Serantus

    The thunderstorm was accompanied by heavy rainfall. The runoff produced from the rain was overflowing from the open drainages that lined the council building and spreading around the paved floor before the entrance to the building, which was saved from the water by the raised platform between the paving and the entrance doors.   

  Yuna, stood at the entrance of the building, looked out into the heavy showers, processing the heavy task she had been presented.    

 She held a black umbrella in her right hand and held her black hand bag’s handle over her shoulder. The winds that accompanied the rain blew the opposite direction facing her. She had been outside for about ten minutes, waiting for someone.  

   A black carriage being pulled by two horses in the front, covered by a small tarpaulin roof from the rain, pulled up infront of the council building.   

  The driver got down from the front of the carriage with his umbrella released and opened the back door of his carriage. Protecting the door’s entrance from the rain, he helped a little girl out of the carriage and into the wet road. He escorted her to the entrance of the building before handing her over to Yuna.     

The little girl, about four and half feets tall, was dressed in an elegant pink gown. She was the daughter of the Head Councillor, Ferenc, but didn’t resemble him very much, taking most of her facial features from her mother.  

   “Hi aunt Yuna, where’s dad?” The little girl asked. 

     Yuna looked at her with a pitiable face. She knew the little girl would never see her father again, but as much as that fact pained her, she couldn’t give off the expression on her face, but… 

     “What’s wrong aunty?” Imogen, the little girl asked.     “Hmm?” Yuna replied, trying to keep a straight face.    

 “You didn’t seem very comfortable with what I just asked…dad’s fine right?”     Yuna, taken aback by the child’s sharpness, asked; “How old are you kiddo?”   

  “Well, I’ll be five next month,” Imogen replied, raising her right palm open to half-cover her face playfully.  

   Yuna chuckled. She bent down to reach the level of the height of the girl, and shook her blond long hair. “You’re a smart one you know!” Yuna remarked.    

 “Ya, so dad says, now you rumpled my hair, dad won’t compliment it today…puff,” Imogen replied, trying to adjust her hair as she pouted.     Yuna chuckled again, and tapped Imogen’s forehead. “I’ll compliment it if he doesn’t, so don’t worry bout that,” she said with a smile.     “Well he will,” Imogen retorted, pouting with a rather distorted face, venting her frustration. “Aww, aren’t you cute…well now, our carriage will soon be here, so let’s catch up on stuff shall we?” “Yeah, I suppose,” Imogen replied.  

   Yuna stood back up and adjusted her clothing, then looked up at the pouring rain whose intensity hadn’t dropped. She wondered to herself how she was going to reveal everything to Yuna, and thought on what the fate of the Council and its building would be, if Gione and his men would make it in time to save the place. She wondered why Ferenc would work with mysterious entities like Serantus, it just didn’t make much sense to her, but then knew he was probably irredeemable as he was a major catalyst in the current war and had succeeded in nuking the Esteria clan. 

Yet she knew his twisted ways, one which had now resulted in him saving his daughter, at the expense of her, the one he had once saved.     “That idiot,” she whispered to herself, closing her eyes as she turned away from the rain.     “Hmn?” Imogen looked at Yuna, thinking she was asked something.   

  “Oh, nothing dearie, nothing. Let’s get home.” Yuna patted Imogen’s hair this time, before proceeding to rub it gently down playfully.     Few moments later, a white carriage of similar design to the initial one that dropped Imogen, driven by two white horses, stopped infront of the council building.    

 “There’s our ride,” Yuna said. She opened up her umbrella and went into the carriage with Imogen. Giving the horses’ harness a tug, the rider rode off into the heavy rain. ******************************************** With silent ringing sounds, red magic circles appeared which illuminated the dark plain land or appeared on, and out of it came a man, Ferenc. He had teleported to the astral plane of Serantus, a magical plane in a dark environment which felt like night time. 

     It’s diameter was about five hundred meters, and around it’s perimeter to its above were green illuminations which appeared to be dancing and fluctuating, like a system of green, arched Aurora covering the plain like a dome.

 The distance from top to bottom appeared not more than three thousand feets. It illuminated the plain brilliantly and gave an aura of mesmerizing chill in its brilliance. The ground was full with low grass.     

Ferenc had been here a couple of times already and knew by now that it’s looks were very deceiving, considering what darkness the lights hid. The plain rather gave him bad vibes, moreso today. 

     “I’m here, Serantus, you summoned me,” Ferenc said with his arms outstretched. His gaze was raised up.    

 “You have failed, Nebulous, we no longer sense the keys.” The voice which spoke, a voice Ferenc heard too often here, and one of three, was very deep and intimidating, yet surprisingly smooth. It seemed to come from nowhere but the Aurora around the plane itself, and as the voice spoke, the Aurora vibrated in accordance.

     “What can I say, it appears the Esterias outsmarted your plan,” Ferenc said with a raised voice, dropping his arms as he concluded.     “You still make a mockery of us even here Nebulous!” A feminine voice spoke from the lights this time. 

     “I always said a war would never work out, but you all were adamant mankind needed to perish on their own, something you could have made happen if you thought up a better idea to open Pandora.” “But you never followed the plan to the dot did you? You failed it,” the deep voice said again.    

 “Well I tried increasing its success rate, I was the one working while you all were here just…sleeping,” Ferenc said nonchalantly.    

 “You really seem not to have any regard for your dear life now do you?” A third masculine voice asked.     “What are you guys anyway?” Ferenc asked.   

  There was a silence in the plain for a moment, then a sudden breeze blew across the plain.    

 “Your reward for failure will be dealt now, as promised!” The third voice said.     “Aww come on, atleast give me another chance will ya?” Ferenc said in a anguish filled with sarcasm.     “Your mockery shall no longer be tolerated, and after you have been killed, we’ll go for the Council office. The world will stop working by our hands!” The deep voice said.    

 Ferenc smirked, then looked up and closed his eyes. “Give it your best,” he said, with his arms spread wide.  

   Three beams of green light extended from the lights facing him, and went through into his chest. His face exploded with pain, with his eyes wide open, almost revealing all of his eyeballs, and his mouth almost to the point of tearing it, yet no voice travelled out of that mouth. The veins of his face and neck were visible like worms under his skin.    

 Little by little, Ferenc, from his clothes, to his skin, shredded and floated away like wind slowly blowing away shredded paper upwards. Within moments, he ceased to exist.     “The fool is dead!” The deep voice from the Aurora said. “Now we go to earth!”