Shadow of the Abyss

Chapter 126: Athena III

[Divine Sin, Archeon, didn't think you'd go this far.]

[Divine Fallen, 'Corrupted Prince' question your lineage.]

[Diving being, 'She Who Hunts' mourns for those within the High Plateau]

[Diving Being 'Piercing Owl' commends your insight.]

Mounting another set of limbless bodies onto pikes, Altair carried on with a desolate look stained by blood and looked on with cold, unfeely eyes at the fifty or so men and women he'd collected so far.

Innocent or guilty, it didn't matter. If High Command didn't see the need to stop him, he wouldn't stop. Reeses' orders were to rape and kill, which was his. Was he to take this insult from the army he served with a grain of salt? Was he to allow mercy? He didn't know, though he didn't much care.

Blood For Blood

Altair had stood in the center of the High Plateau with his army of moaning pikes, dripping red. The smell had attracted many beasts that Aurora fed the severed limbs, still pale and unaccustomed to what her Master had done. She had never known him to be a cruel master, and now she felt she never knew him at all.

Monster, she'd wanted to call him. And yet, this had not been his fault. He had not caused this madness. 'It was the doing of the High Command.' she told herself, 'they could stop this madness. They could command him to stop. And yet they don't.

They watched, listened, and judged.' Of that, she was sure.

By the third night, the numbers had reached the seventies, and the moans thundered like an endless symphony across the region. It was then she appeared like a ghost amidst the night.

"Art," Ren said, her painted red eyes tingling with the ferocity of a lioness.

"Admiral," Altair greeted with a salute. His face was a dark hue, stained with a river of dried blood. "How may I help you."

"We've issued the order. The Bounty issued by Reese has been taken down." She said, taking in the sight that stripped her of warmth. "I hope you know you've made a lot of enemies today."

"And allies," The Prince said, smiling.

Admiral Vaiga Darkfire gave him a long stare and nodded. "Yes. You've raised over a million Sols. Though it won't do much when the word gets out."

"Good," Altair said, allowing his Moon Blades to stop blocking the drones from aiding the helpless. " And when they come. I'll finally get to bleed them for all they hold dear."

"Hells, Altair." Vaiga cursed. "You…" Unsure how she felt, she shook her head. " This was too much. Far too much."

"But not against the rules. Not yet, anyway." He said, grinning. "But do me a favor… Tell me where Reese Throval is."

"You—"

"I'll owe you," he said calmly. "And if it'll help. I'm not going to kill him." He added with a crooked grin.

"You expect me to believe that?" Vaiga said incredulously. She'd be a fool to believe that. "After this blood bath? Altair… you are in so much shit right now… I literally can't aid you. There are lords on those pikes. Daughters and Sons of noblemen.

When the King and Queen hear this—" she stopped, creasing her temple. "Fuck…"

"I just need a general location," Altair said calmly.

"It'll be mayhem, boy. Reese is a Lordling on the level of a dukedom. He has ties to the imperial family." Vaiga warned, certain he would see the value in letting the matter rest. However, despite her words of forewarning, Altair's gaze was steadfast. "South… to the volcanic trenches," she said, vanishing in a wisp of light.

The Prince fashioned a sword to his belt, with Ren by his side and his shadow treading behind in a light step.

The Great Plateau had been struck silent. What should have been an entertaining exercise had been corrupted. Many recruits were hiding, terrified at the rumors surrounding Altair.

Butcher, they called him Monster, Bastard, Slayer, Demon. But Altair neither cared nor could be bothered to. Everything had gone according to his plan. He had been caught off guard by Ren's Bounty. Nonetheless, that merely gave him an excuse to lay siege to the military. Those who see his potential will fock beneath his shadow, and those who don't will be marked.

Phase two of Search and Destroy would begin in a day's time. For what it constituted, Altair did not know, though he had an idea.

"We should arrive in three days," Aurora said, with a piercing gaze at the half-moon. She looked at her Master's back. "My Lord… What will your House Crest be?" Wondering about his aspirations regarding the throne.

"It will be of a wolf bearing its fangs over the blood-stained crescent moon." He said without much thought. The moon had been the symbol that embodied the darkness and the light. it represented Luna and his mother and all they'd done for him. And the wolf. The wolf was of his beloved… And that wolfish bloodlust he kept at bay.

Ren slipped onto his bare back and kissed his blood-stained cheeks. " I like that." she intoned, tasting the tang of dried blood. She purred and bit his ear.

In the days that came and went, the Great Plateau had gone silent with a chill as the Lieutenants of each team had taken to the battlefield. Like hunters, they prowled, teaming up with those within their commands.

By the second night, most had managed to reach their teams. Others weren't so lucky, having lost track of their teammates altogether. And on the third day, sieges across the Great Plateau raged on.

Soon, by the third night, pillars of light shrieked into the skies, marking the various domains of those that destroyed more than five cubes. Altair's pillar was bleeding a scarlet glow over the twin mountains. It was so radiant. It towered over the others.

When they arrived, their boots were muddied and matted by grass and leaves. The Prince stared up at the volcanic ashes dancing through the air. And was reminded of the Hells, to the emerald flames that burned through the second layer of Hell. Magma had seemed to trail down the great mountains through trenches and valleys in an endless sea of orange, red, and black.

'It could not compare,' The Prince thought. He could still recall the innate fear that squeezed at his soul the moment his eyes graced that emerald flame. He wanted to scream then, yet the fear had made him silent. Altair lifted a gaze towards the trail that led deep into where a pillar of light shone.

"My Lord, Reese Thorvel is of a powerful nobility," Aurora said with a tension of fear in her throat. She almost didn't speak. "Are you sure you wish to do this?"

"Do the Thorvels scare you?" Her Master inquired without turning back.

"No, My Lord," Aurora said, staring up at her Master through the lashes of her eyes. "You do, my Lord. I fear what you'll do."

Altair laughed and pressed forward through a narrow ledge where lava dripped from above a fang-shaped stone. Reina and Aurora silently followed while Kuu watched on with a sense of familiarity in its large, beady violet eyes. It cooed a soft, gentle cry within the bosom of Rens cloak.

The scorching heat did little to affect the Kitsume as nodes of mana seemed to dance along its soft snow-white coat. Aurora hadn't been so lucky. Despite being of her Master's blood, she hadn't been graced by her Lord's Almighty Resistance, nor did she possess Reina's Primordial Physique that allowed her to maintain a perfect state of being. She was of flesh, blood, and shadows.

Sweat dripped from her slender face, soaking her clothing as she gasped for air, feeling the ashes of brimstone filling her lungs with its fumes. Her eyes grew wet, and her face windburned after a day's journey.

"Aurora… You have such a nice body." Ren said, glancing back, pulling her up and over a stone with ease. "So curvy."

"My Lady~" Aurora bemoaned, embarrassed at how her clothing clung to her skin. It had been nearly a month since she had a shower. Now, she had smelt of blood and death and now sweat.

"It's true… though I wonder why you wear a bra?" Reina inquired, perplexed, following behind Altair through a large stony overpass. She glanced back, glimpsing a spandex bra beneath Aurora's tunic.

"It's a sports bra," Aurora said, hoping her Master wasn't listening. "My breasts like to flop about, so I wear one," she explained. "And it's to help to stop them from growing saggy in the future. Humanity can live for about three hundred years thanks to the advancement of technology and healthy eating. Mana also helps. That's a long time for the body to change over time."

"Three hundred years?" Ren cried. " Why so short? Elves live for nearly a thousand years, High elves ten thousand."

"But their birthrates are low," Aurora replied. "I'm not sure how long transcendents live for, but—"

"Four thousand years," Altair answered. "They are Demi-Gods, but that's the general limit. Unless they can obtain something to help increase their lifespan. The limit is set at four thousand or so, I read."

"Wow… That seems so short." Reina said, but Altair shook his head.

"Not really. If it's a High Elves, they could potentially live another four thousand years on top of their normal lifespan. Can you imagine how many generations that is? From what I hear, Elves have quite a few Transcendents."

Slowly up a set of cliffs that steamed with sulfuric pockets, they climbed for nearly a mile, staining their fingers black. They arrived at one of the great peaks.

"Whore!" Lord Reese Thorvel said, greeting them as he watched them pull each other up. "I've been waiting for you." he slid a gaze towards the Prince, spat a few curses beneath his breath, and glared at Ren. Behind him, Altair counted four, one of them being a familiar face, but the name alluded him.

"Vadi…" Aurora said stiffly.

Vadi had a cold gleam in his eyes as he clutched his chest, glaring at her with his hazel eyes. To his left sat Rebbeca, a young red-haired woman, gripping a Tech Staff. On his right stood Ser William Raymar and his brother Sam Raymar, wielding their iron sword.

"I've been waiting for you," Reese said, pointing his single-edged sword toward Reina as if to pierce her heart with it. "I swore I'll have your fucking head! And after today. I'll have it."

Darkness prowled through the Prince's icy gaze, smoldering with a baleful gale of fire. And for the first time, he understood the meaning of Courting Death.