Tempest prepared her tools diligently inside her tent. Shined and sharpened every knife, prepared a batch of poison, made a few smoke bombs, even shined her boots. She stared into her mask and read the message inside. It was only a matter of time before she found out what it meant. Who she was. She put the mask on her face and walked outside.
"Excellent." Sassy said "I see you're all ready to go."
"Yes. I'm ready for the first trial."
"Pear Butter. Be a dear and partner with Novo will you?"
A woman with golden bushy hair stepped forward. She wore a beautiful red traditional dress.
"Right away m'am."
"She's going with me?"
"Yes." Sassy said "These trials require you to become one with the tribe. As such, you must have someone from the tribe accompany you. There is no greater way to form a bond than through mutual hardship."
"I suppose I can work like that. I'm better alone though."
Pear, to Tempest's immediate shock, gave her a huge hug.
"Nonsense!" she said with a giggle "We're going to be best friends I can tell."
Through her mask, Tempest rolled her eyes. Of all the people she hated in this world, she hated boisterous extroverts the most. Pear gave a look of shock when she realized Tempest's arm was missing.
"What on earth happened to your arm?"
"It's a long story." she said, annoyed
"I love long stories. And we'll have plenty of time to share and get to know each other!"
"Wonderful." Tempest said sarcastically
"Yes, very much so!"
Tempest groaned and turned back to Sassy.
"So what do we need to do to start the first trial?"
"To start the first trial you must make your way to the Pillar of Blood. It's a sacred battle ground that has seen true warriors born for centuries. Once there you must light the four pillars than ring the bell. Then you're done."
"That's it?" she asked "Surely there's something you're not telling me here. A catch."
"I can't right well tell you everything can I? I can only tell you how to complete it and how to get there, nothing more."
"I understand. So how do I get there?"
"Pear Butter knows. It'll be a three day journey through the harsh desert."
"Easy."
"Oh the young." she chuckled "So full of enthusiasm and fire."
"I'm technically older than you Sassy. By a few centuries."
"True, true. When you return, come to me with the proof. You'll know it when you see it."
"I understand." she said "Let's get going then."
"Oh we're leaving now? Let me get my bag."
Pear ran into her tent, tripping as she went. She came out with a backpack, clumsy filled and about to burst from the contents within. Tempest shook her head. This was going to be a long trial. With a few goodbyes they left camp.
"So where are we heading too?"
Pear pulled a map from her pocket and looked through it.
"It'll be three days northward. We'll know we're close when we see the oasis."
"Seems simple enough. Any other landmarks we should watch out for?"
"None. Just sand, sand and more sand."
"Right."
"Say, aren't you hot in the black robe?"
"No."
"What's with the mask? It sure is creepy."
"That's private."
"So what were you doing before this?"
"That's also private."
Pear just gave a blank look of curiosity
"So mysterious." she said "So what do you do for fun? I love to sew and cook! Say do you like to cook?"
"I do not have hobbies and no I do not like to cook."
Pear pouted
"What's got you so grumpy all the time?" she whined
"I'm not grumpy, just no sociable."
"But that's so boring!"
"For you maybe. Now could you please be quiet for a while?
"Ugh fiiinnneee."
They traveled till nightfall. Pear's oath of silence lasted for all of a five minutes before she began to pester Tempest with more questions. What was her favorite food, who was her idol, what kind of magic she used and on and on. Tempest ignored it as best she could, spending most of the conversation giving one word answers and staring off into the distance. That night the moon was full and the stars were showing in all their brilliance. Pear had started a fire and set up a tent while Tempest merely sat on the cool sand. They began roasting various small creatures they had found while on the road and Pear pulled out a guitar from her bag. It was beautifully crafted, made of a red wood and covered in markings like flowers and butterflies.
"You brought a guitar? How is that supposed to help us?"
"It'll help us by giving us music on the long road." Pear snipped "Not everything has to have a violent use to it ya know?"
"I know. But we have three days of travel ahead of us and we can't afford to be weighed down with useless things like that."
Pear look like she popped at blood vessel at the statement
"Useless!?" she asked angrily "This was a gift from my mom."
"Touching truly."
"You are not a very nice person."
"I never claimed to be."
"Despite that, I'll share my music. Even a mean old witch like you ought to appreciate it."
Tempest lay down on the sand
"Play whatever you want, I'm not listening."
"You're just going to sleep on the sand like that?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Isn't that uncomfortable? I have an extra sleeping bag in my pack you know."
"Again packing the unnecessary."
"I was trying to be nice!"
"I don't need your charity."
Pear grumbled
"I'm just going to ignore you and play music."
"Do whatever you want."
Pear strummed her guitar and began to play and sing. Tempest couldn't believe her ears. As much as she wanted to hated, it was undeniably the most beautiful sound she'd ever heard in her life. She played a slow serenade and everything around them seemed to stop to listen, even the moon and stars themselves. The song played for five minutes before she stopped.
"Did you like it?"
Tempest blushed and hid her face
"It was alright."
Pear smiled. She knew by the way she was acting that her music was as good as ever. Tempest just closed her eyes and went to sleep. She had an almost robotic way of being able to sleep on command. When she awoke she found Pear sitting there, guitar still in hand and mouth wide open. She walked over and kicked the sleeping girls leg hard.
"Ow!" she yelled "What was that for?"
Tempest didn't answer, instead throwing her bag over her back and began to walk into the desert.
"Wait! I'm not ready yet!"
"I'm sure you'll catch up."
"You need me!" pear shouted "Without me you can't find out where the trial ground is."
"True." she said, not stopping
It had been a few days since Vignette had left the island of Avalon in search of the key to truly become king. Radiant Hope had starred out across the sea every day wishing she too could leave. She pushed her hand out towards the sea only to feel what was an invisible wall surrounding the entire island. Clover's last act of rage against them, the Nine Sisters. She remembered it like it was yesterday. Inky Rose, who was then the most powerful and eldest of the sisters had killed the Green Knight. Clover, in a blind rage, had slaughtered nearly all of them. One of her friends had stopped her, but not before using the Green Knight himself and his infinite mana as a way to seal the remaining three in the island forever. Autumn Blaze said she had a plan to break free now that her successor was here. It scared her more than anything. What if her successor was here to finish the job? What if he came back only to slaughter the last of them. As much as she didn't like her sisters, they were still family. Lemon Zest came strolling down the beach to meet her, in her usual form as a beautiful red haired woman.
"Come. We have work to do."
She stood up and walked to her sister
"What is it?"
"We must start brewing the black brew. Anon will soon awaken the third Layline."
"That means the archangels will return!"
"Correct."
She followed Lemon Zest down the brick path into a straw cottage. Inside the brew was already cooking along side the cells housing Anon's friends, Coloratura and Trixie.
"What are you doing?" Trixie asked fearfully
"QUIET" Autumn Blaze shouted "Else I'll send the rats again."
Trixie visibly recoiled at the thought. She turned to Coloratura who was at in the corner, facing the wall, not saying a word.
"C-Coloratura?"
She nudged her shoulder and got no response. They must have punished her severely. The day before she had been yelling at them and then they took her away. All she heard that night were screams. Whatever they did to her must have been unspeakable. She watched through the bars as the evil beings made their brew. They were using all manner of illegal alchemy tools: spiritual essence, crest residue, live spiders. All substances that could only be sourced from death, grave robbing or misfortune. They were also used to for dark magic. Whatever this was, it wasn't going to make whoever drank it feel good. Each witch cut their arms and pours an amount of blood into the mixture, causing it to glow brightly.
"W-what do you plan to do with that?" Trixie asked
"I thought I instructed you not to speak!" Autumn raged once again "But... since you asked."
She began to cackle the most blood chilling cackle she'd ever heard.
"Your friend, Anon, is nearing the third layline and it's awakening. Meaning the planes of existence will become more easily crossed. This means the Archangels will soon return to the world. We intend to appease one of them."
"Why?"
"I couldn't tell you all my secrets now could I?" she cackled "You can be sure however, that the result will be... earth shattering."
The king sat at his desk, the talon in one hand and a skull in the other. The skull looked to be made of fine jewels yet had a distinct depression in the shape of a square at the back of the head. He looked at it fondly. A hooded woman entered the chamber dressed in find robes with what looked like hospital gauze over her eyes. She did a light bow.
"My liege."
"Report." the king said, not lifting his eyes from the skull
"He's close. The Killer of Mages has been silenced and Anon now knows the true nature of this world."
"Excellent. A pain in my side I couldn't be happier to be rid of." he said "Does he know of the Queen's revival process yet?"
"Not yet." she explained "However, as soon as he emerges from the Unseen World, Igneous intends to put him on that path."
The King smiled. Six thousand years had he sat here, resenting the prison Clover so eloquently made for him. The prison intended to keep him, the King of Dragons from the world that so rightly belong him. The world that feared his power. Now his dim successor was dropped into his lap, following his plan like a lamb following a butcher to slaughter. He looked at the ceiling and laughed.
"What say you Clover?" he roared "No clever schemes this time? No intents to steal what is rightfully mine?"
His mood abruptly changed from that of cheer to one of strong willed caution. He glared at the ceiling.
"I won't be fooled, not like last time." he whispered "However dull he may be, I won't forget that the one leading him is Clover the Clever. I must always assume she has some sort of plot."
"So we continue with the plan then?" she asked "The plan we had before we were imprisoned?"
"Yes. We will cast off the curtains of this world and be it's one and only sovereign. No nine sisters, no Nightmare Moon, No Clover the Clever. The world is ours."