Lurenbraum Fortress, Stensia, In The Darkness Sometime Between Friday and Saturday (Fandom Time)

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana had thought the storm would be the worst thing they would run into in their flight from her invaded home, but she had been wrong. The storm had eventually subsided, but the countryside of Stensia had become a twisted zoo. Liliana noted that every passerby had something reshaped about them. The bodies of roving vampires had the wrong silhouettes, always with too few of something, or too many. Anatomically improbable travelers raved prophecies of stone and sea at them as they staggered in diagonals.

Their trek had been long, lasting deep into the night - the werewolves had torn through her horses and zombies both, leaving them to walk. But now, finally, Liliana, Gared, and (haltingly) Dierk, had arrived at the monumental door.

Lurenbraum Fortress soared above them, a stark cliff with a citadel that protruded directly from the rock face. Higher up, the utilitarian architecture softened and elongated into tiers of ornate leaded windows, each one with its own floating chandelier of twinkling candles. In many of the windows, vampires peered down at them, wearing gleaming ancestral armor.

Liliana gestured for Gared to knock.

Gared gawked at the door's height. "You really know the lady of the house?" he asked.

Dierk, for his part, made a gurgling noise. The man's neck was broken, so his head rested at a weird angle and his throat looked lumpy. But at least his legs had gotten him here, and at least his arms had been capable of carrying the spent witchbane orb. Gared's long coat was strapped tight around Dierk's midsection, doing its best to hold the remainder of the dead man's insides in. Liliana raised her hand slightly, and Dierk squared his shoulders, but his head still dangled to one side. The desiccated tongue wouldn't stay completely inside his mouth, contributing to the gurgle. Liliana shrugged.

"I make it my business to know those who wield power," Liliana said. "As does she."

Gared banged on the door and stood back.

	The door opened, and an imposing woman in an ornate gown - or possibly an ornate woman in an imposing gown - appeared. She held forth a priest's staff that radiated like hot embers in Liliana's face. "She is not receiving human visitors," said the woman, flashing her fangs as she spoke. Her irises were black pits that seemed to smolder. "I'm returning something that belongs to her," said Liliana. The woman paused, visually inspecting Dierk and the spent witchbane orb he carried. "Leave it here. Then begone from this estate, before I call an invocation down upon you."
	Gared made a movement to confront the vampiric priest, but Liliana stopped him with a touch. In a citadel full of vampires, one did not fight when there was still a chance to cajole. "I'd speak with Olivia directly, please. Tell her Liliana Vess would see her." "I told you, she's not receiving mortals." "Mortals!" Liliana laughed. "Bless your bloodless heart."
	The vampire priest held her staff high, the jagged symbol at the tip warping the air with heat. "Oh Liliana, my dear one!" Olivia Voldaren appeared in the door suddenly, dismissing the priest with a brief but vicious hiss. The priest stood to one side, bowing her head, but following Liliana with her eyes. Olivia was glorious in black segmented armor. As usual, her feet didn't touch the floor. "Have you come to celebrate the good news?" she asked, ushering in her guests. "Come, come!
	"Just returning your orb," said Liliana. "And your geistmage." She smiled pleasantly at the priest as she passed by. "What exactly are we celebrating?
	Olivia took Liliana's arm, floating next to her and drawing her deeper into the citadel. "Why, the long wait is over! You haven't heard?" They entered a broad gallery where elegant vampires stood or hovered at every staircase, every landing. Hundreds of eyes watched Liliana and her attendants as Olivia led them through the lower halls of the fortress. Every vampire that had ever held the name Voldaren seemed to be in the building, glowering in unison. Liliana made a furtive motion with one hand. The corpse of Dierk the geistmage dragged itself over to an antique gilded chair, slumped into it, and went limp with the orb in its lap. The coat around his middle squished, holding its contents as best it could. Olivia leaned over conspiratorially, squeezing Liliana's arm. "It's the archangel! Poof!" She cackled. "A smear on the floor of Thraben Cathedral. Oh, but it's simply too good."
	"Avacyn is dead?" A small thought of Ignis and Jace descended on her, like a moth landing in her hair. They had been intending to search for Avacyn when they left. Did they find her? Before or after her death? What in blazes had happened in the Cathedral? She never should have let Ignis accompany Cloak Boy.
	Olivia made an expansive sweep with her arm. "We of the night can rejoice, for the world is ours again! I was quite cross when I had heard that she'd been freed from her little trap." Liliana raised her eyebrows a millimeter. "But Sorin has come to his senses and put down that thing of his. And now, I must say, it's all worked out rather well, hasn't it?" Olivia laughed. She led Liliana on, through gallery after gallery. Gared disappeared into the maze.
	Liliana, however, had no difficulties keeping up with Olivia, well-acquainted with her manse. "And now you're raising an army."
	"Well, my dear, it turns out that whoever opened the Helvault--" Liliana kept her face correctly polite. "--set loose more than just the archangel," Olivia continued. "And more than just...those demon friends of yours. They released that other one, as well. Drink?" She signaled to a nearby vampire. "You there, bring our guest a drink." A vampire pushed a glass of wine into Liliana's hand — actual wine — and clanked away in his suit of ornate ancestral armor.
	It was Liliana herself, of course, who had caused the Helvault to break open and spill its contents all over Innistrad. She had slain the demon Griselbrand, and the other consequences of its opening were of no importance to her. She hadn't seen any reason to let her vampire social acquaintances know any of this. "And this leads to your army...?" Liliana didn't know who else might have escaped the Helvault, who was so important to Olivia. The Helvault had been full of demons and devils and villains of all stripe. There had been the kor Planeswalker she'd freed, but she'd immediately 'walked away without even a second glance. Could she...? Whoever it was, Liliana had an intuition it was connected to the changes she had seen all around Innistrad. The warped werewolves in her manor. The countryside of twisted vampires and raving doomsayers. This was the kind of thing that fascinated Cloak Boy. Another puzzle for him to solve. Liliana just wanted some demons to die. But maybe the two could be linked after all...
	"And she seems quite miffed, now that she's free," Olivia went on. "Can't say that I blame her. As I said, I was cross before, but now I should adore to know who set them all free, just to express my utter gratitude!" They emerged into a broad, thickly carpeted drawing room. A tall, white-haired vampire in a long jacket stood with his back to them, looking out the tall windows into the night. Liliana felt claws dig into her arm. "We know it was you," Olivia hissed, suddenly hovering just by her ear. "We know you freed them." She added, brightly, "Isn't that right, Sorin?"
	Sorin Markov turned around to face them. He wore hatred like a flamboyant suit. "You," he spat. "Look who's paid us a visit," Olivia said, her voice all dainty politeness once again. "Sorin, I believe you know Liliana Vess?" "You did this," said Sorin. "You released the Lithomancer and brought this upon us."
	Liliana wrenched her arm away from Olivia and gathered herself. She walked up to Sorin and looked him up and down. Finally she chuckled, picking a mote of dust off of Sorin's lapel. "I had business to attend to," she said. "Not my fault if your closet was full of skeletons.
	"You had no right," Sorin said, each word like a blade on a whetstone. "Sorin, you and I have another matter to attend to," said Olivia, floating around them. "But I'd be remiss if I didn't allow you two the opportunity to catch up, wouldn't I?" Sorin brought his face close to Liliana's. "All this is because of you. The Lithomancer is free, and now we must face her."
	It was the kor! Interesting... "You have quite the vampiric army assembled," Liliana said. She smirked at him. "Or - let me guess - is it more of a defense force? You slighted her, didn't you?"
	Sorin's fangs flared. "I told you when you came here as a pup. Innistrad is mine. You meddle in my affairs, you die."
	Liliana looked him in the eye, her fingers reaching down to touch the rings of the Chain Veil at her waist. The etchings began to glow on her skin, and her hair floated slightly. "Innistrad may be your domain, Sorin," she whispered. She patted him on the arm. "But death is mine."
	Sorin snarled, whipping his arm away and pressing his forehead into hers. His eyes snapped just briefly to her neck. "Now, my friends!" Olivia laughed lightly, putting herself between them. "As giddy as I'd be to see you two tear each other apart, all over my drawing room...Sorin, it looks like the time has come. Join me outside. Nahiri awaits." She gestured toward the tall windows, into the night.
	Liliana was struck by what she saw through the glass. What had been the remnants of the lightning storm was now a swollen cluster of clouds churning over the coast of Nephalia. Tendrils of mist reached out in all directions. It was not just a few werewolves or vampires that were being warped. Whatever force had arrived--it threatened to tear apart all of Innistrad. This was deep, ancient magic, world-altering and vindictive. "She caused this?"
	Olivia drained her goblet of blood and then slid a sword from its sheath. "Liliana, dear one, I'm afraid you've exhausted my supply of geist experts and spectral toys. But perhaps you'd like to join us? You were the one who released Nahiri, after all. She may even want to thank you." "The petty act of a petty mage," Sorin murmured. "With a misguided sense of justice." "So it was you who caused all this," Liliana said. "You wronged her!" "And now we're off to wrong her again," Olivia said with a fanged grin.
	Framed in the windows of the fortress, the atmospheric mass shifted slowly from its origin over the Nephalia coast, tipping toward Gavony province and the brightly lit High City. The sky seemed wrinkled and torn, Liliana thought, like those werewolves. It was as if the whole plane - the whole of Sorin's home world - had been tainted on purpose, warped from horizon to horizon, just because Sorin cared about it. Whoever Nahiri was, Liliana had to admit--she didn't do things halfway. "Aren't you the least bit concerned about what her vengeance is doing to Innistrad?" Liliana asked. "Ignis is--" She straightened herself. "--there are thousands of people out there."
	"This world is ruined," Sorin said. "She has made sure of that. And your consort will die at Thraben with the rest of them." "What Sorin means," Olivia said brightly, "is that stopping Nahiri will surely stop the unpleasantness she has wrought. We're on a heroic mission!"
	Liliana glanced outside, then looked back at Olivia, now with a dreadful tenderness. "Oh, you sweet child."
	Sorin slid his sword out of its scabbard, lazily, like an afterthought. "Let's go, Olivia." He turned and stalked out of the drawing room and out of the mansion without another word. Olivia floated after him, and ranks of Voldaren vampires followed after, their armor echoing through the halls.
	Liliana followed them out. As she saw Gared again, she said, "Gared, get your coat." Gared looked sadly at his coat and began the task of extricating it from Dierk. Sometimes being an obedient minion was the worst.

***

They emerged out into the night. The wind howled now, great cones of suction thrashing the sky. A ruddy, otherworldly glow floated along the distended bellies of the clouds.

Liliana pushed her hair out of her face as it whipped side to side. She looked toward the distant hills of Gavony as great shadows coalesced over it. This is what Jace was trying to stop, she realized. This was why Ignis had joined him. All in an attempt to keep this - whatever it was - from happening.

Sorin barely glanced back over his shoulder as he and the vampires assembled. Sorin pointed with his sword. "Come, Olivia," he intoned over the wind. "It's time for you to fulfill your end of the bargain."

Olivia smiled gaily and swept into the air. The vampire army marched off down the hill, swords and pikes and red-hot priest symbols held high--off into the mists, off to battle Nahiri.

Not to battle the horrors that Nahiri had wrought upon this world. Not to protect Ignis or help him in dealing with out-of-his-mind Jace.

This world is destined to die, then, Liliana thought. Its protectors have all forsaken it. It's time to say goodbye. "Goodbye, Vess Manor," she murmured aloud.

The sky uttered an unfathomable sound that shook Liliana's bones. In the distance, Thraben glittered like a fallen star resting on the horizon. "Goodbye, Cloak Boy." Jace would surely stay until the bitter end, like the fool he was, but Ignis knew better than that, surely. He needed to travel by portal and there could be delays, or mix-ups, or any number of things that could strand him here at the end if he waited until the last minute like some gods bedamned fool.

But instead of Planeswalking back to Fandom, she found herself walking down the hill, on a different path from the vampires. She found herself on the road. She found herself passing a noosegraf, where the criminals lay in their graves, waiting out the eternal part of their sentence. She found herself reaching out. Corpses crawled up out of the earth. She kept walking. The corpses followed her.

She found herself passing another cemetery, and another. A little roadside shrine, a cursed iron-fenced diregraf, a mausoleum of honored cathar dead, an unmarked grave. Each time, she reached out. Each time, the dead obeyed her, wriggling themselves free from their rest and lurching along behind her.

As she walked in the direction of Thraben, she reached down to her waist. She could almost hear the scores of spectral essences sneering at her, chanting at her from within the Chain Veil--over the sound of the zombies dutifully lurching and foot-dragging their way down the road behind her.

Sorin and Olivia weren't going to do anything about the crisis Nahiri had caused. And the only people she could count on to understand - her paramour, with his intense loyalty and his love affair with tragedy, and her former lover and his irritating, fathomless brain - were following Jace's stupid curiosity directly into messy, twisted, and almost certainly inevitable death.

It wasn't that she was going to be heroing. She was making sure that they did the intelligent thing - and scoring a few points at the same time.

"Well, Gared," she said loudly into the wind.

She raised her arms, feeling the etchings like hot blood vessels in her skin.

"Looks as though I'm..."

A dozen more zombies lurched out of the ground, compelled to follow in her wake of necromantic power.

"...this world's..."

The corpses did not seem warped--at least, no more warped than their disheveled bones had already become by their years in the ground. The restless dead seemed to shrug off the effects. Liliana smirked.

"...last hope."

[Taken and only minimally adapted from "Innistrad's Last Hope" by Doug Beyer. Follows this. NFB, NFI, OOC is wonderful!]