Adrift: Raven's Wail

"Once I fought for the firstborn of the All-Father, yes, and I've paid dearly for my betrayal. However, I will not say it was for personal gain or a privileged position at the head of His pantheon as a concubine, as some have implied. It was about all else loyalty, I was loyal to what Augurious stood for and to Him, and that is the message I and my Flock will always preach, Loyalty to your loved ones, and when they do lose their way and you are forced to keep that loyalty, know that I will be there, for no one was there for Me."

Saal'Xhir's memories, non-redacted version.

Richard stood alone in what had to be some private room or quarters of a wealthy individual. But not too rich, as he could pick up wear and tear around the room and its shelves, wardrobe, decently sized table, and bedframe. The cloth and curtains also showed signs of age, but everything was clean, free of dust, and without the usual smells that a neglected place usually had. On that, he was a bit of an expert, thanks to his mother drilling him on housekeeping.

Yet this place felt eerily familiar, almost as if whoever lived here wanted to show this to him. At the center of the table was some device that Richard could hear whirling into life. He was mesmerized by the colors and soft purring noise coming out of the tower next to it, for it had not a whiff of magic, and he made sure to check by using the spells Kaine had taught him.

The entire place, and this fascinating machine, was purely mechanical, a wonder of technology!

There was movement to his right. Richard whirled into a defensive stance and cursed loudly as he noticed he lacked any sort of weapon, bar his life-affirming fists. A gust of wind made him lose focus for a split second, and then he saw it, sitting in front of the device, wearing plain clothes and with a sad smile on its face, was the Commander shade! Yet this was not the grown man he and his peers had waged a bloody battle against.

"Just a kid," Richard spoke in disbelief before the words of Vivienne echoed in his mind, of her private battles. "Vivienne's apparition," he saw the shade turn the chair to face him; somehow, the seat of the chair rotated in place, and he was caught in the novelty of the act for a second before getting ready for more hostilities. If this were some sort of entity from beyond that feasted on souls or the mind, Richard would be in a tight spot to defend himself.

"I'd prefer Adolescent, but I don't think it applies anymore," the shade spoke with a weird accent. The words flowed wrong, but somehow Richard still understood them. "There's much I want, or better should be telling you, but I am afraid our time here will be brief; I am but a shade of the real thing after all." Another sad smile made Richard stop his hand as his mind tried to interpret the whole encounter.

There was something familiar in the shade, the way it spoke and glanced around. Even its body language and the realization that was dawning on Richard made him feel incredibly conflicted. "Speak, I know you have questions," The shade demanded, and it clicked at last. It was Lucrezia's body language, her speech patterns, and even the intensity of the stare the shade had in its eyes when it focused on Richard.

"Are you something harmful? an entity from the cosmos, or some sort of parasitic entity I am not aware of?" If his time was indeed short, Richard would ask what was burning a hole in his mind.

The shade spoke, "No, not harmful, at least not with the intent of harming the one you love." he smiled. "I am...a structured response to a particular set of protocols, so to say, never meant to be actually used and hastily put in a position I did not want to." he waved his hand "Ask Castra to explain it better when you meet her, she will understand what I mean by it, as will Kaine" The shade sighed.

"Our time is up. Once you reach the truth, I ask you to keep an... Open your mind and heart to it; it will not be something easy to digest, but you, of all people, should be the one to take the first step towards it. Until later, Richard Silverbrand," and then he was gone, everything was gone as well, and he found himself together with the others. A few were in shock, and others were crying, then Hope appeared from thin air.

Kaine hailed him and spoke to Hope, only for darkness to assault them again.

"The Shades are gone, the entire street is also covered in fog," Lucrezia's voice rang in his ear as William played the game that started this entire thing off. A pure physical build meant to deal huge chunks of damage with comically oversized weapons. "I can sense you are getting anxious, the keyboard strokes are getting louder by the minute, and that is no hard encounter you are doing." She sighed, "I don't think you should be that worried, they won't hate you, and you aren't some soul-sucking parasite from another plane of existence, really, William, you worry too much."

Lucrezia was right, not only that he was the one who was "sacrificed" for this anyway, by all metrics and from what he knew of the character of his friends they would see that clear as day, Hell he didn't doubt they would even try to strike at Wynnur and Ra'Tyrius over the whole thing as there would be no real way to shield the two Divines from the act they committed now.

Kaine alone would put two and two together, never mind the rest who were just as smart... "You don't think Richard will get mad over the fact he...you know, had relations with what 30 percent of a man's soul?" William spoke out of nowhere, "Then again, you, or the combination of us that became Lucrezia, had their time together with..." He shook his head and twisted the chair to face Lucrezia.

"He did refuse poor Arthur's suggestion that time, didn't he?" Lucrezia smiled at the memory, "I wouldn't worry, our Richard is a smart man." The tinge of sadness was evident in her tone of voice and eyes. William knew she missed the world of the living, but something was bothering him when he looked at Lucrezia. He stared into her eyes for a solid minute before it clicked inside his mind, or whatever passed for a mind in this realm.

"I will miss you, you are my better half," Lucrezia said as her form became more solid. "I can sense them now, walking towards the house."

"One more of these sudden blackouts and I will start lobbing powerful magic around," Hope spoke as she spat on the weirdly paved ground around her. These shifts into what had to be deeper into Lucrezia's soul were grating on her nerves already, and she was ready to punch someone in the face for it. And by the look she was getting from Kaine and Richard, it would be multiple someone, maybe a few gods even.

"You are telling me that the young boy is somehow a part of Lucrezia? No, that can't be right, I would've spotted it, hells, even Arthur would've spotted such a unique soul way earlier." Castra-Cam was discussing with the others as Richard finished retelling his encounter with the Shade. Out of everyone, Vivienne and Saa'ryu were the only ones who had longer conversations with it, and the two women were as shaken as before.

Vivienne, in particular, was struggling to explain how much the Shade knew about her and her woes in ways not even Lucrezia herself was privy to. Saa'ryu, on the other hand, met an apologetic version of the shade, and while she posed similar questions as Richard's, wondering if it was some sort of parasitic entity, it was quick to clear that up and move on, speaking at length over some sort of grand lie.

"It is not hard to put two and two together, then," Said Kallista in her human form as her scales brimmed with power "Evidence of Divine meddling can also be expected due to who got the most out of her sudden rise to power" the Dragoness stalked around the group trying to make sense of the new place they found themselves in "This is Divine-Made I am sure of it, earlier I couldn't tell but now it's plain as day" Kallista narrowed her eyes at the road ahead, fog clouding most of it.

"In short, someone, or a group of someones, dragged that entity here and grafted it to Lucrezia's soul. Saa'ryu, you would be the one best to notice any drastic changes in the woman," Kaine asked the maid, whose face went pale. "By that reaction, you have a clear date and specific moment, I am willing to wager. Interesting, and by what the others have said, this entity isn't malicious and was likely used as a defensive measure by whoever placed it here." Kaine pointed to Hope. "Yet your encounter makes no sense; the haughtiness of the shade you described does not fit this entity. What could that mean?" he stared at Castra and Arthur, waiting to see if they had any theories.

It was Saa'ryu who spoke first.

"Lady Lucrezia used to act like that; she had a mean streak in her as a show of confidence." The maid's voice was low as a whisper as she spoke. "It all vanished, at the time I was more than glad, and we were facing the liberation of the north soon after..." Silence fell like a wet blanket around the group."Leading all the efforts in espionage and assassination in a ducal revolt made ignoring these signs conveniently easy." Saa'ryu was quiet after that, but Hope could sense the woman had more to say.

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"You prefer this version of her?" Hope spoke, and the Maid balled her fists and sucked in air through her nose. "...Gods forgive me, I do, Lucrezia was going down a bad path and no one would've lifted a finger to save her, even if it's not her anymore."

Castra-Cam piped up, "That doesn't seem to be the case; this entity is the weaker half from what I've been able to sense, and I have more news." She pointed to the fog. "A few of my spells are telling me we will find answers by crossing this fog." The Catkin undead made a gesture for the rest to follow her, and they did so, walking towards the fog, which made a few of them tense, but as soon as the mysterious thing engulfed them, they knew it was harmless.

Minutes dragged on into hours until the group reached a weirdly looking dwelling, alone and shining a pale light that bespoke some magic. Hope felt the hairs on her arms rise as she stared down the building. This was it, she felt it, it would end, finally, be it via words or fire.

"To me," She spoke, and the group formed into formation, as Hope reached for the door and opened it, finding herself inside a weirdly looking home. Shoes by the door entrance and a stair leading to a second floor, the group fanned out as she made her way inside and heard a voice coming from further in. "It's not that clean. This is a lived-in place," Arthur spoke from her left as he stared at what looked like a living room.

"Weird panel of glass there," Vivienne pointed to the apparatus. "And plastic?" In less than a few heartbeats, she was already touching it and staring at the other items inside the strange living room. Some of it she could figure out with ease, places to sit and relax and shelves for pictures and such, but other stuff like the weird sockets lodged at the lower part of the walls or the smell of electricity behind the walls...

Hope then felt a chill as she twisted her head to look at Kaine and Richard, both men were looking at the room with frowns on their faces. But it was Saa'ryu's face that had the most expressive reaction to this otherwise alien room. Panic flashed mixed with rage and sheer disbelief as she bolted towards one of the tables and grabbed something from there. The others stopped and stared at the strange scene, Kallista being the first to ask what the hell was happening to the maid.

The maid did not answer and that made the dragoness look at her with a tinge of anger "Castra, Kaine run through every godsdamned soul-searching spell you two have now!" she barked the order with gusto as Kaine already began chanting together with Kaede, Castra looked at the maid for a solid second before doing the same and for a minute that felt like an hour the room was silent, everyone watching the mages perform their spells.

A male voice boomed from the corridor, "Dear Saa, there will be no need for that! Please cease your histrionics and meet us at the kitchen post-haste." The Maid's eyes bulged forward like a fish out of water. She immediately grabbed her daggers and sucked in air through her nose. "Gods be good!" she spoke, and a few of the others had similar reactions. Hope looked at Arthur, who had a look of terror on his face. He knew who that was!

"That's the Old Duke of Wulfgrem, Lucrezia's Father." Arthur's face was pale when he spoke it, and the entire group froze up as a result.

Saa'ryu took point as the group moved towards the other room, entering a very expensive kitchen with a huge table in the middle of it. Chairs that looked oddly made out of metal were spread around the table as Lucrezia's mother and father stared at the group with smirks on their faces. "Quite the crew, my unhonorable daughter managed to round it up! Look at it! Friends with the THIRD Prince, no less! And the SON of the Arch-Mage of the Kingdom!" his voice was laced with mockery and venom.

Lucrezia's mother spoke, "And she didn't even need to fuck most of them, to think my whore of a daughter still had in her to be charismatic! Look at that, my friends, that one is the Dragon in charge of the biggest horde inside our Kingdom! Of dragon folk, that is. We had other hordes as well, unwashed peasants, for example." She nodded towards Kaede and Richard. Kaine raised his staff, but Castra-cam halted his attack. "These are not real, they aren't even souls, unlike the shade," she paced around before halting in place.

Another couple manifested itself upon the chairs, sitting across the Old Duke and Duchess. These two looked human, but something was deeply wrong with the way they moved and fidgeted in their chairs. They were shades like the others, but their form was twisted, and every odd second or so, they would twist again. "Friends of the bastard, it seems!" the shade that looked like a middle-aged woman spoke with a hiss, unnatural and low.

The other shade slammed his fist upon the table. "Good for nothing son of mine can't even befriend a proper royal like that prince they killed! Now that's a true blue blood if I've ever seen one hahaha!" Saa'ryu stared at the shade as she gasped, hearing movement to her left. She saw Vivienne march up to the thing with fire in her eyes. "Lucky that you are but a construct of arcane magic, Shade, otherwise I would have you nailed to the walls of my castle!" Her nostrils flared in rage and fury.

It was Kallista of all people who controlled the situation "These things are meant to make us unstable, they are protecting something deeper into this house" She glanced towards Castra-Cam and Arthur who both nodded, the prince speaking up with a calm voice "Indeed, this entire thing is an elaborate construct meant as a last-ditch defense from what I can sense with my spells, I am sure the rest would agree with me here." he pointed to Lucrezia's parents who remained silent "They do not deny it"

Lucrezia's mom nodded, a cruel smirk on her face as the shade spoke with a cold voice, "And the truth you will find up those stairs will be enough to break this little game!" The crew stared at the shades in silence, waiting for something else to be spilled by their hateful visage. Yet all was quiet, and eventually, Hope gestured for a retreat into the corridor that led towards the stairs.

"Castra, why are these protective measures so acerbic? I've read about man-made ghosts before, but this is a bit much, isn't it?" Hope asked her friend, who had a frown deep in her face. Castra started to tap the walls of the corridor for a few seconds before sliding her hand on the rails. "See how this is solid, clearly taken from old memories that are not fond of whoever lived in this place? This entire thing was built off these..." She hesitated and looked at Arthur, who also looked like he had swallowed something sour.

"Whoever, or whatever, is in here together with Lucrezia's soul is the very foundation of this entire space, the entire soul realm we have been walking on was built on it, and Lucrezia's influences took over as if it was meant to do just that. Yet whatever sorcery it was used failed, and both aspects had to be melded together by something truly powerful, and I am pretty sure only a select few entities we know of would be capable of doing this." Arthur spoke slowly as everyone connected the dots.

"Gods be good, man. Do you believe Lucrezia would bind another's soul to her as some sort of necromantic ritual to avoid death? Like an elaborate lich ritual? That is not possible! Very few even know" Richard spoke before being sushed by Castra "It was not her, this is the realm of the Gods, specific Gods who would be able to do it and avoid censure from my own Deity and the All-Father, yet the All-Father himself is involved in this for using a soul as a foundation to another is within his realm of power! Calm your heart, friend, for Lucrezia is not guilty of anything nefarious." Castra finished, and the group took a sigh of relief before Vivienne spoke.

"Nor was the other soul." The young woman took a tentative step towards the ladder, and the rest followed as the noise of something akin to music played upwards. And grunting as if some sort of combat was happening, yet the sound was distorted and fake somehow. Vivienne led the group upwards as they reached another corridor flanked by three doors, two of them closed, and the one at the end of it opened a bit, light and noise coming out of the room.

"More shades?" Kaede asked from the back. The fox-kin was mostly quiet, but the entire thing was starting to unnerve her; this was something of utmost privacy to Lucrezia. And she wasn't sure how to feel breaching such a place. Kaine felt her discomfort and squeezed her hand. Together, she thought to herself as Vivienne opened the door, we will face this together, and she hoped Lucrezia would not mind her being there when that happened.

Vivienne watched as a boy, barely 16 years of age, sat facing a smaller screen compared to the one down on the first floor. To his side was someone she knew very well, as her ashen gray hair bobbed around. Lucrezia's voice had a harsher edge to it as she watched over the boy. " Can you stop overcommitting to attacks like that? Look at you getting hit by the most basic of punishers! Ugh, I miss when I wasn't this aware," she raised herself from his side, both sat upon the ground of the room.

"Look sharp, William, it's time to finally face the music." Vivienne couldn't believe her ears. This was not the Lucrezia she loved; there was a mean streak to this woman and a fierceness in her eyes that wasn't there before! But before she could say anything, the Maid rushed past everyone. Saa'ryu stared at Lucrezia for an entire minute in silence before the woman poked her on the nose." If there was anyone who would notice it was going to be you, Kneel." There was a warmth to the command that spoke of something only the two would be aware of.

Vivienne watched as the boy stopped Saa'ryu from kneeling. "Please, there's no need for this, Saa, raise your head." Vivienne was again taken aback, for the face and the way this boy spoke were...

Lucrezia laughed "I won the bet, by the way" to witch the boy replied "We didn't agree to any betting, now stop the show if you would. They came here to save..." he fidgeted around before Lucrezia snorted "Us, no need to be bashful now, Castra already cracked the code anyway, you heard her speaking" Lucrezia spoke in a way as if completing the boy's thoughts. That's when it clicked for Vivienne.

"It was you, in my dreams, when I fought against that evil. And when we faced the shades!" she pointed at him. Saa'ryu walked towards Lucrezia. "It's been two years, Lady Wulfgren. I had hoped I would never see that smirk on your fair face ever again." She kneeled for a second before raising again. "Entity, you speak my name as if we are long aquainted, in your voice I hear honesty and love and yet I do not know you, nor your name and where are you from, but the most important question here is: do you mean Lady Wulfgren, or the world in which we find ourselves in any harm" Saa'ryu spoke with eerie calm as the group focused on the boy.

"Never, for I am a part of this world and I love it in all its imperfections and wonders." he bowed. "I had a name once when I was yet whole, but that has long since passed." He smiled at the group before Lucrezia stepped in, facing Saa'ryu and blocking him from her. "His name is William, and woe will befall anyone who dares harm him in my presence, yes, even you, Richard, my beloved, and yes, we will explain everything, it's complicated, and I'm getting tired of this, whatever the hell this is anyway." Lucrezia snapped her fingers, and cushions appeared.

"Please, get yourselves comfortable, this is anything but a small tale after all," she smirked again, ready to spill it all