Excursion
Lord Salvatore Doni's days were not going well. From missing the opportunity to slay TWO Heretic Gods, to being unable for properly challenge his newest brethren, had left the Lord in a sour mood, well as much sourness his brain can muster. None but Andrea would notice this, but the Knight of Tuscany was on an elevated gluttonous streak, which he always did during uneventful times.
Ser Andrea Rivera had mastered fate-forecasting through observation of Salvatore Doni.
Like lesser animals, which predict natural calamities, Salvatore Doni could predict supernatural calamities. He would unknowingly start fasting in the morning and the news of a rampant Heretic God would arrive in the noon. He would spend an entire afternoon honing his swordsmanship and reports of conflict between two Magic Factions would arrive on the morrow. Overall, Salvatore Doni had a hidden connection to fate and fortune, which unconsciously affected his behavior, as a coming storm affects the atmosphere, days before it happens.
Accompanying the Idiot for 7 years of Godslayerhood had allowed the King's Chamberlain to observe his liege and predict the future vaguely. He had, therefore, a short notice for preparation for any event, be it a conflict between men or battle between gods and Godslayers.
Andrea accompanied his bored King to a bar in countryside Lombardy, Italy. Andrea had travelled here to resolve a dispute between archaeologists and a coven of witches who worship Hera. The coven migrated here during the War of Bishops and many natives converted to their fate and joined their ranks.
Originally, Andrea Rivera's status as a Anointed Knight of the Knight Templers and his blue blood as a heir of a noble house, was enough to send witches scattering, lest they should incur the wrath of the Templers. This is how it worked, the convents of gods from polytheism wanted to keep the Templers at an arm's length. Convents themselves, without a great priestess or a Divine Ancestor to lead them, could do little to oppose the Templers who could wield swords and weave spells to terrific results. Under the pressure of the Templers, most Convents gave in.
Doni just tagged along, out of sheer boredom. Not even fishing would do anything to alleviate it.
The negotiations were easy.
The coven would not give up its sacred, blessed land that had once been graced by the presence of a mother earth goddess, three centuries ago. Andrea found that the archaeologists and the researchers were in the wrong as one of the witches in the coven had legit ownership of the land, which comprised of an old house and a backyard forest with a pond hidden therein. The archeologists gave up quick and fled at the threat of exposing their connection to black market auctions (for very few things could be hidden from the vast network of knowledge of the Knight Templers).
The witches were grateful enough to offer them bread and boarding for the night as their place was far into the country.
Once again, the natural charm and authority of a Devil King made itself known, as before the sun had set on the west, few of the younger members of the coven had already set their sights on Doni, without knowledge of his identity as the King of Western Europe. Thankfully for Andrea, and fortunately for all women of the world, Doni had no interest in the opposite sex and was completely obvious the affection. (Andrea was no less oblivious than Doni as he failed to notice the steamy looks directed towards him by the more mature witches, No doubt drawn in by his cool and stately demeanor.
At dawn, taking their leave, Andrea and Doni set out for the nearest town on a measly bicycle. Lest the Knight and His King loose all reputation, the duo wisely abandoned the bicycle before entering the rural town on foot. The first place to visit would be the bar, for food and drink and then the phone booth (for cell phones were not truly secure enough to reveal the location of a Devil King) to contact HQ, requesting immediate pick up.
They took a seat, the only one, empty at this busy morning hour. The bartender brought the usual morning breakfast and drinks. Doni gobbled down his share of the spaghetti and half of Andrea's with it. The Knight did not mind, as he was used to both dieting and Doni's inconsiderate behavior.
Over coffee, Andrea had time to brood about the current condition of the Magical Associations. This was not the first petty conflict involving a coven of witch or people of unorthodox fate. In fact, these conflicts became more common in the last few months. In each case, it was a dispute between magic and science, where some archeologists, biologists, geologists or even corporations set their sights on ancient and holy lands, with no apparent reason.
Was it a part of something bigger? Such incidents became more numerous in not only Europe but also in the Southern States of USA, mainland China and Island of Japan. All of this places, under the direct influence of a Devil King. Was it all a coincidence? Perhaps the government of some country was pulling the strings, aiming to discontent the magical factions and ultimately, a conflict between science and magic!
'No, No. Stop overthinking this, Andy!' Andrea chided himself. Government wouldn't dare to go against even the lowliest of magicians as a simple hypnotic spell would have them dancing to the musician's tone. No authorities relied on magicians to counter other magicians, to ensure that their thoughts or the thought stream of the population is not being externally influenced. Governments could not and would not do this.
This could only be the work of the Divine Ancestors. The overall discontent served to rally more magicians to their cause. Even all the Divine Ancestors in the world could not stand up to even the weakest Devil King, lest they should be slaughtered in an instant. Releasing [Seal of Snakes] was not practical either, as it was the Juggernaut Drive of Divine Ancestors. (Seriously, Andrea watches too much anime, doesn't he?)
Then it could only be... a summoning!
An earth goddess during death, or a Divine Ancestor through sacrifice, could summon a God of Steel and impose her will upon him. Depending on the amount of energy the said goddess or Divine Ancestor could provide, the Steel Deity could survive for all eternity with unlimited regenerative ability or for just enough time to swing a sword.
No earth goddess would ever humble herself before a Steel God. Goddesses would rather take a Godslayer as consort (which had been seen only twice in history but thankfully they could not produce demigods), before they bowed to a Steel God. Thus it was indeed the work of a Divine Ancestor or worse, multiple Divine Ancestors and therefore... multiple steel gods?
Was that even possible? Surely, Andrea was worrying over nothing.
The rattled knight whipped o it his phone and furiously typed in the Magicians Website. Beside him, the Clueless Campione continued to gorge himself on a newly ordered, wine soaked beef stake semi- main course as Doni would phrase it. (Btw, spaghetti was the post-appetizer for the Campione).
Andrea masterfully ignored his liege and schooled his features to be as impassive as ever. Under no circumstances could Andrea let Doni get wind of his speculation, just in case they turn out to be true and Doni decides a battle royale was much to his liking.
The Website is simple and practical, the ip address inaccessible by regular devices or through the backdoor of a few selective websites, (courtesy of a certain government). Hackers knew of this but wisely kept away since many of them disappeared after they tried to back into the Website. If the shady men around their houses were reported to the police, even the family members would disappear and drop of the grid, with no record anywhere. The Website was commonly referred to as the Deep Dark Corner by hacking communities.
The shady men were therefore the DDC Agency.
Andrea typed in his Username and Password. The Username was generated based on information of what patron deity or deities you kept. Andrea's was Lugh, Hecate and Jehovah, symbolizing Battle, Knowledge and Omnipotence, the standard symbols for House Rivera. The password was your own choice, and for security purposed it cannot be revealed.
The Tabs were in an alphabetic list, a 'bullshit-less' design, blue on white, although customizable. Andrea located Recent, which was below Reality and above Renegade links. Pressing on Recent, another Alphabetical list presented itself, and near the very bottom laid Witch Incidents.
Yet on another list, Andrea located 'Maps', then 'Comparisons', and then 'Leylines', then time period, and finally pressed on 'Last three years', and held his breath.
Yes! He was right. The witch conflicts in the last three years happened directly over concentrated leylines, like Glastonbury, fabled place beside Avalon, Brittany, Peru, Ise City, Kyoto, Forbidden City and other vital locations with rich flows energy underneath.
Something big was down but not nearly complete. However, with the force of House Rivera men-at-arms, Templar authority and his very own future prediction device, Andrea could perhaps contain it and prevent it.
But should he fail and the wind of this reach the ears of the Godslayers, a war could start. Governments would blame other nations if some important location 'just happens to be decimated' within seconds and opportunist people would only pour oil over these sparks of conflict. Unrestrained Godslayers like Vorban, Luo Hao and Kusanagi would certainly enslave humanity in this opportunity. Idiot Godslayers like Madam Aisha and Doni would find themselves surrounded and overpowered, while the shrewd ones like Pluto and Alexander would utilize this opportunity to get rid of other Godslayers in this mayhem.
This would be a thousand times worse than the American Spanish wars where a stray ball of fire just chanced upon the Maine and sunk it. This was certainly going to be Apocalypse, with balls of fire raining down from the sky, people massing under governments, gods and Godslayers.
Andrea had to prevent this. Suddenly, his coffee started tasting sour, just like his mood.
Finally, an update after a long, long time. Andrea watches too much anime and so do I. For all those book geeks, please do not read The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, unless you wish to ruin your ideal image of Saber... I mean Altri... Arthur Pendragon. Idylls of the King by Tennyson are much better.
Read, enjoy and review! (My fanfic and not the afore mentioned novel and poem :P)