Chapter 8

Fate

His eyes drooled with exhaustion and confusion. Slowly, his consciousness arose from slumber, but as he opened his eyes, the Archbishop realized he was in a place unknown to him. The air stunk of some kind of fungus, drenched in some kind of reddish mist. He smelled blood.

As he tried to move, he felt the blood rush to his head. He felt himself being wrangled through the ginormous prison site, senses abruptly returning, hitting his psyche with full force. Finally on his two feet, the Archbishop squinted his eyes as the sheer brightness burned through his eye sockets.

"He…he's here…" A voice strangely familiar to him whispered. Its voice echoed through the strange prison halls. This place was unnerving, even for the demented Archbishop. His feet dragged themselves cautiously through the hallway, jumping back as grabby hands tried to latch onto him, desperately clinging for escape through the tiny prison bars.

"Follow me," Another voice slithered into his ears. The Archbishop finally realized a cloaked figure in front of him, strangely not out of place in a bright-yet-run-down prison.

One thing he realized was the strangely dim prison cells that held the prisoners. And…they all had the same voice. "Please!" They'd cry. "Let me try, one more time! Just one more time!"

"Why him?! He doesn't care at all how he does things!"

"Switch places with me! I want to see her! I WANT TO SEE HER!"

Sweat dripped from the Archbishop's forehead. He didn't like where this was going. Pride had a gut feeling that if he learned who were in those bars, he would lose his very sanity. Or what's left of it.

"DAMN YOU! Doing whatever the hell you want! How fucking dare you! Do you know how much I had to suffer?! And yet you never ever EVER take responsibility for your actions!"

"You fucktard! You didn't even save Rem!"

Who is Rem? The Archbishop thought. Someone I need to know?

"Look at him! He doesn't even look at us! He won't acknowledge that we exist!"

The cloaked figure pointed at its right, revealing another hallway, going through a maze of pathetic, hopeless hands desperate to grab the tiniest piece of hope. A horrid stench clogged his throat, making it hard to breath. He covered his nose and diligently followed the cloaked figure before him. Strangely enough, he swore he saw that cloak somewhere…its design was too similar to something he saw…Black with orange stripes.

But what?

Finally, the cloaked figure stopped in front of two massive steel doors, supported by a strange runic magic that seemed to hold the entire facility in place with its thundering power. "Go inside."

Turning back, Pride's dead eyes focused in on the figure, suspicious and glaring. With no other choice, he shrugged and sighed, arms out first as he pushed the doors open. "What…these doors were surprisingly li-" As he mentioned the strangely light steel doors, once he was fully in the unusual room, the doors shut behind him, leaving only the cloaked figure and whatever was inside this room with him. "What the hell!"

"Look over there…" The figure pointed with a ghastly tone.

The Archbishop turned back and noticed a massive cemented brick with a person fused to it. A ghastly expression from the figure infused in that block seemed to stare back at him. Trapped by a timeless prison, this person felt unbelievably familiar to the Archbishop of Pride. Something felt wrong. Something felt horribly wrong. "What…or who is tha-"

As he stepped closer, he realized he knew who it was. It made his blood boil…His hazel eyes grew in shock. Nerves twitched and spasmed with lightning. Cold sweat slithered and dropped from his spine and cheek. His pupils dilated uncontrollably. He started to hyperventilate from the sheer shock and realization.

"What is this shit?! What's the meaning of this, you basta-" A powerful hand grasped his neck, pulling him forward. The cloaked figure held onto him, paralyzing him in such a fearful way. Slowly turning his head, he realized the cloaked figure that dragged him into this wretched place shared the same face as the one stuck in the timeless block.

"You didn't really think there wasn't any consequence to Return by Death, did you? Of course there is!" The chokehold grew stronger, nearly breaking his neck. "There's always a price! You had immortality given to you? That isn't immortality. It's something far more devastating!"

"Get off me! You-"

The ground shook and the scenery suddenly warped in a veil of shadows. An eruption of pure darkness bombarded the strange realm, tearing through the fabric of reality itself. A gigantic hand of darkness formed from the pit of black, grabbing the Archbishop and pushed back the cloaked figure.

"You can't hide him from the Od Laguna for much longer, Witch! Soon, the Od Laguna will punish you and every single one of us for spitting blasphemy! Even you, Satella, can't keep it back forever. When that day comes-"

"I DON'T CARE."

[]

"Hueh?!" Air hit his lungs like a full-speed truck. The sounds of trees and bushes rustling from the ocean wind tickled his senses. Blood rushed to his head, ringing like a church bell inside his ear. He felt like throwing up. His chest throbbed as if it was going to collapse in on itself.

Dammit…Just when I got over my seasickness too… "Gah…..huuuh….uhuufff…Why is this…return so damn painful?" Intense Vertigo rampaged his already fragile body. "I'm…finally back…what the hell was that…the after-life?"

"Whaaaaaaat are you talkiiing about? It'sssss so botheeeeersoooome, hearing you mumble straaaange thiiiings liiiike that," Hector clenched his teeth, annoyed at the Archbishop. "You looook queaasyyy, I ratheeer you not face thiiiis direction, or I'll cleave you in haaaaalf."

"The way you said that sounds scary! Don't say that! I won't look at your direction so stop! I already had my fair share of crazy experiences. I rather not experience another one so soon!"

Hector scoffed, his sickly eyes rolled as they turned away from Pride. Scratching his head, the Archbishop awkwardly shut his mouth. His thoughts wandered back to that strange place he could only describe as 'Purgatory.' A grim expression plastered itself on his face.

Dozens of thoughts plagued his mind about that Purgatory place. He clearly felt the Witch's influence grow stronger, and this last respawn was oddly painful. He never experienced anything other than slight dizziness and mental fatigue. However, this time around, he felt actual pain, as if his chest was about to burst.

But he pushed it all away to the very back of his mind. Right now, he needed to think about the maid and the magic caster. He was clearly tracked. Question is, how?

Did he leave a trace back in the Capital? How was he followed? By boat? No, he'd know if they were in the ship.

Could it be…a teleportation skill? No, that couldn't be.

Could it?

"Gahh…too many damn questions! I'm getting annoyed!" Pride rustled his own hair in agony, trying to gather what nonexistent brain cells he had.

"Weeeiiirdooo." The Warlock shrugged and turned the other cheek.

"Thinking here will get me nowhere…might as well just wait till I get to Kararagi…." Pride muttered under his breath. He was tired mentally. His hazel eyes wandered off into the incoming country, doused in worry and determination. "What am I going to do…"

[]

"I tracked down the Witch's scent, I suppose," A small child-like figure spoke with an air of self-importance. A blue-haired maid nodded exasperatedly, her eyes bright with determination.

Without missing a step, the maid spoke, "Thank you for forming a contract with me, Beatrice-sama. Without you, we probably wouldn't be able to find the culprits who kidnapped Subaru-kun."

"We need to hurry. My contract with Subaru has been voided by that disgusting Pandora. That allowed me to form a contract with you, but without Subaru and Betty's contract, I can't tell where he is."

"We are able to use your gate skill, Beatrice-sama. Let's focus on that to capture those filthy cultists." She held up a piece of cloth torn from Pride's hood. That's how they were tracking him.

Nodding, Beatrice and Rem reached an agreement. "Two of the three culprits are currently on route to Kararagi. We'll teleport in one of the hotels near the harbor of Kararagi's capital. Once we're there, I'll need to spend the whole day siphoning your mana. When I gather enough mana, we'll surround the cultists in a magic barrier, ensuring them no way out."

"Understood, Beatrice-sama." Rem's words were professional, but held a twinge of venom in them.

"However, the barrier traps us just as it traps them. Remember that. Once you're in, there's no way out."

"Understood. I won't fail, Beatrice-sama."

"We were saved by Subaru. It's time we returned the favor."

[]

AUTHOR NOTES

Dear lord I went through like 5 rewrites of the first scene, coming up with different scenarios on how to explain the same thing. First was Pride encountering a legion of Subarus fused together into some sort of Gravemind. Didn't like it. Then it was Satella explaining things to Pride. Didn't like it. You get the point.

Well, school also got in the way. Japanese 2 is pretty difficult. Work too.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

PS: Who's Rem?