Pitch Black Fire

Chapter Three: Faded Scripture

Lael pushed through the thick snow and bitter winds, always keeping Morna and Lamel well within her sight. Lamel and Morna ran as fast as they could, side by side and swiftly running out of breath, the frozen air tearing the energy from their strides. In the chase Lael pulled her crossbow from her back. One handed and with unsteady aim she fired a single shot, piercing Lamel’s leg and causing Morna to stop as well. She fell to the floor with him as he hit the ground, attempting to help him up after quickly regaining her strength.

Blood poured from his leg as he screamed in pain and removed the crossbolt, his eyes wavering in color. Tears and snow befell his cheeks as he contemplated the unthinkable in a moment of panic. As he saw the group of Golden soldiers running towards him he embraced his daughter.

“The war was never over, Little Wolf… but that doesn’t mean you have be a part of it…” he whispered. “Promise me you’ll run and never stop running, don’t let them take you, don’t let anyone take you…” “Goodbye…”

Morna gave no words of response, only tears of silent confusion and a hate filled gaze for the shining color that rapidly approached them.

Finally Lamel pushed his daughter out of his arms and ahead of him. He turned around screaming “RUN!” before drawing his sword and mustering his last semblance of his strength to stand himself up as he awaited the pursuing soldiers. Morna looked back as her father pressed his blade against his own arm, drawing blood.

Lamel’s eyes turned a sharp pigment of red as the snow beneath his feet began to melt and fire started to pour from his fresh wound. He muttered to himself, his lips moving without patterns or reason and his words far too quiet to make out as his head twitched and shook before finally settling. “’Flesh to fire, blade to blood… into darkness…’” he whispered to himself.

He held up his arm, covered in blood and scars. “’Once scarred… FOREVER CONDEMNED!’” he yelled before slicing the blade yet again into his own flesh, spurring a veritable tidal wave of fire to appear from seemingly nowhere.

The blaze rushed at a frightening pace towards the charging Golden soldiers, Morna standing just mere paces away from the sight, frozen with shock. Lael stopped in her tracks as she screamed “GET DOWN!” before pushing Caleb beside her face first into the snow beneath her and hitting the ground herself.

The rest of the Paladins charged on regardless, the wave of fire moved far too quickly for most to react. Lael shielded her eyes from the flames as they barreled towards her, sweeping through the battalion and sparing none who still stood. Their armor melted quickly amidst the intense heat bringing no protection. She heard the blood curdling screams of her fellow soldiers as her own flesh started to burn. The only thing keeping her from burning up completely was her shining armor and her low position but even then the fire still singed her skin. She and her brother Caleb only felt the sting of the hellish flames from their backs as the wave of fire dissipated behind them and the screams of the Golden battalion fell silent.

Lael stood up; the back of her armor burned to a mutilated grey scratch and her men mere yards away laid dead before her. Their armor had lost of all its shine and their bodies were left only with charred and split skin, blood and burns pouring from their devastated skin. In a daze she removed her chest plate, begging the cold breath of the winter’s winds to soothe her skin and removing the still searing steel.

Lamel knelt in the dirt, his blade planted in the ground beside him and his energy sapped from him as he panted and looked forward, not knowing that his daughter still remained behind him, bearing full witness to the hellish spectacle before her.

Lael walked towards him, breathing heavily out of fear and pain, steadily increasing her pace as she drew her blade. She moved without falter through the charred remains of her comrades. She stood above Lamel, his arm twisted and bloody and his breath irregular as he struggled to hold his strength. He looked up, his eyes a hellish shade of demonic red and his expression angry and bitter.

Lamel quickly stood up, screaming in a pained and sudden manner as he brandished the blood stained sword from his side. Lael quickly grabbed his arm and pushed the weapon out of his hand, squeezing his skin as hard as she could until she could almost feel his bones snap.

She grabbed his neck as he fell to his knees in pain, choking all sound from his lungs and holding the tip of her blade to his stomach. “Find clarity in the hell you have so foolishly chosen” she said before plunging the blade into his flesh with all her strength.

Lamel’s lifeless body dropped to the ground as it swam in the newly formed sea of blood. The soundless wind brushed past Lael’s face, charred with ash, blood and snow, breathing deeply in silence, her back scraping against the painful burns.

She looked down at the corpse only for a moment, a Demon slain, the last pathetic skirmishes of a long won war. She turned herself back around to see Morna pulling her father’s sword from the dirt and pointing it towards her. Her eyes were flooded with tears and her hands were shaking with fear, the silver-haired woman’s blade still dripped with her father’s blood as did hers.

Morna stared back at Lael, holding the sword as high as she could against her wilting strength. She pushed forward, charging at Lael before being disarmed and swatted away in a flash. Morna laid weaponless and on her knees as the Paladin raised her own blade to her neck.

Lael raised her blade to strike, Morna shutting her eyes until the Paladin heard a voice cry out. “STOP!” she heard out of the corner of her ear. She turned around, still keeping her sword pointed firmly at Morna’s neck to see Caleb standing up with his arm extended outward in protest, still burned and bloodied just like his sister.

The silver-haired Paladin held the tip of her blade closer towards Morna, nearly pressing it into her throat, yet still she hesitated. “Angels do not harm the innocent” Caleb protested to which Lael responded “who said she was innocent?”

“This girl is an unholy Demon, a monster with the mere guise of a child” Lael said. “She rejects Heaven and its glory, she deserves no mercy” she said, her eyes sharp and angry.

Caleb slowly walked forward towards Lael. “We were asked to kill the man, not the daughter” he said. “It doesn’t matter; the daughter of a monster is still a monster”. “Or have you forgotten what he just did to our comrades?” “I won’t have you dishonoring their memories by taking pity on this… thing”. “The Rothree clan… Devil worshippers, the last remnants of a dead war” Lael muttered to herself. “It is our duty to wipe them all out!” Lael said, raising her voice and keeping the tip of her blade pointed at Morna’s neck.

Caleb approached Lael carefully. “You don’t have to do this” he pleaded. “She’s just a child…” “She attacked a Paladin, that crime cannot go unpunished” she said. “She was defending herself” Caleb responded. “It has to die, Caleb, because…” “Because why?” he interrupted his sister. “Because I am the heir to Patronage, the Golden throne waits for me, I need to do this!” she responded.

Lael’s expression began to show remorse as she pushed the blade further towards Morna, causing her to recoil in fear, a very human reaction from the Demon she swore to slay.

“I can’t… I will not hesitate” Lael expressed, her eyes slowly swelling with hypocritical tears of sorrow. “Lael, the war is over… there’s no more need for this” Caleb said, stalling Lael’s sword and grabbing her attention. “Let her go… she is innocent”. Lael’s hands started to waver as Caleb’s words began to sound clearer, calming her mind and softening her hands.

Lael looked back at Morna, gazing down with an expression of reprehension upon her frozen face. She slowly lowered her blade into the waiting snow, holding her head low in thoughtful shame. “An Angel does not harm the innocent” Caleb said, placing his hand gently upon his sister’s shoulder. Lael held herself against the winter winds as she walked away at a slight distance, removing herself from the sight of the girl as Caleb moved in front of her and towards Morna.

Caleb knelt down in the snow beside Morna, calming her restless fear. “Patronage will never welcome a Demon’s kin, this is a mistake…” Lael said, looking down at Caleb and Morna. “Protector Adaya has already seen her face, where will she even go?” she asked to which he replied. “Anywhere that’s not here…” still looking down with sympathetic eyes. He gently grabbed her arm as he felt the texture of her skin, unnatural and fake the same as her father’s. Caleb revealed his own mark in response, the diamond shaped brand of an Angel along his arm as his eyes fogged and twisted into their white and silver color.

“Run, little girl, run far and never stop running” he said before handing Morna his silver flask of water. Morna backed away silently, Lael looking over her shoulder for a moment, pity shown on both sides. Morna finally ran further into the woods, the white blanket consuming her distant silhouette.

Lael dropped her sword, silence befalling her as the blade sank into the snow at her feet. Caleb backed away, looking behind him and quickly asking “are you…?” before being interrupted. “Not another word…” Lael said, her voice quieted and eerily calm as she soon reached down, digging her sword out of the flood of snow, the blood leaving the metal and sinking into the sea of white as it escaped.

“Do you realize what we’ve done?” Lael asked, her voice still quieted but steadily increasing in volume. She turned to him, Caleb giving no response as Lael’s eyes sharpened in anger. “We’ve failed her… everything, our oath, our promise to serve the prophet Aderes”. “My place as an Angel is lost…” she exclaimed, Caleb interrupting her as she spoke. “No… you did exactly what an Angel should have done” he argued, Lael responding quickly with anger. “She was a Demon and you… and I… I just let her go” she continued, her temper faltering slightly as her tone fell to quiet regret.

“You did the right thing…” Caleb said, attempting to comfort his broken sister, her mind fractured with a thousand contradictory thoughts at once. “…What can we do now?” she asked after a long thoughtful pause with only the sound of the wind to fill the emptiness. “She’s gone, there’s nothing we can do about it anymore” he responded, trying his best to settle Lael in the process.

“We let a Demon free; why?” she asked, still in her broken state. “She was just a child” he attempted to justify, Lael’s expression suddenly shattering to it’s breaking point as she began quickly swinging the sword locked in her frozen hands across the air meeting Caleb’s neck who swiftly backed away.

Lael did not hold her threat for long; she could never bring herself to harm her only brother. She slowly lowered the sword before sheathing it.

“Protector Adaya will not stand for this”. “What will happen if someone else finds the girl and reports it?” Lael asked to which Caleb responded “let’s just pray that little girl takes my advice”. “She’ll still expect two bodies from this” Lael said after a silent pause amidst the winter wind, looking down at the corpse of Lamel, covered in blood and snow.

Caleb walked over and kneeled down beside the body, pulling one last torch from his belt and saying “the Golden Paladins never leaves bodies, only ash”. He looked up, Lael holding his shoulder and grabbing the torch from his hand, looking out towards the bodies of her fallen comrades. “She doesn’t know” Caleb said to which Lael repeated “she must never know”. The blood covered trail leading into the woods along with the trail of deep footprints in the powdery snow and ice soon dissipated amidst the wind as Caleb closed his eyes and held out his hand. The trail was swept away by the Angel’s will. “Run fast, little girl… and pray to whatever gods are still watching over you in this wretched world”.

Lael and Caleb gathered the bodies together in a pile, numbers hidden and buried beneath their icy graves. She lit the torch, tossing it upon the pile and watching as the bodies quickly burn to ash, the heat of the fire swaying and fluttering amidst the snow and wind. They stood together, side by side, staring into the roaring flames.

The winds wisped past them and in their echoed sounds they could hear something strange, something thought to be long dead and forgotten, a beast in the wilderness. The lands were cleansed by fire long ago, no animals could survive, nothing outside of domesticated cattle within the walls of Patronage yet lived but still they heard something, both of them. It was faint, subtle and barely even a noise but it still ringed in their heads. It bent and twisted the slow growing fire as it obscured the sight of the corpses burning within; they heard the cry of a single lonely wolf.

Lael clutched the blue book of Aderes at her side, the pages slowly crumbling in her cold grip. The torn parchment was soon carried away by the gusts that blended with the rising embers that burned her comrade’s bodies, words of truly Faded Scripture.