--------------------The Witching Hour Finale
Jeb, Sophia, Marzia and the transformed Cosma all stared up to the hole in the sky. The five beings above them stared back. Lightning streaked across the cloudless night, and from the hole embers and droplets of water speckled the ground. One of the five figures descended slightly out of the opening and a tornado formed around him, bringing up the remnants of the town and all the elements which had fallen from the sky with it but leaving what remained of the mansion intact.
"
Ehvyhd. Esbieccyhd. Vnyit. Ypusehydeuh. Naylr hud vun dra rayjahc ypuja, pid maynh ouin bmyla uh dra knuiht pamuf. Drec ec y funmt hud sayhd vun oui du ycbena. Lnyfm eh dra tend yht dra cyht yht pintah ic hud fedr ouin huhcahcelym tnaysc. Fa yfyed dra ybbnahdela'c nadinh. Pid oui yna hud ra, pid y cesbma vnyksahd; y icamacc dacd cipzald yht y vyemehk ryhtsyetah. Nadinh du rec ceta, byndyga uv dra vnied yht fyed. Yllabd dryd drec fyc ymfyoc sayhd du pa, yht tea." The voice boomed out from within the tornado.
The shadow-halo which sat upon Cosma's head cracked and splintered. Tendrils of darkness extended from her body of their own accord and were swallowed up by the power of the tornado. The darkness stripped itself from Cosma in this way, leaving her body scarred and disfigured. Her skin a charred black, but without the power it once held. Veins pressed at the cracked skin appeared as lava below the rock that she was now forced to wear.
The book forcibly ejected itself from her chest, leaving a large rectangular hole at its exit. The book caught fire and turned to ash, and as it did so the tornado over the town dispersed. The figure which had spoke to them before still floated in place of where the tornado had originated. In the figure's hand was a spike of darkness. The figure pulled it's arm back, readying to launch the spike.
"
Uin ybbnahdela. Fa vunkeja oui vun drec cehkma vummo. Pid hu suna. Fa huf keja pylg dra bufan frelr fyc uhla punnufat. Tu hud fycda uin knyla ykyeh. Fa crymm nadinh."
The halos which surrounded the figure's legs flowed outwards, aligning themselves to create a path towards the single room still standing in the mansion. The halos widened, ready to accept the spike which was about to be thrown through them. The figure lurched forward, releasing it's hold on the darkness which near instantaneously hit it's mark. As the spike left the figure's hand, it hit the first halo and doubled its flight speed. Once it hit the second halo it tripled the new speed, and at the third halo it was guadrupled, and at the fourth is was quintupled before finally piercing its target's heart. The new vessal willingly absorbed the gift and awoke for the first time as what she had been bred to become.
Meanwhile, as the new being went through the process of getting used to it's newly acquired body, the conflict was at long last coming to its conclusion. Cosma stood between Marzia, Jeb and Sophia, separating them from each other. The woman shook slightly as she poked and prodded at the body she was left with. She looked down to the hole in her chest, and saw the half of her heart which had not been ripped out with the book struggling to maintain a beat with the medical spells that she still had from her own book.
Cosma turned away from the group and headed down towards the emptiness which was where the town had once stood. The only thing that remained was her mansion, and that was even on the verge of falling apart. A symbol was etched into the ground, a reminder of what a mere fragment of the power of darkness could achieve. Though nobody besides those that were there and a very select few others would know what it truly meant, the darkness had made its return.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Jeb pointed Mr. Truth at the back of Cosma's hairless head.
"I'm done. I'm going... somewhere... I don't know where... but... I'm done. This wasn't supposed to happen... I just... I just wanted to make him happy..." Cosma wheezed between each of her words. She struggled every time she spoke, barely clinging on to life. She couldn't accept this. She had to do something. Anything. This isn't how it was supposed to be. She needed to heal herself and become stronger.
"That's not really how this works."
Jeb smiled. He shoved Cosma with the barrel of Mr. Truth. Her skin flaked off and she fell to the ground. Her arms and legs crumbled beneath her and turned to dust. She didn't scream, didn't show any signs of pain. She merely continued to crawl across the ground, pulling herself with her one good arm.
"This is how it has to be. I can't... I can't... this can't be how it has to be... I have to... revenge... Daniel... Jax... I'm sorry..." Cosma stopped and closed her eyes. It was over for her. There was nothing left to do. Nowhere left to go. All she could was keep her heart beating and lay there. If she crawled any more her fingers would crumble and turn to dust. This was the end of the line. "Please. Be quick with it."
Cosma rolled over onto her back and looked up at the night sky. The stars twinkled above her and she was reminded of quieter times. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She heard the click of Jeb's gun mere inches from her face. She dared not open her eyes, but she had accepted what was to happen. A memory flashed before her eyes as the gun went off.
An old apple tree whose limbs hung low to the ground. It's branches heavy with the many apples that it would grow, it reached down low so that the children who loved to play around it could easily pick the fruit without worry. A young boy and girl of about seven or age were playing together, running circles around the old apple tree and play fighting with wooden swords. They stopped and looked over to Cosma, faces growing bright with excitement to see their sister finally join them again.
"Want to come play with us?" The young boy held out his hands, one with an apple and the other with a wooden sword.
"Of course." A much younger Cosma gleefully agreed, taking the sword and the apple. She took a bite out of the apple and began to chase around the other girl as the boy picked another of the fruit and sat beneath the tree's shade.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Well, guess that's finally done and over with. Ain't really no comin' back from a pile of ash is there?" Jeb mused as he wiped the grit from the inside of Mr. Truth's barrel.
After seeing that Cosma was indeed dead, Sophia and Marzia went up to the only room left in the mansion. Alice was sitting on the bed, kicking her legs out as they dangled over the side. She looked up to Sophia and smiled.
"Where's Cosma?"
Sophia shifted nervously and scratched the back of her head. "Well... she's uh..."
"Is she dead?" Alice asked.
Sophia leaned back, hit with the shock that Alice had just come straight out and asked it like it was nothing. "Uh... yeah. She's dead. But it's not like-"
"That's good. She was a bad lady wasn't she?" Alice looked down and smiled.
"Uh, yeah. She tried to kill us and have something take over your body. Luckily though neither of those things happened." Sophia smiled and got down on her knee in front of the bed. "So what do you say we all go back to my home? We can talk more on the way. I just don't really want to stay here..."
Alice shook her head. "Yeah, I agree. Let's go back. It's not safe here. And when morning comes this will be hard to explain. Is the train still here?"
Sophia cocked her head and then looked up at Marzia.
****. The tornado... she bit her lip. This might be a problem.
"The train's fine, or at least the front part is anyways." Jeb walked in to the room as he patted himself off. "It looks like they were just leaving when all the **** started goin' down. It's movin' right now, but it's movin' real slow so I don't think there's anyone in it. Most likely they were either one of the ones that we fought earlier or they're in there torn to shreds for tryin' to leave."
Sophia stood up and punched Jeb in the arm. "Dammit Jeb, don't say **** like that in front of the kid. That's not somethin' that she really needs to know about."
"The hell're ya sayin' Soph? You're the one that made the kid part of your little outlaw group. She's bound to hear something sooner or later. Plus she's been out here all night. Who knows what that witch was puttin' in her head while we was fightin'."
"He's right you know." Alice nodded at Sophia. "They did try to take me over, and when it was happening they showed me what was happening and what had happened in the world around me. So I mean, it's not like I don't already know. But they're gone now. The book burned, Cosma's dead and the portal is sealed for now."
Marzia grunted. "Yeah, the book burned. That's a big ****ing problem if I do say so. That's the only reason we came out here. Over half of the Culebra's died on this trip and we have nothing to show for it. The boss won't be too keen to hear that news."
"We'll figure it out." Alice hopped down off of the bed and brushed bits of rubble and dust off of her dress. "We just really don't have time to waste right now. We need to get moving."
Jeb nodded at Alice and then at the other two ladies. He just wanted to get on the train and go to sleep. This entire trip had been hell and he'd barely even had any sleep since they left the hideout. His body tingled as he remembered the sensation of having pushed himself far past the brink of his abilities to take out the titan and ensure that they didn't get completely ****ed. He grabbed a pillow off of the bed and started to jog lightly over to where the train was. Everyone else had already started in that direction, but he'd be damned if he didn't take this perfectly good pillow with him. It'd be real nice to rest his head on it once they got to the train.
As they grew closer they came to realize that three carts were all that remained of the train. Jeb cursed himself as he realized that his bounty had been sucked up into the tornado from before. He wasn't sure if the creature had been sucked into the portal or if it had been condensed into the spike, but either way he was going to have a helluva time explaining it to Janet. The bounty wasn't exactly anything that Jeb would get upset over, but Janet.... Janet didn't like failure... or losing money.... or, well, losing. He really wasn't ready for the encounter, but he really didn't want to stick around here any longer either. Sophia was just a magnet for trouble and ever since he'd met her it'd just been one thing after another. He had earned a break.
Marzia climbed in to the head end of the train and began tinkering with the various knobs and levers, attempting to speed the locomotive up. Sophia sat in the cart behind the new pilot, and Jeb went into the one behind hers. Behind Jeb's cart were two more carts and then nothing. Everything else had been torn away. Jeb had thought to go further back, but decided that he should stay closer in case something happened. Like if for some reason one or two of the carts decided to detach on their own accord. Alice climbed up into th cart that Jeb was in and laid down next to him.
"Uhh what are you doing?" Jeb questioned.
"What do you think I'm doing? That's my pillow. I feel like taking a nap." Alice replied as she fluffed up one corner of the pillow, readying to rest her head on it.
"Uhh no." As Alice went to put her head on the pillow Jeb pulled it away and went to the other side of the cart. "You've been asleep all night. I don't want you bugging me. I'm tired. Go talk to Soph or Marzia or something. Just lemme get some shut eye." Jeb pulled his hat down over his eyes and then rested his head down on his pillow. He mumbled something incoherent and then began to snore softly as he fell asleep.
"Tch." Alice wrinkled her nose at the bounty hunter. "Lucky I don't go and tell that assassin what you are." The girl reached her arm out in front of her and began to form a small ball of darkness in the palm of her hand. "Hmm. Guess I still need some time to get used to this body." She condensed the ball down as much as she could and then put it on her tongue to swallow. Alice stretched out and made her way to the next cart. Surely there was something for her to do or learn around here.
"I thought you were going to sleep?" Sophia asked as Alice opened the door.
"Yeah well, Jeb isn't much of a sharer. Guess I'll just have to stay up a while longer. What about you?"
Sophia shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe I'll try to sleep. I'm nervous about what's going to happen when we get back. We failed the mission and lost the team. I hate to think of the punishment that's in store for us."
Alice nodded. "Yeah, well I mean, it's not like it was your fault. The book just kinda dissolved of it's own accord. And it's not like you could have prepared for what happened once we got there. That's just how it goes I guess. I'm sure the boss'll understand. But right now, you need to sleep. Sleep will do you good."
Sophia's eyelids drooped and threatened to close at any second. "Yeah, I could probably use some rest. It has been a while hasn't it." She let out a big yawn and then leaned over, laying her head on the cold metal of the floor. "Don't you forget to... get... some... rest... too..." her words slowed as her eyes sealed themselves shut. In seconds she had joined Jeb in the dream lands and left Alice all alone.
The young girl smiled as she looked to the cockpit. "One left."
An elongated tongue snaked its way out from between the girl's teeth. She cracked the door which separated her room from the cockpit just enough to let her tongue pass through. Marzia's arm grew more and more light as Alice's tongue drew near, but due to the body having been freshly procured the light didn't yet burn as it should. A spell was cast, not above a whisper. But nonetheless effective, Alice replaced the darkness in Marzia's heart which had been lost to her previous incarnation.
The tongue returned to it's rightful place and Alice smiled, content with the action she'd taken. It would prove to be most entertaining later... that is if Alice would be able to spare the time to stick around long enough to see it bear fruit. The girl closed the door and laid down next to Sophia. She scooted up close to the outlaw and closed her eyes. There was a long journey still ahead.
----------Several hours later when the sun is in the midst of rising----------
Marzia had yet to sleep. She'd been keeping herself awake so that they didn't take the train too far. She wasn't sure if she knew how to or if she could stop it, but it was better than just sleeping and hoping that she or someone else woke up before they completely passed up the stop. While she sat up awake she decided to do some thinking. This was the first time she had ever failed a mission. Antonio might not be too kind to Jeb or Sophia, but surely if she went in to explain it beforehand then he would be more understanding and lenient with punishment.
The assassin had decided to take it upon herself to explain everything. She would take the brunt of the boss' anger. They went way back so she was sure that if she explained things he would understand. He had to understand. There was nothing that could have been done. When she got to the town she managed to stop the train, though it was a few hundred yards before the actual stop. She hopped out without waking the others and made her way to the hideout. She wondered to herself who the replacement doorman would be since Jack had been sent with them.
Marzia knocked on the door three times but no answer came. "Hello?" She called out as she pushed open the door. She immediately covered her nose as the stench of death and decay hit her. The ground was covered in viscera, which in turn was covered in maggots. Some wild animals had also found their way in and had begun to dine on the rotting flesh of the former culebras. Marzia cut off a piece of cloth from her shirt and shielded her eyes as she used her magic to find out what all had happened here and where Antonio's body was. If nothing else to give him a proper burial.
She tiptoed across the field of corpses and broken furniture, making her way back to the office. She pushed open the door but found no body inside.
"Oh ****! God dammit what the ****in' **** happened here?" Jeb choked out from the entryway.
"Jeb, we have to go. Antonio is likely still alive, but I don't know for how long. We have to find him and kill whoever it was that did all this. I'm sensing multiple presences, but only one of ours. If we hurry we might make it before he's killed."
"****. Well, I had really wanted to head back home for a bit since everything's kinda just completely ****ed right now, but I mean..."
"No. You have to go." Alice appeared behind Jeb, causing him to jump forward a bit and jab his shoe right into a maggot infested corpse. "We have to go rescue him together. Sophia finds him precious. That should be enough for you. If you leave her now she'll never forgive you. And if you leave her now, she'll likely lose hope and die. We have to do this."
Jeb took his hat off and ran his hand through his hair. "I guess.... I guess I can wait another day or so before I go back home."
"That's the spirit." Marzia said as she began to move up the stairs to the exit. "I can track them pretty far. The trail isn't too old. It seems like it happened just not too long after we set out to complete our mission. But if we hesitate I might lose them. So most likely we'll need you to carry us there since you can cover so much ground with your spells."
"Of course ya do. Always somethin'. Always somethin'. Just so long as you use that glowing healy hand thingy on me once we get to where we're goin' I guess I'll be able to hold out."
Marzia nodded as they all left the desecrated hideout. Sophia was walking towards them but Jeb blinked and met her halfway. Not wanting to waste any more time, he blinked back over to the group and grabbed the other two.
"So here's the thing," Marzia began to explain, "Antonio left us a note for in case we got back before he did. Turns out they decided to take out another group today and pretty much everyone that was left here is gone. The note said he wasn't sure that he could take them on with what he had, but he couldn't wait any longer... so we've got to hurry and join him before something goes wrong. Understand? So Jeb's going to use his powers to get us there as quickly as possible so that we might have a chance..."
Sophia looked puzzled, but shook her head in agreement anyways. "Yeah, I guess I understand? Do you know where he is?"
Marzia nodded, "Yeah, I have one of my tracking spells active. He's not too far away, but not terribly close either. It'd take way too long on foot or horseback even if we had gotten here an hour or two earlier. The only reason there's a chance that we'll make it is because of this arm. Jeb's going to push himself to his limits to get us there, and then I'll heal him so he'll be primed and ready for whatever greets us."
Sophia nodded and then wrapped herself around Jeb's arm. "If that was the case I don't know why we didn't start moving sooner."
Jeb shook his head. "Well it gets kind of hard to hold a conversation when you're moving as fast as we're about to. Didn't want to interrupt or anything in case you had any objections m'lady." He looked over his shoulder at the outlaw who was clinging to his shoulder.
Sophia opened her mouth and went to bite down on Jeb's shoulder, but as she leaned in close he slowed time and then did a combination of a high leap and a blink. He did this several times over, trying to cover as much ground as possible with each instance of his slowing of time since it was the spell that took the most out of him from all the ones he knew. Marzia acted as a co-pilot and navigated him by pointing in the directions he needed to go. And eventually they would reach their target... hopefully before it was too late.