Completed The Consequence of Treason

[Talus]

Talus looked at the frozen men, a strange pit forming in his stomach as Hal spoke.

Did his friend have any idea? Their magic was strong, stronger than some full Dreadlords he had seen. Fen had told Talus that he'd only done a quarter of what he should be capable of. He felt the same was true for Hal. He'd seen what his friend could do, what he could.

That truth scared him. The path that they were walking on meant little return. He had meant what he'd said about being in the game, but the cost of that was not one he was entirely ready to pay.

His fingers tightened on the elven dagger. "Farther than some might think."

The words seemed almost hollow as he spoke them, but as he glanced at Hal the odd blue wisps of smoke began to sprout from him skin and armor once more.

"I'll check the fringes of the manor." His tone shifted. "You head out directly. We can't leave anyone left alive."

This night would be known as the Massacre of House Oudin.

Both of them would see to that.

 

[Harry]

"Too bad this had to be discreet," He muttered, "Perhaps it would have been taken into consideration for my ranking."

He found the stairwell after trying the third door. Lucky.

"Right, right." Leaving no survivors was a given at this point. Hal wondered how long it would take for anyone to discover what happened. How long it would take for word to spread of the massacre of a noble house, something completely unheard of within Vel Anir. Once whatever it was Talus discovered was handed over to Selene, Hal felt sure that House Virak would claim credit for unmasking a traitorous nobleman.

Well, maybe, in the end, it would be considered when his ranking came about.

"See you outside."

He descended the stairs, retracing the steps they took back to the entrance hall. He saw nobody. Not a servant. Not a guard. Not any Oudin children.

Between him and the front door were five guards, two of which were from the front gate.

Hal only smiled.

 

[Talus]

As soon as Hal was out of sight Talus moved like he never had before.

Fen and he had been training, making sure that his powers were flexed to their fullest extent. Within five minutes he visited five rooms. Three men were dead, all of them either cut to ribbons or their eyes and flesh turned white.

None of it was truly a fight. None of them saw Talus coming, none of them could have hoped to survive against what they'd never seen before.

A part of him felt cheap for killing this way. The Proctors had brought them up as Soldiers, told them they would be fighting as Soldiers on the battlefield, yet this was not a battlefield. All this represented was a slaughter, and as Talus plunged his blade into the back of a kneeling finely dressed woman's neck he knew that to be true.

The blade wrenched free, and then suddenly he found himself snapped back into reality.

He stood in a small room, gloomier than most with no light save for what was provided by several small candles arrayed around an altar. Blood slowly seeped onto the floor from the woman he had killed, the maroon pool edging forward towards a small stone dais.

Upon the raised bit of flooring stood a figure, painted in red with the spiny wings of a bat. A demon. There was no other way to put it. A portrait of death surrounded by candles in an altar of prayer. Talus looked at it, and the figure seemed to look back.

For a moment he doubted himself, and then he could see it's eyes move. They etched slowly towards the dead woman, then back at Talus.

"I see you. I see you both. Shrouded in ice and soul."​

The voice screamed in his head, a guttural language that somehow etched itself in his mind.

"Your hands covered in blood and your hearts eaten away. One walks to greatness...."​

Talus let out a howl as a lance of pain struck through his mind. Without thinking he kicked forward, knocking the candles into the portrait. Instantly the flame seemed to catch, burning into an inferno as soon as it touched the portrait.

Without a second thought Talus turned away and ran, the voice still echoing in his head with laugh.

"...The other to the Abyss."​

 

[Harry]

At the same moment the painting spoke to Talus, Hal marched towards the guards.

However, he felt as the air became heavy. The manor’s ambiance become inexplicably eerie. Hal stopped and looked over his shoulder. It felt as if somebody- or something- was standing behind him. Odd.

There was a deep, buzzing hum that deafened Hal. When he turned to face the guards again, he could see they were speaking but he heard nothing.

He did not hear his own steps as he walked closer. The guards charged as a group, and fell just the same. They hadn’t even gotten close and were instead torn apart by spikes of ice summoned by the apprentice.

He stepped over the ravaged bodies and out the main entrance. Even outside, he could still feel that odd sensation.

“Come on,” Hal grumbled as he waited for his friend.

 

[Talus]

Talus burst from one of the far walls of the Manor, his form coming into being just a few feet to the left of where Hal stood.

His chest rose and fell, sweat beaded his brow, and soot stained some of his bright blonde hair. Talus quickly looked around himself, spotting Hal and rushing over to him. "Kress!

He swore loudly, looking startled for a second before he glanced to the street and lowered his voice.

"Hal they were demon worshipers." His voice sounded tight, strangled. The panic in him was clear, the burden of his knowledge practically forcing him to immediately spill his experience to his friend. "It spoke to me."

Talus did not care if he sounded like a mad man.

Religion had never been a part of Vel Anir, and Demon worship certainly hadn't been either. The young man was shook to his core.

 

[Harry]

It was perhaps a minute or two before Talus emerged from the wall. Hal didn't count.

His friend was visibly distressed, swore- loudly- and then spoke madness.

"What?" He chuckled, "You jest."

The boy's eyes squinted almost immediately after. That ominous feeling, and when had Hal ever seen his friend in such a state? He slapped a hand on his friend's shoulder, right below his neck, to still the panicked boy. A subtle wave of relieving cold washed over Talus in an attempt to calm him.

"You're serious." He locked eyes with his friend, "Shit."

Hal's jaw muscles danced as his teeth clenched down. He swallowed hard.

"What did it say?"

 

[Talus]

"I..." The words flashed through his mind.

He could remember it all. What the demon had said, the guttural sound of it's screeching in his head. All of it was still there. His head shook suddenly, a hand coming up to run through his hair.

"I don't remember." His fingers tightened. "It was in a different language, like a grating on my mind."

Lips thinned as he glanced back towards the manor. He could see the flickering shadows of fire peeking through some of the window, an orange tint cast upon the walls. "Let's get out of here."

There was no point in telling Hal what the Demon had said.

It had all been lies anyway.

 

[Harry]

Hal's frigid, glacial eyes peered deep into Talus' as he spoke. He was correct, he hadn't ever seen Talus so bothered. He also didn't quite believe his friend, but no good would come out of pressing the matter now. He only smiled and raised his hand off of Talus' shoulder, only to lower it again to give his friend another gentle pat.

"Right," He looked to the side at the manor, "It'll go up soon. We'll have a decent view from the inn. You can show me what was in the journal."

He didn't quite like the idea of Demonspeak grating his friend's mind. While having no first-hand knowledge, he has read a selection of books since leaving the Academy that were about demons. Even minimal exposure could drive one mad.

Hal didn't look back at Talus as he walked out through the front gate and jogged down the street.

He believed his friend's mind was stronger than that. A good night of rest would ease his mind. The next day, they would study the journal and send word to Selene that the job was done. Or, perhaps she would hear of the fire that burned down the Oudin's manor. Regardless, none but those involved would know of the assassination that took place, and the information that Talus and Hal would gather should prove enough to scratch at the surface of an even larger plot.

Or, so he hoped anyways. He was in the game now. He would play it all the way to the top.