“Go where?” Maria asked.
“Yasmin is on the move. She’s hunting Artifacts, and I need to stop her.”
“Artifacts?” Maya asked.
“The Lazarus Scroll, the Libre Nox Noctis, and now Lilith’s Orb, and if she getsthe Orb she will be unstoppable.”
“And you think we’re going to let you do that without us?” Maria asked.
Amanda looked at her friends for a moment before she smiled.
***
Following her surprise meeting with Amanda and that frankly, scary Magus, Lilith, Victoria had focused herself back on the job of cleaning up and rebuilding the structure. It hadn’t taken long. Aided by the rest of her Coven, the main part of the building was soon back up and looked as good as new, with a few minor alterations that they had been meaning to make for a while.
Eventually, Victoria returned to her office to clean that up herself, and maybe make a few decorative changes while she was at it.
Walking into her darkened office, she turned the light back on, and was confronted by the horrific form of Lyka.
Before she had a chance to defend herself, Magic rushed out of Lyka and ruined her Aegis in a matter of moments. She fought as well as she could, but there was little stopping the Arch Magus. She’d sent off a brief call for help, but Lyka was through her Aegis and into her head before anyone had arrived.
The pain of her telepathic rape was intense as the Nomad rifled through her mind. It felt like her head was about to explode as her most intimate thoughts were laid bare before her attacker.
The attack built to a crescendo as Lyka continued to hunt through her mind before blackness took her, and she fell unconscious as a single thought shone bright as Lyke plucked it from her mind.
The location of Amanda’s house in New York…
- Yasmin’s Null Realm.
~Kez,~ said the voice of her mistress, loud and clear in her head.
~Yes, Baal Yasmin.~
~Gather the Knights and take them to New York. Attack Amanda’s home. Kill everyone.~
~As you wish,~ Kez said.
Black Attack
Syndicate Island
As her Essentia faded, Amanda found herself standing on a large tropical island in the Pacific Ocean. They were surrounded by palm trees with a large, squat, modern building made from glass and steel, about a hundred and fifty metres away from them.
In front of it, a small war had broken out. Essentia flashed and flared wildly as a group of Magi and Scions fought.
Yasmin, along with Alicia and four of her Black Knights, including the blonde Anastasia and the dreadlocked Tacita, attacked Lilith, Echo, and a mountain of a man who Amanda could only surmise was her father.
When she’d last seen her father, he’d been a small, frail old man in his nineties who used a walking stick and whose back was stooped. But this huge, deformed beast before her was anything but frail.
He stood close to ten feet tall and seemed to be made from layers and layers of muscle. His arms were the size of tree trunks, but his face was monstrous. His skin looked burnt or melted, and he didn’t really have much of a nose anymore. Despite all of that, she could still see her father in him.
A tennis ball-sized Orb half-embedded in his chest glowed a bright, sickly green as he fought Yasmin, shrugging off her Magic with apparent ease.
“Ready?” Amanda asked, glancing back at Gentle Water, Liz, Maria, and Maya. Out of her four friends, Liz looked the most scared and given she was also probably the least powerful, this wasn’t surprising.
“I guess,” Liz said, her voice a little wobbly.
“Stay here if you want, you don’t have to get involved. This won’t be like fighting an Inquisitor,” Amanda said. Liz was a competent Magus, wily too. Amanda felt confident she could survive this.
“No, I’m with you all the way,” Liz said.
Amanda nodded and opened a Link to Gentle Water. ~Watch her,~ she said.
~I will protect her, don’t worry,~ he answered her.
~Thanks.~~Looks like Alicia’s here, too,~ he added.
Amanda looked back towards the fight. ~I noticed,~ she said before she opened the Link to include everyone in the group. ~Yasmin is mine, as is Alicia, the girl cloaked in black shadow,~ she said, as she began to walk towards the battle. After a few steps, she picked up the pace and started to run, her friends right behind her.
They closed the gap in moments, and as they approached, Amanda noticed Alicia burst through the fight towards her. Tentacles of shadow rushed out and whipped into Amanda’s Aegis, inflicting damage she didn’t expect.
“Alicia!” Amanda called out. “Alicia, it’s me,” she yelled, wondering if she could reach her somehow.
“I know it’s you, you idiot,” Alicia yelled. “I’m not deaf.”
“What the hell, Alicia? Why are you doing this?” Amanda stayed on the defensive, boosting her Aegis and slapping away Alicia’s attacks or dodging them entirely when she could.
She was fast, scarily fast, and those shadow tendrils were lethal.
“I’ve seen the light, Amanda. I’ve seen the truth of who I am and of the world around us. Yasmin was kind enough to show it to me.”
“Don’t talk nonsense. She’s a sadistic mass murderer who’s only out for herself. You’re nothing but a tool to her, an implement, a way to hurt me, nothing more.”
“You’re wrong. You’re so wrong. Yasmin knows the truth of this world, she knows our birthright and isn’t afraid to take it, unlike you.”
“This isn’t you, Alicia. This is madness.”
“And yet, I feel more lucid than ever before. For the first time, I’m free from the shackles of my previous life and the beliefs I held. I’ve seen the truth, Amanda.”
“No, you’ve been lied to, manipulated, used. What happened to the Alicia I once knew? What happened to my friend from school?”
“That idiot is gone.”
“You weren’t an idiot,” Amanda protested. “You were the best person I knew, and you saved me from myself and showed me there was another way, a better way.”
“Sounds like you’ve found God.”
“That’s not what I mean and you know it. I was on a path to self-destruction. I would have ended up in prison or something if you didn’t show me that there were other ways to live my life.”
“Just like Yasmin did with me,” she answered.
Amanda ducked another attack, feeling frustrated by Alicia’s stubbornness. Yasmin had really done a number on her.
Close by, she saw her friends fighting against Yasmin’s other Black Knights and they were holding their own. Essentia Strikes flashed between them as they hammered on each other’s shields with their Magic. Meanwhile, Yasmin took on Lilith and Mr Black. Yasmin was more powerful than either of them, but between them, she hoped they might stand a chance against the Nomad.
“No,” Amanda answered Alicia. “Yasmin has done the opposite and twisted your perceptions.” Amanda had no idea if this was a Magical effect that had made her loyal to Yasmin, but it sounded like something similar to Stockholm Syndrome, when a hostage starts to feel trust and alliance with their captors. It was something of an unconscious survival strategy usually, as the victim begins to change their outlook to align themselves with their captor.
Amanda felt sure she could reverse it, if that’s what it was, but not here, not in a fight.
As she struggled against her friend, she saw Yasmin’s attacks break through Lilith’s Aegis. She hammered the deformed Magus with a series of attacks and broke her down, sending her flying away before Yasmin turned to Mr Black himself and focused all her attention and Magical fury on him.
Amanda cursed silently to herself as she ducked under another of Alicia’s shadow tendrils. She was getting nowhere fast, and she needed to end this before Yasmin reached her goal.
“Sorry,” Amanda said, and lashed out at Alicia with a surge of Magical attacks. Essentia Strikes lanced in and hit Alicia’s Aegis, while bolts of powerful lightning snappe
d out from her hands and slammed into her friend.
She winced every time something hit Alicia, but she had no choice. Alicia was handling it well, and hung on longer than Amanda had anticipated.
She was also holding back, though, and pulling her Magical punches. She didn’t want to kill her friend.
Alicia must have sensed the change in Amanda’s strategy as a whole new swathe of shadow arms rushed out and knocked Amanda back, catching her off guard.
With her attention divided between Alicia and Yasmin, she briefly lost her balance and fell, dropping to her bum on the hard-packed, sandy ground. Glancing over, she saw Yasmin hit Mr Black with another wave of attacks. This time, they pummelled him into the ground.
Mr Black roared with rage as Yasmin jumped on him. She grasped the Orb in her hand while Magical fire flowed up her arm from the Orb in protest.
A black shadow rushed in and obliterated her view of Yasmin’s fight. It hit her like a speeding train. Amanda rolled away. Springing up, she landed on her feet and lashed out at Alicia and this time, she didn’t hold back.
She did it on instinct and cursed herself for losing control, even for a moment. She watched her childhood friend tumble backwards and roll end over end, coming to a rest face down on the hard-packed sand.
Amanda caught her breath for a moment, terrified she’d killed her. But her Aetheric Sight quickly picked up life signs. She was unconscious. Her body still covered in shadows like a catsuit.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Amanda refocused on Yasmin. The Nomad stood up, one foot on Mr Black’s chest, holding aloft the glowing green Orb in her outstretched fist. Her hand and forearm dripped with blood, and Mr Black was not moving.
“No!” Amanda yelled.
Yasmin looked at her with a triumphant grin. After a moment of gloating, Essentia whipped around her, and she was gone.
Seconds later, the rest of Yasmin’s coven Ported out also. Everyone paused, not quite sure what to do and looking around in case Yasmin and her allies returned. Then Echo saw Mr Black, her adoptive father, and wailed in sorrow.
Amanda ran over as well and stood over her father. He was alive, and still a huge, hulking monster of a man, even with the Orb gone.
Liz joined her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, you?” Amanda asked.
“I’ll survive,” Liz said.
“She got the Orb,” Maria said, walking over with Maya at her side.
“She did,” Amanda answered, feeling bad that she’d not managed to stop her.
“Now what?” Maya asked.
“If I’m right, Yasmin will be heading into the Abyss, to Tartarus.”
“To the Archons,” Maria extrapolated.
Amanda nodded.
“You’re going to follow her, aren’t you,” Maya said. It wasn’t a question.
“I have to, and no, you’re not coming,” she said to everyone.
“But…”
“No. None of you has spent any real time in the Abyss. I have, and I’ll be quicker on my own. Also, you need to protect Alicia and the rest of the coven. If I know Yasmin, this would be the time she would attack and try to distract me.”
Maria nodded, a solemn look on her face, Maya and Liz seemed to accept it as well.
She looked over and saw Gentle Water crouched down beside Alicia. Amanda turned the other way and looked back at Echo. “Can we do anything?” she asked.
Echo looked up from beneath her dark hair, a frown creasing her forehead, before she returned her gaze to their unconscious father. “No. I’ll look after him.”
“As you wish,” Amanda said and looked over at Lilith who was also laid out on the ground, but still alive. She looked over to Maria. “Can you check her out? Heal her if you can.”
“Sure,” Maria said and walked over.
Amanda turned back to Alicia. She crouched down beside her, noticing that the living, inky-black shadows that covered her body seemed to be fading from view. They looked like they were being pulled back inside her. Gentle Water had turned her onto her side into the recovery position, and she still seemed to be breathing
“She alive,” he said. “But I cannot wake her. Whatever inside her, is protecting her.”
“Really?” Amanda asked. She turned her attention to Alicia again and reached out with her Magic, only for it to be repelled by something inside her. “Oh, what is that?”
“It is Abyssal?” Gentle Water said.
“I guess so. Alright, can you get her back to mine?” she asked, casting another working of Magic. She conjured a soft, warm blanket that Amanda pulled into place to cover Alicia’s now naked body. She stood up and looked over to see Lilith getting to her feet beside Maria. She also watched as Echo and Mr Black Ported out, disappearing from view with a snap of Essentia.
Amanda turned and looked up at Lilith. “Sorry I couldn’t stop her.”
“What’s done is done, it only matters what we do next,” she said.
“Agreed,” Amanda said, her expression serious. “I’m taking you back to mine,” she said and worked her Magic.
A split second later, the group were all standing in Amanda’s front hallway. They looked like refugees from a warzone, but there was no time to waste. Yasmin had everything she needed and was quite aware that Amanda could pass into the Abyss. Thinking it through, Amanda knew Yasmin would be aware that if she waited, Amanda might get to Tartarus first, and that could be problematic for her. If Amanda was right, Yasmin was probably in the Abyss already, or, at least, making the crossing now.
She needed to go as well if she were to stand any chance of beating or catching her. She sighed and looked over at the people before her. Gentle Water and Liz were moving Alicia, while everyone else seemed to be taking a moment to catch their breath.
Lilith turned to her and offered her a thin smile. “I’m going, I need to find Lyka and stop her if I can,” she said.
“I understand,” Amanda replied. Lilith nodded and Ported away. With Lilith gone, Amanda turned back to her friends. “Take her to the Arkady,” Amanda suggested looking down at Alicia. “She’ll be safe there.”
Gentle Water nodded back to her. “Okay.”
“I will return as soon as I can,” Amanda continued.
“Good luck,” Maya said and stepped over to hug her.
Maria did the same. “Come back safe,” she said.
“We’ll be waiting,” Liz added.
Amanda winked, and worked her Astral Magic, shifting herself over into the Aetheric Realm, and into the Abyss.
- The Arkady, In near-Earth Orbit.
Liz watched Gentle Water lower Alicia down onto the bed in the medical bay of the Arkady. She still wasn’t totally used to the idea that they had a space ship now, but it was cool nonetheless.
“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Liz asked.
“Amanda is the most capable Arch Magus I ever know,” Gentle Water answered.
“I know, I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
“She will.”
A siren suddenly sounded in the Arkady, and a flash of Essentia rippled through their minds that carried a simple message. Someone or something had just attacked the House’s Aegis in New York.
“Did you feel that?” Liz asked.
“Yes,” Gentle Water answered.
Without another word, the pair of them ran through the ship and through the Portal to the Null Realm lobby. A second later, they were back in the house in New York and charging down the stairs towards the front hallway.
Maya, Maria, Mercy, Sabine, and Tabitha were already there.
“What’s going on?” Liz asked.
“It’s the Black Knights,” Maria said, as the Aegis surrounding the house buckled under the onslaught it was receiving and disintegrated.
Condemned
The Vatican, Rome
The car, a large people carrier and one of several in the convoy, pulled in through one of the side gates of the Vatican and dropped down a ramp into the underground carpark.
Mary sat in the back behind the driver, looking out through the window as they sped past parked cars of all kinds, heading toward the drop-off area.
It was the second time she’d been picked up from that damn beach after being teleported there by Amanda, and the whole thing was wearing rather thin.
She thought they’d finally got her, finally had her right where they wanted her, but Amanda seemed to be stronger and more powerful than ever before. They seemed to have underestimated her at every turn, and once again, people had died and the mission was a failure.
She’d shouted and raged at the beach, venting her anger, but now, as acceptance crept in, she wondered if there might be another way, a better way.
The problem was that few people shared her personal hatred for Amanda, and she’d need to get several of the Disciples best Inquisitors, which would mean Conclave members, to join her in the hunt for this one Witch.
She’d brought up the subject of Amanda at the Conclave meetings before, and while it was agreed that Amanda was a concern, the opinion of the majority was that she wasn’t a big enough concern to warrant such an expenditure of resources.
In the Conclave’s opinion, there were other targets that were a higher priority. So Mary had been walking a tightrope for months since her appointment to Grand High Inquisitor. In theory, she could insist on any and all resources to mobilise and take out Amanda, but in reality, it didn’t work that way.
She was a figurehead, a powerful one to be sure, but a figurehead all the same, and she needed the council’s support for any operations larger than a couple of squads of Crusaders. Something, she’d yet to get backing for.
Some of the Grand Inquisitors on the council did support her, such as her friend, Nico Orsini, Vito’s former mentor, Francesco Acardi, and Danica Breen, the second-ever woman to be appointed to the Conclave following Mary’s promotion. All three of them had stood by her and supported her, but they were outvoted and shouted down each time.
Marcus was one of the most vocal of those who blocked her attempts to take Amanda on. He was also one of the oldest Conclave members, and one of the most powerful. Most of the council followed his lead.
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