"They are all dead," Ahura Rwy'n quietly mused. "The cleansing has begun." Before his watery eyes he beheld motionless bodies, sprawled every which way on the dark flagstone floor. The victims were bathing in a pool of there own blood. Some one had put them to the sword. The smell of death was something that you will never forget. The pungent, irritating and rotten smell of death. "No one deserves this end."
"Who would have done such a thing?" Raziel asked with a look of horror on his face. He looked like he might barf at any second.
Ahura Rwy'n knew all to well who would have done such a thing. He appeared to be a middle aged man, on the wrong side of thirty, but appearances can be so misleading, especially if you were ordained an Enlighted Being. "I can only speculate, call it an educated guess, but I suspect our brother, Draven Leviathan would know for sure. For he is the head of the Cult of Sin."
"Off course," Raziel softly agreed with his fellow brother, he too was an Enlighted Being, though ordained many a year before Ahura. Raziel was older than he cared to admit, but looked the youngest out of the three brothers. Raziel co -wrote the notorious Good Book. His most distinguishable feature was the scar on his face. The tightness around his mouth, the clenching of his fist and the barely supressed anger in his honey coloured eye showcased his loathing toward Draven Leviathan. "What do you think, Dummah?"
Dummah was the mysterious "Master of Shadows" and he too was an Enlighted Being. He was one of the very few who was ordained by the Ninth Divine, Jennifer Esme Mithra, praise be her name. Dummah's eyes would change colour. He even had the sixth sense when his iris turned red. He wore all black just like those who are Enlighted. "I have no doubt this catastrophe was orchestrated by Draven and his Chosen Ones."
"Chosen ones?" Raziel repeated pulling back his hood. Both he and Ahura, as if on que, paid Dummah a perplexing gaze. "Brother, prey tell what you mean?"
"Last time I attended a meeting of the Cult of Sin, I first learned of the "chosen ones." It was a classified project, one in which meant Draven would have intimate relations with those who bore afflicitons. To cut a long story short, these women gave birth to his children. I heard rumours that Draven had three hundred kids and they were all lured to him under a false promise."
"That being?" Ahura Rwy'n hung onto every word that Dummah had spoke.
"Unlimited power."
"Do you feel that?" Ahura Rwy'n felt his legs buckle and he had placed his hand on his chest. He felt a searing pain in his heart. There was no a problem with his aorta, for one of his gifts was cosmic knowledge. He felt many of the great families had been taken out in a similar fashion this night just like the Magia's here in Glendale.
Off course, Ahura was not to know if his kith had a similar ability, as it turned out they did not. "What is it?" Raziel placed a comforting hand on Ahura's shoulder trying his hand at sympathy.
"I think Dummah is right, the chosen one's are responsible for this catastrophe. They act on behalf of Draven, it is the cleansing. The elimination of the great familes all over Talamh. Laying the foundation for The Master of Sin's inevitable return."
"Those in the Cult of Sin want to exterminate all but the pure and they will do anything to achieve their vision and be reunited with there master." Dummah put in with a shake of his head.
"We need to fan out and look for Valerie for she is one of the Key Keepers," Ahura informed his kith.
They entered the grandeur of the cavernous ballroom. The splendour was showcased with the marble floor, the ornate candle chandlers. The panelled walls with richly carved wood. The gallery above the main floor where only an hour or so ago music would have emanated from. tables with drapery over them were dotted around the perimeter of dance floor. Off course the beauty of this room does not mask the massacre that had taken place.
Now, they began to search the great hall for the Key Keeper Valerie Magia. "Be sure to check each body," Ahura Rwy'n clearly stressed as he knelt down and checked the first body himself. "In this chaos the key may have so easily been passed on or dropped by mistake."
It did not take the trio long to discover the body of Valerie Magia. "Over here," Raziel beckoned for Dummah and Ahura to come over and without disturbing the bodies they manovured to Raziel. "I think I have found her."
Indeed it was her. The striking red hair like thin strands of copper was a dead give away. Valerie was in a beautiful dark gown that really complimented her curves. She was discovered under the corpse of her spouse Jon in the centre of the room. Ahura Rwy'n hunkered down at her side. She was kind of like a real life porcelain doll, she was very pale in the face and not because she was dead. The light in her stunning sapphire coloured eyes had been extinguished. Just like the light in all the guests eyes in Glendale Castle on this miserable of nights. He checked her once over looking for a golden key. From what he could rememeber she kept it around her neck on a thing golden chain. The key was not there. Clearly the key had been collected. Ahura Rwy'n knew this to be tragic.
"The key is not there," Ahura Rwy'n regretfully admitted as he stood back to his feet.
"If Draven were to get his hands on all thirteen keys," a glum Raziel spoke in a fearful tone. "He will be in a position to open the Box of Absoloute Power. There in lies the Ring that the Master Of Sin forged."
"He might be after the keys," Dummah admitted trying to maintain positivity. "Draven still has to go to Baal Berith, the capital of the Shadow Lands, and open the Box and you know the dead own them lands and the dead only answer to the Master of Sin."
"Come brothers," Ahura Rwy'n said. "There is little we can do here, the Wraiths will come soon and collect the souls of the deceased. We must leave and formulate a new plan of action."
Ahura Rwy'n and his two brothers then carefully navigated there way out of the great hall. The bottom of his black robe was licking up the pools of blood that came into contact with the cloth. Upon leaving Glendale Castle once and for all the three brothers were alerted to an innocent wailing sound.
"What could that be?" Dummah put the question to his brothers. With hindsight he knew that to be an irrelevant question.
"It almost sounds like a baby?" A bemused Raziel then said. He was sharing a look of confusion with his kith.
"I suggest we investigate," Ahura suggested as he turned around on the spot and ventured up the grand stairs, holding the rosewood banister.
Raziel and Dummah followed him and each of them had there hands nearby the hilt of the rare blades.
Ahura Rwy'n went into a dimly lit room first where the soft wailing emanated from. Raziel was right, he saw a baby barely a year old in a plush crib, wrapped warmly in swaddling clothes a baby blue colour. On the babies neck was a mark. It looked like the number six and the number nine joined as one. "I am sure you know what this means?" Ahura put the question to Dummah on his left hand side and Raziel on his right.
"It is the curse mark," Raziel found himself answering on behalf of himself and Dummah. "It is one of the first symbols a philosopher learns when they begin to study the Good Book."
"This is the day I have feared the most," Ahura Rwy'n admitted. "Who ever the culprit was that committed such an atrocious deed this night, spared the child for he or indeed she knew how important this child would be in the future. Behold brothers the coveted father."
"What do we do?" Dummah then asked.
Ahura gingerly picked up the child, he had never been a father, he had no idea if he was even holding the baby right. He merely improvised. "Well, first things first, this baby is not safe here. He must be kept a secret, until we decide what to do with him. Have I made myself clear?" The nood of the head from Raziel and the steely look of agreance from Dummah was all Ahura needed. "We will take the child west to Emirulore."
This infant must live only to die when the time is right. Tragically it is truly a tale of love and hate.