The Will of the Vis - Halloween 2018

  • Ready to join Post Terminus?

    Click to get started and submit your first character.

    Getting Started

Please rate the story


  • Total voters
    8
  • Poll closed .

Valero

Lobster Mobster
Supporter
Jan 5, 2010
1,713
7
38
Latens
1,046✦
Exa
⏆607
Bounty
⏈0
Dahlitium (⏆50 per)
0⌯
Bigatium (⏆100 per)
0⍨
Auritium (⏆300 per)
0⍫
Vitatium (⏆1200 per)
0⌭
Caelitium (⏆6000 per)
0⌬
User name: Valero

The Will of the Vis


The basilisk-drawn carriage plodded along the road at a steady pace. At the sound of the wind howling past, I tucked my hands into the long sleeves of my yellow robes. While the carriage protected against most of the unforgiving northern winds, there always seemed to be a draught creeping in from somewhere.

I stared out of the window and cast my mind away to forget the cold. And how long the journey had been. Through the needles of the evergreen trees, I could see a red-painted sky. Evening. I forced air out through my nose in an agitated sigh. A day on the road just to visit one small town for a few hours, give blessings and then another day of travelling…

That’s not the way, Minerva, I thought to myself. I reminded myself of how overjoyed most of the citizens were to see us. Well, to see him.

My eyes darted to the old man sitting opposite me. An aged terran, even with wrinkled eyes closed and a receding hairline leading to thin white wisps, he seemed regal. Five symbols adorned his dark grey robes, bright and visible across his chest. Magister Decebalus. The frustration in my eyes dissipated quickly. That man stands for everything that is right in the world. And I am blessed enough to be allowed to follow him.

‘We are to give blessing to all those who need it, in the eyes of the Vis.’ That was something he had said once. There were other things he had mentioned concerning my temper, but I elected to ignore those. Something else plagued my mind.

Prophet Adela was supposed to be with her family at the same place that we visited. I had spoken to her sister and she claimed that she had not seen Adela in weeks. Perhaps she had secretly embarked on a pilgrimage that she wanted nobody else to know about. Adela had lived a… life of pleasures before she was blessed by the light of the Vis. She had once told me that she had much to atone for.

Shoving the thoughts to the back of my mind, I turned back to the window and caught a glimpse of my reflection. Wisps of auburn hair were reaching free from the intricate braids upon my head. Small wrinkles marked shadows beneath my green eyes. I look tired. It had been a long day, but there was still more to do.

The carriage jolted suddenly, knocking more strands of my hair free. I bared my teeth for a moment, but snapped my mouth shut as soon as I saw the Magister’s brown eyes staring at me. The man sitting next to me, a tall blue-scaled velen, Prophet Barax, hid a smile beneath the sidelong glance he gave me.

“I hope you slept well, Magister,” Barax bellowed. Even sitting, he towered over both the Magister and I, though his voice sounded subservient for all of its volume. Decebalus nodded slowly, wearily, placing a hand over his mouth to stifle a yawn.

“Please excuse me,” he said in that strained, croaky voice of his, “but the allure of sleep is much more enticing at my age.”

Barax laughed, his deep voice vibrating through the carriage.

“We must be at the rendezvous soon,” I mentioned, trying hard not to let the impatience show in my voice. The Magister leaned forward to glance out of the window.

The carriage jolted again and almost knocked Decebalus out of his seat. I’ll have to have a stern word with the driver, one that he will never forget. The moment the carriage halted, I crouched out of my seat and flung the door open.

“Now listen-”

My words were cut off as I stepped into the harsh cold. I fixated upon the stone tablet at the side of the dirt road. A little taller than Prophet Barax and almost as wide as the carriage, the five symbols of the Vis were carved clearly into the stone. This was where we were meant to meet Prophet Erastus.

Barax appeared at my side.

“Strange,” the velen rumbled. “We are hours late. Erastus should be here by now.”

I turned back around to see the Magister halfway through the door of the carriage.

“Shall we carry on to the city, Magister?” I asked.

“No,” he replied. “There must be a few hours of light left yet. If Prophet Erastus has not arrived before the setting sun, we will head back to the city.”

“As you wish,” Barax said idly. I gave him a sidelong glance as he meandered past me to climb back into the carriage. “There’s no point lingering outside in the cold.”

“Of course,” Decebalus agreed. “Prophet Minerva, would you inform the coachman of our decision? And invite him inside. It wouldn’t be proper to leave him out in the cold while we warm ourselves in here.”

I nodded begrudgingly and let loose an agitated sigh when I turned my back on the Magister. After the sort of reckless driving he had displayed, leaving him out in the cold would be the least he deserved. I lifted the bottom of my yellow robes, careful not to trip over them, and climbed the step up to the driver’s seat.

“Magister Decebalus has-”

I stared blankly for a moment at the empty gap where the coachman was a few moments ago. My cheeks grew hot and I was certain that it had nothing to do with the vicious icy wind. Angrily, I stepped down from the driver’s seat and stormed around the circumference of the carriage. My eyes darted to the surrounding woods either side of the path, to the stone tablet at the side of the road. My stomach began to churn. He was right there!

Flustered, I opened the door to the carriage.

“Magister Decebalus, the driver is missing,” I informed him in as calm a tone as I could manage despite my red face. The Magister stared at me for a moment, pondering, brown eyes weighing up every word I spoke.

“You are certain?” he questioned at last. I nodded.

“I checked all around the carriage and the surrounding area. He’s nowhere to be seen.”

“Perhaps he ventured off to do nature’s business,” Barax chimed in. “It has been a long journey. I didn’t see him go at the last stop. You shouldn’t worry until it is time to worry, Minerva.”

Prophet Minerva,” I corrected. Just because I was the newest Prophet, it didn’t mean he had the right to patronise me. We were equal in the eyes of the Vis. I took my seat next to Barax after closing the door. Worry twisted to anger at Barax’ comment. My reflection in the window told me that the pink in my cheeks remained. The churning in my stomach also remained.

Misplaced anger is not becoming of a Prophet of the Vis, I reminded myself. It wasn’t something that I wanted to hear from anyone, but Magister Decebalus had told me enough times. I inhaled deeply, slowly. Then exhaled. Gazing into the window, I began to fiddle with various strands of my auburn hair, trying to wrestle them back into place after the harsh gale had displaced them.

For a moment I looked past my own reflection. I saw the driver coming back out of the woods. Barax was right after all. Not that I was going to show him my relief. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

I narrowed my eyes. For some reason the driver seemed to be dawdling.

Thud.

A body suddenly appeared at the window. I fell out of my seat and landed at Barax’ feet. The velen was up in an instant. Even the Magister was startled.

“Prophet Erastus?” Decebalus questioned. Heart still racing, I brought myself to observe the the body slumped against the window. His face was bloody and a great purple bruise marred the top of one eye, but there was no mistaking the plump imbecile and his receding hairline.

Barax opened the door and let the injured Prophet in. He opened his mouth to question him, but the flustered man rambled over him.

“Oh, Magister Decebalus, bless the Vis, you’re safe! There’s someone out there who did this! He has Prophet Adela as well, I think she’s already… and he did something to me! It’s the Vis, I can’t feel them. Their power, I just can’t touch it! Who ever heard of such a preposterous ability? I no longer know what to do… Magister…”

Decebalus placed a wrinkled hand on Erastus’ shoulder. The delirious man flinched at first, but seemed to calm at his touch. The Magister muttered something under his breath and placed a hand to Erastus’ forehead. A warming light seeped from his fingertips and passed through the Prophet’s skin.

Once he was done, Decebalus slowly climbed to his feet. Barax’ eyes were constantly trying to look out of both windows at the same time.

“I think he let me go,” the plump laicar said in a less chaotic tone. “I was getting in the carriage to come here. The next thing I knew, I was waking up on some old path through the woods. I was tied to a tree, but I thought I saw Adela’s form hanging from a thick branch. She wasn’t moving. Then he turned up, hooded and cloaked, a big metal hook in hand, and he cut my bonds. Then he attacked me! I ran as fast as I could.”

It took a moment of silence for the information to sink in. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. We are the emissaries of the Vis. Ours is the emblem of hope. Why would someone want to hunt us? More importantly, how were they able to capture two of the most adept practitioners of the divine arts in Araevis? Erastus said he couldn’t touch the power of the Vis anymore. I’ve never heard of such an affliction. None of this makes any sense.

“As soon as the driver gets back, we will be on our way,” Magister Decebalus stated calmly. I groaned involuntarily.

“The driver might have been claimed victim by now,” I said. “Perhaps we should give Barax the reins.”

The velen prophet glared at me, but Decebalus waved one hand as if to dismiss my suggestion.

“We cannot leave him behind with someone so wayward out there.”

The Magister opened the door and stepped out of the carriage, despite Erastus’ pleading.

“Our faith is being tested. If all of us remain harmonious, our belief in the Vis will see us through this ordeal.”

I sighed. Deeply. Despite thoughts of the Magister finally going senile in his old age, I followed him out of the carriage and towards the edge of the woods. Erastus was practically attached to Decebalus, hobbling as if his leg was injured. Barax’ eyes continued to dart left and right as if expecting the culprit to jump out of the ground. My heart raced. Sweat beaded my forehead despite the icy winds. I certainly hope faith is enough to get us through this.

A black swarm suddenly appeared above our heads. Darkness blanketed us swiftly. The world became so black that I couldn’t see any of the others. I heard grunts. A struggle was going on. Erastus was whimpering. I reached into a satchel on my belt. I threw the golden dust into the air and drew a pattern in it using one finger. Four arrowheads pointing toward each other, a circle connecting them. A blinding light emanating from my body burst through the darkness. Erastus and Decebalus covered their eyes. Barax was nowhere to be seen. A gasp escaped me.

“Where’s Barax?” I asked frantically, anger taking my voice. “He must have-”

Crack.

The pain and pressure in my head was overwhelming. My ears rang. I could barely think. Somehow my face was buried in the dirt. I gathered all of my strength to raise my head. My eyes twitched open. Ahead of me on the edge of the forest, a black-cloaked figure was beating a weeping Erastus with the blunt end of a large metal hook. Decebalus stood there. Watching. When he saw that I was awake, he approached me slowly and knelt by my side.

“Sleep, child,” he said in that soothing voice. And I did.





Slowly, I began to regain consciousness. I blinked a few times before I realised where I was. Trees. Some kind of dirt path. Wait… the others!

I tried to move, but I was on my knees, hands bound behind my back. To a tree. My neck held the same gritty feeling as my hands. Reluctantly, I glanced to the sky. The rope led a long way up and over a thick branch. I began to panic. My breathing became frantic as I struggled to free myself.

“Shhh! Stop fussing!”

The voice made my breath catch in my throat. Before the dark figure even came into sight, I knew the culprit. It didn’t seem possible.

“Revane?” I whispered to myself. The crazy homeless man that was always trying to cling to the Magister whenever he was around. He said he could hear the Vis talking to him, telling him to do things. Then I remembered Magister Decebalus. They were working together.

“But you’re just a madman!” I spoke aloud. A force picked me of my knees and placed me on my feet. My legs wobbled and the pain in my head seemed to affect my entire body, but I somehow managed to remain standing.

The cloaked figure brought himself round so that I could see him. It was the same dark clothing our carriage driver wore. How did I not notice that he was our carriage driver?

He lowered his hood and revealed his ugly face. I turned my gaze away to save myself a fragment of repulsion.

Piercing brown eyes of the enlil, unkempt brown hair of laicar blood, vicious teeth of the velen. Flecks of bronze scales blemished his dirty face. He stank of body odour and his breath was foul. He didn’t look well.

“Mad, yes, yes,” he nodded zealously, “but busy, oh so busy! The hour is close now. Soon they will be happy and we can all go home! Not the here home. No. The far away home.”

Some had believed Revane’s madness to be a product of his biology. An enlil father and a spurii mother of velen and laicar blood, he was one of the extremely rare cases where the offspring had taken on traits of all three races.

“It had to be me, couldn’t be anyone else,” he muttered, just about loud enough for me to hear. For a few moments he twisted the metal hook in his hands idly. “I represent all of them. No one else to do it.”

With that, he wandered over to a tree ahead of me. Barax was bound in the same way as me. Erastus hung lifelessly from his tree, body paler than it was when he was alive. Between both of them, Magister Decebalus stood. His hands were also bound behind his back and rope around his neck. Anger erupted from me at the sight of him.

“Magister, how could you?” I snapped. “We had faith in you and you deceived us!”

“Have you not looked in his eyes, Minerva?” Magister Decebalus croaked. “He is the embodiment of the Vis. A quite insane man, yes, but he has the power to deny us ours. I surrender to his will for it is the will of the Vis.”

Revane looked up to the sky. The autumnal red bled into sanguine. I caught sight of a glittery reflection to my side. Adela also hung lifelessly, her face gaunt as if she had not eaten in days. Her once beautiful purple scales were beginning to dull.

“We have the failed the Vis,” Revane announced in that grating voice, permanently on the cusp of breaking. “We have not held to their example. The world has grown corrupt. We have failed.”

The man looked on the verge of tears. As he continued to speak, he hauled the rope around Barax’ neck. The velen made a gurgling sound that likely disguised curses in his native tongue. Revane tied off the rope, leaving the Prophet dangling by his throat.

“This world can be saved,” he continued as he turned towards me. Barax thrashed, kicking and choking until his body went limp. A wave of heat trickled down my spine. My stomach twisted itself into knots until it felt like I was going to vomit. This can’t be the way I die!

“It must be reset. We must be punished for the transgressions of the corrupt. Before the night is done, we will know the wrath of the Vis.”

I ground my teeth together. Bellator give me strength!

A shadowy portal appeared next to me. A black claw burst forth and tore my bonds, slashing my arms at the same time, but I fought through the pain. If no one else could feel the power of the Vis, I would stop this man myself!

Revane stormed towards me, but it was too late. A second portal comprised of two circles appeared. I slammed it with my fist and the insane spurii was sent hurtling across the ground. I grasped the metal hook that he had dropped and prepared to lunge for him.

“The Vis have always loved you, Minerva,” Revane said in a calm voice despite the blood running from his nose. I couldn’t bring myself to move my legs. So I simply stared at him. Anger at the Magister’s betrayal and my own will to survive were the only things keeping me from falling to my knees.

“Their power has always coursed through you the strongest, despite your past and your skepticism. Perhaps in another life you would have made a great Magister yourself.”

The dirty man picked himself off the floor and staggered towards me. With bared teeth I held the hook up as if to strike him with it. My arms froze too.

As soon as he was close enough for me to gaze into his brown eyes, a part of me shifted. It was as if something had been taken. Castus and Occultus, Serpens and Aquila. Even Bellator. I could no longer feel them. But I could see them. In his eyes. I could feel the weight of every mistake of each race that had ever been made. And it was only going to get worse if the world remained on its current course. Truly, we had failed the Vis. Revane was right. It was time for Araevis to begin anew. Perhaps things could be made better next time.

I blinked. Somehow, Revane had the silver hook in his hand.

Blink.

A rough gritty feeling itched at my neck. And my hands. Suddenly, I was lifted. All the air was forced from me. It felt like a thousand needles scraped at my throat. Black flecks covered my vision. I kicked and thrashed about violently, but it just caused me to sway gently in a circle. Spittle covered my lips as my body instinctively sought a way to free myself. Ahead of me, I made out the shape of Magister Decebalus. He barely moved. The rest of my vision faded. The final muffled shout of a madman reached my ears.

“Embrace the rebirth! Embrace...

...the...

...Cataclysm…”

The world shivered as darkness took me.
 
Last edited:

Mystydjinn

[Insert rimshot]
Jul 29, 2013
1,543
16
38
25
Flint, MI
Latens
481✦
Exa
⏆359
Bounty
⏈0
Dahlitium (⏆50 per)
0⌯
Bigatium (⏆100 per)
0⍨
Auritium (⏆300 per)
0⍫
Vitatium (⏆1200 per)
0⌭
Caelitium (⏆6000 per)
0⌬
Understanding of Premise: A vistra goes buckwild on a merry band of mages from the catholic coven.
Rating: 7/10 (Shit, there is a skeleton in here)

Good shit.

I'm glad that at least one of the entries was based in the world of Araevis. When I heard about the contest initially I was hoping that somebody would because I was curious to see how this world would handle horror. I'm pleased to see that it did pretty well.

Your mechanics were good, your premise was solid (Araevis edition of teen slasherfest) but you didn't quite spook me. I don't think it has anything to do with your setting either, because Araevis is low key horrifying all by itself with all the eldritch horrors and normal monsters we've got running around.

No I think you just ran out of time. You introduce some interesting story elements in your piece, like the killer at the very end, the premise of "failing the Vis" that Revane uses to justify all the murder, and Revane's sudden appearance at the end and as a character that Minerva already knows are all good, just not developed to their full potential. It felt like someone was missing from the story.

The ending carried a great sense of finality, but somehow the story felt like it shouldn't have been over. Revane showing up earlier in the story before he was revealed as the killer would have made his reveal all the more shocking and unsettling. The perspective of an additional character in the story who was less competent and strong willed than Minerva would have brought this tale to "spook" as well. Instead, I wound up feeling sad for the characters here instead of terrified sitting here in my jemmies.

I know it's not the point, but I would love to see more added to this to make it spooky, or more added to make an interesting tale for the world of Araevis on it's own merits. As far as right now though, it works as a cool story, but it's like a 50 piece puzzle that's missing 3 center pieces.
 

Patreon

Writing Week is 502

Discord Chat

Current Date in Araevis