Black Liver & Silver Fangs

While the crusaders heads were still bowed in reverence to welcome the arrival of the Grand Inquisitor, the Supreme Magus took a step forward and garnered his attention by saying, ”I knew you would come here, Ezeus Teppesh. But these days you go by the Grand Inquisitor. ” She spoke familiarly as if they were already affiliated.

Ezeus stared at her fixedly as he slowly walked towards her. ”Supreme Magus of the witch council, Mariana Victain. ”

”Huh! ” The witches who had their bodies bound in ropes were surprised that Ezeus knew the real name of their Supreme Magus, even some of the crusaders couldn fathom the unspeakable dynamic between these two old figures of influence.

Ezeuss feet came to a standstill when he entered within breathing distance of the Supreme Magus. ”Its been a long time, Mariana. Youve aged quite a lot since the last time we spoke. ”

”So do you. ” Mariana reciprocated his statement. ”What will you do now that youve captured us? Youve already destroyed our Lycans and slain many of our sisters. ”

”Our God is merciful. Im sure that he will overlook your follies if you and your people repent and decide to cast away your tainted ways. ” Ezeus walked by Mariana and went further into the chamber. He stopped where the Cronus monolith was prior to its shattering and began casting his inspecting eyes about.

Mariana had her suspicions of the true reason why Ezeus came all the way up to Guillume Mountain and into the depth of their sanctuary, but she didn mention anything explicit, fearing that it may have caused the lives of her people. She only asked him, ”Are you looking for something, old friend? ”

”Hm? ” Hearing her question, Ezeus spun back around and walked to the chambers exit with a very discontent countenance laden with stress wrinkles.

”Bring them. ” He gave the order for the captives to be brought out of the sanctuary. When they were gone, he relayed another message to Commander Dreylude,

”Scour this place from top to bottom and confiscate every item of interest that you find. We can allow any work of sorcery to remain in the witches stronghold. When youve finished gathering everything make sure to dismantle this place. ”

”As you command, Grand Inquisitor! ” Like a good soldier, Commander Dreylude assented boisterously. He gathered his men and began carrying out a thorough search of the sanctuary.

Ezeus was being carried in a sedan chair behind the holy knights that were leading the captured witches. Coming outside the sanctuary, Tiffaun along with the other captives were disgusted and shocked by what they were witnessing.

”Huh, such monstrosity. ”

A heightened level of cruelty was being carried out by the crusaders present across Guillume Mountain peak. Some holy knights had werewolves hanging from a tree, skinned alive and others with their guts hanging out that attracted countless swarms of flies. Also, a pile of dead witches were being burnt on a pyre. The cooked portions of their flesh were being fed to the dogs and rodents for sustenance.

”Is this the manner of righteousness that your God profess? This is outright cruelty! In whose sight what you are doing is considered right? ” Tiffaun couldn help herself from calling out the Grand Inquisitor among so many devotees.

”How dear you questioned the Grand Inquisitor, lowly witch? Do you want to die? ” An upset crusader was about to let Tiffaun taste his blessed silver but Ezeus put a stop to it and said to her,

”Young lady, you have a lot to learn about the virtues of God. Though merciful he can become vengeful and unleashes the full extent of his wrath upon sinners and devil worshipers. I will share with you a verse from the Holy Scriptures passed down throughout the ages. ”

He reverentially stared at the starry sky and uttered, ”I will execute great vengeance on evil with wrathful rebukes. Then they will know that I am Lord when I lay my vengeance upon them. ”

”Profound words, my lord! ” Complimented a devotee who was helping to lead the captives down the mountain.

”That still doesn justify your despicable actions! ” Tiffaun wasn satisfied with what was written in the Holy Scriptures. She wanted to tackle the crusaders beliefs but her peers implored her to stop because they didn want the Grand Inquisitor to get upset and changed his mind about having them killed.

Sometime later, the Grand Inquisitor alighted the last steep slope of Guillume Mountain with his most trusted crusaders and captives. Due to how late it was coupled with the crusaders terminal exhaustion, they decided to rest up at Vermont City until they were fully recuperated and able to travel back to Verbeck.

In the most extravagant region of Vermont City, Ezeus was staying at a lavish quarter in the castle that used to be the dwelling place of nobility until the crusaders came along and ruined their livelihood with their nationwide witch hunt.

”Bring her to me. ” With only 2 guards stationed outside his chamber, Ezeus summoned the Supreme Magus to his quarters and told the guards to close the door.

”Whats this now? We
e all alone. ” With her arms still tightly bound, Mariana slowly make her way over to the window where Ezeus was staring out. After she joined him by the window, she asked him a question that was meant to be threatening, ”Aren you afraid that I might strike you down with my powerful magic? ” She showed him her hands. ”These ropes aren enough to hold me you know. ”

Ezeus spared her a glance of courage and said, ”We both know if you were capable of doing it then you would have done so already. Ive had enough of your veiled threats. ” His expression became serious as he turned and faced her with his full body.

Mariana placed all jokes aside and looked Ezeus firmly in the eyes. ”Fine, why did you summon me here, I don suppose you are going to torture this old lady? ”

”In due time. ” Responded Ezeus assumingly. While leaning in further, he spoke, ”I couldn help but notice that your magic has drastically weakened. ”

”Is it that evident? ”

”Indeed. Something must have happened on that mountain that made you become this waned. A taxing ritual perhaps? One that involves the missing monolith? ” He tried to squeeze out more information from Mariana but she was doing well so far to keep her cool that was until the Grand Inquisitor became impatient.

”Where is it? ” He forced her old bones up against the wall and raised his voice to a threatening crescendo. ”I know you tinkered with that monolith that you stole from me all those years ago! ”

”It wasn yours to begin with. We both stumbled upon it that day in Gryphon along with Vaud. He was the only one who could decipher its ancient texts. But of course, you had him killed because you thought he was hiding something from us. ”

”And he was hiding something wasn he? ” Ezeus looked very pissed and perturbed. Whenever he heard the name Vaud it triggered something deep within him, a latent string of hatred. ”That serpent used his knowledge in secret to create an abomination at the cost of hundreds of innocent lives and you knew all about what he was up to but didn stop him. ”

”You are wrong! ” Mariana protested, ”When I found out about what he was up to, I tried my best to convince him to stop but by then it was too late. He had already crafted the biological treasures of Immortalis and hid them where no one would suspect… ”

Ezeus finished her sentence for her. ”In his youngest son and daughter. Yes, I became aware of his treacherous act after I had him subjected to harsh punishment for 3 consecutive days without break. He breathed his last breath after he spilt the beans. I didn get enough time to ask the important details. ”

”Probably you should consider to stop torturing your victims for information if you
e so concerned about their health, ” Mariana advised him.

”I didn go through all this trouble to get you here just to solicit your advice. I summoned you because you are going to tell me where my monolith is along with those 2 devil spawn brats. They are the cause of this monstrous Lycanthropy disease that is spreading across Astasia like wildfire. Now tell me where they are? ” He demanded firmly.

Mariana smiled so broadly that she killed a few lines of her stationary wrinkles and replaced them with new ones. She stared dead centre in Ezeuss cold eyes and uttered, ”Where those children are, you along with all of your influence will never find them. ” She was very certain of this and her assurance wasn without a valid reason.