Oakwoods cemetery was still and calm in the morning hours, a cool breeze passed through it, lifting leaves and lifting up the birds flying from tree to tree. The sun was shining brightly as afternoon was approaching, and the air smelled of spring passing away slowly to summer.
Nature was getting it's leg up and thriving here in the place of death.
The old crypts and graves were weathered and time had roughened them up, whilst others had crumbled almost to dust. Moss and vines like sneaking spinsters had coiled and spread on statues and granite with unstoppable force. Many paths had been taken by thorns, grass and thistles already, making the place of death nature claimed.
Suddenly under the shade of a tree, an apparition formed of shadow, slowly and unhurried into reality. The shadowy figure gained clarity, and revealed itself to be Iazel, laying on the ground in a prone position.
Something wasn't right though.
His face was cracked like porcelain, with black lines crackling across his forehead and skull. The black cloak was sprawled on his back like a sheet, his gloves were blood stained, crimson human blood was fresh on the finger tips.
"Warden, you have returned." A female voice spoke up near his head as the dryad from last night appeared from behind a tree," I believed you would begone and not return. I have kept my vow, as we know, and I hope you have not come back to demand for more."
"B-b...ac-ck aw-way." Iazel's voice came out in jittery stutters and the dryad yelped as his scythe appeared and struck the ground right next to him. She jumped up lightly and landed more than twenty metres away from him.
"ERA Codex: {Ritual} Sacral Feasting" Iazel's voice groaned out and he coughed a spray of blood from his mouth.
Iazel's shadow oozed out from under him like oil and spread out for ten metres, covering the area in shadow like the end of twilight. The dryad's eyes were fearful as the scent of death and doom filled the air like smoke, choking the life out and slurping it up. The grass withered as the ground crackled and grew grey like it was poisoned by despair.
Iazel's cracked face started to mend itself as everything in his shadow withered, crumbled or perished. The dryad watched on and her fists clenched harder by the second, watching her home be assaulted like this. After a few minutes, Iazel's face was healed and he sat up, his shadow returning back to him after its devastation.
"You broke your vow." The dryad's voice sounded in the wind filled with anger.
Iazel turned to her with his eyes hard and unreadable, before he stood up and started to walk away.
"Hey! You!" The dryad shouted as she raced after him," Look at the horror you've wrought upon this land? The life here, snuffed out without a care. This is a violation of the vow, you were to not hurt this land and it's children."
"Wrong, my vow was to not usurp this land from you Fay, but I never vowed to not use it for my needs." Iazel didn't turn back as he talked," I was injured as you saw, and my existence is important to me."
"That land was important to me!" The dryad hissed as she jumped infront of him," Look, look at the horror you wrought. The soil is dead, the grass dead and-"
"The tree lives, as such, the soil will live again in time." He cut her off quickly.
Where Iazel had appeared had changed drastically, the life had been scorched away leaving bare soil in a ten meter radius. The only thing that was untouched was the oaktree, standing conspicuously upon dead dry cracked soil.
"What if it fails to live and dies? The soil around it is but a barren waste, you've entombed it in a cage of dust." The dryad's voice rose higher as she kept pointing at the tree.
"I am sure you will not allow that to happen, Fay. Now, out of my way, lest you break our agreement of not interfering with each other." His eyes grew colder and the dryad remained still, her eyes furious but helpless.
"You interfered first." She said and walked away and sat under the lone tree, closing her eyes. Slowly a green glow arose from her chest and spread to the ground, before it started to pulse like a heartbeat.
Iazel turned away from her, his eyes turning to the distant town, filled with mortals and with 'her'.
A memory flashed before his eyes, as he looked at the blood stains on his gloved hands, before he smothered it down before it could take shape.
"I can't give up on us." Iazel's form started to turn to mist as he walked," I'll do whatever it takes Bans. Hades be damned even."
His body faded away like a cloud of smoke in a breeze and silence returned to the cemetery at last. The silent birds began to sing again and the insects came out to the space of nature and the dead.
...
<< Flick!
"Ah, my eyes." A female voice echoed in dark room.
A singular bulb flickered on and illuminated the room with a sickly light that offered acceptable visibility. The room was a living area, with wooden walls and light brown tiled floors, with a singular window on the far right, beside a door. There was a cheap carpet littered with dead bugs, and stained dark brown with something from the past.
A single person sofa sat in the room with a television set a few feet away from it, showing the news. On the sofa sat a young looking woman with blonde hair and green eyes, wearing a light blue nurse's uniform and tapping her left hand absentmindedly.
This was the nurse who had been with Sarah that first night after she'd woken up.
She stopped tapping her finger, pointed it at the television and the image changed into a girl on a bed, tossing and turning in her sleep. The girl had brown hair and wore a pink shirt very much to her taste.
This was Sarah.
"Another night of screams and fright I'm sure." The nurse said with a small frown," She's fraying."
"Mmnghg!"
"You're right, I should help her but she already has the help she needs." The nurse clicked her tongue," If she could find the cards, things would be easier."
"Mmmm!"
"Yes I know, the tarrot card they first touched was the wrong ones, but how was I supposed to know they'd initiate the wrong spell early? There's only so much a witch can do," The nurse gave a long sigh," But if she touches the wrong one again, she might die. That boy is already in the Here after and I can't perceive him anymore."
"Mmmm!"
"Okay, okay, I'll give her a little push. However, I can't do too much with that other Warden around her. He's actually strong and I don't want attention, absolutely not now." She lifted her hand and a rose appeared," This should be the breadcrumb she needs."
"Nnnnmmm."
"What was that?" The nurse turned her head to the side, where a figure was on the wall.
A young woman with black hair was on the wall, her hands spread out to the side and legs together. Her mouth was closed with a red archaic symbol written over her lips, preventing her from speaking. The symbol glowed with a crimson hue like blood.
Above the woman was an eerie painting of a hand, heavily detailed, crawling on an empty field of dry grass, and the image was actually moving. It shuffled left and right, like a crab in a glass box, but the woman barely looked at it.
"Oh, I forgot, I bound you, so you couldn't use that Codex of yours." The nurse chuckled as she walked to the woman,"Can you blame me? You were about to kill that girl when you arrived, and I can not have that."
"Mmnmmn!" The woman mumbled behind her shut mouth in fury.
"Oh dear, you can threaten me all you like." The nurse smiled as her green eyes turned a viscous purple," Just know, action speaks louder than words. Hahaha!"
A light blue nurse uniform fell to the floor and the woman, who was Mistress, was all alone, the room empty with the only sound being the screaming girl on the television set.
"Are you alright Mistress?" The hand in the painting asked in a female voice,for this was Antoinette.
"Mm-hm." Mistress mumbled in reply.
"Yes I remember. So, I have been trying to recall which archaic symbol is rooted in the one binding you but I am at a loss. The witch who has captured us does not seem to be from any reputable coven or ancestry I am aware of." She said apologetically.
"Mmm-mmmng?" Mistress mumble sounded inquisitive.
"Well, the Sarah girl seems to be her main focus as of now, yes. Which is well for us, or she'd have done far worse than this- not that this acceptable either. Binding us as if we were but flies on her walls, it is unbecoming of you." Antoinette said softly," The good news is Lord Iazel's presence seems to be making her cautious, which means there's a higher chance of mistakes. Carefulness dances with carelessness."
"Mmm." Mistress mumbled in reply.
"Very well, I suppose we could wait longer." Antoinette turned to the television screen," However that mortal is starting to feel very significant, to myself aswell. Just what is the reason for all this? Her current weakness? This witch's and Lord Iazel's interest? Who is she?"
"Mm-hm. Mm?" Mistress asked her Companion.
"I suggest next time we meet her, we wait and see. Killing her was an impulsive suggestion on my part, that I admit." Her voice grew quiet," It is my fault we are in this- hmm? Alright, she is gone. We may begin."
The worried and concerned tone in Antoinette vanished like fog near a fire, her voice grew cold and sharp.
"M-good. These pretensions are becoming increasingly irritant." Mistress said clearly as the symbol on her lips turned dark red like rancid blood," ERA Codex: {Ritual} Sacral Feasting"
Her eyes blackness expanded as her hair lifted itself and spread out on the wall like a living creature, strands lengthening and stretching out across the room and eating away at the enchantments placed on the walls and floor. The same ones that bound Mistress and Antoinette in this room.
Mistress had come to Oakwood a few days before Lord Iazel's arrival and in a few short hours she'd located Sarah at the hospital. She had originally intended to poison the IV attached to the girl as she slept, but a nurse had walked in and with a small archaic command both her and Antoinette had been detected, bound and sent to this hovel.
The nurse, who was a witch, had bound her mouth to prevent her from using her Codex and bound her limbs to stop her using her Transcripts. However before they were bound she'd given Antoinette permission to use her Codex and when the witch left them, her Vessel slowly ate away the symbol binding her mouth.
A simple trick of the mouth, and their escape plan had begun.
Now, they would pretend to be plotting unconventional plans when the witch pretended to leave, and only when she was truly gone would they begin their escape plan again. Mistress had two Transcripts, but most people only noticed the one she made apparent: her gloved hand. Her second Transcript was more apparent, but usually overlooked, and that was her long black hair.
Soon, Mistress thought happily, I'll carve that demonic hags soul out of her own guts and eyes.
"Very good, Mistress." Antoinette said appreciatively.
"Thank you." Mistress said happily as her hair continued to feast upon the enchatments embedded in the room.
Her freedom was almost in hand, and she would get her revenge. >>