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"It was a long time ago, and I was young, too young I think." Celeste began her story, the voice echoing off the walls in a haunting tone as her violet eyes opened again, old and fading.
No one interrupted as all eyes watched.
"I was angry... no, tempestuous. My entire world had been ripped to shreds in one single blink, my love, my family, my home. I felt that there was nothing left for me to loose, nothing for me to do, but fight... How very wrong I was." Her voice wove a spell, deep eyes sucking them into another time and place, far ago.
§
Raven leaned against the wall, taking deep, steadying breaths to slow her racing heart. A wound had been dealt, deep within her shadowed soul; and try as she might, in the silent darkness of this place, she cried. Small, noiseless tears slid down her face as she fought to regain control, fought to stand away from the cold rock. But there seemed to be a chill all around her now, inescapable.
Some bonds should not be broken, some loves should never end. Between a mother and a daughter lies a thick rope, strung with blood and care. It is a knot that binds the two for eternity, forgiving and loving. At least, that is how it should be. But somehow, love never worked out for Raven.
I'm crying like an idiot. Get off the floor now. So what if your mother was using you? You don't even know her! She's just the woman who carried you for nine months. Celeste is doing what is right and your being a baby about it. Now get up and go on. Defeat Trigon, that is what your supposed to do. Her thoughts ravaged against her own weakness, but a little voice in the back of her head kept singing sadly.
But she is your mother, shouldn't she...
"And Trigon's my father, so what?" She whispered to the empty air, forcing the tears away from her pale face as her purple-tinted blue eyes hardened. "I have shity parents; that's it." Her tone was final.
There was a moment more of silence, mourning for the loss of a young girl's last chance at happiness. Then Raven stood, gracefully and calmly. No emotion showed on her now sculpted face. But if you knew her that well, perhaps you would see the pain in her eyes as she walked through the darkness.
§
"Master has given you this room. He thinks you will find it suitable." A baritone, toneless voice echoed of the wide walls.
The carrier of the voice was an unearthly creature of red and black, his onyx plate-like skin smelled of acid from the crimson burn marks in the form of long stars. Sharp pikes ran along his slightly humped back, but the creature stood on two legs with inches of obsidian claw. The brawny arms had no fingers, but rather foot-like, as they joined at broad shoulders, a thick neck, and a reptilian head holding a fanged mouth and two large scarlet eyes.
"You mean to say that Trigon has imprisoned me in this room." A second voice countered from an unknown attack, baring the melody of someone who had a natural rhythm in their spirit, but spiked with anger hot and defiance young.
This voice's creator stood taller at the end of the room, bathing in the light of the wide window which overlooked the gleaming spirals of Azerath. Her hair was dark and flowing, long and free in a wild blue tinted with the barest tips of purple. The pale face was beautiful in its own dark way, contrasting the haloing hair, holding a small nose above curving lips and below arching eyebrows. The structure contained high cheekbones and large, dark eyes that held all her dreams in their twilight sky reflection. Sixteen, Seventeen, she was no older than her daughter currently was.
"If that is how you take it, then yes." The demon replied.
She turned around, her eyes alone showing sorry as the slender fingers clenched.
"How else am I supposed to take it? Like a rat on his feet?" She gestured at the crouching creature. "Or in ignorance like nothing is wrong?" Instead of raising her voice in fury, she began to lower hers until it was almost a whisper.
"No, I will fight. I already know that I cannot win, but I will fight to make his life a living hell."
The burning creature shifted on its legs. "You would attempt to condemn the already condemned?" He asked, lowering his voice a bit more as if not to scare a frightened animal.
The human blinked, her eyes trembling but body still. There was a moment of silence, and in her own hopelessness, she picked up a slender crimson vase and flung it.
There was hardly any strength in the toss, but nonetheless, the careful Azeranian Porcelain shattered and a piece dug into the demon's already charred flesh wounds. He hissed between his teeth, eyes narrowing.
"I take my leave, Mistress." His voice was still devoid.
"My name is Celeste!" She whispered coldly back at him, turning her face into the lightless shadows.
§
Raven trod along the barren stone floor. She had been walking for sometime now, moving forward to give her mind no time to think, her heart no time to doubt.
It's getting colder. Her analytical half still functioned properly.
A puff of the alabaster-skinned teen's breath stilled in the air, a white mist until fading in the chilly air. With her cloak torn apart for...
No! Raven forced her mind away from that dark corridor. She would not think of her, or even her friends. She could think of none of them now, just what had to be done.
It would have been nice to have my cloak though. The young woman admitted, her tight jumpsuit hardly contained the heat. The further she got down this tunnel, it seemed the colder it got.
Just don't focus on it... Leave your body behind. Raven whispered to herself. "Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos... Azer—"
And slowly, unwarrantably, the pain began to fade and the chill dulled as she walked on into the dark.
§
Light shafts seeped through the high open window. A golden, gray sunrise blushed shyly onto morn's new stage as cloudy curtains were drawn back. The warm light reflected on a high royal-looking bed of a soft downy mattress with fur blankets the colors of midnight silver and high noon green from the islands; and a velvet sheet of black. A lone figure lay among the vastness of the bed, somehow keeping her aura away from sinking in, as though her subconscience would not entirely relent to the comfort of the bed itself. Long, wild strands of dark hair sprawled across the ivory and violet-blue feather pillows while a slender body lay under only a black sheet, forsaking the fur. Everything was at peace for a time, and then Zinn's fist came with three simple sounds.
A knock. The first a check, the second a call, the third an entering.
Celeste roused herself as the sound of rapping came at her iron-barred door.
She scrambled out of bed somehow painlessly, still in her yesterday clothes of fitting jeans and a beaded silver cami, the black jacket lay a little ways on a moder-looking nightstand with black metal twisting up like twisting branches under a smooth, pearl florescent table.
"Mistress, I am here to wake you and take you around your new domain." The demon creature was back again.
As he entered, the crimson eyes surveyed her strange clothes with distaste. "The servants should have brought you up—"
The fair woman cut him off. "They did," She pointed casually to a long white dress and black cape that had been laid out for her. "I will wear my own garments." She glanced back to see if the creature would challenge.
The quick mind seized up the situation between the rebellious charge and the horrible clothes his Master would never let her wear.
"You cannot wear them forever." He replied logically.
Celeste shrugged. "I'm not. I am wearing them today." She didn't give him another half-glance as the girl proceeded to wash her face in a marble basin filled with the golden water of Azerath, refreshing and cleansing her as the water poured down.
"Master Trigon would like—" Demon tried again.
"I do not care what Trigon wants." The violet-eyed woman said softly as she pulled her face away from the basin, using her old hair tie to pull the wet hair from her face. The artistic face-structure showed more prominent now, as the long dark strands were held back in a large twisting bun, a few luckier pieces escaping.
The guardian shook his alligator head. "I cannot let you out until you put on the dress."
"Well then I guess I'm not going out today." Her reply was swift, sure.
Red eyes peered back at her evenly. "Fine then, I will teach you the history of Azerath and what it means to be Queen."
With that young Celeste consented, walking over to the large, plush couch of dark raven-spun color. She sat and the demon stood, hunched and telling her all about Trigon and Azerath. Her first day in the city.
§
Raven walked farther, and as she walked she began to notice that not only did the cold air begin to lessen, but a pale light began to open from the tunnel. At first it was faint, giving contour to what had once been invisible, then it began to grow into contrast, and finally the teen was walking toward a light at the end of the tunnel.
How ironic. She thought, stepping past the open threshold. Her midnight eyes with painter's orchid blinked twice, grasping at the sudden light. After a moment, of adjustment Raven glossed around. The tunnel behind her was dark, but the cave before her was lit in a strange, unearthly glow of colorless light that seemed to seep from the high, arching walls. While the rest of Sepulchrum de Mortis had seemed earthy, untouched by man except for crude, unworn stairs of stone, this place was obviously carved with master craftsmanship.
The wall was high and vaulting, and two tall columns dominated the center. They were made of the same black onyx as the entrance doors, with red the color or melted gem and welded with fire for deep contrast. Words spelled in an ancient language wound spirals in the crimson, while raised designs showed tortured faces, chains crawling, and grasping hands. It was a frightening collection of Gothic Art.
Between the two pillars was a gateway, not made of brick or stone. An unknown, metallic gray metal twisted gracefully across the columns, forming a kind of enclosed gap in the center. The hole seemed to be filled with a substance. You could see through the other side of the cavern, empty and hollow. But it was as if a reflection of some other place lingered there, moving in ripples and beckoning.
Raven halted, trying to translate as best she could, the words on the gateway written in blood-color.
"Do not enter all who...love to...hope?" She read only the first, part, the rest escaping her mind like grains of sand.
"Well then all I have to do is let go of my emotions, it seems." Her pale skin was enhanced by the washed-out light. "Stop believing in hope and dreams, and just walk through the door." The titan told herself, steadying her breath, controlling her heart rate.
"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos..." Princess of Azerath began to chant again, emptying her mind as her body moved automatically.
First step, the door was coming closer.
Second step, the way behind was closing.
Third step, the sword lies ahead.
Fourth step, my friends lie behind.
Fifth step, this is the way to my death.
Final step, and there is no turning back.
§
Two suns, one fiery orange and the other a compassionate white, rose and set as days went by. Turning, the days went by until it halted again.
Celeste was pacing her room, still wearing the now worn jeans and faded tank-top. Her hair was pulling out from its tie; and her harmonious face was torn in irritation.
The demon creature walked in from an open door.
"You left your door open Mistress."
"I told you not to call me that."
The black-and-red Azeranian mentally sighed. "You are my charge, I am your guardian. It is not proper—"
"Screw proprieties!" Celeste whispered hotly.
He choose to ignore her last comment. "Your still wearing those clothes. They are getting old. Your other garments are very nice."
She simple glanced at him, in a determined, pathetic way that made her look entirely like the daughter she would have one day.
"Is something bothering you, Mistress? I can have the servants meet any accommodation needs." The native noted her annoyance.
Suddenly, Celeste paused. A look shot through her dark eyes, but was replaced by an unreadable mask. Her voice was soft, controlled as the Queen spoke.
"Did you ask if something was wrong?" She began in an almost inaudible volume. "Because if you did that was quite stupid of you." Emotion began to Celeste's voice, anger, injury, bitterness. "I am trapped in some hellhole, betrothed to a demon underlord, never to see my loved ones again..." She was getting louder, but not screaming. "And all you can do is ask if something is wrong!" Celeste wheeled around, deep hurt showing in her wet orbs, but she clenched her fist and would not let the tears fall.
The demon guardian stood frozen, stunned and confused by the sudden outburst.
"Get out!" She was whispering again, shaking.
"My lady..."
"Shut up and get out. You wouldn't understand me because your not HUMAN!" Celeste cried out.
And the demon did just that, doubt tickling his mind when he saw, from the corner of his eye, glossy tears begin to fall.
§
As she crossed through, Raven could see her world in one eye, and the strange realm she entered grossing upon her in the other. Then she had walked through, and catching herself, the fated titan gazed around.
It was unmistakably, a battlefield. The grass that swayed long and free was a sickly gray, blown by a sighing breeze. It stretched for miles, reaching to the mourning colorless sky, gray-white it lit the hopeless land. The only color granted was the red splatters everywhere, it ran thick and strong and furiously. Blood. It poured onto the ground from the bodies on the ground, littered and stiff, somehow perfectly encased in their white skin, blue lips, and black nails. All glamor of life had long left this place, and warmth was forgotten.
Just walk. Raven forced her body to move, ignoring the still bodies that were unavoidable to step on. In the end, she took up levitating a feet above the corpse field. She went on, floating along farther and farther until it seemed the decay would never end. Flat grass, empty sky, moaning wind, dead bodies. It went on into the very tip of time and then something flickered in the woman's eyes.
It's just an illusion. She told herself as she imagined a hand raise from an obviously inanimate form. The princess of Azerath shook her head. It's just my imagination being bored from the long way.
And so she continued for another few minutes or so. And then it happened. Something that could not be mistaken as a trick of the mind.
A body, one with chalky skin and dull red hair flaming on his wide forehead, white eyes looking straight at her as a black-fingered nail clutched her arm.
Raven froze for an instant, feeling the frigid touch of his skin, an ethereal, core-stirring feel. She looked at the moving corpse for another moment, simply staring at the dead cream eyes. And then, with silence, she yanked her arm away, ripping his hand as she sped away, suddenly watching the field come alive with the dead.
I was wrong. She realized grimly. The gateway said, 'all who wish to live...'
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A/N- Well, I think I'll stop there. Next chapter is continuing the forgotten field, Celeste's descent, and... we'll see what else. Om... I update my stories by order of reviews, so if this one gets more than my other three- I'll update it sooner. Anyways, hope everyone enjoyed. And as a warning: All the later chapters are going to be darker. This was the start...