Wherever I May Roam (Mulciber)

[Shouriko]

Qixia could not compare any of her own experiences with such as Mulciber she described. Then again, she'd never spoken with another human or humanoid before. All of her prior interactions had been with animals, after all, and their manner of speech and concept of trust was much different.

"Wha--?" She had been a little lost in her thoughts when Mulciber began to track back the way they'd come.

Quickly she followed his shadow before it melted into the others and she risk having to find him in so unfamiliar a place such as this. Qixia wasn't sure that she understood. "She was one of yours already?" Was that right? He had met her before that fateful night? But why would anyone do such a thing? It puzzled a creature as innocent as she to think of such plottings and plannings that were solely for the intent of evil.

[MadEmperor]

"Yes. She said her name was Jessenna. I don't know why, but she was playing us the whole time." Mulciber proceeded to a door he had passed earlier. "And she was in charge of cleaning the basement."

He reached for the knob but hesitated significantly before opening the door. Sweeping down the stairs on a mission, he headed into the true darkness below. "Stay close; it's pitch black down here."

[Shouriko]

"Basement?" She had not heard that word before.

When they got to the door and the steps that descended down into a dark chasm, Qixia shivered a little. It wasn't just dark. There was something like damp and mold down there, but not the good kind, not like dew and moss in the forests or streams and watercress in meadows. The Qilin hesitated to continue on when faced with what lay ahead.

Her lips pursed together and she took a deep breath. Mulciber told her to stay close and that brought back to mind that she had told him he would not be alone in this. Qixia would not abandon him purely due to her discomfort and the foreboding feeling of this basement, as he called it. And if there was real darkness down there, she could purify it with her own fire and fill the space with her own kind of light. So she declared with a nod, "I'll be brave!"

And she reached out and took hold of his shoulder, for no closer could she be than touching, and with Mulciber they went into the depths of the castle.

[MadEmperor]

"There is no danger to you beyond poor footing in the dark." Mulciber assured. Glancing down at her levitating feet, he added, "And that doesn't seem like much of a problem for you."

Looking ahead as he resumed walking down the stairs, he said, "However, I suppose some animal may have found their way inside in my reluctance to return to the place of my creation."

[Shouriko]

It was indeed as Mulciber had said. If poor footing was the primary hazard, it was of little concern to Qixia. She could plant her feet back on the ground if she wished, and elsewhere she may have, but not here. There was something about this basement that she did not like and prefer not to put her feet to.

She gave a shake of her head. "I have no fear of animals." If one was there, she was sure they would sooner flee than approach. No, she wrinkled her nose, it was in the air.

[MadEmperor]

Mulciber didn't like the air down there either; it smelled of dark, forbidden things best left alone. He may be good but he was born from dark intentions, though ones that failed in their designs.

At the bottom of the stairs, he took a moment to remember the way and then resumed walking. "I was born in a hidden chamber, forgotten by the family. How this dark witch knew about it is a mystery that I'll have to find her to have any hope of solving. I know now that she is not a spirit in my keeping, and I am glad for it."

[Shouriko]

" That's good, yes?" Qixia asked when Mulciber said that the one who had done this was not part of his consortium of spirits. Surely that was a relief. He didn't seem to much like the thought that he carried the offending spirit with him. Now that was no longer a concern.

Finding her could be problematic, but it would give him purpose. A purpose far greater than simply keeping watch over an empty castle that was going derelict as each year passed. Qixia thought that this was all good progress, but did Mulciber think likewise?

A hidden chamber, he had said. "Hidden and secret? Or lost and forgotten?" She mused aloud in a whisper. This was centuries ago now, who was she to know how much older the place was. Would Mulciber know? If it had been found by someone from outside, it must have some meaningful existence to someone or at sometime it had been meaningful. "It would be odd for a guest to be down here." She didn't ask, but there was a hint of a question to her statement as if she were not so confident in it.

[MadEmperor]

"But not for a maid," he answered, wondering again why the witch chose them for her spell. Had she been attempting to extend her life? Did she survive? Did she succeed elsewhere?

He eventually stopped before an opening in a wall—a secret passage left open for centuries. The entity had not wanted to touch it. He still didn't, but the need to know had become greater than his discomfort at the prospect of returning to the place. Even after hundreds of years, it still stank of blood and corruption.

"I will understand if you do not wish to enter such a tainted place. It is enough that you are even this close. I wouldn't have the resolve without your help."

[Shouriko]

The air was foul to the qilin. Her nose wrinkled and she grimaced deeply. Whatever was beyond the dark crevice, it did not bode well. Her instincts told her to burn the place of the ill will that was there. She had to keep that at bay for what if in the burning something, some clues that Mulciber sought, were destroyed?

"It is tainted now, but it need not be tainted forever." Qixia replied firmly. Besides, it was easy for her to avoid the worst of it. "So long as I touch nothing, I will be fine." She had come this far and she would not fail to support Mulciber in this endeavor, "I said you would not be alone. I will remain with you."

[MadEmperor]

Mulciber gave her a grateful nod. "You have my gratitude."

After a momentary hesitation, he headed inside. Beyond the small passage was a room about half the size of the dining hall—just as wide but half as long, forming a perfectly square chamber. It appeared to have been a shrine at some point in the past, judging by the stone altar in the center. The altar is now defiled by sigils painted in blood still wet despite the centuries. Around the altar is a perfectly painted six-pointed star, made with the same blood. It reeked of forces best left alone.

"I tried cleaning it, but it returned the next day. It is not in my power to purify such things, only to keep others away. Perhaps, with your help, I can return this place to whatever deity it was built for."

[Shouriko]

Qixia gave Mulciber a smile and a nod, "Of course!"

If it had felt bad from the outside, it was far worse on the inside. That everything still appeared to be fresh presented a very dark and morbid aura to the room. The qilin did not recoil nor make to flee, but she did keep herself well away from the walls, floor, and ceiling.

"I do not know these sigils." Which went to say that they came from some culture she did not know or was so old that they may be lost to time. Or were secret. Records might hold their meaning and use, but Qixia had never seen such things. She couldn't even read. For all she had seen and observed over the past couple of hundred years she lived, her eyes had not seen these. Not anywhere. She peered at her companions and asked, "Mulciber, you have not seen these before? Nor any of the souls within?"

No, she didn't expect that ordinary cleansing methods would meet the task. Qixia even began to wonder if these sigils were still performing some manner of task, albeit it may be waning over time. What craft could concoct a spell that would last for eternity? Her instincts did say that only fire could cleanse this place. A fire so hot and holy that it may even singe her own hairs. Her fire had never met such a task before.

"I can do it." She said, a small warble in her voice as if there was some uncertainty as to the effectiveness. "It would have to be the greatest fire I have ever employed." She turned in place. "The whole room needs to be purged and even then there may be a shadow that remains. These sigils are older than I..." Qixia turned to Mulciber, "You should go outside to be safe. I'll not want you to come to any harm. You are good and my fire would be warm and pleasant, but if any soul within contained malcontent it may not be unscathed. I do not know what that may do to you."

[MadEmperor]

Fire?! In the castle?! Was that truly the only way? The thought made him uneasy. But perhaps she could keep the flames contained somehow?

"What of the rest of the castle? Would it be harmed? I... don't know if I could live with that." Honestly, he wasn't entirely sure that cleansing the room of its enchantment wouldn't destroy him with it. But that concerned him less than harming the rest of the castle.

As he spoke, he poked around the room for clues he may have missed when he didn't know what he was looking for—when he had been too afraid to look. There, within a crack in the ground, was a glint of metal. Kneeling down, he extended a tendril of darkness to fish out the object. It was an earring with a curious design—a triangle with a spiral inside. A memory materialized as he studied it: his namesake had struggled with the witch and she lost one of her earrings.

[Shouriko]

"The rest of the castle?" She asked, a little confused about how her fire purifying one room might relate to the rest of the castle. "I... did you want me to purify the whole castle, too?" Nothing had felt strange or evil except down here in the basement, and especially this room. There was no need for her to go to that extent. That would be quite A LOT of fire. Could she even do that? She never tried to before because she had never any need to. "I was just going to burn the room."

Mulciber was giving the room one last look over as she puzzled over further if there was any need to purify the castle itself, all it's many rooms and halls and spaces. It seemed that he had found something. "What's that?" Qixia asked when he lifted up the little metal piece. That was a piece of jewelry, wasn't it? She didn't think that it was his.

[MadEmperor]

Mulciber jerked his head towards her, the flames that were his eyes having grown as if he were wide-eyed. "Heavens no! I wish no harm to the rest of the castle. I may be leaving it behind but that doesn't mean I don't care about it."

When she came close to examine his discovery, he held it up so she could get a better look. The symbol somehow made her as uneasy as the dark magic that tainted it. "He tried to stop her. I remember now that, in doing so, he inadvertently took her place in the magic circle. That must be how he became the host for the stolen souls instead of her. Only..." He grew distant as he recalled the event that came next. It was the reason he had avoided returning. "... The spell tore him apart, turning him into a living shadow—into me."

Was he truly a different being, or was he simply detaching himself from his previous life to cope with what happened? He wasn't sure anymore. Did the distinction even matter?

[Shouriko]

How interesting! Qixia didn't care for the foreboding of the room or the malevolence that was contained in the sigil and yet the process piqued her interest. So this witch, as he called her, had been in the magic circle... "So she was in the circle and had begun the spell...?" Was that right? "...and then you pushed her out and came in?"

Did that have anything to do with how Mulciber came to be as he was?

[MadEmperor]

The distinction either didn't matter to Qixia or was lost on her. Which was it, he wondered.

"Yes. He—I..." He seemed confused on that point of identity. "... shoved her aside, only to get caught in the center of the spell. I feel she would have met the same fate and been reborn the same as I, only as a being of evil."

"I do not know by what protection her soul remained in her body, but I'm sure she lived. Lives. I believe that this enchantment would have died with her. I just... I can't say why I believe that."

[Shouriko]

It was rather quite interesting to Qixia.

Whatever the spell was, it was surely one of ill intent. This witch, if she followed Mulciber correctly, had essentially sought out this place and laid groundwork. Her target was many and given Mulciber was so long lived, it was suspect that her intent was to prolong her own life. Or maybe it was to give her added strength by absorbing the multitude of souls. Or perhaps there was some other reason that could not be gleaned from memory or an earring.

Lost in her thoughts, questions circling about her head, Qixia looked back at her companion. "That is instinct." She told him matter-of-factly. "When you know something is true, but not why, that is instinct." She knew that very well herself.

[MadEmperor]

"Instinct... yes. That is the preferable explanation," he responded. "I would hate to be linked to such a vile individual."

The entity stared at the tainted jewelry for a long moment. Being made up of Serenian souls, Mulciber knew a thing or two about magecraft. Most at the castle had no formal education in magic, but Master Eagar was, at least, moderately skilled. He could certainly have cast a tracking spell, though it would have been easier with blood or hair. Still, the earring reeked of her magic. It could work.

[Shouriko]

She nodded in agreement. Instinct was much preferable as the reasoning rather than so vile a soul being part of the bevy that made up Mulciber's being. Qixia looked around the room once more as he went silent and she took a turn about it. She was checking for any spaces that might exist, any little exits that she ought to be mindful of.

"You still would like me to purify the room, yes?" She asked, looking back at Mulciber. He appeared a bit lost in his thoughts, but surely he had heard her. "Are you ready? If you but cross the threshold, that should do to keep you from harm."

She had figured that if she kept herself in the center, the flames could be controlled to only go so far. Or better yet, she could stand in the entryway and drive the flames into the room as far as they could go before blowing back upon itself. She wanted the flames to roil and seethe like a raging river so that no space could be spared. The heat had to permeate into the stone and what little pores they might have, into the mortar which was much more likely to absorb. Qixia wanted to thoroughly erase the evil that was done here. Maybe then life might return more readily than before and the eerie chill would dissipate.

[MadEmperor]

The draconic skull nodded. "Yes. I believe I've discovered all I can about the room as it is."

With no further word, he stepped beyond the threshold and turned around to observe. He considered informing her of the remote possibility that erasing the spell would end his existence but decided it would only cause her to hesitate. He was okay with the possible release of the spirits that composed his being; they deserved a proper rest, at least as much as he deserved to live. "Whenever you're ready."