Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Batimos, the gods of rot, disease and everything profane, what else can you expect from a deity that rolls around in the much? He swallows his children, makes them pray to him in his belly, and when their use runs dry, he throws them away and replaces them in an instant. The children of those children know no life other than to serve their master, for they know no green pastures or the eternal bounty of life. Suffering is their creed, one they cannot deny, one that is their destiny for their god wouldn't allow for anything else.

And when the heroes came face to face with the chosen of such a god, the nameless queen of rot sitting on her throne, it took no more than a second for them to know that she had to be killed.

"S-something's wrong…" Whispered Mercedes, her voice tainted with fear for once ever since they'd entered the castle. "I don't think the queen, s-she–"

Before her sentence was finished, the queen screeched out loud and the clatter of broken glass, pierced through their eardrums. Every word that she spoke while everyone else covered their ears, was more piercing than the last, and the lack of cohesion in her words only pointed to one thing.

"I DON'T THINK THAT'S THE QUEEN ANYMORE!" As soon as she saw a window of opportunity to speak, Mercedes yelled at the top of her lungs before turning around and trying to escape. However, quickly being noticed by Regalia, she was tripped by her feet, shoved in front of her legs. "AHGHH! WHA-FUCK! AUGHHH!"

Her hands tied to the back, Mercedes fell face first against the tiles, making her whole jaw ring with pain. But ignoring her for now, Raven took charge of the situation and had his party quickly spread behind him to cover the hall as he cautiously moved closer to the queen.

The translation device on their necks had already fallen off, but with magic imbued in them forever, the party could still make some sense out of that screeching coming out of the queen's mouth.

"What the hell is happening here, in this city?" Raven asked and the queen began grinding her teeth as if trying to turn them into powder. The sound of glass echoed sharply through her mouth and although everyone was forced to cover their ears again, this time they heard a distant whimper amidst the screech.

"K-illmeee…" Raven's eyes widened as he made out those words, nobody could truly believe what they'd heard. If anything they began to question the device's effectiveness, but then with yet another screech the queen said the same exact words. "K-ILLMEEE!"

Louder than the last time, her voice was even sharper, but what was more shocking was the dark tears trailing down her glassy eyes. But then as she abruptly tried to get up shards of glass pierced through her body and stabbed her through her palms and feet to remain seated on that throne of hers.

"What the hell is happening?!" Aria yelled, and the others voiced their concerns right after. Continue reading on empire

"Should we just kill her?!" Mel added, unsure whether to direct her arrows to the queen or not.

"I sense something divine affecting her but why is she corrupted then?!" Erika was even more uncertain as the power of the divine was coursing through her.

"AGHH, FUCK LETS JUST KILL HER WHILE SHE'S BOUND!" Regalia on the other hand was ready to grant the queen's wish.

"Y-yeah, I like that idea actually…" It didn't take much for Mercedes to finally agree with the wolf girl on something

"Raven…remember no mercy for they–"

"I know!" Interrupting Amedith, Raven began moving closer to the queen with his hand stretched forward. Hoping to draw out the corruption through her body, he wanted to at least see a glimpse of the woman behind that perverse power, however, only halfway up the steps, he felt someone tugging on his shoulder.

"Wait…" It was Maria, her eyes were glimmering with pity–but as Raven looked deeper into her, he realized that those tears weren't for the queen but for herself. Maria saw her own past reflected in the queen's words. Kill me…those words were far too familiar for her as she too had tried to kill herself. "L-let me try something first, okay? I'm gonna need your help though…"

"What is it?" Raven asked, but closing her eyes, Maria gathered some courage before opening them again and giving him a look that begged him to put his trust in her.

Although heavily reluctant, Raven nodded back, and in the very moment he was climbing the steps with Maria pulling him by the hand. The only two things she had requested of him were his support and that ring Elana–the djinn queen had left behind. Suffering serving a kingdom that she would've preferred to be abandoned, the djinn was bound to free this woman from her suffering as well, but was that wish worth the price? Was there a better way to spend such an irreplaceable item? Surely there was, but neither Maria nor Elana could simply go on living after seeing someone suffering as they have and not a single thing to help them.

"You sure about this Maria, that ring it–"

"I know it's valuable…" Interjecting as Raven stood on the side of the throne and struggled to contain the corrupted beast inside, Maria couldn't get her eyes off of the tears still trailing down the woman's cheeks. "But if my soul is truly lost and I can't find it down there, then I at least want to help someone else keep theirs before it's gone, consumed by some monster as well."

Lifting her head, she smiled weakly at Raven–however unsure that he was about her action, the mage set it all aside, for there was truth sprinkled through her words, and with no promise of her soul ever being back, he didn't want to take away this opportunity at salvation from her.

"I'll trust you to do the right thing then…" He responded, even though deep in his heart–doing the right thing wasn't something he was interested in. Yet, the moment her smile brightened just a little, all doubts in his mind were washed away and through the help of the ring, the entire room was flooded with a shimmering cloud of violet winds.

Elana was here, and it was time to make the wish.