Mortal Intervention

[Rayse Valentino]

Semi-closed to Bloodrose and Caden Law. All bunnying approved and all that stuff.

Two weeks ago...

"Damn it!" cursed a bruised Rayse, his hands clenching the dirt below him as sweat poured down his face.

"I haven't been waiting around for thousands of years just to crush an insect like you," said a casual voice.

Hovering in the air above rayse, a man named Stefan Tyray crossed his arms in disgust. With long, curled hair that reached down to his hips, a pair of sunglasses and a mean-looking stubble, this man was one of Rayse's targets in his last job at Salvar. Floating away, his long brown coat swaying in the breeze and his shiny oxford shoes landing on the ground in front of Rayse, he lamented not having an adequate challenge.

"You know, I was the one who gave that laundry list to Fatman. He knew what I'd do to him if he ever told anyone. Funny, he feared death from me a lot more you."

Rayse pulled himself up, clutching his side and grinning, "What's funnier is I don't give a damn."

Suddenly, he felt the air in his body violently escaping through his wounds and doubled over in pain.

"Hmph," sneered Stefan. "You got one more chance, weakling. I'll be waiting."

* * * * * * *

The present...

In the darkness of night, only one man could be seen on the cracked streets of Knife's Edge. With its former inhabitants long gone, the city seemed like a ghost town outside from the religious and military presence in the more prominent parts. With a cigarette in his mouth, Rayse kicked some rubble around to try to see if his place was intact. This entire residential district was totaled, so what used to be a line of small apartment buildings was now a bunch of rocks. Still, Rayse's apartment was downstairs, and Neil was a great landlord who kept good care of the place, so maybe...

He felt something sneak up on him and turned around quickly to see Teric Bloodrose approaching.

Shrugging, he turned back around and faced the Cathedral, "You don't have to sneak around, you know. Even the rats wouldn't be caught dead in this part of town anymore. Man, they really did a number on this place."

Knowing Dan and Neil, his former business associates, they likely fled to the countryside and would definitely come back to the city once all this nonsense is over with. Still, to think that all trade was virtually dead in this city was hard to fathom. It was chilly in Knife's Edge. Rayse couldn't feel the cold, but everything around him did. The long winter had taken its toll on the city's streets and structures, and the constant icy wind prevented any new life from flourishing. The city was known for its harsh winters, but this one seemed never-ending. It was only recently that Rayse learned the cause:

Denebriel. Not only responsible for the cold, but the entire war as well. She destroyed Rayse's business, his contacts, his damn house, everything. It was about time to get some good old-fashioned revenge. However, his plans didn't end there. The city was still his home, and after this war ends, he was gonna live here again. Rebuild his business, and base The Company out of these streets. Before he knew it, Caden Law had arrived.

"Great, the gang's all here. Let's get this party started, shall we?"

Caden tossed him a strange-looking compass that resembled a stopwatch. It was made out of glass with gunmetal black markers for direction, a candle glow indicating the holder's desired destiny. The idea of a 'desired destiny' was odd to him, but he didn't question the nature of magical devices. He faced a massive structure in the distance. Only its shadow could be made out of the darkness, but it was the Cathedral. Rayse had been there once before when he was captured during his last job here, but now he was going in willingly. The golden needle was pointing in the same direction he was facing, and it gave off a strange aura as he held it. Last time he tried using this, he transported himself and a chunk of forest half a mile forward in an instant. However, if he concentrated, he could determine exactly where to go. He felt that the compass could detect the presence of his enemies, and once he locked on, he let his fiery abilities take care of the rest. He took the cigarette out of his mouth with his free hand, blowing out a plume smoke and flicking it into the remains of his home.

Engulfing the trio in a massive orb of fire that wrapped around them in a circular area, they all disappeared in a flash. The next thing he knew, Rayse had exited the orb in a momentous fashion and landed on something soft. The fires disappeared, and The Contractor found himself on a bed. It seems he was in Denebriel's grand bedchambers, but there was no god in sight. Getting off the bed, he looked around the fancy room- adorned with a big chandelier, a large personal bathroom, and various rich tapestries all over the floor and walls. Rayse sincerely hoped that his desired destiny didn't involve Denebriel's bed. He checked his belongings, and it looked like the Damascus longsword strapped to his back was still there, as well as the pouches attached to his sides that contained Damascus throwing knives and mini-molotovs.

"See!" Rayse proclaimed proudly. "I told you guys that I wouldn't cause any injuries this time!"

[Bloodrose]

I hate magic!

Teric opened his eyes underwater, his whole body jerking reactively as the supply of readily available oxygen around him was replaced with cold water. The liquid got in his nose, was sucked down his throat as he inhaled, and soaked his clothing in an instant as the mercenary kicked and grabbed wildly. The veteran's fingers closed on the first solid object they came in contact with, and Teric pulled himself up instinctively.

Spitting and coughing water, the grizzled old warrior quickly identified the watery trap he'd found himself in: a bathtub.

"Shit."

What seemed like just seconds ago, Teric had been standing in a cold, empty street in a ruined area of Knife's Edge. Then, in the blink of an eye, Rayse and one of his new acquaintances had collaborated to engulf them in flame and deposit them...here.

Wherever here was.

"I swear, if he wasn't blood..." Teric grumbled about Rayse under his breath, stepping out of the tub and taking stock of his situation. Water ran off his clothing in a deluge, and the warrior paused in the middle of the room - bathwater pooling at his feet - to wring out his shirt with both hands. The floor under that growing puddle was finely cut white marble running into matching walls of the same material. The ceiling was plated in gold, and the entire room was equally appointed with beautiful trim and trappings. I think we must've ended up in the right place - this is certainly a bathroom fit for a God. The mercenary thought as he finished his sentence, "...I'd kill him."

When Rayse had told him that he had a plan to get inside St. Denebriel's Cathedral and bring the winter's-long siege of Knife's Edge - and this damned civil war - to a close, Teric had scoffed in disbelief. Always one to talk a bigger game than he played (or so Teric had felt when he'd first met the younger man), the mercenary had originally dismissed the notion as folly.

"Can't be done, I said." Teric mocked his own words as he fetched his sword out of the wash closet sink and his satchel bag from beside the toilet. "The Cathedral is protected by magic, I told him." Yet, unsurprisingly, Teric found that he had a lot to learn about magic. Whoever this third cohort Rayse had brought into their typical arrangement was, he seemed to know his way around the arcane.

"Injured, no." Teric retorted coolly as he stepped out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, his sword half drawn in case of trouble. Rayse was standing on the bed with a grin plastered on his face. It was obvious that the younger man was quite proud of his accomplishment. "Uncomfortable, yes."

They would have to move fast and careful now that they were actually inside the lion's den.

"Where's your friend?"

[Caden Law]

Jingle, jingle, was the sound above the bedroom, accompanied by the clink, clink of chains being jostled about. A few muttered obscenities and then this lovely bit: "Shit!"

The chandelier dropped dead center in the bedroom floor. About three hundred tiny crystals, each one containing permanent wisps of light rather than mere candle flames, shattered. It was spectacular, slightly disorienting, and above all else: Loud. At the heart of the warped metal frame at the center was one busted looking Wizard, his glasses hanging lopsided, his Hat tilted and slightly sagging, his limbs spread out all over the place. The man looked rather uncomfortable.

"Could've been worse," he said to himself, pushing his glasses up into place. "Either of you ever heard of 'splinching,' by any chance?" Baffled looks. "Well, see, it's this thing where your skin ends up one place and your organs end up another and your skeleton appears about half-way between the two and your bodily fluids-"

"Enough," either or both of them said. Didn't really matter which. Caden shrugged, adjusted his gear and stood up, then adjusted it again for redundancy's sake.

"Are we in?" he asked, having never actually set foot inside the city of Knife's Edge before today -- nevermind getting into one of the most heavily protected rooms in one of the most ridiculously overprotected buildings within the city's borders. He took a deep breath, scanning the area with a Wizard's senses...and almost threw up from the amount of background magic radiating through the building. It took Caden a few seconds to catch his breath and fight the urge down. He hadn't experienced such a harsh, magic-saturated environment since the battlefields of Raiaera; even Icehenge's power was at least natural, easy to take in and digest. This was just overkill.

He drew out his wand with one hand and his bowie knife with the other, leaving sword sheathed and rod holstered for now. Caden wasn't expecting a whole lot of room to maneuver, even if this particular chamber was so big you could cram one of his hometown churches in and have room left over.

"Yes. We're in. Fantastic work, Mr. Valentino. Now let's go kill a Saint," he said, gesturing to the door and taking point behind Teric and Rayse. Somebody had to bring up the rear and he could at least throw spells around the other two if need-be.

[Rayse Valentino]

Rayse sighed as a downright soggy Teric exited the bathroom, "This is no time to be taking a bath, old man. And I'll be damned if I knew where--"

CRASH! The chandelier came down, sending bits and pieces of crystals everywhere. Sticking themselves in the richly-adorned walls, the room lost a little of its royal glow. They passed through Rayse harmlessly, leaving small trails of flame as they exited his body. The only reason he thought this entire operation was possible was due to his exorbitant amount of power. He didn't quite understand where it all came from, but it seemed to be some sort of side-product from the medication he was taking the past few months. Building up day by day, he now the potential to be ten, maybe even twenty times as strong as he normally was. However, he found that this power was limited. Once he used it all up, it would be gone forever. He would be back to normal. He didn't let on to the other two about this, as the idea of Teric thinking his nephew was stronger than him might make him challenge Rayse. He knew the old mercenary well now.

Teric wanted- no, needed a challenge. A normal mercenary would be long-retired, but he persisted in an almost ritualistic manner to improve himself. Rayse had no interest in pointless tests of power, so it would be better for both of them if he kept the temporary surge of fiery goodness to himself.

Rayse looked at the door, wondering why nobody had come to inspect the loud crash. More to the point, where was the target? He looked at the compass, and it was pointing forward. Turning it on its side, he found it was pointing downward. So, either this thing was busted, or she was below them. Luckily, he and Teric had visited this fine establishment before, so they knew how to get downstairs. Opening the door, The Contractor looked around the grand hallway and determined that there was nobody there.

"Well, I guess it makes sense that someone like her wouldn't want any humans anywhere near her room. Let's go find where else she doesn't want us to be, shall we?"

Stepping outside, Rayse calmly walked around, staring at the marble walls and thick doors. It was probably too late to go back, but he couldn't help feeling apprehensive about this whole thing. Unlike the other two, he got his ass kicked by one of her lieutenants, so he knew what they were dealing with. However, the thought of worry passed quickly as he spotted a wandering guard and slammed his right fist into his left palm in front of him.

"Outta my way, I got a god to kill!" he yelled, charging at the man and planting him into the wall through his torso with just his right fist.

With the others behind him, he tried to find his way throughout this place. While the front was a lot like a cathedral, this entire structure was more like an enormous base. No other place aside from the king's palace could boast as many rooms. However, Rayse decided not to squander this opportunity. If he saw anything of note along the way, he wouldn't hesitate to take it. Running down another hallway, he turned a corner and slowed down when he noticed a large group of people talking amongst themselves. There were various people in military uniform and some clergy walking around. Maybe they knew where Denebriel was. He signaled for the others to stay put for a moment and took out a cigarette, lighting it by snapping his fingers near it to produce a small flame. After taking a drag, he exhaled upwards, and the thin, wispy smoke traveled across the ceiling and into the closed meeting room. Inside, many man were arranged around a round table.

One of men in military uniform spoke up, "We can not wait forever for Saint Denebriel! We must act before The League recovers from this winter. I propose that we devise stratagem in case The Lady does not come through for us."

"Blasphemy!" a clergy man stood up. "Our progress so far has been entirely due to the blessed return of Her Holiness! To forsake her now would make our efforts meaningless! We must await the completion of her grand spell. She will surely strike down the infidels for defying her."

The military man retorted, "That may be, but how much longer must we wait? Why is it that we must do so little? Even now we are losing ground. Our clear advantage has now become a standstill. Say what you will, but I think doing something is better than doing nothing. Would you fault us for action in the name of The Lady?"

The priest sat down, contemplating the response. There was certainly no harm in military operation, even though he felt it was ultimately fruitless.

Nodding his head, he reluctantly agreed, "They are your armies, General. I have no objection against striking fear into the hearts of our enemies. Form your contingency plan if you must, but know that you may gain the ire of Her Holiness."

Rayse had heard enough. After all, he could hear anything in the vicinity of his smoke, allowing him various eavesdropping opportunities. Stamping out the cigarette after dropping it on the floor, Rayse almost turned around to find some other path but he heard something else.

"Where is Her Holiness, anyway?" someone whispered.

"Shh!!" another whispered in reply. "The Lady is in the lower structures, and we are expressly forbidden from even going near it!"

Lower structures, eh? He remembered something like that when he was last here. Could it be the same place? Calling them The Catacombs, they seemed to be a series of maze-like hallways under the sewers that looked brand new despite how apparently old they were. After informing the others of what he heard, they set off towards the entrance to The Catacombs. Although it didn't look like they were getting there for free, as along the way a man seemed to form out of the stone walls themselves and step out into the hallway in front of Rayse and the others.

"Yo," he waved, his purple mohawk an unusual sight in this place. Wearing nothing but black vinyl pants and a green vest, he definitely looked out of place. "Some noise you made back there. I take it you're the intruders I was told about, huh? Well, if you don't mind I'd like you to die real quick-like so I can get back to my nap."

Rayse felt it. This man was one of Denebriel's lieutenants. He didn't know much about them aside from Stefan Tyray, but they orchestrated several important operations under her orders. There was always the chance that he was as strong as Tyray, so The Contractor was alert. However, he didn't want to reveal his abilities in front of the others.

"Looks like we got one of Denebriel's personal lackeys to deal with," Rayse told Teric and Caden. "They're no joke, so be ready. More might be coming, so I'll go on ahead and find the entrance to the underground. Cover my back, won'tcha?"

Disappearing into streams of fire, Rayse passed through the lieutenant and appeared on the other side, breaking into a sprint and turning the corner. He didn't let it bother him, but if it what he was saying was true, then someone told him about the mission. But who? None of the humans seemed to notice them. It was possible that the rumors were true. Could Denebriel see into the future?

Denebriel's servant didn't seem phased, "No worries, no worries. I'll get him later. I don't like chasing people around anyway. Not without a good warm-up, at least. Don't you agree?" Putting his hand to the wall, several stone cubes came jutting out of the walls and floated in the air. With a wave, he sent them flying at Bloodrose and Blueraven.

[Caden Law]

Teric was the senior swordsman, but Caden had done the magi war-dance often and hard enough that his reactions were, in this case, just that little bit quicker. Rayse left them, the lieutenant remained, Teric made ready to attack and Caden was already bullrushing around him wand-first. The air warped in front of the pair and the lieutenant's opening salvo of stone cubes slammed into a spherical blender; gravity and anti-gravity colliding with one another.

What came out the other side -- what came out every side -- was a spray of pebbles and dust. The Wizard dropped his attack just as quickly and Yelled, "Hit him!" His Voice actually had enough force to clear some of the dust from Teric's path. To his credit as a warrior, soldier, and all around grizzled veteran, the old man was already surging forward of his own accord. He moved faster in a few measured strides than Caden had ever run in his life. His swordsmanship was like watching a silver symphony flickering through the Catacomb torchlight.

To his credit, Denebriel's lieutenant managed to keep composure well enough to draw out more stone blocks, even though Teric buzzsawed right through them in seconds at a time. By the third or fourth block, the old mercenary had finally lost enough steam to shout, "Little help here, pencilneck!"

"Ah, right. Right." Caden gulped. And then he reached out with his finely trained sense of geomancy, and basically shut the other mage's cube-a-pult routine down by forcing the blocks out of Teric's way or shoving them right back into place as soon as they'd been drawn out. For all the lieutenant's effort, he was only able to get out one more stone block before Teric was point blank.

"Bloody shit, you crazy geezer!" the lieutenant screamed.

And then Teric slit his throat, stabbed through his heart and both lungs, bisected his torso straight to the spine and spiral cut one of his legs straight to the bone. He finished it all with an inelegant backhanded buckler bash across the back of the mohawked mage's head, toppling him in a gory, horrifying mess that almost made Caden vomit at the sight of it.

"Was that really necessary?" the Wizard asked.

Teric flicked blood from his saber, gave a roguish grin that spoke of far too many battlefields for Blueraven's liking, and was probably about to give an amusing anecdote about how weavers of the dark arts are difficult to put down and keep down. In all likelihood, it would've implied something to the effect of, So I wonder how much effort it'd take to kill you, eh? which would've been followed by a properly roguish laugh and Caden becoming even paler than the pasty skintone he already suffered from.

Except for the part where Teric's hunch was proven correct and the mage got right back up, laughing like a maniac as his wounds knitted themselves shut.

To which even Teric replied, "Eugh."

"Denebriel must give her Death Lords a better healthcare package," Caden noted.

"Somethin' like that," said the lieutenant, who finally got around to introducing himself as a matter of course. "Name's Daedalus Arkham. Pleasure to meet you, now I'll defeat you," and just like that he was conjuring an arming sword from nowhere.

And then he stopped with the tip of Teric's saber sticking out from between his eyes.

"No, no you won't," said the mercenary.

Daedalus made some argh, uck, uck noises and dropped his sword. How he remained standing was anybody's guess.

"Hate magic," Teric muttered. "Well? Do your thing, Wizard."

"Do what?"

"How the hell should I know? You're magic, he's magic, you kill him, we go catch up with Rayse," Teric answered with a shrug.

Caden thought about it. Thought about every way he knew to kill someone, how to reanimate them, how to keep them from getting up again, and he knew what he would have to do. The Wizard grimaced and said, "You don't tell anyone what I'm about to do."

"I don't even know what you're about to do. What would I tell them?"

Caden stalked forward, put his wand back in its place on his belt, replaced his knife and picked up the arming sword. It was plain steel. Nothing to write home about. Probably alchemist's work, transported from one of the armories littering the city. He'd have to burn it later.

"Daedalus Arkham. I'm sorry."

And just like that, the Wizard stabbed the sword straight down through Daedalus' neck and shoulder, into his chest, stomach and maybe as far as his pelvic bones. Then he pointed to the ceiling and geomanced a few runes into the stonework.

Then the Wizard performed Necromancy. He drained the life right out of the lieutenant's body, channeling it up into the rune on the ceiling and allowing the Church above to act as a grounding anchor for the discharged energies that were allowing Daedalus to regenerate. It was all fairly simple work. Close enough to Thermal magic in principle that Caden could lie to himself to justify it.

The process of murdering the lieutenant down to his soul took a few minutes. It ranked up there as one of the more disturbing things Teric had experienced in the past few years, if only because the metals in his own blade were like a lightning rod, absorbing just enough of the necromantic discharge that he could feel a chill to the bones of his hand. When it was all over, the mohawked mage simply collapsed into a pile of leathery skin and bones wearing strangely pristine clothing -- if you could get past the bloodstains.

Caden held the sword for a few seconds longer.

Then he very calmly, very deliberately set it against a wall and used some well applied geomancy to snap it into tiny pieces, throwing the broken hilt into a nearby torch.

"...think we'll have to do that to Denebriel?" Teric asked, sooner or later.

"No. Probably worse," Caden answered, sneering a little when he said it. "Let's go. Rayse probably needs us. And I'm sure there are more of her lieutenants idling around here needing a good killing."

[Rayse Valentino]

While Teric and Caden were dealing with one problem, Rayse had found a few problems of his own.

To be specific, three of them.

Standing in front of a closed golden doorway that resembled an arch were a trio of lieutenants. Rayse was visibly annoyed. The hallway he had followed had lead to a grand room with a spherical ceiling with three more oddly-dressed foes.

Wearing a tan-colored full suit of armor with thin purple seams around the joints and a sentinel helmet to obscure his head, a seven foot tall knight-like lieutenant laughed at Rayse's misfortune, "Baw haw haw! Looks like Daedalus let one get by! How shameful for a servant of Her Greatness! Baw haw haw!" His voice, deep and full of echo since it came from inside the helmet, had made his words loud and obnoxious. His name was Ezekiel.

Another one shook his head in disgust and replied, "You fool! Don't you see? He let this one get by so he could have the other two all to himself." Pushing aside his long dark hair that was obscuring half his face, but ultimately fell back to the same position, he continued. "Let's finish him off quick then get to the other two." He was wearing a chainmail vest with leather pants and black boots that went up to his shins. His eyes were pure black. He was called Relent.

Rounding out the group was the last one, who was very quiet while staring down Rayse. He was wearing silver half-plate armor with no helmet, and a red knight's tunic that stretched down to his shins. His white hair was in a ponytail, and his eyes were a light shade of scarlet. He was known as Arbetus.

"Look," Rayse started, his palm firmly pressed against his head. "I don't have time to deal with you clowns. If you could calmly get out of the way..."

Ezekiel burst out into a fresh laugh, "Baw haw haw! Vermin sure are confident these days, aren't they? We would've never had such a display back in our day! I'll deal with this one myself!"

Reaching into a sheath strapped to his side, he pulled out a golden longsword. Ezekiel enjoyed his appearance. Even though Denebriel commanded her servants to appear and act like Salvic Humans, wearing armor over his demonic form was enough to not only terrify, but make them think he was still human. Rushing at Rayse with his sword held up high in one hand, he struck down and The Contractor deftly dodged to the side, avoiding the blade that plunged into the ground like it was butter. One hit from that would quickly make two Valentinos from one. Quickly making a break for the door, Rayse pulled on the handles, pushed on the handles, and did everything he could to open the door.

Ezekiel pulled his sword out of the ground, "Haw! The door is guarded with a magical seal! You'll never get in! Not even Her Greatness could bust open a door with a seal on it like that!"

"Don't," warned Arbetus. "Don't say another word or I'll kill you myself."

"H-hey!" Ezekiel reeled back, trying to hide his fear for the other lieutenant. "Who cares if we're just gon' kill him anyway? Hmph!"

Rayse started to wonder how these guys could be considered fearful thousands of years ago. As Ezekiel charged at Rayse again, he disappeared into flames and reappeared back in his original position before the first attack.

Ezekiel stomped his plated boot into the ground, "I hate jumpy little gnats like you!"

"I'll take care of this," said Relent, flicking his hair to no avail. He motioned his hands in Rayse's direction and suddenly several knives appeared in the air and flew at him, missing their marks. Rayse dodged them handily, but what came next surprised even him. Relent was above him punching downwards, and as the fist flew past Rayse's head, Relent's body shifted in mid-air and delivered a kick to Rayse's torso, sending him flying into the ground several feet away. Rayse got up quickly, holding his chest. These guys were certainly no joke, but...

"Is the guy I left back there as strong as you?" Rayse asked, feeling around for any broken bones or bruises.

Landing on the floor and taking up a provocative pose with his finger on his mouth, Relent replied, "Our Lady's Children are mostly the same, with some exceptions."

Ezekiel interjected, "That damn Tyray avoided getting sealed up so he never got weakened by the captivity! It always ticks me off!"

"Will you hurry up and kill him already?" an annoyed Arbetus said, shaking his head. "His friends should be arriving soon. If The Lady sent us to deal with this, clearly she thought Daedalus would be defeated. Let's not let them join up."

"Heh," chuckled Rayse. Arbetus was clearly smarter than the other two. Not only was he right, but that confirmed Rayse's suspicions: Tyray was unusually strong for a lieutenant. The Contractor knew his next course of action. "So, how do you open that door?"

"We ain't tellin' a worm like you!" yelled Ezekiel, charging again and taking several swings at Rayse. Normally this would be no problem, but Relent joined in as well, using his superior speed to try to catch his prey. He came in from above but Rayse threw down a lit mini-molotov, the explosion creating a wide field of smoke that covered the entire room. Although, as fast as it was created, it disappeared, with Arbetus taking responsibility with his strange magic. As Rayse kept moving, a knife flew past him and nicked his shoulder, causing a small cut. He couldn't keep this up forever.

Rayse jumped back and said, "What, are you scared of me beating you? Is that why you won't tell me?"

Ezekiel pulled his sword out of the wall and laughed, "Haw! For your information, even if you did know, it wouldn't mean a damn thing!"

Arbetus's eyes widened, "Ezekiel! Don't!"

"It's a seal that's based on gatekeeper's life over there!" he said, pointing his thumb at Arbetus.

Rayse smiled, "Thanks for the info."

For a moment, he concentrated. Dark tattoo lines began appearing on the sides of his arms, his hips, and legs. They moved toward each out and converged at the center, creating an abstract pattern of dark lines all over his body. His body became covered with a thick yellow flame that burned brighter and brighter, turning blue due to the heat.

"I've been saving this for later, but I won't need much to deal with you three."

Ezekiel and Relent were a bit taken back, but ultimately they ignored the warning. Arbetus, however, began preparing a complicated spell. Rayse suddenly disappeared into blue flames, reappearing in front of Ezekiel and grabbing his helmet with his right hand, shoving it back into the wall. With a flash, his hand created a great explosion that incinerated the helmet and everything inside.

Relent's face was covered in genuine shock. Rayse stepped back, allowing the headless armor to fall limply to the ground. However, it didn't last long as the head and helmet appeared to form out of nothing. Ezekiel stood back up, his laugh as strong as ever. Rayse guessed that even for these guys it wouldn't be too hard to survive as long as they did with that kind of insurance. The only way to get rid of them for good was to burn into nothingness. Ezekiel charged again, but this time Rayse did not move. His blade passed through Rayse as if he was ethereal, and The Contractor put his hands on the armored demon's shoulders and poured as much fire as he could into the armor. With a roar, geysers of fire erupted from every joint in the armor. After several seconds, the armor itself began to disintegrate, and soon there was nothing left but a burnt husk of a lieutenant.

Several knives flew at Rayse from Relent's direction, but they also passed right through him. He planted his foot into the ground, creating a growing crack that made its way over to Relent, who saw what was coming. Rayse had obviously put his fire into the ground and was gonna have it erupt under his feet. As the crack reached the long-haired servant, he jumped back only to have Rayse appear further back with a kick to his spine, sending him back back forward into the stream of fire that rose all the way up to the ceiling. The fire was so intense that nothing came out the other side.

As Rayse was about to move for the last one, he suddenly felt everything turn... blue. The eruption of fire seemed to be stuck in mid-air, the flames suspended like in a painting. Not only that, but he couldn't move at all. Try as he might, it was like he had chains all over his body.

Suddenly, he heard a voice in his head, "You shouldn't of given me all that time, trespasser." On the other side of the room stood Arbetus, finally smiling for once. "Thanks for disposing of that trash. Her Greatness forbids us from infighting, so you gave me a good opportunity to cleanse the weaker ranks. I've partitioned off a portion of space, creating this field that exists outside the scope of time. Although I do not have many combat techniques to speak of, I was invited as a lieutenant due to my unique ability. No matter how strong you are, if you can't move you're as good as dead."

Struggled as he might, it looked like Rayse was trapped. It turned out that Arbetus was actually very talkative once he had someone in this blue room of his.

"It's strange. Our Lady predicted all of this, so does that mean she willingly sacrificed her servants? I don't disagree with culling the weaker herd. We don't need pests in our new age of glory. I'll deal with your friends in the same way too, so don't you worry." He would've kept talking for an eternity, forever torturing Rayse with his drivel, but he noticed something odd about the air. "What's this misty stuff floating around? It's the smoke from before. Well, no matter... Huh?!"

He noticed too late. When he created this space, Arbetus captured everything in the radius of the room. Rayse didn't just have control over the fire in his body. He could channel it through the smoke he creates in the room as well. With a mental nudge, the entire space was engulfed in a bright flash of light. Before he knew it, Rayse could move again, and a heavily-burned Arbetus was in the corner.

"That... that isn't fire magic..." he stuttered out, his consciousness fading.

Rayse replied, "No, it isn't. I am not a fire mage. I don't know any spells, incantations, or enchantments."

Arbetus realized too late from the lines all over Rayse's body, "You.. you're a living rune! That's... impossible... !"

Rayse noticed that Teric and Caden Law were catching up, judging by the sound of footsteps in the hallway, so he ran up to Arbetus and put his palm up to the charred lieutenant's face.

"Do you think... My Lady... predicted my death as well... ?" Arbetus asked, trying to form a smile out of his burnt skin.

Rayse replied coldly, "I don't care."

FWOOSH! After a few moments, there was nothing left of Arbetus but a dark stain on the floors and walls. Rayse relaxed, letting the runes disappear back into his skin, and opened the door finally. As the others made it into the room, Rayse appeared sweaty and tired.

"Could you take any longer next time? I had to deal with one of those bastards myself. That thing wouldn't die until I burned off every last piece of it."

Inside the door was a grand, winding staircase downwards. The walls seemed adorned with gold, and the steps themselves appeared shining. Along the walls were small cubbyholes with a trapped wisp inside to provide light. The staircase appeared to descend forever. As Rayse started his way down, he thought about what the servant had said. If Denebriel could see in the future, what chance did they have? Was all this already determined? He had to change his destiny somehow, and fast.

[Bloodrose]

Without the purple-haired lieutenant to impede their forward progress, Teric and Caden caught up to Rayse in a short amount of time. It was hard for the two to mask their coming, as the mercenary's iron-shod boots rapped out a steady cadence on the stone floor. Warrior and wizard rounded the last corner into the dome-shaped grand room with sword and wand drawn and ready for trouble, but it seemed they had arrived late to the party.

"I'll be sure to ask the next guy if he could die a little quicker for us." Teric quipped, lowering his sword and striding slowly towards Rayse and the golden arch on the opposite side of the room. The air in here smelt heavily of burnt flesh and vaporized metal, and even the magic-wary veteran could feel the traces of the arcane left on the air like a physical fingerprint. Caden, with his obviously more developed senses for such things, paused at the entrance to the room to sniff the air appreciatively, casting his eyes about as if trying to identify the magics used here.

Teric could take a guess.

Great black scorch marks scarred the floor in a couple of places, and Rayse's mention of burning things gave the mercenary all the hints he needed. Last he'd seen of his nephew, the Contractor had only been dabbling with the fiery magics he'd mysterious developed. Judging by the aftermath in this room, Rayse was using those skills for a little more than lighting cigarettes these days.

Is everyone in this damned world using magic but me? The mercenary pondered. His distrust and general phobia for developed magic had always kept him from pursuing the subject to any great length, but more and more Teric was beginning to realize that magic was going to be the dominant weapon of choice in this battle. For the first time, the veteran found himself feeling like a blunt tool brought into an Aleran gun-battle...

"You guys hear that?" Teric whispered loudly as the trio mounted the stairs descending into the earth and made their way cautiously down. As they went deeper and deeper - and deeper they went as the stairs circled around on themselves for what seemed like forever - there was an audible hum on the air that seemed to vibrate right out of the stone walls around them. Even the wisps of trapped and glowing fog set into the recesses of the wall seemed to dance and move with the hum, the light flickering rapidly.

After descending for what seemed like an hour, but could have been little more than several cautious minutes, the trio found that the staircase deposited them onto a flat landing cut into the very bedrock of the earth. While not nearly as grandiose or majestic as the rooms they’d encountered thus far, the landing with its low-slung ceiling and rough hewn walls was nonetheless unnerving and impressive in the same breath. Deep set runes carved into the grey stone glowed with an ethereal light that served as the only illumination. Even in the dark, however, it was easy to see that path straight ahead was blocked by an immovable wall of stone and daemonic looking glyphs. Instead there were two separate tunnels - one branching right, and one branching left - that snaked off into the darkness.

"I suppose the obvious question is: which way do we go?" Teric spoke first. His grip was tight on his sword, his shield readied as well.

[Caden Law]

The obvious answer would have been "We smash right through and keep going," which Rayse tried to say, and Caden cut him off with a clearing of the throat. All eyes fell to the Wizard, who spent a moment looking uncomfortable before explaining, "Not smart. Just from reading the spell on the front, I can tell you this is a nasty piece of work. Probably the heaviest set of wards I've ever seen in one place at one time. And that's saying a lot, actually."

"Define a lot," said Teric, while Rayse simmered (not quite literally) behind them. "I saw a barrier spell splinter three ton iron-cored ballista bolt once. Could it do that?"

"...day and night until the owner gets bored or the army starves to death," Caden replied. "And it'd vaporize the bolt in the process. Follow me for a technical spiel?" Nobody objected. Poor bastards. "This is...basically it's pretty simple. Just really, really, crazy powerful. And redundant. I'm counting three or four spells just in the runes, maybe some base enchantments on the stone itself, probably more spells on the other side and that's not saying anything about runes that could've been shaped inside the material use metals. Judging solely off of what I can see without risking touch or 'mancies, there's a built-in repulsor spell that would basically blow away any attack we make with lethal force. Kiss your sword, arm, shoulder and most of your chest good-bye, and that's before you land in a messy heap about thirty yards back that-a-way. Try direct attacks with magic and we'd just get burned to death.

"But at the same time, there's another spell -- this one here, to be exact -- that's absorbing energy and accelerating it; like water going downhill and picking up speed and power as it goes. If I'm right, again just from looking-"

"Stop looking," Rayse said. "You're a Wizard. The compass says Denebriel's not too much further ahead of us. Crack this shit open and let's go."

Caden grimaced. Teric gave him a look agreeable to Rayse. "Alright," he said. "Stand back and do whatever I tell you to. We might be here a little while."

And so it was that the Wizard began to Work his magic: Runes shaping themselves into the floor and ceiling, and the previously untouched frame of the barrier-clad stone wall. He ducked down both side passages for minutes at a time, continuing his efforts by Rayse's candelit fingertips and Teric's constant vigilance at the door. The mercenary accounted for at least three Catacombs guardsmen on his own time while Caden and Rayse were busy, and all of them went with hardly a gurgle.

When he was done, Caden returned to the barrier and did his best to ignore the bodies. He explained it to them like this: "I've laid the framework for a spell that will basically cut off the barrier's proper energy flows and cause it to overload. The stone should collapse on its own after that, but it might get messy. Stay behind me."

Once the warrior and the fire-mage were safely out of the way, Caden took a deep breath and reached out with his wand. Swish, flick, and then stomp left, stomp right. He whipped the wand into a circle that trailed ghostly blue feathers from start to finish, and then he Spoke a single Word only barely audible to anyone listening: "Collapse."

It was old fashioned Wizardry, unmodified and unadulterated and all too subtle once the feathers had fallen. For a few seconds, nothing happened at all. Teric and Rayse even exchanged morbid looks in the dark while they waited.

And then all those runes began to glow blue at the same time that the glyphs on the stone stopped. What's more, the runes on the frame of the door began to shift and move in conveyor-belt fashion from left to right and back again, until a visible wall of blue feathers swirled in front of them.

Caden draw back his wand and thrust it into that wall of feathers. Less than a second later, it wall gone and the tunnel plunged into darkness to the sound of ancient stone crumbling and metals bending, tearing and breaking outright in the process. When it was all over with, Rayse lit up a fingertip and Caden responded in kind by casting a pale light from his wand. The way ahead was clear now. Darkness awaited, but torches could be seen lining the walls a suitable distance ahead of them. They burned cold and yellow-green, and even at this distance Caden could hear voices coming from them.

He grimaced in spite of himself.

"I should add, gentlemen, that we're dealing with a Forgotten One. Denebriel is a Wizard, a Sorceress, and a Necromancer."

"Which tells us dick-all," said Rayse as he took the lead. Teric fell in at the middle and Caden brought up the rear.

"Saint Denebriel is one of a select few survivors of something called the War of the Tap. She has a line directly to the source of all magic. But, judging by..." they neared the torches enough to see ghastly faces burning away inside. "That. Judging by that, I'm guessing she's using necromancy to power her access to the Tap. Basically the opposite of Xem'zund, taking the power through trickery and guile instead of being given it by a higher power," or earning it the hard way, the Wizard did not say.

"Common, please," Teric said.

"She's eating the souls of the dead to make herself a demigod."

"...I'm glad I'm wearing brown pants," said Teric.

"Basically, yes. There's more to it than that. Belief of the masses probably factors into it. The point is, I might be able to cut her off from her power source. Knock her down to the level of merely being a powerful mage instead of a minor god."

"I like that," Teric said. "Mages die pretty easy if you stab them enough."

"How do you know so much about this, anyway?" Rayse asked.

Caden merely pointed to the Hat and said, "Salvic Wizard. Denebriel might be a Saint, but she still started out as one of us. The first of us. The codifier for what makes a Wizard a Wizard in the lands of Salvar. She might be hard-lining against magi now, but she still wrote most of the books I studied as a boy. We have common ground and from there...not too much of a stretch."

This was, of course, an explanation that neatly omitted the fact that Caden really did have a lot in common with their enemy. As Teric had seen, he had at least some Necromancy skills in his own right. As neither of them had witnessed, he was also a Sorcerer. A few thousand years ago, in another time and in a place very much like this one, Denebriel herself might have lead a raid on some forgotten tyrant of the arcane.

The hallway seemed to continue forever after that, though the torches eventually grew close enough that the lighting improved. So too did the condition of the hall itself: Stonework became increasingly polished and well maintained, until the trio actually happened upon a particularly wretched little man tasked with cleaning them. Teric dispatched him in short order and they kept moving. The hallway expanded out to either side, and the ceiling grew higher as well, until finally they came upon a grated steel gate.

Teric looked at Caden shrugged at Rayse gave the thumbs-up to Teric who in turn broke the gate off its henges with a few precise saber swings. It helped that the steel, at least, hadn't been very well taken care of. Given what lay beyond it, the trio couldn't really question the dead wretch's reasoning.

They entered into a cavernous chamber now, circular and consisting of stark white walls, a domed ceiling reminiscent of aurorae on a cold night sky, and a floor that was suspended above a pit of molten silver glowing a hundred feet beneath them. Within the center of the room was a great metal chair, like a blast furnace reshaped into a throne, and sitting within was a huge figure with icy blue skin and a thick, snow white beard to match a wild mane of hair. He wore violet silk woven with glowing silver sigils and glyphs; a toga all the way to his knees and pants and sandals beneath that. He held in one hand a sword, a thing of war that glowed dutifully even in the bright light of this chamber. It was bigger than all three would-be assassins put together.

And as they entered, this contradictory giant opened eyes like diamonds and glared at them.

"Who seeks to disturb the Sainted Lady?" he asked, his Voice grating like icebergs gone to war.

The trio exchanged morbid looks, and immediately began pointing at each other. The dichotomous sentinel was not amused.

"You," he said, pointing to Rayse. "Go forward. You are expected. You," he said, pointing to the warrior and Wizard. "Die here."

"I'm almost jealous," Caden mumbled.

"Don't be," Rayse told them, and went forward without much more than a backwards glance.

Teric sighed once the fire mage was out of sight. "Either I'm going senile, or I've done this before," he said to himself, then yelled, "Wouldn't have any relatives in Scara Brae would ya?"

"The Etherspite Guardian knows no family," said the giant. "Commissioned from a time before modern memory, I-"

Caden hit him with a lightning bolt.

This did absolutely nothing but piss him off, and the entire chamber rattled with how loudly he Voiced his disapproval. At this, the Wizard finally drew his rod. "So, yeah. Not my brightest move."

"Indeed," said Teric as the Guardian charged them.

[Rayse Valentino]

In the great silvery furnace chamber there were three exits. One was the ruined gate the trio had come through, another was the door that Rayse was heading to, which resembled the golden archway he saw earlier but was silver. The last door was the same, and Rayse could only guess that this guardian's life was keeping it closed.

As the great door creaked and slid open, Rayse informed the others, "If you take care of this guy before I'm done, go on without me. I got a score to settle."

At this point, The Contractor had ditched them twice so they wouldn't see him fight. Hopefully after this next one, he could join up with them in earnest and not have to hide his abilities. As he stepped in, the doors closed behind them and left an eerie echo of their slam throughout the new hallway. After walking for nearly a minute, he reached a similar door that was opened for him in the same ghost-like manner. Stepping inside, his expression turned serious as he saw his target.

"Finally, we're alone," smiled Tyray, pressing down upon his cane in anticipation. "I hope for your sake that you've improved since we last met."

It was a room similar to the last one, but plated in a strange type of shining gold that provided a large amount of light in the room. The floor was solid, but the gold on it seemed like it was painted on, with some spots scratched. The circular ceiling had paintings and inscriptions on it, like it was telling some sort of forgotten history. At the end of the room, Stefan Tyray stood in front of what looked like a king's throne, padded coverings and all. These underground structures were starting to make sense.

"Is this... some sort of palace?" Rayse asked, looking around.

Clothed in a long brown coat, a ruffled tucked-in shirt and black dress pants, Stefan looked like an aged, relaxed businessman. His long hair was filled with curls and almost seemed to float in the air as it swayed between movements. His eyes were a shallow blue, almost glassy in appearance. He had a long, pointed nose and around his hands were fingerless gray gloves. Of all the lieutenants, he resembled a normal human the most with the exception of his eyes. Anyone who knew him well enough could look into them and see a monster.

His deep, jovial voice echoed throughout the room as he spoke, "The ancient structures under Knife's Edge played an important role in The Wars Of The Tap, but I assume you're not interested in that sort of thing."

"Damn right I'm not."

"It's a shame I didn't get to see Teric. We had some good times, but that's another story you do not care for."

"Since you apparently know me so well, how about we get right to it? I've been waiting to try this out," he mentioned casually. "You should be honored. It took all of my thread to wrap this up."

The thread was the special spidersilk that he procured from one of his allies on a job a while ago. Especially reactive to magic, it was the perfect tool in Rayse's arsenal. He snapped his fingers with his free hand to produce a flame on his right thumb, which he rubbed across the blade, setting the threads on fire. Although, it was a strange fire that immediately started burning intensely despite not reaching more than an inch beyond the blade. With both hands on the handle, he pulled the sword up above his head. Stefan Tyray remained motionless at this action. He was somewhat curious to see what the young man was up to. With a strong heave, Rayse swung downwards, stopping just short of the floor as he angled the blade towards his side so that it stopped behind him. In the arc of the slash, a flaming crescent raced towards Tyray, who disappeared and reappeared several meters away as the crescent hit the wall and exploded, spreading a cloud of smoke throughout the room that was quickly dissipated by Tyray's magic.

Denebriel's servant lambasted Rayse, "You'll need to do better than that to hit me, child."

Disappearing into several streams of flame, Rayse reformed behind Tyray and swung at his torso, once again producing a flaming crescent as Tyray dodged to the side using his air manipulation. As the crescent hit the wall and exploded, Stefan pointed his palm at Rayse and released a torrent of highly-pressurized air in his direction, sending the young man flying backwards in pain and slamming into the ground, knocking the sword out of his hands.

"Damn!" groaned Rayse, slowly picking himself up. "Feels like I got hit with a train on that one..."

"Of course!" Tyray raised his arms, palms pointing upward. "The unseen is my ally. I simply suck out all the air between us, then forcibly fill it back up. Causing you pain is but a trifle."

Then I'm sure you actually need to see me to be able to attack me. Rayse fished into his side-pouch and pulled out a small tar-based mini-molotov. Lightning it with his thumb, he tossed it at the ground between Tyray and himself. The black, choking smoke immediately filled the room, but Denebriel's servant didn't move an inch. He turned around and pointed his palm into the smoke. Suddenly, the smoke dispersed from around his palm and once again Rayse hit the floor violently after using his fiery teleportation trick. The rest of the smoke vanished as well.

Tyray sighed, "You probably thought I needed to see you, right? You are beginning to tire me. Where was that power I saw?"

Rayse picked himself up again, but now he had a few streams of blood dripping down his face. This wasn't going anywhere. Was this the extent of his ability with that storehouse of power? Regardless, he couldn't afford to not use it anymore. He was already dipping into that power for all those body relocations. The tattoos formed all over his body once more, and he ignited like a match, burning softly with an blue glow.

"Ah, there it is," Tyray smiled. "Now! Show me what you can do!"

"With pleasure," Rayse smiled back.

[Bloodrose]

"Can I count on you to watch my back?" Teric asked the wizard next to him hurriedly as the Etherspite Guardian closed in on them.

"Absolutely," Caden nearly beamed, his smile was so wide. "as long as you keep your back between him and me."

Cute. The mercenary wanted to retort, not entirely appreciating the wizard's joking nature, but at the same time somewhat relieved by his cool confidence. The Salvic wizard had demonstrated thus far that he was as useful and resourceful an ally as any, so Teric found himself hopeful that that same resourcefulness would come into play here.

Any further conversation between the two was made impossible by their hulking foe, however, as any further delay in action would have made them sitting ducks for the giant's massive greatsword.

The veteran warrior charged straight at the approaching giant, his preternatural speed catching even the otherworldly Guardian by surprise. The blue-skinned hulk raised his sword with both hands in a massive overhead chop, but the weapon fell too late to catch the cat-like mercenary as he ducked to run between the Etherspite Guardian's legs and come out behind him. Sharp bits of stone ricocheted behind him as the huge sword shattered the stone surface of the platform where it struck.

As the Guardian recovered from the colossal miss, Teric made to hamstring the brute with one precise cut of his blade. Unfortunately for the mercenary, trying to hack through the Guardian's pants turned out to be akin to trying to cut through dragonscale. In fact, given the generally supernatural appearance of the giant's silver-runed garb, the pants likely were drangonscale...

So much for that idea. The veteran thought dismally, giving up quickly on any hopes of crippling their opponent early on. He contemplated running in a bid to open up some space between himself and the Etherspite, but it turned out that fleeing wasn't entirely necessary. As the Guardian made to pivot and face the much smaller mercenary, a pillar of stone shot up out of the floor right behind the behemoth's right shoulder. The giant literally turned into a pillar that hadn't occupied the space behind him just seconds earlier, and the resulting collision - which looked for all the world like a big man walking right into a door jamb - was almost comical.

Pests! The Etherspite Guardian roared, a massive hand coming up to rub it's face appreciatively where it'd struck the pillar. Granted a moment of inactivity, Teric cast his glance towards Caden questioningly. The wizard was busy running around the outside edge of the stone platform, his wand and rod swirling and dancing with ethereal blue feathers through the air as he ran, the tip of his hat flopping this way and that as he went. Since the spell slinger wasn't just standing around looking bored, the mercenary could only conclude that the fortuitous act of geomancy had been his handiwork.

The next couple of minute proceeded in similar fashion to the one that had just lapsed. Using his speed to keep just out of harm’s way, Teric would wait for an opening and then attempt to press the advantage, launching several barrages of attacks only to be turned away by the Guardian's thick skin, runed-clothing, and massive blade. More than once the veteran found himself staring down the wrong end of that greatsword, only to be saved when a pillar or a wall of stone jutted up out of the arena floor to stand between the two combatants. Caden's apparent skill with manipulating the earth was proving incredibly useful, and by the time the Etherspite Guardian had to break down the seventh pillar or crush through the third wall, frustration was beginning to register on the ancient giant's bearded face.

I will crush you for your insolence. The behemoth announced, his voice even deeper and more imposing now that his ire was raised. He kept pushing forward, despite the stone barriers constantly butting into his path, and since he couldn't seem to retaliate in any meaningful way, Teric was forced to keep giving up ground. The edge of the platform loomed several paces behind him, and the mercenary was saddled with the unfortunate mental image of being pushed over the edge into the molten silver below...

No... The mercenary thought idly, ducking as another swing of the Guardian's soared rushed overhead, the force of its passing creating a gust of wind like a mini-hurricane. It’s too simple. It'll never work.

Etherspite roared, visibly angered now - a sharp contrast to the cool, even downright ice cold demeanor he'd possessed when they'd first entered. As his prey ran out of platform, the monster raised his sword over his head once more and was about to bring it down on the mercenary's head like a rockslide when in the blink of an eye the smaller man was gone. Teric reappeared a dozen paces to the right, well of out harm’s way as the floor beneath the Guardian's feet shot upwards like a catapult, the surface of the manipulated section angled steeply towards the open air above the molten pit.

Had it not been deep enough to pass for a mountain grunting, Teric would have guessed that the giant yelped in surprise as he physically launched into open air and over the edge of the platform. Looking to the center of the battleground, the mercenary found Caden just standing there, wand and rod poised as if he'd simply been waiting for the right moment to send their foe toppling into oblivion. With the knowledge that the wizard was safe, Teric then stepped gingerly to the edge to cast his gaze down into the silver below. There were no ripples to indicate where the giant had fallen, but then again, liquid metal didn't exactly ripple like water when disturbed.

"You know," Teric called to Caden, his tone almost hopeful, "that seemed just a little too easy."