Fate - First Reply The Crossroads

[Mathalla]

A Crossroad

"Graveyard dirt, the bone of a black cat, and a drop of your blood buried in the center of a crossroad."
​

The box was placed within the ground, a small latch keeping it closed. The cool night of the new moon saw only stars above and a brisk cold which seemed to cling even beneath ones cloak. The stars seemed dimmer out here, though with no city nor town nearby no light polluted the sky. Yet strange darkness seemed hang all about, even the keenest eyes struggling to see further than a few feet ahead.

Hands raked through the dirt, pushing debris upon the box until it was buried, slowly disappearing into the road itself.

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen.

The night air lingered, the sounds of chirping crickets and quiet critters scurrying beneath the underbrush staying the only company the figure kept. It seemed as though the Ritual had been for naught and nothing. A boot scraped within the gravelly dirt as the summoner turned around, shoulders shifting in disappointment.

Then heat bloomed behind them. Like a furnace it blasted across their back, a sudden flame rupturing within the center of the crossroads, and from within it stepped a woman clad in barest coverings and adorned with red skin. Her horns rising tall from her head, a small soft smile playing across her lips as a coin rolled between her index and thumb. "You know."

She purred as the flames surrounding her died to a lowly circle.

"I never quite understood the cat thing." The Devil mused as the coin slipped and began to roll across the backs of her fingers. It's whispers already calling. "But, for some reason it's still around."

Her tongue clicked in a 'tsk', head shaking. "Maybe after you make your deal, you can tell others to stop killing cats?"

The Devil asked with a smile.

 

[Amelita]

She who had no friends glanced down at the black cat beside her. Well, she didn’t take bones from this cat— or any black cat that was still living. Amelita found it funny how some parents would bury a beloved pet, and she found it funnier yet when it turned out the few meters of barren ground was a resting place for all sorts of pets. Hamsters, guinea pigs, dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens, and even a goldish could be found. Finding the bone of a black cat required a lot of time digging and even more time bringing a dozen or so cat skulls back to life to then spending even more time trying to translate their meows.

But it would be worth it. It was even worth sneaking that old geezer’s wake, skulking around his musty home to find a book without a cover and missing at least fifty or more pages. He had written in long, sloping cursive of a ritual to gain all rights to his father’s will, which clearly he inherited everything but could never quite get rid of that nasty rumor of becoming the only child to leave anything to.

“Well, I didn’t kill anything.” Amelita said, glancing up and realizing because of the ritual, her bangs were out of place. Long fingers that would belong to a pianist instead of an undeserving brat like her would slowly begin to the methodical process of putting them in place.

“Would’ve been easier if you had,” the cat spoke, a deep, gravelly voice that was filled with both irritation and malice.

“Whatever. Anyways, Devil, time for my deal.” Her tongue swiped over her lower lip, giving extra attention to the place she had ripped skin from when she had been walking away. “I want to be the most popular girl in the entire world and have everyone want to be my friend, dead or alive. I want to be so popular that even stupid little woodland animals help me dress in the morning and tuck me into bed. Should be simple enough for you to do.”

Mathalla

 

[Mathalla]

Mathala let out a long, disappointed breath. ”There used to be ceremony to this sort of thing.”

The Devil grumbled quietly to herself as her fingers rang out in a loud snap.

Fire once again erupted within the air. This time it burned in a quick torrent between Mathalla and Amelita. The flames quickly ripping through the air and leaving behind what appeared to be a desk, two opposing chair, and a very long bundled piece of paper. From a pocket one could not quite make out, Mathalla pulled out an inkwell and quill. Sitting herself down in the chair.

The coin in her other hand tumbled over the back of her knuckles and slipped into her palm. The cool metal gently falling down onto the tabletop as Mathalla sat herself down and gestured for her guest to do the same.

”We can make you as popular as can be.” The Devil said, a now beaming smile on her lips. ”Why the Queen of Althea herself will be begging to get to know you!”

Mathalla said chirpily, pushing the inkwell and quill towards the girl. ”Just sign here.”

She continued as her off hand slipped into the parchment and pulled it open. Revealing for the first time thousands upon thousands of tiny lines of writing, so small they were almost impossible to read without pressing the paper directly to one's face. Dozens of clauses, terms, and conditions contained within.

”By the end of next week, your name will be on everyone's lips.” Mathalla boasted, waggling her eyebrows.

 

[Amelita]

Amelita looked closely at the paper, shocked that this long scroll was longer than Amelita was tall, maybe even twice as long! What was more of an issue was how small the writing was, causing her to squint her eyes in concentration. Did she need glasses? Was that the issue? Amelita would never ever be caught alive or dead wearing a pair of ugly little round spectacles! Not now, not ever, because everyone knew that whoever wore glasses was not popular.

Ame sat down nonetheless.

“Half of these words are fake.” She accused, indignant. “Cavaet emptor? What is that? Habaes corpus? Injunction? These are made up words, you’re trying to trick me!” Graeme laughed, black tail swishing back and forth in glee.

“Welcome to making deals with a devil, little occult one.” The cat said, jumping up onto the desk to look at the scroll but got distracted by the inkwell. Oh, so far from the edge. He pawed at it, whiskers twitching forward. Now much closer to the edge….

“So she’s giving me a contract in devil speak?” She pointed at another bundle of words. “Lacuna? Pro rata? Arbitration? You must think I’m stupid.” Ame huffed, distracting Graeme from the inkwell for a moment. “This doesn’t tell me if I am going to be popular or not. I don’t think you get it.” The young necromancer crossed her arms over her chest, sulking and pouting. It had never worked before in getting her what she wanted but it never hurt to try. “Do you even know who my father is?”

Graeme rolled his eyes at the question and turned to the red devil. “Don’t humor her,” he warned.

Mathalla

 

[Mathalla]

"Believe me I'd like to do nothing less." Mathalla told the cat as if it speaking were the most natural thing in the world. Reaching out to gently grab the Inkwell and slide it back into place besides the contract, noticeably closer to her companion this time. "I don't know who any of you are, I can barely tell the two of you apart."

The Devil said with a gesture to Amelita and then the cat. "Mortals all kind of look the same to me."

It was usually more fun negotiating with someone who properly understood the clauses of a contract. Though she suspected that this girl wasn't really much for negotiation. Perhaps encouraging her furry companion to speak for her would work out better?

He seemed much more intelligent.

"Perhaps your furry companion can read the contract to you." She offered with a happy smile. "I've heard cats have an excellent knack for languages."

She wasn't sure if that was true, but it apparently knew enough about the trickery of Devils to warn the girl. "But, honestly, you seem like such a clever girl."

Mathalla continued as her free hand gently lifted the coin from where it sat on the table. The small disc of metal rolling back and forth beneath her index finger as she drew Amelita's eyes towards it's center. As she did so, the girl would hear whispered in her mind. Quiet sounds of adoration, cheering clammor, demands of attentions and whispered promises of gold and fashion even Queen's could only desire.

Within her ears would sound the echoes of an adoring crowd, desperate to do just as she pleased. The coin seeming to vibrate and shake as Amelita looked at it for even the briefest moment. "Do you really think I'd be able to trick you?"

The Devil purred.

 

[Amelita]

“I am not a cat!” Graeme objected, arching his back and pulling back his ears in offense. “Devils always think they’re better than us demonic forces, and maybe your power does not rely on on the abstract and the obscure, but I cannot be defeated, only weakened! For I am Graeme, that which was brought forth through intent and murder! For every planned revenge, for every accidentally stabbing that results in a ‘I didn’t mean to! It was self defense!’ If there is murder and intent, I am there too—“

Without knowing she was doing so, Amelita blocked out Graeme and focused on the coin. This was a daily occurrence, ignoring the cat, yes, but also ignoring everything else that wasn’t important. It was her hidden talent, although everyone said it was only her being rude. Perhaps the woman-thing in front of her understood though. After all, that coin, those voices… Ame shivered in delight, relishing the little tingles in her toes.

“I am a clever girl, and no one has fooled me before.” Ame said coyly, now all giggles and smiles. She gave a pointed look to Graeme, the supposed incarnation of murderous intent that still thought it was his turn to be talking. “Shut up, Graeme, I need to concentrate.” She took the quill, ready to dip it into the inkwell.

“Wait!” The cat screeched.

“What?!” Ame yelled right back. She was ready to pick him up and throw him off the desk, maybe even tying him up in a bag and throwing him into a river. He couldn’t drown, but maybe a bear would find him when he washed upon shore. She wondered if he’d still be alive as bear poo and what a miserable existence that would be.

“It could be a trap.” She fixed him with a look.

“By the flesh merge, Graeme! She said I’m clever, if you had shut up for a second and actually listened you’d realize she wants to be my friend. Unlike you.” And with that, Ame signed the contract, having never read more than a few words of it. After all, she was such a clever girl.

Mathalla

 

[Mathalla]

OH. That was why it could talk.

Mathalla supposed that made sense, none of the other cats she'd met had ever talked to her, but she'd always simply assumed they were shy. The little creature being a demon made some sort of sense, she supposed. Things of the Abyss did share many qualities with the furry mortals. Both were wretched little things of disorder and chaos.

"Of course you are!" The Devil agreed, interrupting her thoughts as the girl complemented herself. The smile on her face never wavering as she slipped forward in her seat. Sliding her chin into her palm and resting her elbow on the table.

"Yeah! I do!" Mathalla exclaimed with all the enthusiasm of a new sorority sister. "I loooove making friends!"

The Devil cooed, smiling wide as Ame picked shifted the quill, and then quickly scribbled her name across the bottom of the contract. Sharp teeth showing as the smile turned into a wide cheshire grin. She glanced down at the demon furball for a moment, catching it's eyes and savoring the moment before she snapped the fingers on her free hand.

As though tossed in a fire, the contract suddenly immolated itself. Disappearing into naught but smoke in the span of a heartbeat.

An instant later the coin upon the table changed. No longer vibrating, but coming to a stop. The picture upon it suddenly shifting and warping into an exact image of Ame herself. The other side an odd sort of symbol.

Mathalla reached out, gently pushing the coin towards the girl.

"There." The Devil said with a smile. "Now you keep this..."

She said, as though offering Ame a receipt. "And then, you and I are going to take a little trip. Just so I can show you how popular I've made you."

 

[Amelita]

Graeme began to curse, something about deals and contracts that went beyond mortal understanding, but Amelita couldn't care less as she took the coin from Mathalla. She hardly looked at it, seeing the side of the symbol instead of her face. If she had seen her face etched on the coin, she would have stared at it for far longer than was normal.

"Well, that was easy." Ame stood up from her seat, still ignoring Graeme as he said something else about her fate diverging from blah, blah, blah. An impish grin spread wide before the budding necromancer began chewing on her lower lip in anticipation.

"You know, I can't wait to show Evelyn that she was wrong. Do you know Evelyn Gillig?" Ame felt the new, fresh wound in her lip with her tongue, feeling a layer of skin she had torn through. "You probably don't; she's not important. She's just a stuck-up bitch that told me wearing white to her wedding was rude in front of everyone there. Excuse you, my dress was beautiful; it just happened to be white and didn't come in any other colors besides yellow-- and I look awful in yellow so I couldn't buy that. She's just mad that I looked better than she did but that isn't my fault. I told her mermaid dresses don't suit her boxy figure; everyone knows for a body type like hers, you'd want something that flared at the hips to balance out those buffalo shoulders she has. On my father's soon-to-be grave, Graeme, shut up! My new friend wants to hear this story!"

Turquoise eyes found Mathalla, expectant and secure. In the dark pupils of her eyes, a glimmer of light could be seen for a quarter of a second. "Don't you?"

Mathalla

 

[Mathalla]

Oh no. She'd made a mistake.

"Oh yes, obviously." No. She did not want to hear any of this. The droll frivolities of a girl living her jealous life were about as interesting to Mathalla as the motions of ants through the local fields of grass.

Although, it would all be very funny to see it come crashing down. "I mean, did Evelyn even realize the grace you were giving her by even attending her wedding?"

Mathalla said, egging the girl on.

Quickly, as enthusiastically as she could manage, the Devil stood from her seat. Another snap rang out, and fire was born just a few meters to their left. It burnt through the air, and within it's wake left the makings of a carriage. Drawing into being as though it had been summoned from the very fires of hell. The steeds which lead it a pure black, their eyes holding a dull red glow.

"We need to test out your new found fame, no?" Mathall asked. "Even that poor little schmuck Evelyn will see you for what you really are."

 

[Amelita]

It felt good to finally be heard. Almost all her life, everyone told her she was the problem, but now she had a friend who listened with compassion, a friend who promised her to be popular. It felt so damn good to have someone see her potential as the most popular girl on Arethil!

So engrossed in her thoughts, she didn't hear Graeme sputter and curse about the magic and power needed to bring up the horse and carriage out of thin air. Why would Ame even need to worry about such a thing when Mathalla was her newfound friend? Her best friend?

The grin on Ame's face only grew wider as she sauntered over to the carriage. The horses didn't frighten her in the slightest and as she stepped into the carriage and sat down, she remained unbothered.

"You're right." She finally agreed. "Everyone who doubted me, they'll see." Graeme sat beside her, tail swishing back and forth, fur puffed out. She was far too delighted to even worry about how her furry companion looked fat and rotund. "So, bestie, would you care to swap secrets? Or should we do each other's hair? I can braid it-- I can't not Elbion braids but a simple braid would do. Ooh! Maybe instead we could get matching piercings. I mean, I suppose we have hours until arriving at our destination, so we could just do everything?"

Mathalla

 

[Mathalla]

Sometimes, a part of her wished she had not been born on the wrong side of the divine.

Surely the angels were never subjected to this.

The girl wasn't the worst she had ever had to deal with, but she was most certainly toeing the line. Briefly Mathalla found herself wondering how she had been raised. Her father would have taken this sort of behavior and dealt with it harshly, and not like human parents did. A strike to the face would have been a kindness compared to the King of hel-

"Piercings?" The Devil asked, her horned head suddenly turning as she narrowed her eyes at the girl. "Whatever do you mean?"

Was this some form of human torture that she hadn't been yet told about? Piercing ones body? That sounded absolutely delightful. Nothing else the girl had droned on about had been interesting. Hair was a strange human thing she manifested only because it seemed to comfort mortals, and time ebbed and flowed differently for Mathalla than it did for mortals.

But Piercings?

That sounded fun. "Will there be stabbing?"

The Devil asked a bit too eagerly.