From the airship, one could see the former glory of civilization on Earth, the once tall buildings made up of steel and brittle glass. They held no fate of standing tall no longer. Most of them half crumbled and some were totally obliterated for some reason. The once lively city now stayed silent, deserted, and completely lifeless.
There were millions of such cities on earth, such was the fate of the world brought by the world tree. Utterly destroyed for Ravens like them to harvest the remains.
A voice snapped Kasan from his thoughts.
"Captain we arrived " Agatha came to him dressed in golden black onyx armor.
Dressed like a true Crow, her way of speaking, and voice all oozed of nobility. He wondered how she ended up here but he had given up knowing it long ago.
"Gather the boys then, we shall see what awaits us"
"Is it necessary that we go there, sir" Agatha voiced whatever fears his squad held "We are entering a God's lair!! Isn't this madness!!"
Kasan stared at her impassively and looked behind her where the rest of his squad members eyed him nervously for answers. But his answer was as impassive as ever " orders" he said " We are Crows, we are but tools, we are ordered and we do it" Saying that he turned his back towards them and wore his favorite Bastard sword on his hip.
" We leave, now!"
...
The Black rounded airship now rested on the top of a building like a giant mound. Luckily the building withstood its enormous weight. Turning away he glanced at his men. All wore their golden black uniforms, golden colored plates covered their vital parts and rest were black leather. Out of them all Kasan was different. He wore an all-black outfit, no hard plates covered him like he never intended to protect himself.
Only grey strips on his outfit and the glinting spark of his sword gave colour to his bleak outfit.
He gathered his men around an entrance of an underground tunnel. Nobody spoke, grim and heavy looks adorned their faces. Kasan himself was not immune to it, he may very well die here, on a foreign planet by some random orders of a self-important prick. If he had one regret, that was that he could be help of Yenna no longer. He owed a lot to her parents and in a sense to her. He had nothing else worthy to live for, but his men were different. They had families and friends, Agatha must been the most vexed out of them all, he suspected the order may very well came from House Ryger.
Kasan glanced at his mage " Oliver, any signs!!"
" yes " the dark man answers " It's subtle, but it's pungent enough to make me vomit"
"Let's go then," He said "The seer informed us two months ago, we didn't dare to enter when the powers of the Tree is the strongest. But now the danger may very well have been non-existent"
Kasan didn't believe one bit of the nonsense he just spoke and Agatha also didn't. His men needed one push at the edge for them to follow and he tried to give them the assurance of hope.
Hope that the danger may have disappeared. Gods never lay their influence on one place for too long.
...
Kasan and his group walked the narrow path. A chill ran over his skin, was the culprit, dampness in the air or the suffocating presence...he didn't know.
They walked till they reached an unnatural recession in the ground and what he saw made his bones stiff.
Tall figures stood there, an amalgamation of bones.
every one of them shaped comical in their construct.
One with warrior armor wearing a witch's hat made up of bones another a scrawny build figure stretching his hand high in the air.
Kasan sucked a cold breath," Oliver!!" He hissed "Is its presence still remain?"
The dark-skinned man closed his eyes, and everyone held their breaths, wearily looking out in the darkness. After a time he opened his eyes, relief glowed on his face "Scant few Captain, its eyes no longer remain here"
Everyone heaved a sigh of relief and Oliver continued " An Elder God, I know no such presence, I claim I know most, but this one baffles me. It's twisted and vile, I suggest we leave, lest we gather its attention"
Kasan threw one last glance at the bone figures "Profane Keeper" he muttered.
Oliver looked up at his captain but asked him not.
...
Vergil tore himself away from the recurring nightmare. He panted hard and his clothes drenched from sweat.
The soft bed did nothing to bring him quality sleep.
The memory still haunted him, he remembered the dark pillars from where human bodies were jutted outwards like weed sprouts. And their crumbling into a bizarre amalgamation of bone figures.
"Hollow Jester" He whispered.
The memory weighted him realizing that he was controlled along with Hector and Nora to kill the Profane keeper and the helpless Humans.
And for what? Why did it want us to gain abilities? If he did, why make us kill the humans?
With tired eyes, he checked if the thing was still there.
On the desk beside him, a white object peeked out of its cover.
'Is it affecting me?' He thought. It had magically been beside him one day and he couldn't leave it no matter what.
It found its way near him all the time, so he kept it, wrapped in cotton clothes, he dreaded to touch it barehanded. He had a feeling that something will change if he did so.
Vergil got out of his bed and covered the white object again. With a deep breath, he calmed his nerves. He walked to the window and moved the curtains to let the morning light to warm his chilled nerves.
It had been two months since the magical tree appeared. It still stood tall as ever, reaching its branches to the sky and penetrating it with its ethereal hands.
Many lives had been lost from that time, astronomical even. Creatures arrived from gates that some people called Warrens. But the irony was that most deaths were not due to monsters, rather it was panic and disruption of order.
In two short two months, safe cities were made and the law was reinforced, the laws stricter and ever punishing. But the situation remained the same. The highborn remained highborn and those who once were outskirt rats remained the same if not worse.
Vergil glanced down the streets, crowds moved hurriedly to catch some work to get some meager pay to fill their bellies for the night. And in the corners dozen's people sprawled unmovingly, Most of them dead and some still having weak breath in them.
Vergil drew the curtains back, the scene brought heavy sense in him for he muttered " Some things never change, do they"