Chapter Sixty Four

From the Depths of the Snow

ANNA

"The Dark Sea." Anna repeated slowly, feeling a sense of dread take over her. From the corner of her eye, she saw Elsa shift uncomfortably.

"Yeah." Tracy said. "We weren't exactly thrilled about it either."

Melody nodded. "The Atlantican kingdom has to make sure the rest of the places under its domain are secure. And it just so happened my grandfather wasn't in Atlantica when we arrived, and we heard news from the cabinet that he would be visiting Eiden…in the Dark Sea."

"Ah." Anna said. Somehow in all the mess she'd bumped into Hayley, who'd then taken her and the others to where the queen's staff had just finished construction of her tent. The Coalition would camp outside Netheide tonight before changing route the next day. Her own tent felt like a comfort after the chaos they'd been through today, and Anna was personally glad that her friends were all back in one piece.

"We had to wait till today before my grandfather showed up. When he did, I pressured him into telling us about the Crimson Order." Melody went on.

"So what did you find out?" Anna asked.

"The Crimson Order has been around for a long time." Melody said. "They've been involved in not just the affairs of the land, but those under the sea too."

"Unbelievable." Anna heard Maui whisper.

"They've been trifling with wars even before this one, influencing various sides from the shadows. My grandfather told me that his own ancestor encountered the Order as far back as two centuries ago."

"Their goals are still the same as they are today, though." Tracy added. "Trying to purge the world of sorcery."

"And my grandfather told us that he himself had been attacked by the Order a few decades back during the Krethn Reef War. The Krosnan kingdom had allied themselves with the Order, and the Order sent their assassins to get rid of my grandfather."

"Here's the trippy part." Tracy waggled her eyebrows.

"My grandfather said that the assassins had different abilities. Something supernatural, but far darker than magic."

"Sorry, but how would your grandfather know the difference?" Janus asked.

"He's the King of the Seven Seas." Melody explained. "He's made it his business to know everything there is about the supernatural side of this world."

"If these assassins aren't sorcerers, what then?" Janus asked. He was unmasked now, though still in his mercenary blacks.

"Demons." Melody said in a low voice, as though afraid that someone outside would hear. "The Crimson Order fused demons with these assassins and gave them darker powers."

"Hold up, you mean like Eleanor?" Anna said.

"Sounds like it." Elsa agreed. "When I fought her, I could feel a foreign source of sorcery. It wasn't common, that was for sure. It felt…demonic."

"So these assassins control demons?" Maui asked incredulously, and to himself he mused, "Why haven't I heard of these before?"

"Apparently the Crimson Order has been collecting demons and fusing them with their assassins." Tracy said. "Pretty trippy, ain't it?"

"Wait, wait." Anna held up her hands. "So the Eternal King is only one of the demon hosts that the Order has under their control? They have more?"

"We figured so." Melody pursed her lips.

"I mean, we were attacked by one of them." Tracy shrugged as if it weren't of any real significance.

"What?" Elsa said.

"We were attacked by one of the assassins as we were leaving Eiden." Melody explained. "She took the form of a shark, and was trying to eat us I think."

"Holy…" Janus looked perturbed.

"We managed to fight her off and daze her, and she turned back into a human. Or whatever she was." Tracy added.

Melody nodded. "We brought her up to land and tried to interrogate her. We tried to find out who the High Priest was but we failed. All we learnt was that she called herself a 'Mage Slayer'."

Deirdre raised her eyebrow. "A what?"

"Mage Slayer." Tracy said. "We assume that's what the Order calls their assassins. And then she killed herself."

"What?"

"She killed herself rather than to be taken prisoner." Melody added hurriedly. "When she died, we saw something rise out of her body. A dark mist, it hovered for a while and then evaporated."

"We think it's the demon." Tracy said. "When the assassins die, the demon is freed back into the world."

"Before she died, she chanted something." Melody glanced at Tracy.

"Ignahon Malkovtoh." Tracy said with a perfect accent.

Anna frowned. "What's that mean?"

"I don't know." Tracy shrugged her shoulders. "I know many spells and incantations, but this one's new to me. Supposed to be some sort of Order pledge or creed maybe."

"Okay." Anna said breathlessly, then turned to Elsa and Janus, who were seated on the other side of their little circle. "What about you guys? Did you learn something else?"

"Oh, we learnt plenty." Elsa said tiredly. Apparently, ahe and Janus had spent the past day trekking across the snowy plains to catch up with the others. Fortunately for them, they didn't have to travel too far since Anna and the rest of the Coalition were caught up in the battle that lasted for pretty much the whole day. "Ingrid told us everything. And more still."

Could this be the big break we've all been waiting for? Anna leaned forward in her seat, and from the peripheral of her eye saw the others do the same. Everyone waited in anticipation.

Elsa took a deep breath before starting. "The Crimson Order has existed for way longer than just two centuries. In fact, the League's origins are tied to the Order's."

"Wait, what?" Anna said. This was getting stranger and stranger.

"It's true." Elsa went on. "Ingrid told me herself. The League's history has been passed down from Pilgrim to Pilgrim, but our version of Ingrid neglected to tell me since she hadn't expected to pass the mantle."

"And how sure can we be of this?" Deirdre sounded skeptical. "You said it yourself. This Ingrid is from a whole different earth, however that's supposed to work. How sure are we that this other reality has the same history as ours?"

"According to the device, our worlds are almost identical." Anna confirmed. At least, that was what the readings showed, though now she was feeling a little unsure if she'd interpreted the futuristic data correctly.

Elsa nodded. "Sounded about right to me. I think it's safe to assume that the same thing happened in our reality here."

Tracy shrugged nonchalantly. "Okay, if you say so."

"Like I said, our histories are intertwined." Elsa repeated. "As Melody found out, the Order has been capturing and then making use of demons for their own ends. But according to Ingrid, the Order believes that their god came to a saint called Ka' Linx. He offered the saint a way to fight injustice, corruption and perversion. He gave the world demons."

"You've got to be kidding me." Anna scoffed.

"Ka' Linx assembled the Crimson Order and recruited saints worthy enough to wield the demons to exact vengeance upon criminals and sorcerers. Their mission was to restore balance to the world, not unlike the League's." Elsa paused. "But here's where we differ. They believed in getting rid of sorcery once and for all. They were sure that if they successfully purged the world of sorcerers, the world would no longer be in danger and they would have peace."

"Extremists." Melody concluded with notable disdain.

"But as the Order grew over the centuries, a number of saints felt that the Order was wrong and that there was a better way to achieve justice. They would use sorcery to combat injustice without the need to turn to demons which they felt was hypocrisy." Elsa went on. "A civil war broke out within the Crimson Order and the loyalists attempted to slaughter the minority, but they fled far beyond the loyalists' reach. They escaped into the shadows, vowing to be different from the Order.

"The minority were afraid that one day, the Order would hunt them down and kill them for their treachery. And so, they then created the League of Sorcerers, hoping to defend the world and themselves."

"Wow." Maui looked awed.

"But then as we know, the League slowly grew corrupt over time, eventually becoming no better than the Crimson Order. They became a prominent myth while the Order seemed to fade away into obscurity. But now we know better," Elsa said. "The Order has been manipulating events from the shadows instead of directly engaging in a war against sorcery."

"I get it now." Anna connected the dots in her head. "So when you made the League's existence public knowledge to the world, the Order saw their chance and began plotting to revive their vendetta against the League and to take you all down."

"And hence the CAST." Melody added.

"This is all my fault." Elsa looked to be on the verge of tears. "If I hadn't taken the League public, we wouldn't be stuck in the middle of this war."

"Hey! It's not your fault." Anna asserted emphatically. "You did what you felt was right."

"And it was the right thing to do." Melody agreed. "The sorcerers are better off because of it."

"Really?" Elsa gestured at the camp outside the tent, her voice shaky. "Tell that to all of them."

"This isn't your fault. You were trying to do the right thing." Maui said firmly. "It's the Crimson Order that's to blame."

"Damn right." Anna felt indignant all of a sudden. "Elsa, it's the Crimson Order who did this to us. Not you."

Deirdre nodded in agreement. "They've been blindsiding us from the start."

"We've been in a shadow war this whole time and we didn't even know it." Janus finally said after having remained silent for a long time.

"But now we do. And that's what matters." Anna glanced at the couple. "Did you guys manage to get a name?"

Elsa inhaled deeply and steadied herself. "Yes we did. We know who's behind everything."

"Who?" Anna leaned forward even more. She could almost feel the tension in the air.

"Lord Magnus Von Faust." Elsa said slowly. "High Priest of the Crimson Order."

There was a brief silence for a moment as everyone took time to digest this new information. Anna herself repeated the name in her head. Magnus Von Faust. The name fitted a villain of the highest calibre. Sinister and enigmatic.

"Hmmn." Tracy mused.

"And what about their hideout?" Melody asked. "Did you manage to find out where the Order has been hiding all this time?"

"Yes. And you're not going to believe this." Elsa paused. "The Crimson Order has been hiding in the catacombs below the depths of Exon for centuries. Long before the kingdom of Exon was founded and built on top of the catacombs."

Another pause.

"You're not serious." Deirdre hissed through her teeth. It took Anna a moment to remember that Deirdre had lived in Exon as a child.

"I am." Elsa insisted. "They're there. Hiding demons in the catacombs somewhere below the surface. The Order has been there all this time."

"Wow," Anna let out a sharp breath and sat back. "This is…a lot to take in."

"This is great work." Maui agreed. "Thanks to you four, we now know what we're up against."

"Don't sweat it." Tracy grinned.

"There's more." Elsa's tone suddenly took a particularly grim turn.

Anna looked at her sister, as did the rest. She didn't like the feeling she was getting. "What else could there possibly be?"

"Ingrid told me that Lord Magnus and the Crimson Order aren't even the biggest threat. There's something worse." Elsa looked even more pale than usual as she uttered the words. "There is a prophecy about the Eternal King. I think Maui may know this one."

Maui looked pertubed.

Elsa took another long breath before going on. "The prophecy tells of a day when a ruler will not just conquer the realm of Ancient Hyutreno, but also the lands of the South, and that his power will continue to spread to the North."

"But the Eternal King ruled only Ancient Hyutreno. Not any of the other lands." Maui pointed out.

"That's exactly what I said." Elsa agreed. "But there's a second part to the prophecy."

"I remember now." Maui cut in. "That means…" He too looked dreary as he traded knowing glances with Elsa.

Anna looked round to see that the others were as equally in the dark as she was. "Wait, hold on." Anna said exasperatedly. "Are we missing something here?"

"The second part of the prophecy says that 'from the depths of the snow, the Eternal King shall rise again'." Maui said slowly.

A chilly wind blew into the tent, along with bits of falling snow. Anna felt as if there was a cold hand creeping down her spine, and she shuddered.

"I think that it could be referring to our times." Elsa said quietly. "Right here. During this war."

Deirdre looked skeptical. "A bit of a coincidence, don't you think?"

"That's what I told her." Janus agreed.

"What do you mean?" Tracy looked confused.

"This campaign. The Order has been desperate to stop us all this time, allying itself with the Empire." Elsa said. "They're afraid that if they fail to stop us before we reach Exon, the Coalition will raze the capital to the ground."

"And their base will be compromised." Melody snapped her fingers. "The Crimson Order has a personal stake in this. They can't allow the Empire to lose this war. If they have no other choice, they'll unleash the Eternal King in hopes of crushing the Coalition and the League at the same time."

"And if they do that, the prophecy will be fulfilled." Maui added. "There'll be nothing that can stop the Eternal King from conquering the rest of the world."

"To the lands of the South and spreading up to the North." Anna repeated darkly. This was way worse than she had imagined. "So what you're saying is, even if we win this war, we're all going to lose in the end?"

Elsa nodded gravely. "Everyone loses."

"You were right." Anna said after a lengthy pause. "The Empire. The Imperial Horde. Lord Magnus. The Crimson Order. They're all nothing to worry about compared to the return of the Eternal King."

"We've got to stop them from releasing the Eternal King somehow." Tracy stressed.

"But how?" Deirdre asked. "We're stuck in this war and we can't just turn the entire Coalition around and go home. The rest of the Confederation won't stand for it, not when we've already come this far."

"And if we reach the gates of Exon, Magnus will unleash the Eternal King in a desperate gambit. We all lose." Melody said.

"So what then?" Anna asked. Now that it had all been put into words, the situation seemed all the more dire. Things were far worse than they had appeared to be.

"I…I don't know." Elsa turned to Janus and Melody. "Any ideas?"

Janus shook his head ruefully, while Melody formed her lips into a hard line.

"So there's nothing we can do but keep moving forward." Anna concluded with dread. "And hope that we can stop the Order and end their threat before the Coalition reaches the gates of Exon."

"If we can even reach the gates without being decimated by Kane's forces." Deirdre added sourly.

"So any ideas?" Tracy said. "How are we gonna stop the Order?"

"Let me go talk to Jade." Elsa got to her feet. Anna noted that her sister hadn't really spoken with Jade since her betrayal in Korynes. "We're going to need all the help we can get to fight the Order, and I need to know if we can trust her to be in the field again."

"Yeah, you do that." Anna agreed. She still felt bad about everything that'd happened to Jade and how she'd been somewhat left out of their plans since Korynes.

Tracy got up. "I'll come with you."

"Alright." Elsa said. "The rest of you can stay here and rest. We'll be back, hopefully with Jade." With that she ducked out of the tent with Tracy and into the cold evening.