Seraphic Wings

145. Invictus

After getting pulled into a 'portal', Lucette finds herself in complete darkness. As she turns around, she notices that the place lights up. What she sees in front of her makes her jaw drop for a moment, but she collects herself. For there, directly ahead of her, was a ruined castle, however it was nearly completely covered in vines and trees, with so many parts of the walls missing. But she could tell from what she could see that it was once a regal building. As she looked behind her, it revealed nothing but darkness, so the only lit up area was the path leading towards the castle. As she made the mental decision to walk towards the castle, she walked a few feet before noticing that there was a statue on the side of the path. It was mostly covered with vines, which is why she didn't initially see it. But now that she was able to see more of it, she noticed that it looked like a large dog, or perhaps a wolf. She had to guess where its head would be, as she moved the greenery away from the statue and she saw that there, staring back at her, were a pair of ruby eyes. The statue looked a bit scuffed, but the rubies still looked unharmed by nature. But, as she looked down, she noticed that the statue had two long canines protruding from its mouth, which was nothing like a dog or a wolf that she had ever seen. So it confirmed that it was neither, but something else entirely. As Lucette took a step back, away from that statue, she became aware that the entire path on both sides leading towards the ruined castle was filled with more statues, but they weren't all the same. The one next to the weird beast was in the shape of a horse. On closer inspection, she saw that it was sporting the same ruby red eyes.

What was this place that Seraph had brought her to? Or was it Nocte himself, considering the fact that one of the things that he said was that she was needed the most here. But where even is 'here'?!

Lucette then decided to just keep walking down the path towards the castle and, along her way, she saw more and more of these unique statues. However, one in particular caught her eye. It was half covered by greenery, but there was no mistaking it. As she got closer to it, she moved the plants out of the way, and a voice spoke up from inside her head.

"That's... Me."

For there, right in front of her, was the being that she was carrying around.... Satanael. The long, snake-like body with only a set of back legs, with just wings acting like arms.

"Does that mean that the other statues are others like you?"

It was something that she was wondering about at the back of her head, but it was just a guess originally, but now, after she had seen this, she had to think that perhaps it wasn't just a guess, but the truth.

"I... Don't... I cannot remember." Satanael murmured. "But that one...."

Suddenly feeling somehow alerted by the direction that he was looking in, she turned back to face the castle, and she saw now that she was much closer than she was before. What she originally thought was just a large tree, was something else entirely. There, standing in between two sets of stair wells, was actually another statue which was covered by overhanging vines. As she walked towards it, she grabbed a vine that she could reach and pulled on it, which gave way for the rest of the vines to come down. It was like she pulled on a bit of rope to reveal something underneath a cloak but, instead of a cloak, it was vines and they revealed a giant bird. But not just any giant bird, this one looked like it was made of pure fire, just in bird form.

"Invictus."

Satanael spoke one word, and she urged him to repeat what he just said.

"That's the name of the beast in front of you." Satanael explained.

"Invictus?" Lucette said out loud. "It kinda sounds a bit like..."

"Victus?"

A completely different ethereal like voice finished off her sentence, which caused her to jump and turn around. But, instead of meeting a person, she saw that there was just a shadowy figure. It generally just looked like a shadow, but she could clearly see that some parts of it were like black flames.