Death's Mantle: A Dark Fantasy GameLit Novel

by Harmon Cooper

  “I’m still wondering what Soul Points are,” Yoshimi said.

  “I didn’t explain them to you?”

  She shook her head, and Lucian launched into an explanation of the system he had devised and how it worked.

  “Fascinating,” she said once they came to the edge of a ridge that overlooked a dip in one of the mountains.

  A corona of light in the distance tucked between two of the mountains caught Lucian’s attention. “That’s it, isn’t it?”

  Rather than answer, Yoshimi floated down to a pass covered in snow.

  Lucian joined her and they continued onward.

  “Every Death has their own way of interpreting this role, but to be honest with you, Lucian, you are the first one I have met from the twenty-first century, so your interpretations are of great interest to me. I have met a good amount from the twentieth century, such as Alice, and they have their ways of going about weapon creation and managing this role. But yours is entirely different.”

  “I’m trying to make the best of it,” he said with a shrug.

  “I believe you will, if you can make it to the South Wind and get out alive. You do realize that this may be the end, do you not?”

  “It’s not my time to die, not in this role, not yet anyway. I didn’t battle a terrible heart condition to become Death only to die within a week. I still have my brother to save, and there are so many questions I have about this world, and the spiritual world for that matter, that I would like to uncover. My point is: I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe I could get out.”

  Yoshimi turned back toward the light radiating from the distance, the ends of her robes lightly grazing the top of a fresh dusting of snow. “Let’s hope that this is the case.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight: Progeny of Darkness

  Lucian could see a series of towers in the distance, framed by an incredible amount of light. Before the towers stood a great wall made of hardened rock and ice, an imposing structure that loomed over the land, not unlike the Shigatse Dzong.

  They were still far enough away that a gargoyle perched on the wall wouldn’t be able to spot the two. Lucian was glad for this when white sparks fizzled before them, Alice and Menor appearing.

  “We were just speaking of you,” Yoshimi said, her black katanas taking shape in her hands.

  Menor stepped forward, his eyes narrowing on Yoshimi.

  He wore black with a gunmetal gray trench coat, a white skull painted across the dark skin of his face. An ax began to form in his hands, the end of the ax opening up, snarling teeth pressing together.

  Alice was dressed differently than she had been before, now in what almost resembled a wedding dress, albeit completely black, the ends of the dress trailing far behind her and slowly curling into the air.

  “Strange to see you all the way out here,” Menor told Yoshimi. “It’s almost as if you are itching to die.”

  “We don’t have to do this,” Lucian said, his MX-11 appearing in one hand, his carbine in the other.

  His cape flared off his shoulders, fingers forming in the fabric and taking his MX-11 from him as his crows pressed back.

  “You are right,” Menor said, lowering his weapon. “Simply give yourself to us, and this will be over relatively quickly. Besides, if we don’t kill you, the Progeny of Light will. Would you rather your power go to us, or them?”

  Rather than respond, Yoshimi swung into action, cutting through Menor’s torso before he could even bring his weapon back up. His body split apart at a diagonal angle, the top half of his torso sliding to the snow as his legs fell backward.

  Menor scrambled for his legs, hoping to reattach them to his body while simultaneously casting one hand in Yoshimi’s direction. An eruption of energy slammed her into a rock wall, snow and bits of rock falling onto her as she tried to stand.

  Lucian turned his attention back to Alice.

  “Why do I always get the new guy?” she whined, ignoring Menor’s grumbles as he reattached his top half to his lower half.

  Lucian took advantage of their momentary exchange to cut Alice down with a bolt of electricity, immediately firing his carbine at her as her body hit the ground. His cape lifted up into the air and began tracking her with his MX-11.

  Whoosh!

  Alice’s long black dress quickly formed a shield in front of her body.

  His bullets now useless, Lucian tossed his gun to the side along with his lava sword, advancing on Alice.

  She appeared behind him before he could reach her, coming at him with a pair of charged scimitars.

  He managed to block her first attack, but Alice was too fast, spinning one of the blades up and slicing his arm off.

  She wasn’t prepared for the semi-autonomous energy cannon that rose up from his shoulder, blasting her in the face and carving a huge gash that stretched from her temple to the back of her head.

  She came up with a heel and the end of her dress, kicking up snow as her foot connected with Lucian’s chin.

  He hit the ground, his arm regrowing, shoulder cannon firing on her again.

  Alice was too busy avoiding his shots to see that his severed appendages had sprouted legs, his mobile arm casually moving forward until he could get behind her.

  Just as she was about to attack him again with her scimitars, Lucian’s cape fired a shot that tore through Alice’s chest, their fight momentarily interrupted by an enormous blast from Menor, who had completely healed up.

  “Leave,” Yoshimi called to Lucian. “They will come!”

  “I’m not leaving you this time!” Lucian said, his focus returning to Alice.

  Alice’s dress wrapped around his body. It pulled Lucian toward her and swirled around both of them, Alice now floating above him.

  His arms were yanked back and wrapped by a swath of fabric that quickly hardened into steel, his legs bound too. Alice looked down at him with a smile on her face.

  “There’s a part of me that would like to let you grow stronger before I do this,” she purred, blackness swirling all around the two of them as her dress started to constrict, the only bit of light coming in from a hole at the top of the fabric.

  Lucian saw his cape trying to come to his aid, blasts from his MX-11 making large bulges in the fabric. His crows flew in through the hole in the top, a tendril of Alice’s dress stopping both of them from approaching her.

  “Such a fresh, new Death,” she said, lowering herself down to him so that her face was only inches away from his.

  Alice had high cheekbones, black paint smeared across her face, a serene look in her dark eyes as her cheeks lifted into a smile.

  Her jaw began to dislocate, her lips tearing as it elongated, not unlike the injuresouls Lucian had battled.

  Lucian conjured several injurecrows, three of which flew directly into her mouth and detonated on contact, bits of Alice’s flesh and pieces of her skull exploding in Lucian’s face.

  Her dress dropped its hold on him, swirling away. Lucian stumbled backward as the now headless woman took a lumbering step forward.

  His cape started to blast her, Lucian immediately going for his plasma blowtorch and doing the same, both of them lighting Alice up.

  His severed arm pounced, latching onto her neck and shoulder, digging Lucian’s claws into the opening on her neck. His fist pressed itself into her body, using its centipede-like legs to send it further down to her neck hole.

  Alice dropped to her knees, her face prevented from reforming by Lucian’s arm.

  Lucian’s cape quickly bound her hands and exposed her chest, his crows tearing into her body, leaving openings so injurecrows could join them.

  “Alice!” Menor said, and just as he was turning to fire a shot of energy at Lucian, a giant purple beam struck the ground.

  Azazyel now floated in the air above the fight.

  “How interesting,” the fallen angel said, his black wings settling, dark gray armor forming on his body.

  Lucian’s injurecrows exploded, tearing Ali
ce to shreds. A tremendous wave of blackened energy lifted into the air and spiraled into Lucian.

  “No…” he saw Yoshimi whisper, the woman looking from Lucian to Azazyel.

  “Damn you!” Menor shouted, conjuring up an enormous blast that separated Lucian’s legs from his body.

  The Death hunter dove toward what was left of Alice’s body, landing on the reddened snow on his knees, trying to collect the pieces, screaming at Lucian as he did so.

  Azazyel watched all of this happen, and even though he now wore a mask, there was something curious about the way he was looking at them, as if he were debating if he should jump into the fight.

  Lucian’s cape retrieved one of his legs, while Lucian quickly started to regrow the other, scooting away from the fallen angel and from Menor, who continued to try to pick up what was left of her entrails, bringing the bloodied mass up to his face and looking down at it, sobbing bitterly.

  Menor looked up at Lucian, his eyes going white.

  “Enough,” Azazyel said, his focus now on Menor. “Collect what is yours and leave. I am not here for you.”

  “The fuck you aren’t,” Menor hissed, his ax appearing in his hand.

  And just as he was about to take on the fallen angel, Menor stopped. He looked to Lucian, and then back to the mess that was Alice, which he held close to his body.

  “This isn’t over,” he growled, disappearing in a spark of white.

  “Go, Lucian,” Yoshimi said, her eyes now locked on Azazyel. “This is between me and him. Do not say anything. Go. Stick to the plan. And good luck.”

  “I’m glad you finally understand this is inevitable, Yoshimi-san,” Azazyel said, his voice eerily calm. “Although I will admit, finding you near the South Wind is strange indeed. Did you have goals of reaching Heaven?”

  “That’s not why I’m here,” she said, bringing her two katanas to the ready.

  “Why else would anyone come here?” Azazyel looked to Lucian, and then back to Yoshimi. “Is this because of him? I find it odd that a ranking member in the Progeny of Darkness would take any interest in a new recruit.”

  “Anything else you’d care to discuss?”

  Azazyel took a deep, sinister breath in through his nostrils as he spread his black wings. “I suppose we should cut to the chase, the Progeny of Light will be here at any moment.”

  Yoshimi looked to Lucian once more, nodding for him to leave. “Go now, before it’s too late.”

  Once he got his footing, Lucian rose into the air, spiraling toward the South Wind, his crows twisting around him.

  He started to descend toward the structure. A wall of ice and chiseled stone protected the entrance, the towers peeking over the wall.

  His cape zipped to the front and floated before him. Lucian conjured dozens of injurecrows, and his spherical IEDs took refuge inside the folds of his cape. He equipped his scythe and his MX-11, handing them off as well.

  “You have to go too,” he told his crows, one of them slowly turning to the side and giving him a gloomy look.

  He was about to say something when his stats flashed before him. Lucian’s eyes went wide.

  “Fuck me…”

  Lucian had gained a thousand Soul Points from killing Alice.

  He shook his head, deciding that he would deal with that later, once he was away from here.

  “Go,” he told his cape and his crows. His creations slowly drifted off to the left, while Lucian continued forward. “You know what to do,” he called over his shoulder.

  It wasn’t much longer before flashes of light indicated that he’d been spotted. Two male angels dropped to the ground, their faces shielded by sharp masks with white-gold accents.

  “You have come far enough, demon,” one of them said, pointing an elaborate spear at Lucian.

  “There’s a fallen angel…” Lucian nodded over his shoulder. “Just back there.”

  He waited for a purple flash or an explosion, anything to indicate that there was a fight happening on the other side of the hill behind him. Unfortunately, none of these things came, and Lucian slowly turned back to the two angels.

  They charged him without warning. Lucian batted their spears away with his lava sword.

  He had to at least look like he was putting up a fight. Equipping his carbine, he fired and sliced at the angels as they mostly blocked his attacks.

  A few of his bullets went through one of the angels' wings, the man yelling in both anger and pain, a golden rope appearing in his free hand.

  Lucian saw the next blow coming, but rather than swat it away with his sword, he left himself open, letting the spear tear through his chest.

  He fell to his knees as the angel with the golden rope lassoed him, the rope spiraling around his body and ensnaring Lucian.

  Lucian recalled them doing the same thing to Old Death. And as he bowed his head, he couldn’t help but smile.

  “You will now be taken to be judged.”

  “You two are some real assholes, you know that?”

  One of the angels yanked Lucian to his feet, the man gripping his arm tightly. “Your predecessor was much better with the insults.”

  “Yeah, he definitely had a knack for that,” Lucian said, struggling in an exaggerated way. “I always knew you guys were into some kinky stuff, but golden ropes? Which one of you two likes to be on top?” he asked, receiving a chop to his upper back for his question.

  “You joke now…” the lead angel warned him.

  “You said I was going to be judged, right?” Lucian asked as they walked toward the wall of ice, a gust of wind picking up and swirling snow around them. The two angels tensed, looked to each other, and nodded, one stepping back with Lucian while the other one took a few steps forward, his weapon at the ready.

  “That is right, demon. You will be judged.”

  “It sounds to me like you’ve already made your judgment.” Lucian winced as the angel leading him gripped his arm even tighter. “Do I have any rights to legal representation?”

  “Stupid questions like that will get you nowhere,” the first angel said.

  “They seem to be getting me somewhere.”

  A flash of golden light indicated that another angel had landed, this one a female with caramel skin and white hair, a golden visor casting a shadow on her face.

  “Hi,” Lucian said to her. “Nice hat.”

  “Do not speak to me, demon,” the female angel hissed. “The gates will open soon; all those waiting to be judged will make their way to the lower heavens.”

  “I’ve always wanted to visit Heaven,” Lucian told her.

  The angel guiding Lucian shoved him forward. “Keep your mouth shut. You’ve already said more than you should in our presence.”

  Lucian shook his head, his muscles tensing.

  He knew it was too soon to enact his plan, but he also didn’t like being treated as a second-class citizen.

  The female angel had looked at him with utter disdain; the two male angels were already convinced that he was a criminal, and there was nothing short of a true miracle which would convince them to think anything different.

  Not wanting to rile them up any more, and realizing it could be to his detriment, Lucian kept his mouth shut until they reached the entrance to the South Wind.

  It was the largest door Lucian had ever seen, fit for a giant, stretching as high as some of the buildings in downtown Boston, the top obscured by dark gray clouds overhead, snow lightly falling to the earth.

  “The whole thing is going to open?” Lucian couldn’t help but ask.

  “Not unless you’re a giant,” the female angel said as she approached the smaller door cut into the wall.

  She brought her hand up, a golden energy radiated off her fingers as the door changed in color from gray to bronze.

  It slowly started to open, the female angel stepping in, then the male angel, followed by Lucian and the angel leading him.

  They turned back to the door, and as it began to shut, Lucian’
s cape burst through the opening, releasing all of his injurecrows.

  His cape swooped up, firing down on the angels with his MX-11.

  The centipede legs that Lucian had grafted to the bones in his arms tore out of his flesh, burning as they lifted the golden rope off him, pressing it up to his shoulders, where he was able to wiggle out of it.

  One of the male angels came for Lucian, and rather than toy with him this time, he blasted the man down with electricity from his open palm.

  The semi-autonomous energy cannon grew from his shoulder, shooting the angel repeatedly as he tried to scramble away.

  His opponent shot into the air; Lucian sprang into the air and pulled him back down. Just as he’d seen Old Death do, Lucian tore one of the man’s wings off. He drove his claws into the back of his head and shoved him to the ground.

  The female angel slammed Lucian into the wall behind him.

  He grabbed her by the neck, his claws tightening as his shoulder cannon fired directly in her face, momentarily blinding the woman.

  Dropping back to the ground, Lucian slammed her repeatedly into the wall until she let out a small yelp, her body hitting the ground.

  His cape and his injurecrows still taking care of the last angel, Lucian turned to look at a few of the towers, biting his lip as his two crows appeared in front of him. They buzzed frantically, definitely picking up on the nervousness coursing through him.

  With a deep breath in, Lucian cast his hand over them, multiplying their numbers until there were a hundred replicas.

  “Just for now, just for now,” he assured the original two. “Go, all of you. Find him and lead me there.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine: Golden Crows

  An idea came to Lucian as he watched the snow continue to fall.

  As more angels arrived he took control of the wind, whipping up the snow until it was impossible to see more than a few feet.

  Pressing his back into the wall, Lucian started to slip to the side, intuiting that his crows would find him, occasionally hearing his cape blast one of the angels.