Greetings all!
What an awesome weekend! I got to spend time with my mom and go do some airsoft shooting. Although I am covered in bruises, I loved the game. The field we play at, known as The Farm, has converted their larger field into a close combat field, which I thrive in. Looking forward to going back there!
Ostia slowly glided down to the crypts. She knew she couldn’t remain in this world for too much longer. The shield she had given Magna barely held any power, not like the shield that carried her bones. She wondered if any of her earthy remains had been entombed after she had been ripped apart in sacrifice.
She refused to think of that day. She had always believed her brother to be selfish, a braggart, and a failure of a king. But she had seen him in his truest form when he stood before her as a revenant. He hadn’t wanted to be the one to end her life. He had had no choice. If he hadn’t ended her life as swiftly as he had, the populace and the insane church would have had her torn to shreds while she still breathed.
She touched where her heart no longer pumped, remembering the eyes that bore into hers as she had died. She had always believed he had done it to get rid of her. However, standing before him once again, his memories of that time flowed into her. As twins, they had always been able to share feelings and memories, even when one of the twins wasn’t involved. After her death, she no longer had that connection with him, but once he stood before her, sharing in her death, the memories swarmed her.
She had always known why she was to be sacrificed; she had just hoped she had had more time. She had just barely taken her son from her breast when the summoning had come. The man who had fathered the boy had long since died due to the curse, and she had no one to take the child. She had always feared he had quickly followed after his mother was sacrificed. There was no one to turn to when the armoured guard came for her.
Amongst the memories she had received from her brother, she had seen Magnus bawling like a child after killing his sister, only for him to stop when he heard the screaming child. She had never told anyone from her family that she had been with child. Magnus immediately slammed the door to drown out the wailing of the child and loudly ordered his men to deliver her body to the priests and to leave him. Once he was sure the soldiers were all gone, he retrieved the boy. He had had no idea what she had named him, and he never did find out, nor did he try very hard, as he didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that she had had a child.
Ostia watch as he declared the boy his son, a bastard son with some bar wench who had died in giving birth to him. Many of his advisors spent years telling him that a royal bastard shouldn’t inherit the throne, but he had ignored them. He refused to get married and refused to bear his own children, despite many on his counsel trying their best to force him. By the time Magnus’ own sacrifice came, Ostia’s son was firmly upon the throne with his own counsel, being none the wiser over who he really was. Her brother had named him after himself, and so started the reign of Magnus II.
The hate she had built up over the centuries hadn’t quite dissipated, as she was sure Magnus had hoped for, but it was lighter. Ostia drifted past the young twins to stand next to the stone coffin her brother had been placed in after he had been sacrificed. The twins didn’t seem to notice her at first, but soon the boy, Adrian looked up at her.
“Ostia…”
“Magna.” She said softly as she gripped the edges of the coffin to look inside.
“That’s a little confusing.” He started.
“You as a magic wielder should know that names hold power and that even when people have the same name, the energy, the implication, are different. I will know when you address me, and when you address your twin.”
She reached for the boy and tried to tuck some of his hair behind his ear, but her hand glided effortlessly through him. She wondered if her son looked like him. He must have, he was the boy’s grandfather. She wanted to say more, anything, but the words died in her throat. Instead, she looked down at the ragged shield he held. It was a pathetic attempt to try and give him her powers as Magnus had Magna, and she wished she could have done better.
“Adrian, please,” begged Magna one more time.
Adrian snapped his attention to his sister. He seemed to think something over, nod his head and stepped closer to the coffin to retrieve the sword that lay within. He clenched his jaw, closed his eyes, and ran the blade over the back of his hand as his sister had. He dropped the sword with a grimace, as his blood mingled with that in the coffin already.
It’s not enough.
Ostia needed the shield she had carried in life, but she had no idea where it could be. As she was pondering where it may possibly have been, Lucien made his appearance. He was dragging a kicking and screaming priest behind him. Without a word to either of the twins, he lifted the priest and sank his teeth into the man’s neck before ripping it out.
Magna and Adrian looked on in horror as the priest was unceremoniously dumped into the coffin. Lucien spat out the blood from his mouth, but he still looked horrific with the blood that had flowed down his throat and onto his finery.
“Golden-clad knights.” He hissed as he held the struggling man down, “Stefan’s body is dead.”
He looked up at Ostia, “My lady, I must go to the Queen. She needs to know the priesthood is being targeted, and she is likely to be caught in the fray.”
Ostia gently stroked the cheek of the life drinker and asked, “Do you want your brother back?”
“Ask me again when next I see you.” He said with a grin as he held onto her hand.
And with that, he disappeared before their eyes. Ostia sighed and looked down at the dying man in the coffin. He would do nicely, not completely pure, but not tainted. She looked at the twins and simply said, “Continue.”
Magna grabbed her brother’s cut hand and held it over the coffin, forcing both bleeding hands to drip onto the now dead man. She tried to visualize the knight that had left her. She felt hot tears run down her face when nothing happened. She wanted to scream her frustration but then a thought came to her. The tooth! They had lost many of the teeth of the Dreadthing, but she had always managed to hold onto hers.
With a spare hand, she dug around in the pouch at her side and for the heavily chipped tooth before throwing it into the coffin. She then said, “You promised me!”
Ostia immediately felt the power of the spell activate, even though the twins didn’t. Yet, there was something else. Deeper in the tomb there was a strange tugging. She left the twins’ side to follow the tugging. It didn’t take long for her to come stand next to another stone coffin. If she had had a heart, it would have exploded with pain. It was her son. Without a thought to what was happening around her, she flung open the coffin to see that it was empty except for what she believed to have been lost to the ages. Her shield.
Ostia didn’t think, she reacted. She grabbed the shield and shouted, “Adrian!”
As the boy’s head snapped up, she threw the shield at him. Somehow, without releasing his sister’s hand, he managed to grab the shield. As soon as the true shield was in his hands, a blinding light burst from the coffin. The dead body of the priest was glowing and changing. It started shrivelling with decay before it seemed to grow armour. In a matter of seconds, a knight was kneeling next to the coffin. Once the light had faded, it looked up and muttered, “About time, thought I’d be lost to the ether forever!”
“Mortis!” yelled Magna as she released her brother and hugged the decaying knight.
Here is an explanation of Chain Stories and here is the current Chainstory Library
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Right now I will add people who have been keeping an eye on this series:
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