The time has come for Ariel to understand, after many months lost, and searching, killing. Ariel has blood on her hands.
“I do not,” Ariel says aloud.
But you do, you did a wonder on the yumbo. You are murdering like the best of them, like your ancient mother, Pultine.
“I am not a murderer,” Ariel says and she sees what is in front of her. She has killed a yumbo elder, a fortune teller who did not have Tracia’s calabash, “She could get her own calabash if she needs it, she wouldn’t ask me to get it…” dead in her tree hollow.
“You fight it so hard,” Mey says, standing next to Ariel in the cozily decorated hollow where Fonlanders of Age’s Disc came to hear their fortune. “But I have you now, big sister. And with your help, we will reshape the present for good. I am so happy that you rescued me. You not only saved me, but you allowed me to pay it forward. With your help, the 88 we will be a coven again. You will love the coven and they will love you.”
“How did you make this happen?” Ariel asks, still staring at the corpse in disbelief. “This can’t be happening,” she says. But the tree she is inside of knows better, I know better. I am all around her, doing my best to protect her, to counter the spells of this Death Witch in the guise of a helpless Aziza. This one is strong, but inside of me, she is less so, and Ariel is powerful, I give her all of me.
“Quietus,” Ariel says and her eyes go bright yellow-white, her hair flairs up as her aspect is let loose and rages around her with such force that it sends winds out like an explosion, and Mey is flung out of me, she is flung out of the tree where she smashes into another tree before she hits the ground. When she stands, she is much taller, statuesque, impossibly long limbs and a dark, angled face that perfectly broadcasts her villainy.
“How did you learn my name?” Quietus yells up at Ariel as she slowly flaps her wings and descends to stand before the witch.
“I’m daughter of the large flower, bitch, and yo dumb ass took me into a tree. You kept me in the forest, of course I was gonna break this shit eventually. You did overwhelm me with your power at first, I was not expecting a Death Witch, but you underestimated me, because I know Death Magic. You had me swimming, my real sister probably think I done lost my damn mind, but I only let you walk me in this far because I knew the Disc got me.”
“You killed Seraphiel and you killed this fortune teller! You are Death, Ariel!” Quietus hisses.
“You killed them. Tell me why you did all this.”
“Your Earther brain cannot wrap itself around the schemes of the Death Witch Coven. I will admit that your resolve has surprised me, but we have played this charade long enough that I can continue my plan. I’d hoped that you would come with me willingly, but I am prepared to restrain you. This could have been fun for you, but your sisters have bathed you in self-righteousness and you will only fight me.”
Quietus lifts both her hands with her digits arched, like she grips the space before her, and then her fingers bend and flatten, sending out strings of violet that wrap Ariel. Suddenly, Quietus feels a fist smash into her face and though it is a surprise, she doesn’t break her concentration on the spell she is casting.
“Let her go!” Zana, Ariel’s sister, yells as she punches Quietus with fists that glow yellow-white and leave streaks of the light in their wake like comets. Leilar and Agiel are with Ariel trying to free her but they are panicking because they have no familiarity with the magic that Quietus wields.
“Your power is considerable,” Quietus says to Zana as she continues to attack, “but there is no stopping this. Your sister and I are headed to the past for real this time and there will be no disrupting my plans. I will be sure to recruit you into the coven, we can always use fists like yours.”
With that, Quietus and Ariel disappear from the forest and in their place is a disturbance in existence that Leilar, Agiel and Zana struggle to escape. It looks like a hole in existence and it consumes things around it, growing infinitesimally bigger as it does.
“The fuck just happened?” Zana yells, looking back at the disturbance in the distance.
“We have to get help,” Leilar says, fear creeping into her voice. “I know she’s in there, we can get her back.”
Metatron is angry when he speaks with Tracia in the Smiting Chamber.
“There is no way it was Pultine, though,” Tracia says, hoping to calm him.
“I’ve seen her handiwork before,” Metatron says skeptically. “A light blast killed Seraphiel and Pultine spent a large chunk of her life hunting him.”
“She’s been with Zaccaheus looking for the Superguardian for a while now. She’s not in the other realm. She hasn’t left the Fonlands since the Outsiders came here. You said Seraphiel was killed on Endla, in the Airie? There is no way Pultine could have done it, and she has no motivation to do it anymore. It must be someone else with Pultine-like powers.”
“It was Ariel,” Ahdis says and both Tracia and Metatron are surprised to see her approaching them. Raius is with her and they both look concerned. “We must go to her now if we stand a chance of saving her.”
“Why would Ariel do something like this?” Tracia asks, looking to Metatron with confusion then back to Ahdis with concern. “What has happened?”
“The Death Witches are wreaking havoc sister. I should have trusted my dreams, but now it is too late. I think one of them has attached to Ariel, maybe Decay, and she is doing something to manipulate reality itself. But reality manipulation is sophisticated magic, it would have to be Quietus herself.”
Tracia shakes her head and her brow furrows in anger. Metatron is confused.
“Why now? After so long? And with everything happening…” Tracia trails off.
“Maybe they are taking advantage of the chaos,” Ahdis says. “Or worse, they are part of the chaos.”
“Let’s go,” Tracia says to Ahdis, then turns to Metatron. “Contact when Issac has finished with the Enchanted Decks. Hopefully we can stop this quickly.”
“What is happening? Who is Quietus?”
“Feel lucky that you do not know,” Tracia says as she takes flight and casts a portal to Age’s Disc. Ahdis and Raius are through first, and it closes behind Tracia. Metratron is left scratching his head.
PRL Serials 