THE APPLE OF SNAKES

lxx. righteous battle

Scouts had seen him by this point. They went riding back to the High Priestess. Nerluce couldn't make her out, yet. He sighed and put away his fan. Time to work. Time to put everything that he didn't want to think about or feel into a little box and lock it up, tight. Nerluce stored his morals and his memories, he stored his love and his dreams, he put everything he was and hoped to be in this box.

And then he put on a smile and climbed to the top of the bridge. The High Priestess rode forward, oh so distinct with her dual hair.

"Good evening, High Priestess Honami!" Nerluce called from the bridge.

She stopped short of the bridge. Her horse, a gray mare snorted and pawed the earth, anxiously. Behind the High Priestess were four others. Nerluce recognized them as Elder Priests and Priestesses. He decidedly ignored them. He skimmed the other soldiers or more specifically, he looked at their mounts. 

Lilith wasn't among them.

"Where's Angel?" Nerluce asked.

"Elder Priest Aristide guards the Chosen Light," the High Priestess said. She looked highly smug about this fact. "He will not let your shadows pierce her. You will have to settle your grudge with him another day."

Nerluce cocked his head. "I have no grudge against him."

The High Priestess's expression darkened. "Then perhaps you'd like to visit him. If you come to Ethera peacefully, there will be no need for further action."

"Oh?" Nerluce asked. "It almost seems like you came all this way to see me. I'm touched."

"We did," the High Priestess said.

Nerluce missed a beat. He'd... he'd been teasing when he said what he had. His eyes widened and then narrowed as he looked at the High Priestess. What was her game? Why would she make such a wager? She was working for Tilica, wasn't she? Tilica wouldn't care about him. He was just one player in a much larger game. Surely Ethera's only mission here wasn't to take Nerluce into custody.

"Nerluce Hebikoti," the High Priestess said. "Son of Prathesh Hebikoti. Practitioner of Dark Arts, Master of Heresy, Magickian of Life." She glared at him with such an intense hatred that Nerluce was startled. "You are a blite upon the world. Your shadow casts darkness and uncertainty onto all of our futures. If you surrender yourself to us to be executed in Ethera, there will be no need to cast all of Itoroh into damnation."

Well, that was a bit different than surrendering peacefully.

"Unfortunately for us both," Nerluce said. "I would greatly prefer to live. I'm sure you and... many of your Seraphs feel the same." His gaze slid over at Ethera's troops. "So I do not want to be... executed for your perceived faults in myself."

The woman clicked her tongue. "You still feign ignorance?" she asked. "I know who you are, Darkest Shadow."

A beat.

Then, Nerluce laughed.

He couldn't help himself. The idea... it was just... stupidity! And it was just what Lyana had predicted would happen. Nerluce had continued to be unapologetic in his usage of life magick and now Ethera, cowards when faced with true power, were here to kill him. Nerluce couldn't help but laugh. In the distance, thunder rolled across the sky. 

"Darkest Shadow?" Nerluce echoed. "What a fucking joke." Lightning flashed behind Nerluce. His white hair was illuminated by the strike. "You come to my clan's territory with such an audacious lie and demand my life as forfeit?" He spat. "Come and take it. Let the gods decide which one of us is righteous."

"This doesn't have to end in death," the High Priestess said.

"No, it doesn't," Nerluce agreed. "Go home and I will forget this whole incident ever occurred. Things can be as they were."

"With you running amuck? With you killing anyone who inconveniences you?" the High Priestess asked. "Your crimes have reached ears all across Ecekasuri. You are a spoiled child who is completely lacking in morals. If we let you go today, what is to stop you from deciding to kill another innocent person because you desire their land? What is to stop you from deciding that all of Ecekasuri ought to belong to you?"

"I don't want all of Ecekasuri!" Nerluce shouted. Who would? Ruling all of those people... sounded like a lot of work to Nerluce. All he wanted was to laze about: drinking, and eating, and completely free. 

Thunder roared, much louder this time.

"And your accusations against me are unfounded. I have never murdered anyone for... for inconveniencing me," Nerluce said. "You cannot convict me just because you dislike my magick."

"Your forked tongue says nothing but lies," the High Priestess snarled.

Nerluce raised his chin, teeth bared. Lightning flashed. There was no convincing them. They had come here to kill him and they would not be leaving until they accomplished that. A part of him wondered if surrendering to them was the right thing to do. Two years ago, he would have. He would have used his own blade if it meant a stop to the fighting. But now, Nerluce knew that even if he surrendered, even if he spared the lives of anyone he might kill today... the fighting would never really cease.

Ethera would invent a new lie, convict a new individual. They would do whatever they wanted because they had the strength to. They could get away with anything so long as they said it was the will of the divine. And that pissed Nerluce off.

"Cross onto Hebikoti land and your life will be forfeit," Nerluce said, summoning Ealatus as raindrops began to fall from the sky.

The High Priestess narrowed her eyes. "Seraphs! Bring down Darkest Shadow!"

The soldiers let out a cry and began to charge.

"So be it."

[curator's note]

this,,, this is fine.