Age of Gods and Beasts

Chapter 18: The Widower

They were dead. Sprawled on the ground in their own blood. Koji had her tails cut off, Lupa's throat was slit, and Dove's arrows pierced her own body. Atlas was pinned to the wall by a wooden stake going through his chest. Mega laid on the ground, his helmet broken and blood pouring out of a hole in his stomach. And Jackson's body was split in two, his guts splattered all over. Mirage was on her knees screaming and crying, in horror of what she has seen. A figure floated above the bodies, a dark cloak enveloping them. The the figure pulled their hood down. White gray skin, ghostly white hair, and glowing blood red eyes. Lilith, the sin of Wrath. "You did this. You killed them. It's your fault. You thought I was gone, but I was always there." "No! This can't be real it can't be! No!" Mirage jolted awake and found herself in her room, moonlight streaming in through the windows. She sighed in relief and rubbed her eyes. "It was just a dream. Thank the goddesses." She got out of bed, and went to clean her face. She looked at herself in the mirror, studying her aqua green eyes. "I am good. Lilith is gone." She splashed water on her face and brushed her hair. She left the bathroom and went to find a guard. She found one and asked him if he could wake her council up, including Mega and Atlas. "M-Must I wake the Guardian? He kind of scares me." "I promise you he won't mean you any harm, but he is a little cranky when he wakes up." "At...at once my lady." And with that he left. Mirage went to go wait in the debate hall. It took thirty minutes for everyone to wake up and get ready. They walked into the debate hall, looking extremely tired. Koji and Lupa's tails weren't brushed and they just hung limply and their ears were drooping. Dove hadn't brushed her hair and her wings weren't preened. Jackson just looked a little sleepy-eyed. Mega was still half-asleep. And Atlas had a major bedhead. "Mirage. It's three in the morning. What's so important?" Koji said, yawning. "We need to formulate a plan. The number of missing people has gone up to 84 in the past few hours. I need all of you to sit down." Everyone sat down, all yawning. Mirage tapped the table and a holograph of the interior of the Spiral Caverns appeared. There was a main chamber, which gave way to five more entrances which either led to dead ends or more tunnels. "That cavern is huge. We won't be able to find the Widower in there.", Lupa said. Jackson spoke up. "Maybe not just us. Mirage, how many soldiers do you think we'll need?" "Twenty? Maybe more?" She then moved the hologram away and transferred it to the screen on the table. 27 little dots were next to the image. She moved the dots to specific places on the map. "There are five entrances in the main chamber. Four groups of five soldiers, one medic, one mage, two swordsmen, and an archer, led by one of you, will scout out four of these entrances. And myself and two others will scout out the fifth one. Lupa, you will lead the first squadron. Koji, the second squadron. Dove, third squadron. Jackson, fourth squadron. Mega and Atlas, you will both come with me. I'll send the plans to the captain of the guard. If one of us finds the Widower, use your holo-watches. Get ready. We leave for Titan at dawn." And the meeting was adjourned. The captain received the plans and got the soldiers moving. Armor polished and improved, weapons repaired and sharpened, and med-kits prepared for all types of injuries. Mirage was preparing her spells when she heard a knock on her door. "Come in." Atlas opened the door and walked in. "Oh, Atlas. How can I help you?" "I..um...just came to give you something." He held out a small gift box. She took it and unwrapped it. Inside was a small wire ring, with small rubies woven into it. "Oh Atlas! It's beautiful!" "I bought it at the market. I had it enchanted. It will protect you." "Thank you." She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. His eyes widened and he walked out. He needed to find Jackson. He found him where he usually could be found, the Library. He was looking up ways to counter act magic traps and antidotes from possible poison darts. Atlas went up to him and said,"Jackson, is my weapon ready?"
"It is indeed Master Atlas, come right this way." He leads Atlas to a table were a weapon covered up by a tarp was laid. Jackson grabbed the tarp and pulled it revealing the weapon. Atlas could not believe his eyes, it was beautiful. It was a double bladed sythe with a double sided spear between the blades. It is dark red in color that shined in the light. Atlas took it and examined it he pressed the lever on the handle and the sythe blades folded down towards the hilt and the handle shortened, it had become a magnificent sword. "Excellent work Jackson, thank you."
"You are most welcome Master Atlas." Atlas moved his hand over the weapon and it disappeared. Jackson went wide-eyed. "Where did it go?!" "It went to a pocket dimension. I can summon it whenever I need it." "Interesting." "Let's go. Dawn is approaching." Atlas went to his room and took out something from a case. A syringe. He then took out a bottle filled with a red liquid. He filled the syringe, and stuck it in his vein. He pushed the plunger down and the liquid turned his veins red. Strength filled his muscles and adrenaline courses through his body. "Let's do this." Everyone met at a certain spot in the forest just as the sun was breaking over the horizon. The spot had a crystalline platform with a marble pillar on one side of it. Everyone stood on the platform while Mirage placed her hand on the pillar. The platform started glowing, and everyone disappeared in a flash of light. The ride was a little bumpy, but other than that, it went smoothly. The group ended up in another forest, but this one was extremely dense and had a pathway leading to the Westray colony. Found on the dark side of the Disnoque Grove, the colony of Westray is home to humans lead by Shrine Maiden Uriah.
This colony wasn't built by a forest by accident, as it has natural defences, which is of great importance to the people of Westray and its success. The colony itself looks dull. With its dark wooden rooftops, dark wooden walls and foggy surroundings, Westray has a eerie atmosphere. The main attraction is the Shrine of Foresight, said to give anyone who drinks from it a vision of their future, which was built 26 years ago and designed by humans. Westray has a prosperous economy, which is mainly supported by trade, animal breeding and leatherworking. But their biggest strengths are advanced medicine and rare wood production. However, Westray lacks people skilled in mining. Despite its strengths and weaknesses, Westray is most likely headed towards a gracious future under the leadership of Shrine Maiden Uriah. But this remains to be seen. The group visited the shrine to find Uriah there, praying. She turned around and smiled at them. She bowed before Mirage. "My lady. I'm glad you came. So many of our own have gone missing and we need your help." "We're here to help any way we can, Uriah. Can you tell us the direction that the missing people went when they left?" "Yes, they took the south road, past the Spiral Caverns." (Just as I suspected), Mirage thought to herself. "Alright, Uriah. We'll head that way." "Thank you, my lady." Suddenly, Uriah grabbed Atlas's arm and stared directly into his eyes. "I have seen you in my visons, and I know who you are, Prince of Darkness." Atlas jerked his arm away. "You don't know anything about me." The group left, not saying another word. It took a while to reach the Caverns, but when they did, they were intimidated just by the entrance. Not only was it extremely dark inside, there were spider webs everywhere. Too big and intricate to be normal spiders. "Okay. Let's go." They stepped into the darkness, going deeper into the earth. By the time they reached the main chamber, it was nearly pitch black. The mages lit blue mage fire and it penetrated the dark some. The ceiling was high and the walls looked like they had been carved out by something huge. "Squadrons. Move out." Lupa, Koji, Dove, and Jackson all led their groups down the four different entrances. Atlas and Mega stayed behind with Mirage. "Atlas, do you have the prism?" In response, he pulled out a large blue glowing crystal. "Good. Let's head out." And they walked into the unkown.