Chapter Thirty-Eight(final)

(sorry it's been so long since my last update. Had to think about this one, I've decided to take the short route.)

Petra came down to the Atrium. Sitting in the center of the room was a woman. She was armored, but it was under layers of bandages.
"Hello princess."
"Another assasain here for the bounty? You would think my subjects would have learned." She hurled a dozen bolts of shadow at the meditating woman.

They were blocked by a barrier of light that formed in front of her target. The figure rose and pulled a familiar hammer from her back.
"I just want you to know; I forgive you for leaving me bleeding and broken twelve years ago."
She blocked another bolt. Petra unleashed a wave of shadows next, fear begining to rise in her. It went unblocked and shreded the bandages, revealing Chesi's wounds to be healed.
"How?"
"There is a power greater than any demon. He is my Lord, and he alone is worthy to rule."
"No one is more powerful than me."
"Time will see your opinions changed. I'll give you the time you need to set your mind staight."
Chesi slammed the butt of her hammer into the center of the Atrium. Petra realized instantly that she'd walked into a trap. The alchemical patterns drawn into the floor sprung alight as Chesi's power flowed into them.

"Good bye, old friend."
Chesi disolved into the patterns and the room was filled with light. Petra felt a flash of pain, then saw a door open.
"Welcome to the rest of your life, Petra Laerdsfeld. I'll be your guide."
"What's happened?"
"Think about it, you'll figure it out. I'll be back when you come to your senses; in the meantime, you can call me Dante."

Chapter Thirty-Seven

The war continued. It continued for ten more years before things began to turn against Petra. In the end it was not her losses that undid her but her victories.

The death of Kora had left Kara distraught for years. But when she'd finally returned to the field she quickly rose to command; she may not have been the best at TacSim, but from the forefront of her troops she was rarely beaten.
Worse yet was the ally she brought with her. Knarf had spent the intervening years rising to power within the Ga-Vok confederacy. Through charisma, and his own magical prowess, he had overthrown the standing Alpha and replaced him. He managed to achieve the unthinkable and convince his people to join the Nielda against Petra's undead legions.

Petra herself lost much of her sanity in these years. Immortality can give you the strength to fight at levels greater than any mortal, but necromancy doesn't become any easier. She had limits, and she had long surpassed them. The price of controlling billions of ghoulish corpses across a hundred worlds was that she was no longer able to distinguish reality. The nightmares she'd inflicted began to slowly come back and haunt her waking hours. Yet even in her insanity she was a formidable opponent. Indeed, some would say that as she ceased to percieve what was there she began to see what couldn't have been known. Ambushes and silent fleets were attacked without warning or detection. The day before an attack would take place a million new enemies would arrive.

The final blow would come as it had always been meant too. And Petra, for all her insanity, knew the hour and the means of it.
"Specter why are you silent?"
"Oh, I'm just watching. It's big day for you empress of the dead."
"What do you have planned for me wight?"
"Me personally? Nothing until about three o'clock tuesday; then I get to introduce you to a world of pain."
As she began to ready a shadowy assault he quickly followed up, "Not my world of pain child; I'm just the paymaster. You've done some rather naughty things child, and they're coming back to haunt you. Meddle with demons and the demons will meddle with your line for eternity; for they are not the sort to forget a wrong or forgive a kind deed."
"Who are you? Never have I slain or fought any man like you."
"Good question; You'll know soon enough. Who do you think is going to come through the door behind me?"
Petra spun to guard against the coming intruder.
"No girl, the one behind ME. The door behind you leads to a closet. And that one a bathroom." he added as she turned again.

"Then what door do you mean you cursed shade?"
He stepped to the right, yet appeared to be left of where he had been before. Where he had stood a moment before now stood a door.
"This one. What do you think is behind this door?

Petra thought about all the horrible things that could be behind it. Demons, shades, but worst of all was the friend she'd left bleeding in this very atrium twelve years before.
"Chesi"
"Actually; she'll come through that door, tuesday, two in the afternoon." He gestured to another door. This is not an exit door, it's a service entrance. As of today, it's quite holy. You see; my Lord is no longer behind it. Soon enough, you will be behind it. And then in time, I shall not be behind it."
"It's death. You want to kill me." She backed herself against one of the surviving collumns.
"No, there are enough people who want you dead without me being one of them. I simply know when, how, and why you die; then ferry you along to your next life. In fact, allow me to offer some advice. Go down to the arena, and fight her there." He kicked some of the rubble from the last incursion into her dark academy as he continued, "Hate to see you make more of a mess than you have to. A lot of people worked very hard to build this place."
Petra sat; thinking about her coming doom.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Petra hurled another bolt, but Chesi was having no part of a magical battle. She cast a protective shell of light over herself to prevent Petra's dark magic from affecting her.

"You are stronger than last time. So am I."
Petra focused a narrow stream of power into Chesi's shield, shattering it like golden crystal.
Chesi swayed to dodge a pair of follow-up blasts. She lunged and her hammer connected with Petra's scythe, knocking it away. Petra teleported to it, and unleashed several more shadowy missles.

"Petra, you have to stop this. If you give up now you could just go into exile."
Petra shattered a pillar with another blast. "It's my birthright to rule the empire. No one can take that away from me." Chesi shielded herself again. "I'll give you once last chance, join me and take the throne you deserve. You don't have to die here."
Chesi let the next blast catch her in the chest. It slammed her against the wall, but no blood was spilled.
"We can't Petra. We're immortal, we can't die."

Petra circled the atrium as Chesi returned to the center. She was determined to defeat her opponent, but if she couldn't kill her she would need to get creative.
She began spinning her scythe; it's blade offsetting the rotation.
"But you can't defeat me either."
Chesi brought her hammer to bear. "I can knock you out, and use Alchemy to bind your power. I can't kill you, but I can make you wish I had."
Petra slashed the air, two collumns were reaped by the scar of shadow that formed upon them.
"You'll still have to knock me out."
Chesi teleported up to her. "Not as hard as you think."
Chesi's hammer began coming down. Petra lept back and brought her scythe across Chesi's leg. Blood spewed across the floor and the paladin collapsed in pain.

Petra stepped back and stared at her friend for a while. It took her a while to figure out what had happened. It was the scythe, she must have absorbed the Demon's power. It wasn't killing her, but Chesi's attempts at healing weren't working. Maybe Demons could kill immortals; she'd have to be careful of that in the future. Until then, she now had a way to win.
She cut again, leaving a gash across her arm. Another blow tore into her breast, and the back swing knocked her back sporting a new wound on her forehead.
"Looks like I win today Chesi. I'll be back every day to deal you another blow until you manage to drag yourself out of my palace."

Chapter Thirty-Five

The Academy had been converted into a fortress. No one opposed her, not after what she did to when she arrived. The survivors had either joined her cult, or slipt out quietly. Those who hadn't now patrolled the halls or fought mindlessly on the front lines.

Zombies were no threat to a proper mage. Kara and Kora didn't wouldn't have even bothered, but Chesi wanted to force Petra to notice them.

And she did. They arrived in the atrium and saw her standing there. Her usual black robes and scythe made her presence obvious.
"So You've come at last."
Kara, ever the outspoken one, cried across the hall, "You will pay for what you've done Petra. You shall atone for your actions in blood!"
"Not likely."

The doors on either side of the hall sprung open and undead began pouring into the room. Chesi and Kara ran to stop them. Petra began hurling shadowy meteors down at them as she hovered in the middle of the room. Kora began deflecting them in order to defend her compatriots.
After nearly an hour of fighting Kora began to notice that the attacks were not emmenating fom Petra herself. Rather, they were coming from the shadows that cloaked the rafters.
She considered her options. Her energy was nearly spent, the perpetual shielding had been exhausting. She could either attempt to combat Petra's power directly by trying to dispel the shadows, an impossible task against her former commander's power. Or she could try a more mundane approach.
"Petra, this is for the people of Tara; who's blood shall never cease in its spilling and who's land is eternally left to the dogs."
She drew her sidearm and emptied all twenty rounds into Petra's black cloak.
The Magess made no atempt to stop her. Rather she took advantage of the distraction and appeared behind the seer. The scythe flew to its mistress, and Petra flung her adversary aside before catching it.

Kora slumped senseless against the wall. Kara turned to see the Necromancer bearing down upon her. She parried every blow Petra brought against her. But her sacrifice to Knarf had left her with a disadvantage in a fight. Petra wheeled to her opponent's left, and used the blind spot to throw her adversary to the ground. Disarmed and dazed Kara could only await the inevitable.

A sweeping blow came towards the daughter of Anatolia, but stopped short. In a rush of adrenaline Kora had intercepted the blow with her body. She had snared the Scythe with her arms, but the blow to her was mortal.
"Good bye sis; You'll make a great empress soon. Tell the puppy I said hello."
With her last breath Kora tore open a portal to Anatolia, and Kara was dragged through it still crying out to her twin.

Chesi stepped up behind her roommate of old.
"It was going to have to be like this all along, wasn't it?"
"We both know no mortal could have defeated me anyways. Which leaves only you." Petra turned to her friend. Chesi could see now what Petra had become. Her skin was thined and nearly transparent. Bone could be seen through what muscle the usurper had left. She retained only a trace of what little humanity had remained when the war began.
"Yes, this is how it must be."

Chapter Thirty-Four

I'm glossing over the war. Any Nieldic history book has a chapter about it in graphic detail, with contemporary photographs, modern artistic interpretations, famous quotes and some poor soldier's journal entry. I'll sum up the action though.
Pinn struck first; Petra kicked his sorry rear back to Rhinsla. She raised his soldiers and preemptively attacked Tara. Tara proved to be a nightmare for the next twenty years; werewolves coming out at night and killing zombies; zombies tearing exhausted soldiers and werewolves apart; civilians locking their doors and thanking their good fortune that werewolf proofing a house is overkill for zombie proofing a house. And the logistics were horrifying for both sides, lots of little islands with high cliffs, no where for runways and few for docks.

The military entered on the side of Pinn when necromancy became involved. No surprise there, Nielda hate undeath in every way, shape, and form. Did them no good, Petra had managed to establish supporters during the first year of the war. Mostly just radical non-conformists, Depressed looking teens, and the occasional actual warlock; her Death Cult was able to sabotage the fleet and much of the army was lured into easily eliminated positions. The dead were all raised as soldiers for her.

Anatolia became involved once it was clear no one would be paying an enlistment bonus. But they managed to make the situation worse as Lord Athuln insisted Pinn give him supreme command in return for their services. Athuln was a fool, and less than half the commander Pinn was; by the fourth year of the war the army was broken and the fleet was an unsalvagable mess of supply lines and buearacracy.

The invasion of Ukra, which had been only minorly involved, was a mind numbing failure. Apparently, D-Day for the Ukra invasion was Mead Monday; in a rather less drunken stupor the Ukran people managed to rather easily bludgeon the invading ghouls to death using a combination of non-weapons usually only seen in an action movie. Petra's defeat there enheartened the Rebel worlds, who launched another attempt to reclaim the streets of Tara.

Gasca remained uninvolved, in spite of attempts both to invade(Petra) and to negotiate(everyone else). It was rumored that there was a prophecy saying that while they would win the war, Knod would die if they fought. It followed that he was buying extra time to sire an heir. If there's one good thing that can be said of the Gascans(and there are in fact several) it's that they have managed to produce fantastic heirs even when the heir is an only child, and further that they have managed to keep that line going straight and true since Lady Alicea. It's a better line than the Imperial one. But I digress.

The critical center of the war would come when Pinn sent a task force to kill Petra herself. A task force consisting of the three most powerful mages in the empire, who weren't Petra.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Petra was coronated publicly; although admittedly everyone but her at the coronation was muttering almost incoherrently. Resistance sprung up within hours, In no small part due to the efforts of the Nobles.

Her old TacSim rival, and the king of Rhinsla, Pinn was the first to rebel.
"People of Rhinsla." Although ancient even for a Nielda he still stood tall and his armor was brightly polished. He held his claymore, which he had used since his early days in the army, aloft. "Petra, daughter of Tania your empress, is a traitor and a usurper. She has killed her mother and brought the abomination of Necromantic undeath into our illustrious empire."
The crowd was Rhinslan. They were hardworking, upper-lower class blue-collar people. Rhinsla was the industrial heart of the empire, and it's people could live as well as lower class as most planet's inhabitants could as middle class simply out of reduced shipping costs. They, like the Tarans, were accustomed to Semi-despotic nobles who made wild accusations and staged executions at the drop of a hat; often during dinner so they could watch. They'd gotten particularly discerning about the truth during Pinn's reign; not because he was crazier than his ancestors but rather because he was well informed and more of his accusations were true. They saw at once that this was not a matter of personal profit or half-drunken lunacy.
The military had learned to pay attention to the Rhinslans over the years; increased recruitment levels there, coupled with decreased recruitment on Anatolia and increased weapon sales on Gasca and Tara, were a good indicator of a coming war. They should have known anyways, but rarely was the council of commanders as well informed as the significant nobles, or the underlying Ukown guild on Anatolia.

Pinn's rebellion was not alone. Days later the king of Tara announced that they too would fight the usurper Petra. Tara was a critical ally, the entire sector defered to his judgement in military matters. Ukra and Kanto brought their sectors into the fold as well. An alliance consisting of nearly a third of the empire now stood against her.

Two planets were noticeably absent though. The Anatolians continued to hold out for a wartime bonus from the military. No self respecting Anatolian would sign on until one was offered, and no one in the military would change the size of the bonus or risk a mutiny by those who had gotten the lower rate.
The Gascans were also absent. Lord Knod had recently suceeded his mother, and was by all accounts a good and wise ruler. Many planets refused to join until the Gascans made their move; it was a well known fact that if the empire had a good luck charm, it was a Gascan noble on the field of battle. Until one arrived, there would be no chance of victory.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Aelfred opened the throne room door. Petra was trying out the throne for size. The empress stood off to the side emotionless and blank, almost as though she weren't even there.

"Ah captain. What did you need to talk to me about?"
"Your highness, could you step out to the garden with me. We need to have you review the palace detail. It's a tradition for new rulers."
"Of course, has the council made any progress concerning your succesor?"
"Succession is one of the things I hoped we could discuss in the garden."

Petra wasn't an idiot. Aelfred was good, most would have been fooled, but not her. As he turned towards the door she lashed out. He wasn't as off guard as she'd hoped.
He was old, in his late nineteenth decade. But the captain had not held his rank for lack of attempts to remove him. His stave spun around and he caught her bolt of dark magic on its tip.
"How could you child. Your own mother. Is nothing sacred to you?"
"Perhaps if she had been more flexible in her interpretation of the law this need not have happened, captain."

Aelfred flung the bolt aside and began backpeddaling. He deflected and absorbed her attacks. But while she could not see past the attempt on her life, he had but one goal in mind.
They fought across the room, and on down the hall. His defense was weakening, but with fervent strength he kept going even after several dire wounds. He reached the gate, and lured her into the gardens.
"You would usurp your mother. You would deem to rule the empire for eternity. For the glory of the Nieldic people, I banish you from this palace. Behind her the gates shut, and the glow of alchemy shone forth from the whole of the palace. The guard had locked her out.
"It will do you no good, captain." and she spat the word with contempt now, her condescension lost in anger. "Your life is forfit. But don't worry." She unleashed a wave of shadow, stripping him of his weapon and armor. "You can still serve the empress of the Nielda."
She swung her scythe, leaving her valiant foe bleeding before her. Then she called upon the shadows and watched their power seep into his lifeless form.
He rose and saluted her. He made no sound, but his very presence eminated fear and death.
"Death, empress of all, commands your obedience."

Chapter Thirty-One

Aelfred gathered the department heads. The most important members of the court and council were attending via hologram.
"I've called you here because..."
"Captain, there's a woman here to see you. She says it concerns the princess, and that its urgent."
"Do you recognize her?"
"No."
"Then she can wait. Right now we're dealing with matters of state."

"Shall we take roll?"
"As chancellor of the court I move that the captain takes roll," said King Treng of Tara.
"I second it."
"All in favor?" Aelfred paused and counted. "All opposed?" Another pause, "Very well, the motion fails." Some grumbling and mentions of 'against tradition' were heard.
"Captain, why have we been called together at this time of year? And where is the empress?"
"I am considering her incapacitated."
Mumbling, some of it from his lieutenants.
"She's mumbling, and Petra insists she'd elected to abdicate in her favor. I've known Tania for decades, she'd have mentioned something this important before now. Something is wrong."
"Then ask her; what do you want us to do about it?"
"I'm putting contingency plan 36b into effect. Temporary autonomy, the guard will be locking down the palace until the situation is resolved."

Everyone looked around for a while silently. Most of the court logged out. Those who remained were uneasy. Utimately it was Lord Knod, who had recently suceeded his mother as ruler of Gasca, who broke the silence.
"Captain Spielgan, you know that I have the utmost respect for the Imperial family and for all who serve them. And that is why I feel it is nessesairy for you to enact protocol 98. My council has been listening in, and we have agreed that it is inadvisable to allow the princess to remain in the palace."
"Agreed, whether or not she is responsible she must be removed from the facilities."
"And what about..." the holograms wavered and transmisions broke off.

"To your stations men, this never happened. I'll escort her highness into the garden personally."

Captain Spielgan's log ends after this transmission.

Chapter Thirty

"Empress Tania, Lord Athuln is here to.."
Aelfred looked across the room. The Empress and Petra were having, for lack of a better word, what appeared to be a conversation. Only they were mumbling, and the empress disn't look to be enjoying it. As a matter of fact, she didn't look to be anything it; the blank expression on her face was very uncharacteristic of her.

"Ah Aelfred," Petra turned to the guard captain. "My mother has just decided to abdicate in my favor. That's what she called me in for."

Now he was no idiot. It took him about six seconds after she said that to notice everything that was wrong with the situation. First, the guards were missing; he'd been outside the only door into the throne room and they hadn't left. Two, Tania never mumbled; it had been a very important part of her ascension to the throne, people liked that they knew what she was saying. Third, Tania hadn't failed to acknowledge his entry into the throne room for as long as they'd known each other. Clearly something was wrong, but he had no court presentable evidence; yet.

The empress spoke up, not as clear or loud as she normally did. "Aelfred, could you call a press confrence for this afternoon? I'd like to announce the transistion as soon as possible."
"Of course Milady." He gave Petra a short bow. "Your highness should review the Guard. You will need a new captain."
Petra gave him a pout. "But Aelfred, I'd be honored to have you show me the loyalty you've shown my mother."
"Much as I would love to keep an eye on you, and be assured I will not neglect you; my chief responsibility within the guard has long been your mother's well being. Even if she is retired I still must protect her, there are some grudge-bearing malcontents who would still attempt against her life."

Aelfred turned and left. As soon as the doors to the room closed behind him he motioned for the guards there to follow him.
"Sergant Willcom, take a squad and secure the palace defenses. Sergant Jomiless, prepare the press room. If you need me I'll be in the communication center talking with any of the inner court members I can get a hold of. No guards are to patrol in groups of less than two, more whenever possible. Put the palace security level to full ready; something is wrong with the empress and I'm not certain what."
"Yes captain."

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I'm skipping a bit here. Petra was quite distraught for the remainder of the school year. They closed the academy while they investegated the situation; death might be normal, but demons were, and still are, no laughing matter. In the end she'd covered her tracks well and they held the deceased Naron responsible for the whole debacle. Chesi disappeared; Knarf and the twins returned to Anatolia, he was actually the first Ga-Vok there since the sixth phase of the Great Ga-Vok war. Our next scene occurs in the Palace, where Petra had returned after some time spent abroad.

"Hello princess. Your mother is waiting for you."
"Thank you Aelfred." Petra was in a black robe. She'd gotten paler and more sickly looking than before. She was probably the most un-charismatic future ruler the empire had ever seen. If it weren't for the sort of feats she'd proven herself capable of she'd have been discarded in a second by the public.

Empress Tania sat on the throne. It was the throne the Junlaerd had forged. When it was called the throne of twenty kings, they weren't talking about the men who had sat on it, they were talking about the men who's bones comprised it. One of those men was the prince consort's, among several important figures, ancestor; the king of Stone.

"Well then mother; what did you want to talk to me about?"
"Petra, have you become..Immortal?"
"Yes, there was a fountain on Krove. Chesi and I both drank from it."

She sighed. The worst had come to pass then.
"I suppose it's just as well she passed up the throne then. Petra, are you aware of clause three of the terms of succession?"
"No." What did this have to do with her?
"Immortals can't hold Noble or Public offices. The council put it in place after the Junlaerd, to make sure there wouldn't be another undying tyrant. Succession should be a matter of buisness, not heroics."
"Are you saying I can't be Empress because of some stupid defunct old clause?"
Her anger began growing. Since the battle with Califrax something had shifted in her. She no longer suffered others to control her, and her patience was thin as rice paper.
"Well then, mother, if the laws forbid my coming to the throne I'll just have to change them."
"Petra I wish I could, but these are the laws of sucession. The ful court most be unanimous to change it, and even then a 90% majority of the people most vote to accept it. Petra, I'm so sorry."
"Then I'll make them vote. The people will elect me Laerd du Imstat and they shall do it happily."
"Petra, that can't possibly happen. King Pinn has already moved to have your citizenship barred for 'unfavorable life status' And Lord Nedierk of Mrococo went so far as to say you should be banished. There's no way you could achieve a unanimous vote now."
"Then you think I'm not powerful enough to make them?"
"It's not a matter of power Petra; you simply haven't got the sort of charisma it would take to convince them. And I don't like that tone of voice young lady."
"Who said anything about convincing? Mother dear, bear witness to the power of the next true ruler of the empire."

Tania may have still believed her daughter simply distraught, but the guards made no such mistake. Both charged to stop her from begining the spell. She spun and with a single gesture flung them into each other, impaling them on their partner's staves.
"Petra what are you doing?"
"The people should know who their new empress is; and who better to tell them than her own mother."

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Petra awoke to blood. Not hers, It was familiar though. Then she saw his body. Alid had been slain, his weapon was missing. Whatever had happened there must have been a fight. He would have died defending her, but from who.

Memories began coursing through her mind. She saw the demon rising from the summoning circle; she was fighting it. Alid had come in to defend her, but someone had killed him.

She looked up and saw the demon. He was facing down a sturdy woman in armor. Neither seemed to be fighting. But her lips were moving, and she was..Kneeling? This must be the demon's servant; this was the one who killed Alid.

She hurled a mass of shadow bolts at the intruders. The demon was thrown back, he'd let his guard down in distraction. A barrier of light protected the other. The demon, what was his name? Califrax was it? He looked at her with something between mirth and awe.

"The servant awakens. Destroy the intruder then, and embrace your destiny."
"You killed him!"
"Petra, stay back; I still have a chance to banish him. You're not strong enough yet, you're to badly injured."
"You worthless wretch! You killed him."
"What? Petra you're delirious; Alid was dead when I got here."

She readied her scythe and knocked the offender aside; the woman's shield held but her concentration was broken.

"Petra, what are you doing? He's loose now."
"Indeed I am. Well done, now kill her."

Petra turned on Califrax.
"You, this is your fault. If I kill you this'll all go away."
"Petra you're in no condition..."
A blast of magic threw her deep into the crypt. Her focus on the demon was unbroken.
"I've spent years preparing to fight you, I'll not let your lackeys get in my way."
"Ha! You'll do your work perfectly. Let that fire burn, take it out on her."

Petra took the scythe in both hands and let the magic flow from her. The room changed, all light purged as her anger built. The alchemical symbols beneath Califrax changed of their own accord. In place of a burning dark evil, nothing but shadows. The barrier that had supported him faded and he stretched his wings and floated forward to the edge.
"What? You are the tool of my power. Your soul is mine fool."
"I am no one's tool. I will not be your servant as she is." Her blade cut the air, and the shadows matched her blows upon his wings. As he teetered on the edge she called out to him, "I banish you, By my blood alone shall you be free. SHADOWS, CONSUME HIM!"

And they did. Beasts came from the depths on leathery wings, arms like tentacles rose from the depths, and as they did she heard a chant rising from the depths.
'Ew reah dna yebo, ssertssim. Wodahs hcihw semusnoc, emusnoc mih."
And a Maw opened up within the shadows. She could feel it, it was the shadow so she couldn't actually see it.
The demon was dragged down into the shadow. He hung clinging to the edge for several minutes. Finally she stepped up to him readying the butt of her Scythe to push him off. She could feel his mind, it was powerful more so then any other mind she'd felt. But then the thought came to her, this was one of the most powerful beings in all exsistance; and he was at her mercy.
She smiled, and laughed. It was a cold laugh, all hint of mercy and compassion drained from it.
Then she put the end of the scythe to his forhead and filled her blade with his power. And with it pushed him off the edge.

Chapter Twenty-Seven; Author's note

In all fairness, this is a secondhand account. Dante informed me of what happened later.
Alid broke through the door and saw Califrax drawing a pattern around Petra with a single claw. He lept into action. It was his duty as a guard to protect her, and he may well have been too late.

"Ah, the guard arrives. Here to watch your princess fall?"

Alid didn't reply. He rolled under the demon and snatched Petra from the circle. Califrax hurled a bolt to stop him, but he teleported back into the crypts and set her there.
"What did you do to her?"
"The power of a demon in battle was to much for her to bear."
He hurled another bolt towards his voice, but he'd cast his voice and a tomb shattered far from him.
"I must avenge her then. One of us must not leave this chamber."
Another bolt flew astray.
"Oh she's hardly dead. I've made..Precautions against such a possibility. She's quite immortal now; Time will not take her now."

Alid gasped; immortality was not only nigh impossible, but highly undesirable. If she was truly immortal than she was no longer his ward. So many things would be changed by this.
Califrax homed in on that slight sound. A flurry of bolts tore through his surroundings.
"Of course, it hardly matters now. She will be my hand in the coming years. Like your people, you will die."
Alid teleported Petra again. Immortal or not, he was obligated to protect all his people from the shaditha. He initiated an alchemical formula on the ground; He knew his limits. Perhaps his uncle could face down so powerful an opponent, but not he.

She could though. If she really tried; she'd have spoken to often, and toyed with him at first. But when she really tried Petra was formidable beyond anyone he knew.
He set a hand to the circle and activated its power. He had but to hold it off while its magic restored her strength.

"Demon! I am here, a Guard of the Nielda stands against you."
At first it seemed like merely the foundations of the academy shaking from his rising growl. There were hundreds of small dark objects moving towards him, but as he deflected them the growl rose and the bits of debris became a hail of demonic bolts.
He brandished his staff, guarding himself and his ward against the onslaught. Few bolts made their way past, destroying memorials to mages past. As they flew the demon came behind him and tore the flesh from his back. He felt his body alight with pain, and his legs lost their feeling.

He recovered from the blinding pain minutes later and saw the cursed angel channeling dark power into her motionless body. He drew upon what strength remained to him and hurled his staff deep into the demon's chest. As it flew, Light flowed to it, sharpening the bloodstone stave into a righteous spear.

Califrax recoiled, howling in agony as Alid succumbed to his own pain.

Chapter Twenty-Six

The demon struck faster than she'd expected. Petra had always imagined them more as reactionary fighters, the sort who would dodge and taunt rather than simply strike. She dodged his blow, then spun to avoid a flurry of demonic bolts. The distance she'd managed to put between them gave her time to loose a shadowy bolt of her own. It splashed harmlessly against his steely armor.

"The shadow? A necromancer, a warlock trying to battle a demon? You are more foolish than I had thought. But for your power, I would leave your corpse in the dust."

A wave of magic rushed across the room at her as he laughed. She shielded herself against it with little difficulty.
"It's your corpse that will be left here."

She charged another bolt and aimed for his wings. He caught it with a single finger and held it up before his eyes.
"The shadow corrupts; the more you use it the stronger in it you become. It was all too easy to convince you to use it more."
He flung it aside, several blocks shattering as it detonated. He clenched a fist, power gathering within, seeping from between his fingers.
"It was a shame to sacrifice Azriak, but for a servant as strong as you it was worth it."

Petra relaxed the energy she'd been readying for her next attack.
"Azriak, the other demon? You knew of it, how?"
"I was there. I am never far from you. Kroxinian sent word from his prison that a powerful mage was to be born. One enhanced by the fountain, and bearing its blessings."
He released a beam of unholy energy towards her, scouring the wall around her. As it faded she lowered the barrier she'd conjured to face her foe.

"What?"
"Ah, so you really don't know? I've been working your case since week six, day four. Your whole life has been preparing for you to become our tool."
"I'll no sooner be your tool than you'd be mine."
"I am Calfirax, corruptor of souls. You are already our tool, it is simply a matter of your accepting your fate."
He blasted the wall away, exposing the crypt to the edge of the mountain. As she recovered from the shockwave she spun. He was ready in front of her. As his claws closed on her she thought she could see a man sitting on one of the graves; robed in black. He was saying something, she couldn't hear over the demon's laugh but she could feel it in the air; 'not this time'. Then the darkness closed upon her.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Petra kept training. She had six months left in school; and she planned to get every bit of use out of the facilities.

She was still no master in melee. Otan had made it clear by the end that she would need to rely on her own ability to kill things before they got close enough. A feat she could acomplish easily, her power and skill were overwhelming in combat magic. Where other students, even the more talented ones, would face a squad of practice golems and defeat three with magic and the rest with their weapons; she would demolish the squad with a single flurry of shadow bolts(enviroment allowing). In an open room or faced with a single foe she was unstoppable. If she lost the advantage of range she was still light enough on her feet to survive for as long as a half hour.

Chesi was preoccupied with preparing for life after school. She was a talented alchemist and a nearly peerless warrior, but she still wanted to do something valuable for the universe. Alid had offered her a recomendation if she chose to join the guard.

He himself was set for life. It was clear that Petra had enough of an advantage over her siblings in power and intellect that no amount of popularity would keep her off the throne. As such, he was preparing to take over for his uncle as Captain. He remained dedicated to his duties, but always cautioned Petra against completing her plan.

And rightly so.
It was three weeks until Junsrew when Naron came back to her. He said he'd worked out the kinks and was ready to give it another shot with her formula.
She chose to play it safe, and told Alid to wait outside in case something went wrong.

"Alright kiddo; I think the problem was the pattern you were using. I tried this one last night and this little shadow thing popped up for a peak. Said something about not being allowed to come out and left before I could nab him."
"Let's see it then!"

He bent over the formula and set his hands against the outmost ring. It flared to live as he did. She saw at once that in his ignorance he'd reached the result she'd desired. Hell stretched out before her, burning and rotting in its evils.

"Now to draw them up. You've been wonderful professor."
"What? Who are you drawing up now?"
"No need." The demon's voice boomed forth from behind them.

Petra vaulted the portal, which sealed to a invisble floor as she crossed it. Naron simply spun and looked up in dismay.

"Courteous enough to spare me the trouble of calling on you. Demon, you embrace your fate too willingly."
"What in the..?" Naron was still stunned as he back pedaled to the center of the room to take in the full majesty of the newly summoned power.
"No mortal; it is you who embrace your fate. Perform the final act. Kill the fool!"
"But I want a witness to my power. He will tell the world of my victory."
"Then you are already mine."

The demon stretched a single finger towards the hapless profesor.
"How is it you ordered that first death? Ah yes, DIE!"
The unseen barrier beneath them was pierced as the shades bellow sent tentacles upwards and tore him limb from limb. It was a familiar sight by now, she had killed more than once like this. Never before had she seen what was on the other end of the portals. Had she been more prone to terror, or less prepared for dealing with a demon; she'd have probably been as afraid as Naron had been only seconds earlier.

"You won't leave this room demon; Today, you die."
"Today, your purpose will be made known."

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Here are the notes professor." Petra presented Naron with a heavily doctored, but factually accurate, copy of her notes.

She had developed a reason for her research. Since the demonic plane was, theoreticly at least, more or less just like any other elemental plane; she had edited her notes to make it appear she was simply trying to summon an inhabitant of one of the elemental planes. Since the practice for any other plane would be much like summoning a demon, a practice that was well established and researched, though well guarded against, the simmilarities would be reasonable and less subject to investegation.

"Any particular element in mind Petra?"
"Well, Knarf has mentioned that water is a particularly malleable element. I was thinking I'd try with that."
"I'm no expert at this, but I believe the pattern for water is.."
He really wasn't an expert at this. Chesi, and most other Alchemists for that matter, had tattoed a formula onto her arm. It allowed her to write alchemical formulas by contact with a flat surface and used her body heat as a reagent. Petra had no need of such a mark for her alchemy; she was sufficently powerful to use magic directly to write what she needed. Naron was using chalk. Besides being easy to mess up, it required a lot of time to write out every intricacy of the pattern.

She stayed to watch. It took hours but she was determined to see this through. She passed the time by asking him questions and talking about fictional social problems. After all, it was important that he not realize just how idiotic he was being. It was also extremly amusing to watch him get flustered and erase large portions of his work as he fumbled about in befudlement.

Chapter Twenty-Three

She had six months to find a suitably gullible young warlock. He'd need to be willing to do what she told him too, without realizing he was being told to do it. A demon might realize that she was working through him if he knew it.

She looked across the cafetieria. No one who'd been there for over a year would simply accept her approaching them with an idea; but a first year wouldn't have the capacity to pull it off. That left transfer students, all eight of them; Non-student visitors; who were rare and likely wouldn't have the capacity; or a teacher.

She glanced at the transfer students; they'd all placed in through heroic feats or prophecy. Simonas and Harold were prophesied somewhere; they might be dumb enough to do it. As far as visitors; most of them were nobles and none of them would fall for any atempt at trickery.
Teachers was the most interesting option. Otan had retired last year; after a long run. His replacement was delightfully ignorant of her power. Naron, a former Imperial Guard, must have gone out of his way to not know who she was. He was option one; he'd be the one to summon her demon.

"Professor Naron, can I have a word with you?"
"Sure thing miss..?"
"Petra, but everyone else call me 'the reaper'." Petra used the sweetest voice she could. She wasn't sure if she was going to be trying to seuce him, but a good impression was never a bad idea.
"So what's on your mind kid?"
'kid'? He was only like ten years older than she was. It took a great deal of restraint to not simply take him down to the arena and use him for a sacrifice.
"Well sir; I've been having problems with something I've been working on in my spare time. There's this formula.."
"This sounds like an Alchemy question. You should probably ask Mrs. Prevance."
"She hates me. Since the first day of school, she's hated me."
She knew why; Mrs. Prevance had never recovered from watching her kill that prisoner. Now that Otan was gone she was the only teacher who ever stood up to her; and that only because she was the most terrified of them all.
"Well I'm sorry to hear that. What sort of project is this?"
"Summoning, I'm working on a way to call something to me from somewhere else."
"Sounds vague, what's the problem?"
"It's not showing up."
"Why?"
"I don't think it wants to show up."
"And what sort of hel do you think I could be?"
"Maybe if you could repeat my experiment than I could observe and try to find out what's being done wrong."
"Alright, I'll look over your notes and we'll see what we can do this saturday. Bring them by my office tomorrow."
"Than you sir, you have no idea how important this is to me."
Idiot, how in the world did this guy become a teacher? He just walked into her plan with little hesitation.

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Are you sure you have it right?"
"Princess, It is exactly the way it was last time. Demons are not machienes; you can't just call and expect them to show up."
"Maybe we should kill something bigger this time."
"Petra my orders are to keep you safe. Just doing this much is a violation of that. Please, just go back to bed."

She sat quietly for another hour before finally returning to her bed. Chesi was a sound sleeper, so it was relatively easy to sneak out.

Why hadn't it shown? Maybe it knew it was a trap. Perhaps if she could trick someone into summoning it for her.

Petra had spent nearly three years now studying demons. Learning how they thought, how they fought, and what they sought. She was probably the universe's leading expert on shaditha. Yet she couldn't even call up a shade, let alone the full-fledged tempter that Chesi suspected to be following her. But she was determined to bring him into the open, and make and end of him.

She would be the most powerful being in the universe then; demon slayer, immortal, the physical embodiement of death. No one could order her around, and she could remake the world as she wanted too(however that was).

But first she'd need a pawn to summon the demon for her.

Chapter Twenty-One

Otherwise, Their ninth year proceded as had those before it. Classes were attended, matches were won, injuries were recieved, and here and there people died as a result of fiddling with magic for the wrong amount of time. Whether to much, or simply not being prepared; Life at the academy was quite dangerous. To say that nothing happened would be wrong; rather, nothing important to Petra happened.

The tenth year had gone much like the nine proceeding it. Scarcely a month went by some bonehead didn't try to upset her power, or challenge her outside of TacSim. And sadly, by now most of the teachers were themselves rightfully afraid of her power. Although she had probably killed before; Petra made no secret of it now. No one tried to stop her; if you were the level of stupid it took to start a fight with her, you were going to die anyways. She just made it prompt, painful, and public.

Alid and Chesi usually tried to convince her not to. Chesi would often heal the survivors, what few there were. Alid was the only student who could get away with intervening in her fights. More people owed their lives to him than he wished to count. He was a good guard; if ever there was a threat he'd try to deal with it long before she could find out about it. And when someone really did need to be put down he'd stand aside and let her do what she did best. Love is probably to stronga term; to say that she'd come to feel a strong affection for him might be a better. But if he felt anything more than a professional obligation he didn't show it.

It was august, halfway into the semester, when the end began. Chesi climbed down the stairway that lead to Petra's lab. It was dark, as always, and smelled like rotting flesh, a dozen herbs, and singed hair. Chesi was always polite enough not to say anything, so she'd written it into Fey to hate this place.
"Petra, what happened in the labrinth last year after I blacked out?"
"I blasted the golems. Boom, little bits of golem everywhere."
"How?"
"What do you mean how? With magic of course."
"I have a witness who says otherwise."
"What? We were the only ones in there."
"Not quite." A golem, the statue from the center of the room, clumsily descended the stairs. "He says it was a Shaditha. That you barely survived."
Petra muttered a curse at the stone man waiting silently beside her roommate. "Can you blame me for not saying so? What would you think if you saw a demon come to your defense?"
"I'd think something was wrong and that we should stop what we were doing and go back."
"We're immortal now Chesi. I'd don't care what the Demon wanted us to do; they don't control us. What could they possibly do to us?"
"What if they wanted us to be immortal? Wouldn't that mean it was wrong to be immortal?"
"How can it be wrong to not die?"
"I don't know, but if demons want it than it must be wrong."

"I think there might be a demon following you."
"What?"
"The first day of school; I felt something from when you killed that prisoner. It's the same thing I felt when Vlad fought his demon; not Vlad's demon but something close, and nearby as well. And the way the golem felt from the demon last year; it's the same thing. It took me till now to realize it; it may not be controlling you Petra, but it's following you."
"Absurd; Demons don't follow people. They offer power..."
"Which you have had since day one because everyone knew you could and were willing to kill. Because the Demon killed the prisoner for you."
"..Or eternal youth..."
"Which we both have thanks to the fountain he saved our lives for us to get to."
"...Or love." Petra paused. If the trend the demon had been following so far was any indication that would be next.
"Chesi, do you think the demon could make Alid like me?"
"Petra Laerdsfeld how could you? He's your guard, you shouldn't even think of using a demon's powers to make him like you."
"If I'm lucky the nether lord will do it of his own accord."

Chesi just stared at her friend in perturbed shock.
"I'm kidding. If he's following me then it will save me the trouble of finding one. He wants to play with my life; he'll find out what happens to people who take me lightly."

Chapter Twenty

By the time Chesi came to Petra had managed to get her story straight. There was no chance she was telling Chesi that there was a demon helping them. She didn't fully understand it herself, and until she did there would be no mention of their foul guardian.

"What happened? Are we alive?"
"I killed them, we're alive."
"Those skeletons sure didn't help."
"They distracted them while you dealt with most of them. How's your head?"
"Sore, but I can keep going."
"Good, grab your bag."

They trudged through the halls, here and there another golem would be patrolling, or a pit would open up in front of them. It made things more interesting, but Chesi was clearly not doing as well as she insisted she was. Petra expected that there'd be another exit somewhere towards the end, so she decided that continuing inward was the best way to get out.

They finally reached the end of the maze and found its guarded treasure. A small spring coming from the rock. The lower half of the cave had filled with water. It was pretty, the light from Fey sparkling on the gently rippling pool. The walls were painted; the tale of those who built the labrinth emblazoned on it. and above the spring itself was a plaque. It read, in an archaic dialect of common; 'drink and be full of life'.

"Probably means the stuff's filled with all kinds of evil little creatures. you drink it and they start living in you; eating you from the inside."
"Blood"
"There are things that can overpower Nieldic blood. I don't want to play host to some parasite."
"Mom"
"Oh right, your mom works in that department doesn't she? We'd probably be the the least endangered by it of anybody."

~Shut up and drink the water!~
"Who was that?"
There was no reply. The cave was as empty as it had been before.
"Something tells me we should drink the water."
"Probably makes you super-strong or gives you the runs or something."
"I think it means you'll live forever. If your body is 'full of life', wouldn't that mean you'd be absent of death?"
"Immortality. Reason enough for me."
Petra conjured a mug and dipped it into the pool. That annoying, evil sounding voice Sighe in relief, then began chuckling.
"Well?"
"It tastes like water, water that's been in and on old rocks for a long time."
"I'll drink some too; then we should get back to school."
Chesi took the mug and drank. Then both stood up and turned around.
In front of them was the front door; open to the outside.
"Convenient. And what a wonderful and potentially significant little adventure we've had."
"Aren't you glad I convinced you to come?"

Chapter Nineteen

It was dark, but Petra liked it better that way. Chesi did not, but could remedy the situation. She took a small orb out of her bag; it had been enchanted it to hover beside her while providing light to their travels.
Petra hated the little thing, it was one of Chesi's early eperimentations with alchemy. She'd written it a personality and even given it quirks; she'd even named it Fey. It bounced around as they walked, doing spins and generally expressing an air of perkiness and optimism. The intent was to lighten not only the room, but the mood as well. Petra's only pleasure in the thing was the hurt whimper it gave off whenever she batted it away.

The maze was wide, tall, and empty. The entrance had been occupied by several skeletons, but the rest of the halls were untouched. Petra was quick to point out that this was likely because of the number of bodies in the first room, and lack of traps since then. Chesi chose to take it as a good sign that nothing particularly dangerous was in the maze.

It surprised neither when she was wrong. Petra was actually quite relieved to see the large golem at the end of the vaulted chamber. He was stone, etched with runes and sygils akin to those on the door. He resmbled a Nielda, or human at the least; so whoever created the place had likely been themselves humanoid. He was armed with a mace and a shield, but did not attempt to enage them.
"Maybe it's just a statue."
"A runed statue? It's a golem Chesi. Do you want to kill it or should I?"
"Couldn't you just rewrite it like you did the door?"
"I'm a necromancer, not an alchemist. I don't know the first thing about golems. I could only rewrite the door because I recognized where the password was and happened to know the rune for 'reaper'."
"If you imobilized it I could probably rewrite it."

Petra stretched out her hand again. Fey retrated into the bag as the shadows swelled under her influence. The room grew dark as they converged on the golem, locking him into place. Chesi jogged up to it and began examining it.
"I was right! It really is just a statue."
The walls receded into the floor. Just beyond the columns that remained in their absence were hundreds of golems; all a perfect but functioning match for the statue Petra had needlessly bound to the floor.
"Those aren't."

Fire erupted in the vacant sockets of the stone company aroud them. The golems shuddered to life. Petra could see bones piled against the walls behind them. shattered swords and rusted armor were crushed underfoot as the golems began to enter the room's inner ring.

"Chesi, watch my back."
Petra called upon the shadow again. It responded to her influence more slowly this time. She faced a victorious army, but she would face them with an age of their victims at her side. She felt it like a second skin, the shadow bent to her will. She lost track of her own senses through the crawling of its power; feeling through the room with dark tendrils. She found what she was looking for, the walls and their skeletal companions. She let her power flow through them, her will was their life's blood.
"Have your revenge."

It wasn't a fair fight in the least. Stone and enchanted steel against bleached bone and rusted iron, While her armies were greater in number and skill they would have no victory. The sound of Chesi's hammer against the ancient wariors was alone the cry of sucess. They were surrounded at last; nineteen remained against her. Chesi was weary, she fought hard but her stamina was lacking. Petra raised her scythe and readied it for a blow against the igneous horde. The first one charged, Chesi tried to stop it but was knocked aside unconcious. Petra swung, connected but only scratched its rune-laden skin.

Then the chamber erupted with a power not her own. She knew them, from her first day of school when they'd made her famous and feared. Tentacles, wide and rough, burst through the boundaries of the universe and lashed out at her attackers. The golems became ensnared in the web of netherworldly power. She watched as all were torn apart and their sygils and runes desecrated by the writhing foe.

She slumped to the ground beside her friend. It was one thing to fight demons, but when they came to your aid it was another thing entirely.