Winterheart

Chapter 3

Welcome to the Ghetto

Sigil proved less amazing than Minerva had initially expected. Sure, looking up and seeing the other side of the ring-city was fascinating, but it was overshadowed by the bleak environment she stood in. Everything was a shade of brown, whether from rotting wood buildings, to rusted out metal walls, to the dirty streets. Minerva was grateful for her thick boots, because she wasn't sure that what she was walking through was solely dirt. She didn't want to breath to find out.

The construction of the city itself was haphazard at best, and completely random at worst. Streets had no rhyme or reason to them. Some curved in strange directions or came to dead ends abruptly and there were even intersections where ten or more streets converged. The buildings were just as chaotic. Building styles clashed and combined in what must have been an architects nightmare. Towering skyscrapers stood right next to squat, ramshackle, huts. Sprawling wide businesses stood next door to homes. It might have been somewhat comical if not for it's sinister air. Most buildings were adorned with spikes, added to by the razorvine growths on many of them. Some buildings even had gargoyles, their leering gaze bearing down on the populace. Minerva felt quite small, walking in the shadow of these buildings. Minerva could only imagine what it was like to live in the Hive.

As to the residents of the Hive, smiles were rare. Most people on the streets kept their head down, as if afraid to catch the notice of anyone else. Standing at the edges of the streets were armed thugs, looking over the crowds. Most people were dressed in skimpy or revealing attire, probably aided by the uncomfortable (at least to Minerva) temperature, though a few dressed quite the opposite, in heavily concealing clothes. Prostitutes of both genders gathered at the corners, dressed even skimpier than the normal attire. Some attempted to strike inviting poses, but many just leaned against walls or signposts, with glum or bored expressions.

Dirt and grime were omnipresent. Nobody looked truly clean, and clothing was often ragged and torn. Footwear was often just simple cloth wrappings around one's feet. Flies were omnipresent, buzzing about almost everywhere. Minerva suspected that many of these were actually fiendish flies, likely much harder to exterminate.

All of a sudden, Minerva felt large arm wrap around her shoulder. She gave a shriek and turned to see an extremely disheveled man staring at her. In one hand he held a beer bottle.

"Um... hi?"

The man started rambling. Minerva couldn't understand what he was saying, though she wasn't sure if this was due to him speaking a foreign language or gibberish. The man waved his free arm about wildly. He suddenly began gagging however. Minerva pushed away from him as he collapsed to his knees and was violently sick. Minerva hesitated, before moving to help him. The man swatted at her arm, and then ranted angrily again, before vomiting again. Minerva backed away from him, and headed into another alleyway.

There she leaned against the wall, attempting to calm down. Unfortunately she was interrupted. Several men gathered around her, faces set in sneers and savage grins.

"H-hello?"

"Hi! You must be new here!" Said one of them.

"Y-yes." Minerva nervously approached him.

"You must not be aware then."

"Aware of what?" Minerva asked.

"You see, there's a bit of a toll to enter the Historic Ward." He said with a smile.

"Okay..." Minerva reached into her bag.

"Now now, there's no need to be hasty." The lead man placed his hand over Minerva's. "There are other ways you can pay than jink..."

"L-like what." Minerva didn't like the tone of his voice.

Suddenly, one of the other men rushed up behind her, and grabbed her breasts. Minerva gasped in shock, which turned out to be a terrible thing to do. She inhaled the foul air, and immediately gagged.

Oh gods, the stench!

It smelled like an amalgamation of every foul scent Minerva had experienced over her life time. It stank of sweat, waste, rotting, sickness, pollution, blood and burning. Still coughing and gagging, Minerva struggled and managed to push away the groper. She backed up against a wall, panicking.

"C'mon beautiful. I promise you'll have a good time!" said the leader, while other thugs made lewd gestures.

Minerva concentrated, and felt ice begin to form on her right hand. She was about to shape it into a weapon, when she looked into the faces of the thugs. Though laughing and jeering, they were still faces. They were still people.

I can't...

Instead, as the thugs closed in on her, she turned invisible, and then flew up into the air, away from the confused men.

She took off away from the alleyway, not really paying attention to where she was flying. She touched down at the edge of some sort of plaza, though she initially payed little attention to it. She leaned over, shuddering and breathing heavily, not caring about the foul air. She remained where she was for a while, not truly aware of the passing of time. She began to walk again, not really paying attention to where she was headed.

Eventually, she noticed that the stink was conspicuously missing (or at least subdued) here. Instead, she smelled the pleasant scent of food. Minerva returned to visibility and approached what looked like a food stall. The fairly portly, older man who operated it looked at Minerva with a warm smile. "Care to stimulate your senses? Bleak nature of the Hive getting you down! Then look no further than Exotic Foods. Experience the Taste of the Planes(TM), for mere coppers!"

Preparing and creating things, especially food, was always something that could cheer Minerva up. She enjoyed experiencing the exotic tastes, and had always sought out ingredients to prepare recipes back home.

"What have you got?"

"Arborean fireseeds! Guaranteed to be a hot experience! Bytopian harvest bread, with delicious memories of the countryside in every bite! Celestial Sea-Plums, harvested directly from Celestia's Silver Sea and dripping with holy water in every bite. Limbo's Shiftspice, a different taste in every use! Arborean Pears, the sweetest, juciest fruit you'll ever taste! And for those of a more edgy pallate, we've got Hadean Greyberries, which may look bland you'd be surprised what emotions it will elicit from you. Or maybe, Crimson Lotus petals from Pandemonium, an experience that has to be experienced to be exper-er-believed. Gar-Bar root from Baator! Works like the most delicious chewing gum!"

Minerva looked over his merchandise, before making a decision. "I'll take some of everything."

"R-really?" The merchant seemed shocked.

"Yes, is there a problem?"

"Well, that's quite expensive."

"Oh! That shouldn't be a problem!" Minerva reached into her bag, and pulled out a coin.

"P-platinum?!"

"Hmm?"

"I'm afraid I don't have anywhere near enough to make change for that!"

"It's not an issue, just keep it."

"Wow! Thanks!" The merchant smiled, and placed her purchases into individual bags before handing them to her. Minerva noticed that there was slightly more than she had ordered.

"Thank you." She placed the food into her bag and then headed off down the street, while the merchant carefully placed the coin into his lockbox. However, Minerva turned back to him.

"Hold on, I have a question?"

"What?"

"Do you know anyone called Malin?"

"Can't say that I do. Sorry."

"No, not a problem. Thanks."

Minerva continued to walk through the hive, absently snacking on one of the pears. The merchant was true to his word, the fruit was delicious, sweet, soft, and juicy. As she ate, she looked up at the sky again. She must have been wandering for a while, because it was starting to get darker. Minerva wondered if she should find some sort of inn to stay the night. She didn't really need the sleep, but she figured it would be unsafe to remain on the streets after dark. Besides, Malin would probably not be out this late either...

Then she noticed a cloud of smoke billowing up from somewhere. Minerva rushed through an alleyway, to come across a towering apartment complex engulfed in flames. In front of the building was a crowd of onlookers. There were a few people gathering buckets of water to try and combat the blaze, though most were simply there to gawk. She noticed several bodies on the ground, clearly people who had jumped out of the building in desperation. Minerva quickly realized that the firefighters efforts were futile. The fire was already too massive to put out by those means.

But not mine!

Minerva placed her food back into her bag, and then retreated back into an alleyway. There, she focused, thinking of release and freedom. With this, she abandoned her physical form, transforming into a swirling cloud of freezing cold and driving snow. Minerva then flew out from the alleyway, and over the crowd of shocked onlookers, heading straight into the burning building. Everywhere her cloud form touched was coated in ice. As soon as she came into contact with them, fires were snuffed out.

Minerva swept through the building as quickly as she could, extinguishing the flames, while carefully avoiding contact with those trapped in the buildings. Once the fires were snuffed out, Minerva created staircases and ramps out of ice, letting the victims escape, not having to worry about damaged floors and staircases.

Once she was done, she flew out away from the building, the crowd below looking up in awe. She took off, flying over several buildings before landing in another alleyway. There, the snow swirled about in a circle. Minerva drew it together, and she reformed into her humanoid appearance. Minerva wondered if she should have stuck around. However, she remembered what Elise had said, and decided otherwise. Maybe some other time. At least she had gotten to help someone.

She looked up into the sky as she walked. It was completely night now. Though she probably should think about finding an inn for the night, she couldn't help but stare at the sky. Having spent most of her life underground, and only ever seeing snowclouds above the surface, outside of books, she had never seen a sky. She had certainly never seen one that changed. Even though it was partially obscured by the haze of pollution and the other side of the wheel-city, the stars still shone bright enough to see. Minerva smiled, whatever else had happened today, this sight alone was worth it.

She looked down, just in time to see that she had almost passed an inn. Above the entrance was a crudely painted sign. So crude, in fact, that the only word legible was inn. She entered, and was met with a wave of warmth (she realized that the temperature had actually dropped once night fell). She could smell cooking food, though she could tell by the scent alone that it was low quality. She approached the bar, where the innkeeper was currently cleaning out a broken mug.

"I'd like a room for the night, please."

The innkeeper turned towards her, looking her over a few times. A scowl appeared in his face.

"Leave." He hissed.

"Excuse me?"

"Leave, get out, scram, vanish, do the bolt, or is my voice too low class for you to understand?! I don't serve your kind here!"

"My kind?" Minerva asked, confused. Could he tell she was a genie?

"You rich, Lady's Ward types. Think you can come here and act like everything belongs to you? Whyare you here anyways? Daddy wouldn't buy you a new skycycle? Running away to spite him? Hoping to find your one true love among the common rabble? Think your mansion is so boring that you think living in the Hive is fun?!"

"No I-" Minerva hesitated. That last question was... "It's not what you think!"

"I don't care why you're here. I don't serve you pompous rich bastards. Get out."

"No I-"

The innkeeper reached beneath the bar and pulled out a heavy crossbow, brandishing it at Minerva. Several drinkers started taunting and jeering at her, though their slurred speech made it difficult to understand what they were saying. She backed away but wondered why he bothered with that weapon. A heavy crossbow had greater force behind it, but it was offset by the fact that it was more complex and difficult to reload, making a lighter model ultimately better. Minerva then wondered why that had come to mind. Perhaps it was because even still, the crossbow couldn't really hurt her. However, she didn't want to start any trouble. Minerva continued to back away, out the door.

"I'm sorry." She said, and then left.

Minerva continued to wander through the streets, wondering what she should do. She supposed that she really didn't need to stay at an inn, considering she didn't actually require sleep (at least not in the way mortals thought of it), but at the same time, she didn't want to stay outside in the Hive at night.

She was about to try finding another inn, when she heard a scream from an alleyway.

"Shut it! You ain't going nowhere!" Said a male voice.

"You won't dare! I'm with the Chameleons!" Answered a female voice.

The male laughed. "Chameleons? In case you haven't heard, Leon and all his stuff went up in flames, quite literally! The Chameleons are done! I'm going to send what's left of them a message!"

"L-leave me alone!"

"Ain't no chance of that happening." There was the sound of a scuffle, and then someone falling to the ground. Then the grating sound of metal hitting flesh, and screaming.

Minerva rushed towards the alleyway where the sounds were coming from, cloaking herself in invisibility as she did so. There, she saw a woman screaming on the ground, several men grabbing her and holding out her legs, while another repeatedly brought down a club on her kneecaps.

Attacking me is one thing, but someone else?! No!

Minerva rushed towards the scene.

The girl was let go, and desperately attempted to drag herself away, only for the thug to kick her in the stomach, repeatedly.

"Please! Stop!" The woman pleaded.

"Alright then." He said in a mocking tone. "If you say so."

The lead thug drew a dagger, all the while grinning.

"Stop!" Minerva returned to visibility, just as she arrived.

The thugs turned towards her.

"Hey! You again! Come to take me up on my offer, babe?"

"Leave her alone!"

"Oh, and just what do you think you can do?" He said, he kicked the victim out of the way, before turning back to face her, tossing the dagger from hand to hand.

One of the other thugs sauntered over to her, relaxed and amused. He reached for her neck, only for Minerva to grab his wrist. She then shoved him, sending him stumbling back, struggling for balance.

The thug snarled, drew a dagger, and charged forwards. Her training allowed Minerva to easily sidestep his dash, and then hold out her foot, sending him sprawling face first to the ground. His dagger spun away on the ground.

The man lay on the ground, moaning. Two more thugs rushed towards her. Minerva dodged the wild swing of one and shoved him back, before kicking away the other. Both crooks charged again. Minerva sidestepped again, and tapped her foot against the ground. A patch of slick ice formed beneath them as they ran. They noticed it too late to avoid stepping on it and hit the ground in an amusing pratfall.

The first thug got back up, and gripped his dagger again, charging towards her. Minerva leaped over him, and kicked him in the back, sending him stumbling into a trashcan.

"Well well, so you've got a few tricks, am I supposed to be impressed." The lead thug said. He reached behind his back and drew a second dagger, before charging, aiming a strike directly at her gut. Minerva dodged his swift swings as he advanced. Some of them came close to actually hitting her. This man was clearly more skilled than the rest, and Minerva was reminded some of her early training. It was then that the crooks she had struck with ice recovered. The two of them charged towards her again. Minerva blocked their wild haymakers and noted that their attacks were uncoodinated, and they seemed to be pushing each other out of the way to get at her. Minerva remembered some of her fathers training, of how when fighting with allies, one must be in sync with each others actions, lest the enemy use your own numbers against you.

She pushed away one of the thugs and then stepped to the side, placing herself directly between one of them and the dagger wielder. They both charged towards her, and at the last moment, Minerva ducked, and the unarmed thug ended up decking the dagger wielder in the face, sending him stumbling back, confused.

"Wait! The hell?" The thug said, only for Minerva to leg sweep him, sending him sprawling to the ground. She raised her hand into the air, fingers spread out like a claw, striking downward as she encased her hands in ice. The man's eyes widened as Minerva's ice claws tore into his chest. He gurgled, attempted to move, and then fell back.

His expression drew Minerva out of her combat focus, and she stepped back in shock. Did she...

Minerva didn't get to finish that thought, as suddenly something large and heavy collided with her. She managed to escape from her shock and realized that the trashcan had been hurled at her. She pushed it off from her, but it was too late, the thugs all gathered around her, kicking and punching.

Minerva almost began to curl up into a ball, but then had a surge of courage. She focused, and tapped into her innate magic. All of a sudden, the alleyway became covered in a whirlwind of snow. The thugs paused, enough time for Minerva to perform a spinning leg sweep. Three of them went down, but the dagger wielder stepped away just in time. He stumbled, slipping on the suddenly slick ground, but managed to find his balance, only to be met with an ice scimitar held to his throat.

"Leave." Minerva said, trying to look as serious as she could.

"You think I'm gon-"

Minerva transformed slightly, altering her appearance more towards a Qoraashi's true form. The thug stopped, his angry expression turning to fear.

"I said, LEAVE!"

The thug attempted to say something, but found no words. Instead, he bolted. She turned to the other thugs that remained. As they recovered they looked up at the transformed Minerva. She turned towards them, and brandished the scimitar, created another, and grinned. They paused, shocked. One of them made a gesture to ward off evil, before fleeing. The others soon followed, dragging their wounded companion with them.

Once all four thugs were out of sight, Minerva sighed in relief. The snow and ice vanished, and the swords in her hands shattered. Minerva leaned against a wall, breathing heavily. Her heart was still pounding. Thank the gods that it was ov-

"W-what's happening?" She heard a cry.

The victim! Minerva thought. She rushed over to her, and helped her sit up. The girl screamed in pain, and Minerva could see that her knees and shins were badly bruised.

"Don't worry. I can help!" The girl wasn't listening though. She writhed in pain and gripped her legs, thrashing about. Minerva frantically reached into her pack and drew out a healing potion. She fumbled with the vial, until she managed to remove the stopper. She held it up to the girls lips. "Here! Drink this."

The girl managed to focus enough to drink, and quickly drained the red liquid. She began to relax, as the bruises and cuts began to heal rapidly.

She looked up, to gaze upon her savior, only for her eyes to widen in fear. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH YOUR FACE!"

Minerva hastily reverted the transformations. "W-what?"

"You were all pale, with red eyes and..."

"I-it was probaly a side-effect of the potion." Minerva hastily lied.

"Oh..." The girl seemed satisfied, and calmed down.

"Can you walk?"

"I think so." The girl said. She moved her legs, testing them. When she felt no pain, she stood up with only a little help from Minerva.

"I can take you home." Minerva offered. "Or..."

"They don't know where I live. And we should hurry. Gwen will be worried... By the way, my name is Corrie."

"Minerva."

Corrie lived in an apartment tower similar to the one that Minerva had saved from the fire. Gwen, as it turned out, was a tall, muscular woman, with short blonde hair. Her bare arms were covered in numerous old burn marks.

"Where have you been?" Though her voice was gruff, she still sounded worried. At least, Minerva thought so. Sometimes it was hard to tell with other people.

"Ran into some Redstreaks on the way home." Corrie said.

"But you're okay?" Gwen asked.

"Thanks to Minerva here." Corrie said.

Gwen looked Minerva over, making her nervous. She always hated being the center of attention.

Gwen's gaze seemed to pierce straight through Minerva, and though this woman was an ordinary human, she made Minerva feel small, like standing in the shadow of the buildings again.

"I still don't know if we can trust her." Gwen said.

"She saved my life!"

"Probably for her own reasons."

"No! C'mon! We at least owe her a night of shelter!"

Gwen turned to Minerva again. Minerva struggled to think of something to say, but couldn't. Instead, she reached into her bag and pulled out the loaf of Bytopian harvest bread.

"I have food!"

"Free food? Gwen, seriously, let her in!" Said a voice from inside.

Gwen smiled, revealing several chipped teeth. "Looks like I've been outvoted."

She stepped inside the apartment, with Corrie and Minerva following. The apartment was small, with only two rooms and a bathroom. There was minimal furniture. A simple table and stools for eating, and a couch opposite a crystalvision set.

Sitting on the couch was a dark skinned woman, looking excitedly at Minerva.

"Hi! I'm Trish."

"Minerva, pleased to meet you all." She curtseyed.

Trish laughed. "You're not from around here? Are you?"

"Er..."

"No no, you just want to be careful. Though what brings you to the Hive anyways?"

"Well, I'm actually looking for someone? Malin? Have you heard of her?"

Trish thought for a while, before shaking her head.

"I know her." Corrie said.

"You do?"

"I can take you to her tomorrow, after work. I know where she spends a lot of her time."

"Wow! Thanks!" Minerva said.

"But for now! Let's eat!" Trish said.

"Right!" Minerva placed the loaf of bread on the table, along with some of the other foods she purchased, and the group gathered around to eat.

Minerva lay on the couch. The other room of the apartment contained a bed which it's three occupants shared. They were fast asleep, while Minerva was still awake.

Technically, outsiders didn't need sleep. They were beings of spirit, and had no physical needs, like mortals did. They're needs were more spiritual and intellectual. A Celestial subsisted of the power of good and virtue, while Fiends fed off evil and hatred, an Elemental off the existence of it's element, and so forth. However, every so often, an outsider would have to enter a period of dormancy, to process and internalize all the information they had absorbed, and refresh their minds, much like an elves trance. When this time came always varied. Some never experienced it, while others did frequently. Much of Minerva's life had been spent reading, and the need of dormancy rarely came. However, considering all the wild experiences of the day, she felt that now was as good a time as any.

She closed her eyes and relaxed. It wasn't sleep. Certainly not sleep. Definitely not sleep. Sleep was something mortals did after all. This was dormancy. Totally different from sleep. Dormancy was...

The men fled away from the horrible creature, finally coming to rest in an alleyway.

"That was too close!" One of them said.

"Did we really pick a fight with a fiend!"

"Probably a sodding illusion."

"That cold weren't no illusion, Cleet! I gazed into the demons eyes! Black as the pit, with the red fires of damnation!"

'Cleet' shivered. "Well were safe now. What do you think happened?"

"Leon probably sold his soul to fiends! They protect his gang!"

"That's ridiculous!" Cleet said.

"Well then why the sodding hell else would one of bad bloods save that bitch!"

Suddenly, the wounded member of their group moaned.

"We should get him to a healer."

"I know of this priestess here in the hive. If she doesn't help we could always strongarm her into healing him." Cleet said.

"Okay. Let's lift Malk and get moving."

The group was about to lift up Malk when suddenly a voice rang out.

"You won't be going anywhere!"

"Who said that!" Cleet drew his daggers.

"Assaulting an innocent. Guilty."

They heard the sound of someone in metal boots stomping towards them.

"Fleeing the scene of a crime. Guilty."

A woman clad in magical armor bedecked in skulls and spikes strode into view. She carried a truly massive axe over her shoulders, and stared at them, completely without fear.

Cleet didn't waste time with words and charged straight towards her. She didn't even bother to defend her self, and the blow bounced off of her armors barrier. Cleet screamed in pain, as some sort of magical energy struck him, crackling over his body.

"Assaulting an agent of Justice. Guilty."

With a mighty shove, she sent Cleet flying backwards, to land on his back, dazed.

The others attempted to run, only for the woman to bring the axe down on the ground. The entire area shook, and the very ground split open, collapsing into the tunnels beneath the hive. With no effort, she leaped down into the new crevice, landing and cracking the ground around her.

"Fleeing apprehension. Guilty."

She approached the recovering thugs.

"Sentence: Execution."

She raised up her axe and brought it down upon the wounded Malk, severing his head.

Two of the remaining thugs managed to stand. They drew knives and charged towards her. The woman grabbed one of their heads and slammed it into the wall with such force that it splattered everywhere. She turned as the other thug hesitated, and with a mighty swing of her axe, cut him in half.

Cleet managed to recover from the fall, just in time to see his companions fall. The woman slowly approached him, and he pushed himself away, attempting to escape. He flinched when he backed into the wall.

"No! I surrender! Have mercy!"

"Mercy is a shield used by the weak. There can be no Justice without Punishment. Sentence: Sacrifice."

"W-what?!"

Before he could question further, the woman struck him, and he fell unconscious.

Cleet finally managed to come too. His vision was blurry at first, though it gradually began to clear. He noticed that the ground hew was on was hard and cold, but more alarmingly smooth. It was metal. He looked up to see gigantic metal spheres, cubes, pyramids and other geometric shapes floating in the strangely lit sky.

He looked around to see the woman who had ambushed him and killed his men standing in front of some sort of gate. He tried to move, but realized that manacles bound his hands and feet. The metal was sharp, and cut into his skin as he tried to move.

"W-where am I?" He asked after much hesitation.

"We are in the Infernal Battlefield of Acheron. More specifically Vorkehan."

"What's in there?"

The woman did not respond.

The gate to the city slid open, and the armored woman lifted Cleet up by his manacles, eliciting a cry of pain as the sharp metal dug into his broken skin. As they entered the city, the were quickly engulfed by a thin, green fog. Cleet gagged and retched, though the armored woman refused to slow down, almost dragging him at several points. She seemed to have no issue with the fog.

As they walked, between his dry heaves, Cleet took note of the residents in the city. How a person moved could tell a suprising amount about them. The overwhelming majority of the people here moved in a march, their footsteps echoing off the metal ground. That meant discipline and order, the kind of place he typically avoided like the plague.

Eventually, the armored woman approached a large fortress.

"I am Karliah, Mercykiller Executioner! I return from my crusade with a worthy sacrifice."

"M-Mercykiller! Your a sodding Mercykiller?!" Cleet began shaking. He had heard rumors about Mercykillers before, but had dismissed them as fancy.

Karliah didn't respond. The gate to the fortress opened, and the woman began to enter. Cleet had had enough however, he began flailing and fighting.

"No! No! Let me go!" He wailed, to no avail however. The woman merely lifted him up and slung him over her shoulder, and continued on her way.

She followed a winding path through the fortress eventually dropping Cleet into a room. Dominating the center of the room was a flaming pit, full of sharp metal spikes. Burning corpses were impaled on the spikes, and of those who's last expressions were still readable, they were universally ones of agony. Cleet's heart sank.

What appeared to be an elderly man in a concealing brown cloak and leaning heavily on a cane approached Karliah.

"And who is this?"

Cleet was about to answer when Karliah spoke up first.

"His name is unimportant. What is important is that he is a criminal." She almost spat the word. "I apprehended him after executing his accomplices."

Cleet's heart sank even further at the sound of the word 'execution'.

"I have brought him here to be sacrificed."

The elderly man walked over to Cleet. His fear rose with every clack of that cane on the hard ground. Cleet looked up, to see what must have been a mask of some sort over the mans face. A mask that appeared sewn into his skin. From what he could tell of the man's expression, he appeared disappointed.

"He is not fit for sacrifice."

Cleet breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sir?" Karliah asked.

"He does not yet understand true pain, true punishment. I shall educate him."

Cleet attempted to crawl away, only to suddenly be lifted into the air by magic.

"You have done well, Executioner."

"I don't believe my mission is done yet." Karliah said.

"Why?"

"I was not the first to attempt to bring justice. A Qorrash attempted to do the same, and succeeded in forcing the criminals to flee, where upon I executed them and apprehended this one."

"A Qorrash? An odd creature to see, even in Sigil."

"Perhaps, but it's not really relevant. What is, is how she went after the criminals."

"She spared them though. She showed them mercy."

"She appears young. She could be taught. Perhaps we could find a new recruit in her. She would be an excellent asset for the Enlightening. I would like the permission to attempt this."

"Permission granted. But for now, see yourself to your barracks. I'll begin the work on the sacrifice." The old man walked off, with Cleet floating behind him.

As the man carried him down the hall, Cleet began screaming in protest.

"You think your better than us, but your not! You're a monster, a barmy cutthroat!"

The elderly man responded, his voice calm and collected as ever. "I am a teacher. The thing your leaders call justice is a flawed, crude bludgeoning attempt to stamp out crime and injustice. However they will fail. It will not expunge scum like you from the planes. It believes in mercy and forgiveness, such concepts that are merely shields used by the weak and cowardly to hide behind and escape true punishment for their transgressions. Justice only comes through pain. It is the only true way to learn right from wrong!"

The elderly man grew more and more impassioned as he spoke. Cleet could her screams in the distance that grew closer and closer.

"All this justice crap is overrated! The whole lot of you are barmy!" Like the mercy comment, Cleet quickly realized this was a bad idea when the magical grip upon him tightened.

"When the injustice is great enough, justice will lend me the strength needed to correct it. None may stand against it. It will shatter every barrier, sunder any shield, tear through any enchantment, and lend its servant the power to pass sentence. Know this: There is nothing on all the Planes that can stay the hand of justice when it is brought against them. It may unmake armies. It may sunder the thrones of gods. When all the planes have felt the touch of justice, then the multiverse is made whole."

The screaming grew louder and louder. As the elderly man approached a doorway, it opened automatically, and he entered. Inside was a ghastly torture chamber. He couldn't see any other prisoners, though he could still hear the screaming, louder than ever. He was lowered onto a bloodstained table, and straps automatically secured him to it. The old man drew a scalpel, heated in fire to a red glow.

"Now, let's make you a proper sacrifice..."

So were back to Minerva in this chapter. I tried to capture the spirit of the Hive as best I could. Dark, confusing, and full of dead ends, though not without some form of hope. We have Minerva's first fight as well. As to Minerva's capabilities, it's really the basic abilities of a genie (shapeshifting, illusions, flight, wishes [which don't work in Sigil]) plus anything ice related. Also, the Mercykillers portrayed here are somewhat different from those portrayed in the source material. We'll see more of them later. Also, fun fact, this segment was going to be a chapter of it's own, but I couldn't find enough material to fill one, so I just added it here. Anyways, thanks for reading so far. Leave a review, for great justice.

~Dragonexx