The
stranger stood at the edge of the clearing, his grey eyes watching Vengeance
carefully. Vengeance was still filled with rage, her eyes fixed on the
stranger. Very slowly, the stranger lowered his hand and spoke once more, “Who
are you?”
Using
Renee’s mouth, Vengeance hissed, “Who I am is of no import.”
“On
the contrary,” said the man, “It is perhaps the most important thing of all.
You should not have been able to enter this place.”
He
paused, and fixed Vengeance with a sidelong glance and said softly, “Neither of
you.”
Renee
felt Vengeance blanch at that, and take a step back.
The
stranger stepped forward, his eyes narrowing, “It is no possession; that is
different. No, this is something stranger – older.”
“You
know nothing,” snapped Vengeance.
The
stranger smirked, “Is that so? Then have you told your host what you really
are?”
Renee
was intrigued. She could feel the heat of Vengeance’s rage cool, and felt a new
emotion rise in the being – a feeling far more familiar to Renee: fear.
Something about the stranger made Vengeance very uncomfortable, and Renee
sensed that Vengeance had encountered him before.
Vengeance
screamed and once more unleashed light from her hands. This time, the stranger
did not raise his hand, and instead simply walked into the light, allowing it
to sink into his body, burning through his clothes, but not even marking his
tattooed skin.
He
smiled at Vengeance and said, “I honestly expected more of you. I expected that
the only one to escape would have been something…better.”
The
way he uttered the final word triggered a new wave of burning hate to rise in
Vengeance, making Renee feel ill and forcing her to retreat. Vengeance hissed, “It
is impossible. You should not be here. You left.”
The
stranger smirked again, flashing his perfect teeth, “Did I? Why would I have
done that? You, of all the beings in the universe, should best know the duty I
was charged with. Your very existence is why I could not have left. Though I
confess, I did think the hunt for you a waste.”
“Then
why not move on?” snapped Vengeance, “What threat do I pose?”
“You
ask me that,” said the stranger accusingly, “While standing there in the body
of another, and hunting for the Furies of the dead Seraph?”
Vengeance
froze, but Renee could feel the being’s mind working, reaching out for
something. Suddenly, a wave as cold as ice filled her as Vengeance found what
she sought – Octavius’ Fury – and tapped its power. With a grin, Vengeance
launched herself at the stranger, gathering the power of the Fury about
herself, preparing to unleash it on him.
She
halted in mid-air, the stranger’s huge hand around her neck. His other hand
already held his sword, drawn so swiftly that Renee had not even seen him move.
He hissed at Vengeance, “Release the woman.”
“No.”
“You
would disobey your Bealdor?”
Renee’s
mind boggled. If the stranger was the Bealdor
that Vengeance had spoken of, then that could only mean that Vengeance was…
“You
are no master to me. You hunted all of us like animals.”
The
Bealdor did not relinquish his grip, “I
hunted you because you betrayed the gods, you fell into darkness and besmirched
your honour. Our fathers bade me deal out justice as was fitting. I did as I
saw fit.”
Vengeance’s
voice was shaking, “You killed your
brothers and sisters.”
“Only
because they chose to try to kill me. They could have returned to the fold.”
Vengeance
snorted, “Is that what you are going to do here? Offer me a chance at
redemption?”
The
Bealdor laughed, “No, Nihilus, you
are beyond redemption. You have touched a mortal soul, and you have desecrated
the bones of your kin. There will be no redemption for you.”
Ice
began to crystallise on the Bealdor’s
gloves, spreading down from Vengeance’s throat. It crackled as it passed from
his heavy gloves onto his skin. It seemed unable to form on the man’s tattoos,
instead tracing its way around them, freezing his skin. Still, he did not
release her, unperturbed by the frost.
As
the ice reached his shoulder he sighed, “Do you really think this will work,
Nihilus?”
Vengeance
grunted, unable to break the grip of the huge man. The Bealdor’s eyes begin to glow, filled with a swirling blue light. The
light seemed to spread outwards from his eyes, his tattoos beginning to glow
softly in the night, the light spreading to cover his whole body, the shapes of
the tattoos gleaming through his clothes. Where the glow touched the ice from
Vengeance, it bloomed in violent flashes, melting away the frost.
The
light finally reached his hands, and as it did, Renee felt Vengeance begin to
squirm, as though trying to avoid the touch of the Bealdor. The energy spread from Bealdor’s
hand and into Renee’s body. Her eyes shone white and she felt as though
something was been torn from her. There was an ear splitting shriek of intense
agony and then the man released her, letting her crumple to the ground. Above
her, a glowing figure of white light floated, long ethereal wings on its back
reaching across the clearing.
Nihilus’
true voice echoed strangely, and was deeper than that of vengeance, but lacking
any intonation that suggested gender. It was accompanied by a celestial
humming, “So, Bealdor, shall you
strike the last of your kin down?”
The
Bealdor lowered his gaze and then
said softly, “I do not need to strike you down. You are so far fallen, so
depraved, that I would need only wait for you to burn away. However, should you
ask it of me, I shall grant you a merciful death.”
Nihilus’
body tinged red with rage and he hissed, “Damn you and your mercy. I do not
need nor want your pity.”
Shrugging,
the Bealdor said, “As you wish”
With
that, he waved his hand dismissively and Nihilus began to scream, fading into
the night. Once he vanished and the wailing ceased the Bealdor knelt down by Renee and placed his huge hand gently on her
forehead.
Softly
he said, “Girl, are you alright?”
She
opened her eyes blearily, in control of her body for the first time in what
seemed an eternity. She struggled to speak, but croaked out, “Bealdor?”
He
smiled and shook his head, “Please, call me Jonathan.”
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