Chronicles of the Underworld - Soul Eater

1 - The City of Fallen Angels

The City of Fallen Angels was in ruins and their king had gone insane.

Mortimer had summoned them deep into the Ruined City, which was the first indicator that something was off. The second was the command he had just given them.

Alexandria fixated a crow on the windowsill behind the king and, as she had done so often, wished for it to spontaneously combust, before she turned to the other member of her dyad and shared the solid conclusion she had come to: This is bullshit.

The shadow elf looked at her king. At the man who had called her into his army when she was little more than three winters old. To whose cause she had sworn dedicating her life to. The one who had taken every decision in said life, whom her existence revolved around. He had quite obviously gone off the rails.

The Crow King's eyes had always reminded her of ponds in an ancient forest. Nobody knew what was going on in them, what was lurking there or what they harbored. They were set deep in a white face, ageless as the sea, the stones it smoothed beyond recognition, framed by shoulder length dark hair that merged with his coat of feathers. He was one of the rulers of the 12 cities of the underworld, and his was the infamous one.

The City of Fallen Angels, the Ruined City, Mortimer's City, was no home for one species alone, like the Vampire City Venice, the Gargoyle City Paris, or the Werewolf City London. This city was the shelter to everyone who did not belong anywhere else; whether they were outcasts, criminals, or something else. Here, they had a place to be and a ruler who had turned them into an uncompromising, infallible army.

"I have paired you with a triad that will teach you things. Things no one else can teach you and which you have to know," Mortimer said.

His voice gave no indication of his age, but Alexandria knew that he was old. She, of course, also knew the story of how he had become monarch; the story of the enchantress Nox whose burning had caused the city to look the way it did. That had been centuries ago.

"You will return to the Human World tomorrow at dusk. At dawn I expect you to be back and to have succeeded in your respective missions."

Alexandria controlled the expression on her face and risked a glance at the soldier next to her. He was the other half of her dyad, her brother, her partner. Her and him were one, connected by the inextricable bond of Mortimer's soldiers. She felt what he felt and vice versa, she knew what he thought, and should one of them die, the other would die in the same second. One part of Mortimer's soldiers could not survive without the other. This was not a blessing, this was a curse.

One thing she admired about Aurel was his apparent indifference. Nobody ever knew what was going on in his mind.

They're going to separate us, you know?, Aurel said, sounding almost absent-minded. However, she felt his brain racing just like hers: trying to wrap around and figure out what the actual hell was the matter with their new mission.

Mission.

If one could call it that.

It wasn't – actually. Hence their confusion. They were trained soldiers, they had been in battle, they had a reputation among their fellows which did not derive from never having completed their apprenticeship, rather the opposite.

He's sending us on a training mission. That's even worse, she replied. Darkness spare me.

I really did not miss training.

It's not like you ever went.

Which, of course, had nothing to do with you and spontaneous coffee runs to the Upper World...

She repressed a grin. They had never absolved the training the other soldiers their age had – it had proven pointless. Their apprenticeship had begun with actual training missions, the missions sworn soldiers were charged with. Like the one they were apparently being sent off to now. Again.

How long have we worked for him? Do you think he got something mixed up?

No. Aurel's modus operandi was being grumpy. When he was thinking about something that worried him, he got even grumpier. There has to be something.

The shadow elf had always been better at hiding her emotions. Or maybe it was fear. Aurel knew what fear was, had felt it many times. It was human, just like him. Also, there was this thing with magic.

It was way harder to kill Alexandria than to kill him. She was capable of doing magic, he wasn't. And that was the only thing that really worried her.

"The triad I chose is one of the best the guard has ever brought fore. They have been working for me for years and are highly professional. You will learn something from them."

They're probably also like two hundred years older than us, she muttered.

He didn't reply. Focused on figuring out what the catch of the mission was.

"They've just gotten back from Lisbon. They cleared out an issue in the Dark Forest."

She felt like something in her stirred, deep inside, a memory. She hated Lisbon and everything around it.

"Aurel, you will go with Columbia. There is a pack of werewolves drawing too much attention in the city and I need them gone. Columbia is a witch and blessed with magic from the Old Order."

She's a demon, she said to him. I wonder what kind of spirits she tried to mess with. Inca? Aztec?

Why would he send me off with a witch? Magic is your business.

You'll find out.

So looking forward to it.

You'll get to play with werewolves, be happy.

You know what else we could be doing with the time we'll be wasting on–

"Alexandria."

Her name drew her attention back to the king. He looked at her, something lingering, lurking in his eyes. "You'll go with Salem."

She nodded. She had heard the name before. The guy was definitely no stranger to the Cathedral and everyone in it.

She tilted her head and a strand of silver hair fell from her shoulder to her chest. "What do you want me to do?"

"Salem is one of my best hunters."

"What are we hunting?"

"A soul eater."

"Oh."

Those were nasty things. She had never encountered one personally, but she knew everything about them. She knew what they did. They... ate souls.

What they left was a body, useless; alive, but empty.

"Great.", she said. "I can't wait. Is the third one coming with one of us?"

Triads always consisted of three soldiers. They were interconnected as she was connected to Aurel, they shared their perception, their sensation, their thoughts, their existence. Their string of life. The control Mortimer exceeded over them through the bond.

Aurel and Alexandria were an abomination. The third person in their triad had never been found.

"No, he won't. Fulgor will deal with a vampire that has been troubling me."

She nodded. Prague was Mortimer's city, only in the Upper World. The human world. The City of Fallen Angels laid beneath it, in another dimension, the underworld.

"I see.", she said.

The shadow elf took a step back and the king turned around, his coat whispering as if the feathers were alive.

"You can show yourself out.", he said. And softer: "Don't disappoint me."

Mortimer begging might be among the most terrifying things the soldiers had ever heard.