|•| Last night |•|
In a far away city, in a distinct little corner, a cathedral was built like a testament to faith and enterprise. It was a combination of drab colours and holistic aesthetics, meant to pull parishes and graffiti artists looking for a high.
Inside it was empty of people, candles burnt still and alone in the night.
Atleast that is how it would appear to a mortal, but in another plane of existence where the colours were killed and black and greys were slathered everywhere, a figure was pacing by the pulpit. He was a middle aged looking man with hollow eyes, cracked wrinkled skin and wore the vestments of the clergy.
Chancellor Iaziah was in very dire straits, his very existence was on the line!
It had been nearly two weeks since those Wardens he'd assigned the task of elimination reported in, and he was growing more anxious by the day. Tonight he was supposed to call the Countess and tell her he'd completed the task. There was no calling to tell of failure, unless he wanted his ending to be a drawn out process of torment befitting the Abyss Planes.
Vrmm! Vrmm!
The skull watch in his pocket vibrated as an incoming call was linked through. More eager than his position allowed but that his current position demanded, he answered it without hesitation.
The skull's eyes glowed a murky brown, as a shrill voice sounded from the other end.
"Chancellor! We have found them! Both of them!" The voice shouted and the Chancellor frowned.
"Why are you weeping? You'll soon complete the assignment, and you'll be compensated with a thousand Soul tokens each." Iaziah said smugly.
"Forgiveness, my Vessel's voice sounds of sorrow. We are glad to report we've located one of the targets within the town. The Warden with the cloak." Basviel's voice sounded through the skull.
"Did you eliminate him?" The chancellor asked hopefully.
"No, he escaped our observation and we haven't seen him since then." Asval's eerie voice sounded next.
"Useless!" Chancellor Iaziah's eye sockets swirled around with darkness,"Nearly two weeks and this is what you gave to show for it!?"
"Chancellor, this Warden has been very hard to track, finding his location was lucky. However, you need not fear, we will find him, soon." Asval said calmly.
"Soon? SOON!?" Iaziah's eye sockets spewed oil onto the ground and it burnt a hole like acid through paper.
"You fools will find him tonight, now! You have an hour or I will end you all." Iaziah disconnected the call and fell onto a seat.
He should have done more to ensure their capture and elimination, but the Countess did not want word spreading. Secrecy and confidentiality, with efficiency was what she had demanded of him.
Finding Wardens who did not ask questions, were strong enough for the job but stupid enough to not cause problems had taken its time. He'd found Basviel and Asval, two Death Knights, coming back from the Dead worlds and in need of Soul tokens. So he'd assigned them the task of eliminating a Fallen Warden and his Vessel.
He'd expected quick results, afterall, how could a newly freed Pariah and some confused Vessel last against two Death Knights?
Locating them had been easy, he'd followed the trail of The Death Lady who had been with them until she reached a town called Oakwood.
Telling the two Wardens where they were, he expected to hear news of success but as the days went by, his smugness became trepidation and finally now fear. He had spent two weeks waiting, filled with the belief that everything would go according to plan and be solved quickly.
But that didn't happen and he sat, filled with regret.
This was so bad, so utterly bad he didn't know how it could get any worse.
The skull watch in his pocket vibrated aggressively as it's eyes turned blue and a chilling wind emitted from it.
"Oh no." He breathed in horror.
The Countess was calling him!
Slowly but not too slow, he took out the watch to answer the call.
The moment he opened the skulls mouth, the temperature took a nose dive and the flames of the candles froze solid. Icy mist drifted from the skulls mouth forming a pair of icy blue eyes that glowed with the deathly power of a tundra and snow storm.
"Iaziah, tell me has the assignment been completed or shall I inform the Death panel that this Ringlet requires a new Chancellor?"
"Peace be upon you, Countess," Iaziah's voice was formal and respectful," I pray that death becomes you."
"Sweet words of flattery, shall I take this as an admission of failure?" Her voice grew mirthful and snow started to fall from the ceiling.
"Countess, I need but a few minutes, and it will be handled. I've placed atleast -"
"Excuses! Oh, dear Iaziah, what has become of your mind? Do you think I, will listen to excuses?" The snow grew heavier, thicker and each snowflake was getting larger by the second.
What was he to do?
What could he do!?
"Countess, if you please, I swear it-"
DEATH!
As if a hammer had struck, the plane shattered as a thousand voices started to echoe through the floor, walls, air, and space. The falling snow eroded like water on a warm dead body, and the frozen flames combusted into pillars of black fire that snaked and coiled around the air, forming shifting forms of fear and despair.
Seeing all this, the Chancellor fell to his knees and looked down with reverence.
The darkness became more chaotic as the masses of voices grew louder than ever, each word they said was of death. Cries of death, whispers of the dying and all other forms resounded without pause or coherence. The Chancellor felt them rattle his bones, and the skull watch fell from his hand but he didn't dare to reach for it.
His empty eye sockets felt a direct gaze upon him, one that reached deeper than his spirit could fathom.
The darkness consumed everything, and the air became filled with the stench of decay, rot and putridness. It felt cold like the grave and hot like decomposition, mixed into a stagnant sense of discomfort and degeneration. If a mortal had been there, he'd have become a rich pile of manure in seconds and then dust.
This state lasted for a few minutes before everything returned to the way it was before.
Iaziah picked up the Skull watch and immediately called the Countess.
"My Lady of Death and frost, I-"
"I know Iaziah." For once, the jovial tone was gone in her voice, she sounded cold and serious.
"Could it be a-?"
"Difficult to say, but one thing is clear, someone has decided to suffer a fate worse than death when we find them. I must be going, the Death panel has called upon us, so luckily for you, you now have another week to complete the task." She said and chuckled as a shard of ice appeared and impaled him in the chest.
"Ahh!" He cried out in agony.
"A little reminder of the consequences if you fail me. If you do not call me, and tell me what I wish to hear, you'll be a new collection to add in my garden. Iaziah, peace be upon you."
The eyes faded away and Iaziah fell to his knees, and looked at the tiny hole in his chest, feeling an icy shard inside slowly freezing his insides.
This was why no one dared disappoint the Countess of the twelfth circle of Hades, she was ruthless!
He growled and reached for the Skull watch, ready to order those Wardens to move faster. He'd give them a day, then he'd look for another solution, his existence was on the line here.
As he got ready to call them, he couldn't help but wonder what Warden in their right mind would dare do what had been done.
The strange things that happened were a result of only one thing, something no one but the desperately seeking ruin would do. It had not only happened to him, but to other Chancellors and Wardens throughout Creation. A momentarily and temporary freeze in their reality accompanied by the death of all that was around them, be it air, matter, people and so on.
Only one power possessed such might known to them and there was only one reason it would do this.
Someone had called upon The Codex of Death itself.
For what reason, they alone knew, but at what cost?
Iaziah shuddered to think what that Warden had lost for summoning such power into reality.
He hoped they had learnt their lesson with interest.
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