Somewhere else entirely
A meeting of Sin
"Very well!", the deity exclaimed happily. "Then gifts is what thou shall receive. Worry not about what thy Sins will think...we know each other very well, even if they might not admit it. The scales swing one way or the other as fate dictates, all I can do is try to keep them as balanced as possible.."His tone growing a little serious, and yet with a smile on his face, the little god approached each of the Archbishops, and touched their foreheads with his index finger. For a moment, a black mark, like a stain of ink, appeared on their skins, and each of them in term would, for a brief moment, see in their minds, and in their thoughts.. whatever it was that they desired the absolute most in this world. Even Pride, so composed and calm even in the face of divinity, seemed.. troubled, for a moment. "Ask me not what these gifts shall do for thee, for I can not answer. They will make themselves known at the opportune time. And trust me.. they will be needed."
A moment of silence followed, as the deity plucked a flower from the ground. It quickly withered, and turned black, covered in a thick, black, mold-like substance. "But be careful with what thy desire is. Life.. is a fragile thing.. and even sins must have a limit." The god then looked directly at Pride. "And Kiryl, thou shall know... return to the glade. The one who has thy love is in danger." It took the white haired boy a few moments to even comprehend what the deity had said, with that name...and then he realized. He turned around, and started running to the forest. The boy-god giggled, looking at the others. "Thou might not trust me, seeing as I'm but a mere little deity.. but if thou shall let him die in the near future...it would end badly for everyone involved."
Not saying anything else, the skull-masked figure turned around, and disappeared into the forest, in the opposite direction.
A glade where the Sins had met
By the time Pride and the other Archbishops arrived, it was clear that something had went horribly wrong. Blood was deeply staining parts of the ash where too much of it had fallen to the ground to be completely absorbed, the bodies of several cultists were laying on the ground, dead, and the one they had let to rest here, Meta, was nowhere to be seen. Alexei was also lying on the ground, unconscious, but he was still breathing, if just barely, something that the silver eyed boy was able to hear from the beginning. Not stopping for even a moment, the Archbishop fell on his knees next to the blue haired man, and quickly took out a vial of something, pouring it on him, a slightly more diluted potion that could heal and yet still hurt as it was doing it. "What happened?", he nearly shouted, as Alexei started to wake up, grabbing him by his collar and dragging him up forcefully. "Where is she?"
Earlier
A glade where the Sins had met
"it would seem that your lack of concrete memories about the past has only made you more predisposed to live in your delusions.", Ekaitz replied, in a relatively cold voice. There was no visible sign of his anger, and the prince seemed to be as calm as he had always been, but those who knew how he was like would have quickly noticed that he was no longer smiling and that his tone had grown a lot more serious - a clear sign that Meta's endless replies had finally started to affect him. It was as if his voice had suddenly become icy cold. "You are a worthy match for the Archbishop of Pride.. thinking so highly of yourself. But that is in the end the difference between the hollow and sinful pride that marks you two, and the rightful beliefs of those who know who they are and what their place is. You truly are amusing, a whore who thinks that she was someone, a whore proud of her profession." Ekaitz giggled. "We tried to act nicely with you at the beginning, for after all, who were we to judge the Gods and their choices? But it was you from the start who refused to know your place. You think having been used as a prostitute by kings means anything? You are waving your own sinful past around and being proud about it. We are no king, that is true, but kings nowadays are the ones who are a dime a dozen. Broken bloodlines, boy-kings led by fear and paranoia, or led by their servants. The blood of the great Apostle Asier flows through our veins, not that you would understand or care. It's through these crests you mock that we survived. What happened to the Realm of Thorns? It crumbled and withered away. What happened to the Realm of the Eternal Flame? It burned so brightly that it turned into darkness and fell. And yet we are still here. Because we understood that obedience is nearest onto heaven. And you think that we would care about how much of a prostitute you have been? About how many men you've led into sin? About how both you and him have fallen prey to such desires? You insult us through this. If we would really care about that, there would be nothing simpler that using the crest to get what we want. We could throw you so that you could be used by our soldiers, like the Achysians did. But we can only find solace in the thought that you will pay for your sins, in this world or in the next. "
Ekaitz giggled again. "Oh he is following that necromancer, you just don't know it. Just like that time. You don't remember it, do you. How both of them tried to protect the Mage-Emperor's spawn from the fate that should have fallen upon them. And that is why we cut your eyes out and left you to die. You betrayed your oaths to the Faith and to the free peoples of the Silver Realms, only because your blind loyalty towards that mad priest. You never had a place there, and you never understood what was truly going on. For a moment there, you had risked the fate of the entire world. That deserved punishment." The emerald eyed man sighed, as he looked at Saeria. "It's alright, Saeria.. it's understandable that you would fear the crest. And you have already proven your loyalty beyond doubt in many other ways. But a crest can go both ways. If you'll ever want to experience what boundless trust means.. you can tell us." He then remained silent for a moment, looking at the sky. "And we understand.. even if others might not. If it's for the greater good, sacrifices must be made...if we must stain our hands with blood so that the rest of the world might live safely.. then so be it." Ekaitz looked back at Saeria, smiling ago. "Come then ,we shall go"
Despotate of Xerena
Խերենակո Դեսպոտեռիա
Xerenako Despoterria
Obedientia est propinquissima caelo
Citadel of Barrakazo
A few nights after
When Meta had finally come back to her senses, she was in a room inside a castle somewhere. Her wounds had been healed, and she was no longer in any pain, even of course, she continued to be shrouded in darkness, unable to see, only able to feel that was sitting on a wooden chair, on a floor of stone, with the chilly air of castles. Someone, probably a maid, was tending to the fireplace nearby. "The Prince will soon come, my lady.", a woman's voice was to be heard, speaking in a distinctly Xerenian accent, and sure enough, before Meta was even able to say anything, a door opened somewhere, and two different sets of footsteps marked the arrival of two persons.
"You may leave, Agurne.", Ekaitz's word was heard. The maid bowed deeply, and left them alone, with only someone else nearby, someone who of course had to be Saeria. "Welcome again to Barrakazo.", Ekaitz told Meta in a clearly somewhat mocking tone. "You may not remember it, on account of dying and then being corrupted by Sloth of course, but we stopped here in the final year of the war. It's a citadel in Calaria, that was given to us to protect against the invading Achysian forces. And now, it's going to be the citadel where the Cult of Sins will end." The prince giggled, making no effort to hide his amusement or his excitement. "Perhaps we have treated you too harshly.. after you, no matter of how sinful you are, you are going to play a role in this, the most important role perhaps. Maybe one day in the future, your name will be sung in ballads and legends as the one who sealed the fate of the Archbishop of Pride.. what say you, Sleep Princess? Will you serve as the bait for the trap that will bring your beloved prince to an end?" This time Ekaitz couldn't help but laugh. "This is what we've waited for... for so long. A way to bring the leader of the Cult of Sins from the hole in which he was hiding, a way to cut off the head of the Cult and to bring it to an end in one precise strike. He will come to save you, he will. As much as we hate the concept of using hostages.. it has to be done, under such circumstances. It is the only way. You may believe that he has a chance to win, you may believe that he will certainly win, regardless of the fact that he lost the last time.. but you will see. Once he enters this citadel, he won't leave it alive.. and we will make sure that he stays dead this time. And after you accomplished your purpose, peace and salvation will also be granted to you, Sleep Princess. But before that...you still need to be punished for your sins, or else your soul might never be cleansed no matter what we do. We need to break your loyalty to that accursed priest of sin no matter what."
A moment of silence followed. "Let us think.. say, Saeria, the same way you can see and manipulate memories.. can you create false ones, or at the very least remove certain parts of already existing memories?"
