Azrael

Twenty Two

Despite its name, the Midnight Temple was not a house of worship. The charred grey walls and weathered oak doors spoke of a building that had withstood the harshest of conditions, and the skulls hanging from spikes atop the gates hinted at the horrors within. Adira was glad for her escort, and her coat. Mostly her escort. Whereas the fur coat kept out the worst of the cold, Venus' presence forced the shadows to keep their distance. There were many more of them here–a tidal wave of voices that had been reduced to whispers when Venus came close.

The Sentinel herself did not seem to be aware of these other entities, but Adira had to feign not being able to see the charcoal swirls that floated in the air around them.

"Where did Vera disappear off too?" Adira asked as they walked through an open field towards the temple. She had not noticed when the elf had left them.

"She serves me only out of her own accord," Venus replied. "If I have no direct tasks for her, she tends to come and go as she likes."

Adira looked up at one of the skulls along the wall. A shadowy being sat next to it, and from this distance, she couldn't tell, but it appeared headless. She closed her eyes and exhaled, focusing on the walking figure of Venus, who had taken the lead. She took firm certain steps in such a specific pattern that Adira figured they were following an unseen path through the field.

"This person we're going to talk to, are they expecting us?"

Venus shook her head. "The Midnight temple does not accept visitors. But it is policed by dark elves, and they can be convinced otherwise."

"Dark elves?" Adira paused. "That sounds ominous."

"Their only difference to normal elves is their preference for shadow magic."

"Oh."

That would explain why Adira felt powerful here. Back in the Red Temple, the shadows were few and far between and never interacted with anything in the physical plane. Here they were everywhere, and she could feel every one of them for miles. She could feel their despair and hopelessness, but unlike the first time, it was an emotion that empowered her rather than scared.

"Is this person a dark elf too?"

"One of the more infamous ones," Venus told her. "For a moment in time, the names Malaki and Azrael struck fear deep into the hearts of everyone who heard them. Those two were inseparable and outright unbeatable."

Adira took care to keep her tone neutral. "Azrael too? What were they doing exactly?"

"They fought. Anyone rich enough to hire them was certain of victory no matter the odds. And of course, due to their darker deeds, heavy bounties were placed upon their capture or death."

"Which meant more fighting." Adira finished.

"Exactly. Let me show you something."

Adira felt power flow through the ring Venus had given her, and she gasped.

The plains around them were no longer green, but were a barren wasteland; the earth beneath had been burned beyond the repairing hand of nature. The magnificent walls of the Midnight Temple suddenly weren't that magnificent. The towers had been torn down, chunks of the stone were missing in places, and were blackened with soot. There was an army standing before the walls, nothing more than skeletons in pieces of armour, holding rusty weapons. They stood there unmoving, blank eyes staring right at her. The only thing that looked to be alive was one of the two men at the front that had moved forward. He was wearing a black shroud engraved with strange symbols. His skin was visibly covered in markings from head to toe, and he held a golden staff in his right hand. A sly grin was pasted onto his face as he looked at the army, then at Adira. Beside him stood a skeleton in armour holding an axe.

"It's not real?" Adira thought out loud.

Movement. The man with the staff had raised it.

The ground below them started trembling. A clawed skeleton limb rose out of the ground where they had stood moments before, trying to find a grasp. The hand had found enough grip to start pulling itself free of the earth. A putrid stench filled the air as the top of its head broke the surface.

A dragon.

Adira could see that its skin had once been a deep shade of purple, but years of decay had bleached almost all the colour out. There were bits of flesh missing from its head, where its skull was visible. It paused for a while, turning its empty lifeless sockets towards Adira.

The dragon screeched, an ear-piercing noise that made Adira put his hands over his ears. It then started pulling the rest of its body free of its earthen prison. One of the wings broke free, bent at a very odd angle. With another wave of the staff from the dark elf, it cracked back into position, and the beast produced another unearthly sound from its gaping mouth.

There was a blur of scarlet as something moved in front of Adira.

"They are very much real. Take your men and go."

"Azrael?" Adira asked.

The Seraphim looked younger, with long dark vibrant hair that had been fashioned into one long braid. She was decked in full battle armor and grasped a dark glinting sword in her right hand.

"It's a very powerful glamour!" Azrael explained, having to shout over the noise coming from the dragon. It was almost free of the ground now. "To them, everything looks okay!"

With a powerful beat of its wings, the creature took off into the sky, rising gradually with outstretched wings. The thick clouds swallowed its graceful figure as it rose higher. Whatever charms the elf was using, they were working as it circled and flew right towards the army behind Adira.

It swooped, and Adira was pulled back to the present, staring into Venus' light grey eyes.

"Those were the final memories of my father, the former Sentinel of the Midnight Temple," Venus told Adira. "It was the first battle where a Seraphim hired Azrael. It was also the first large-scale use of necromancy."

Adira's eyes widened. "I'm so sorry-"

Venus waved down her apology. "He was desperate. Malaki and Azrael split when the elf decided he wanted to attack a Seraphim stronghold. My father teamed up with Azrael to try and get it back from the dark elves."

Adira glanced back at the temple. "They lost."

"My father was killed in the battle and Azrael was exiled." Venus continued. "Malaki was later apprehended, but so much blood had been spilt inside the temple that it was considered desecrated. It has since served as a prison for those supernaturals deemed too dangerous to hold normally."

The look in Venus' eyes clarified the message she wanted to pass across. Even then, she spoke it. "Adira, you will end up here if you continue down the path of shadow magic. And trust me, this is not a pleasant location to spend the rest of your life in."