Rayth pondered, all day the
strange feelings had persisted, in fact they had grown in strength,
from his meeting with Maylor he had traveled to the small office building
where Ellie Wiesmann worked composing her stories, the place had been
invaded by strange people dressed in carnival outfits were ransacking
the place. This was not the first time he had encountered the Carnival
of Shadows, previously an acquaintance of his had fallen under the
sway of an amulet, Madeleine Casey, she had for a time been processed
by a entity whom the Carnival seemed to obey. It had taken some tricky
work to free her mind from the procession, and now he was not certain
if just freeing her mind was enough. Could she have relapsed? No,
this was different.
The Carnivals minions had fallen before his power,
laughing fencers, burly strongmen, dancing jugglers, all dressed in
their macabre style reminiscent of carnival performers for high society
in 17th Century Venice, none had presented any difficulty, still they
had slowed him down. They had been searching through Weismann’s office
and by the time he had dealt with them he recovered only a single
note, scribbled with an appointment time.
The appointment was with
a man called Percy Winkley a retired member of the Midnight Squad,
he was the caretaker of their secret library. Gaining access to the
library had initially been a problem until he spoke with an old acquaintance
of the group. After rescuing him from certain death at the Carnivals
hands Percy revealed the location of an item Ellie was researching
called the Bands of Shu, a set of three jeweled armbands that allowed
access to the Psychic Realms, and perhaps to the entity La’Non had
sensed. In his procession was a mystical Monocle that allowed the
users to pear into the mind of others to divine a single thought.
Heading to the streets Rayth had searched for hours hunting the Carnivals
minions. On a cargo ship docked at Peregrine Isle, he had divined
Ellie’s location, the Carnival was holding her in a old warehouse,
retrieving her was simple enough, Ellie had then revealed that the
Bands of Shu where held by the Malta Group, a jumped up rogue government
agency that liked to meddle with things beyond their abilities. He
hated fighting them, they used Tasers, he hated Tasers, and being
stunned in general, they disrupted his spells and many times he had
been seriously hurt while trying to clear his head. Still he had proceeded
into their base defeated the sentries and taken out the Malta troops,
retrieving the bands from one of their supposed anti-hero specialists.
Rayth smirked at the memory, they where never a problem for him, his
natural stealth and magical power easily allowed him to get the jump
on those operatives, their own tendencies for the dramatics where
their undoing.
With the bands retrieved they needed to be awakened,
he had re-energized them with the essence of the devouring earth and
focused their power with the inter-dimensional presence of Praetorian
Earth. Once more restored to power, the Bands provided the ability
but not the focus, so he had traveled to the industrial shipping area
called Independence port. In this district was another powerful individual
called Sister Psyche, with her guidance three portals to the Astral
Plane where forced open, and on those mental landscapes Rayth confronted
what he thought was his foe, battling his way through mental terrors
and dreams given life he instead found the shattered memories of a
young girl Vanessa DeVere. Apparently she had been a struggling art
student who while on a trip to Venice had uncovered a porcelain mask,
the mask housed the soul of another powerful psychic mind that once
belonged to a person called Giovanni Scaldi, Vanessa had apparently
tried on the mask and Giovanni had taken over, she was the true power
behind the Carnival of Shadows. Giovanni boosted the untapped powers
of Vanessa mind much in the same way La’Non did for Rayth, with that
information in hand he had returned to Sister Psyche seeking help
once more, this time, he would enter the Astral Plane and defeat the
mind of Giovanni Scaldi.
"It has been too easy" Rayth muttered to
himself
"Hmm?" a lithe figure stepped into the room, clad in a tight
fitting green costume, she closed the door and looked at Rayth he
shook his head at the inquiry
"Your sure about this?" asked Sister
Psyche as she sat down in a lotus position on the floor across from
Rayth.
They where in an empty room, a small sphere of mystical light
floated above them providing the only source of illumination. It was
bland, unadorned room except for a hasty ward of protection Rayth
had scribed moments earlier on the floor perfect for the coming task.
"Once you enter the Astral Plane you will be cut off from everything
else, and if her mind is stronger than yours Giovanni will be able
to easily deal with you."
Rayth gazed at Sister Psyche, she was beautiful,
her red hair fell about her face, brushing her shoulders, she had
a sweet smile, her blue eyes gave her a seeming innocence, and she
had a figure that was easily able to wear such a tight-fitting costume.
Still, he was not here for the eye-candy.
"Can you not read my mind,
see my conviction?" his voice echoed strangely in the empty room.
"No." She shook her head, her hair brushing across her face, confusion
apparent in her eyes "Your mind is inaccessible to me, it is barred
to revealing its secrets, I can gain only the most general of thoughts,
its actually quite refreshing, such a blessed respite from the noise
I hear normally."
"I am sure, if left unchecked Giovanni’s power will
unbalance everything." replied Rayth
"Let us begin then." Sister Psyche
closed her eyes, the 3 rings that made up the Bands of Shu sat on
the ground between them, a golden aura warped the air around her,
a low hum filled the room, the Bands lifted from their resting place,
stopping at head height between the pair they began to spin in place.
Rayth closed his eyes, focusing inwards, such workings of power where
harder for him, he opened his eyes, he chanted in a low voice, words
barely distinguishable from each other, his eyes glowed with a deep
blue power rather than their normal blazing red, and aura of blue
fire, splashed across his form, wreathing him in ethereal energies.
Across from him Sister Psyche sat, her eyes ablaze with golden power,
her mouth open, singing a single pure note, the Bands spun and golden
light and blue fire swirled from the pair, intertwining, mixing as
if dancing with each other wrapping around the bands. The low hum
changed pitch and electricity crackled along the bands, arcing between
them, a miasma of evil seemed to form, surrounding them pushing back
the blue flames and golden light, the miasma took shape forming an
image of a porcelain mask grinning manically, a fell laugh seemed
to issue from the apparition, the mask pulsed with violet energy.
A loud retort broke the atmosphere and a wave of power detonated from
the rings, energy pulsing outwards washing over the pair flinging
them across the floor and slamming them into the walls of the room
like rag dolls.
The bands clattered to the floor with a cold lifeless
tone, one rolled to a stop in front of Rayth, slowly, his body aching
with pain he forced himself back to his feet, he steadied himself
against the wall and staggered across to Sister Psyche, she moaned
softly as he rolled her over, her eyes fluttered open, and he slowly
helped her to her feet.
"Nngh!" she made an unintelligible noise as
she rubbed her head "That’s going to leave my head ringing for a week."
"Were we successful?" Rayth asked looking at the scattered rings,
sensing a lack of power from them.
"Yes, I can feel the gate to the
Astral Realm, it has opened somewhere in Kings Row."
"Thank you."
"Last chance to back out, that explosion was from her mind resisting,
and if she can affect this world like that…" She left the sentence
hanging.
"I made my choices a long time ago." He strode from the room,
there was nothing left, he was La’Non’s creature, and he would take
the fight wherever and to whomever he must.
*****
Once again Rayth
observed his target from above, this time he sat watching a doorway
to a warehouse in Kings Row. He crouched on top of a stack of shipping
containers, the door only a few yards away. It hadn’t taken him long
to find the location of the portal, it had resonated with him as soon
as he had entered this section of the city. To most people they would
see an unremarkable steel door and even were they to enter though
it they would simply pass into the building, to his eyes, the door
swirled with chaos, gold light flooded from around the door, blue
runes crackled with arcane energy across frame, and a dark presence
seemed too emanated from the steel. He dropped down to the level of
the door, his magic slowing his descent to that of a floating feather,
his feet lightly touched the ground and he walked up to the entrance,
his hand hesitated over the handle for a moment, focusing his mind
he turned the latch and stepped through.
A wave of dizziness passed
over him and he stood not in a warehouse but on a grassed slope, smoke
and ash filled the air and fires raged all around him, he coughed
in the thick atmosphere, his swept his gaze across the stark devastation.
The landscape appeared like a park he had once seen but everything
was blasted and either burnt or burning, craters pockmarked the ground
and he could not have seen the sun even if there had been one in this
place, behind him a huge wall of raging storm clouds seems to cut
the landscape away, the wall extended as far as he could see, the
storm was a physical limit to Giovanni’s realm. His attention was
captured by several half seen shapes moving through the smoke. A stray
breeze briefly cleared the air and he glimpsed the bright clothing
of Giovanni’s minions, calling upon the shadows to cloak his body
he set off through the smoke and fire.
The Juggler dropped to the
ground defeated, a bright surge of energy filled with the image of
a screaming face escaped from her body and her form disappeared back
into whatever dream had spawned it. Rayth looked around he had already
fought against several groups of minions and so far they had moved
in groups of three, always a brightly dressed pair of women armed
with swords and whips and a strongman. This one had been alone. Rayth
looked around seeing only smoke, perhaps she had been a lone wanderer
he pondered when suddenly a huge rock flew through the air barely
missing his head and smashing through the remains of a nearby tree,
a huge bare-chested man with his face hidden in a steel mask stood
off to Rayth’s left, with a roar he charged forward, a huge wooden
mallet was clutched in his hands, startled by the figure suddenly
appearing Rayth had little time to act, he chanted a short spell and
energy pulse from his hands at the same time as the raging man swung
the mallet at his chest. The attacks impacted at the same time, throwing
the pair apart in spectacular fashion, Rayth flew through the air
a dozen feet before incanting a flight spell to halt his motion. The
strongman was not so lucky and ended up landing in a pile of hot ash.
The man screamed and thrashed sending burning embers into the air
as he tried to get clear. Rayth raised a hand and took careful aim,
a nimbus of blue energy crackled around his fist building up a charge.
The energy leapt at the strongman as he finally struggled free of
the fire, it struck him dead in the chest, again propelling him backwards
once more into the embers, this time he did not get up.
"Two down."
muttered Rayth.
He turned around looking for the expected third enemy,
to his surprise he saw three feet of cold steel being stabbed at him,
lurching to the side he twisted his body avoiding the strike, swiftly
the rapier struck again with another savage thrust, this time Rayth
swept up a hand and summoned a sword of ice to deflect the blow, he
stumbled back fending off a series of cuts and thrusts from the rapier.
A young woman, little more than a girl dressed in a yellow and red
harlequin outfit attacked him, trying her best to kill him, every
sweep of her blade caused the bells on her hat to jingle and chime.
Steel met ice in a furious exchange as the girl forced Rayth back.
He let her fall into a rhythm of cuts and parries before suddenly
reversing his path. The weapons rang together as Rayth stepped into
the next strike, both blades slid against each other until they where
locked together, with a maniacal grin Rayth placed his free hand in
front of her chest and spoke a single short word, with a surprised
shriek she was launched backwards through the air smashing into a
tree and tumbling to the ground.
The girl tried to get up and made
it onto her hands and knees before Rayth stood before her, she looked
up in time to see him reverse his grip on his Ice Sword and drive
it into the middle of her back.
"Three" he counted to himself, the
ice blade faded from his grasp, as he watched her form vanish a feeling
of unease washed over Rayth, the world suddenly seemed to quieten
the sounds of the fire disappear, it was if everything paused, he
felt like he was being watched. Rayth looked about seeking the source
of the feeling, there before him stood a large group of Carnival minions.
They stood watching him, no one moving, only Rayth’s cape rippled
with the slight movements of his body. The first to move was one of
the strongmen, he raised a mallet and charge forward, Rayth stepped
to the side, his clenched fist made a punching movement and a pulse
of energy blasted the man down. A second started forward even before
the first had hit the ground, this time it was a nimble juggler, she
sprinted straight at him before leaping into a cartwheel and springing
into the air above his head. Her whip snapped forward and blast of
psychic electricity leapt from its end, the blast was wild it and
shot into the ground in front of him. Rayth raised both his hands
fists together and blasted her from the sky. She fell past him and
he turned to deal with the next opponent. Now they came in numbers
twos and threes and then as a mob, he moved among them, lashing out
and delivering magical strikes, throwing them back again and again
with repulsing blasts, vanquishing them with explosive blasts. Such
spells wore him down, he couldn’t keep it up, they closed in en masse,
surrounding him, and finally they drove him to the ground, they crowded
thick about him each trying to fulfill the commands of their mistress
to destroy all outsiders. Rayth had them just where he wanted them.
With so many bunched up he called upon his most powerful spell. A
pale light lashed out from his body, illuminating those closest with
a sickening clarity, a wave of energy surged from him, blasting through
those nearby, instantly defeating them, the power of the spell triggered
a small nova smashing everything around him, throwing the mob back
and even scouring the ground of life. Rayth knelt hands on his knees
gasping for breath, creating a Nova wasn’t an easy task but it was
effective, none of those who attacked had survived.
As he stood there
recovering from the spell a voice drifted to him, it was female and
from the sounds of things quite mad, cautiously he moved towards the
noise. As he walked the landscape changed, no longer was there nothing
but ash, instead the air cleared and the noises of a more normal park
returned. It was not long until he found the source of the voice,
there she stood out in the middle of a clear area with several others
sitting like school children at her feet. Giovanni Scaldi wore very
little clothing, thigh high boots chequered with various colours were
held up by garters, a green and blue sash was wrapped loosely around
her waist, her long gloves where coloured in a similar fashion to
her boots, a jeweled velvet vest barely covered her bosom and a white
frilled collar framed her head, she wore a white porcelain mask from
behind which glowed violet eyes and her red hair was cropped short
against her scalp. Overall the effect was somewhat hideous. He watched
her hidden among the shadows cast by a large rock formation. She appeared
to be telling a story to the two women at her feet, he tried to listen
but the distance was too great. As he studied her, his feeling of
disquiet grew, there was something wrong here, why was she not aware
of him, if this was her realm surely she would sense his presence
or have noticed the defeat of her supporters.
"A trap" he mused, and
one that needed to be sprung, but she would be expecting him alone.
Rayth looked up towards what should have been the sky, an image of
a sleeping figure formed in him mind, he sent out his call. "Raven.
You are needed."
Having dispatched the mental call he sank back into
the shadows and waited. A short time passed before she arrived, following
his mental call to the portal and then across the burning landscape
she landed next to him.
"Hello Master" she said gazing at Rayth with
untempered affection. He gazed back marveling at her not for the first
time.
"A new costume I see."
"Do you like master?" she spun in a circle
to show of the entire outfit. Knee high black leather boots and fishnet
stocking up to her thighs, a short black leather skirt and a revealing
leather bustier left a vast expanse of flesh.
"I do indeed."
"Thank
you Master" she said playfully, she pressed her hands against his
chest and standing up on her tip toes she lightly kissed Rayth and
smiled.
"So who shall I fight for you today Master?" she asked as
she settle back onto her heels.
"YOU WHERE SUPPOSE TO BE ALONE!" a
voice boomed with the force of a thunderstorm, a bolt of purple and
pink energy blasted into the rock sending shards everywhere and knocking
Rayth and Little Raven to the ground.
Little Raven leapt to her feet
and raced across the intervening distance, snapping off a flying kick
at Giovanni, the first shot missed as she ducked to the side. Landing
lightly on the balls of her feet Little Raven executed a series of
kicks, high, low, fast, and powerful, each one connected and Giovanni
was literally driven back with the force, her heels dug furrows in
the ground. Rayth stood up, eyes blazing he swept his hand toward
Giovanni’s Minions, quickly dispatching each with a blast of power.
Turning he focused his attention on the Carnival’s mistress, arcane
patterns formed in the air as Rayth motioned with his hands, power
flooded his body twice, and again he took careful aim, one arm extended
before him the other bracing against his elbow, the energies coalesced
in his hand before blasting forward, the spell washed over Giovanni,
a flash of purple light shimmered around her as she diverted the power
into the ground. Giovanni lashed out, psychic blasts tearing at Little
Raven, pulses of energy knocking them around, flying kicks, psychic
projectiles and blasts of energy flew fast and furious between the
combatants they where trying each to gain the upper hand but the battle
was a stalemate, then Giovanni stopped. With a wild scream a huge
wave of psychic energy rippled out from her, the blast distorted the
air and slammed into them, Little Raven sunk to the ground stunned,
Giovanni stepped past her as she fell to her knees, a trickle of blood
ran from the corner of her mouth, a puzzled look crossed Little Ravens
face just before her eyes rolled up and she passed out.
Rayth was
thrown clear of the blast. His body ached in a way he had never felt
before. He shook his head trying to clear it, his eyes fixed on Giovanni
as she strode towards him, she blazed with power, it filled the air
around her, seeing him struggle to her feet she raise a gloved hand
a finger pointed directly towards him.
"Height, I have to get some
distance!" Rayth said to himself, he enacted the spell of flight and
burst upwards, the ash on the ground swirling in his wake, the ground
dropped away as he gained altitude. A bell like laugh tolled in him
mind and a flash of purple energy raced down Giovanni’s arm and lanced
out from her finger, the bolt traced after Rayth and struck him dead
centre. Pain shot through him, tore at his mind and body, the flight
spell faltered and broke. Down he tumbled, dropping over a hundred
yards to the ground below, he smashed into the ground the impact rippling
out from his body, bones snapped and shattered, blood spurted from
his mouth with the force of the fall.
The smiling mask of Giovanni
appeared above Rayth she looked down at him hands on hips, the mask
showing great pleasure.
"My, my, my! What where you thinking, running
away like that, there is no escape this is all me!" she laughed and
twirled in place spreading her arms out to indicate the destruction.
Rayth coughed, his lunges where crushed, that wasn’t right, his connection
to La’Non always prevented the worst from happening and would whisk
him away to safety should he truly be defeated. Why was he still here.
"Aw, I see you’re still alive, what’s the matter no emergency teleport
beacon? No fancy spell to resurrect you? Of course not, this is my
place, here I make the rules. Oh look, you have blood on your face,
here let me help you." Giovanni knelt down and wiped the blood from
Rayth’s lips with a lacy handkerchief "There much better." she smiled
down at Rayth as she stood "But with your body so broken I don’t think
you will make such a good play thing anymore. Hmm, what shall I do?
I know!"
Giovanni disappeared from Rayth’s vision, the fire in his
eyes burned low, his spirit was slipping away, he slowly turned his
head, the pain jolted through him, but he managed to follow Giovanni
as she walked back to the unconscious form of Little Raven.
"So beautiful
when they are asleep" she bent down and pushed back the hair obscuring
Little Ravens face. "Don’t you agree Rayth?" Her hand continued to
brush back Little Ravens hair for a moment before twisting into it,
with a single hand she dragged Little Raven up onto her knees.
"I
think I will make her my slave, I can’t allow such a spirit to go
to waste now can I?"
Rayth struggled to act, every movement bought
a new strike of pain, he was broken and lost, his vision filled with
smoke and he could barely feel the heat from the nearby fires. His
sight dimmed and he felt his body start to slip away, the spells holding
him together where unraveling, his connection to La’Non was shattered,
here in this place he was powerless.
"Are you watching Rayth? Here
is the last thing you will see." Giovanni leant towards Little Raven
her hand cupping her chin tilting her unconscious face towards Giovanni’s.
She leaned forward as if to kiss Little Raven, her lips parted slightly
a blue mist seemed to issue from between them curling forth towards
Little Raven’s. Rayth’s tried to act, tried to move or do anything
but his body refused, his vision filled with red, the world became
dull and seemed to stretch away, his eyes closed their fiery power
went out, a darkness blanketed everything, chasing away the light.
... The fire raced through the house, burning timbers, incinerating
furnishings and charring everything before it. The flames moved with
an unnatural quickness and purpose that defied the best efforts to
halt its advance or to extinguish its source. No one knew what had
started the fire but far too quickly it spread through the mansion
cutting off rooms and filling them with smoke and flame…
…wait, this
wasn’t right, this had happened already…
… No one knew what had started
the fire…
… No, someone did….
…The Boy entered into his parents study,
it was a place forbidden to him. It was the only room in the entire
mansion that was kept locked. Yet today he had watched as his father
exited the room and left the door ajar. Inside the room was filled
with books, every wall lined with them, they even sat stacked on the
ground, a stone table dominated the centre of the room, on it sat
strange devices, feathers, inks, paper, flasks filled with strange
glowing liquids. It was a beautiful Crystal that captured the boy’s
eyes. The crystal sat near the edge of the table, light flicked through
its facets as if it contained a spark of flame within its surface.
The Crystal called to the Boy. He had to climb up a chair and onto
the table to pick it up, it felt strangely warm, somehow comforting,
the boy sat back holding it. A sound in the hallway caused the Boy
to start and his foot slipped on a piece of paper, he fell to the
floor with a thud and a gasp, the crystal flew from his hands, time
seemed to slow, the crystal rose in its flight, the door to the room
swept open, the crystal spun end over end appearing to halt at the
top of its arc, the boys eyes turned to the door a woman draped in
power stood in the door her eyes blazing with mystical energy were
locked on the crystal, slowly the woman moved her gaze towards the
Boy, their eyes met, with deliberate slowness the woman closed her
eyes and the crystal fell. It struck the boys chest and the world
seemed to explode in fire and darkness. Everything was black, there
was no sound or light or feeling, the Boy was alone. Into this blackness
appear a single speck of light, it called to the boy sang to him,
drove away the darkness, the spark grew and took shape becoming a
raging fire, it wrapped around the boy lifted him up gave him wings.
Fire erupted, exploding across the room incinerating books and parchment,
setting fire to everything it touched, and in the middle of the conflagration
a young boy opened his eyes and sat up, the fire washed away from
him, parted before his steps, he staggered out of the room before
collapsing into the arms of an elderly servant…
Giovanni paused, her
lips a hairs breath from Little Raven, she thought she had seen movement,
no, that can’t be right, Rayth was dead, his body crushed. There is
was again, not movement a sound. She straightened looking at Rayth,
the sound seemed to come from him, a slight crackling like the noise
of a fire starting.
Rayth’s eyes flew open, red fire blazed from them,
his mouth opened and a scream echoed forth, his body raised upwards,
fiery wings sprouted from his back, a burning wind whipped from his
broken form. Flames charred the ground, filled the air and bore his
body upwards. Life flowed into his body his spells strengthened and
his spirit returned, with two great beats of fiery wings he settled
on the ground before Giovanni, the fire vanished from his body leaving
him restored.
"She’s Mine!" shouted Rayth lashing out, a pulse of
energy raced from his fist smashing into Giovanni, she fell backwards
the wind knocked out of her.
"Awaken!" Rayth commanded his gaze settling
on Little Raven. Her eyes fluttered open at the mental urging. She
looked at Rayth briefly before spying Giovanni. With a feral roar
she leapt at her, punching and kicking, not giving Giovanni a moments
rest. Giovanni cried out trying to use the same power she had used
before, the energy struck Little Raven but she struggled against it,
shrugging it off. Rayth summoned all his power and unleashed a volley
of mystical energy, blasting, smashing, freezing, burning at Giovanni,
distracting her, keeping her off balance. Faster and faster they struck
at Giovanni, not giving her a moment’s relief, not letting her use
her powers or to flee from them. Giovanni screamed as her psychic
defenses crumbled, the blows started to strike her body, with a stunning
ferocity it was over, a kick to the head, a pulse of energy into her
ribs and a finale strike across her back was all it took, Giovanni
hit the ground face first, the realm trembled and shock, the sky boiled,
the flames in the distance whirled skywards, with a sound the world
broke, the psychic plane shattered, Giovanni screamed once a cry of
untempered frustration, her mask cracked and split and the realm disappeared.
*****
Rayth and Little Raven stumbled from the door of the Warehouse,
the energies crackled once behind them before fading away. Rayth stared
at the door without seeing it, he felt stronger. This new power or
rather his oldest power was not something La’Non had given him. It
was something else, something innately destructive and yet it had
restored him, he had been reborn in fire.
"Another close one, but
we still survived master" Little Raven looked at Rayth and smiled
as she stood panting to catch her breath. Ravens smile turned into
a smirk and with a quick motion, stood up on tip toes and kissed Rayth,
she laughed as his expression darkened, turning quickly she sprang
away, not quite quick enough to avoid a slap across the bottom.
"Ouch!"
she squeaked before sticking out her tongue at Rayth and leaping away,
disappearing past the abandoned containers of King’s Row.
"Some things
never change." voiced Rayth to the empty lot, before taking to the
skies once again to continue his work.
Written by Raith