The cold

The Beginning

Nerezza felt a little miffed, she just didn't see the logic. Why would the magpie let them find her, because that was clearly the case here, it was like the woman had something very troublesome up her sleeve or she was just plain crazy, it looked that way at least.  

If it was indeed her that controlled and manipulated the vines to herd them here, then why didn't she do the same to kill them, the sheer amount of vines would have pretty much done them in, she could have strangled them or well, the picture was pretty clear. Instead the woman just stood there smiling at them sadistically, like she was goading them to make the first move, her eyes open wide and her face sporting a craze filled expression.

The shadows slowly pooled beside the crazed woman, slowly solidifying and taking shape, becoming something that made Damien and Abbadon shocked. Their grandfather Miorag walked out of the shadows with a little chuckle. Damien watched as the man stood on the other side, shadows blurring around him. It should have been expected, when someone's plotting to open the gates of Ement and flood their world with demons that the world was better off without, who else would one ask for help than the one demon that loved to make dark contracts and steal the sanity of others. After all, the ones who would benefit from the whole thing were Miorag and beings like him, people who literally lived off other's joy. It also explained how the woman knew the spell, the details of which were either destroyed or so hard to find that they couldn't even find any hints on how to stop it or any details on it, not even the slightest mention ,no matter how deep they dug. 

Which was exactly why the woman needed to die, Nerezza figured. Miorag wouldn't have waited so long for his freedom if the woman wasn't somehow central to the plan, killing her would probably put an end to this whole thing, it made a world of sense. "'tis sad indeed, isn't it? that my own grandchildren are against my return, isn't it ? Margie dear, you know what to do , I'll just go pay a little visit to the castle, got a few people to meet there, things to do now, don't I?" Miorag said , smirking at Damien evilly before disappearing into the shadows taking all of Damien's piece of mind with him. 

Margie smiled "I suppose you've never got the opportunity to meet my wonderful pet spirit Xaxes?" she asked, as a very large dog like beast made his presence known, little wines surrounding it, saliva dripping from it's chin. It was then that all hell broke loose. The beast charged at Nerezza who threw herself to the side to avoid being sliced in half by its claws, Abbadon throwing spell after spell on it , only for none to take effect. Soon he took to his sword too,fighting the vile thing along with Nerezza , both of them barely hanging on. They circled the beast, trying to land a hit on the beast every time it focused on the other, sometimes only barely escaping it's jaws. The beast was extremely quick and fluid, clever too, not letting them gain much of an upper hand ,making things extremely difficult. The vines wound around Alaster, pretty much holding him in place, neither letting him help his mistress while the beast attacked her nor go back to Obyss, seemingly enchanted in a way that was unheard of.

Damien quietly blended into the shadows, trying to make himself invisible, perhaps he could kill Margie while she was busy with the fight in front of her, take her by surprise or something. He slowly crept up to her , knife in hand , trying to make as little noise as possible. It looked like she had temporarily forgotten about him , too engrossed in the mayhem in front of her .

Abbadon screamed when the beasts jaws wrapped around his hand, it's head jerking from side to side almost pulling the hand out of the socket. Damien drove the knife into the woman from behind, driving it straight through her chest to the hilt and then pulling it back, ready to plunge the knife in once more. The woman turned to him with a sick smile on her face, a thin line of blood falling from one side of her mouth. 

Margie fell to her knees, coughing blood and laughing hysterically, it was done, finally done, the plan was in motion ,the runes were greedily drinking her blood, and the runes on the other side would have their thirst quenched in just some time. She could finally rest in peace, knowing that she was leaving the world behind in beautiful chaos and destruction, knowing that pain would run rampant in the world and soon it would be a place shadowed by fear. 

The vile dog like animal disappeared when it's master died , it's purpose here served. Nerezza stared at Margie shocked, the ground beneath her was glowing , a small rune formed there , growing larger and glowing brighter , the miasma around the place growing thicker by the second . It took them a moment to realize what had happened, they had been played, the woman had planned her own death and used them to make her plans work. This was the end, the day after would probably see, well, she didn't know what was yet to happen, nothing good she supposed. 

"It isn't over yet" Abbadon gritted out, holding his mutilated arm tenderly by his side. He could literally see the bone inside, so deep was the cut, but there wasn't much that could be done, at least not before they did what they had to do. Miorag wouldn't go to the castle if there wasn't anything to be done there , they had to head there fast, try to stop him from whatever he planned on doing, not that he actually believed there was a chance but he didn't want to let the whole world down by giving up, no matter how thin the silver lining was.