Red Like Roses [Closed]

When the gravity push down, Solomon's knees buckled as he pushed himself to stand but he quickly collapsed to his hands and knees. His lengthy arms were shaking, his back was twitching under the pressure. The weakly man was clearly not winning in strength. Despite this force imposed on them as he futilely pushed against it, he continued to have a soft, patient smile as if still waiting for the woman to confess her sins.

"Ahahahaha, a pursuit of understanding is it? What a nice goal," Solomon stated, the gentle reassurance in his tone not wavering. "God does not forsake such ambitions. If you wish, you may receive a place under them to pursue the fruit of knowledge."

His head lowered further as their arms started to fail to fight against the pressure. His joints were creaking, like the bones were about to snap but he continued to smile happily as if they were talking over a cup of tea.

"So there is still something you seek here," he said as a statement rather than a question, "But your colleagues are already dead, and the ritual in this room is no longer full. What more is there?"

Even with her mask on, Tala might be able to notice a subtle shift in Hitomi as she asked her to roar. Her ear lowered the tiniest bit, her head angling a little lower, her shoulders starting to droop. She looked at the door once again, then back and Tala. Slowly she shook her head, then wrote yet another message.

'Never been able to. I'm sorry.'

Her apology carried a lot more weight than its curtness would imply, unfortunately, Hitomi doubted they had much time to get into it right now. She looked at the door once more, and, with a little less vigor than before, wrote another message.

'Do you have any other ideas?'

"Colleagues?" Ilya laughed. "You have it all wrong."

Ilya moved over to the satchel Solomon had picked up on earlier and took the book from it.

"They were victims."

Ilya proceeded to take move over to the cracked Cartic stone. She slowly traced her hand over the dried blood.

"Someone learned like yourself should know that Cantus has the ability to corrode Cartic effects," she said. "Conducting the proper rituals can make Cantus strong enough to destroy Cartic stones...as I did here. Who would've thought it just took a bit of runes and a lot of blood? That said, with the Cartic stone almost down, I can proceed to the next part of what I want to do. See, the marks and the circles aren't here to control the dead. They're to keep them down.

"The Rosenthal crypt isn't just home to the dead of the family, but it leads to passages towards the other crypts and catacombs of Eisleyn in general. With the right tools and by removing the marks and systems, I can easily create an Undead army."

Ilya smiled bitterly.

"The princess won't stand a chance," she said. "Sure she has men for miles, but men are nothing to mindless drones with no blood or life to worry about, right? I just need one more piece for this to work. A final sacrifice..."

***

Tala definitely noticed Hitomi's face fall when she mentioned she couldn't roar. Tala did her best to try and not express her disappointment. It threw the idea of roaring out of the window, but it didn't mean there were no other options. She did her best to give a reassuring smile.

"That's alright," she said, trying to lift Hitomi's spirits. "As for other ideas, Vidalia and I found a secret way into the catacomb, so maybe the same applies to that room."

As if on cue, however, the two would hear a click and the stone door would slowly open. The two would see nothing but darkness inside. Tala gripped her weapon.

"Oooor we can walk right into what's probably a trap," she said.

The two would notice the flickering light of the marks on the floor trying to reach the stone. In the brief flashes of light, they would see both Solomon and Vidalia bound. The two prisoners, meanwhile, would see Tala and Hitomi coming in. Hiding in a dark corner, Ilya held a knife, ready to strike once the two stepped in.

Vidalia tried to fight off the pressure as hard as she could, but it was difficult and she felt like she was going to be crushed and turn into mush in a few seconds if llya didn't stop all of this, but she begun to explain her evil plans towards Vidalia and Solomon and how she was going to create an undead army then use the crypts to locate and kill Eala.

So she wanted to kill the princess? Vidalia couldn't fault her on that I mean who wouldn't want to kill that tyrannical ruler these days? Surely the families of those suitors who's heads she chopped off would at this point.

"So all of these deaths were caused just to kill one other person, and what, take over her kingdom?" Vidalia yelled out to llya, who needed one more sacrifice to complete her army, only for Vidalia to turn and see Tala and Hitomi having finally reached the two.

She quickly shouted out to them.

"Don't come in. She might be planning something. She's evil after all!" Vidalia warned the girl's as loud as she could.

Solomon listened quietly to the woman's explanation, a calm smile on his face as she went on. Then despite the pressure weighed down on them, He lifted up an arm, touching a finger to his forehead, to his chest, then two over his lips.

"In our minds, in our hearts, and in our words," he chanted calmly. "Child, thank you for confessing your sins. For your redemption, you are tasked with one hundred prayers and a fast of seven days. Now please step aside..."

Solomon slowly stood up. The magical weight would gradually lighten. From his lantern, little specks of light were showering out, and where they touched the magic circle, it dissolved and broke apart, disrupting the magic trap.

"Afterall, there are many waiting in line for confessions."

The girl would feel a cold hand on her shoulder. As she turned around, a hooded figure was staring at her, holding her shoulder firmly. The other cloaked bodies had risen from the floor and gathered behind her while she was talking and they all grabbed at her at once!

Hitomi didn't feel great about just wandering into what was likely a trap. Still, they needed to move forward, something had happened to both Solomon and Vidalia after all. She moved in front of Tala, drawing her blade once again as her eyes swiveled around. Vidalia's warning tipped her off, she felt the weight of some kind of weight beginning to press on her.

Hitomi reached out, pressing her hand against Tala's stomach and pressing her back. She looked at her briefly before preparing to dive in herself. She had a plan, as reckless as it was. It would probably work too. Perhaps there were better alternatives, but there was no time. It was something she could do...

And then, something completely unexpected happened. Solomon arose, talking strangely. The weight disappeared, the dead began to rise and grab at the woman. Hitomi froze, her blood running cold at what she was seeing. Was he...She blinked hard, her mind struggling to comprehend what was happening.

...

Suddenly, she let out a harsh hissing noise, her blade rose as she took a stance. Her hair bristled, her eyes narrowing. Her wooden arms made harsh groaning noises as her hands tightened around her sword. She pointed it towards Solomon. She didn't care anymore. They were there to stop necromancers. Maybe the woman was one, she wasn't exactly dangerous anymore. Solomon though...The proof was right there...At the same time, after everything that happened, she still wasn't sure of herself.

After a moment, she would dash forward. There was something she could do here. She slid between Vidalia and the majority of the undead, holding out an arm to help her up. She was sick of trusting Solomon, she was sick of the excuses and the vague answers and just...everything. Once Vidalia was on her feet, Hitomi would place the blade in the small segment between her arm and the wooden seam of her prosthetic. With a small flick, the prosthetic fell off, revealing the blade underneath. She rose the blade at Solomon once more, her eyes going between him and the chaos he seemingly unleashed.

Things went by way to fast. A warning from Vidalia confirmed Tala's suspicions about the girl. She was about to go in first, scythe ready, but Hitomi beat her to it and attacked...Solomon?

"H-Hitomi, wait!" Tala called out as Hitomi went to attack him.

Wait, was he in on this? He was upright and from what he was doing, it seemed he had used one undead to grab at her.

Whatever the case, Tala wouldn't be able to do anything about Solomon. Ilya took a dagger from her hand, quickly severing the hand that held her. She looked around, bewildered.

"What? How are you doing this? You're not supposed to be able to break my system!" she yelled.

As she turned around, she'd see a curved blade swing at her. Ilya raised a hand, focusing her energy on a narrow barrier. It was just enough to distract her and break her binding spell on Vidalia.

Vidalia was soon free thanks to the efforts of Solomon and what he was doing to IIya. He seemed different now then before, although Vidalia was more focused on the fact that she was now free and wasn't being crushed anymore. "How joyous, I don't feel like my insides are being crushed now." Vidalia sighed in relief before standing up.

However a fight was soon to ensue between Hitomi and Solomon, due to the fact that he's now using the undead to either take IIya to the underworld or tear her apart for what she had done. Either way Vidalia wasn't sure what was going to happen, but she took out her bow as a precaution of what might happen next.

"That girl was trying to kill us, so I don't care what happens to her now." She said, before turning towards Solomon.

"But now you're acting weird. I don't know who to trust now, not that I trusted you in the first place." Vidalia said to Solomon now, she would act when whatever happens next happens.

Solomon's back was turned to the girls so he didn't seem to notice their "reactions". He continued to calmly observe the scene while more occupied with dusting the scuff off his suit with his fingers. The other dead seemed to move automatically, swarming around Illya and grabbing at her, pushing her, trying to topple her.

"Undead are a fundamentally weak unit," Solomon stated as he straightened his hat. "While it is possible to achieve great numbers, a quantitative advantage is hardly an issue. A few dozen dead can't even hold a candle to a properly structured golem. Necromancy is not only considered a blasphemous practice, but it is inherently a weak and inefficient study. That is why that rather than focus on quantity or quality, it is much more important to work on efficiency and cleverness."

Something fell from Solomon's right sleeve with the sound of metallic clinks. It looked like chains, but with Solomon moving his arm, it started to move, snaking along the ground and twisitng up Illya from her ankles, binding her.

Solomon reached into his coat and pulled out a pair of cuffs.

"If you seek redemption, you will be forgiven in the eyes of god," Solomon stated with a chime to his tone. "All of god's children are gifted by their benevolence."

Hitomi couldn't fathom what was happening right now. Solomon straight up admitted to practicing necromancy, yet was going after the woman. Instead of offering any kind of explanation, he just went on about his god and the forgiveness he might offer.

Hitomi looked over to Vidalia, then to Tala. Her arm lowered briefly before she cocked her head and gave a small shrug. She was on edge, but she had no idea what the hell to do here. It seemed Solomon was going to cuff the woman, but who knows what was going to happen after that. He could up and turn on them and finish whatever ritual was happening here. Hitomi couldn't let that happen, but she didn't know for sure. She wasn't about to risk stabbing an innocent man in the back..

So, she'd wait and be ready for anything. It's all she could do now...