The Devil In White: An AA Online Novel

"You are a curious one." Mourning stood over the last member of Ominous, his neck twisting slightly toward Amelia, bladed staff slowly retracting and then turning so he could brace the flat end of it on the ground. The blade itself didn't seem to have any residue or dark liquid on it despite the task it had recently completed. None of his spells or attacks had been directed toward her, something she found to be quite interesting herself, in a distant sort of way. As his eyes appraised her she straightened slightly, imagining little cold pricks traveling up and down her spine in disgust. "You just stood there the whole time your friends were being killed. Will you hear me?"

Amelia looked over the corpses that surrounded the gigantic area, noting that none had yet released to respawn. Re-spawning was useless anyway, since they would all of them, resurrect in a place that was too far away to rejoin the battle in time.

"Everybody is dead," Amelia said quietly into her party chat. It must have been a busy moment because no one below responded. Maybe they didn't even know it was her since she had spoken softly.

No one popped on the line with a quirky retort or blindingly insightful advice. She froze as the creature that was going to end AA stared at her with a varying amount of patience. She could tell that it didn't please Mourning that she had not responded to him yet. It was a dialogue starter that she would have to answer or he would probably just walk over and murder her right then and there. The shadow of a dragon fell across both of them where they happened to be standing.

In the end, a mixture of quick images kaleidoscoped into her mind all at once. Aidan telling her that if she ever really needed them, they would always be there with her even if it seemed like she was alone. Forsythe always appearing where he was needed. Raven standing silent, and small, against whatever stood in front of her. She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to imagine her invisible army. The first to appear was Aidan, who appeared to her like an intangible silhouette made of smoke just out of the corner of her eye.

Elias frowned, wondering why Amelia had just looked away from Mourning. She was looking toward the far side of the mountain plateau where there was a path leading down and away from the battle. The dragon made the place look like it was an outdoor rock garden with high fantasy elements, but there was nothing over there for her to be looking at.

No one else could hear or see her ghost Aidan. He mouthed a word, and smiled, as was his way when he was up to mischief.

"Tell me," Amelia said, turning to Mourning. The word he had spoken was simple. "Why are you doing this?"

The word he had mouthed to her was… Deceive.

Mourning stepped away from the corpses of those he had just slain. It seemed to Amelia that he had already forgotten them. As he moved to the side of the mountain, he invited her to view the spectacle at his side. He didn't look worried about her proximity yet, as if they were both adhering to unspoken etiquette and rules. "Look. Even now the brave forces of the south fall under an onslaught of simple numbers."

Amelia joined him, trying to gain time to think. She already had an idea. A crazy idea really, but she needed time to resolve herself. Moreover, his description of what was happening below seemed to be a leading statement. He wanted something from her; acknowledgment, understanding, horror, she wasn't sure which.

"I don't suppose you will stop them? I have absolute authority and can stop my army if I decide to join you. There is no need to continue the depletion of forces while we negotiate." She offered. She supposed with Gilduirn dead, it might even be true. The truth was no longer important.

Mourning turned toward her, half in respect and the other half in disbelief. "You do? No.. I am sorry but I cannot direct them. Despite me, they will fulfill their purpose, it is what they are made for and we are inextricably bound as one. Just as I direct, I am directed."

"Then let's not waste time." Amelia decided, not totally understanding what he meant. It meant that he couldn't stop the tide of visage below. Although it was interesting information it wasn't all that helpful. "Why would we join you?"

"Excellent. There were many worlds before this one you know?" Mourning began, animatedly gesturing with his staff. The skull that was carved into it shown on one end while the blade gleamed under the barest of moonlight on the other. It unnerved her that he was willing to place the skull end on the ground so casually.

"Yes." Amelia agreed. It was a recurring theme. Helena. Then Vienne. Then the stories that she had heard. "This one is just the forefront of the battle between Void and… everything."

Mourning looked shocked. He turned toward her then, passion striking his face. "Then you at least can understand my struggle. The world ender comes again! We know not how he was even sealed the first time. Even the heroes of old have shuddered and gnashed their teeth. Their own gods telling them of the end that they cannot stop."

"Their own gods?" This was news to her. The world was going to end and the deities of this world weren't going to stop it?

"There are rules." He sighed, seeing her confusion. It was natural, was the presence he seemed to generate in response to her reaction. "Rules that have consequences, and the gods you are thinking of must weigh carefully any interaction or else they will cease and the place under their care will cease. It must be frightfully frustrating to them." Mourning almost sounded empathetic toward the gods.

"I want to understand," Amelia answered earnestly. If this was a fight that could be resolved with words she wanted to do so as soon as possible.

"Void will come as he did before. Do you know they only fought him off by sealing him? You can't even say they fought him off." Mourning sighed and turned back to the mountain. He motioned to the wall with the dragon. Or rather, if you would, the wall that was a dragon. "They only delayed him. We could not defeat him on my world so we left it to future generations. For a time I served as his agent so that he would spare worlds. To come to heel and kneel rather than be devoured."'

"Wise." Amelia allowed carefully. "If you could not defeat him then you had to leave it up to your descendants."

"No!" Mourning cried out painfully, turning away in a fit of dramatic pique. Amelia almost rolled her eyes, but his voice still made her the tiniest bit fearful that he would just go crazy and murder her on the spot if she were anything but polite. "We, I, knew not of the enemy! To delay him cost us all! No one knew of his terrible gaze! Of his life-ending power! He slew the best of us and was merely imprisoned for a short time! Servant? He laughs at the idea, his horrifying laughter echoing into the darkness at the hope he spreads that he can be placated. The joy Void received when we, I, realized that it was a farce all along." The horror on Mourning's face was evident. It was a little disconcerting to be witnessing that facial expression from someone speaking directly to you. Even more disturbing, Amelia thought, was the way the emotion bled right off his face as if he had just turned it off. A cold voice spoke instead of a frightened one this time. "You are no match for my army or my plan, and so, my plan shall prevail."

"If we had beaten you then what? You would have joined us?" Amelia guessed randomly, her mind already trying to anticipate this crazed world boss' views. "You don't think we advanced enough, or aren't powerful enough to be allies?"

"Advanced enough." Mourning scoffed. "I have lived a thousand years. I am an observer to the world and you are children before the enemy that comes for you. His seals weaken. His followers prostrate themselves despite their inevitable demise. They hope to gain his favor when they do nothing but advance his cause! The only solution is the abolishment and evolution of life."

"You feel that the visage are the solution to Void?" Amelia finally started to understand. Void was something that fed on life to live and grow stronger, so Mourning was planning on raising a planet full of creatures devoid of life in order to fight him.

"I have lived a long time, wizard. I have seen races ridden into extinction and races who have forgotten the terror of that day. I am a human, or as close to one as you might allow, who has lived and found immortality, and I tell you that Void comes. Join me. Turn yourself into my visage. Revoke your gods and desecrate your land. If Void should find purchase here, let him do so without gaining the power of eating our world! When he is gone at the least we will have weakened him. After that," Mourning waved his hand dismissively as if there was no reason to speak of after that. Silence started to stretch out and before she could respond he surprised her by continuing, "...let us devolve peacefully." Mourning sighed and his face once again morphed and he opened his arms in a pantomime of emotional empathy. "I know it is a lot to ask."

Amelia looked down. She saw flashes below, and from this vantage point, she had a clear understanding of the conflict. There was no real way, no practical way, that her friends could prevail against the writhing darkness that swarmed toward them. They were fighting incredible odds but could they really prevail?

"What if we just keep killing your army until there are no more?" Amelia asked, at last, wondering what his plan then was.

"This is only the army I have raised on this world." Mourning said the truth with a slow conviction. "In the darkness above us, or in the eaves of the world if you like, there are fifty times that number made from creatures you have never seen before. I need but call them."

"Amelia?!" Aidan cried over party channel. "Gilduirn is dead! I friended him in the last hour. Are you alright?"

"I'm on my way." Forsythe sounded grim.

"We're coming!" Raven said.

"No." Amelia said, shaking her head. "No."

They all cried out differently demanding in the party channel why they shouldn't come to her aid. They were coming whether she liked it or not. She supposed she was grateful, and even that she understood.

Deceive.

"Your dismay is understood. Rest assured, it's all over now." Mourning looked out over the darkness and she could tell that he was slowly starting to gain a preternatural stillness that he hadn't had before. A sort of lifelessness indicating he was through pretending to be a creature other than he was. She understood him now. He was Mourning, a Visage Lord, and from whatever he might have once been, he was just a visage pretending to be alive, now.

"But, it's not over yet," Raven said over the channel.

Amelia startled, not sure what Raven was talking about. The cries over her party channel, and not just her party channel, but the Shadow Fall guild channel had slowly been tuned out and ignored while she thought about the problem. Raven's voice had cut through straight into her brain and now she heard all the voices discussing the next course of action, offering ideas, presenting hope, laughing about the shitstorm they were in.

If Raven were here, Amelia mused, she probably would have already struck Mourning clear off the mountain and into the horizon. The idea made her laugh. The laughter made Mourning turn, but she didn't turn to face him yet. Thinking about Raven was making things clearer to her now. Amelia remembered Raven asking her once what it would take to make her angry.

Amelia slowly turned to Mourning. Mourning seemed to realize that this was the end of their conversation and started to put space between them. A ridiculous gesture since Amelia had no means of threatening him offensively from any distance. Instead of initiating combat immediately, however, Amelia thought of how courteous the boss had been. "You've miscalculated. The only path before you is death. Will you join me instead?"

His eyes narrowed and he did not respond.

"If you get on your knees, I'll allow it." Amelia said, lifting her chin at a proud angle. When she spoke she purposefully switched on all her channels. Naturally, this included the live stream that she had completely forgotten about.

Deafening silence answered her as everyone seemed to be digesting the sudden communication.