Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 40 Back From The Dead.

Isaac sat up far too quickly and his world started to spin again. It took him a moment to shake off the dizziness. He had heard Judgment’s words but barely had the time to process them. His field of vision was filled with dancing golden lights rising into the air and then them fading away. “What happened?” Isaac frantically demanded.

“He died.” Lenna replied, she didn’t sound like she entirely believed herself.

“Bull shit.” Isaac said and quickly noticed something. “His gear is gone.” He stated right as the last bit of Judgment flew off into the mana streams.

“It must be a deific armament.” Lenna commented. “Gear that is actually a part of them.” She clarified.

“Okay… but why is he gone?” Isaac questioned.

“He said you won, then he died, Isaac.” Lenna explained.

Isaac shook his head and got to his feet. His gaze took in the battlefield. It was mostly bare save for a massive wound in the cavern floor that was still steaming and radiating heat. “There is no way in all the hells that he didn’t have enough mana to heal that injury.” Isaac swore. “It feels like he just left. But why?”

Lenna got to her feet and looked at Isaac. “Be careful, I used a lot of healing on you. Your internal temperature is really high.” She warned him. “I don’t think he could heal fast enough.” Lenna postulated. “He was a paladin. He could only bring so much healing to bear at a time. His heart had been stopped for too long so he just died?”

“You sound about as convinced as me.” Isaac retorted. “Now I feel like we stepped on a trap.” He continued to look around and that was when he noticed the massive amount of onlookers on the walls of the city watching them. “There it is.”

Lenna turned to see and seemed to shrink under their audience’s observation. “What does this mean for us?” Lenna questioned.

Isaac shook his head. “I have no idea.” He replied honestly. “I want to say that it is all good because now people are far more likely to believe the demigod of darkness thing but…”

“Other demigods are going to hear about this.” Lenna finished for him.

Isaac nodded. “Yeah.”

“Damn.” Lenna swore.

Isaac nodded along in agreement with her swear. “Altia’s response to this worries me.” He confessed.

“Judgment’s domain is inside the Kingdom of Altia.” Lenna said with widened eyes. “Oh no.”

“This just went from a hailstorm of swords to a ground tremor.” Isaac said. His lips pressed into a thin line. “I don’t think we are gonna get to go hunting today.”

Lenna shook her head. “No,” She agreed. “I think that ship has sailed.” She looked over at him and noticed that his arm wasn’t in his armor. A bracer was dangling freely, parallel with his relaxed arm. “Isaac, your arm.”

“Huh?” He questioned and looked down at where she was looking. Not only was his armor hanging free but his shirt had turned to dust from the base of his cuff to his shoulder. “Damn it!” He swore. “I lost another shirt.”

“You basically died.” Lenna retorted.

“But I lived.” Isaac declared. “My shirt did not.”

Lenna wanted to grab the bridge of her nose but her helmet was in the way. “The sooner we get our strands of fate fused the better.” She told him. “I’ll probably start aging slower. The amount of stress you put me through is aging me at more than double the normal rate already.”

Isaac winced and recoiled slightly as if he was physically struck by her words. “I’m sorry.” He offered her.

“You ran out of mana.” Lenna pressed. “I actually had to help heal you.”

Isaac scratched the back of his head bashfully. “I was boosted really far.” He said in his defense. Lenna’s scowl could be felt even though it couldn’t properly be seen through her faceplate. “I also wasn’t paying attention to how much mana I was using to heal back the damage I was doing.” Lenna’s scowl didn’t lessen. “You’re right,” Isaac told her. “I wasn’t being careful, I got caught up in the fight and fought like I was actually immortal. I apologize.”

Lenna nodded. “And?”

“I’ll try to do better next time.” Isaac promised.

Lenna sighed and nodded again. “That’s the best I can hope for.” She said almost under her breath. She nodded towards the city. “I think we should get that over with sooner rather than later.” She advised him. “The longer the rumor mill gets to run the worse it is going to be.”

“Or better.” Isaac offered optimistically. “Hopefully.”

Upon reaching the gate, Isaac had ordered an escort to Duke Arbencroft. The guards had jumped to it with very little hesitation. They kept the crowd off of them relatively well and with little difficulty. No one wanted to get directly in the way of the pair, Kahtesh had gone back inside of Isaac’s shadow as soon as his lightning wasn’t needed anymore, so they had an easy trek to the duke’s manor. A messenger had beaten them to the duke and Izen was actually at the door to greet them.

“Come in.” He told the pair. “I have already sent for Fable and Pope Chrysanthemum Saint Crystia.” Izen explained and led the pair towards the sitting room. “Wait to explain everything until they arrive, please. Sera and Lucius will be here shortly.”

“Lucius?” Isaac asked. “Is he staying here for good now?”

Izen shook his head. “No.” He replied but did not elaborate. “But he is here and this is not something that he should miss.” Isaac and Lenna shared a look but otherwise kept quiet. They both knew that things were about to get political whether they wanted it to or not.

—

The pope that Izen had called had been the one that Fable had brought with him. She was an elderly human who looked healthy but well over seventy. That made her younger than Fable but still quite old for a human to still be running around. Her silver hair hung down to her knees in a loose braid. Her skin was slightly tanned and her eyes were a gray-green that spoke of cataracts and slightly mixed heritage. Her robes were perfectly white and pulled in a very small amount of mana to maintain their perfect cleanliness. She had crows feet from decades of smiles both real and forced. Her staff was simple but extravagant at the same time. It was one long piece of oak that had been carved into what looked like a bunch of wheat braided into six feet of rope that was an inch thick. Each head of wheat was perfect and the staff was a uniform thickness from end to end despite the engravings. She brought with her the scent of the sun and grasslands.

“Chrys, this is Isaac Wexler and Lenna V’Nova.” Sera introduced them. “Isaac, Lenna, this is Pope Chrysanthemum Saint Crystia. She is one of the popes of the church of Halya.”

“Hello.” Isaac greeted her.

“It is a pleasure.” Lenna added with a slight bow.

Chrys gave Isaac a nod and Lenna a warm smile. “Thank you.” She told Lenna. “I prefer to meet people when they come to pray but Fay has been dragging me around the country like I am in my twenties again.” Her smile seemed to brighten even further. “I am glad that he has at least led me to interesting people.”

Isaac raised an eyebrow towards Fable. “Fay?” He asked.

Fable scowled at him. “Don’t even think about it.” He retorted.

Isaac chuckled. “Why not? It makes you sound more human. Maybe you would have more friends if you started going by Fay instead of Fable like you are some walking message of humility.” Isaac joked and Fable’s scowl continued to deepen. It was clear that he was very much not amused.

“Oh!” Pope Chrys exclaimed and positively beamed at Isaac. “That is what I have been telling him for decades.”

Izen clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. Fable gave him an appreciative look to which Izen ever so subtly nodded in return. “Now that introductions are over. Isaac, Lenna, please explain to us what exactly happened. We need to know what led to you forcing Judgment to reform himself.”

Isaac and Lenna recounted what had happened to them in almost perfect detail. They left out most of the fight but in the end Fable had stepped in to fill Chrys in on what had happened as if he had been there. Fable had not actually been there but he had fought alongside Isaac, Lenna, Kahtesh, and Judgment so reconstructing the missing pieces of the battle was well within his realm of abilities.

“Was that payback for the ‘Fay’ comment?” Isaac questioned Fable.

Fable shook his head. “It is necessary to fully understand what has happened so we can formulate a response. That is, of course, assuming you do not want to lose to the next demigod to show up.” Isaac wanted to argue but he knew better than to doubt Fable. Fable seemed to catch what had gone through Isaac’s mind so he decided to explain some things. “You got lucky.” Fable told Isaac. “You just happened to go up against a demigod with a set of skills that were vulnerable to your set of skills. The only way to beat Judgment is to come back from the dead.”