Maledictus Terra Book 2: Sanguifex Part 31

10 months ago

Introduction

Welcome back to Maledicturs Terra. This is a Chain Story between myself and @lex-zaiya, meaning that we each write the parts alternatively.

If you have not read Maledictus Terra Book 1: Mortis Custos yet, it starts HERE at Part 1 and ends at Part 101 HERE. At the end of the Part 101 post you will find links to all 101 Parts!

The previous part by @lex-zaiya can be found HERE.

Part 31

Mortis glanced at the rest of the party as he was conferring with his Knights. He was greatly annoyed. He had picked these two specifically since they were competent knights, but more so because they had seemed to most level headed of the Knight band.

These were the two who had seemed to respect Mortis but not deify him for his deeds. To just treat him as warrior (an undead one at that) who had been oath-sworn to protect his kin and was not doing that duty.

They had not been the kind that were falling over their feet and naming him their God.

Until now.

"There is no coincidence!" Leopold, the male Knight was saying. "The fact that Lord Mortis is drawn to combat the creatures of the Dark One is proof that he is the God who opposes such vile horrors!"

"Forgive us my Lord." Anna said and the two of them bowed. "We were loathe to surrender our faith and traditions."

"We could not just follow the will of the mob... er... crowd and start calling just any being a God." Leopold said.

"We have seem many powerful magical creatures in our time." Anna added. "We are perhaps less prone to be dazzled than other Blaze Knights."

This last part was of interest at least. For a moment Mortis forgot his annoyance. "Why would that be? What makes you two different from the others?" He asked.

Anna smiled, her pretty face bright under her helm that now had its visor open.. "That is because Sir Leopold and I are Vault Keepers. In our home, the City of Biron, the Clerics that head the Crusade forces of our Order would sometimes bring back live creatures and monsters, or artefacts."

"Or dead ones." Leopold added.

Anna nodded. "Or dead ones. Sometimes the things that were alive were allowed to live because we wished to study them. Other times they were captured but alive because we could not destroy them. Not until we figured out a way to do it."

Leopold continued. "It was our duty to gault and patrol the halls of the vaults. And thus... we have seen many crazy, wonderful and horrible things."

"Have you ever seen a Revenant?" Mortis asked. Purposefully, he took off his helmet, his bare dry skin open to the environment.

Leopold and Anna shared a glance and then nodded. "We have Lord Mortis." Anna answered.

"Tell me about it Anna." He said.

"There had been a Noble who had acquired a great deal of wealth. Many said that he did so by funding a fleet of pirates and aiding in their escape when they needed to be caught. He had then grown old but remained greedy for his gold. He paid a sea witch to grant him immortality. The witch turned him into a Revenant and used her power over him to cause a lot of destruction and chaos. You see, the Noble's pirates had killed her family and thus this was her revenge. She first used the Revenant to kill his own family, the pirate fleet and then she became mad. Not happy with the fact that others still had joy in their lives, the tasked him to kill every breathing person that he saw."

Anna paused. She looked pale-faced.

"He killed the witch didn't he?" Mortis prompted.

Anna nodded. Then Leopold continued with the story. "Almost instantly. The Revenant then went on a rampage across the country, killing innocents. It was captured to divine its nature, source and to test..."

Mortis frowned. "Say it." He commanded.

"...to test its durability."

Mortis shrugged. "I understand your reluctance then in considering me a God. In fact, the mere fact that you do not is the reason that I chose the two of you." Mortis grumbled. "So why did you two change your minds now?"

Anna bowed and Leopold followed soon after. "Because the universe has spoken. Leopold and I also served in the Order's Divination corps. We see the strands of fate in your movements and actions."

Mortis sighed and rolled his eyes. "It is my sworn oath to protect my kin. That means the twins. They are the heirs of Dragonshold. That is why I am here. THEY are the ones who are tied to Gods."

Anna grinned. "We shall see."

Leopold was alos smiling and then his smile vanished when he looked around the clearing. "Where is Adiran? The old wizard."

Suddenly there was a blazing flash of light, an irridescent purple ray that blasted through the canopy of trees in the north.

Morits slammed his helmet onto his head. "To arms!" He yelled at the various party members. He did not look back to see if they were following. He knew the Blaze Knights would. The stupid, devout Blaze Knights.

Over to you @lex-zaiya!

Here is an explanation of Chain Stories and here is the current Chainstory Library

Mortis Custos

Start

Sanguifex

by @zakludick	by @lex-zaiya
Part 1	Part 2
Part 3	Part 4
Part 5	Part 6
Part 7	Part 8
Part 9	Part 10
Part 11	Part 12
Part 13	Part 14
Part 15	Part 16
Part 17	Part 18
Part 19	Part 20
Part 21	Part 22
Part 23	Part 24
Part 25	Part 26
Part 27	Part 28
Part 29	Part 30
You are here!	Coming soon!