[[Side Story]]
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"Fight on, wicked child, for the memory of your mother."
Venia's body came apart at unholy flame, shimmering in the presence of his hate-filled blow. The rain of her blood landed on Luke's face, buried his sword and quenched the flames in her golden light. Several steps away the swirling mist of Mercy coalesced and remade that frail doll-like body Venia used to speak.
The Mercy that wet Luke's skin burned softly - it hummed with that same strange music that the sea above resonated with. A soft mix of vocal harmonies and wailing strings. A symphony of ephemeral emotions brought forth by an absent mind. He realized quickly that her blood was drawing away his energy. Like water drew heat when it evaporated, this golden abomination drew negative emotions to itself before evaporating back to it's ethereal body above.
"You are in need of my love, lost child," Venia said, taking some steps forward with her arms open.
"You will find in me the same peace that you seek. In me is the heartbeat of your mother, the gentle embrace of sleep, and unity with the world. Come and join the choir of your peers."
The rainfall became a torrential storm. It was like the sea of ether above had begun to collapse.
The bonfire flickered.
Venia walked toward Luke slowly, taking one sure step at a time in the thin layer of Mercy that had accumulated on the city streets, and holding out her arms as if to invite him into an embrace. Her childish frame and innocent gait was unnerving as it was infuriating. She had no respect for the concept of death, or fear, or she had no idea how to even fathom those concepts.
The idea that someone did not want to become one with her was foreign to this entity.
Lucifer spread his wings again, and with a flap, moved himself towards the bonfire. While he had in fact provoked the monster before him, it was becoming alarmingly clear he'd have to tread carefully with choice of attacks. Obviously, splash damage and anything that made blood fly would be inefficient. His sword would not serve him as well here. Holding up his free hand, Lucifer concentrated once more (an instantaneous effort for one so well versed such as him) and waved his hand in an arc.
At first, it appeared there was nothing, but the discordant howl of the "music" of the Mercy was quickly finding a competitor, the rains changing direction towards Venia as a fierce gale was picking up. Refuse and litter on the streets fluttered and were torn away like leaves, dust from the buildings scattered, before pieces of them began to tear and fly towards his opponent. Lucifer's immaculate looks, well maintained with magic and good hairgel - had even come undone, golden locks blowing towards his opponent, as with cutting winds that wanted equal parts to push her back and crush her with the rubble of their landscape.
The whipping winds struck Venia and cast her back into her constituent mist. The girl vanished as the rain of her Mercy came down on Luke. For a while there was nothing but the sounds of rainfall and twisted winds. Then the cold returned, a sudden and inexplicable darkness that froze the ruined world once again in time. Gone were the rubble, the buildings, the cars, the tanks, the corpses of the world. There was nothing but darkness and the accursed liquid light swirling above and below.
The bonfire flickered.
Venia appeared again. This time she stood far away in the darkness. The light she emitted lit up the ground beneath her. She was standing on a pile of broken concrete. The rest of the world was only visible as dark shadows under the running streams of liquid light.
There was pity in her eyes.
"You fight so hard and with such hate. It is no wonder that Alice would try to keep you to herself," she smiled sadly, her wide red eyes were wet with tears,
"You deserve so much better. Please, calm down. I'm not here to hurt anyone."
There was a warmth from behind, where the winds had been blowing from. A small soft body wrapped it's arms around Luke's midriff. He felt the soft push of her flesh, the sweet fragrance of her hair, and the sudden and inexplicable draining of his will to fight from him. He didn't sense her second body... he couldn't have. There was too much of that damned blood.
There was a crimson flare, like a lotus bloom.
The little girl fractured and shattered, cast back into the blackness that made up the dead world.
"You fool! Run! Run! Run while you can!" A billow of a blood-red cape flickered before Luke. It was a phantom of the Red Mage, created by the memories of the bonfire keeping the dark at bay. He turned around, green eyes gleaming.
"Do you really think that this monster is worth fighting? Leave, go far away! Run as far as you can! Come back after you've learned what this thing is, and bring the rest of the heroes with you!"
At first, Luke thought the phantom was speaking to him, but then he quickly realized that it was looking through him. Behind him.
At another phantom, a golden-haired sorcerer holding onto the curled-up body of a young pre-teen girl. The hero from before, Lucieon.
"Get her safe! Make her strong, and then come back for us. We'll hold that thing off while you go!"
The phantom of Lucieon grabbed the bonfire and vanished.
Lucifer shuddered at the onslaught of situations and questions that were assailing his mind. What the everloving hell was this thing, that so quickly and easily evaded his magic? He thought he had a grasp on her nature - some form of entity that could destroy worlds, that was self righteous and self satisfying; these things were true, but it didn't quite cut to the core of the abomination that just tried to absorb him. Who was this Alice that Venia spoke of? Why did she want him to herself? And for that matter, what would she do if her plan succeeded? It was so quickly averted by the small fire with the sword plunged in it, that Lucifer was loathe to think of what this entity would do with him.
Yet, with the strange mirage of Red Mage and Luceion, a strange sense of Deja Vu washed over Lucifer, as he followed Lucieon's actions, reaching for the Bonfire behind him. In a bid to conserve his magic and energy, Lucifer bid his armor and sword away; quickly shifting back to his Humanoid form with bartender uniform. Hair still askew from the magical wind, he concentrated his magic on the Bonfire, blindly reaching into it's network of locations before he jumped, his thoughts primarily crossing to "anywhere but here".
He wanted away from this madness, he wanted away from the girl who attempted to take him. He wanted desperately to be back on the Dawn, with friends and loved ones, to feel the Boss' presence in the back of his mind again. He wanted home, but Home was the last place he needed to be.
---
The trip was sudden and draining. Where it was once like leaping through the space between worlds, this was different. He was being pulled through oblivion by a force unknown to him. He watched distant realities fly past him, each grey and dark, a tableau of old civilization consumed by the accursed golden sea.
Then the trip was over and Luke found himself sitting on a stone floor in front of an old bonfire. Lazy crackling flames dancing in the ashes and throwing glowing embers into the air around it. It was dark here too, but the air was warm. There was a musky scent of books and wood as well as wet stone.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw dim blue lights flickering between stone towers stacked with books. Lazy butterflied drifted between shelves, illuminating hundreds of thousands of old leather-bound scripture. The darkness here wasn't hostile. It was normal and mundane. A shadow that was a result of being deep underground. In fact, if he closed his eyes, he could hear the distant song of running water and the roar of several waterfalls.
He must have been really deep.
A butterfly landed in front of him. It's antennae touched his fingers as it beat it's wing and let loose a cloud of luminescent scales. Then - as he was used to by now - a girl appeared in a flash of light. She was short, had red hair in a clean cut bob, wore long thick cotton robes and held a oak staff. The butterflies congregated on this small witch.
"I guess you are one of Lusiya's friends?" she asked.
"My name is Jiyamuanna il Callaxiakio, I'm the Flutterstorm Herald, if that's easier for you to say. Otherwise you can just call me Jiyam." She looked around.
"Sorry to say, but Lusiya-senpai is out at the moment, though I could see if Lady Teres-"
"That won't be necessary. You are dismissed Jiyam. Go see if Gissella needs help resetting her arena for the next batch of adventurers."
Jiyam bowed suddenly,
"Lady Teresa! I did not know that you had left your chambers!"
Teresa smiled and pat Jiyam on the head,
"It is quite alright. This man's arrival is something special. Please, give us some privacy."
Jiyam nodded and vanished, taking her swarm of butterflies with her.
Teresa took several steps around Luke, eyeing him carefully. Then she put a finger on her chin,
"You look quite shaken. Would you like some tea? Or maybe something to eat?" The stone beneath her feet was soft like foam.
"Where have you been?" The girl was older than the previous one. She looked quite similar to Venia, but was older. Had longer white hair that ended in soft pink highlights. Her eyes were red as well, but playful instead of inhuman. Thick streaks of missing flesh ran across her body, letting a literal river of blood run across her skin in contained paths.
She had blood, not that abhorrent golden
mercy. That was good at least.
"I can smell Venia on you, you poor thing," she offered her hand to Luke,
"My name is Teresa. I'm one of BlackHarte's daughters. Nice to meet you."
