Crimson Rebellion

Beyond Journey's End

The Archaeus - The Oldest House

Amidst the domain belonging to the Goddesses that stood above all ideals and outside of all stories therein was the Oldest House. The incursion of the Tacet began in earnest. Beasts as large as those that ransacked Elysium and replaced the previous sentries as its guardians stampeded their way within; yet as they passed through the threshold, they were but nothing more than ants trapped within a great maze. The complex configurations of its construction were like those drawn within an optical illusion crafted by Escher. The ever-changing, twisting and turning doorways, halls and other paths stacked against one another and morphed around like a labyrinthian rubix cube. 

Regardless of this perplexing environment, Acedia continued to lead her Tacet through the halls. Using the might of her authority and this army of true monsters, she reached this unknowable and unreachable place. For her–though she did not visibly show it–it was an honor to be here in the name of her Lord; to embark on a journey to meet the Great Rakshasa and bring about the early arrival of Azoth. However, as the girl continued to venture deeper and deeper into the depths, there was a strange foreboding atmosphere haunting her.

Acedia approached a central area that overlooked the intertwining shapes and prisms that were actively moving throughout the labyrinth. The open clearing only further emphasized just how massive the interior of the Oldest House was compared to its meager appearance on the outside. That was when she was greeted by a notorious gun-toting maid as her iconic blue hair danced in the metaphysical breeze.

"Harbinger of the Lord of Horrors, your path was sealed the moment you set foot here," Assana spoke, cocking back the hammers of Skoll and Hati, readying herself to face the legion.

"Ho? Now this might actually be entertaining…" an audible cracking of knuckles echoed out as the muscular woman known as Marayah stood atop an adjacent platform with a grin crossing her face. Below the martial artist's position was a mysterious masked figure who merely drew a katana from her right side and beside her stood another figure of a feminine silhouette under a purple veil.

"The Aspects of Akasha, however, it seems your fearless leader is missing. No matter… I have no interest in fighting four Aspects as it would be suicide. Unfortunately for you all, you have no authority to attack me as I am here in official capacity as a Daughter of Perdition and an emissary of the Abyss Order tasked with meeting Lady Rakshasa. If any of you should lay a finger on me, it will incur the wrath of Akasha's sister and that would be tantamount to ending the seventh cycle earlier than even Azoth can emerge," Acedia played coy with a sly smile.

"Tch…" Assana gritted her teeth as her fingers twitched against the triggers. Acting as the leader of Akasha's Aspects during Akatsuki's absence, she had to act wisely.

"Sounds like all we have to do is just kill you and your legion of puppets and make sure no one finds out," Marayah concluded as her wild nature started to show.

"Oh dear, musclebrains never listen, do they?" the Herald of the Abyss smiled. Before the situation could develop into unfortunate events, that is when two other presences joined.

"That is quite enough, my Aspects. Stand down," the benevolent voice of Kimiko echoed through the chamber as she and her daughter, Kurai, appeared side by side.

"We do not wish to derail your journey, Acedia. Your next step is to find your way to the Scribe that guards the way to Rakshasa."

The Aspects visibly shuddered in their own unique ways for a second after Kimiko dropped that moniker. Marayah tipped the bill of her hat and gritted her teeth in annoyance.

"Man…good luck handling that asshole."

"Definitely a character to say the least," Assana followed with a heavy sigh. The reactions of the two caused Acedia to ponder who exactly the person was in particular before parting her lips.

"Then out of my–"

Just as Acedia went to speak, her words were cut short. With an abrupt transportation, she and her legion of elite Tacet beasts were dropped into the midst of frozen wasteland that mimicked, if not exceeded, the harshness of the cruel tundras of Cocytus. As the bitter cold and stinging winds assail their position, the blizzard cleared partially to reveal a massive crater lying ahead. The phantasmal beasts staggered for but a moment amidst this winterscape. Nevertheless, to Acedia, it felt strangely familiar. Suddenly, the girl heard a voice speaking into her mind.

"At first I likened the cycles to a past we must change, but that is foolish. If you travel back along the line of time in one of the stories within the White Page you don't find the past, but another world; another bracket of the One Consciousness that endlessly creates–Akasha.

The Earth would be the same, you see, or almost the same. Same trees, same rivers, same hills, but it wouldn't be the world we know. Because it has gone through a different life, it has developed differently. If you change the path of that other story there would be no tangible effect in your original plot line. Curious isn't it?

Yet all of it, all stories are but metaphysical snapshots of an endless dreamscape that Akasha set in motion. None have gazed upon true reality…none except for my genius.

We move along within the bracket of our story; that tiny bit of narrative that has been allotted to our particular world until we fail and try again from the beginning or break free. That is Samsara. We live and we die under Azoth, yet our identity remains between life and death in the Vaitarani—akin to Eternalism our existence has a predetermined beginning, middle, and end in the hands of the Fallbringer. So long as humanity does not overcome that burden, it will never shatter fate like I have.

You are all so utterly pathetic in your ambitions, even Sakinah…"

Acedia continued her march with her army at her back, determined to reach the domain of the Scribe as the storm battered against her and her forces. In a flash, the scene surrounding the girl and her forces transformed into a desolate, eerie landscape encompassed by a black sea. This oceanic front was rippled with the darkness of the void. In the distance, a massive black hole loomed taking the place of the sun. A glowing dark purple ring engrossed the rupture as it pulsed with malevolent energy like it was devouring existence itself.

Regardless of the scenery change, Acedia persisted onward, her resolve firmly fixated on what she had to do. The atmosphere grew heavier, the very air thick with suffocating dread. Just as she continued her solitary march, a figure appeared before her with a malevolent smile on its face.

"Behold… I am the Scribe ye seek–Masako Matsarya!" the voice of the stranger came from the grasp of the black hole.

From within it—a being taking the shape of a female took form. She had long violet hair that waved in the wind down her back. Wearing a white dress hugged by dark purple vest that draped down past her waist, the vestments were bound by four-leaf clover style bows on either side with golden metal pieces protruding from it. Her thighs were exposed to anyone's eyes as her outfit was further complemented by black and purple knee-high, stiletto boots. Her arms were bound by elbow length gloves of similar coloring with the palms of the soft goods showcasing a primrose pink shade. Around her neck was a simple purple color with a golden symbol in the middle protected by a high collar that decorated the start of her elaborate dress. Finished by a metal clip-in accessory with two purple and pink feathers dancing out of the top, her yellow cross-shaped eyes emanated fury of unparalleled renown.

The colors and intricate patterns of her clothing were so poetic that they seemed like they changed with every subtle movement the woman was making. The fabric that clung to her body only revealed how commanding and deceptively delicate she was physically–a blade embraced by silk. The black sea felt insignificant to her.

Having comprehended her identity as the girl long abandoned by the wake of Cain and Sakinah's destruction many, many eons ago, Acedia felt the weight of the irony as she was the one responsible for that twist of fate leading to it. 

Ethereal and otherworldly, yet tinged with unsettling elegance. Her presence was an overwhelming force that bent the impossible reality around her with a raw aura so incomprehensible that it paradoxically came across as a terrifying blend of enlightenment and godhood that surpassed the limitations of Samsara and the frail understanding of humanity. The deep violet that radiantly emanated around her could only be comprehended by Acedia as termination itself.

As Masako's long, purple hair danced like serpents in the air, her golden eyes infused with the "Golden Truth" pierced through the darkness like twin suns. They reflected a deep and ancient knowledge that struck fear into the hearts of those who dared to meet her gaze. Even the Tacet that stood at Acedia's back knew not to move. In the back of Acedia's mind stood one singular thought:

"How could a human make it this far?"

Masako took one step forward causing Acedia's mind to be stricken with a sudden flashback. She felt her consciousness take a bird's eye view as she witnessed her father, Perdition, draped in garbs akin to a High Priest walking amidst a room of infinite darkness. He held a small, tattered grimoire in his hand that was filled with pages upon pages of his thoughts and theories expressed in complex formulas and functions. With an open palm, malevolent violet energy wafted from his palm into the air above him as a singular red eye dotted into the middle of a five pointed star encapsulated by a circle burned in the air.

Voices of the unseen bellowed out in a deep chorus murmuring something in an unknown language indecipherable by common tongue. Another set of voices singing at a much higher timbre relinquished "Oohs" and "Aahs" in perfect harmony. Melding with the symphonic arrangement, various visions of events in history across multiple realities and varying histories played. Blood sacrifices at altars in the name of bestial deities, genocidal massacres of entire civilizations in the name of religion, even debaucherous rituals guided by the ideations of transcending to higher understanding were strewn across the dark canvas.

Phantoms and apparitions birthed by phantasmal flames gathered memories and echoes of forgotten souls molding them into homunculi only to be skinned, maimed and bled dry for a caldron that sat in the middle of this chamber. Perdition, undisturbed by these phenomena occurring around him, began to chant to himself as he left the grimoire in his hand floating to his side while he grabbed a small dagger from his side. He sliced his wrist open and squeezed the blood into the chamber pot whose capacity overflowed almost instantly as it sank into the depths of the endless abyss below.

"Rise, serve, become the instrument of my will; for yours is the purpose to weave the final chapter in this tale of life," Perdition beckoned.

Phantasmal limbs of umbral darkness stretched forth and drained the memories, ripping their ethereal substances from pages of unknown history as pained echoes melding with moans of pleasure coalesced together. The demonic chorus thundered into a greater crescendo.

"Burn the obedient, burn the obedient…"

"This…is how I was born…" Acedia recalled as she oversaw the happenings from her unique perspective.

Disrupting her flashback, Masako's voice that was as cold and cruel as the void itself echoed across the black sea.

"What pitiful wretch hast Perdition birthed from the entrails of darkness to stand before me? A child of the void, spawned from the filth of unworthy shadows and echoes of lost histories, sent to do the bidding of a pretender king? You, who crawl forth from the abyssal mire, dare lay claim to power in my presence? Thou art naught but a speck in the vastness of my dominion. Know thy place, mongrel, before I cast thee back to the nothingness whence thou came."

Her golden eyes burned with a terrible light; every word dripped with disdain as she surveyed Acedia with an expression of pure contempt, her voice an avatar of sharpened mockery. For the girl in question, she had to steel herself against the rising tide of fear. Acedia forced her trembling voice into a semblance of strength to respond.

"I am Acedia; Apostle of Perdition, the Lord of Horrors! By his will, I come to awaken Azoth and bring forth the end of the Seventh Cycle! You may stand before me, but even thou, Masako, shalt fall when the darkness of the Abyss claims this world. My Lord's shadow looms over all, and I am his harbinger!"

Her words, though laced with bravado, betrayed the fragility beneath–a desperate attempt to assert authority in the face of overwhelming power. This caused Masako's lips to curl into a mad grin, her eyes blazing with the luminescence of a thousand suns.

"Awaken Azoth? Such a jest could only come from the lips of a fucking retard like thee! Hast thou no wisdom nor foresight? Thou wouldst challenge the heavens with naught but Perdition's shadow to guide thee? Pitiful, inbred monkey! Ye art not but a whisper against the storm, a flame flickering before the gale! To stand before me is to court oblivion…" Masako uttered as she stepped forward once more. Her presence grew larger and more oppressive, as if the very fabric of reality shuddered before her will.

"And thou thinkest to pass me by? Ye, who art but a pawn in a game far beyond thy kin? I shall show thee what it means to face a true sovereign, a being unbound by the chains of Samsara."

Acedia, compelled by the need to act, to prove her worth, raised her hand to command her Tacet.

"Attack! Let not fear stay your hand! Strike down this foul witch and claim the glory of the Abyss!" she yelled, but even as the words left her lips, she felt the weight of despair crush her spirit.

The Tacet sensed the faltering resolve of their leader thus they reciprocated her hesitation in kind. The oppressive aura of Masako flared into a fiery blend of purple and gold, smothering all courage and hope. Acedia's voice, once filled with that false bravado, trembled with the realization of her own insignificance before the might of this truly higher, unknowable being.

"What…what is this dread that fills me so?" Acedia whimpered.

Masako relinquished a taunting laughter once more. That cruel, mocking sound reverberated across the black sea, the waves crashing against the ruined shores of afar.

"Dost thou feel it, child? The crushing weight of inevitability, the futility of thy struggle? Thou art nothing."

The mighty Tacet that could rival the most terrible of horrors, almost reaching the threshold of the Eldritch kin, began their march towards Masako Matsarya. Each step they took sent tremors through the black sea, their towering forms casting monstrous shadows that stretched across the abyssal landscape. Their grotesque bodies, twisted and nightmarish, rippled with insidious energy whose presence alone would drive all lesser beings into insanity. Yet as they marched, the distance between them and Masako seemed to stretch infinitely. It was almost as if the conceptual recognition of space warped around her thereby denying them the ability to reach their destination. These colossal beasts–in spite of their size and power–were reduced to mere insects before the overwhelming phantom that was the Scribe.

Without warning, the black sea beneath the Tacet tumultuously churned; transforming into the palm of Masako's hand. The ground they stood upon was but a part of her being. Masako herself grew to an impossible size, her form loomed over the battlefield like a titan; those golden eyes gleamed with a terrifying mix of amusement and disdain. She watched Acedia and her monstrous army like ants beneath her gaze, her laughter echoed calamitously through the void.

"What paltry insects hast thou brought before me?" Masako's voice boomed, shaking the very air with its power.

 "Thou darest to march upon me, as though thy wretched forms could ever hope to touch a being of my magnitude? Crawl upon my palm, creatures of the Abyss, and witness the futility of thy struggle."

Acedia, though shaken, raised her voice to question the great entity above her, "Are you not an ally of Rakshasa?! Why stand against us when the Abyss Order fights in her name?"

Her voice quivered with the weight of uncertainty as the unfolding events around her defied her understanding. Masako's response continued with that condescending, haughty mockery that was showcased nonchalantly, filled with ancient wisdom that belittled the girl's question.

"Rakshasa? Dost thou think the war of opposites holds any true significance? Nay, child, this cosmic duel is but a trifle, a mere stepping stone to what lies beyond. Perdition's Abyss Order, with their temper tantrums across the cosmos, are nothing more than pawns–disposable, insignificant to the true endgame. Rakshasa's plan transcends such petty squabbles. Thou art not even a footnote in the grand design."

The Tacet sensed her disdain and roared in unison before lunging forward at the Scribe. As they do, their vessels liquify causing their grotesque forms to melt into viscous black ooze. The dark flesh of the abominations, once so terrifying, now dripped from their bones dissolving into the substance that was the black sea on Masako's palm.

The Scribe watched with a merciless grin as the creatures were absorbed into her, their essence fusing with the darkness she commanded, "Thou art nothing, and to nothingness thou shalt return."

Her mannerisms surrounding that tone mimicked Sakinah's invocation for her commandments, her calm voice laced with deadly finality.

"No, no, this cannot be!" Acedia reacted, desperately channeling her Abyssal Authority. She elected to strike back against the force of the Scribe by changing the narrative itself; however, before she could act, she was seized by an invisible force. Masako's power gripped her with the unyielding strength of an enlightened god.

Acedia's screams were so horrifyingly loud that it transcended the conceptual definition of sound as that force tore into her body. Each one of her limbs were wrenched away one by one with sickening snaps that pulsed like flicks against a stretched rubber band. Her arms and legs were ripped from their sockets and flung aside like broken toys. The pain was unbearable as her body convulsed with each act of dismemberment.

"Thou thinkest thy Authority holds sway here?" Masako's voice whispered in Acedia's ear with intimacy and sadism.

"Alliteration is Agony, child. Repetition of thy feeble powers against one such as I brings only suffering. For every attempt, for every echo of thy past actions, thou shalt pay in blood."

With a final, horrific act, Acedia's spine was ripped from her body and pulled out through her mouth by the invisible force. Her body was left as a hollow shell, twitching and spasming as her essence was drained into the sea–the agony beyond mortal comprehension.

Masako's golden eyes blazed as she watched the spectacle; her sadistic enjoyment communicated by that token grin.

"Feel the agony, Acedia. Feel the despair as it consumes thee. Thou art a mere child, playing at powers thou canst ever comprehend."

The last vestiges of Acedia's consciousness projected her within a mighty throne room. Its halls were decorated in golden luxuries whose walls were furnished by elaborate portraits of its sovereign and whose marble floors were covered by the lush, silk of purple. The girl was abruptly brought to her knees by her lonesome. There, overlooking her and firmly seated atop an amethyst encrusted throne, was the Great Masako; her feet stepping on Acedia's head as she was finishing up writing on a piece of paper that soon vanished.

"My apologies, repugnant mongrel. I will now speak in a way worthy of your lowly status. Did you enjoy that show? First comes the pain, then the fear. You have to start with the pain; fear won't work if you haven't given them a reason. Slap them around, but you do need to keep them conscious enough to keep that fear alive. That is how Tartarus kept the Ryu-jin as slaves for so long…I made sure of that."

"Am I…dead?" Acedia questioned, her voice barely a whisper.

"Bang!" Masako spoke while pointing at Acedia which caused her to become a bloody mist before being reformed immediately. The scribe used her power to make her feel the sensation of a painful demise a billionfold right as she respawned.

"Look…" Masako teased before snapping her fingers. The manipulator of the Abyss Order saw a vision of herself battling against Raizo in Elysium only to be defeated after a long-fought struggle that ended when Raizo's awakened strength overcame her narrative-weaving authority.

"That is your true outcome…death at the hands of the One Battling Samsara. Frankly, you deserve that ending because you're trash, Acedia. What you did with the destinies of Cain and Sakinah is something so vile that I should let your own Tacet rape you to death. Oh, I'm sorry, was that not Shakespearean enough for you?" The Scribe detailed before squashing her like a bug with a giant hand only to reform her again.

"Sto…" Acedia became unable to speak any further as she knelt there. Masako walked up to her and grabbed her by the hair.

"Alas–I am a forgiving soul and I am willing to let you go even in light of the lives you destroyed. I'll even return your authority a thousandfold…provided that you take on the burden of killing a certain someone for me."

Acedia, left with no choice in the matter, agreed.

In the distance away from this mysterious throne room that was a stark contrast to the nightmarish realm before, there was an unexpected spy that kept track of the entire ordeal–Assana.

After hearing the words of the Scribe, she whispered softly to herself: "I have to warn them."

In perfect silence, she ventured away from the scene.