Ch 1: Gathering Storm

Assaulting the Vinculus, Alastor and his Altera Veritas move to deal with their traitors and claim Grey and Saria. All the while, schemes and subterfuge are slowly being put into motion...

            Sailing through the skies of Teramis, General Steven Dreck’s flagship, the Ultio, made its way towards the dimensional link to Gaia layered across the heavens. Onboard, the forces that had answered Alastor’s call prepared themselves to assault the Vinculus, and standing on the bridge with Alastor himself, General Dreck was saying, “Are you certain you didn’t want me to at least use my position to assassinate Felix before stealing one of the Guild’s greatest flagships?” Staring out the windows at the terrain of Gaia in the sky, Alastor replied, “His time will come. It would have made acquiring this airship much more complicated had you not had the full confidence of the soldiers guarding it. With this craft, we’ll have little trouble breaking through the storm, and the forces I’ve gathered will soon have Ala Morte’s agents scrambling to defend themselves. Just make sure the team of specialists you brought me can follow orders.”

            Glancing at Alastor curiously, Dreck said, “I don’t see any reason to worry about that. Zack is one of the Morsus Brotherhood’s finest officers, a former member of the Special Forces’ undercover division, the Redguards, and he’s brought two of his best enforcers as backup along with an operative who specializes in dealing with computer and security systems.” Pulling himself away from the window, as Alastor started towards the door of the bridge, he said, “Good, I think I will appraise their abilities myself once I’ve made my final preparations.” Turning his head back to call after him, Dreck said, “I respect the way you handle things personally Alastor, but are you sure you only want to take a handful of my men as your escort?” Pausing and looking back as well, Alastor said, “You have little resources you can spare with most of the Brotherhood still holding our line back on Termais, and I want as many as possible to help secure the Vinculus while I handle the root of the problem. Grave will find Giselle while Scathe and Malum command our anomalies and monstrosities from the safety of the ship.” Flashing a faint smile, Alastor sent chills up Dreck’s spine as he said, “Know this General, I always see to it that those who betray me are punished accordingly…”

            Standing atop the deck of the Ultio with Famine and War by his side, holding a scythe with a long black handle and a curved, glowing blue blade made of icy energy, Malum stared up at the great perpetual storm known as the Eye of Chaos as it swirled in the skies of Gaia just beyond the ever approaching dimensional link. Passing through the portal layered over the skies, as the world turned upside down the Ultio began descending into the clouds swirling within the great storm, and standing firm against the power of the churning winds, Malum simply chuckled creepily. The Ultio flipped over in the air and pushed its way through the storm, and breaching the eye at last, the Vinculus came into view.

            Raising a hand into the air and channeling Corrupted EDE into it, Malum thought to himself, “All too easy. Just as expected, Alastor plans to lead the charge. While it’s clear Alastor somehow suspects that he cannot trust Dreck or his Morsus Brotherhood, with his more loyal forces preoccupied, it won’t matter even if he orders his escort away. The escort may have been ordered to kill Alastor, but that’s just a ploy to cause him to end up alone once he kills them off. This odd EDE interference field and the communications blackout he himself ordered in order to avoid a repeat of Loralu will prevent him from calling his other men away from their posts at that point, and Angelorum Lux is already on their way to unwittingly deliver Alexander and the power I need right into my grasp. I’ll kill both the brothers Bastille this day, as well as the prodigal son…” Shooting from his hand into the skies above, Malum unleashed his Corrupted EDE to summon down his monstrosities just as Scathe opened hundreds of dark vortexes around the Vinculus from where he stood on the Ultio’s bridge, summoning in the entire force of Altera Veritas’ strongest anomalies. Spreading dark wings, the anomalies flew through the air to join the monstrosities just as the Vinculus revealed its defense cannons and opened fire. Taking aim with its own rows of powerful EDE cannons, the Ultio began firing as well, the skies alight with explosions while loud bangs were calling out that the battle had begun.

            EDE cannon fire raining against the Vinculus’ energy shields, Ala Morte assassins scrambled throughout the air fortress to defend it as anomalies and monstrosities carved through the hull and crept inside. Standing in the control room as lights and warnings were going off one by one, Count Ferid was in a state of panic as he exclaimed, “They’ve found us already?! Look at them all! We’re being overrun!” Another powerful blast rocking the air fortress, from her seat at one of the control room command posts, Ghost said, “Master, the shields are down and the control systems for the upper west defense cannons have been destroyed. They seem to know all the weak spots in our defense systems. It’s likely that they plan to board us.” Clutching his head with both hands, Ferid exclaimed, “It’s over! Once Alastor gets onboard the Vinculus I’m dead!” Standing beside him, a concerned Rend asked, “What about the plan Master?” Shaking his head, Ferid just replied, “Magus hasn’t made any progress with that stubborn woman. All we can do is hope that blasted Nova has some sort of contingency plan.” Starting towards the control room door, Ferid said, “Rend, Ghost, we’re going down to his lab. Call Magus and Sting to join us, I want all my best operatives to escort me.” As Ghost jumped out of her chair, she and Rend followed after him, all cautiously making their way into the breached halls of the Vinculus.

            Meanwhile, deep within his laboratory, Scott was busy copying all the stored data of the Vinculus’ computer systems to disk, muttering to himself as the room shook from cannon fire, “Delays, delays… I’ve been making such good progress in my research, but Alastor just had to show up uninvited as always.” Entering commands into the computer terminal while he continued to copy data, as a specimen containment tank in the corner of the room opened, Scott called out to the occupant, “Time to rise and shine specimen Zero EX. It seems your second chance to prove yourself has come, though I doubt by now you remember much about what happened before I obtained you.” Stepping from the containment tank appeared a figure clad in an upgraded version of the power suit once worn by Grey when he was the infamous Black Knight, and the figure simply remained silent and formed a mass of EDE into a polearm as he awaited Scott’s command.

            Stepping into the docking bay where the Morsus Brotherhood specialists awaited him, Alastor laid his eyes upon his four new allies. The oldest was a man who looked in his forties, who had a black mustache and long black hair like a lion’s mane. His eyes were red to match the red blazer he wore unzipped over his bare chest, and he also wore white pants help up by a belt with a red gemmed belt buckle. On his hands were black biker gloves, and on his feet he wore black and white sneakers. The next oldest was a man perhaps in his twenties with long brown hair and gray eyes who wore a sleeveless denim vest over a red t-shirt, denim jeans, and black sneakers. Then there were the two others, a boy and a girl who both looked only twelve or thirteen. The boy had short red hair with a white stripe through it and golden eyes, and he wore a black vest over a red t-shirt, red baggy pants held up by a belt with a strange circular device with a large gold button on it for a belt buckle, black gloves, and high-tech looking red and white boots. The girl had short blue hair which was mostly hidden by her pointed blue hood, and behind the oval shaped lenses of her glasses were golden eyes just like the boy’s. She had large, computerized looking blue pauldrons on her shoulders, the right one with three large metal spikes sticking out of the top of it. Her other clothes consisted of a long blue coat, a blue vest with various devices and buttons attached to it, gray pants with blue stripes and several decorative belts strapped across the pant legs, one of which was short while the other was long, and black steel toed boots. She also wore black gloves with strange circular devices on them that glowed with blue light.

            All looking at Alastor as he entered, the man with long black hair said, “Would you be Alastor Bastille, the leader of Altera Veritas?” Meeting his gaze, Alastor blankly said, “Correct. I’m assuming you are the so called specialists from the Morsus Brotherhood?” Nodding, the man replied, “I’m Zack Mourne, an officer in the Brotherhood. The guy with the steel gauntlets is my strongest enforcer, Jay, and the other two are Clyde and Noir. Clyde’s a decent enforcer as well, and his sister Noir is our ace in the hole when it comes to infiltrating enemy territory. We may not look like much, but you’d be surprised at what we can handle.” Seeming quite uninterested, Alastor said, “I don’t recall asking for an introduction. You all seem stronger than I would have imagined, though I can’t say I was expecting to see children among my subordinates…” Glaring at Alastor, Clyde said, “Humph, I’m just as much an energist as any of you ‘grown ups’, so don’t go thinkin whatcha see is what ya get.” Flashing a faint smile, Alastor simply said, “You raise a valid point.” Then the Ultio shook as the airship docked with the Vinculus, and as the bay doors opened, Alastor made his way towards them as he said, “Well then, shall we go?”

            Stepping onboard the Vinculus, Alastor and his group looked around the air fortress’ docking bay, Zack, Jay, and Clyde all gathering masses of EDE and forming them into their Anima Weapons. Zack formed a pair of long wicked blades that were affixed to his wrists, their blades extending up and outwards from his arms like wings. Jay formed a pair of high-tech steel gauntlets, and Clyde formed a pair of high tech looking gunblades with red and white guards that had golden gems in their hilts. The docking bay already littered with the bodies of slain Ala Morte agents, several anomalies stood guard over the area, and turning to Clyde, Zack said, “Clyde, tell Noir to put up her radar and see if she can’t remote hack the security systems while she’s at it.” Turning to his sister, Clyde said, “Noir, link up with the security systems and keep your ears peeled for anything coming our way.” Noir merely nodded as she channeled EDE through the glowing devices on her gloves, and as they started to make their way to the exit of the docking bay, Alastor turned to Zack and asked, “Why didn’t you order her directly?”

            Looking back at Clyde and Noir, Zack replied, “Noticed that did you? Noir’s Nature based affinity allows her to control various types of waves, including sound waves, and she uses it in conjunction with a computer program to filter out any excess noise from her surroundings that are normal in order to be highly alert to any incoming danger. The computer program is fast acting and the selection of things it does and does not filter is something she’s greatly customized, so we’re never really sure what she hears, although we do know that Clyde is the only one she allows herself to hear at all times. She rarely speaks, and whenever she does, since she’s shy she has yet another program active that only lets Clyde hear her. It can make her seem hard to deal with, but as long as you have Clyde around, she’s quite useful.” Walking the winding circular halls of the Vinculus together, after a while Jay muttered, “We even know where we’re going? All I’m seeing is dead people, I thought we were gonna see some action!” Suddenly a beep came from Noir and a holoscreen came to life in the air in front of her, displaying a map of the area of the Vinculus they were in. Staring at a red dot moving down one of the halls that crossed an intersection just ahead of them, Noir’s lips moved, and Clyde said, “Incoming round the left corner ahead Zack.”

            Stepping into an intersection in the halls of the Vinculus with Rend and Ghost right behind him, Ferid stopped as a wall of darkness sealed off the hallway he was heading for. As Rend and Ghost rushed to protect him, Ferid turned to look down the hall to his right in terror as Alastor and his escort approached. Flashing a faint smile, Alastor said, “It’s been a while, hasn’t it Ferid? You nobles certainly are hard to get ahold of without prior arrangement, but it seems I’ve finally tracked you down.” Beads of sweat rolling down his face, which had turned quite pale, Ferid could hardly stop stammering as he said, “A-Alastor, th-this isn’t what it l-looks like! I c-couldn’t do anything, h-he would have k-killed me!” Lifting one of his steel fists, Jay said, “What’s the verdict boss, want us to smash him?” As Ferid cringed, Alastor said, “No. He isn’t the one we’re here for.” Ceasing to cringe and looking at Alastor in great surprise, Ferid said, “I’m… I’m not…?” Alastor started to walk up to him, and as he saw Rend preparing to strike, Ferid fearfully whispered, “R-Rend, stand down!” Coming to stand face to face with Ferid, Alastor said, “Wise decision. I would have killed each of you had you allowed her to attack me. Fortunately for you, it seems you’re at least smart enough to guess that much. I’ve come to know your type well Ferid, and you’re far too stupid and cowardly to pull off a stunt like this all on your own. Someone pushed you into it, and while I have an informed suspicion as to who, I want you to tell me yourself…”

            Heaving a sigh of relief, Ferid began to drone on as he said, “Oh thank heaven! I should have known you’d see the truth of things, hmm?! You’ve impressed me yet again with your infinite wisdom Alastor! You have my deepest apologies for this entire-” Grabbing Ferid by the collar, Alastor radiated an air of killing intent despite his blank expression as he looked Ferid in the eyes and simply said, “Who?” Quivering, Ferid quickly stammered, “D-D-Dr. Nova! I know he was supposed to be dead, but he’s somehow stolen the body of that young human from Angelorum Lux he captured!” Releasing Ferid, Alastor’s wall of darkness faded as he said, “I see, Grave was telling the truth after all. The Thunderfury Energist’s actions make far more sense this way, I suppose I doubted that part of her forecast a little too hastily after all… I suppose he’s in his lab as usual then?” Struggling to compose himself, Ferid answered, “Y-yes…  He’s obsessed with studying that True EDE or whatever it is he discovered in Gatria. The half halman girl and Giselle are both in the dungeon. I’m sure Giselle isn’t too fond of me right now, so I don’t think it’s a good idea to send me to retrieve them…” Walking around Ferid, Alastor said, “No, I’ve already sent Grave. I want you to go order your remaining forces to stand down. After that you can go hide wherever you like.” The Brotherhood specialists following after him, as they all left Ferid behind, Alastor thought to himself, “Your cunning never ceases to amaze me Nova, but I’m afraid you too have underestimated me. Both you and Malum have no idea that I’ve already foreseen everything you’ll throw at me…”

            Standing in her cell in the Vinculus’ dungeon, Saria had fearfully listened to the explosions that had been rocking the mighty air fortress. Now that the attacks seemed to have finally ceased, she looked through the bars of her cell door at Giselle and asked, “Do you think the fighting is over?” Sitting against the bars of her cell, Giselle sounded unconcerned as she said, “Lord Alastor has likely already crushed that fool Ferid by now, and I’m sure Nova will meet the same end. It’s only a matter of time before my Lord sends someone for us, and fortunately for you, we still need you alive. Just be quiet and wait, and don’t even think about resisting if you want to live to see the Second Truth.” Suddenly hearing the sound of a door in the distance, as footsteps approached, Giselle turned her head to try and look as far down the hall as she could. After a moment, Grave stepped into view and turned his hooded visage to stare at Giselle as he said, “Your little stay in the slammer is over. We have work to do.” Opening Giselle’s cell door and removing her restraining collar, Grave turned to look over at Saria, who stepped away from the door in fear. Rubbing her neck where the collar had chafed her skin, Giselle addressed Grave in a commanding tone as she said, “What’s the current situation Grave? Does Lord Alastor control the Vinculus once more?” Turning back to her, irritated by her tone, Grave said, “We’ve overwhelmed Ala Morte with our full forces. Ferid didn’t put up much of a fight, and it seems Alastor’s letting him live in exchange for his surrender. He seems more interested in Nova, since he was the one who was running the whole show.” Narrowing her eyes as he mentioned Alastor had spared Ferid, Giselle merely muttered, “I would have preferred Ferid to have felt our Lord’s full wrath, but I will not question his judgement. Let’s take the girl and get out of this godforsaken place…”

            Opening Saria’s cell door, as Saria backed up against the wall of the cell, Grave stepped in and grabbed her by the arm. Forcefully thrusting her out of the cell, he said, “Quit cowering and get out!” Falling sprawled out on the floor, Saria started to slowly struggle up, but Grave pulled her up and said, “Could you be any slower?! To think someone as useless as this is actually his daughter…” Suddenly donning a defiant look, Saria shouted, “What happened after I left?! What did you do to my father?!” His eye twitching angrily, Grave powerfully slugged her right in the face with his fist as he said, “Don’t remind me! You’re going to die right here, and I’ll be taking the honor of killing you personally just so I can rub it in his face when he finally meets his own end!” Having been watching in apprehension, at these words Giselle stepped forward, grabbing Grave by the arm as she said, “Her fate will be for Lord Alastor to decide! This girl’s power is necessary if we are to achieve our goals, and I will not have you damage her!” Pulling away from her, Grave muttered, “Humph, I’m afraid you’re not up to date Giselle. From what your sister has told us, we don’t need her after all.” As Grave watched Giselle show a look of great surprise, he snidely said, “Oh, you weren’t aware? Ever since her betrayal, Alastor has been having his vessel twist Gisette’s body and mind with his poisoned blood, somehow using fragments from the Mirror of Souls that existed here on Gaia to keep her alive. While I can’t say much for her complexion, Alastor seems quite pleased with her powers of foresight and clairvoyance, which she’s now putting to use for him as his newest Revenant.”

            Staring back at Grave in horror, Giselle thought, “No… It can’t be… I begged him to just keep her locked up… Lord Alastor spared her, he promised he wouldn’t hurt her!” Turning to Saria, who was on her hands and knees clutching her bleeding nose with one hand, Grave pulled her up and punched her hard in the gut, and as Saria crumpled to the floor again, he withdrew a dagger from his clothes and said, “As for this one, Gisette has divined that she actually can’t unlock the Master Seal after all, which means we don’t have any real reason to keep her alive. Alastor said I could leave her, but why waste a perfect chance to vent my frustrations…?” Something snapping within Giselle’s mind, she took her demonic form and grabbed hold of Grave’s head with her demonic arm as he turned around in surprise, and as he struggled in her grip she slammed him against the wall. Forming her sword as she held him there, she thrust it’s blade into Grave’s chest with all her demonic strength, cutting through his sandstone armor like paper. Unleashing a blast of red lightning from her demonic hand for good measure, as she withdrew her sword and let go of him, Grave’s body fell to the floor and evaporated, leaving nothing but a piece of burning paper.

            Staring at the paper in rage, Giselle muttered, “Substitution…” Slowly turning to Saria as she struggled up, Giselle stood there as Saria stared at her demonic form, and looking away from her in shame, Giselle said, “Can’t say I’m a person just like everyone else anymore, can you? Not only was I born a half demonfolk, but I can also modify my body like the the ancient ones, making me all the more of a freak.” Closing her eyes with a depressed sigh, she added, “Well, after what I’ve allowed to become of my beloved sister, I probably don’t deserve to be seen as anything but a monster…” Wiping the blood from her face with the back of her hand, Saria said, “You did look a bit scary at first, but you’re still the same person. A monster wouldn’t have saved me like that either.” Only able to stare at Saria in surprise, Giselle’s eyes went wide as a familiar voice suddenly called out, “How interesting Giselle, you’ve actually allowed yourself to be swayed by nothing more than kind words. Where was that compassion the last time we met I wonder…?”

            Slowly shifting her gaze to look down the dark hall of the dungeon, as she saw a twisted figure step from a dark vortex, Giselle gasped, “Sister…?!” Her skin now colored a deep red, a third golden eye staring back at Giselle from her forehead between her two normal ones, Gisette’s blonde hair was the only thing about her that seemed to have remained the same, a pair of small dark horns poking out of it. Both her arms twisted into odd appendages that pulsated with strange energies, the right one ended in what looked like a dark scythe-like blade, while the other resembled a clawed hand. Strange red and black crystals floated behind her in the air, arranged like wings and seeming to move with her as though connected to her body by an unseen force. Gisette also now wore a black, tight-fitting bodysuit with glowing red gems in it near the stomach area that covered neither her arms nor her legs, a black and red sleeveless coat which had decorations that looked like bat wings extending up from the back as well as down from the waist, and long black high heeled boots with black garters. Grinning wickedly at Giselle as she slowly walked towards her and Saria, Gisette sarcastically said, “Hello Giselle, weren’t you lonely without me?”

            The sword bearing being of pure darkness beginning to solidify, Grey watched as it became an armored warrior in all black with a winged helm that had no sign of any eye holes or slots, who wielded two dark blades similar to Malum’s. Lunging at Grey without a word, the warrior brought both his blades down, and avoiding by flipping backwards up off the ground and onto his feet, Grey barely had time to form his own swords and block as the warrior recovered and closed in on him. Struggling with his enemy’s strength as they grappled, Grey called out, “What the hell’s going on Vanitas?! What is this guy?!” Sitting upon the black throne watching them calmly, Vanitas replied, “He is a guardian of the All Heart, an ancient artifact of power that was torn from Deus Amictus and placed within Alastor’s heart by Amanus as part of a final failed attempt to let Origin save him from the Nameless One. It was too predictable a move, and as Origin was caught in the Nameless One’s grasp, it seemed as though the All Heart’s power would be lost to darkness. Alastor fiercely protected that power though, using his will to overcome the Nameless One and steal it back after Amanus managed to incapacitate him, and contracting with me to split his consciousness and power.”

            Shoved away by the guardian’s great strength, Grey began to clash with the armored menace as he exclaimed, “So that’s what we needed from Alastor’s heart? You could’ve warned me that something like this would pop up! On that note, could I get a hand here?!” Not moving to aid him, Vanitas merely continued, “You must do this on your own, as a trial that is part of your training. The guardian has taken that form after drawing upon your darkness, testing the worth of your heart. My special case aside, do you know what happens when there is emptiness within a heart Grey?” Sending Grey sailing across the sanctuary with a powerful strike, the guardian aimed a blade at where Grey laid sprawled on his back and chanted in a gruff voice, “Septimo Spiritus Nox.” Skulls of dark energy shooting from the tip of the guardian’s sword, they bore down on Grey while he was struggling up, and he disappeared from view as the skulls struck and exploded in a mighty blast of darkness. Rising from the throne and staring down at the All Heart’s guardian as the room filled with smoke from the explosion, Vanitas continued on, “During the passing of your daily lives, mortal hearts are subjected to wear and tear, and great events in your lives can cause them to break apart inside, creating emptiness. It is up to other hearts connected with that heart to fill the void, and depending on various factors, one of two things can happen.”

            The aftermath continued to smoke and fume, Grey nowhere to be seen, but Vanitas simply kept speaking, saying, “The emotions stirred within you by your interactions with others are what fill the emptiness, strengthening the heart and changing your personalities over time. Depending on the kind of emotions you experience, your hearts can become stained with either light or darkness. Your heart is very special Grey, a very fragile and sensitive heart that is constantly breaking apart inside and being remade stronger and stronger. Because of your painful past, made all the worse by your heart’s nature, you’ve suffered from negative emotions that bred a great darkness within you. The being before you is a manifestation of the darkness that has built up within you Grey, the doubt, the regret, the fear… You’ve already faced it countless times, but to clear this trial you must both defeat it soundly and bend it your will completely.” Shifting his gaze to watch the aftermath of the guardian’s attack fade to reveal the sight of Grey’s Flux restriction ability, as the swirling vortex of silver power collapsed back into Grey’s blazing silver aura, Grey wore a determined look on his face, and Vanitas in turn showed his faint smile and said, “You’re more than ready. Rejecting the Nameless One, overcoming your past… You’ve held fast to who you are, clearing all your trials thus far, believing in yourself as your friends believed in you. The hope they’ve given you for the future, the friendship they’ve shown you, those feelings are your heart’s greatest power, a power that will not falter even in the darkest of hours…”

Reviews

[Berniemacsgreatesthi]

This chapter took my breath away excellent ! I think you should revise your action scenes I'm really not getting into them Work on expressing the action scenes make them flow more . Isn't Vanitas a Kingdom hearts character ? I'm not accusing you of anything just wondering. :)

[KeithKVH]

Thank you for the review! Vanitas is a Latin word, I'm not a complete expert but I believe it means "emptiness" or something close to that. It's actually a bad example of my battles because Vanitas is giving a bit of a speech during each exchange, but I agree it doesn't flow completely here because of that.

I am glad to have you read my work, but this is the fourth book in my series. You should begin on "Legend of Mautau: Angelorum Lux" if you want the full story.

[Berniemacsgreatesthi]

Ok ! Also Do you plan to self publish these books ?

[KeithKVH]

Most likely, why do you ask?

[Berniemacsgreatesthi]

Because when you do publish them I wanna buy them !

[KeithKVH]

Oh, thank you! ^^