Adrift: Raven's Wail

"I love them as A mother would love her children, I hate them as a jealous love would hate a mate who scorned her, I yearn for pleasure and Satisfaction, bonds forged in the fires of love and the anvil of family where mortals and gods alike might be united in simple unity. I do not scorn, I do not judge, I do not banish nor curse, for I am love unbound, in its most subtle touches to its most raging bonfires fuelled by passion and chemistry."

Saal'Xhir's speech as she fought at the Gate of the All-Mother.

The fog made things hard to see, but he somehow knew the way home. It was a busy night as he dodged people, cars, and dogs. William found it queer how often he would spot specific individuals over and over again but his sister always told him he had too much of a good eye for people... the thought soon left his mind as he got home and was greeted by another weird scene.

His detestable parents hosted an entire family and some friends they had made over the internet from Europe. The friends themselves quickly found places to rent with the help of his mother, but the family somehow stuck around, and things were not right with them. William felt they were not good people for some unknown reason, and as much as he tried to put those ideas out of his head, they kept coming back.

Their daughter, on the other hand, was someone to be outright admired; he was enchanted by her intelligence and sense of ethics backed by strong morals and an earnest wish to help her fellow man that once burned bright within himself but after certain events in his life was smoldered into all but a cinder...shaking his head to banish the coming dark thoughts he crossed over the threshold and entered his home.

Lively laughter roared from the kitchen as William walked towards the stairs. A glance at the scene showed the two couples eating and drinking like best friends. Poking and laughing at each other and generally having one hell of a good time. It was such an odd scene that he lingered on the stairs for a while before their Daughter called him with a whisper at the top of the stairs.

She wanted to say something; he was sure of it.

Late into the summer night, William watched as an ungodly beautiful woman fumed at his monitor. The screen was displaying bold letters saying "game over" as the telltale noise of frustration left her lips with a sigh "Unfair, absolutely unfair design and mechanics that leave no room for player error. And this is after they patched the encounter? madness" she sighed again and did her best impression of the Thinker statue.

William, who was sprawling across his bed looking like a car had hit him, said without much thinking, "Really? out of everything that's happening to us, this is the hill you going to die on? your portrait in a fictional piece of media?" he held out a yawn as the woman turned the chair towards him. Cold blue eyes with a powerful gaze piercing him in a manner that felt like he was being stared down by the barrel of a gun...

"There's no need to stare like that, Lucrezia Jesus," William said as he turned to face the wall, his mind going back to the earlier talk he had with her...and their not-so-civil discussion about their current predicament that followed. He was aware that somehow this entire thing was some dream, or at the very least an illusion meant to halt whatever had tried to kill them.

Not them, Her a voice whispered within his mind as that particular piece of information wormed itself to the forefront once again, while Lucrezia was explaining the details of this realm WIlliam felt the imbalance, he was lesser like a ghost his "parents" and Lucrezia's folk barely spared a glance at him when they went downstairs to confront the "shades" as Lucrezia had taken to calling them.

"You still resent me and yourself for the melding of souls." She kept staring at him with those uncanny eyes."And yet I...we remember the decision being made and our sacrifice to exist as a combined entity, with you as my better half William" she spoke in a slow pace in a way that eerily reminded him of himself whenever he would fall into deeper thinking moods.

The worst part was that he knew it. Deep within whatever passed for a soul in his current state, he had a bit of resentment towards her and himself for doing such a thing. Even after the memories came back, even after agreeing with the godsdamned choice! That amber of betrayal? Anger? Sorrow? Whatever the negative emotion that was plaguing him and turning his mood sour, it refused to let go of him.

He grunted with annoyance at what was a temper tantrum in his mind. Getting up from the bed and sitting on the floor cross-legged William stared at Lucrezia and spoke " Yes, even after everything was revlead once we found ourselves in this...whatever the fuck this place is a part of me is still mad about the whole thing. But do not take this as me giving up. If I gotta, I don't know, turn into mystical ether vapor to get out of this madhouse, I'll do it. "He thought this with genuine conviction for once. It was a comforting feeling.

Lucrezia's face brightened into a smile. "Not an issue we can solve with the hammer. I am afraid we already tested that after all. No, I think the shades hold some information about this mess, and we must confront them again to get it." William scowled. The thought of talking with his parents, even if they were shades, was not something he wanted to do again. Gods, they were the worst!

"Be strong, Will, the worst is yet to come." She got up and extended her slender arm to him. "We have people waiting for us on the other side."

Pain made her close her eyes as the world around her mind and soul twisted and foamed like a bad dream. Ages went by, an eternity and a half of waiting, together with pain that eventually evolved into a numbing hum on the back of her head that made her wonder if this was real. Lucrezia blinked and saw blinding light engulf her as the hum got louder until she found herself lying on the side of the road.

"This...Isn't the capital, nay, this isn't the..." panic shot up from inside as her entire being felt wrong in ways she could not explain to herself, it was as if a huge part that made her the woman she was, the very person she became was simply gone... and now only a husk remained! not gone, she thought to herself as a series of gestures and chants flowed from her arms and hands, mouth, and tongue.

The air vibrated with power, Magic! She could still perform incantations! Yet as she started to chant to perform a specific hybrid spell that was half Divination, Half Necromancy, she felt her reserves drop like a stone, and pain flared all over her ribs and solar plexus as if someone had just punched her! Lucrezia slowed down and adjusted the ritual on the fly to account for her lower mana, annoying but doable, as Kaine had drilled her on such methods.

"That vile woman managed to forge a weapon that severed me and William! Something the All-Father himself had a hand in, no less! Or maybe it was the Entity that corrupted the bow? Questions with no answers, and I lack... Gods, it's like a fog over my mind!" Lucrezia felt panic rise once again, and only through sheer will and no small amount of desperation to get out of the current predicament she found herself in, was able to calm herself down and follow the results of her spell.

Finding William wasn't hard after that, even if she paused when she saw the faces of her parents talking with his parents. The boy had already figured out some of what was happening, and after both had a sit-down, they had come up with exactly no good plans to get out of whatever plane of reality they were in! Lucrezia could not access her reserves of Rage either nor could William call forth the miracles of the Terran God that had him blessed.

"Not just you, Hope and Vivienne are walking about with weapons forged by Them, Vivienne herself became a warrior without parallel, thanks to it," Lucrezia explained, even if William was very much aware of his...Friend? Partner? Lover? Conflicting emotions flowed into him, and he could see that Lucrezia herself was going through the same thing. "Gods, what was that? Why are we..." She paused and sighed.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Whatever split us apart is struggling to keep the body and mind synched with both souls, either that or we are being attacked again," William spoke, rubbing his chin. "This sort of Necromancy isn't something one can break, even if All-Father completed the process the ones who built the damn thing were Ra'Tyrius and his Wife, and since there's no deluge of Terrans within the realm of the All-Father it stands to reason I was the very first and..." William sighed as well, Lucrezia couldn't help but smile at that. It is so easy to get lost in the minutia of things.

"We must talk with the shades again, something there should lead us to..." Lucrezia spoke once again, and William grimaced; both were not on talking terms with their parents when they lived, and these shades were projections of all that was bad, real or otherwise, made manifest in the space they were in. William took a deep breath and rose from the ground he was sitting. "Alright, let's talk with the bastards again."

Lucrezia was fuming, her anger was akin to a thunderous wave crashing upon sand and rock, and finding nothing to smash into tiny pieces. These cretins shades! The gal on them to stonewall her questions! William was sighing as his parents laughed again at some dumb comment made by Lucrezia's mother. "...And then the dumb girl thought she could coat an entire wing of the castle with frost! To cool it down when summer came! Oh, to be naive and young hahaha!" she finished with a horrible laugh.

William was frowning at the stories being shared. "This doesn't seem right, they are missing details that they should know..." he got up and poked the shades one by one and they protested as his arm phased through their forms as if they weren't there "Whatever this is, it has incomplete knowledge from us it seems, are they guardians perhaps? Like that dragon we found when exploring the soul space we shared?"

William stopped talking as his father's shade stared at him. "I can't believe you let her take control, you know, pathetic." Lucrezia and William looked at each other with puzzlement and wondering why the shade saw fit to insult William like that. "I would have you flayed alive and fed to the infernals if this were real, you disgrace of a man! your and your fucking wife nailed to the walls of my castle!" Lucrezia snarled with barely restrained fury.

"And I thought I had anger issues," William made light of the situation and squeezed Lucrezia's shoulder. "Come on, they won't give us anything new but insults, I think. We should..." William stopped as a mighty boom echoed from outside the house, and all four shades stood up like robots, staring at the windows of the kitchen and saying nothing as the street that led to William's house morphed into something...

Something very familiar.

"Those are the grounds of the battle against the first prince!" Lucrezia said as she rushed towards the door, William following her with weary of more shades showing up. Something was happening after god knew how long they had spent in this realm, or whatever the fuck it was. Lucrezia, on the other hand, was in the front yard already trying to see if anyone was coming over.

That was when the sounds of artillery and wails of dying fighters slammed into them like a wall. Lucrezia was fast on the take, and with a grunt of effort, she raised a layered wall of rusted iron and deep blue ice around their house. "Why is my iron rusted? What does it mean?" She saw William try to do the same, but for no apparent reason, he couldn't cast spells now!

"Incoming!" William screamed as the roar of the supply train they had built reached the house. Shells and spells both hitting their defenses and...nothing, nothing happened as the noise came and went, and the "attack" was nothing but smoke and mirrors, a shade of the event that had marked Lucrezia and Williams's souls. This wasn't for them, it seemed; someone or something was trying to reach them, and whatever mechanisms were in charge of protecting them were put into action.

Their parents' shades walked into the yard. "Enemies at last," they all spoke together, "Protect the CORE!" and then they were gone.

Kallista paced about at the large gathering around her person. It had been years since she last went to the golden city of the gods, and now she had quite a few mortals with her. A curious sight to anyone who was near the group as the Dragoness rubbed her temples in annoyance, "All-Mother grant me patience in this most dire of situations, for if you grant me strength I will not be liable for my actions..."

Said mortals were gawking at the sight, except Hope, who had already seen most of this particular section they were in. The grand courthouse of the Gods, where the divine children of the All-Father and All-Mother were judged. Richard himself was at a loss for words when they arrived at the doors. "This can't be good," he said in a hushed and worried tone to Vivienne, who held his hand.

"Have faith, Hope would not abandon us, nor would Kallista and Lucrezia's Gods." She squeezed his hand in support as Kaine and Kaede whispered to one another before the Chronomancer coughed to get everyone's attention. Arthur and Hope stopped talking, and Saa'ryu stared at him with questions written all over her face. "Ahem, everyone, gather around if you would."

Kallista looked at him and nodded "It's going to take more time than it was planned, might as well start now before we die of boredom" The crew could see boredom was not the emotion the Dragoness was feeling at the moment, as she kept pacing around and muttering curses at no one and everyone "Kaine, let the others hear what your Goddess told you and Hopefully by the end of it we will be granted an audience" she nearly spat on the ground.

"Listen up, Gwennarius spoke of this to me." Kaine waved his hand in front of them as an illusion made itself manifest. "Whatever's inside Lucrezia's soul is not for mortal eyes to see or hear, not even the Gods that blessed her were aware of it until now. Currently, they are arguing in letting us in hence why Kallista is unhappy" The Dragoness snorted "I don't need to spell it out to you what lurks there, given the weapons both Vivienne and Hope are carrying, and the beings we witness when we first fought Malphas" Kaine sighed at the memory.

That thing was something else, power so strong he still felt chills when he replayed the images from his mind.

"Whatever is tucked away there, deep inside her soul, was enough to spook me when I chanced a look the first time I met her," Arthur spoke with a shy smile. "I believe we will both need to work overtime to get there, Kaine." Arthur closed his fist as Hope piped up, "Not just you, we all will need to be involved from what I am hearing, right, Kaine?" He nodded at her question.

"Not just you," A voice from up above spoke, and everyone looked up. A blood red raven flew towards them and landed, before transforming into a veiled woman. "We shall be there as well, the powers that lurk inside poor Lucrezia will not be kind to outside forces, and so we shall join you in the fight that is to come, the girl deserves as much for everything she has done." Velkarius's words burned with the cold fire of conviction.

"We all have our secrets and darkness inside of us, and today I will repay Lucrezia's work for helping me fight mine," Vivienne spoke, and the Goddess nodded.

Wynnur stared at a host of Divines and All-Father's amused face, All-Mother, on the other hand, was looking nonplussed with the whole thing as the young Goddess confessed to her plots. Even her husband, known for being an ice block under any sort of pressure, was starting to cast weary glances towards his Mother. More and more, the Gods and Goddesses around them spoke out of turn, outrage building together with some measure of pride in her madcap plan.

The other Divines who represented Lucrezia were also there, mostly quiet as the pieces fell for them and the plot Wynnur had spun them into without their consent snapped into place. Not just them, the representative from a particular cornered-off section of the universe watched the entire thing from an elevated platform behind All-Father's seat. The rings of its non-Euclidean body interlocked with each other as purple fire burned through ghostly eyes, and a low hum echoed around it.

It smiled at Wynnur, she saw the thing's form twist in delight as it spoke, "Ages banished for a simple mistake, and now our blood is so coveted it made itself second to the strongest of your mortals? My my, the gifts sent here were worth the expensive costs! And Terra appreciates the peace talks with the old enemy, Lord Faal. Is it safe to assume we will once again be allowed on the greater stage?" The being asked and silence befell the place.

"In due time," All-Father waved his hand. "First, we must properly discuss how to save our fulcrum from the mess she got herself into. Making sure both the mortals who will be going in and the Divines in charge of helping them are aware and in the known about what they will find in that realm..." All-Father Faal went on about the proper ways to mitigate the unwanted spread of the knowledge before the Terran representative spoke again.

"They don't know? Goodness!" It exclaimed, "Enough power coming from Terra to make sure even the most dim-witted Divine you have at the border, and you managed to keep things under wraps? Call me impressed, Faal! But you should have told them sooner; now I believe the damage is already done." It made no more comments as the Deities around the place spoke before being silenced by All-Mother's hand.

As the talks went on, feelings and passions made way for cold logic and reason. Lucrezia's Divines would aid her friends in breaching her inner soul and mend whatever had happened there. Wynnur would pay tithes to All-Father for breaking the rules, but given the new partnerships with the Terran deities, those tithes ended up being but a blip on her Sphere of power.

"We faced the music, now to save Lucrezia." Ra'Tyrius held her hand with a smile. "She deserves it, more than anyone else."