The Codex Lacrimae: The Book of Tears

Chapter 41: The Many Assessments of Lore Master Santini

Moments earlier, while the Codex formed a flaming Abwehr Sphäre around Aurelius, the knight shouted at the Dark Book, "Protect Clarinda too—always!"

The Arch-Mage has taken care of the Norn,the Codex sneered, and knowing his tastes in witches,he did that so he can get into Trevisan's tunic, then breeches, and then—

"Basta," Aurelius snapped. "If she's safe, we go into the blast and take this fight to the source!"

Many foes await, Santini. Abbadon and Hela have united in the hospital to build a runeporteto Muspelheim while Perceval, Fatima, and Alexander fight Morpeth, Farbauti, and Mogthrasir.

"I've another Codex here," the knight exclaimed as he drew Arngrim, raising his voice to be heard above the screams that erupted from it. "But you're correct, Codex Lacrimae, we need to even the odds—summon Fafnir!"

WHAT? The dragon fled the field with the Wilde Jagd and awaits fulfillment of your promise to restore him to life.

"Summon him, Codex," Aurelius repeated. "I don't care how you do it, but tell him that his only path to true life lies with me."

You are intolerable!

"Then you burn the caskets."

The Dark Book fell silent.

"I suspected as much. I need Fafnir's fire, now." He paused. "Will Hela expect him to return?"

No, even if he's a dragon, only a fool would face the Queen of Death when he's betrayed her.

"Or a being with nothing to lose."

True. If his heart remains intact, even she cannot discorporate him.

"Please, Codex, make this so, and have him direct his fire at those coffins."

The Codex Lacrimae didn't reply, and Aurelius simply hoped that the silence meant it was focusing on the task. He had other things to worry about. He felt the Codex Vindicta's fury matching his own, offering on some primal level a way to destroy all of Aurelius's enemies, if the youth would just let himself trust in the blade's power. The dissonant melody ran along the blade's edge and made Aurelius's hair stand on end, and the air in the burning hallway filled with what sounded like a choir of angels trying to find their voices while suffering the tortures of the damned.

God, please, how can this be my life now? Don't let me be damned for doing what I have to do to save my friends!

Only silence met his plea. If God were listening, He had no words to comfort the troubled knight. As for the Singing Sword of Arngrim, unlike the Codex Lacrimae, the transformed Book of Vengeance didn't speak in words that could be understood; it communicated only by means of a wild, hellish song.

The Codex Vindicta didn't need words. The images elicited by drawing the weapon were haunting enough: Skuld's impalement by his hand in the Sviddengen, Verdandi's death in the hallway among the horde of Wilde Jagd, and the slash that had ended Urd's previous incarnation.

Santini winced, flinching involuntarily as he ran forward into the ruined hospital while chunks of masonry and eldritch flames from the explosion bounced off the Abwehr Sphäre. Caught between what was becoming a constant struggle for mastery with the Codex Lacrimae, and trying to maintain a coherent thought through the visceral fury of the Codex Vindicta, he tried to keep the advice of his friends foremost in his thoughts.

Perceval's words from the chapel pierced Arngrim's screams, his voice that of the harsh taskmaster, Devrone di Magglia: Oh, my God, no more indecision, Servius. You are a Grail Knight—act like one! Then, there was the advice of Dietrich: Your first lesson from me, if you'll listen ... imagine a wall of fire in your mind, then make that wall so strong that no words or thoughts may pass through it.