The Threads That Bind

By Breaden Swordwind

Sorry that this chapter took so long to get up but I have been quite busy and somewhat lacking in inspiration for a while now. School has pretty much burnt me out. However, its almost over so I should be able to get back to work in a bit. Anyway read and review as always and of course ask any questions you may have of me.

Luzifer had never felt like this before. It was a perfect chill that had descended into him and frozen all those trifling thoughts and emotions under a pristine sheet of ice. The bones of his despairs were beneath the ice and he could look through the frozen ice and see them, wondering how he had ever feared them in the first place. He could see beneath the glass surface the screaming corpse of his compassion, it had been dead for so long but had never rotted…strange. There was no light in his head to refract in the ice made prisms or at least no single source; instead it was a hazy light that came out of nowhere and everywhere. But there were two totems ascending from the ice. One was a stature of a man whipping himself and the other was of a man with his nose in the air. They both whispered to him strongly. One spoke, "you are the most pathetic of creatures" while the other said, "You deserve to dominate all life". Luzifer let the words of both enter him.

He opened his eyes and Siegfried was looking down at him. They were by the stream and Luzifer stood up. "Let's go", he said and Siegfried nodded in a distracted way. Luzifer didn't waste time thinking about what could be on Siegfried's mind but instead just accepted as being so.

The stepped back on the road and continued on their way. Whichever way that was, Luzifer himself had no clear idea…neither of them had any destination in mind, they were moving for the sake of moving. They had nowhere to go so they moved on and hoped that they eventually found a sunbeam from heaven that would tell them the way.

They walked in silence as always, both young man and old boy lost in their own minds. Siegfried chasing that ray of salvation through the empty darkness forever out of his reach and Luzifer in his frozen skull in which only two emotions lurked. Siegfried with his painful hope and Luzifer to his numbing despair.

They seemed oddly tied to the same plane of existence by shear fact of living in the physical realm but stemming from to different spiritual planes as though to make their coexistence a seeming impossibility. The light from the partially cloudy sky always seemed to fall most heavily on Siegfried and when it did so his armor gave it off in an even stronger fashion causing him to all but glow as he strode easily down the road, hiding completely the weights he bore. The clouds, however, seemed to have made it their goal to protect or to keep Luzifer from the sun and for most of the time he was shrouded in a graying shade that left him dim. The line that separated him from the scenery behind him seemed to erode and he began to become part of the scenery even though he was so chromatically different from the trees and forests. When some light managed to infiltrate past the guard of clouds Luzifer did not radiate the nimbus of luminescence that Siegfried did but instead seemed to thin and dilute the light, possibly even taking some of the fluid luminosity into his self and keep it for his own purposes.

They had not long been walking when the slight rustle of leaves in the trees began to become louder then it should have been given that today was free of wind. At first Luzifer at first skimmed over the noise as just being Tira on her continuing quest to stalk them to the ends of the earth but as the sound began to increase in volume the possibility that only a single person, especially one of Tira's skills, could not be the cause of the noise. Occasionally, he could catch the form of a blur in the corner of his eye but aside from that he could not get a good look at the stalkers. He glanced over at Seigfried who nodded knowingly. The two of the turned back to back and drew their blades from over their shoulders facing the two sides of the road like some strange two faced statue that was supposed to grant travelers good fortune.

The woods stayed silent for a while. Luzifer could hear the faint rustle of leaves but could not see the person, or persons, that was making the noise. Eventually though the woods coughed up its secrets and their stalkers appeared, dropping from the trees lightly and gracefully.

They were each a bit different in their look but they all had a similarity about them that made it was obvious that they had come from the same brood. Each, had skin that skewed towards a sickly pale, as though the skin was so starved for sun that it had died and turned to gray, bloodless ash. Their faces were in someway covered though the method of covering and the degree to which the face was covered varied greatly from individual to individual. Some utilized a thick scarf wrapped around the face from the bridge of the nose down, while others wore full masks, and still others had hoods that shrouded all but their chins from view. They also bore religious symbols upon their cloths and bodies. One had an A inscribed over an M blazoned on his forehead. Another wore a large crucifix around his neck the weight of which made him stoop. A third bore a sweet-smelling censor which had been converted into a flail…or maybe it was the other way around. They were all drabbed in a mix of white and red, the white being of a pure chaste nature that seemed, sickeningly, to offer no contrast with the skin of those who wore it.

Their differences were less noticeable than their similarities and at times it took the eye a moment to grasp that one had a starkly different hair color than the other, so inclined was the mind to perceive them as identical. Differences, though, they did have, the exact way the colors of their uniform garb were worn changed with each individual and their hair and eye color varied along with build and other physical features, but their differences seemed merely skin deep. By not being exactly the same they only further emphasized their similarity to one another.

One among the thirteen which surrounded Siegfried and Luzifer spoke, his voice bearing with it the authority of the entire group, "We come for the descendant of Azazal, for the Nephilim, for the continued existence of the blight of demon blood upon the race of man can not be allowed to continue. Sir Knight we wish no battle with you, if you will turn over the Grigori spawn we will leave you unharmed and no worse off."

"Never!" Siegfried barked, "I will not leave someone to die!" Siegfried held his sword defensively ready to receive any attack, which may come against him. His honor seemed to shine from behind him like two wings of pure white.

Luzifer smirked with a melancholy air, "Thanks, Siegfried… but do you have a plan for extricating ourselves from this quarrel?"

"No Idea. I was planning on fighting as well as we could and dying with honor because there seems to be no way out but by the same token it would be against my honor to betray you, Luz." Siegfried whispered his voice having no fear even with the breath of death wafting against his features.

Luzifer smirked as an idea came to him, a gambit and completely out of nowhere but he had a hunch it might work… I might hurt him like hell to do it, but such were the costs of his crimes. "I have an idea" He whispered, a determined breath weaving its way through the words.

Siegfried nodded resolutely as the assassin began to advance cautiously.

Luzifer pulled himself inward; he pulled all the memories up from beneath the ice for a brief moment and let the pain course through him. The sorrow and hatred played his soul like an instrument and he could feel his heartstring strain to the point of snapping. Suddenly he let all surge forth from him in a demonic scream…

The scream washed over him suddenly and for a moment Siegfried was stunned by the force of it. It lapped over him like waves upon a stone and like the wave it wore him away with a subtle, undermining erosion. It grated against his consciousness but with all his spirit and soul Siegfried pushed the creeping tendrils of despair and madness out of his head. It was difficult, like shutting the door on a familiar friend who you know does not have your best interests in mind when he makes his promises of instant satisfaction. But Siegfried managed it.

Looking outside of his mind, he could see that the assassins had become stunned by the scream and they were standing their hypnotized by the despair and weakness it had brought out in them. Some had blatant faces of disgust, others wore horror, and still others were enthralled with the sinful thoughts that were harbor in every soul, no matter how pure.

Siegfried knew this was the opening he needed and the opening Luzifer had been fishing for when he had released that scream. Siegfried did not waste time and brought his sword around to strike the first assassin within reach.

And the scream went on and on…

Tira was moving quietly through the forest. For now she was using the ground and not staying in the tree limbs because she had noticed people jumping from branch to branch that had the look of assassins. She had been tempted to go after them, but they seemed competent and there were eight of them and while she liked the idea of harvesting their souls for her master, she doubted she would live through the process. She knew she was good but eight people who were also quite good seemed to be pushing her luck.

Suddenly, a scream broke the silence and Tira looked towards it. The wail thrust its tendrils into her but they found nothing to latch onto… no emotions to warp into despair or lust. Just an empty void of feeling.

The animals around her seemed to be affected by it though. As soon as the sound burst through into the woods they instantly stood to attention and stared at it origin. They seemed transfixed by the scream as it slashed its way through the trees toward them. Nothing moved at all, the deer were not taken to fright as they stood drowning in the sound.

Tira, however, could not understand what she heard. She could not grasp or comprehend the pains and evils that floated upon the scream and were intermeshed with it so wholly that it was impossible to separate the emotion from the sound. She simply could not relate to such things because she had no similar equivalent in her own mind. She could, though, recognize that there was something in the scream, something fascinating. So profoundly attached to all the human frailties, which every man and woman bore on his or her neck both as a millstone and a wing. She decided to follow it.

Leaping up into the tree boughs, she moved with deft skill until finally she came to the path in the middle of the forest. There she saw the boy named Luzifer screaming while his partner was just now slicing into one of the eight assassins she had seen with a blade as massive . They seemed pretty similar to some she had on the tip of her memory but could not recall. How dare they? She thought, Luzifer was hers to kill and she didn't like people muscling in on her targets. The assassins seemed caught in the scream as well and were numb to what was going on around them. She smiled, that just made it easier for her. Jumping down silently she imbedded Aiselne Drossel into an assassin's neck.

And the scream went on and on…

Abelard was walking quickly; knowing that he was closing on the demon that had stolen his daughter's soul and killed her was driving him to near bloodlust and drowned him in adrenaline. His age carved features seemed to bear the vigor of a hotheaded youth as he began to smell blood on the air. He tore through the forest in an all consuming stride, too focused on his goal to take note of the surroundings.

That was when Abelard heard the scream. It peeled through the forest and through his frenzied stupor, shocking him into reality. Suddenly his heart seemed to tense and his muscles constricted. He collapsed to one knee and held his chest as the screamed began to pervade his consciousness. He could not focus and he could see the world shifting in to wastes. The world seemed to take on a darker hue and the world was cast in fire. The ground was infertile dust more the soil. Abelard could see a knight with his eyes covered completely by a cloth and his ears covered equally with wool fighting another knight that begged him to stop. But the knight did not and he killed the other. Once he was victorious the knight removed the blindfold, his face instantly became twisted with grief when he saw what he had wrought.

Then the scene shifted and images appeared in his head of all the sins he had ever conceived of and he could feel a lust to perform them beginning to build but at the same time he felt a deep sense of revolt at seeing them.

He was completely caught up in his own evil ever little evil thing no matter how miniscule or pointless seemed like a thousand stones upon his heart but at the same time he felt like he needed them in order to keep on living. That moment of hesitance seemed to drag on forever until finally it cut off and the scream ended.

He was once more in the forest and he felt his muscles start to move again. He knew instantly that the scream must have been the work of the demon. Who else could make a scream of pure sin and evil? He ran through the forest not bothering to follow the path as he made a direct dash for the origin of the scream.

Finally, Luzifer's lungs gave out and the scream stopped by that time Siegfried had killed three and Tira another two. His mind was clear and empty, the emotions he had release shoved away. He was always a void when he fought, it was one of the reasons he had come to love fighting, it washed away his emotions with the constant fear of death and the pumping of adrenaline.

The numbers thus made more even from the repercussions of his scream, Luzifer took a quick breath and charged toward two that were lingering at the edge of the forest. They were now recovering but were able to raise their guard enough to ward away his blow without being harmed beyond the mere shock of the impact. However, they did loose ground and fell back into the forest. Luzifer followed knowing that at any moment they would turn around and begin to fight back. When they did reengage he was ready.

After a brief fight he was able to dispatch one, that one fell bleeding from having Luzifer's Glam embedded in his chest. However, another quickly replaced the fallen assassin, which had followed Luzifer. Luzifer was once again fighting two enemies by himself but was able to hold them off.

During the fight he had noticed Tira fighting against the attackers as well. Luzifer was curious as to why she was fighting, she did not seem to have a reason, unless maybe she didn't want the two blades of Soul Edge and Soul Calibur (which Siegfried was now calling the "Soul Embrace" for some odd reason) to fall into the assassins hands since they were, indeed, the stronger force. They might also have a base or temple of some kind that they would return to with the "Soul Embrace" making it tougher to recover. Still, Luzifer thought it might be wise to talk with her as to her reasons; he didn't like the idea that he might be being used as a tool for someone else's gain.

The fight continued for some time but eventually Luzifer was able to kill his opponents though he bore a few small cuts on his arms, legs, and torso. His head was still a bit amuck from the emotions that had been brought back up in the scream but he was gradually putting them once more beneath a coffin of ice. However, much of his self loathing was still attacking him as it always did and since they were the strongest of his emotions he found it difficult to fully free himself of them. They danced around his waking mind and picked at it playfully, and every time his mind felt that they had gone away they came back harder then ever. It almost felt as though little chunks of his consciousness were being whittled off and used as playthings for the demons that pervaded him.

Luzifer returned his mind to the present reality when he began to hear noises coming from deeper in the forest. He spun to face the noises and was watchful incase it turned out to be more belligerents. The crackling of leaves was both rapid and loud, like a snare drum at fast tempo, and it appeared whoever or whatever was approaching was in a dead sprint. The excitement carried as well and it seemed more to be in exultation of finding then the terror of fleeing that had possessed the runner to put feet into motion.

A figure began to come into view but Luzifer could not obtain a clear idea of what kind of person it was because of the trees that constantly intervened in his line of sight. However, he began to piece together the portrait of a man both aged by time and worn to the heartwood of faith by the travails of life. The man bore a brown beard the hue of dry earth and a full head of hair the same color though intermittent threads of grey could be seen amongst the dusty mane. His body was well-built and the axe on his back, obviously designed more for the work of the woods than that of the battlefield, only further swelled the notion that he was some worker of the fields that lived not far from some woods where he could obtain his daily fire, by grace of his lord of course. The shabby and threadbare clothes completed the picture and they seemed to have one time long ago been white but over the years had be imbued with so much dust that they were now closer to his hair in tint. A faint bloodlust hung in the air as he approached and Luzifer set himself cautiously.

The man seemed to recognize him and his speed increased as he bore down on Luzifer. Taking the axe from his back and brandishing it towards Luzifer, he let loose a cry that bore with it the twin tones of vengeance and the faith of duty. The man swung his heavy axe at Luzifer but the blow was easily avoided and the man's momentum carried him some distance forward before he was able to stop and about face. Luzifer didn't ask why the man was here, he knew he might be some overzealous man of faith from the town he had been in and for whom he had demonstrated some of his ability. He didn't particularly care why this man was here, all that matter was that the peasant was attacking him and such actions could not be allowed to continue.

Luzifer was able to defeat the maggot handily, for all his fervor and bellowing the peon did not possess the skill necessary to defeat one of such bladed skill as Luzifer. The man was still alive though he bore a deep wound to the leg. Luzifer toward over him lazily as though not at all bother by the attack, "Go away, fool. I don't have the time to bother with one as weak as you". Luzifer spoke with the cold arrogance that he had never before heard in his own voice.

But the man just tried to stand using his axe as a support on which to lean when he began to feel his leg about to give out. "No, demon! You killed my daughter and sent her soul to hell so that she would serve your dark master. I will kill you and maybe in doing so free her from such a fate, or if not at least prevent others from falling to the same fate! With God as my witness, you shall be slain!"

Luzifer's attitude immediately shifted, the many tortures that were loose in his mind began to strengthen and all he could think about was Blasa and Jenell, who had died due to him. Even if he had frozen away his pain for a time, he was bothered by the fact that Jenell had committed suicide and he could not help but take the blame for her death. His arrogant apathy gave way to a deep sadness as and he looked at the man cautiously, "Who was your daughter?"

"You don't remember? You bastard! It was some months back. You killed her and left her body at the edge of the forest while giving her the Devil's Last Rights! I saw you! I'll never forget your yellow eyes, the eyes of a wolf eyeing the lambs within God's folds!" The man shouted at him, trying to muster the strength to lift his axe enough to launch a strike but finding himself too wounded to do so.

"Of course I remember Blasa!" he yelled back at the man slamming the blade of his sword into the ground, "She was one of the only people who ever cared about me. She protected me when I was weak. She saved me when I was dying… but I killed her… I didn't mean to though!" Luzifer could barely choke off the last sentence as his motions began to asphyxiate him.

"I don't care what you say demon! You will pay for what you have done. You knew exactly what you were doing when you stole her soul."

"No! I…I'm not a demon! I just lived there in the woods! I was a thief! I stole from the surrounding towns for food but I did not steal her soul!" Luzifer tried to fight off the accusations but they were beginning to crush him under their weight.

"Then explain the screams! Why would you live with a demon in those woods? Even if you are a despicable thief! If you're not a demon then you are the servant of a demon which is just as evil!"

"Those screams were mine but I'm not a demon… I'm not… I can't be" Luzifer said collapsing to his knees, "I don't care! Demon or not I deserve to die! Just strike me down!" Luzifer bent his head forward offering his neck to the strike of the peasant man.

"Don't think your going to trick me, demon! I will kill you and you will have no mercy!" the peasant managed to lift his axe of his head and began to bring down.

The sound of steel on steel could be heard.

Luzifer looked up to see Siegfried's blade between him and the axe. Siegfried pushed the axe back easily and the wielder lost his balance and had to once more lean against the axe hilt for support.

Siegfried looked at the peasant, "What's going on here?"

"I'm about to kill this demon! But you would know that because you're the knight I heard about traveling with this monster! You have sold your soul and strayed from the light of God and for that you will die!" the man yelled.

"Siegfried go away! I killed this man's daughter… he has the right to get revenge on me." Luzifer said emphatically.

"Luz pull yourself together! We have all done things wrong in our lives but you can't make up for them by getting yourself killed foolishly! Corpses can't redeem themselves!" Siegfried shouted at Luzifer then rounded on the man who was accosting him, "And I don't know much about Luz… he maybe a demon, I don't know for sure. But what I do know, and I believe this to the point of death, is that he only has good goals at heart… he does not act out of evil intent."

"You are all just trying to trick me! I will not be put aside!" the axeman yelled in unthinking rage.

Luzifer was about to open his mouth to ask Siegfried to step aside and let him die, when he saw Blasa kneeling beside him. Only Blasa was giving off some strange glow that seemed to bathe him in serenity and she lacked substance. Her body had the consistency of mist and was just as lucid. She smiled at him warmly, and, putting her arm around him, helped him stand up. Luzifer noticed the Siegfried was looking at Blasa, while the peasant did not appear to notice her, even though she was presumably his daughter. Luzifer could only assume that meant that the man did not see her at all.. "Luzifer…" she whispered, "You can't let yourself die here. You still have much to live for and it would sadden me greatly to see you die. I still care about you Luzy. You're the only real friend I ever had, I don't know if I told you that. So please, Luzy, live on and do what you feel is right." With that she faded away completely. Luzifer clenched his fist and nodded. He may never purge himself of his evil but he would try, for Blasa , Jenell and his mother's sakes more so then his own.

"No… I can't die here not yet! You must believe me when I say that I did not mean to kill your daughter… it was an accident… the burden I will bear to the end of my days. Please do not fight me, if not for your sake than for Blasa's. I can only assume that she would be sad if you died and I do not wish to do her still further harm by killing her father as well, but I will if you continue to fight me."

"Demon, I can not let you leave. You just want me to leave so that you can steal yet more souls, like you did to my daughter! But more importantly, you stain God with your very existence. The very fact that something as loathsome as you is allowed to exist cannot be forgiven!" The peasant began to heft his axe weakly but his muscles gave out and he collapsed to the ground like a newborn calf, which has not yet developed the muscles necessary to stand.

Luzifer held solid against the accusations that crashed against him. He would not let them touch his guilt, the sensitive underbelly, which his entire consciousness was shaped around, the tougher outer shell of some soft weak animal. Luzifer let his sword fall to the ground, "You are probably right and I am a stain. But I will clean myself of this evil and weakness that I brought upon myself with your daughters death. I don't care if you don't believe me, but I do not wish to kill you. Please, Blasa's father, grant me the chance to redeem myself."

Luzifer kneeled down and picked up his sword. He easily sheathed it over his back and walked away. "I do not trust you" the peasant screamed… "I will follow you till the end of days!"

Luzifer looked down and clenched his fist again, as though trying to convince himself of his own determination; so uncertain was he that he even possessed the will to keep putting one foot in front of the other. "Demon!" Luzifer looked backed knowing it was he being addressed.

"What? Is it fool?" Luzifer asked his demeanor starting to fall back into its usual place.

"I will not leave you alone to wreck havoc, if that is indeed your design. I will watch and make sure that nothing you do will further stain the light of God. I trust my life only so much because I believe that his knight, whose name I have not been honored with knowing, is pure and goes with God."

Luzifer sighed… he didn't want to travel with this man but he felt he owned it to Blasa, she had saved his life and he knew this wouldn't pay his debt to her but that didn't mean he shouldn't make payment towards it. "Alright, you may come, but we are still mere wanderers. You shall have no grand purpose until we can figure out the course that needs to be taken".

:"Do I look like I care what this… purpose of yours accomplishes as long as it is not a blemish to God." The peasant shot back belligerently. Siegfried was now helping him up and carrying him closer to the path.

Siegfried called to Luzifer, "Luz, I think that we should stop here and rest… this man needs his wounds patched and I fear it may take at least a day before the wounds have clotted enough that he can begin to move."

Luzifer shrugged, "I am following you, Siegfried, not the other way around. If you wish to rest here a day then so be it. I'll leave you to prepare camp, I want to take a look at these… enemies for lack of a more specific word. Death it seems is a companion one can never shake from ones coattails." Luzifer's tone at the last sentence turned vague and he was too lost in his own thoughts to pay attention to what his mouth was saying.

Jenell had been running through the events of the past day in her head for a while now. It still amazed her that randomly, after she had died, she appears in some ruined city, is chased around by men cloaked in alabaster fire and then is saved by some girl in a similar situation. Her brain was completely focused on figuring out why this had happened but nothing came. This place seemed like neither heaven nor hell nor limbo nor purgatory. It was just someplace she could not comprehend… it existed outside the realm of her knowledge but had an intimate familiarity about it that seemed ingrained upon the very fabric of her soul. No, it was remembered by the threads from which her soul was woven.

The stone walls of the cellar seemed to be perforated with a matter that did not belong to reality. It was not visible to the eye nor felt by touch nor detected by any sense except that simple human cognizance that whispered that it was there. It pervaded every "physical" thing in the room from the books to even the flames which to her had never seemed particularly of the mortal realm in the first place. She no longer believed even the bed on which she now sat had ever belonged to a plane which could be described as "material". These objects, though ordinary, seemed to have been raised above the mere copies that proliferated the world she had called home before, as though all her old objects were mere copies that aspired to be like these divine examples.

The cellar itself was of a stone she could not identify but it seemed to be a mixture of white and black flakes that had been pressed together for such a length of time and with such force that they had become fused along definite but blurred lines. Occasionally, strands of black wove out from the main black continents into the white oceans and that opposite was true as well, tying the two together in various knots.

The cellar's layout was not incredibly complex. Coming from the door the Jenell had entered with Blasa one followed a tunnel for some few strides before arriving at archway that went in three directions forming a crossroads. To the left was a room that had another door that led to the surface but which was completely block by a fallen statue of what seemed to be an angel with wings outstretched. It now had only one and half wings since in its fall it must have shattered one… or maybe that wing had been shattered before the statue fell. But the oddest part of the statue was that one of its wings, the broken one, was made of white marble while the other was made of jet black onyx and in its right hand it wielded a large, fleshy sword while its left hand was a mutated claw that seemed much like a bird of prey's. There was another angel statue that one could see from the door that Jenell had entered from but it was a more typical angelic form, at least according to the sermons of the her old pasture. The only thing about that statue that caught the eye was the sword it held in both hands, a sword that was colored the most amazing shade of blue. It was the kind of blue the kind of blue that one saw if one looked through frosted glass at a summer sky. Powerful, yet soft.

The air of the cellar was dry but not nearly as arid as the air in the city above which seemed to continue more dust the water and dried the mouth with but a single breath. The main reason for the more comfortable atmosphere of the cellar was a small spring of water that flowed through a crack on the wall of the last room in the string of three which one came to if they went right at the crossroad. It was a translucent vine that twisted from the crack in the wall into a pool that had been constructed in the floor of the room. The spring was a rivulet that wound its way over the rough surface of the stone and gave forth a soothing sound that one imagined was the sound of rain if only two or three droplets were aloud to hit the ground at any one time. The sound pervaded almost the entire cellar and produced a calming effect that seemed to easy the many worries that often troubled Jenell. Jenell was glad for this small comfort. It allowed her to think for long periods of time without getting frustrated, as the constant noise seemed to make all other things transient and minor. It was the best place she could come up with to do thinking and reading.

It seemed that Jenell was not alone in finding the properties of the stream conducive of meditation and the scholarly pursuits as the final of the four directions from the crossroads ended in a massive library of grandiose size. Blasa had mentioned briefly in the few hours Jenell had known her that she had read a few of the books that were written in German. Blasa said that a boy she knew had taught her to read German and that among the many books was a German dictionary and several books on learn languages, some were from one language she didn't know to a language she knew even less of but enough were from german to another that as she learned one language she could then have the option of learning more and thus could get them all. Up until now she had only learn a smattering of Hebrew since many books were in that language.

It made Jenell feel a little small to here about this as she herself was illiterate.

So for now the greater part of the library's secrets remained yet unseen but from the glimpse Blasa had gotten she said that most pertained to things of a heretical or religious nature, though she could not be pressed for more details at the time.

Jenell was now sitting in on one of the beds in the room the she shared with Blasa. It was directly attached to the spring room and had a small sitting room between it an the crossroads, the gaps between each of these small areas was partitioned of by an arch way and a screen that permitted cool, wet area of the spring to gain entrance to the rest of the cellar.

Blasa had recited what had brought her to the cellar with Jenell and it was a story that reminded Jenell of her own. Blasa told her a brief history of her life, how she had been raised as a farming peasant in a small village near two large trading towns and how when she was 14 she met a boy in the forest who she become friends with. Though, Blasa talked with all smiles she rushed through and underemphasized anything dealing directly with the boy, handling it quickly and gingerly like a roses thorns. Jenell noticed Blasa's eyes had a look in there emerald depths that she had recognized with other girls who were quite popular with the boys of her hometown, though Blasa seemed to have more of a brain on her shoulders then those she was being compared to. However, when her story came to the boy, whom she never once gave a name to, the look would disappear and a very different one would set in, quite the opposite of the carefree and flirtatious look that they normally held.

Jenell then told her own story as quickly as she could and completely edited Luzifer out of the story not want to deal with the emotions he brought up. The emotions made her feel good but knowing he was far away (or at least she presumed him far away, for no reason other than that it felt so) gave a cold hollow tinge to the emotions and threaten to burst some small bubble of tears that had floated through her heart since seeing Luzifer pained yellow eyes glowing for her like twin suns in the night just before she died. Her reason for death, which she felt, was not to far from the truth, was that a bandit had killed her.

They had made some minor conversation asking dead end questions about where they were, how they were going to get back to where they were, or, even if going back was possible considering both had died. They both quickly dismissed the idea that where they were could be heaven or hell as it was far to bad for the former and not bad enough to be the later. Blasa, remembering something from a sermon her pastor would give, offered up the idea of this being Limbo, but it they felt sensations such as hunger, pain, joy, and sadness here, though admittedly the joys were minor, so it could not be the eternal neutral of Limbo.

This had led to a brief discussion of the sermons each of their preachers used to give. Blasa was either a more attentive churchgoer or had a more interesting minister for she remembered many things from her church and even said that she had given someone a name based off of a sermon. Jenell asked who but Blasa became evasive and changed the topic, leading Jenell to the conclusion that the person was probably the boy from her past. Jenell could remember very little from her own days as member of a congregation, though Jenell openly admitted she was completely apathetic to the whole thing and was already quite shunned as the town's mischievous thief. Well, shunned by adults.

Returning to thoughts of the world at hand, Jenell wondered why she hadn't seen Blasa for a while now even though she had looked in every room and was wondering what had happened to the girl.

The door to the room opened revealing the form of Blasa, who smiled dimly at Jenell and gave out a distracted, "Hello".

Jenell was becoming rather fond of the younger girl because of her spirt. She was quite impressed with her light-personality and was now shocked to see Blasa seemingly lost in some deep quagmire of thought or emotion. Jenell's first impression of the girl was that nothing could stick to her and that she was empty-headed enough not to let it bother her but smart enough to learn from it, far distant from from the introverted girl that had walked into the room.

"Is something wrong? You don't seem very… here" Jenell questioned looking at Blasa with a worried furrow creating a slight trench upon her brow that made her seem even older then the girl then she actually was.

"It's… It's just I was…worried about… an old friend of mine." Blasa said hesitatingly and it was obvious from her manner that she was not telling the truth but instead answering in a way that would provide as little information as she was willing to give.

"The boy you mentioned?" It would have to be. Jenell had been around long enough to know when a girl was thinking of a boy she was romantically interested in rather then any other person in the world, the sort of bashfully trepidation that only an emotion of such strength as love can cause in a person. The only emotion as strong as love was hate and no one was embarrassed about hating something.

Jenell had suspected that Blasa harbored such emotions for the boy she had mentioned but she could not have been certain at the time. It was one of the sort of gossipy suspicions that she had long prided herself on not being so low as to stoop to spreading. Now, she was certain. The emotions on the girl's face were bare and plain, there was nothing that could cause Jenell to second guess herself now.

Blasa looked up, "…no… yes… yes it was him. Its just that when I really think about him, I can feel him. Not like a touch, but more his… aura. The feelings he has and what he keeps hidden. It's scary."

"How is it scary?" Jenell asked what even propriety she might have had cast aside by the biting curiosity that gnawed at her.

"I want to help him but I can't... I saw him… and he was just so sad. He can't see anything. Can't see anything but the truth…"

Luzifer waited until nightfall. Siegfried and Abelard had spoken for a while and seemed to not mind the others company. Abelard was quite obviously a man driven almost entirely by faith and once he had seen the obvious good in Siegfried's character took it on face value assuming that the man must be good to the core. Luzifer himself made no such assumptions. Siegfried was a good man and Luzifer couldn't take that away from him but still everyone has their dark little secrets hidden inside them. Or some displayed those evil flaws on the surface.

Abelard had his own evils but Luzifer doubted he viewed them as such. The man thought himself good and thus he must be whole good, whatever personality quirks he might have were obvious either negligible or good in their own right.

Luzifer quietly contemplated the hidden threats that these men could hold. Siegfried a former host of Soul Edge might still harbor some… residue from that experience or maybe he possessed a tragic weakness of character that had lead to him being exploited by the sword. Either way it could become an obstacle to Luzifer who needed a variable free environment if he was going to be able to destroy Soul Edge. Abelard's weakness also represented a potential risk. It would be easy enough to predict his actions if Luzifer was aware of the stimuli being put upon the man but since he could not be omniscient on such a matter something could happen that would endanger Luzifer's goals.

However, at the moment having fighters with him expedited his progress as well as securing his life for the time being. He also could not ignore the fact that Siegfried was intimately tied to the existence of the blade he must destroy. The blade he must destroy because it was so similar to himself.

But isn't he my ally? If not my friend!

No… I am to stained by the evil that I have wrought by killing those I care about to have friends. Crushing Soul Edge is the only way I can redeem myself and so any variables should be considered an opposition to that goal…

But how is that the path of redemption?

Luzifer pushed the thoughts out of mind. Siegfried and Abelard were asleep which meant he had a meeting with a certain angel of death to attend to. Yeah, angel of death. That seemed to suit the girl just perfectly.

The night was calm and the occasional clouds that obscured the moon did not bring any fear in there wake. Some nights when the moon was hidden a sense of dread would creep into peoples spines as the visibility diminished and the hidden shapes in the darkness twisted into the monsters. But this night was not like that. Luzifer felt calm and at ease as he walked away from camp. If the girl tried to kill him again well… he could handle those eventualities. The girl was a variable. But he could not make himself kill her.

When he had been placing Jenell's body into the earth he had made a silent promise to her. No, a promise to Jenell, Blasa, His mother, and himself. From this day on, no matter what happens, I will never kill a woman, even if a woman wants to kill me.

And that was a promise Luzifer would never break even at the cost of his life, even his redemption was less important then that promise. He had too much female blood on his hands and his guilt could not bear anymore.

The almost silent landing of a girl behind him brought him back from his painful revelries. "I expected you to come…"

Tira's brimmed with fake disappointment and Luzifer almost thought it was real if not for its over done nature, "awww… and here I though I was going to give you a surprise!"

"hmph… whatever. But I must ask you something, why did you fight for me?"

Tira looked confused for a moment, her brow wrinkled and her head tilted to the side, "For you? How can I fight for you when I don't serve you? That doesn't make any sense!"

This woman appeared to be a literalist it seemed. He remembered the difficult he had had trying to grasp what people called "figures of speech" how he was not used to things that were untrue at face value but were in there intent true. He would need to translate. "I'm sorry, I meant why did you take part in the fight against the attackers while not fighting against me since I'm the one you want to kill."

"Oh! Well why did you say so!" Tira exclaimed her fists pressed against her hips in a domineering fashion that did quite make up for the height difference between the two of them. Luzifer easily towering over the short girl, "Well, it's simple! My master said to follow you and so I will. The fact that you have Soul Edge and I'll be able to keep an eye on that as well only makes the arrangement better!" She beamed at her own luck and brilliance in figuring something like that. But of course it was all fake.

:"Couldn't you have killed me and taken the blade? Why didn't you?" Luzifer inquired taking a stepped forward and using his advantage in height to loom over her.

"ah…" She tapped her finger against her green lips in pensive thought. Was she just making up her reason up now? Just trying to come up with an explanation for an action she didn't think through? Pathetic.

He must have let his annoyance show on his features more then he had intended because Tira because increasingly awkward. She seemed be sweating slightly and was tense. What's more it seemed real. "Well… I… er…" Tira stammered, " You know what? I don't really know I just did!"

Luzifer sighed heavily and gripped the bridge of his nose in annoyance, "whatever… I don't have time for this crap… I just thought you would have a good reason… nevermind" Luzifer walked back to the camp not caring if she tried to attack him while his back was turned. He had found a book on the assassins and wanted to read it.

Tira watched him walk away and sighed. She could still feel the worm in her stomach and it was annoying. She couldn't look Luzifer in the eye when he got her like this, it just became to painful and annoying.

She had a reason, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to say it to him. For the first time she had thought that it might sound silly or something if she said it. It was odd. She didn't remember really caring what her reasons sound like to other but at that moment that damnable maggot inside her had eaten her resolve. It was truly obnoxious.

But it was nice to know that indeed she could be like normal people, she just need to keep following Luzifer. Once she did and she could understand emotions then she would never have to kill her family again. Never again.