Wrath Reincarnated

PATIENCE

"Greed—GREED!!! You traitorous motherfu—"

« Silence » [Patience]

Patience put a finger up to Lust's lips and hushed her. Insolent little child! You'll ruin the plans I've been quietly laying for the better half of a decade. No one is to EVER know his name outside of this room.

"That is not my name." Jafar looked up at the ceiling in defeat—utter defeat. "Not anymore."

"Well, Jafar. You lost. Bark, bark. Woof woof." The sound of shattering glass echoed in the room. How!?

"You'd betray your own kind!?" Lust shouted. I could swear you've just grown fangs. Time to rip out that tongue of yours.

"What do you know of my kind, Raventree?" Jafar demanded. With no time to allow them their lovely little union, Patience grabbed Lust's face by the cheeks and manually ripped out her tongue. For good measure, I better add a spell to prevent you from Regenerating.

« Decay » [Patience]

"Pat!" Jafar shouted. Patience looked up at the ceiling, then cracked his neck. A messenger ran to the door, but halted when he saw the scene. Better resolve this quickly.

"It appears Lust is stronger than we thought," Patience said. The Maiden messenger seemed slightly at ease. "Somehow the Sins are able to bypass the Bounty Hunters' chains' Script restriction. But without a tongue, we shouldn't worry. Now speak, and be quick." The man took a knee, put his hand on his heart, and looked to the ground.

Fuck.

"Her Holiness The Iron Maiden has returned to Sylvan Hollow. She will arrive shortly." Time is always of the essence, Charlotte.

"Thank you. Take your leave." The messenger darted off. He wouldn't dare stick around to linger in Her presence, so I should be able to speak freely for a moment.

"Listen to me very carefully, each of you," Patience commanded of Jafar and Lust. "If you want to kill This Bitch even more than I do, then set your differences aside and play along, play nice, because today is not the day She dies. None of us will enjoy what's about to unfold."

Jafar winced, and Lust's eyes twitched, but they remained silent. Good, you got the message. The room grew cool, then cold, then freezing, then completely unbearable. Patience closed his eyes, and tapped into his rage and wrath to warm himself up from the inside out. Everything is possible when you put your mind to it. He thought of the flaming landscape of Hell; of its constant inferno and torment. It warmed his heart, and thus his body, as he trusted Hell would soon become The Iron Maiden's new home. Just a few more days.

Veins of ice splintered across the floor; icicles, from the ceiling. Chains dragged on the ground as they drew nearer—and She turned the corner. All three of them glared at Her. Patience took Her features in quickly, but then he had to avert his eyes, less they pop out of his head.

She wore modest and plain commoner clothes of a sun-bleached, faint green. Her cap fit like a hood. It was outlined in a dark brown cloth with iron spikes sticking out. She wore dozens of iron-link chains all around Her body and clothing. Shackles tied tightly around Her wrists and ankles, with spikes on the interior side that left behind a pool of blood where the long chains dragged, chains that also bore Her eponymous spikes. A single scar stretched below Her right eye down to Her chin. It festered and refused to heal. Strands of long black hair snuck past Her hood's barbs. Icy blue eyes moved across and studied them, one by one. The icicles that formed all around sprouted their own barbs and spikes; for a moment, Patience thought they were all done for—but the oppressive ice queen lifted Her spell, and life-sustaining heat returned to the room once more. Her gaze rested on Patience, and he finally dared to look Her in the eyes. She looked much too young to be only in Her third decade of life.

"Wrath?"

Let the lashing begin. "Shinsora was prepared for our arrival. I sent out a Hunter for Wrath while I personally escorted Lust back to Sylvan Hollow."

"Musashi." Her eyes rested on Jafar. You better still be wearing that fucking glove Vessel of yours, Desert Mouse. "Assuming you are the Hunter, why have you arrived empty handed?"

"Fucking Space Rune." Jafar spat to his side, in the complete opposite direction of The Iron Maiden.

"Why have you hired someone I do not know and trust, Spider?" Hold your tongue, Pat. Wait for the lashing. "I must say I am impressed you managed to find someone more incompetent than yourself, however. For that, I commend you." There it is, you wingless bat.

"This is the Desert Mouse, of Verdant infamy. I assure you, despite the outcome, he was the best man for—"

"And you—Sin." The Iron Maiden approached Lust. Patience got out of her way, though Jafar didn't budge. "What information will you give me today?" The Iron Maiden ran a bare hand down the length of the barbed chain attached to a shackle around Her wrist. Blood traced down Her soft skin, and the wounds healed almost immediately. "Perhaps your Familiar has your tongue?" Distract Her.

"What is Her Holiness' new plan?" Patience asked. The Iron Maiden dropped Her chains to the floor with a resounding clink.

"I'm sure you missed my presence here for the past few days, Spider." Yes. You haven't left Sylvan Hollow in over a decade. "The Luminous Chasm is quite illuminating, dear Pat." Fuck. So You finally unraveled that Prophecy. Must have had to attend to it personally, I'd wager. "We are now free to harness the Sins' powers."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Good to see Jafar is holding his ground. Lust quivers like a child in the dark—fitting, actually. But does this really stop at the Sins? Surely You are after my kind as well. For the first time, She acknowledged the guard that Jafar had knocked into the room before bursting in earlier. She knelt down to him and took his pulse, which stirred him awake. Groggy eyes widened immediately at Her sight, and he gasped, then tried to claw away. Her chains enwrapped him immediately like tendrils of some Dark magic. They ratcheted down and drew out both his life and blood. Instead of leaking down the chains, the blood flowed upward, against gravity, back into Her. The man's skin turned gray and dry. His eyes nearly popped from his skull, until they too withered down, as lifeless as the rest of him.

They blood and life force all convened into the black amulet around Her neck and disappeared.

"Count yourself lucky, Pat of the Dunes," She taunted. "I needed but one more soul for my work."

Patience watched frozen, horrified. He'd never seen Her create a Black Sacrament cell before; he'd only sensed it, and from far away at that. If he wasn't so terrified, he'd have called Her some cunning curse—in his mind, of course—but all he could do was stare. I will not survive that, when it comes my time. Wrath—Jules. You must open your Seal soon.

JAFAR, AKA GREED

Jafar watched the guard wither away as his life blood fled to his nemesis' black medallion. Hmm. Pretty sure I'd survive that.

"Are you working with the Elementalists?" Jafar asked. The Iron Maiden turned to him with curious eyes, as if She wondered how someone could be so bold.

"Is that a problem?" This Bitch.

Jafar crossed his arms as an answer. It's been a long time, and you've all but forgotten me. He twisted his left wrist into his elbow, to make sure his glove Vessel, Masrur, covered his Seal. But I'll never forget You. Not even after You're in the ground.

The Iron Maiden rose without blinking or breaking eye contact. Her metal chains grated and scratched against the ground. Jafar slowed his heartbeat as best he could as stress and trauma from years of torture at this pious woman's behest flooded his memories and flesh.

Don't wince. Don't blink. There's time for that later, after this encounter. Preserve your identity at all costs. Searing pain returned to his flesh, from now over a decade past. He was flayed, he was lashed, he was experimented on. His eyes bubbled out of his head; his eardrums ruptured over and over again from needles and thunderous sounds—a curse of his Regeneration having leveled so much. Her eyes looked him up and down, and again he was undressed and doused in scalding water, then thrown onto an open pyre to fuel some building's furnace in the winter.

All of it returned to him at once, that and even worse. He thought about her, and how she'd had to endure it all in her mind, alone, without him—and that's what caused him to finally wince. The Iron Maiden smiled at him.

"A Nomad Hunter is certainly a first. The Desert Mouse… I have heard of you."

How do I kill Her? Can I even do it now?

I couldn't defeat that mortal twat over there, so there's not way I can face an Alter, let alone one who's probably already surpassed my own master. She stepped closer to him. I have that Summon Rune—I could summon him here, now, and we finish Her together. Pat would join in. But could we win?

"Never known a Nomad to wear gloves before." Shit.

"It's a Vessel," Jafar snapped. A third eye on Her forehead opened up, and its radiating light blinded them all. Jafar raised both hands to shield his eye, and the light faded out, and the eye shut. A thin line receded into Her skin, and any remainder of it disappeared entirely. "What the hell was that about?"

"Careful with you words!"

Her voice fused with dozens more when She spoke, and they echoed and reverberated in the small room. They stood there in silence, and Her voice returned to Her normal speech. "Forgive me. I had to inspect something."

Ah. That third eye of yours tried to find my Seal. Luckily my Vessel keeps it hidden from all prying eyes.

Jafar.

The Desert Mouse froze. He hadn't spoken to his master in a long, long time. His voice sounded older—or at least his thoughts did.

Been a while, Old Man.

Wrath is in Riftwatch Outpost.

The Nomad disappeared from Jafar's mind. I could summon them all. Two more Sins and that brat. Would that be enough?

"If you'd like to intervene, please make haste."

Jafar growled at Her. Can't be reading my mind… What is She up to? Oh, that's right.

"Long as I don't have to fight next to Elementalists, I'm good. But if I see one…"

"I am acquainted with the old ways. Surely you are acquainted with court martial?"

"The old ways take precedent over my life." But perhaps not in the short term. I don't know if I can get them all here. If it'd be accurate, or if I could even pull them all at once; plus I'd be weak.

"Well, I am afraid you cannot be permitted to see what comes next." Chains rose from the ground and hovered for a moment. But if I can't bring the fight to you…

"I thought You only punished those who failed?" Jafar glanced at Patience with a smug grin. "I don't have Wrath, true. But I know where he is—"

The chains launched for him—and of all the people to deflect them away, Jafar least expected Patience, whose rapier Vessel lit up gold when he struck the barbed wires away.

"Do not harm my subordinates for my failure, Your Holiness." Holy fuck. Patience even got down on one knee for me. Ha! Begging like a dog for mercy. Still, he kept up the facade.

"Riftwatch Outpost," Jafar said. The Iron Maiden inclined Her head and stared down Her nose at both of them.

"We head there next. With her."

I'm sorry, Lust. There's just no other way out of this right now.

LUST

Everyone stared at Sera. She couldn't curse them without a tongue, so she had to transfer as much emotion through her eyes at them as possible. She could vomit from the disgust she felt of being anywhere near their vicinity. There was no one she could trust; there was no one who would come save her. Whatever The Iron Maiden wanted from her, She'd have soon enough.

« Heal » [Her Holiness The Iron Maiden]

Instantaneously, faster than her Regeneration ever had, Sera's wounds patched up and returned her to normal—even her Ryoku pool filled back up. She gasped from the sudden relief, and almost wished for the pain to return to her. Fucking Bitch is the one to save me—I can't believe this. I won't allow it!

"I want you at full strength for what's to come." The Iron Maiden bent down to her; Her chains clinked on their descent. "Any last words, Sinner?"

Greed. Greed! She opened her mouth—to curse him, to damn him, to seek vengeance. Behind The Maiden, Patience waved a hand, and Sera's teeth forced down on her newly formed tongue. The Iron Maiden gripped her cheeks in an instant and nearly crushed her bones, but prevented her tongue from separating.

« Silence » [Her Holiness The Iron Maiden]

"I'd rather not hear your screams for what comes next, no matter how evil you are deep in your heart." With Her free hand, The Iron Maiden ripped off Her black pendant from Her neck. Without grace, honor, or empathy, She crammed it into Sera's forehead. Sera's eyes darted around and rested on Greed's.

«« Black Sacrament »» [Her Holiness The Iron Maiden]

Sera's back arched so hard she thought her ribs would burst past her flesh and separate from her spine. Tendrils of pain spread through her skull like creeping barbed wire, and it ran down her nerves slowly, excruciatingly. Through the agony she glared at Greed, who bore a look of vengeance of his own.

For who? For who!?