters at best when faced one at a time, but a decided danger when they attacked in groups.
But they don't attack in groups! Alice's mind protested. They're solitary – they live alone or with a mate… they never attack more than two at a time – three at the most!
"Yuri," she gasped, "Where's Yuri!?"
"Haven't been able to get to his room," Margarete panted, pumping the shotgun again and sweeping the hall for more targets, "I was just on my way over there… wanna come?"
Alice, who was always amazed with Margarete's cool under fire, nodded quickly. "Yes, definitely! How long has this-"
"Minutes," Margarete cut in, "just heard something in my room, and bang – something was trying to kill me. Must have been the same for the old man."
"Be gone!!"
Alice covered her ears as an enormous whooshing sound filled the hall, the smell of burning wood and flesh assailing her nostrils as Zhuzhen's Fury Dragon, a derivative of the ice-based Fury Serpent, roared through the small space, decimating the Wind Shears in the blink of an eye.
"Now then," the old adept said grimly, "I suggest we find out if-"
Before he had a chance to finish, the door to Yuri's room exploded outward, spilling the man out into the hallway in a jumble of limbs and curses. "Just die!" the harmonixer screamed, bracing one leg under himself and pistoning his right hand up and forward, connecting solidly with the throat of the beast lumbering out of his room and dropping it to the floor like a sack of rice.
For a moment, all was still.
"About time you guys showed up," Yuri gasped, finally pulling his Nightbird Claws free of the monster's neck, "now it's a party! Who brought the drinks? Man, we should get Keith down from his castle to join in… toast some marshmallows. It'll be fun!"
"Impudent boy," Zhuzhen muttered, grinning in spite of himself, "you never had the sense to know the difference between a party and a wake!"
"Well, I ain't about to be the guest of honor at a wake, old man," Yuri shot back, rising to his feet and nodding as he counted his friends, "so the way I see it, this must be a party to celebrate us finding that stupid bible."
"Hmm," Zhuzhen hummed, "I'm sure it was meant to be both."
"So you gonna use it?" Yuri asked, nodding towards Alice, "Or just stand there looking sexy?"
Alice blinked. "Sexy…?" she echoed, glancing down and letting out a brief shriek of dismay as she realized she was clad only in her undergarments. "No! Don't look!!"
"Tall order," Yuri grinned, taking in the exorcist's barely covered body, "I like that color on you, though, very demu-"
"Shh," Zhuzhen hissed suddenly, "Something's coming…"
Alice's brow furrowed, her discomfort momentarily forgotten as a low buzzing resonated in her ears. "Gate…?" she whispered, jumping slightly as the word echoed.
"It would have to be big;" Zhuzhen replied uneasily, "a Gate normally takes a few seconds to cast…" He glanced around. "I think leaving would be a very good idea."
"Master Zhuzhen!"
Alice's eyes went wide as her Demon Eyes picked up the telltale rippling of a Gate. Huge, she thought, pointing in mute horror as the others looked at her, he's right… it's absolutely enormous – and there's nowhere to run!
This last thought made her shoulders slump, as truly… there was no way to get far enough from the center of the sphere to be completely shielded from the backlash of such a large release of energies.
"Everyone hold on to something!" Zhuzhen cried, "It's coming through!!"
Alice took two quick steps forward and threw her arms around Yuri's chest, closing her eyes and ignoring the irrational jealousy that welled up in her as she felt Margarete do the same. No time, she thought desperately, there's no time for that! Koudelka! KOUDELKA we're in trou-
Her thought went unfinished as the inn simply exploded, chunks of wood and plaster flying everywhere as the force of the blast sent Alice reeling into a pool of darkness.
**
"Alice… Alice wake up…"
Alice could hear her father's voice, urging her to wake up for school. "Don't want to, daddy… too tired…"
"But Alice… everyone is waiting for you! Be a good girl, now…"
"Don't want to," Alice mumbled, "too tired… and I'm all sore…"
"Your friends are waiting… wake up, Alice – wake up now."
"Daddy…?" Alice's eyes snapped open. "Daddy?!?"
She coughed, rolling onto her side as the sounds of flame and gunfire assailed her. Her father was nowhere to be seen… nor should he be, considering that he had been dead for over a year, but his voice had been so clear – so distinct – that Alice was sure she would have found him standing over her with a soft smile on his face had she just opened her eyes one second sooner.
As it was, the sight that greeted her left her breathless and awed.
Where the inn once stood there was only burning wood and dancing fire, above which a towering monstrosity rose, its five heads roaring in anger as they repeatedly dove down to snap at the comparatively tiny figures worrying at its mammoth body. Dragon, Alice thought dizzily, forcing herself to her feet, five… heads?
Her eyes widened with horror as she realized what she was looking at.
This was not just any dragon – this was the dragon. Tiamat... the five headed chromatic dragon of the Abyss, her multicolored scales gleaming wickedly in the dancing firelight like a handful of beautiful, cursed gemstones as she stamped her gigantic feet in rage.
She's real, Alice's head spun as she noticed that the shapes dancing around Tiamat's body were Yuri, Zhuzhen, Margarete, and even Keith (drawn, no doubt, by the enormous explosion that had leveled the inn), their weapons small and pathetic as they tried desperately to harm the huge beast. We're doomed! Tiamat is… is a god! It would take another god to…
"Seraphic Radiance!"
It was such a simple thought: use a god to fight a god. All Yuri had to do was summon the Seraphic Radiance and use it to defeat Tiamat!
As she opened her mouth to call out this suggestion, another sphere of energy bent the space directly in front of her… and to her amazement, resolved itself into the shape of, "Koudelka!"
The brown haired woman nodded, glancing grimly over her shoulder at Alice. "Sorry I couldn't get here as soon as you called," she said, shouting to be heard over the noise of the fight, "but I had to find this!"
Alice's eyes widened as Koudlka brandished a huge, organic-looking blade, its gray edge gleaming wickedly in the firelight. "Sacnoth," she breathed, amazed to lay her eyes on such an amazing relic, "How did you-"
"It's a long story," Koudelka cut in, "where's Yuri?"
After a quick look around, Alice spotted him. "He's over there," she said, pointing with her free hand, "I'll cast-"
"Nothing with that!"
Alice blinked at the sudden rage in the woman's voice. "What?"
"Where did you find it?!" Koudelka demanded, the dragon momentarily forgotten, "Did you meet Fletcher? Speak up, woman!"
Slowly, Alice raised her hand. "Where did…" she trailed off, biting her lip as she tried to understand why the Everblack Bible was in her hands, its dark spine now glowing with silvery characters.
"Ahh!" Koudelka screamed, shaking her head from side to side, "Forget it!! Just stay back – tell me everything as soon as this is over!"
Alice nodded dumbly as the older woman turned away and dashed toward the fight, Sacnoth held high. Amazing, Alice thought, mesmerized as Koudelka leapt into the fray, she's so strong! And that sword – Sacnoth! She could actually make a difference with that!
Even as Alice watched, the Everblack momentarily forgotten, Koudelka made her attack, swinging Sacnoth high over her head and bringing it down in a wicked arc on Tiamat's left flank. Black blood immediately poured from the wound, and the dragon threw all of its heads back, shaking the ground with her cry of pain and rage. For one shining moment, Alice thought it would be ok. Bolstered by Koudelka's success, the others pressed their attacks. Margarete fired shot after shot, aiming for the open wound. Zhuzhuen wove spells of protection, doing his best to fend off the creature's counterattacks. Keith's blade, the demon sword Tyrving flew, digging long, but shallow scratches in Tiamat's hide. And Yuri, taking a step back from the fighting for a moment, folded his arms, clearly intending to harmonize.
And then it all came apart.
"NO!" Alice's cry of dismay was both ineffectual and belated, altering the event's outcome not so much as one iota.
One moment, her friends were doing well – fighting, defending, and actually pressing the dragon back several massive steps, and the next… Tiamat simply inhaled, a huge, all-encompassing intake of breath, and spat with all five of her heads, bathing the entire group in magical fire, ice, acid, lightning, and gas.
The ground at Tiamat's feet was decimated, and in the blink of an eye, Alice's entire party was sent flying through the air, crashing to the narrow street with mind numbing impact.
"No," Alice whispered, her eyes shooting from Keith, to Margarete, to Koudleka, to Yuri. "No!!" Everywhere she looked, she saw only stillness. None of her friends so much as twitched, and in her mind, Alice could hear bones shattering and hearts stopping.
"Noooooo!!!"
Her anguished cry seemed to draw Tiamat's attention, and the dragon drew in another deep breath, bearing down on her with all of its hideous strength… but Alice simply stood still, the small bible in her hands drawing in every last speck of energy the monster exhaled, leaving her totally unscathed.
"Yuri," Alice whispered, her eyes focusing on his limp, open hand, "Yuri…"
To Tiamat, the tiny being before her was a mere annoyance. She had been dozing fitfully in the Abyss when she had abruptly been Summoned to this pathetic human town. It was no mean feat to Summon a creature such as she, for Alice was correct – Tiamat was a lower-level goddess… but her mentally whispered instructions had been simple: 'destroy the humans in this town, and you will be sent home.' Surely, the human that had summoned her had done so with the aid of a dragon orb or some other device, for the fear in his voice clearly indicated that he did not have the power to control her himself – and once her task was complete, she fully intended to learn who had wakened her from her slumber and destroy him.
But for now, she was tired… so she would simply complete her task and rest for a few decades – then have her revenge.
As she drew her breath for another attack, the human stirred… and Tiamat felt an unusual sensation stir in her breast – fear. All ten of her eyes focused on the tiny black book held now in both of the human's tiny hands, recognition flooding her reptilian mind as she looked down at one of the five artifacts in the world that held the power to destroy her.
"Yuri," the human whispered the name again, her minute eyes burning with such anger that Tiamat knew the human intended to destroy her.
With all of her strength, Tiamat focused on the most powerful defensive spell she knew, chanting it in her draconian tongue even as the human began chanting her own spell. Any thought of attacking was immediately cast aside – the Book would not allow it – so Tiamat simply prayed to her dark gods that her defenses would hold.
They did not.
Alice completed the chant, summoning forth the Advent and directing it with all of her rage at the immense dragon. Deep in her heart, she felt a wicked spark of satisfaction as a beam of ethereal energy hammered the monster, driving through the thick magical shield it attempted to erect as if it was not there.
"I cast thee out," she whispered, tears of rage running down her face as she held the bible before her and chanted the spell of Banishment… the words rising up in silver from the Everblack Bible and burning themselves into her mind. "I cast thee OUT!!"
Abruptly, Tiamat was gone – disappearing mid-scream as the powerful spell blasted her back to the depths of the Abyss.
"D-damn," Yuri's cough drew Alice's attention, "Didn't… know you could do that…"
In her mind, Alice could feel herself breaking apart. "I couldn't before," she whispered, feeling stunned by the words coming from her mouth. "But with this… I could kill God himself." She raised the Bible to eye level. "Just say the word – and I can do anything!"
There was a moment of silence, broken when Zhuzhen coughed and struggled to his feet. "Let… go of it, Alice," he coughed, falling to his knees and resting heavily on his staff, "let… go of… your anger and desire – don't let them own you."
"So that's how it works," Margarete whispered, looking much better than Zhuzhen as she staggered over to Yuri's side, absently tucking her pendant back into her shirt, "whatever you want, you get – if you sacrifice your soul. Nice book."
"Don't anger her," Zhuzhen hissed as Alice's eyes narrowed, "she is not herself… nor is she soulless. She is doing what she thinks is right – as seen through the Bible's black mirror."
These words resonated in Alice's mind. He's right, she thought distantly, but… but I could do so much with this! I'm so powerful with this… NO! Don't think that way… I-
"You only know half of the story," Alice said slowly, clutching the Everblack Bible close to her chest and ignoring the argument in her head. "You have no idea the wrongs I could right with this Bible… you have no idea how powerful it is!" Abruptly, she laughed. "No one knew! No one had any idea how strong it was – how dark it is! I could blot out the sun if I wanted to!"
"But you don't want to," Zhuzhen pointed out gently, raising one hand as Koudelka and Keith both found their footing… and raised their weapons, "you know it would hurt people."
Alice's smile faltered.
"The Everblack Bible is a tool," Zhuzhen reminded her, "use it… don't let it use you. Remember why you drew on its power in the first place – it wasn't to blot out the sun, or kill God," he cleared his throat nervously, "just remember why, Alice."
Slowly, Alice folded the Everblack closed. "I can't… put it down," she managed falteringly, "it… my hands won't open."
I don't WANT to put it down, a dark voice in her mind whispered, Oh the things I could DO with this bible! The world is-
"Can you give it to me?"
Alice's eyes widened as Yuri stepped closer to her, his hand outstretched.
"Can you hand it over to me, Alice?" he asked quietly, "I won't let it hurt you again, ok? But can you… hand it to me so I can-"
"No," Alice cut in hollowly, "it can't be taken from me – only I can let it go… and if I do, you cannot keep it from me." Everyone drew a sharp breath as she thrust her arm out. "I can't let you keep it from me because it must be destroyed… and since I'm the one that's used it, I'm bound by fate to be the one to carry it to destruction." She drew a deep breath. "This is my word… this is my bond." Her hand opened, and the Everblack Bible fell to the street. "We're going to Naples."
With this final proclamation, Alice's eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed, falling into Yuri's arms with a very, very tired sigh.
Continued…
Author's Notes: Ok, ok, so it was a bit predictable that she would pull the Everblack out of her backpack – sue me! Wait, wait! Don't sue me, I'm poor!! Ummm… sorry for the cliché. Is that better? ^_^ I was going to have it so she had to consciously choose the Everblack, but I decided I liked this spin better. I mean, it was dark, she was scared, her friends were in danger, she was just jumped by a nasty monster – she probably wouldn't be in a very careful frame of mind, you know? And besides… who's to say the Everblack didn't make her choose it? Hmm? HMMMM?? *evil cackle* Ahem, anyway, look forward to more info on the Everblack's capabilities and limitations in the next chapter – and remember, no one likes a five headed dragon crashing their sleepover! :P
Pre-read on this chapter was by Aegis, who agreed that having Tiamat pissed off at you would really ruin your day.
Feedback is welcome on this site or by e-mailing me directly at random1377@yahoo.com