Magical Soul Parade

Chapter 336: The Errant Is Coming

Without exchanging a single word, all three of them came to the same conclusion. They needed to find out what was going on. They needed to find any information they could about Finn’s current location and the reason for the council’s interest.

Even Yvonne was intrigued. She did not know Finn personally, having only seen him once during the escape from Woodhaven when that terrifying black void had threatened to swallow the world, but she was a Caretaker rank for a reason. She knew when she was in the presence of a world-changing event.

If only to satisfy her own curiosity, she wanted to know where that boy was.

Yvonne sat at the rear of the hawk, watching the skies behind them while Micah focused on the front. As she watched the clouds roll by and the chasm of the Soul Sanctum fade into a small dot in the distance, she spotted movement off to the side.

At first, they were just dots against the amber sky. But they were growing larger with a frightening speed.

"Are those..." Yvonne’s eyes widened and she stood up slightly, gripping the hawk’s shadowy feathers. "We’ve got company!" she yelled.

Micah and Isis snapped their heads around to look. But even Yvonne had misjudged just how fast those figures were moving. Before they could even prepare a defense or change their course, the dots became fully defined figures.

Three Ossuarists were speeding toward them on flying soul masses, eyes focused on them with cold expressions.

"Micah, do not push! They are too fast! We cannot outrun those soul masses!" Yvonne shouted as the serpents began to circle them.

Within seconds, the three Ossuarists had surrounded Freddy, leveling menacing gazes at the three companions. One of them, a man with a scarred face, raised a hand to signal them to halt.

"By order of the Ossuary," the man shouted. His voice was amplified by a soul tool and it boomed through the air. "You three are charged with the crime of aiding a hardened criminal by the name of Finnegan Slade. You are to surrender yourselves and prepare for immediate detention."

.

.

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Inside the Soul Sanctum. In an inner room not far from the Council hall used for the questioning just minutes prior...

"They have been apprehended," the young woman from the council said. Her eyes had been glazed over with a milky white sheen, but they now reverted to their normal color.

"I guess I don’t have to move then. I would’ve liked for them to struggle at least, so I could break a few bones," the old man, Sanguis, responded in his deep, authoritative voice. It was laced with a tinge of disappointment, as if what he said truly bothered him.

"Wipe that look off your face, Sanguis," the woman sneered, looking at him with utter disdain. "It is unsightly for a Sepulcher family ancestor to covet the blood of mere fledglings. You should have more dignity than that."

The old man showed his displeasure with a heavy grunt but he said nothing more. He knew better than to push his luck with her, so he simply changed the subject.

"Are you sure the Error Bearer is coming here?" he asked. "If he is, is this hostaging really the best move? How can you be sure he cares about these people at all? And even if he does, that doesn’t mean he would hesitate. He might not be the type to willingly spread his neck for us just because we hold a few of his friends."

The woman snorted and looked at the ancestor as if he had just said something incredibly stupid.

"Yes, the Error Bearer is headed here," she said. "Do you think I would lie? Or are you questioning the reliability of my eye?"

A narrow, vertical slit began to tremble right in the center of the woman’s forehead. The skin there began to squirm as if something was moving underneath it, trying to break through. Then, with a wet sound, the slit snapped open to reveal a large and glistening eye.

The sclera was a pure and inky black, and the iris was a large, red, vertical pupil that seemed to vibrate with a life of its own.

Sanguis averted his eyes immediately. He lowered his gaze and went completely still. He did not want to look into that eye and he certainly did not want to anger the woman any further.

The young woman hissed, seemingly enjoying the way the powerful ancestor was forced to squirm in her presence. She allowed the eye to scan the room for a moment longer before closing it. The skin on her forehead sealed over and returned to its normal state.

"I apologize, Seer," Sanguis muttered. His voice was much lower than before.

The young woman, whom Sanguis had addressed as "Seer," clicked her tongue in annoyance. She turned toward an Ossuarist who was standing at the door and began barking orders.

"Activate all defensive mechanisms," she said. "Call all Preceptors in the Sanctum to attention. Tell them to prepare themselves... A battle is coming."

The Ossuarist nodded curtly and moved with a quiet efficiency to carry out the command.

"How exactly will you use those three?" Sanguis asked while he watched the guard leave. He was referring to Micah, Isis, and Yvonne.

"Once our defenses are fully activated, I will place them out in the open, suspended above the chasm," Seer said with a cold chuckle. "I want the Error Bearer to see them the moment he arrives. He will see one of them die right before his eyes before he even gets to do anything."

The old ancestor went silent for several seconds, then he simply nodded and began to leave the room to make his own preparations.

As he reached the door, Seer called out to him. Her voice was matter-of-fact and devoid of any warmth.

"You do not agree with my methods, do you, Sanguis?"

He stopped and turned to face her. "It is not that I do not agree. But such methods are usually only used against an opponent that is greater than you are. You use hostages when you do not think you can win with your own capabilities."

"You are saying I am afraid?" Seer asked. She frowned and her hands tightened by her side.

Sanguis didn’t respond. He only stared at her, his silence confirming her words.

The young woman frowned even deeper, then turned sharply and strode towards the other side of the room where another door was.

Whether or not she was afraid, she didn’t say...

But Sanguis felt he had his answer already. And that answer caused a deep frown to form on his face.

While he was one of the founding fathers of the current day Ossuary, he never bore witness to the so-called "Lost Age", so he didn’t know who the Error Bearer was or what he was capable of.

Seer hadn’t lived during that era either. But her fragment and her eye allowed her to see... things.

"Hmph. I guess I shall see for myself anyway,"Sanguis muttered and pushed the door open, going to make his preparations. "I’ll see whether you’re the real deal or not... Error Bearer."