The Shadowbolts' Adventures: The Glory and Legend of Eternal City

by Daxn

The Mission is Given.

Sunny Flare felt a strong slap hit her face, startling her awake and causing her to quickly flutter her eyes open.

"Get up, maiden. I may have lost my empire and my body, but that does not mean I take being woken from my slumber lightly." Ever Increaser said, appearing before her still in his ghostly form. Sunny Flare, trembling slightly, used her arms to get back on her feet, keeping her head bowed as she did so, while also trying to mentally recap what had happened in just one day inside Eternal City.

"Now tell me why you were sent here by your fathers to awaken me." He said, looking down upon her. "Sure they must know I am not one that has to be trifled with."

"Our fathers? What are you talking about?" Lemon Zest said. "Our parents didn't even want us to fly here, let alone wake you up!"

Ever Increaser recoiled, causing the flames in the brazier to have a surge in their intensity, which in turn made Lemon and the others jump up startled.

"Is the magic of the Elysium translating your barbarous speech into harmonious words defective, for it is causing me to hear of things unheard of? Am I hearing of a maiden showing no respect to my authority and to the power of her father? Alas the time and the manners!" He then quickly swooped over Lemon Zest, lifting her up with his ethereal hand by her shirt's neck, which caused her to get wide-eyed and squirm desperately. "You should be thrown off the Depraved Cliff, joining the traitors and..."

"Oh great Ever Increaser, stop trying to choke my friend!" Indigo Zap said. "We've disturbed you 'cuz some soldiers told us somebody's gonna mess stuff up."

Ever Increaser, still gripping on a flailing Lemon, turned his head around very slowly, glaring.

"As much as I desire to tie your tongue up until you shall learn proper speech in my presence, I cannot say I am insensitive to your plea." He said. "Tell what, what do my soldiers' descendants desire from their forefathers' commander?"

"I will be glad to explain, oh generous and magnanimous lord," Sugarcoat said with a curtsy. "So as long you free my companion from your appropriately powerful grasp on her neck."

Ever Increaser scoffed, throwing Lemon Zest onto the mosaic floor below and causing her to yelp and massage her sore bottom.

"I did it. Now speak up." He said, as he returned to his previous very composed stance. Sugarcoat extended her right hand towards sunny, who took the cue immediately.

"Well, my lord, as my disrespectful friend has said, some soldiers did beg us to awaken you from your rightful sleep, it is also true that technically the aforementioned soldiers were ghosts too." Sunny bowed a little as she spoke to him, forcing her knees to not make a move. "All they did say to us was to wake you up because you knew what to do about 'avoiding their sacrifice was to be in vain,' I assume in battle."

Ever Increaser slowly wafted towards his sarcophagus and mimicked sitting down on top of it, placing his right hand underneath his chin and hunching forward thoughtfully, silently staring down at the ornate floor for a couple of very tense minutes: no one and nothing but the crackling torches made any sound, nor the girls did make any movement.

"I remember now!" He suddenly exclaimed, raising his index up in the air triumphantly as he jumped up from his ornate improvised stool. "They may have joined the underworld recently, but that does not mean I do not know what you are specifically talking about, because they have earned my respect, since they laid their lives in the trenches the same way my soldiers would have. They desire for you to undo the steps done to bring about a darker future still for the citizens of this state by agents of ruin posing as them, and, since you are among the few ones that have experienced magic first-hand, you have been called to help them."

"Yes, but how, if you do not mind me asking?" Lemon Zest asked, causing Ever Increaser to groan.

"I was getting there. There are several steps needed to bring about full salvation: you have to gather Notary Bull's scattered dust in this place, following the rumors considered to be myth by the current people of Eternal City. You will have to make a sacrifice in order to bring back the duke of Victory. You will have to call upon the souls of great heroes with arcane wisdom which I lack. Finally, you will have to let the ghosts arm themselves with the weapons they used in life while clashing against the barbaric hordes invading the homelands."

"B-but we do not know how to do so, my lord!" Sunny said, looking at him pleadingly. "How are we going to gather ashes long dispersed by the wind, what are we going to sacrifice to bring somebody back from the dead, what shall we do to arm ghosts?"

Ever Increaser lifted his chin up, closed his eyes and slowly sank into the ground, his robes producing a light aquamarine smoke as they disappeared along with his body.

"You shall know soon enough. Goodbye!" He said just before fully dispersing.

Sunny Flare blinked, still staring at the spot where he disappeared.

"Uhuh. That salute was... creepy." Lemon said, her tone of showing concern and confusion at the same time. "I guess it was common back then?"

"No, but no matter." Sugarcoat said while getting up and walking quickly towards the exit. "We have a lot to do, we have to get back to Cinch and we cannot wast anymore time standing in here."

Nodding silently, Indigo Zap and Lemon Zest followed suit, with Sunny getting up and walking much more slowly than her companions, a bit due to the recent encounter, a bit because now the corridors she had gone through a few minutes ago were not bare, but covered in colorful frescos depicting still lives and fake (and very elaborate) city landscapes. The external walls of the mausoleum were almost blinding in their shininess, for the white limestone time and men had taken away had been put back in its place, while atop said walls granite and marble statues of armoured warriors and robe-clad women were alternated with cypresses. At the base, large rose bushes in full bloom had sprouted just next to the mausoleum's entrance, which now had two cyclopically large and perfectly intact bronze doors on the hinges. Looking behind her, Sunny saw even more limestone covers on the once-bare walls, and bronze statues of horses circling all around the circular structure.

She was forced to turn around by Lemon's poke.

"Be careful," she said, pointing at a large gawking crowd that had gathered before the mausoleum's entrance. "There' a lot of people 'round here now!"