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"The horsemen of the Apocalypse are physical manifestations of an idea or construct. They aren't people like you or..." Murray looked at Reggie, then Jenny, then back to Beth. "Or other humans," he finished. "Death is the exception, for he is merely the cessation of life. The others have been intricately woven into your society. Upon our return, the idea of Pestilence, War, and Famine will have shifted. I cannot promise that it will be for better or for worse."
"Then I demand compensation," Beth declared. "For all of mankind."
"Denied." Murray licked his teeth, then his lips. "Though you were the victors of your game, your actions while playing were based solidly on free will. My job here was never to fix your mistakes, but to investigate a complaint."
"Who complained? In a court of law, you are entitled to face your accuser."
"The complaint wasn't filed in a court of law. Rather, I chose to indulge you before for the sake of the Father and His divine will."
His divine will can suck a...
Beth covered Jenny's mouth, knowing it would do no good. Luckily, Jenny took the hint.
"Are you going to do that hideous screaming thing again?" she asked.
Murray nodded.
"If you need us, we'll be inside." She turned away from the angel and walked toward the house. The mist swirled around her ankles until she made it onto the steps. Death rushed ahead of her to open the door, and they all walked inside.
Death closed the door behind them and locked it.
"Oh my god, we fucking did it!" Beth let out a whoop of delight, then knelt down to high-five Reggie. The rat king did a little dance on the floor, then tossed his crown into the air before catching it.
Tears of joy and relief sprang to her eyes, and she wiped them away before turning around and giving Death a big hug. This, of course, was a huge mistake. It felt like the air had been sucked out of her body upon contact, and he patted her delicately on the back like she might break. Each touch of his hand felt like a jolt to her nervous system.
"We beat them, we won," she muttered into his robes, then shivered. Her teeth were chattering now, and she stepped away from Death. "Shit, I'm freezing."
No sooner had the words left her mouth did she see the cloud of condensation form in front of her and then disperse. Death always left her with a bit of a chill, but this was more than that.
"Um, Lady Beth?" Reggie looked around the living room. "Doesn't it seem far too quiet in here?"
She looked around the front of the house and frowned. Someone should have come to congratulate them already...right?
"Lily? Kisa?" She walked toward the office and frowned at the sight of a rat lying in the boundary of the door. It was on its back and breathing slowly. Further into the office, there were even more of them. It looked like they had all grouped together in a defensive phalanx, but their weapons lay on the floor as if discarded.
"Are they..." Reggie's question went unasked. He stood away from them, as if afraid to know the truth.
"They're asleep, not dead." Beth looked at the door to the parlor with a frown. It was coated in a light green substance that she recognized immediately as chunks of Opal. She took a tentative step forward and something crunched beneath her foot. Startled, she stepped back to reveal the corpse of a scarab beetle, its metallic wings damaged.
"Motherfucker," she muttered, then turned the corner into the lounge.
The room had been destroyed. The statues of Anubis were missing, and most of the artifacts were strewn around the room and broken. Opal's plastic tub was cracked and lying on its side with traces of green, blue, and red slime everywhere. Of Tink, Kisa and Lily, there was no sign.
Her attention was drawn to the middle of the room where the thick marble table was. The top had been moved away from the base, revealing the empty void within. Decorated in glowing hieroglyphics, it held a few loose pieces of rotting fabric that definitely resembled gauze.
The table had been a sarcophagus, and its occupant was on the loose.
With darkness coming, Abella had to rely largely on her ears to track Velvet. The Arachne was making a horrid sound as she ran, something between a growl and a wheeze. If she didn't know better, she would assume that it was a wild animal she tracked and not Velvet.
She could also hear Leeds. The bastard was laughing, but Abella got the impression that he was being deliberately loud about it. He wasn't traveling in a straight line either, and the terrain made it impossible for Abella to land. She could try to outpace the Arachne and crash down in front of her, but that would only work if Velvet decided to stop. If she didn't, it would take too long to get back into the sky and she might lose them both.
A band of shadows burst from the canopy below, but Abella had been watching for just such an event. She rolled to the left, which cost her altitude but caused the shadows to miss. Spreading her wings once more, she used the sudden burst in downward speed to power her new ascent into the sky. The dark bands trailed her upward, but eventually could reach no further. Hands formed on the end reaching for her before the long tendrils retracted into the forest below.
At her new altitude, she could barely hear Velvet over the wind. However, there were a few low-lying clouds she was able to fly through and hide herself from sight. She lost track of Velvet a couple of times, but eventually caught her voice on the wind as she shouted at Leeds.
"Give it back!" she cried, her voice distant.
Give what back? Abella tilted her wings and dropped out of the clouds, mist clinging to her wings and tail. Had Leeds taken something from Velvet? When would he have had the chance to do that? Velvet had been nowhere near the barn when...
"No." Abella was hit by the horrifying possibility that one of the eggs had survived. Had Velvet hidden it from her? Or had she missed one when she broke them?
Distracted, she lost track of Leeds and Velvet. Cursing inwardly, she looked around, hoping to figure out where the two of them could have gone. The sun was officially over the horizon, leaving inky pools of blackness beneath her. Some of the stars had already come out, but it was nowhere near bright enough for her to navigate by.
Scowling, she realized that the treeline wasn't as far away as she thought it was. There was a mountain beneath her, and the topography was immediately familiar. It was the mountain where the Nirumbi lived. Velvet and Leeds hadn't moved out of her range. Rather, they must have gone underground.
She found the clearing from the previous night and landed. There were dead Nirumbi scattered around the entrance. She knelt by one of the corpses and frowned. It had been dead for long enough that it had become cold like the stone beneath.
"Fils de pute." From the entrance, she could hear Leeds' raucous laughter. She hadn't been inside a cave in centuries, the last time being with her clan. It had been after her brother's death, right before her banishment.
"I don't understand why we have to find a new cave." Abella groaned, her hands full of stone. She placed the loose rock into the basket that her mother had brought. The opening to this cavern wasn't big enough for some of the elders to pass through, so it had fallen on the smaller members of the clan to widen it.
"Because the old one was discovered by smugglers, you know this," her mother responded. She carved a chunk of granite away with her talons, then crushed it beneath her feet. Abella knelt down to pick up the rubble, then handed the basket to another child, who carried it up the tunnel.
"I still think we should have just chased them off." Abella examined one of the stones that had broken off. It was some kind of gemstone, and she imagined it would sparkle if she could carry it back up to the surface. What little light there was down here didn't do it any justice.
"That is not our way." She could hear the smile in her mother's voice, but decided to say it anyway.
"Instead of chasing them off, maybe we could make friends with them?" It was an old argument, but one she was willing to make every day. She loved watching them, seeing their clothing swish behind them as they walked, hearing their hair rustle in a stiff breeze. What would life be like if she could just befriend one?
"That is also not our way." Her mother put her hand against the stone and frowned. "No more digging on this side. We need to shift."
"Or it will collapse?" Abella asked.
Her mother nodded. "The stone here is strong and stable. We can widen the other side without any issues, but tampering with this would be a gamble."
Abella put her hand against the wall. "How can you tell?"
Her mother smiled. "It's always easiest to hear the Earth Mother's heartbeat through the sturdiest stone. Can you hear it?"
Abella put her ears against the rock and frowned. "I don't hear anything."
"It isn't something you hear with your ears, my gem." Her mother knelt down and took the stone from Abella's hands. "It's something you can only hear with your heart."
The cavern walls were narrow, and she crouched down to crawl inside. So many centuries ago, she had finally learned to hear the beating heart of the Earth Mother. It wasn't a heart at all, but the flow of natural magic through the stone. The magic traveled best through the strongest rock, and she was unnerved by how quiet the tunnel itself was.
Without the open sky above her, she fought off a case of the shivers. Her clan had rarely gone more than a hundred feet into the mountain and she always preferred to be outside if possible.
Up ahead, she could hear Velvet shouting obscenities, but the echoing of the cave made her words unintelligible. Leeds would laugh on occasion, but there was nothing else to be heard.
This troubled Abella, because she knew there should be a whole tribe of Nirumbi beneath the earth. It wasn't long before she crawled over a couple of bodies in the darkness and then moved into a large chamber with a massive column in the middle. The chamber was decorated with glowing stones that had been tossed about the chamber, yet still provided enough illumination to see by.
The column resonated heavily in the silent chamber, and was likely the primary support. All around, she saw the empty abodes of the Nirumbi, along with their dead scattered around. The moisture-laden air was heavy with the smell of blood.
It had been a slaughter. She nudged a Nirumbi with her foot and scowled at the claw marks on its body. How long ago had this been done? There were arrows everywhere, but no sign of who or what killed them.
"Give it back!" Velvet's shrill cry echoed from up above. "Please, I'll do anything!"
Leeds laughed in response.
Abella gritted her teeth. It had to be an egg, nothing else made sense. Instead of scaling the ramp, she started climbing the rock. Her nails sunk easily into the stone surface, allowing her to scale it quickly. The whole time, all she could think about was Velvet's deception.
When she had destroyed Velvet's clutch, the Arachne had been an emotional mess. If it had been a charade, it was a good one. But why fake such a thing when she could have just hidden them in the woods?
Maybe it was bad timing, Abella thought. She had arrived at the barn shortly after they had been laid, and Velvet had only been able to hide one. That didn't make much sense either, because they weren't very large. Velvet could easily have stuffed a few into her pockets.
Velvet's cries right now were that of a terrified mother, filled with rage and worry. She begged and pleaded between shouts of rage, and Abella winced at the sound of gunfire. Hearing the pain in Velvet's voice, Abella continued onward, swearing to kick the Arachne's ass after she saved it.
Beth moved to the sarcophagus and knelt down, her hands on the side. There were chunks of slime smeared all along its edges, which she scooped into her hands. Frowning, she realized she had no idea what to do with it, so promptly wiped her hands on the couch.
"I don't understand." Reggie hopped onto the sarcophagus and sniffed the air. "There was someone here all this time?"
"Are we really surprised?" Beth gestured at the room.
"I guess not." Reggie jumped into the sarcophagus, then slipped on a piece of Opal and landed on his face, causing his crown to fall off. Jenny laughed, but the rat king ignored her.
"What are you doing?" Beth leaned in to help him stand.
"I wanted a closer look at the glyphs. They're heavily enchanted."
She would ask how he could tell, but considering that all of the symbols were glowing, it would be a dumb thing to ask. With a groan, she stood and turned to face Death. "What do you make of all..."
Her voice trailed off. Death was holding a large chunk of slime in his hands, his jaw hanging down as the fire deep in his sockets swirled like miniature tornados. He lifted his gaze to meet hers, and she felt her soul freeze in place as anger washed over her.
"Whoever did this shall pay." Though he whispered, Death's voice penetrated her entire body like a maelstrom of nails. "THEY! SHALL! PAY!"
His scythe slid from his sleeves and opened by itself before he snatched it out of the air. With agony in his eyes, Death tucked the chunk of slime into his robes and hefted his weapon. With a yell, he swung it into the sarcophagus, spearing one of the larger runes and sending a wave of hot magic through the room. Beth and Reggie fled as Death destroyed the vessel, the room awash in stray magic that made her feel sick to her stomach.
"Death, stop!" Beth tried to get close to him but was scared of getting hit by accident. "This doesn't help!"
"Ah, but it does, General Bethany." With a final slash, he cut the coffin in two. "For I am not only angry for Opal's sake, but for my own. You see, these runes were designed to hide the occupant from my sight and forestall their inevitable demise. Whoever was inside has perverted the laws of nature itself. For this, I shall reap them with prejudice."
Beth looked at the rubble. "So a creature that avoided death in a sarcophagus. My assumption is that we're dealing with a mummy of some sort."
"I don't think so, lady Beth." Reggie picked up one of the chunks of stone and contemplated it. "From what I know of mummies, their intent was never to return to life but to honor their place in the afterlife."
"Where did you learn that?" she asked.
Reggie gestured at the room they stood in. "There were plenty of books here. Jenny read many of them to me. She found them fascinating and I found it preferable to playing Sorry. And even if our perpetrator was a mummy, this knowledge doesn't help us."
"Damn." Beth turned to face Death. "I guess we search the house?"
Death nodded. "And I know where we should search first." He scooped up another piece of Opal and stuck it in his pocket. "The room in the basement, across from the Vault. The perpetrator used our absence during the game to secure their freedom, and that room is our only lead."
"That's very astute, Death."
"Thank you." He turned away from her. "I've been enjoying Encyclopedia Brown lately. I like how you can turn to the back of the books to see if you have solved the mystery."
Stunned, she followed behind the grim reaper as he led them all to the basement. Nobody was surprised to see the door to the basement open, and Beth waited at the top for Death to declare the area as safe. Reggie and Jenny hid inside of Tick Tock as Beth descended the steps. Whatever enchantment had been there before hadn't been reset, and she stepped onto the cold concrete of the basement and clicked on the flashlight she had grabbed from the kitchen.
She swept the beam over the entrance to the Vault and was happy to see that it was still sealed. Despite this, Beth could hear the troublesome whispers from the other side, so she tuned them out and turned toward Death.
"I sense something in there." He pointed at the room opposite. Beth pointed her light and saw that Tink and Kisa had been placed on the table inside. Cecilia hovered in the background, but there was no sign of Lily or Opal.
"Should we take them upstairs?" Beth asked.
"Not yet." Death walked into the room and looked around. "I fear a tra—"
A dark figure stepped between her and Death. It was one of the Anubis statues, and it pushed Death further into the room. The wall slammed shut, trapping them inside. Beth ran to the wall and pounded on the concrete with the palm of her hands.
"Death! Hey, Death!" Inside the wall, she could hear Death howling in anger, followed by the sound of metal on concrete. Realizing that he was trying to battle the statue and free himself, she stepped away from the wall.
Behind her, something clicked. Turning around, she saw that a few scarabs watched her from the floor, their mandibles moving excitedly. The stairs creaked as someone walked down them, and Beth raised her light to reveal a figure in an advanced state of decay and wrapped in bandages being helped down the stairs by another statue.
"I told you it was a mummy," she muttered. The scarabs took off and flew around the room, but not before their eyes glowed an ominous green color matched by the mummy itself.
You will make a perfect vessel. A voice filled her head as a wave of drowsiness struck.
"Who are you?" Beth asked, her voice slurring. Her eyelids fluttered as she felt the presence invade her mind.
I am the one who takes, the voice replied, stronger this time. It was a woman's voice, and Beth now stood in a palace. Her bare feet were on a stone floor that had been polished and inlaid with beautiful gems. She was in a white gown with a blue belt that hung to her ankles.
You are a strong one. The pressure increased, but Beth pushed back. Her mind had been invaded too many times to topple so easily, and she felt the presence ease off a bit.
"I've had a shit day," Beth replied. "I'm not about to let you be the cherry on top of it."
Oh, I differ. The air shimmered in front of her and a woman stepped out. She had golden skin with dark ringlets of hair that draped over her naked shoulders. Linen fabric hung from her body, just barely covering her breasts. Armlets depicting a monstrous serpent decorated both of her biceps. "Tell me, child. What is your name?"
"My name is Fuck Off." Beth raised her fists and sneered. "I'm known for punching bitches who come in my head."
The woman scowled, then toyed with a leather bag she wore around her neck. The instant she touched the bag, Beth felt a wave of energy pass through her and her hands went numb and fell by her side.
"Your name is Beth." The figure sat down, a golden chair appearing underneath her. "Well, Beth. My name is Neferisfet, and I am the last priestess of Apophis, the Great Serpent."
"Never heard of him."
Neferisfet nodded. "I don't expect you would. As his last follower, I have spent thousands of years entombed, waiting to be discovered and resurrected so that I may return him to glory. My spirit has hovered between life and death, sanity and madness, just to bring me to this moment."
Beth bit her lip and grunted, then managed to take a step toward Neferisfet.
"Your spirit impresses me." Neferisfet steepled her fingers together. "Tell me more about yourself, Beth."
Beth took another step forward but fell to her knees when Neferisfet touched the bag around her neck once more. This time, warmth flooded her chest and it was suddenly hard to breathe.
"Hmm. You have an aura of magic. This will make things easier." Neferisfet stood from her throne and walked around Beth, inspecting her. "I was once a powerful sorceress, dedicated to assisting my master in his fight against the sun god. Together we sought eternal darkness, to return the universe to its original state."
