He drew a pattern in the sand around Temnota's puddle of darkness. A wavey star like the sun but with lines scattered throughout the inside. One would have assumed he was calm from watching, as he sat down inside of the circle with the raging spirits of the demon.
"I will not let you torment these people any longer."
"FOOL! WE WILL OVERCOME YOU AND CONSUME YOUR SPIRIT ALONGSIDE OURS! YOU STAND NO CHANCE! WE HAVE BECOME A GOD TO YOU PEOPLE!"
But there was fear in his voice, fear of being enslaved in Jasper's flesh without a chance of release.
With a new spirit to guide Temnota they looked to the horizon. Just past the sea fog was a bridge of brass and steel that went to the mountain-shore on the left and far past visibility to the right.
In the middle was a tower lumbering out of the water like a cross between the bridge. Unlike a cross, it emanated a thick sense of dread. Jasper could picture the Red Eyed Man somewhere atop the structure and his fist clenched enough to dent the finger of his gauntlet.
It was an enemy most Wastelanders shared. Escpecially the spirits who had been filtered into Elysium and dropped near cities in the Wastelands simply to sow chaos and turn men into demons. The same spirits consumed by Temmy on that day in the garden.
Jaspers eyes took on the look of the two moons as he sat there once again thinking of the lives he'd lost. Sure, he'd saved many more this past week, but that didn't bring back his parents. It didn't solve the issue of the wandering undead, the man made demons, or the isolation of those within the walls.
It didn't bring back his sister.
If it cost him the world Marcey would get vengeance and Temnota agreed with vengeance.
It is the Valorian way to honor the dead spirits. In this I offer you peace. Peace to all of the men who were senceless war. I offer to the Raven Tribe and the taskforce soldiers Vengeance on the Soulless husk of a man that is your true villian. The Red Eyed man.
To all of the spirits of the Raven Tribe, he is the one who sent you Elysium. To the soldiers of Southern Wall, he used you for his expirements and siphoned your souls into vials for consumption. You know these things to be true, so why do you still fight each other?
Why do you still act confused, when you are joined against a clear enemy?"
-(-silence-)- then the ritual forms a hovering tattoo of a sigil, similar to Crows lines of text, on Jasper's chest. The Valorian Paladins eyes match the color of the moons and his smile streaches further than it should.
From the hole rises a serpentine dragon dripping black from every inch of its form. Its eyes were the ludacris shape of the two moons. Its breath bled stars into the world before it. Temnota's crown of diseased wooden antlers seemed less the mark of a king and more the mark of a god.
The creature rose from the earth and coiled around Jasper like a snake, lunatic eyes never left the paladin. They sized him up one last time, finally understanding the man's soul. Then the dragon dove into Jasper's face and fused spirits. He rose into the air in many flashes of light and darkness. When the tail end of the dragon was at last absorbed Jasper was left kneeling.
A tattoo of a coiled dragon etched itself onto his back and a shark toothed grin streached up to his ear.
--in a previous chp-- Crow heals Jasper's wounds by showing him a vial of Clear Elysium just heals him by her letting them go.
YOU ARE READING
Shadows of Elysium: The Laughing King
HorrorOnce upon a time there was a world, much like our own. This world is gone. The machinations and wars of man saw to every manner of apocalypse. What was left is a world as nightmarish as it is fantastical. Gunslingers and swordsmen ply the same trade...
